Bumblebee was in a park, hidden from the view of everyone and no longer in his alt form of a bright yellow Camaro with black racing stripes. He was kneeling in his bipedal form staring up at the sky, Sam and Mikaela by his feet. Or, to be more precise, he was staring up at the ring of particles floating up in the sky. How had he never noticed it before today?
When he had told Sam that he wanted a better look at it his Human had suggested this park so that he could transform to see it better.
Finally, the Autobot peeled his gaze away from the strange and unexpected sight to look at his ward and Mikaela. Recently he had taken to using the radio again to talk, though he could talk normally just fine; the radio just suited his sense of humor better and it was more discreet if he was transporting someone who didn't know what he is. But this time he dropped the use of his radio in favor of being more precise with his question.
"What is that up in the sky?"
"It's called The Ring." Sam supplied, then Mikaela added, "The story goes that it's the remains of all the demons of the world."
"And," Sam concluded, "It only appears for three days a year."
Bumblebee turned his gaze skyward again, this time a more thoughtful than surprised or stunned expression on his face.
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Captain William Lennox found Optimus Prime standing outside of the hanger where he and the other Autobots often went to after a mission – that mostly because it was actually big enough for them to transform in without wrecking anything around them, or banging their heads on the ceiling and putting a hole through it. The latter mostly being a problem for the Autobot leader and Ironhide.
"Captain." Said leader acknowledged without taking his gaze of off the ring of debris hanging in the sky.
"Optimus." Lennox acknowledged in return.
A long, comfortable silence settled after that until Captain Lennox broke it.
"You know... If – when – any more Autobots show up, you might want to tell them to avoid that ring up there."
Optimus turned his gaze to the Human at his feet and asked, "Why is that?"
"Remember those guys from the Air Force? The ones that Ratchet said had nanites all through them?" A nod from the Autobot leader and Lennox continued, "It happened when they flew through that stuff. Seeped into everything. Completely destroyed their planes."
"Then how did they survive?"
"Don' know... They just woke up on the ground without a thread on them. Had a Hell of a time explaining that one to the higher ups. 'Course more than half of them had disappeared before they had even woken up. No one ever found them."
"...I see. I will issue a warning then."
Another — briefer — silence. Lennox broke it again, this time with a question.
"...Ratchet learn anything knew about the nanites yet?"
"Only that they are similar to Cybertronian technology, but more organic in design."
"Think there might be a connection?"
"Quite possibly."
A third comfortable silence followed as Optimus turned his gaze skyward. At length the mech broke the silence this time.
"There is a story about an experiment preformed thousands of years ago, long before I was born... It is said that my ancestors tried to create organic-Cybertronian hybrids – and succeeded. But she disappeared without any trace. Perhaps now we know what became of her."
"Maybe..." Lennox agreed, wondering what it might mean for their two races.
Then he decided that, for now, it didn't matter; what was done was done and it's in the past where they can do nothing about it.
A/N: Sorry about the cruddy and lack-lustre ending there, but I mostly wrote this to get it out of my system so that I could go back to writing my other stories. If anyone wants to take it up (because, sorry, I'm not going to continue with this) just let me know and tell me where I can find it.
By the way, for anyone who doesn't recognize the crossover it's ChronoCrusade, following the manga storyline.