Chapter 1

The sun sank slowly into the horizon as a mediocre sedan of dark blue stood atop a paved hill. A solar fan of light casts itself upon the car's hood, following its curvature to a headlight before hitting the ground. Checking to see if the coast was clear, the sedan carefully backs up and drives off into the falling night.

The following morning, the car drives along the Pacific Coast Highway going nowhere in particular. Taking in the California atmosphere, the car eventually ends up going through a suburban neighborhood where kids were dispersing after a day of school. It notices a timid-looking boy behaving oddly and decides to follow him out of curiosity. Instead of going towards a vehicle to head home like all the other kids, the boy instead sets his sights on a bicycle. Looking carefully over his shoulder, the boy unchains his bicycle and heads off in the direction of a nearby mountain. Wondering where he was going to, the sedan follows the boy into an uninhabited ravine with nothing more than a few sparse trees scattered about.

Suddenly, the car transforms into a giant robot and sneaks behind a giant boulder to observe what the boy was doing. Afternoon was merging into evening and it was getting late for a boy to be out on his own. The giant robot maneuvers his optics to watch the boy, who has since set his bicycle near a tree and sat down. The bot tries to get a closer look and accidentally snaps a tree branch, alerting the boy to turn around anxiously.

"W-who's there?" the boy called out.

The giant robot curses quietly to himself and tries to conceal his body further into the shadows. In doing so, he causes more noise with his shuffling.

"I know y-you're there," the boy shouts nervously, trying to act brave. "S-s-show yourself!"

Seeing as it was useless to hide himself anymore, the giant robot slowly emerges from the shadows. The boy's eyes widen in awe as a strange mechanical being with car elements came into the light. The robot notices that the boy was holding out a knife and narrows his optics.

"What were you planning to do?" the robot asks.

"W-what are you?" the boy exclaims in return, pointing the knife at the robot. "A-are you an alien?"

"Sort of," responds the robot. "What's your name, kid?"

"N-noah," introduces the boy, still holding the knife with both hands, albeit shakily.

"My name is Midnight," responds the robot, holding up his hands to show that he means no harm. "I'm not going to hurt you, Noah."

"W-why'd you follow me?" demands the boy. "A-are you here to kidnap me?"

"No," answers Midnight. "I was just curious why you came all the way out here by yourself."

"It's none of your b-business!" the boy shouts back. "Just go away! Leave me alone!"

"If that's what you want, then I'll leave," says Midnight nonchalantly.

The giant robot then transforms back into his sedan form, causing Noah to drop his knife and fall back in shock.

"You're a car!" he exclaims in surprise.

"Yeah, I guess I am," sighs Midnight.

He turns his engine over and prepares to leave until the boy comes running up to him.

"W-w-wait!" shouts Noah. "Don't go!"

Midnight stops in his tracks and looks over the boy. "What do you want?"

"I don't know!" cries Noah, falling to his knees. "I… I don't know what to do!"

Seeing the boy start sobbing compels Midnight to change back to his robot form. He gets down on one knee and bends over to look at the boy eyes to optics.

"Were you trying to kill yourself?" he asks the boy straightforwardly.

Through a teary mess, Noah nods shamefully.

"They keep telling me things," began the boy. "Awful things. I didn't want to listen to them anymore."

"Who?" wonders Midnight, feeling upset that anyone would bully a kid to the point of suicide.

"The voices!" cries Noah. "Mug, Deranged, 35, Dive, there's so many of them!"

Midnight was taken aback by this revelation and searches through his memory banks to find the answer to his perplexity.

"You're… schizophrenic?" the robot deduces.

"I wish they would just go away!" Noah continues his sobbing.

Midnight cups the boy with both hands and he brings him up to his face. "Where are your parents?"

"They're working," Noah manages to stop his sobbing, wiping his face with the sleeves of his shirt. "They bring me to a lot of doctors, but they can't fix me."

The boy's eyes suddenly widen. "Crap, they're going to be home soon. I gotta go!"

Midnight gently lowers the boy to the ground and watches as he scampers over to his bicycle. As Noah pedals his bicycle out of the ravine, he stops to look up at the giant robot.

"Can I see you again tomorrow?" he asks with starry eyes.

Midnight was quiet for a while as he contemplated the question. After leaving the Autobots back in Nevada, he's been wandering around his old stomping grounds back in California. He wasn't sure what he wanted now that he was all alone. Memories of Zero came to mind and he quickly pushes them back before he got emotional again.

At long last, Midnight looks down at the boy and manages a smile. "Sure."