Optimus watched the sparkling grow from a distance, chuckling as she learned to walk.
"Crystal, come on, sweetie, you can do this," her father would say, helping her walk on her little pedes. She would jump up and down, squeaking in excitement as she looked up at him. "One small step at a time, okay?"
"Okay, Daddy," she squealed.
Her mother would watch from the window as she prepared their Energon rations for them. She would sometimes come out and kneel in front of their daughter, but it wasn't often.
He watched until the little family was inside their base before he went to his own to rest. He nodded to his small team of warriors, former rebels, and a crippled scout. Optimus settled in his berth and let his optics slowly close. He sighed softly as he recharged.
"Love..."
Optimus looked up from the pool of Energon he had pulled Solus Prime's reincarnation out of. He saw a femme with silver armor and bright blue optics walk towards him, a small flame burning in her palm. "Solus!"
"It is so good to see you again," she whispered, kneeling. She closed her hand into a fist and the flame went out. Optimus knelt in front of her as he grabbed her hands.
"I missed you, so much," he said. He let his forehelm rest on hers as he smiled. She kissed him gently.
"I must go. Next time, come help me." Her optics were bright with laughter. "I will not mind a little help." She walked away from him, waving at him. "Good bye, my dear."
Optimus woke up and sighed longlingly, wishing that he could hold Solus and not have her leave again. He sat up and smiled when he remembered the sparkling. "Crystal!"
He walked to her base, frowning when she cried alone in her yard. No one went to tend to her cries. "Little one?"
Her helm snapped up and she sniffed, wiping at her cheeks. She let him kneel in front of her, but she squirmed away from his touch. "I fell down," she whispered.
"Did you?" He saw her scraped-up knee struts and he touched them gently. "Poor baby. Is your mommy home?"
"She and Daddy are inside," she said, but Optimus knew she was lying. The door stood wide open. This sparkling snuck out! Why did her parents leave her home alone?
"Oh, well, I'm going to go tell them you fell down, okay?" He stood slowly, taking her small servos.
"They're sleeping," she squeaked. "They don't like to be woken up, so I went outside to play." She slowly stood up and gripped his servo as she tottered into the base after him.
He looked around the base, frowning. He saw what could have been the main quarters and he poked his helm inside. Her parents laid in their berth, their arms wrapped around each other. They appeared to be sleeping, but something seemed...off... He was about to touch the femme's arm when it moved and she appeared to sigh. He turned back to the sparkling, who was trying to climb into the berth.
"Leave them to sleep, dear. Let us get you cleaned up," he said as he lifted her. He carried her to the sink and he cleaned her knees. She splashed in the water, giggling happily. "Easy, easy," he scolded gently, chuckling.
She looked up at him, smiling. "Are you my friend now?"
He smiled and nodded. "I am. My name is Optimus Prime." He set her on the ground, watching her hug his legs for support.
"I'm Crystal! We'll be friends forever!" She smiled broadly, jumping up and down.
"Easy, sweetspark. Forever is a long time, you know," he said. He would not mind being friends "forever" with the little sparkling, but she needed friends her age. He knelt and touched her helm. "I will be honored to be your friend."
Optimus purred as he watched Crystal sleep on his chest after their games. He had forgotten how much fun hide-and-seek and tag had been. "Little one, it is time for me to leave," he whispered.
She lifted her helm and blinked at him. "Oh, okay, Optimus. Bye-bye."
He laid her on the couch, then closed the door behind him. "I will be back soon, little one, I promise."
When he returned to the base, he had arrived just in time to see Starscream and his trine bomb his base. "No!" He ran to the sight, pushing his team behind him as he ducked into the collapsing base. "Is anyone here?"
Ratchet helped Wheeljack and Ironhide out, shaking his helm. "I don't know, Prime. I grabbed who I could find."
Optimus checked each room, finding no one. He reemerged, slowly looking at his coughing and slightly wounded team. "I should have been here," he whispered. He closed his optics and looked away. "I should be here for my team, not worrying about a sparkling. I cannot do her parents' job. I have my own responsibilities."
He helped Ratchet with the wounded and he set out to look for a new base. He relocated his team into a cave he had found, close to the old base but not completely visable. He hoped that the Decepticons had believed they had succeeded.
Crystal buried her face in her mother's cold chest, squeaking. "Mama, I'm hungry!" She kneaded her mother's breast plate, whining. "Why aren't you waking up?" She rolled over and stared into her father's dark optics. "Daddy, Mommy won't feed me!" She shook him, crying weakly. "Why are you ignoring me? Was I bad? Is that why Mommy won't feed me?"
She slowly curled into a ball between her parents, crying. "I'll try to be good. I'm just really hungry, Mommy. Please feed me."
"They're over here," someone called. "They had a sparkling somewhere. She was hiding when we came her first, but maybe she's come back out."
"Optimus?"
Two figures peeked into the room. Red optics scanned the room and found Crystal sitting between her parents. One of them had long claws that clicked together. The other watched her silently, then he grinned and flashed his sharp denta.
"Hello, little one."
"Y-you're not Optimus," she stuttered. "Mommy, wake up! There are bots in the house. Get up!"
She was suddenly grabbed and she screamed up at the sharp-denta grin.
"She won't wake, little one. Why? Because you have been very bad, very disobedient and they will not wake up to care for you. Starscream and I have come to rescue you. We are going to take you to a safe place," the bot said. He stroked her helm, purring loudly. "Do you want to live with me?"
She looked back at her parents, tears building in her optics. "Th-they don't love me anymore? Because I was bad?"
"Yes. They don't want you anymore. Come with us, little one, and you will be taken care of the way you deserve to be treated."
She nodded, her face crumpling as she burst into tears. "Okay," she cried. "Bye-bye, Mommy and Daddy." She waved to them as the bots walked out. Then she pressed her face into the mech's chest. "I'm hungry..."
"I know. We are going to take care of that. I hope you like it with us. I know we will like it with you."
The mechs watched the sparkling fall asleep against the leader's chest, then the long-clawed mech laughed. "You have such a way with words, Megatron. I envy you."
"She is young and she will believe anything I tell her. If I told her to jump, she wouldn't even ask how high. She will to do anything to please her new parents, so if I told her to fight for her life in the Pits of Kaon, she will do just that."
Crystal watched the drones around her drink their cubes as she sat in Megatron's lap. "They're looking at me weird, Megatron," she whispered.
The drones had been eyeing her ever since he walked in with her. He grinned, but growled lowly at them. They looked away immediately. "It's because they like you," he purred. He gave her a cube of Energon.
She grabbed it and nuzzled Megatron's abdomenal plating. "Do you like me, Megatron?"
"Of course I do, little one. Hurry up and drink, then you're going to see another friend of mine. His name is Knockout and he is going to give you a present."
"A present?" She sat up and looked up at him. "Really?"
The drones started to eye her again, watching her every movement. Megatron let them as the femme stood up and hugged his chest. He stroked her helm, purring softly to her. "Yes, because he loves you as well."
He carried the femme to the MedBay, grunting when he saw Breakdown and Knockout. "I have brought the sparkling. Have you prepared her gift?"
The red medic stopped giggling under the buffer Breakdown held and they stared at him. "You're here early, my lord. Is that the sparkling?"
"Her name is Crystal and she is a new addition to the team." He set her down on a medical berth and let the medics examine her.
"Ah, she needs an insignia and a new paint color. You'd look great in purple," Breakdown said. He walked into the next room, then returned with Knockout's bag of tools. "I'll prepare her armor if you have the insignia job."
Knockout grolwed, but took his bag. "Fine."
Megatron held the femme down, ignoring her whimpers. "It won't hurt a bit, I promise. Just a little pinch and a little heat and it will be over."
"N-no! No!" She kicked and squirmed, crying as Knockout sketched the insignia on her.
"Hold her still, Megatron. At this rate, we'll never be done. Wait a minute..." He turned away, picking up a syringe. "I've got something for you, little one," he purred.
She sniffed, looking over at him weakly. She screamed when he stabbed her neck with the needle, but she became still and her optics darkened. Knockout returned to his job, growling. "I hate putting the insignia on when they're this young. They can never stay still. Why the rush, Megatron?"
"I plan to put her in the Pits of Kaon."
"Are you mad? They'll kill her!" Knockout stopped working, the insignia half finished as the metal cooled.
"I am not going to put her in the Pits until I know she'll win. I will have to break her some how," Megatron said as he looked down at the sparkling. "She wants to be loved. She needs to be loved."
Knockout snorted, returning to his work. "We are running low on pleasure drones, you know. Hehe, maybe the troops love younger femmes."
The Decepticon lord grabbed Knockout. "That's it, Knockout!"
"I was joking!" Knockout finished the insignia, stopping as he growled. "I cannot believe it!"
"What?"
The medic pointed at the insignia. "Breakdown is preparing new armor for her and I just branded this one! Are you serious!?"
Megatron watched the medic pull of the shoulder plate and give it to Breakdown. "He'll repaint it. It's almost done. When she's fitted it in, she'll look like she belongs in the Pits."
Megatron set the femme down, watching her recharge in his berth. Her new armor made her look like she was almost fully grown. He smirked and rubbed her belly while she opened her optics slowly.
"Megatron...? I feel funny..."
"You just woke up from your nap, sweetspark. I expect you feel off." Megatron leaned forward and kissed her forehelm, purring with her.
"Is Optimus here?"
The question surprised him and he looked down at her. "Optimus?"
"He is my best friend. He and I play all the time...or we did... He went away and he didn't come back... Then I met you and Starscream!" She hugged his chest plate, purring loudly.
The Decepticon lord paused, growling lowly. "Go to sleep, little one. I will return. I have to do something."
"Am I in trouble?" She started to panic, her optics getting watery.
"No, sweetspark. Just go to bed. I will return. I have to go talk to Starscream, okay?"
She nodded, then curled into the sheets. Megatron stood, then walked down to his second-in-command's quarters. He opened the door, walking in. He watched the Seeker purr in his recharge before he woke him.
"M-Megatron!?" He squeaked and scrambled away. "Haven't I pleased you, master?"
"The Prime knows our sparkling and he is probably worried about her. We have to speed things up a bit. When he suspects us of taking her, he will run to us immediately. We must get her into the Pits as soon as possible."
Crystal woke up in a cage. She sat up immediately, her optics wide. "M-Megatron!?"
"She's awake, Hardlock. I told you she would wake up today. She's pretty for a little sparkling, isn't she?"
"I guess I owe you my sip of Energon, Steeljaw."
"I don't want your ration. You need it. It was just a playful bet."
She looked around the chamber, squeaking when she saw three pairs of blue optics watching her. "Wh-who are you?"
"Guess it's time for introductions, huh? Hello, little one. My name is Hardlock," said a gold and grey mech.
"I'm known as Steeljaw, little one," purred a silver and blue mech. He waved and Crystal liked him instantly.
"You may call me Metalfang," a mech with black and silver armor growled.
Crystal suddenly felt safe in the chamber, but she felt more alone than she had when her parents let her be taken away by Megatron. "I'm Crystal..."
"You okay, kiddo?"
She sniffed, starting to cry. "Megatron said he wouldn't leave me, even if I was bad, but I guess he lied to me, too... First Mommy and Daddy lied, and then Prime left me, and now Megatron is gone, too!"
Steeljaw opened his servo and she ran to it, hugging it when he reached through the bars. "You're okay, kiddo. We have you. We will never leave if we can help it. We may be gone for a while, but we'll come back, always, no matter what, okay?"
"How do I know you will stay?" She cried softly.
The mechs looked at each other, then Hardlock looked down at her, opening his servo. He set a locket down on the ground, pushing it towards her. "I want you to wear that so you remember that we will always be there for you."
She opened it, frowning. "It's empty."
Steeljaw smiled and kissed her helm. "So you can start new memories, mm?"
"Okay, Steeljaw."
Metaljaw looked at Steeljaw when Crystal had fallen into a deep recharge. "She lived with Megatron."
"She is his," Steeljaw said as he examined her. He was about to be more thorough, but Metaljaw growled. "Let me check," he pleaded.
Reluctantly, the older mech nodded and the mech looked between her legs. "She still has her seal. Megatron has not claimed her, but she is probably one of his favorites."
"The poor thing."
"She also mentioned Prime. Maybe he will come to rescue her."
Steeljaw stroked her helm. "I will pray to Primus that he comes soon."