Author's notes: Hello everyone! This is my first story ever so please be kind in your reviews. I have no experience in writing other than reading stories of other people. What's more I am not a native speaker of English so probably there will be lots of mistakes below since the story was not beta-read. If you could be kind leave me your opinion about the story and let me know if I should continue writing or stop doing it at all. Just hoping it's not so bad :))

Is it over?

I remember … I remember I was running. There was a moment when I thought we were screwed up. I was trying to get to the marines, but the fire was too heavy. We were surrounded by the Decepticons who were trying to stop us from reaching Optimus. I was really afraid they were going to succeed in killing me and Mikaela, and then … I saw Lennox and Epps running towards us. When they reached us, I felt relieved thinking that they would be able to get us to Optimus Prime. But my hope was short-lived. The Decepticons doubled their efforts and if that wasn't enough, it turned out that the fighters were going to drop bombs on the invading robots aiming for an orange smoke. And guess what? The whole area where we were hiding was covered by the orange smoke. The day was turning better and better with each passing minute.

Suddenly, we heard the sound of an approaching fighter so Lennox ordered us to run. He took Mikaela's hand and together we sprinted towards a group of marines. One of the Decepticons set off in pursuit of us and I could hear the sound of his heavy footsteps. It sounded as if there were huge rocks falling down on the ground behind our backs. Then I realised we weren't running towards Optimus but slightly to the west of the Autobot and the only thing I was sure about at that moment was that I had to get to my dead friend. If I failed, the whole world as we knew it would cease to exist. I couldn't let that happen so at one point I turned left leaving Mikaela in Lennox's hands and I rashed at breakneck speed towards Optimus. However, the pursuing Decepticon was getting closer and closer. I could feel his breath down my neck and in my mind I could see the image of him squashing my little body with his enormous feet. I heard Mikaela screaming my name at the top of her voice, but I couldn't stop now so I doubled my efforts.

When I thought I couldn't run any further, a fighter flew over the area. Suddenly, there was a huge explosion and everything erupted into chaos. At one moment I was running, and at the next I was flying into the air. Some huge invicible force swept me off my feet as the forward momentum of the explosion carried me upright. It felt as if the time slowed down although it probably took only a fraction of a second. I could feel my body doing several saltos in the air making me disoriented before it started falling down. A second before my body hit the ground with a thud I was able to hear Mikaela's scream, and then ... nothing. Just a deafening silence...

For a moment I didn't know what was happening. Everything around me was dark as if I've been swallowed up by a complete blackness. There were no sounds and no smells, the only thing one could feel was this sense of utter emptiness. And then it hit me – I was dead. I must have died the moment my body hit the ground. If I were still alive, I would certainly feel something by now – like some huge waves of pain passing through my battered body. After all, I hit the ground with great force, therefore, there should be some broken bones or cuts, but I felt nada, nothing, zip, zero! I couldn't even see myself in this darkness to check whether there were any bruises or wounds on my body. To be frank, I couldn't feel my body at all, as if I didn't have it anymore. It was the strangest feeling I have ever had. So the only conclusion I could draw at the moment was that I had died at the fall.

I know I was slow on the uptake but you must forgive me for this. I have always thought that death was irrevocably bound together with some kind of spiritual experience. You know how everyone always talks about seeing a long dark tunnel with a huge warm light at the end. Some people even describe how their spirits left their human shells at the moment of death observing everything from above. I also heard about people seeing their whole life passing by in front of their eyes. So after hearing such recollections from people who had once died and then were brought back to life, one would expect a similar experience when dying. But there were no lights and tunnels here, no spirits, no angels, no portals to a higher plain, and certainly no images from my life passing through my mind. There was only nothingness which was making me feel totaly miserable.

I was devastated by a sense of failure that passed through me. One would think that I would be shaterred by my own death, but that wasn't the thing that kept me inconsolable. The only thing I could think about at that moment was the fact that my death meant the end of the humankind since noone would be able to revive Optimus, and it was only he who could thwart Decepticons' plans of destroying our sun. I was so sure I could save him, thus the world as well, from the revenge of the Decepticons. But I was proved wrong. How could I even think that an ordinary boy like me could stop a race of avengeful robots? And now everyone would be paying for my mistake. I couldn't stop blaming myself for everything. My failure to revive Optimus Prime was going to lead to the descruction of our solar system and to the deaths of billions of innocent people.

At that moment I thought that my soul must have ended up in Hell where I would be paying for my failure by spending the rest of eternity in this abyss of oblivion. If only I could stop myself from thinking about my parents, Mikaela, Bumblebee and other Autobots. I was sure they were dying a horrible death at the exact moment. I could almost picture them in my mind still fighting with everything they had, but it was a losing battle. They were no match for the Decepticons, and especially for the Fallen. They would certainly be dead long before the destruction of our sun.

There was even a moment when I thought I heard Mikaela shouting my name and telling me that she loved me and that I had to live, but I was sure it was just a figment of my imagination. Putting some effort into it, I coud visualise her. She was so beautiful with her dark hair and those huge eyes. I couldn't forgive myself that I had never told her how much I loved her. To be frank, I had lots of regrets and no chance to undo them. No chance to tell Mikaela about my love for her. No chance to tell parents how much I had respected them for my whole life, even despite their ability for making me feel like a fool in front of my friends. No chance to tell Bumblebee how sorry I was that I didn't take him with me to the college. No chance to tell him how much I had appreciated his friendship and guardianship. No chance to finish the college and become an adult. But first and foremost no chance to revive Optimus who was probably our only hope for safe future. But when I was thinking about it, I realised that I wouldn't probably be able to save Optimus even if I hadn't died. After all, the key – the so-called Matrix – turned into dust and I had no idea how to bring Optimus Prime back to life with the remaining ashes. I had only this inner and deeply held conviction that everything would turn all right the moment I got the Matrix to the fallen Autobot.

These were the thoughts that were passing through my head in that God forsaken abyss. I couldn't believe that it was going to end like that. It couldn't be over – there must have been something I could still do to help my friends. I even thought for a second that I would be willing to die again if I only got another chance to go back there and finish what I had started. When this thought was crossing my mind, a huge blinding light suddenly appeared, enlightening everything around me. I couldn't see anything for a moment, and then the light started to fade and I could make out the silhouettes of some mechs. It took me a moment to realise that these were the ancient Primes who gave their lives to seal the Matrix away from the Fallen in a tomb made of their own bodies. I didn't know how it was possible for me to see them and talk to them, but that wasn't significant at the moment. The most important part was what they were trying to tell me. It turned out that it wasn't enough to find the Matrix of Leadership, one had to earn it first to be able to use it. And according to their words, that's what I had done – I proved my courage by being willing to sacrifice my own life to save their last descendant, Optimus Prime. I was so stunned by all of this that I couldn't utter a word, and I had so many questions to ask. But not being the ones for wasting time, they ordered me to go back and revive Optimus by merging the Matrix with his Spark.

When they said their last words, I was again encompassed by the light. It was so bright that I had to close my eyes. Then, I felt an electrical surge running through my body so I opened my eyes with a start, taking a huge breath. I realised I couldn't catch my breath as if I had been under the water for a very long time. When I looked up, I saw Mikaela watching me with tears in her eyes. Seeing her again let me forget about everything around us – I could see only her. For a second she appeared to be shocked at what she was seeing, but then her face was brightened up by a sweet smile and she said my name with such a tenderness that I had never heard before in her voice. It reminded me of the thoughts and regrets I had while being in the abyss. I was so happy to be able to see, touch and talk to her again that the first words that left my mouth were "I love you." She was so surprised that I just wanted to kiss her there in the middle of a battlefield. Wait a moment … a battlefield? And then everything came back to me in a rush – Optimus, the Fallen, the battle between the Autobots and the Decepticons, the machine harvesting the Energon, and the Matrix.

I clenched my fingers, crashed by the enormity of our situation, and then I felt something in my left hand. I looked down, and instead of a sack full of ashes, I saw the Matrix of Leadership – it must have been totally restored during my conversation with the Primes. I looked around until I spotted Optimus. Then, I started rising with the intention of getting to him, but I had to stop for a second. Oh boy! I could feel every single cell of my body throbbing with pain. I have almost lost my consciousness under the sensation, but I knew I couldn't give up now. So I stumbled towards Optimus and I started a slow arduous climb up the Autobot's body. When I finally got to his chest I had to stop for a moment to catch my breath. Then, I lifted the Matrix above my head and plunged it into Prime's chest with all the strength I had left in my body. After a fraction of a second, an electrical surge passed through the Autobot's body and I heard the most beautiful sound in the world – the sound of a mech being brought back to life. And then, Optimus uttered the words that made it all worth it for me, "Boy, you returned for me." At that moment, I felt privileged to know this great race of kind Autobots who were ready to sacrifice themselves for our sake. Now I knew that everything I had gone through for the past few days – no scratch that, for the past few years – wasn't for nothing. Finally, I could lie down and rest knowing that everything would be alright now when Optimus was back with us.