Embers of a Spark

Revelation

Peace finally returned to them. There was nothing that could ruin the wonderful and peaceful Cybertron anymore. The planet was getting brighter and brighter, and the team which made that possible was still so happy that the majority couldn't believe that peace had finally returned. But… there is no victory without a sacrifice, which was crystal clear for the team. Optimus had given them all of this- the brightness, the light, the happiness, the whole living planet. His love for all of them was bigger than his love for himself; he had a noble and brave Spark, and wasn't afraid to give it to them.

A day wouldn't pass without thinking about him, the savior of the planet. Team Prime was sad that he left, but they knew it was because he wanted them to stay alive, to make their dream come true… The dream they had been fighting for so long... Besides, he was still alive… and it was not the end.

Days were slowly passing, they were getting happier each day… until that day came. The day which changed everything.

"Ultra Magnus… I'm picking up an energy signal", Ratchet suddenly stated and Ultra Magnus' sight went to him. The orange field medic was frowning as he was looking at the big green screen.

"An energy signal? But… the war ended a few months ago and I thought everybody scattered over the planet to live a new, peaceful life… Decepticons left to think about everything what they've done or to turn a new leaf", Ultra Magnus looked over to Knock Out and the red mech smiled towards him. Then he looked back at the orange field medic: "We Autobots live here together. Vehicons are not at the Deception side anymore. Who could it possibly be…?"

Ratchet opened the file to check it up, but there was nothing. No image, no identification, no text or message. He narrowed his optics and looked all over it again, but he had to give up as there was nothing to see. The medic heavily sighed.

"I wish I could tell you, Magnus," he looked at him, "but I cannot detect anything here… Maybe the signal is broken."

Ultra Magnus narrowed his optics and looked at the file too, only to see that the medic was right. He widened his bright optics and put a servo at his forehead in confusion.

"What are we chatting about?" Knock Out asked and passed right next to them without even looking at them and not seeming interested at all. There was only a smug smile on his faceplate which was revealing his interest for the mysterious message.

"Weird energy signals with no hints of messages", Ratchet said and Knock Out stopped walking. The red medic turned around and raised an optic ridge to look at the message.

After a few seconds of looking at the plain screen, he shrugged his shoulders and said: "Could be a glitch. It happens."

"A lot, actually", Arcee said, came into the room and the three 'Bots looked at her.

"Ugh… You don't even know what we're talking about… do you?" Knock Out asked and smirked towards the blue femme which smiled back at him.

"Do I have to?" she asked and Ratchet pointed at the screen which was showing a blank message. She widened her optics and then looked at Ratchet, looking at him like she was waiting for an explanation.

"It came to us today, just a few seconds ago," he said, "it is completely blank and we have no idea who could have sent it… We don't have an idea with whom we are dealing with right now. It could literally be anyone."

"But, as we are team Prime, we are destined to help those who need assistance", Ultra Magnus said and Ratchet looked into his optics.

"What if it's dangerous? Maybe that's someone whose life isn't at a peaceful point. It could be someone who wants to get rid of us, who could trick us. We're not one hundred percent sure if all the Cybertronians on this planet changed their passions."

"OR," the leader raised his voice, "it could be a person who requires immediate help and whose life is in danger."

"You don't think", Ratchet started, but Ultra Magnus already smiled and thus answered Ratchet's question.

"Arcee. We need a good scout."

She smiled and nodded her head: "I'll go find Bumblebee."

"No", Ultra Magnus said and she looked up to meet his optics as she didn't understand.

"He is a warrior now. You are the scout whom I'm talking about."

"You will send her to go alone?" Ratchet asked, "We could send back up in case of attack", he looked at Knock Out and the red mech's smile disappeared in a matter of astroseconds. He tilted his head and started looking around restlessly for something that didn't even exist.

"Uh… I've got some… important stuff to do. I'll just walk away now", he slowly backed off and as he turned around, he rushed towards the other screen in the room, just to avoid eye contact. He wasn't planning on going at dangerous missions if they'd ruin his perfect finish which was still gleaming.

Arcee heavily sighed.

"Fine… I'll go… What's the location?"

Ratchet soon located the signal's coordinates with Knock Out's help and Arcee got ready. The orange medic opened a Ground Bridge and she stepped right in front of it. The others were behind her, looking at her while she seemed a bit nervous. She was just looking at the green spiral which was waiting for her to step into it, but the femme couldn't bring herself to.

She clenched her hands into fists and took a deep breath, closing her optics. She wasn't doing this for a long time, and there was a strange feeling in her spark. She couldn't shake off the thought of something going wrong again, just like everything used to go wrong in the war, such as dead partners, weakened allies, damaged homes and hate everywhere. She didn't want to return to the war once again, to go through every part of it once again. She knew she was overreacting, but there was an invisible force which was pulling her back to stay there, in the base, safe. Not knowing what to do, she started fighting with herself: will she or not.

Knock Out put a servo at his hip and raised his other, saying: "Will she, or won't she? This is here the question."

Ratchet looked at him in a strict way and then back to the silent blue femme which seemed stuck.

"Arcee. Is everything all right?" Ratchet asked and she suddenly opened her optics and looked back. Sure, she could say what was bothering her, but she chose not to.

"I was just waiting till someone would say good luck, soldier", she stated and smirked.

Ultra Magnus smiled at her and stated: "Good luck, soldier, as you do good. Remember to contact us as soon you find anything out."

She nodded her head and started walking towards the Bridge which was slowly attracting her towards it. As soon as she entered it, her smile disappeared and she lowered her head. The femme looked around and remembered how many times she was doing that when there was a war. Always to fight or to escape one… Nothing nice came at her mind that time. Negativity was filling up her spark which was usually full of happiness. She crossed her servos and narrowed her optics to void the feelings inside of her. She didn't want them to get out, she wanted them to stay in a part of her spark which would never open up. After a few seconds, she started walking again. She soon stepped out and looked around. She was still on Cybertron, but she didn't expect anything else. Still, her eyes soon locked at a big structure which was going high into the sky… and she recognized it immediately. It was the same place they met Unicron in Megatron's body. She narrowed her blue optics and bit her lower lip. She didn't want to go in there, but it was a task she had received, and whatever she receives, she has to complete it or at least check it out… Depends.

As much as she wanted to leave, she felt excitement and curiosity as she wasn't exploring for a large period of time.

She sighed again and looked at her fist which she raised, saying: "Uh… Fine. Let's get this over with and leave as soon as possible."

She approached the building and stepped at the bottom stair. She looked up and then sighed another time before she continued walking. As she was walking up, her processor was warning her to turn around. It was trying to get her back into the base, and she knew something wasn't right about this place. She even got dizzy as she was climbing up to the top, but it didn't stop her. Not that she didn't want to listen to such a hunch, her spark was forbidding it. It was leading her up. She widely smiled as she saw the ceiling which was very close to her, so she ran the last few steps, showing her dental plates while smiling. She felt playfulness for no real reason… and she knew it was weird.

As soon as she saw the darkness and grayness of the place, her smile disappeared and she narrowed her optics once again. Then, she looked around. She saw claw marks all over the place, together with blast marks. The wall was collapsed, and there was a big hole which was showing the red sky outside. The next thing she saw was an energon trail which was on random places: it was starting and stopping. Now and then were drops of it too. Then, she looked at the throne in the middle. It was the same throne on which Megatron was sitting when he was still leading the Decepticons. She clenched her hands into fists and carefully approached it. As she did, she realized that it wasn't just attacked from Unicron's blasts; it had some deep cuts in it too. A few parts of it were cracked. There were big claw marks through the middle of the throne. Claw marks that were way bigger than claw marks from ordinary Decepticons. She narrowed her optics as she found it strange, but then she looked down and saw another energon trail which was leading towards the upper right corner. She followed the trail with her optics for a while as she didn't want to know… but it was her task. It was her mission to find out. So, she eventually did look into the corner. Her optics widened and she opened her mouth in terror and surprise in the same time. She was looking at a pile of little rocks which were covering a big, silver-colored body. It was scratched from helm to toe. A few cuts were still leaking blue energon which was dripping onto the dusty floor, forming a large puddle under the body. His wings were cracked at some parts and one was a little twisted. The seeker's face was facing the floor, his wounded servos placed above his head.

As soon as she got herself together, she picked up her comm. link and said: "I… I found him."

"Whom?" Ultra Magnus' voice got to her.

"Starscream", she stated and waited for a respond. But there was nothing.

"Hello?" she asked to confirm that Ultra Magnus was still listening to her, putting her left servo at her hip.

A few seconds passed before his voice came again: "Is he alive?"

Arcee looked at the seeker who seemed lifeless to her.

"Um… Doesn't look like."

"Is he offline, or is he looking like he is?"

She sighed and said: "He pretty much looks like he's offline."

"There's only one way to find out."

Arcee widened her optics for a second, but then narrowed them and asked: "What?"

The comm. link went off.

"Ultra Magnus…? Hello?"

No respond.

"Scrap", she silently stated and looked at the silver mech again. Then she looked at his claws and saw how long and sharp they were, but were also looking weak and fragile. She remembered how much pain those servos of his could cause, so she felt an urge to turn around and just walk away. Still, the thought of the fact that he could very well still be alive wasn't fading away, so she couldn't just leave. In fact, the thought of him turning a new leaf after this situation was prevailing.

"Okay… Because of Optimus and what he taught us…"

She slowly and carefully approached him, and as she did, she knelt down and her spark began to pound faster. She was never this close to him without getting beaten up by him. Well, at least she still wasn't getting beaten up. She slowly raised her trembling hand and lowered her optic ridges as she was about to touch his shoulder plate. She wasn't afraid of the mech himself, she was afraid of the mech's skills which were deadly, which were perfectly developed.

Then, she touched his shoulder plate, and as soon she did, she removed her servo from him. She braced, but he didn't respond in any way. Then she lowered an optic ridge and tried again. She put her servo at the exact same position of his shoulder as before, but this time, she didn't remove it. She soon calmed down and took a deep breath again. A second later, she put her other hand at his shoulder plate and tried to turn him around so his head would face the ceiling, not the floor.

"Ugh… He's… He's way heavier than he looks like", she complained as she was turning him. When she finally succeeded after a few unsuccessful tries, she heavily gasped and looked at his scarred face. His optics were tightly closed and his mouth half-opened, showing his, somehow, still bright dental plates. The mech's face didn't look evil, in fact, it looked innocent that way. He had a plain scar under his right optic which immediately reminded her at the past when she was fighting him for Cliffjumper's death, making a scar at his right faceplate that way. A burst of fury appeared in her spark, but she knew she shouldn't think of the past which was only reminding her at the bad times, never the good.

"No… please! I… I don't want to! What's past is past; I'm one of you now!" she remembered him saying and clenched her hands into fists once again, tightly closing her optics. She couldn't deny it, she still wasn't over Cliffjumper's death. Sometimes, she wondered if she would ever get over it.

"It's OK… The war has ended… Maybe he's even dead, don't you think of anything", she was calming herself.

His lower lip was cut and hardened energon was on the right part of his faceplate, coming from the top of his helm. She lowered her optic ridges and slowly neared her head to his chest to hear if his spark was still beating… and she couldn't hear anything. But then, all of a sudden, his claws moved, scratching the floor and his spark began to race. She quickly backed off of him, but stayed kneeling to see if he's going to come to his senses. She was looking at his claws which were slowly clenching into fists, but suddenly, they stopped and completely relaxed. She raised her optic ridges and blinked twice. Then, there was nothing for a cycle. As time passed, she sighed and wanted to check his pulse once again by checking his carotid artery, but as soon she got closer to him, he suddenly widely opened his bright red optics and his pupils shrank. She quickly jumped at her feet in fear of getting hurt. He coughed, closing his optics and then he put his weight at his trembling servos which were full of claw marks and scratches. He firstly didn't seem to notice her, but as she stepped a step closer, he widely opened his optics again and turned his head into her direction, slightly tilting it. He widely opened his mouth and fell to the ground to bow.

"Oh, praise the AllSpark, someone came to check on me!" he cutely narrowed his optics from the smile on his faceplate which was addressed to her.

She looked left-right to check if it was really meant for her, and as it turned out, it was.

"I", she started.

"Oh, I simply knew someone would care!" he kept on and compressed his hands, "Though I did not expect you, Arcee", his optics met hers and she widened her bright blue optics as they met his red ones.

"Stop it, Starscream; I'm not falling for this", she said and his smile vanished from his faceplate. She knew he needed help more than anything right then, but she just couldn't bring herself to call for a Bridge. After all, she knew he didn't deserve it.

He coughed again and touched the floor with his claws as he couldn't stay in the position anymore; the energon loss was killing him, slowly, yet painfully.

"Arcee… I've been here for a long time… I haven't eaten anything; I have lost more energon than ever before… Couldn't you just look over the fact that I killed Cliffjumper this time?" he asked when he looked into her optics, but soon widened them when he realized that he was talking about it once again. He clearly couldn't forget the way she beat him up back then… and if it wasn't for her generosity, he wouldn't be alive right now.

She showed her dental plates in anger and narrowed her optics.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry", he silently said and crashed at the floor, closing his optics tightly in pain, his voice getting even lower than it was before, "but can't you see that I'm dying…?"

She just continued looking at him, watching his trembling body as he was trying to get up, but he immediately fell at his arms again. She knew he was terribly weak and defenseless, but how could she look over the fact that he was one of the worst Decepticons ever when he was even mentioning killing her former partner. His threatening voice from their battle was still ringing in her head. Then again, he did spare her life once...

"You have to help me! PLEASE!" he shouted and narrowed his optics at her. She saw there was still something dark in him, making her choice harder than it was before. Could she trust him now? He tricked them a lot of times and she couldn't just help him without knowing about the consequences.

Then he looked up, his optics widening in a cute way, saying: "You don't not know what the Predacons did to me."

"Wait… Predacons?" she asked and his optic ridges rose as he saw she was getting interested into what happened.

"Yes", he heavily gasped and lowered his head again, closing his optics, "they did this… I was defenseless… There was no possible way to dodge the attacks which were coming with brutal force."

She lowered her optic ridges for a second as she started feeling sorry for the seeker which was in a horrible state.

Just as she meant to call for a Ground Bridge, his claws wrapped around her forearm while he was still kneeling. His optics were widely open and he reminded her at the event again as he said: "You wouldn't leave me here dying… would you?"

She narrowed her optics and forcefully pushed him away, so that he crashed at the floor, loudly yelping. He started to gasp to intake air, groveling back to face her. He couldn't keep his optics open anymore and he knew that if he doesn't get help in a matter of megacycles, he'd pass away in this state. His optic ridges lowered and she could see that his optics' red light was slowly fading. Once again, he raised his head to search for her optics, softly chuckling.

Her optics widened and her optic ridges lowered as soon as she saw that his cut lip leaked energon again. It stroke her spark for some unknown reason and he somehow managed to make her sad. She didn't want to do even more damage to him…

He looked down at the floor as he saw that she wasn't going to do anything against his fate.

"If this is the fate which was chasing me for such a long time… If this is how my light has to go out… I'm at peace with that", he silently said and his optics glowed brightly as they met hers again, and after that he crashed at the floor, raising the dust off of it. His systems soon shut down. She widened her optics and kneeled down to look at his scarred face once again.

He was still smiling for a few seconds, but then the smile started to disappear.

She knew she had to decide now, or else it would be too late. She would never forget what he did to them, to Cliffjumper, to her. But at the other side… Optimus would give him a chance, and she did see a great model in her former leader. He wouldn't let him die like this… He would help, especially when the war had already ended. She heavily sighed and his chest rose up, showing that he was still alive and that his Spark didn't leave his body yet… So she knew what to do.

"Ultra Magnus", she silently said, and with difficulty in her spark continued, "I need a Ground Bridge and some assistance. Quickly."