Whelp, I've finally done it. After reading on this site for years I've finally made an account and started uploading a story of my own. This particular little beauty came to be after I started reading the IDW Transformers series. There were parts that I didn't particularly like or agree with so I ended up making my own little story and it just sorta snowballed from there. It's basically G1 mixed with elements from IDW along with my own personal spin on things. I 'll update as much as I can for now but it should pick up in about a month.

Enjoy.

Another nightmare, another night of pacing the Ark to avoid going back into recharge.

It had been four months, four fragging months, and he was still having nightmares about the headmaster incident.

It really shouldn't bother him this much, he was a gladiator and front-liner for pits sake, but he just couldn't forget. It wasn't for lack of trying though. He had vented by screaming, blowing stuff up, sparring, shooting cons, and painting. But still the nightmares would not reside. He could still see the laboratory in his dreams, hear the humans talking above him like he was just a piece of equipment to study, hear the buzz of the saw blades, feel them as the cut into his neck and severed his head. But the worst was when he remembered the all-encompassing numbness he felt as his head was suspended from wires and cables (though thankfully they hadn't had time to connect him with a human before the Autobots had found him). When the nightmares got to that point, hear rarely went back to sleep. This was unfortunately one of those nights. Eventually wandering into the rec. room, he grabbed a cube from the dispenser and made his way to a table tucked away in the farthest corner of the rec. room and sat down to enjoy his cube. Taking a long drought from the cube, he checked his internal chronometer and sighed in agitation.

12:37.

Great. Just dandy.

Thankfully he didn't have a shift to report for thanks to a certain monochrome Praxian that absolutely refused to clear him for duty. He could understand not letting him back the first month, even the second month was still within the range of being understandable, but four? The sound of the rec. room door sliding open made him stop his mental rant before it started as he looked to see who had entered.

Well, speak of the Unmaker . . .

There stood Prowl, looking at him with that uncomfortably intense gaze that he still wasn't sure how to read. In the past few months, the only other bot who had stalked around the corridors of the Ark at such unearthly hours other than himself was Prowl. He honestly wondering if Prowl recharged in the first place.

After staring at him a few more seconds, Prowl silently walked over to the dispenser, got a cube for himself, and walked over to Sunstreaker's table and sat down next to him. Sunstreaker didn't acknowledge him, suddenly finding the contents of his energon cube to be the single most fascinating thing in the room.

"You had another nightmare."

It wasn't even a question. Never had been. Prowl just somehow knew. He always knew.

"Y'know I could've just woken up and decided to get a late-night snack."

"But you didn't."

Prowl took a slow drink from his own cube, never taking his optics off of the vain front-liner.

Sunstreaker wasn't even sure when it had started, but whenever Sunstreaker ended up wandering the halls in the middle of the night, Prowl would always find him and stay with him. He wouldn't say much, just stay with him for the rest of the night until Sunstreaker finally went back to his quarters. Most nights, at least. Some nights there'd be odd bits of conversation.

"Your brother is worried about you."

Ah, so it was going to be one of those nights.

"Is he now? I hardly noticed." He responded with the usual sarcasm he reserved for these nights. He knew Sideswipe was worried, he was his twin for Primus' sake. Thankfully he had learned how to block his nightmares from reaching through the bond that all split-sparks shared.

"Have you tried talking to him about what happened?"

Well Sideswipe had made an effort to, at least. Pit, everybot had tried, even Spike, Sparkplug, Chip, and Carly. But whenever someone had tried to talk about it, or even bring it up for that matter, he just couldn't . . . . he can't . . . . .

He again found his half-empty cube interesting as he avoided the steady gaze of Prime's SIC. He didn't want to deal with this, he couldn't deal with this. He couldn't deal with the nightmares, the memories. He couldn't deal with the whispers, the rumors, the pitying looks, the feeling of being utterly useless. He couldn't deal with everyone treating him like glass, couldn't deal with the fact that he felt like glass, he just couldn't-

"The humans that hurt you have been sentenced to life, even execution for some. They can't hurt you anymore."

Sunstreaker's head shot up, fury written plainly on his faceplate. "Don't you think I know that? Don't you think that I know that I'm being foolish, that I should let it go? Move on with my life? Don't you think I want to? Don't you think that I'm tired of the nightmares, of not being able to face my own problems? Don't you think-

"Think that you're hurting? That you don't know how to deal with what was done to you? That you feel ashamed and violated even though it was no fault of your own and you shouldn't feel that way at all? That you'd be pathetic for asking for someone to help or listen even though you wouldn't be? That you feel like you're broken and feel like less of a Cybertronian even though you're worth just as much now as you were before they captured you?"

Sunstreaker gaped, not sure what to say. Yeah, everyone had tried to console him in some way, but for someone to tell him all that, that he was worth something, and to hear it from Prowl of all mechs . . .

"You're not just a machine to send out into battle, Sunstreaker. You matter just as much as the others, if not more." Not knowing what to say to that, Sunstreaker stayed silent. They sat like that until the first shift mechs started wandering in. They left, walking back to the area of the ship that housed the crew's living quarters. Reaching the quarters that he shared with his twin, Sunstreaker made to enter until a hand gently touched his wrist.

"If you wish to talk at any given time, my door and quarters are open."

Sunstreaker nodded, and Prowl released and walked to his own quarters. When the regal door wings that Prime's SIC was known for were finally out of visual range, he entered his quarters and laid down on his berth.

Upon reflection of the nights events, he might just take that offer.

-Whelp, that's the end of the first chapter. I'm fairly new at this, so feedback on quality will be much appreciated, just don't flame. I'll try to add the second chapter within the next week or so. If not then than next week.