A/N: Here's a story that will….maybe (?) make you cry…

"Humans say that right before you die, time slows and your memories flash before your optics. I always wondered if that was true for bots as well. Today, I found my answer. Now, I know the worst part of going offline. You hurt everyone around you. Friends, family, those closer than family. Thinking back, I realize that it was my own carelessness that brought about my death. As I depart from this life to an even greater journey, I leave you, my friends and family, this message: don't be discouraged by my death, or the deaths of others. Someday, we shall be together forever, free of pain, doubt, or even fear. Farewell, everyone…"

- approximately 6 hours earlier -

"Ready, Ratchet? I bet this reminds you of the days when you were you were in the war, fighting! Am I right?"

I grumbled. Smokescreen can be such a pest! I turned to Smokescreen - we were ready to infiltrate the Decepticon warship. "Smokescreen. If you don't shut up right now I'll make sure you don't come on this mission!"

Smokescreen backed off. "Whoah, whoah. Easy, Doc, just curious," he said, raising his servos in defeat. I humphed. Young bots.

"GroundBridge all ready, Doc!" I turned around, ready to express my anger at being called Doc, until I saw that it was Arcee who had spoken. "Uh-huh, sure thing," I muttered, grabbing Smokescreen and stalking into the GroundBridge.

"Have a fun trip!" laughed Arcee just as I walked through the Bridge. I could have gone back and yelled at her, but I was too occupied dragging Smokescreen. "When I get back, she is so offline."

"Ha ha! Arcee better watch her back!"

When I gave Smokescreen a menacing glare, he quickly fell silent.

"Uh, Doc - er, Ratchet, I can walk on my own," said Smokescreen timidly, trying not to arouse my anger. "Sure thing," I muttered.

Truth to be told, I wasn't in a good mood. I'm pretty sure everyone knew that, but they were still ticking me off. On purpose. I would be perfectly happy to just be sitting back at base happily working on my computer, but they just had to pair me with Smokescreen of all 'bots!

"Ready to storm the place?" asked Smokescreen, ready for battle. Our current mission was to infiltrate the Decepticon warship and steal - rather, confiscate for the safety of humanity - a powerful weapon Megatron had gotten his servos on. At least, that's what I was told. However, I don't believe the weapon we're taking is all that powerful. I think it was an attempt to get me out of base.

"Ready as I'll ever be," I grumbled, when in fact I wanted to be anywhere but where I was. I prepared my scalpels for battle, then walked through the GroundBridge portal. What was on the other side was definitely not expected.

"Ratchet! It's an ambush! Get back inside!" yelled Smokescreen, who had gone in first, and was already in combat with the Vehicons. However, before I could react, I was immediately fired upon, leaving me no choice but to fight.

"No can do, Smokescreen. We'll just have to get past 'em! As for the mission, we'll figure out something later! Just run!" It took a while, but we finally broke through the wall of Vehicons, and took off down the hall. We soon found an empty storeroom, and hid there until the 'Cons had passed.

"Hey, Ratchet, how do you think they knew about us? Should I use my Phase Shifter to complete the mission? Or should we go together? Should we just head back? Tell me wha-"

I interrupted his barrage of questions, somehow keeping up with them. "I don't know. Maybe. I need to think about it, maybe you could phase us both? And no, we can't head back until it's over. We'll get this job done."

Smokescreen, however, was already way ahead of me. "Okay, let's both use the Phase Shifter and sneak around until we find the hold, then grab it and get outta' here! We'll tell them about the ambush when we go back. All right, let's go!"

With that, he grabbed my arm and we took off through the maze of seemingly endless corridors. Since I had never used the Phase Shifter before, it surprised me when I couldn't touch the wall, even though I expected it.

After a while of aimless wandering, we came across a giant, air-locked door. "You know what I bet? There's a hold on the other side a' that door!" I said, my bad mood finally lifted. Smokescreen grinned with glee, then we ran through the door.

"Over there! I see its glow!" he yelled. He let go of my arm, returning me to the regular dimension, while he ran ahead to the glow. That kid… It was then that I realized I had let my guard down. Big mistake.

Immediately, Vehicons were surrounding me, tackling me so I couldn't fight back. "Smo-" my voice was stopped short when a Vehicon stabbed me in the chest with a long knife. Pain surged through me. My vision was suddenly hazy, and my fans kicked in, trying to ventilate my overheating systems. Suddenly, I didn't feel a thing. I immediately thought of my life back on Cybertron, before the war.

"Carrier! Pick me up!" I said, holding my servos upward. She smiled, a kind smile that I would never forget. "Of course, my prince! Where would you have me carry you?" she asked, laughing.

Just then, I was torn away from this happy moment, pulled to the space just outside of Cybertron. Everything was destroyed, my home, my life, my family, my carrier. I wanted to scream, Energon flowing from my optics. "Carrier!" I bellowed as loud as I could. Then, I was brought to the memories of meeting Raf, Miko, and Jack. I remembered all the happy times we had shared together, and I felt a pang of loneliness shoot through my destroyed chassis.

It was then that I realized how much I really loved them. Raf, Miko, Jack - while human, they were apart of my family. They were my family. They were just as special to me as Optimus, Bee, or even Wheeljack.

I managed to pull my optics open, and I was horrified. I was all alone on the cold, hard floor of the hold. What horrified me were the wires. All of them pulled from my chest, sparks flying off of them. I tried to shout, but I couldn't. Smokescreen! Was he alive?

At that moment he came running down the hall, not looking at me, just behind him. He caught a glimpse of me out of the corner of his optic, then yelled, "Ratchet! What're you doing? Get up, we gotta get outta here." I tried to move my legs, to get up, but I couldn't. I couldn't feel them at all, and it was the worst feeling I had ever experienced.

Smokescreen ran up to me, out of breath. "Primus! Ratchet! You can't die! No!" His optics were filled with lubricants, and I couldn't respond.

"Smokescreen…get out…of…here…" I managed to force out of my glitching vocalizer.

"Not without you. I'm taking you back to base, and we're fixing you up. Don't worry!" the rookie said defiantly.

"No, Smokescreen…get out…coming…" I held out my servo. "Here…take…this…" I uncurled my digits, revealing a small recording device. Just as he took it, I spoke.

"Run…please…they're…close…coming…fast…" I smiled then, and uttered my final words. "Tell them…I will miss them…my family…the humans too…even Miko…even you." I laughed, coughing up Energon, then my vision slowly faded into black, and I did not hear Smokescreen's staggering sobs.

A/N: Hope you all enjoyed…I'm trying to work on writing more emotional stuff (please tell me if you felt even the slightest hint of sadness..? Just a hint?). By the way, in case you didn't pick this up, that part at the beginning was a recording he took during his memory-flash.