The characters in this story are property of Hasbro.
This story was inspired by MamonnA's Sari Sketches01. A link to the artwork can be found in my profile.
I am rewriting this story, a lot has changed so if you read it before you should read it again.
Ten stellar cycles.
Ten whole stellar cycles since they defeated Megatron, saved Earth, and retrieved the Allspark from Decepticon servos. Ten stellar cycles of the hero treatment, promotions to the elite guard, and finally getting the long overdue respect they deserved. Ten stellar cycles wasn't long in a Cybertronian's life, but it felt like forever to Bumbleebee. Because ten stellar cycles ago she returned to Earth.
It wasn't that she hadn't like it on Cybertron. She really had wanted to stay, to learn everything she could about their art, science, and history. You know, all that really boring stuff that put him into recharge whenever the tutorbots had lectured at the academy. But he would have happily taken her to every dull museum he could find on Cybertron, just to see the way here eyes lit up when she got to view the newest sculpture by the up-and-coming artist Sunstreaker, or the mathematical equation that was supposed to be the theoretical basis for all transformative life in the universe, something they both had snickered at when he made a crude joke about the appearance of the problem. (He was only glad she hadn't known the crass comment better suited the scandalous statue than the series of numbers.) He would have sat through every processor-numbing lecture on energon distribution and the socioeconomic problems facing the lower classes, just to see her smile. He even would have waited quietly for megacycles as she discussed the possibilities of integrating cybernetics into organic structures with the most monotonous scienebot in the history of Cybertron.
If she had stayed, he would have done everything he could to make her happy, but only a deca-cylce after they made planet fall, a communication form Earth came through from her father. He was sick, really sick. It had something to do to with radiation and poisoning, apparently humans are sensitive to even the lowest levels of some energy waves. Ratchet had tried to explain it to him, but most of the details went over his helm. What he did understand was that the Earth doctors suspected he had been exposed during his captivity to Megatron… and they didn't think he had long to live.
Jazz said she had cried the entire trip back to Earth.
He wished he could have gone wither her, been the one to hold her over the long journey and tell her everything would be alright, that between Earth and Cybertron of course they would be able to find a cure. He even wished he could have been by her side when all those promises turned to lies and her world came crashing down around her. Even if she had hated him for everything that happened, blamed his entire species for the disease that took her father away, he wanted to have been there for her; been a shoulder for her to cry on or an audio for her to scream at, anything if it had just meant one person was by her side, that she hadn't been by herself when it finally happened.
He would never forgive himself for letting her watch her father die alone.
But he was an Elite Guard now, and with a new title came new responsibilities. He was no longer free to run off to another planet and spend his solar cycles fooling around with a bunch of disgusting organics, or at least that's what Sentinal Prime had said when he had first asked for time off. He almost went anyways, snuck onto the next supply ship headed to that quadrant and made the rest up when he got there. He would have left that evening shift too… if only she had let him. But she wouldn't hear of it, wouldn't allow him to abandon his post after all he went through to get it. This was his dream after all, she reminded him, everything he had ever talked about and wished for, the entire reason he had joined the Autobot military in the first place. She wouldn't be responsible for him giving up on his dream just after having achieved it.
She didn't understand that his dream was nothing without her.
But he stayed behind, swore he would mind his duties and not run off across the universe just to check up on her. He did what she had asked of him. Even though it was the hardest thing he had ever done in his entire life, even though it made his spark ache every time he thought of how far away she was and sent agonizing jolts of energy coursing through his frame whenever he remembered the pain she had to endure, the pain his kind had inflicted on her. He did everything she had ever asked of him simply because she had asked it… because it might mean she could be happy again.
He knew her life had been difficult after her father passed. Even though they were no longer able to see each other in person they had kept in contact via the newly established Interstellar Communications Network, and each solarcycle she had told him of the new struggles she had to face. Her father may have amended his will, officially leaving all his assets to her, but that far from secured her control over his company. Not even a deca-cycle after her father's funeral, and her official inauguration to CEO of his company, and she was already in a legal battle over the legitimacy of a non-human technorganic owning and operating a business within the United States.
He had tried to help, to be supportive of her new life, but they both knew he was no good at any of that business type stuff, especially after that one time he had tried to be her secretary when she took over her father's business the first time. And the new bots assigned to guard Earth against any remaining Decepticon threats weren't any help either. Those Protectobots knew even less about Earth commerce than he did, and even if they were able to help her out in any way, she didn't even know them. She was now completely alone on a planet she didn't fit in, fighting an uphill battle against Powell and the government alike. She was going through the hardest time of her life without a single friend in sight, human or Autobot.
The others had tried to help, but they where even busier than he was. Being heralded as the new hope for the Autobot cause, Optimus' time was split between being shipped around the universe to deal with any remaining Decepticon threats and studying under Ultra Magnus as his new successor (something Sentinal had hollered about anytime the other Prime was mentioned). Bulkhead had been drafted by the Master Builders and was currently working with Grapple to stabilize the spacebridge connection with Earth, which apparently meant a complete overhaul of the system starting at Cybertorn's main port in Tarn. Ratchet, after insuring Omega Supreme was being well taken care of and wouldn't be re-slated for decommission, returned to his post as the Head Medical Officer of the Autobot army, something he oh so conveniently forgot to mention during their stellar cycles as a team. Prowl… well, Prowl had already helped them all he could.
No one else had been available, so that had left him to be the one every night shift racing back to the little apartment he had been assigned with his promotion (it was nothing in comparison to the penthouse Optimus had been given, but at least it had a private wash rack) to anxiously wait for her communiqué. He had been the only one she could complain to about greedy board members and the (very) lengthy process of getting the newest cardiovascular stents approved by the FDA, so every night shift he had listened eagerly to anything she had to say. Even when he only understood every other word, and hadn't been able to do anything to help but give a nod of his helm and emit a reassuring sound from his vocalizer, he had listened intently, just happy hearing her voice. Then, after she had told him of all the problems in her life, if they were lucky and she hadn't already been called away, he had told her about his totally amazing new life as an elite guard. He made her laugh with stories of the many misadventure of his new boss and fellow guardbots; though he had always forgot to mention how working security for Red Alert was mainly just more boring monitor duty like it had been on Earth, minus the chance of actually getting to fight Decepticons (oh, and don't forget the paranoid glitching, so much paranoid glitching).
But then, after about a stellar cycle, she started missing their communiqués. At first it had only been a few solar cycles between each transmission, but soon deca-cycles had passed without even a word. In a mere stellar cycle they had gone from talking every night shift to only once an orbital cycle, and then… nothing. He had known she was busy, that she couldn't to afford spending her every evenings chatting with him. But it was so unlike her, letting her work distract her from spending time with her friends. She wasn't acting anything like the laid back little girl he had known on Earth.
One night shift, when he had worried himself into a frenzy, he used his authority as an Elite Guard to force a communication through to Earth. But he only got as far as the Protectobot leader Hot Spot; who informed him that she was a very sought after individual and when they had last spoken during their video conference on improving Autobot/Human relations she had seemed perfectly fine, if not a bit distracted by her responsibilities as head of the most distinguished organization on the planet.
This information had done nothing to reassure him, but he had been patient and waited. If he could for anyone it was her. Every few orbital cycles he had sent a request of communication through, and even when those had failed to gain a response, he waited still. He waited because after all these stellar cycles he had yet to give up on her, because she was still his best friend (even if she seemed to have forgotten), because he knew he would eventually find a way back to Earth. And most importantly, he waited because she needed him to wait.
But the wait was finally over, at long last he was returning to Earth. It was the first time any of the original team had been back to the organic planet, and he was so excited to finally be revisiting that little blue rock, he could hardly keep himself from fidgeting; he had already knocked over three stacks of crates and broken an antique Vanguard-class Deep Space Interceptor model created before the Great War by his nonstop pacing alone. The small cargo ship's captain had confined him to the tiny quarters he shared with Ratchet (who was tagging along to perform an inspection on the Earth Base's medical bay), and the three other mechs who made up the crew had taken it upon themselves to keep him there, under threat of dismemberment, until the ship had landed.
By the distinct change in color outside his porthole window from speckled black void to an airy blue hue, it wouldn't be much longer now. It was only be a matter of cycles until they set down… and then he would finally be able to see her again. First, he'd apologize, beg at her feat if he must, for not being there so many stellar cycles ago, for leaving her alone all this time. And then, after she had forgiven him, they would go to the biggest videogame store in the city, buy the latest videogames and stay up all night seeing who could beat them first. Or maybe they'd go to the Burger Bot and get some of those milkshakes she liked so much. He'd buy her every flavor of frozen cow juice she could imagine if it would put a smile back on her face. There was nothing he wouldn't do for glimpse of that beautiful smile just one more time. Then, after he knew she was happy again, everything could go back to normal. It would be like he had never even left.
Suddenly he stumbled in his agitated pacing as a jolt shook the ship, the familiar shudder of landing gear impacting solid rock, and in a nanoklik he was skidding down the hall before the artificial gravity even had a chance to disengage. He made it to the cargo ship's hold on screeching tires and insured he was first in front of the exit hatch before the door even had a chance to open. Bouncing excitedly on his wheels, he counted the astroseconds until the pressure seals would release, while the already assembled crew pelted him with glares from all sides, a resigned sigh from Ratchet registering at the back of his processor. A hydraulic hiss echoed through the hold as the hatch began to open, the smell of fresh air rushing in to great them. Bacteria ridden currents and pollen infested gusts filled his olfactory receptors, mixing with the stench of synthetic grease and stale energon all too common on transport vessels such as this. Behind him a mech cleared his vents, complaining of the tainted air, but he couldn't care less… to him it smelled wonderful.
The door descended downward forming a ramp as a hoard of flashing lights greeted them from a distance, held back by a line of worn wooden barriers and stationary policebots. Humidity seeped under his plating, clinging to his circuits and making his tension cables ache as he stepped back out into the world he had left so long ago. His grin grew broader, stretching wide across his face plates as he raised his servo to block the intense radiance of the yellow star giving necessary warmth to an otherwise desolate globe. Trimmed grass crunched under his peds and the surrounding trees quivered from the force of the engines still powering down. In the distance, over the sounds of the clamoring crowd, he could hear horns honking and people screaming, babies crying and sirens wailing, the amazing sounds that could only mean human life.
Earth. It was like he had never even left.
He had made it, finally returned to where he truly belonged. He may have been sparked on Cyberton, protoformed in its factories and trained in its academy, but this was where he was meant to be, this was where she was.
He looked across the empty safety zone to the crowd of tiny flailing life forms so fragile and delicate, yet stronger than they had any right to be. He regarded the city they'd built and the society they'd crafted, considered everything they ever were and everything they ever hoped to be. He thought back to all the times he had worked to protect them, and all they had given him in return. These were his people, these were the ones he was built to protect, and who would protect him in return. Slowly, he shook the servo still raised high above his head and as the swarm cheered in response the only thing he could think was…
"Sari, I'm home."
