THIS IS THE SEQUEL TO 'THESE ENDING DAYS'. How exciting is THAT? :D

Just a note- This is slightly AU. Not AU like, oh by the way they're all vampires and secretly Ratchet is Bee's long lost son- that would be SO CREEPY- but like, I changed some age stuff and all. Just so everyone knows.

(Please, no one ever write an AU-verse where they're vampires and Ratchet is Bee's son. Please. No.) (Have mercy on us).

Anyways. Updates will be slow as usual, because I'm unfortunately super busy :( and also am 99.9% fuelled by reviews.

Also, if the Sam human bot thing is confusing, so be it. I'm not a physicist.. also, if there are some consistency errors (tiny ones) between the last story and this one, please tell me, and please expect a few. I'm not reading that whole thing through again! I'm lazy, it's my character flaw :)

And also - THANK YOU to all the wonderful readers who submitted amazing reviews on the last chapter of These Ending Days. You guys are why I'm writing this fic!

So! Proceed, my loves.

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There is something utterly terrifying about being smaller than the twins as a bot. Ratchet finished the last and most monumental of the procedures needed to turn Sam into a fully functioning Autobot; the process had been similar to that of affixing a sparkling's spark to a metal body. Autobots were extremely mechanical in all processes, and the introduction of a spark to appropriate metal generated a bot. Sam had certainly been babied enough by Bee to feel like a sparkling, in any case.

He's ended up similar to Bee in size, which is to say he's smaller than Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, while still being big enough to toss around. It's terrifying.

"Sam!" The shout makes Sam scramble around the hanger, in a flail of metal limbs and haste. It's too late – not a moment later, he's tackled to the ground. Sideswipe pins him down easily, grinning down at him. "You're The," he informs Sam cheerfully.

"The?" Sam repeats.

"The. We're playing The." Sideswipe pauses. "Or is it And? No… we're playing In!... Right?"

"No," Sam fights the laughter he knows would get him nothing but another full-body tackle, "It. You're playing tag, and whoever you tag is It. Not, uh, The."

"Oh." Sideswipe looks momentarily confused. "That's stupid."

"No worse than The or And."

"How would you know? Those are awesome games, you're just not allowed to play because you're not good enough." He looks back at the sound of somebot screaming his name. "I should probably go." He's up and running just as Ironhide rounds the corner.

"You!" He bellows. There's a telltale streak of yellow paint across his chassis. "Get back here!" Bee lopes around the corner as Ironhide runs after Sideswipe, coming to offer Sam a hand up.

"How much longer?" Sam asks, and Bee shrugs.

"Soon as it's dark enough," he says, "the cloaking's good, but just in case. Don't want any unsuspecting humans to see a spaceship." He pauses, looks at Sam, "okay, what?"

"What what?"

"That look." Bee crosses his arms over his chest, and Sam grins.

"Fine, fine. I was just wondering… does the Ark look like a starship?" he asks eagerly, and Bee groans.

"Kind of. But if you call Ratchet Bones again-"

"I know, he'll flip out and say he's not 'some atrocious-bedside-mannered, hypo-happy, bad-tempered, whiskey-swilling Georgian hick'." Sam's imitation makes Bee burst out laughing.

"Three out of four isn't bad, though," Bee manages to say, snickering.

"Hey!" Ratchet's voice makes the two of them whip around, tensed with terror. He's too far away to have heard them, though, and is merely beckoning them over around the hanger. "Shuttle is here." The gravity of his words is silencing, was sobering. The waiting shuttle will take them to the Ark II, suspended high in space. For Ratchet, it's being brought to his fate, brought to the rest of his life. Communications have been strictly coordinates so far; there has been no way to ask who is on the Ark II, who isn't. In a matter of hours, Ratchet will know how he's going to spend the rest of his life.

It's clear from the weight of his tone that he isn't ready to find out.

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Some part of Prowl is thankful that it took nearly a century for them to contact the Ark II. Leaving Earth is difficult, but leaving the planet that became their home, the state of the planet that only existed for a few decades a century ago, would have been much more painful. Watching Ironhide say goodbye to Jacob Lennox was sparkbreaking; there's no doubt in Prowl's mind that having to leave Will would have been even harder. The bots all had a particular attachment to their original human friends, and while they've all grown close to the humans they know now, it's not the same. There is and never will be anything quite like watching Annabel run to meet Will in their front yard, hearing the bursting excitement in Will's voice when he told them Sarah was expecting a boy, the pride Will had for his team. In a way, it's the same with Sam, the way he was as a human. Prowl knows Bee still looks at Sam sometimes and sees Sam the way he used to be.

Leaving is difficult, painful, but, looking around the shuttle, Prowl decides that it's easier than the alternatives. Ratchet hasn't spoken since they left Earth an hour ago; Prowl curls in closer against Ironhide's side, trying to keep from imagining what it would be like, to just not know. There couldn't be anything worse than that, waiting to find out something so world-changing all at once.

There is, though. Prowl's gaze moves towards the back of the shuttle, where Sunstreaker and Sideswipe are huddled together in absolute silence. That, Prowl can't imagine. Sunstreaker stares out the window at the black space around them, and that must be worse. Not knowing anything, not knowing where to find answers, where to start looking, whether to look at all.

Prowl once thought that this is why no one can choose what will happen; these things have to happen to someone, and no one would choose this for themselves, for anyone. He can't think that anymore, though, because it's not true. No one should want to, but, ultimately, this is what is ruining Sunstreaker.

He did choose this path, for himself, for Sideswipe, and for the two sparklings, lost to them somewhere in the universe.

When they finally arrive at the Ark II, Prowl disappears to his quarters with Ironhide. No words are exchanged, but they both understand that there are some possibilities they don't want to witness.

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Stay tuned for the next update!

Please reviewwww!

Love ya,

Sunshine