Summary: Jack and Arcee go to Cybertron to return Optimus' memories but only one could return. Jack, stuck on a mostly dead planet, has no escape. How will he cope? What happens to the rest of the Autobots on Earth with no Prime? TFP Slash

Rated: T

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers; it belongs to Hasbro/Takara. As for the story, I got inspired from Side Effects by Prowlsgirl. I have to mention that story was extremely amazing in my mind.

Author's Note: I finally have a beta for this story so the first 3 chapters have been edited for better reading.

Return

Chapter 1: Left

The mission was to be simple. Go to Cybertron while the others held the space bridge. Find Vector Sigma, download the information, and return to save Optimus. No sightseeing. In, out, gone. Of course the Insecticons happened, then the Scraplets. They both were lucky to be alive after everything that had happened.

As for Jack, he knelt in the empty rubble and dead streets; the Vector Sigma key glowed eerily in his hands. But his focus wasn't on the key, it was on the crumbled ruins in front of him. The space bridge had vanished before him and now he was trapped on Cybertron alone. How could this have happened to him? He had to save Optimus! He was going to return home after this nightmarish mission and see his friends.

oooooooooo

"Acree to Ratchet"

Light static filled her audios. She tried again. Nothing. The blue femme stared at the swirling bridge. Her instincts screamed at her something was wrong.

"Partner….wait here. Ratchet's not responding to his comm, I think something happened. I'm gonna go through and clear the way, so wait a minute before you follow me."

"Arcee," he paused to swallow a huge feeling of dread. "Please be careful."

Arcee nodded before she ran towards the bridge. With a quick jump, she transformed and vanished through the ground bridge. Jack stared at the swirling green vortex, his heart was heavy. Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Ratchet…Optimus. He could only hope everybody was okay and countdown till he could save him.

"One"

"Two"

"Three"

A bright flash from the bridge forced him to raise his arm and shield his eyes. Unseen to him, the energy burst started from the center before it quickly imploded upon itself. The sudden flash left white splotches in his vision even after he removed his arm; it took a few moments to readjust .The bridge was gone. He was only staring at the desecrated building and black chemical ridden skies on the other side.

"Jack to Arcee, come in"

Only static returned. He panicked and smashed down hard on the comm button. The force broke it so there would be a constant transmission from his suit.

"Arcee, Ratchet, Bulkhead, can anybody hear me!"

Static.

He didn't know how long he was kneeling or listening to the static buzz but instincts told him he had to move. He carefully laid the key in the front chest pocket then helped himself from the ground. Jack had started to pace, gloved hands firmly over his helmet. His head and heart were pounding.

'Great Jack what am I going to do. What should I do? ...Don't panic. Things will work, Yea, things always work out. Arcee would never abandon me. I'm her partner. Plus, I need to get the key to Optimus. First...um...Oyxgen. I need to breathe. How much do I have left?'

He looked down to his wrists, arms, and patted down the space suit for any status screens. The suit was just cloth and glass. No information.

'Ok, you are on an alien planet, with a limited amount of air. There is no answer from the other side. Yea, the Autobots will open the bridge again...please'

0

Arcee stared in horror as the bridge closed. When she had charged to attack, Megatron retaliated. She landed a punch on his face throwing off his shot. Instead of her, the space bridge controls were hit. The bridge quickly lost stabilization and the implosion was inevitable.

"Jack!" Arcee screamed his name, begging for him to come back. From the spot Megatron thrown her, she scrambled to the sparking controls and tried to fix the obliterated mess.

Megatron smirked as he wiped his energon from his cut lip. He stood, aimed cannon at the distracted Arcee, and fired. Her scream filled the cavern.

"Base, this is Ratchet, I need you to open a ground bridge immediately. Arcee's been hit!" Ratchet screamed into his comm.

Bulkhead rushed Megatron, screaming in rage, and tried with all his might to beat the slag out of the con. The leader just scowled and dodged or blocked each of the brutish moves. Ratchet ran forward and grabbed Arcee, slinging her arm over his shoulder and dragged her away from the fight. Bumblebee ran next to him and supported the other side of the femme. Ratchet looked to Optimus who just stared at the energon that dripped from Arcee's chest plates.

"Please, old friend," Ratchet begged, "you may not remember us but please help."

The ground bridge opened and his choice was made. Optimus opened fire onto his old friend. Ratchet and Bumblebee dragged Arcee's body through and lay her on the closest berth. Bulkhead came running through next, followed closely by Prime.

"He's coming" Optimus warned.

Raf closed the bridge with a few keystrokes on his laptop. All the humans stared over the railing looking to their broken friends. Someone was missing. June rushed down the stairs in panic.

"Is everyone one alright?" Raf asked.

"Where's Jack?" She looked between all the bots, but there were no signs of Jack "Ratchet! Where is my son?" Her voice got louder with each word.

"June..." Arcee coughed, her vents were filling with energon, "I'm sorry"

June fell to her knees, silent tears pouring down her face. Fowler ran up behind her and hugged her close. She clung onto him crying into his chest.

"Please, not my son too."

0

A lone ship drifted in space through the debris left behind from war. The working crew on deck lay bored or asleep across the consoles and chairs. For mega-cycles nothing had happened. Only junk kept passing by the external sensors: dead spy satellites, half of a blown ship, lifeless forms, and the usual things.

But this mega-cycle was different. A small red dot surfaced and a beep came out from the previously inert machine. The noise startled the resting mech so much that he snapped into a straight sitting position looking frantically for the noise. His eyes landed on the blinking console he used as a pillow.

"Sir" The bot reset his optics again to make sure there was no mistake. "There's a signal on Cybertron"

"Fraggin insecticons again. How many times do we have to kill 'em to stay dead? Ugh...Just ignore it this time, lad. It's not worth the waste of fuel." A rough voice bit back.

"It's not the Decepticons, sir. It's an Autobot's communication signal."

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AN: Tell me what you think