"What do you mean by 'gone'?"

"I mean- you saw the logs, Bee. He's gone. There's nothing to go back for."

"That's a load of scrap and you know it! He's fine!"

"Bee- you had to know this could happen- I, I mean- humans don't even last that long, you had to be prepared to-"

"Not long! Not long? He should have decades left! Decades! Give me th- send me back! Send me back! Send me back send me back send me ba-"

"Get off m- guard! Get him off me-"

Raf spun in his chair idly, before stopping himself at the databank with one hand and typing out another code string. He leaned back, nibbling the end of a blue plastic pen Agent Fowler had provided, the scratch paper balled up between the keyboard and the monitor as he considered the program on screen. He was miscalibrating something and he knew it, but he couldn't be certain what and he was really hoping he wouldn't need to ask Ratchet what it was this time.

There was a familiar ping on the other databank and he kicked back from the table, spinning to it. It was a hail from Cybertron that he answered a little faster than he wished he had.

"Bee!" He cried, also far more excited than he wanted to sound. He wasn't lonely, really, and he wasn't bored, either! He just needed stimulation outside of unfeeling green lines of text some days and with Ratchet so busy with Fowler, Raf's own after school hours were often spent more quietly than he'd grown accustomed to. Not that he was complaining- things could be worse.

"Raf, buddy! I was worried you wouldn't be there today."

"I'm here every day. After school, they still make me go to that."

"Pfft, yeah, Ratchet mentioned. Open me up a bridge, would'ya?"

Raf practically tripped out of his chair scurrying up to the high databank to open the ground bridge. As he pulled the handle down with both hands, the arches in the corner tunnel swam with bright green energy, the air warping and rippling as they defied the fabric of space and time. Raf was practically vibrating with excitement by the time Bumblebee's massive feet stepped through the portal and into the room. He shoved the handle into the off position and scrambled down to the floor to run across the Bee, who scooped him up one handed for a hug.

They hadn't seen eachother in weeks yet and the absence had started to wear on Raf.

"So! Any luck on the Shadowzone problem?" Bee asked, with a smile that lit up the room better than his headlights. Raf sighed and slipped between Bee's fingers as he set him down, lacing his fingers behind his back as he trotted back to the databanks.

"No- it looks like he's still stuck in the same relative location, even though the Nemesis itself has moved, so. If my hypothesis is correct, his energy levels shouldn't have changed since he was introduced to the dimension, but he shouldn't have been able to get out either, so… He's still over there, somewhere. I guess. I'm working on it."

"Yeah, well, don't work too hard, alright? Don't pull him out of there unless you have a bodyguard who isn't a grumpy old medic."

"I heard that!" Echoed down the hall and Raf laughed at Bee's mortified expression.

Bee sat up, trying to unslump his shoulders. The position felt unnatural, but he looked better. He knew he looked tired- he'd been neglecting his corners again and the edges along his seam lines were looking rough, paintless and scratched. His wheels spun slowly at his shoulders and he was still running a little hotter than he would like- he needed to top off his fluids, but Primus, he didn't feel like it.

"Hey, lieutenant?" Strongarm said, poking her head around the corner. Bee turned away from the mirror.

"Still trying to contact Optimus?" She asked, more hesitant than usual.

"Something like that. What's going on?" He asked, pulling his shoulders back. He knew he looked better like this. Like he knew what he was doing.

"Yeah. Fixit saw something- on the radar. Said to come and get you."

He nodded and followed her over to Fixit's little computer station set up in the abscess of the cliff face. There was a projection of a radar glowing on the HUD that Fixit was studying intently until he noticed Bee's approach.

"What's up, Fixit? A Decepticon?"

"Yes- well, I think so, but not one of mine."

"Fracture?"

"No, no-" Fixit said, waving his arms, "It's approaching from face- from grace- from SPACE-"

Bee frowned, "From space? Cybertron?"

"No, the direction is wrong. I don't know where they're coming from, but they're pointed right at earth and moving fast. The signal is Cybertronian in nature- old Cybertron, prewar, definitely Decepticon, actually- I ran a search, and the identifier found a hatch! Latch- match! A match."

"And?"

Fixit's expression darkened suddenly with concern, "It was from your team's records. The identifier belongs to someone named Soundwave."

Bee straightened, optics widening. He couldn't hear anything but his energon pumping in his audio receptors before he exploded, "What?!"

"Who is Soundwave?" Sideswipe asked, raising an optic ridge.

Bee tightened his servos into fists at his sides, "Soundwave is the mech who killed my brother."

"Raf, have you been able to contact anyone on Cybertron?"

Raf looked up at Agent Fowler, who was leaning over the railing of the catwalk to look down at him at his station by the databanks. He shook his head.

"I've been running a bot that sends a ping every thirty-five seconds but so far, no answer. I'm still waiting to see if my pings are bouncing back, but I might not know until tomorrow, even with the signal amplifier."

"Let me take you home, then. It's late. You've done all you can today."

Raf shook his head again, hard, and bent over the keypad, adjusting his glasses and folding his legs beneath him, "No. I don't wanna go home. This is more important."

"Rafael-"

"I'm fourteen, Fowler, I'm not a kid anymore."

Agent Fowler chuckled and Raf frowned.

"Look, your parents will be upset if you're not home on time again and then it'll be my ass and you won't get to come back. I'll pick you up in the morning, okay? Same time as always."

Raf adjusted his glasses with a snort, "I hate them. I could be a ward of the state, you know."

"I'd rather you had a childhood," Fowler said, turning away to, presumably, get his coat.

"Bit late for that…" Raf mumbled, standing. The computer bank beeped, and he turned toward it, startled.

[Hello.] blinked on the screen in green letters. Raf practically through himself at the keyboard.

[hello, this is earth base 01. please respond]

[Hello.]

Rafael blinked, [identify.]

[I require assistance.]

[identify!]

[I am Soundwave. I require assistance.]

Rafael leaned back away from the databank, before a clatter and a whistle from above startled him so badly he fell out of his chair, quickly shoving a usb into the databank and collecting the information he wanted before shutting the monitor off and running after his ride.

He opened his laptop in the dark of his room, late at night, and jammed the usb stick into the drive. The program booted, green text filling the top corner.

[I require assistance. Please respond. Please identify. Please respond. I am Soundwave. Please respond. Please respond. Please respond.]

He tapped at the keys quickly. [sorry about that. this is Raf. are you injured?]

There was a beat, and a response. [No reported injuries. I have been trapped in location designated: Shadowzone for indeterminate length of time. I require assistance.]

[why now?]

[This is the first established contact.]

[oh. You caught my ping?]

[Yes.]

[i've been working on the formula to get you out for the last year or so, off and on, but i only have access to one space bridge.]

[I am still connected to the Nemesis. I can open a space bridge portal remotely.]

[wont it take months for the signal to make it all the way from earth to cybertron and the nemesis though?]

[Yes. Will you open your space bridge when I have opened mine? Will you provide assistance?]

Rafael leaned back, then forward and opened the program pinging Cybertron. His first few pings had started to return unanswered.

[that depends. What are you going to do once you get out?]

[Primary Directive: locate Lord Megatron]

[i hate to break it to you, but he's dead]

There was a long pause.

[Please repeat correspondence.]

[Megatron is dead.]

The silence stretched so long Raf leaned forward and typed another message. [what will you do now?]

[I do not know.]

[will you attack me if i let you out?]

[There is no purpose to that action. I have no prime directive.]

[do you still want to get out?]

[I do not know.]

Raf felt his heart close up, the way it did the fist day he'd tried to contact Bumblebee and been unable to.

[i'll get you out. send the signal, we're getting you out of there.]

[Affirmative.]

"What do you mean the space bridge is broken?"

"I mean it's busted!" Knockout snarled, throwing a crumpled chunk of metal. It hit the wall with a spray of sparks and a clang before falling to the floor where it rolled beneath a desk. He held his head in his servos defeatedly. Bee shifted pedes.

"So- we have- we have NO contact with earth? At all?"

Knockout shook his head in a dejected way, "None. None at all. We're stuck here."

The panic was rising in Bee's throat, tingling against his repaired vocoder uncomfortably, "N- Raf is going to freak out if he doesn't hear from me- we need to- I need to- can we fix it?!"

"Maybe," sighed Knockout, "I don't know how."

"I'll get Ratchet-" Bee cried, opening his comm, "Ratchet?! Ratchet come in! We have a problem-"

Raf shifted against the seat, hugging his arms tighter against himself. He tried to focus on keeping his teeth from chattering, but the cold combined with the vibrations of a vehicle in motion were to much for him.

"H-hey," he said, trying to distract himself. Bee chirped back a confirmation he'd heard him- quickly. Maybe a little too quickly. Raf tried not to think about how worried his friend must be. "Why d'you th-think it is that I c-can understand you?"

There was a pause while Bee mulled it over, and Raf leaned against the door, watching the snowbanks roll by under the dim starlight.

"You know," Bee buzzed, "I've actually spent a lot of time wondering about that? And it doesn't really make sense. I don't know why. But-"

He stopped abruptly and Raf tapped the glass, "Aww, c-come on, Bee, what is it?"

"Well, it's just that- back on Cybertron, you know, we have- we have these spark siblings, right? And I guess they're kinda like your understanding of family. Kinda. But spark siblings can understand eachother without words anyone else can understand- I used to know this guy, and when his spark brother died he could tell even though he was on the other side of the planet."

"You think we're spark siblings?" Raf asked thoughtfully.

"Ah- I mean, I dunno. Maybe. It was just a thought. I think we're in a whole 'nother category entirely."

Raf peeked back over the glass to watch the trees thin out and the snow covered fields unfold out into the night covered mountains. It was beautiful, if cold.

"No matter what, we're family, okay?"

Bee chirped an affirmative.

"No- seriously, Bee," Raf said, leaning up. "Whether w-we find Ratchet or not- even if we n-never find the others or we're t-too late, or- it's you and me, okay? Brothers. No matter what."

"Brothers," Bee said, tasting the word on his vocoder in a language only one human could understand, "Yeah. No matter what. It's you and me, 'till the end."

"Even when I'm all weird and old and you're not?"

Bee snorted, "Even when you're a weird old organic with a cane and no hair."

Raf laughed and settled back against the window, "No matter what. It's you and me. That'll be enough."

"Denny, I need you to take Russel and Fixit and get out of here. Drive as far as you can and don't look back."

Bee tried not to take the human's rapidly paling face too personally.

"No way," Denny said, despite the sallow fear in his eyes at Bee's sudden change in demeanor, "I'm staying right here with you. We've faced down tons of 'Cons- this isn't any different."

Bee shook his head, "This IS different. This 'Con makes Steeljaw look like Fixit. No offense, Fixit."

"None taken," Fixit said hurriedly, waving his little arms frantically.

"What's the plan, Lieutenant?" Strongarm asked, behind him.

"Same directions to you. You and Grimlock and Sideswipe need to stick together- safety in numbers, and you need to go. And you need to go now. We don't have a space bridge or enough time to fan out properly."

"Lieutenant! With all due respect, according to Article sixteen subsectio-"

Bee whipped around, "This is not a training exercise, Strongarm!"

She looked cowed, hands hovering over the projection on her arm uncertainly, "Sir? Are you okay?"

Bee watched her for a moment, trying to come up with an answer and finding himself unable. He spun on one heel back to Fixit.

"Fixit. I need a weapon. Something lethal."

Raf rolled over in bed and opened his laptop.

[yo sounders]

[My designation is Soundwave.]

[no update on the signal yet?]

[The signal is still traveling.]

[it must be really boring over there]

[I make use of my time.]

[doing what?]

[Calculations. Surveillance. Research.]

[sounds boring]

[I make use of my time.]

Raf rolled onto his back to stare at the ceiling. It was dark, and it made him miss the far away ceilings of the silo- but it had been years since he'd seen them, and the silo was gone. He rolled back onto his stomach.

[what was cybertron like? before the war]

There was a long pause.

[It was a violent, dangerous planet. There was not enough energon to sustain the massive population, and what little was available to the lower classes was fought over as precious.]

[that sounds awful. you want to go back to that?]

[No.]

[then what was the point? what was the war over?]

[It was for Lord Megatron.]

[what did he ever do for you?]

[Lord Megatron let me live. He gave us hope for food, for change, for life. He gave us the strength to trip those that would trample us. He gave us the will to fight for more than our lives.]

Raf leaned back against the headboard and stared at the dimly lit crackles of the ceiling, imagining the lines looked like Cybertron, before the war, filled with frightened strangers and fire.

[what was he like? before the war?]

"And- there. That should do it."

Bee glanced up over the cables he was holding together in a bundle, "You got it? It's working?!"

"Looks like. All we can do is fire it up and see," Ratchet said, wiping his servos together. Bee set the bundle down gently, making sure not to disturb the connectors.

"Set it for the base- I need- we need to- Raf-"

Ratchet nodded gravely, "I know. I'm worried, too." He reached for the handle to engage the bridge, but before his fingers reached it, it roared to life, a screaming green vacuum that flared up brighter than it ever had before. Bee swore something he hoped he never did in front of Raf and stumbled back in surprise.

"What's going on?!" He yelled, already moving toward the bridge.

"I don't know- it's- it's being accessed remotely-"

"By who?!" The beams holding the portal were already quivering violently.

Ratchet's optics widened, and he spoke in a whisper. Bee didn't actually hear him over the roar of the bridge, but he could see the curve of Ratchet's mouth as it shook over the word: Soundwave.

The bridge exploded.

"So what are humans like? Huh? Huh? The holovids say they're small, like, really really really small!"

Bumblebee sighed and turned to look wearily at the excited orange bot to his right. "They're pretty tiny, yeah. You could hold one in your hand."

"Neat! Were you ever afraid you'd squish them by accident?"

"Well, I mean, yeah, sometimes, but-"

"What did they transform into? Other organic species? Or vehicles, like me?"

"They don't transform into anything," he said, cocking an optic ridge, "they only have the one form."

The bot looked like she was about ready to bounce right out of her plating, "Wow! That's so cool! What were they like? Were they gross to touch?"

Despite himself, he laughed, "What? No. They're- they're a good species. I mean, I met bad ones, yeah, but the good ones were-" he stopped when his spark twisted in his chest, a festering, unhealed wound. She looked up at him, frowning.

"Mister Bumblebee? You okay?"

"Yeah," he said, standing up and crushing his empty cube before tossing it in the recycler nearby. His lunch break was nearly over. "You should probably get back to class."

She looked crestfallen but nodded as his shoulders slumped forward and he made his way back to his building. Training rookies seemed so ironic these days, but he could never really explain precisely why.

"Lethal?!" Fixit cried.

"Sir! You can't be serious!" Strongarm said, startled, but he didn't turn toward her.

"Yeah- we'd be more effective as a team, wouldn't we? There's four of us and one of him," Sideswipe said, brandishing his sword to show he meant business. He looked like a child showing off a new toy in a way that made Bee's tanks roll.

"You don't know Soundwave like I know Soundwave. Optimus was lucky to capture him the first time- and the only reason he did so was because Soundwave was distracted and he hit a bunch of power lines- none of us stand a chance. He's third in command of the Decepticon army for a reason."

"Don't you mean 'was?'" Strongarm asked in a small voice.

"No."

There was a hush over the crowd.

"Something lethal, Fixit. Everyone else, get moving."

Raf kicked off of the table and scooted to the laptop resting on the desk. A green line of text was waiting for him.

[Knight to E4. Checkmate.]

Raf cursed and scooted back to the other computer to move the piece. He inspected the board for a moment before sighing and scooting back to his laptop.

[congrats. you win again.]

[Of course.]

Raf snorted, [of course?]

[Of course. :)]

Raf leaned back in his chair thoughtfully. The computer pinged, notifying him of another message, and he peeked downward at it.

[The spacebridge has opened. Will you open yours?]

Raf sat up. This was it. This was the moment of truth. He stood up, clambering onto the catwalk and the spacebridge controls. This was his last best chance to find Bumblebee- saving Soundwave. He tried to ignore the way his hands were shaking and the cold sweat on his forehead- Soundwave had been polite, if often short. He wasn't afraid. This was the right thing to do.

He pulled down the bridge activation control and the bridge roared to life. The computer pinged downstairs and he dropped back down to read it.

[Thank you. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to correct the largest of my many mistakes.]

Something large and dark shot out of the bridge and crashed into the far wall with a shriek of metal and a spray of bright yellow sparks. Rising out of the wrended, twisted remains of one of the catwalks rose Soundwave- massive and glowing, surrounded by heatwaves rolling off of superheated metal. Raf took a step back, but the computer pinged.

[I have been kind. I have been just. I have gone to greater lengths than most to preserve innocent life. I did not, and have not, killed anyone who did not deserve it. I did not kill you.]

"Wait-" Raf said, his breath coming choppily as Soundwave stepped over the wreckage toward him, "Wait!"

[That was my mistake. I let you live, over and over again, and you would have killed me at the first given opportunity. I am through making mistakes. The war will never be over, and you made your choice of sides.]

"Wait- wait wait wait, please-" Raf cried, eyes wide as Soundwave's massive spindly hand reached for him.

"Grimlock, you should go," Bee said, tightening his grip on his blaster self consciously. Grimlock snorted.

"If you think you can make me leave you're welcome to try, huh?"

Bee grinned, despite himself, "I can't believe they locked you up."

"Me neither," Grimlock chuckled, "Guess I'll never know why, now, huh?"

Bee's smile dropped, "Let's make something up then. What do you think you were stasis'd for?"

"Pro'lly for fightin'."

"Maybe," said Bee, eyeing the sky as the distance began to distort, a tiny dark object in the distance burning against the atmosphere, "Maybe you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Standing next to the guy who shot the archduke or something."

"What's an archduke?"

Bee tightened his grip and didn't answer as the black dot on the horizon rapidly took shape- a small, familiar plane.

Raf was sitting at the edge of the sidewalk, the bottoms of his sneakers against the asphalt and the bottom of his chin against his knees. He looked up with his eyes when Bee pulled quietly around the corner.

"Where are we going?" He asked, trying to keep the harsh tones of his voice as low as possible. Raf shook his head and climbed in the back seat. Bee knew not to comment on the drag in his leg or the purpling skin around his eyes. Showing up to these in the middle of the night was not new.

"I don't care. Just drive," he whispered, huddling in a ball against the upholstery. Bee rolled forward and turned toward the highway. Raf always calmed down after a good race with some decent speed. It seemed so out of character for him- he was so often meek and quiet. Bee suspected he wasn't really as meek and quiet as he acted. But he was young. They both were.

He pulled out onto the near-empty highway, picking up speed and felt his friend's tiny organic muscles go slack, something he had learned to associate with calmness. Which was good. He wanted him to be calm.

It was funny, he thought, how he could be at war and be more concerned over a tiny organic's life than his own.

The plane transformed mid-flight and landed so hard against the ground that the impact spat rock and dust into the air like water and Bee covered his faceplate defensively. Lazerfire was rocketing toward him before the smoke had even cleared- from a suspiciously low angle, and he dodged backward, trying to scramble out of the way.

"Grimlock! Take the left!" He yelled, digging his pedes into the ground to propel himself toward the right side of their attacker.

The lazerfire followed him, but Bee was accustomed to dancing around lazerfire. He'd spent his entire life doing this, from the moment of his birth. This was as natural as transforming.

He skipped over a barrage of quick bursts and ducked under another volley before he spotted his target through the dust- on the other side, wrestling Grimlock. Grimlock seemed to be okay for the moment, with one of Soundwave's tentacles mangled in his powerful jaws, and Bee cast his attention back to the rapidly clearing dust cloud, searching for the accomplice.

A lazer blast clipped his shoulder and he triangulated the assailant- it looked like a minicon. Bipedal, as dark as Soundwave and with a similar dark visor. Soundwave was known for his deployers. Bee returned fire, and the minicon dipped out of the way. Bee skidded around it- it wasn't his target. He was going to kill Soundwave, and he was going to act like it was because he wanted to protect this planet and its inhabitants. Which he did want to do.

He wished he was doing this to protect this planet and its inhabitants.

"No, no, you have to mash A-"

Bee adjusted his hold on the controller. It was ugly and cobbled together from odds and ends, but it functioned, and he really appreciated it. He liked playing video games with the humans.

"There you go! Yeah like tha- ah! Oh no, now you're beating me, I shouldn't have showed you that-" Raf was leaning precariously to one side, staring intently at the screen, like he could will his car on-screen to lean into the turn. Bee churred a laugh and sped past him and over the finish line. Raf pouted up at him.

"No fair, I was distracted!"

"Well well well, we'll just have to do best two outta three then, huh?"

Raf's face settled into a smirk and he leaned back to the screen to select his character.

One of the minicon's blasts hit him in the leg and sent him sprawling as he tried to run past it toward Soundwave- and suddenly he was scrabbling at the dirt, trying to roght himself. It stepped forward, blaster pointed directly at his faceplate, but not firing. His optics darted over to Grimlock, whom Soundwave had expertly pinned already. His optics darted back to the approaching minicon.

"Not gonna kill me yourself?" He hissed at Soundwave, who did not react. The minicon made a noise that sounded like throat clearing and he turned back to it.

"We need some information, first," the minicon said. It's voice sounded strange- more digital than was usual, and familiar in a vague sort of way he couldn't place.

"We saw your arrest warrant out on the fringes. 'Cybertronian wanted for impersonating Public Hero Bumblebee, two counts of kidnapping, one count of armed assault, three counts of grand theft.' Sound familiar?"

Bumblebee was silent, focusing hard, trying to place the voice.

"I've got better things to do than hunt down scrap, but you being on Earth and impersonating a friend of mine? You made it personal."

Bee furrowed his optics at the minicon, confused. "A friend of yours?"

"Shut up. Yeah, a friend. A dead one. So you're gonna tell me why you're trussed up like Bee, and then maybe I'll take you back to Cybertron and collect the bounty instead of blowing you away right now."

He placed the voice quite suddenly, violently, like being hit by a truck, a mental image thst washed him through with another cold wave of grief and panic.

"Stop! Wait- listen!" Raf yelled, slamming his hand down on the keypad. The room was filled with the static crackling that accompanied the message he'd received three months prior. Megatron's voice, tired, angry, distant, filled the lab's speakers.

"Decepticons!" It said, and Soundwave froze, "You are no more. Anyone I find carrying on the Decepticon cause will answer directly to me. You are to lay down arms, stand down, and assist with rebuilding our broken planet, or you are to stay off of it. Do not contact me. Do not look for me. Do not carry on my legacy."

Soundwave stood frozen, a great, black and purple metal statue. Raf cast a quick glance down at the clock- he probably had another three minutes before the national guard came knocking.

"Look- Megatron betrayed you. Not just by running the war into the ground but by abandoning it, and you. And I never lied to you! He was dead! I saw him! On the monitors! He died! Something happened and that stopped being true but I swear he was dead and now he's not, but he's abandoned you."

Soundwave's visor tilted, ever so little, toward him, and his laptop pinged.

[What do you want from me?]

He looked back up at Soundwave, fire beyond his years in his eyes, his tiny hands crumpled into white knuckled fists, "If Megatron is alive, that means no one else is. That's why I haven't heard from Bee. He's family- if he were- if he was still alive he would have found a way to let me know. But he's not. He can't be. Ratchet, and Bee, and Arcee and Optimus and- they're all dead."

It wasn't a question, but the laptop pinged.

[I see no flaw in your logic.]

His hands were shaking, "I'm not as stupid or naive as everyone thinks I am. It's been a long time since I was a kid and a long time since I was unprepared. I- I made a suit. For travel. In space. Recycled air, all that. Because I need your help."

[Why should I help you?]

"Because we both want the same thing."

[And that would be?]

"To kill Megatron for what he took from us."

There was a long pause where they stared at eachother, before even Raf could hear the distant rumble of approaching helicopters. Soundwave's visor tilted down in a subtle nod, and Raf finally let out the breath he'd been holding.

"It's okay," Raf said, "Don't be afraid."

Bee's servos hovered over him uncertainly, uncomfortably. The human was leaking- his handling was to rough, his servos to large to help, but Raf's tiny hands were reaching up toward him.

"Don't be afraid- it's just a scraped knee. It's okay. It wasn't your fault."

But it was his fault. Of course it was. How could he ever expect to handle something- someone so small without breaking them?

Raf's hands stayed up until he lowered his servos, stilling their quivering to pick him back up.

"See?" He said, pulling up one baggy pant leg to show him the broken skin, "It's only a little cut. It's okay. You're okay."

"Raf," Bee whispered, his spark burning cold in his chassis.

Raf tilted his helmet toward him and the nose of the gun tilted momentarily downward, "How do you know that name?"

"Raf?!" He said again because no other words would come- his mouth was dry, his optics hurt, his servos were shaking- "Raf?!"

Raf took a step back and glanced briefly at Soundwave, who shrugged just the slightest bit. The hand that wasn't holding a gun reached up to the side of his helmet and unlatched it, before pulling it off.

Bee's vents all snapped shut as all the air went out of him. It was Raf- older, taller, harder- but he had the same sprig of mussy brown hair and the same round jaw and the same soft eyes. It was Raf. It was Raf.

"You're alive!" He cried, the gun forgotten as he scrabbled toward his brother, "You're alive you're alive you're alive!"

Raf's arm didn't lower, "Stay back! You can't fool me- Bee? Bee's dead. You're an imposter and- don't touch me- don't come near me- I-"

"Do you remember how I used to take you for a drive in the desert when you had nightmares?" He cried, still moving toward him, "Do- do you remember the time we were playing Roadblasters and- and you sneezed so hard your car flew off the track? You- I- you're Raf- you're my brother- no matter what, I-" Raf was giving him a peculiar look and the muzzle of the blaster had begun to dip, "It's you and me- 'til the end, no matter what."

The blaster dropped into the dirt with a dull thunk. Raf's eyes were as big as dinner plates. "Bee?"

He nodded rapidly and swallowed the lump in his throat. Raf took one jerky step forward, then two, then he was running, stumbling in the tossed up earth until he reached Bee and Bee caught him on impulse, like muscle memory, lifting him up high enough that they could bump foreheads.

"God," Raf whispered, his eyes watering, "I thought you were dead. I thought I'd never see you again."

"Same," Bee said, trying to keep the emotional static from creeping into his voice, "I thought he'd killed you. When we got the space bridge working and the base was destroyed and the- the logs- I thought- we thought-"

Raf sniffled and rubbed his eyes on the thick fabric of his coat, smearing his face with moisture, "When we got Megatron's message we thought- I thought- I'm just- Hey! Sounders, get off of him!" He cried suddenly, turning to where Soundwave had Grimlock pinned. He stood up slowly, and released his hold on the struggling dinobot, who flipped himself back onto his feet before retreating cautiously toward Bumblebee.

"Okay- we need to- I need to- try this again, I think, let me call my team and we can- sit down and talk this through, okay?"

Raf nodded and rested his forehead back against Bee's in the familiar way that made Bee's spark turn, like the empty part of it had finally been filled.

His brother was alive.