Groggily, Mei woke as usual, suspended in darkness – her "corner" of Erin's mind. A gentle probe revealed that the human teen was fast asleep and dreaming. And hungry, oddly enough – usually she woke up when she was hungry. Usually she woke up before Mei herself did. Gently she eased herself into control of the human's body and opened their eyes.

A shaft of sunlight was falling directly on them and Mei squinted in surprise, sitting up to get out of the uncomfortable light. "Ratchet?" her odd voice echoed strangely on the med-bay walls and caused her to shiver unconsciously. Even the echoes sounded strange – like it was muted, really. The air felt strange too – heavy like the hottest day in Erin's hometown of Aiea but cool and thin like the highest point of Mauna Kea.

Something was wrong; Erin's hackles were prickling and standing on end, and her body, though not cold, was shivering constantly. The only time in her ever existence – or so Mei gleaned from her memories – that she had reacted as such was at Mission City.

Carefully, Mei levered herself up and looked around. It was strange to be the one piloting the teen's body alone; usually when she took control Erin was "awake" and able to guide her. Steps awkward, Mei made her way to the steps and paused as Erin's mind opened up to hers. The teen wasn't awake, but judging by the way her mind suddenly opened up like that, Mei could guess that whatever she was dreaming about gave her strong feelings of…loneliness. Then as strong as the loneliness was, the sadness was even stronger.

Erin's bouts of loneliness were excruciatingly painful for the girl, and even painful for Mei to watch. The poor girl's loneliness was like the loss of a limb – horribly painful and agonizing but most painful was the feeling of the heart beating determinedly through that feeling of sudden loss.

Swirling though the bond immediately afterward was the feeling of exhaustion, pride, and the ripe sense of accomplishment along with the stinging, jarring sensation of shin splints and ankle pains; commonplace injuries with Erin. When she was in sports and could see.

With a frown, Mei went back to their small cot and sat down. Privacy be damned (as the humans said) – Erin was in trouble and the deity knew it. Closing her eyes and traveled through the delicate symbiotic bond they shared, pausing when she came to a "wall" that wasn't supposed to be there. Gently, she prodded it to see what it was; it quivered like gelatin, but seemed strong enough that the human couldn't break through it from the inside. However, Mei wasn't sure if it was a "good" thing or a "bad" thing, so she let it be and ghosted through it and into Erin's subconscious.

-

She was home. Home as in the state she grew up in – the cool and light air bore testament to that, as well as the clear bluish sky that was beginning to blend into the blue-purple-black of night. Golden and pink clouds stretched across the sky as Erin looked up. The raw pain of loneliness was still evident in her chest – the non-physical pains that Mei felt echoing with each beat of her heart.

Wait. She could see

There was a soft sort of pop and Erin was gone, running. The joy the teen felt made Mei giddy for a moment and the AllSpark realized that Erin's real passion lived in her sports and it nearly broke her heart to have to give them up because she was half-blind. A hurdle was cleared and Erin raced on to the next one near the area of hurdles called the "wall" – where all hurdlers began to feel so horribly tired. Where they had to dig deep within themselves to finish the race strong.

'Erin?' the girl wavered and nearly tripped over the hurdle, but a force of will kept her from falling and stopping right there.

'Mei?' the hope in her voice was painful to hear.

'Yes, it's me. Erin, what happened? Something's wrong.' Two more hurdles to go. Two more hurdles cleared and gasping for breath, Erin waited as ordered in her lane.

She didn't answer in words, but in feeling and pictures so fleeting that they were hardly even a blur. Mei understood it well – when indescribable terms were explained between them they usually used such methods. In the back of her mind – figuratively speaking – Erin/Mei (for they were now one once more) heard the officials declare that they could leave. They sat down in the infield near Erin's pair of beat of sneakers.

'Something's wrong, Erin.' Mei told her and the spirit felt her host's unspoken agreement echo comfortingly.

'I know. I kept thinking that it was too…' she was at a loss for words. 'I kept thinking that it couldn't possibly be real, but after a while, I believed it.' She keened wordlessly and just as wordlessly, Mei gave her the mental equivalent of a hug.

'Tell me what happened,' she ordered when the girl was calmer and in a better spot where she could relax on the bleachers.

Little by little the girl obeyed. It had started with Rewind, she told her symbiote. Blaster and his other cassettes – Rewind's "brothers" – had arrived and the little Bluetooth went off to be with them – not that Erin really minded. Then the Autobots found out that no others could make the journey to Earth, so they decided to take the AllSpark with them and rebuild Cybertron. Mei had wanted to go along and Erin, the understanding creature that she was, consented to the surgery to remove the deity from her body and mind. Mei had been put in a different body which was taken with the Autobots when they left. They had left behind Katie, Snowy, and all their human companions – didn't even tell them good-bye, instead taking off in the dark of night when everyone was asleep.

(That explained the sudden and painful bout of loneliness, Mei thought to herself.)

Then Erin's mother, sensing her daughter's loneliness had gone back to their old home which made Erin very happy – she hadn't cared much for the mainland. And then all of a sudden she could see again and do her sports. Nicole and Jorge – the real ones – were back and weren't dead or fake. It was as if Mission City hadn't happened at all, really.

She was happy to have them back, and to be back home, but the sudden and abrupt departure of the Autobots hung over her like a shadow. It was a constant reminder that continued to nag her in the back of her mind. When she went back to playing soccer, the coaches put her in goal – her least favorite position – despite having a better goalie, and Erin missed a lot of balls, resulting in heavy losses. Which were then blamed on her. In track the hurdlers – all three of them – hated her with a horrid passion, as well as most of the long distance runners and some of her coaches. The sprinters and weightmen merely ignored her completely.

Wordlessly, Mei comforted her host when the story finished. Erin's greatest desires and hopes, as well as her greatest fears were fulfilled. 'This is all a dream. You can wake up now.' Gently, (with her consent of course) Mei wrapped herself around Erin and pulled her consciousness up to the gelatinous wall – which popped when she repeated that it was all a dream. From there Mei let go – Erin could haul herself up out of her sleep on her own.

-

Erin tumbled off the small cot, just barely catching herself before giving herself a painful knock on the head, gasping. 'Mei?' she asked tentatively and the AllSpark wrapped her up in a comforting mental embrace. To their horror they found that tears were streaming down her face.

'Listen, Erin. I'm going to take a look and see if anyone else was affected, okay? I won't be gone long.' With a sniff, the human nodded. Like a wraith Mei separated part of her consciousness and ghosted around the base (she laughed to herself at that) and checked on the rest of its inhabitants. All were asleep, and all were dreaming. In the back of her mind, she could hear Erin keening and quickly, now that her search was complete, she raced back to her host. 'I'm back, Erin.' Of course, she didn't need to tell her that, but it made the teen feel better. 'Everyone else is sleeping and dreaming as you were. We have to find the others and see if they're injured. Then we have to find a way to reverse the effects.'

Inarticulate rage filled Erin and Mei, for once, agreed with her. Whoever did this was going to pay dearly.

At last (and with some prompting from Mei) Erin stood. Taking off her shirt, she inspected herself – a great, purpling bruise ('Ooh! Goody! A bruise!' she had said rather happily upon seeing it) spread across her stomach. Her knee was a bit swollen, but the only thing that really hurt was prodding her knee. Nonetheless when she put weight on it, the appendage buckled and pain shot up their leg.

Erin growled curses under her breath and made her way to the small kit Ratchet kept on the berth, sitting down and flipping it open, rooting through its contents, pulling out an ace bandage and a roll of thick white cloth tape.

'What are you doing?' Mei asked curiously.

'Making it feel better,' Erin told her distractedly. She cut the ace bandage so it wrapped around her leg just below her knee, taping it in place with the thick white tape. Putting one end of the tape in front of her knee, she wrapped it around her leg over the tan bandage, spinning the roll when it came around the front of her knee so it formed a thick braid before straightening the roll to tape behind her leg. She repeated the process a few more times before taping it straight around and cutting the tape. She put away the bandage and tape and put the kit in its previous place before standing shakily. True to her word, it didn't hurt as much but it was still swollen and hurt a bit.

Erin hobbled down the stairs with directions from Mei, and found an ice pack which she tied to her knee. Only when it was numb did she allow Mei to take control and search out someone to help.

'Who should we help first?' the girl twitched in surprise at the unexpected question.

Erin thought about that. 'Ratchet and Wheeljack, I think.' She said at last. 'That way they can figure out what's going on,'

Mei nodded thoughtfully. 'I thought so too. Let's get going, then.'

-

'Mei, I think there's someone outside.' Erin said abruptly as they passed a window. 'I heard someone drive up.' She explained to the unspoken query.

The being in charge of her body went to the nearest window and looked out. Sure enough, there was someone outside – a woman looking apprehensive.

'Mei, I think it's kind of like an airborne virus,' the human said as the AllSpark hurried to the door. 'The only way to combat it is to have someone wake you up from whatever sleep you get. The air's all funny, you know? Everything's muffled and it smells…different. I think it's still in the air and if that lady comes in, she'll be affected and we'll have to wake her up, too.'

'Just what I was thinking. We're almost there.'

'I can run faster, you know.' The human told her symbiote almost indignantly. 'Even with an injured knee,' she added as an afterthought. Obligingly Mei ran faster and found that it wasn't as painful as she thought it would be, and they were soon out the door.

"Can we help you?" she asked out loud. 'Erin, I don't have very good people skills,' she said warningly to her symbiote.

'Neither do I,' Erin admitted. 'Let's just wing it and if we must we can use physical force – I may be small and scrawny and injured, but I can lift most of my relatives.'

The lady blinked. "Uh, I was looking for my husband – Major Lennox. He didn't come home last night and he hasn't been answering my calls. Neither has Ironhide for that matter." The lady stopped, realizing that she was talking to a bruised and battered teen. "Did something happen?" she asked, growing worried. "Was there an attack?"

Mei hesitated. "No, I'm sure he is fine. It's just that… well, something's happening in the base that isn't very healthy." 'At least, we don't thing so,' she added inwardly, a sentiment that Erin echoed.

"Did everyone evacuate?"

Mei winced at that. "No, they didn't."

"Why not? Who else is in there? Are there any injured?" when she was about to push past the scrawny-looking teen, a surprisingly strong arm on her stomach stopped her.

"No one is allowed to go in. Not without a gas mask." Mei told her firmly. "I will get you one if you really want to go in," 'Erin, do you by chance know if there are any gas masks in the base?'

'I think there's some in the med-bay.'

"But before I even leave you alone, I think I should tell you what's going on right now." Mei finished. "Everyone is sleeping. Everyone except me, Erin, and you." She paused before going on. "During the night or early evening, we think that someone injected an airborne toxin into the air ducts that made everyone fall asleep, except me, as I'm not affected by such things. Erin and I assume that unless everyone is forced to wake up from the dream-induced sleep, they will stay as such forever, or until they die, whichever comes first." The lady winced at that. "Erin and I have no people skills or tact, so we tend to be rather blunt," Mei explained apologetically. "We say it as it is. Anyway, the air in there is different than it is out here, which led us to assume that it was an airborne toxin and not an injected one. A quick searched proved my theory, as there are a few mechs collapsed in the walkway and lounge as if they suddenly went into a recharge cycle right then and there which is highly unlikely."

"Why are you two awake, then?" the lady asked, confused.

Mei hesitated. "Erin and I were sedated – Kup (the newcomer) kicked us in the hallway on accident and Erin was drugged up. I had gone unconscious with her because I was tired. I don't need sleep, but Erin does so I usually follow her into unconsciousness no matter how dangerous it is. Erin is mortal and a physical being while I am not, so thus she was influenced by the toxin while I remained healthy. We believe that once one wakes up, they are then immune to the toxin and can move about freely without worry of sleeping due to the toxin again. Do you understand?"

The worried query was met by a confused look. "You're crazy."

"What do you know about the Autobots? Do you know why they came to Earth?" Mei pressed.

"The AllSpark?" the lady asked hesitantly.

"Precisely. It was 'destroyed', but life cannot be quenched and it found another body – a human teenager by the name of Erin. The girl standing before you." Mei told her bluntly. She sighed when the lady looked like she was ready to bolt for the open door. "Look. If you try it, we will be forced to tackle you and lock you in your Jeep, there. Whether you believe us or not, we don't care, but if you want to see Major Lennox, you will need a gas mask and unless you cooperate, I will put the base under lockdown and you cannot get in."

The lady hesitated then nodded reluctantly. "So you're the AllSpark, and a human girl?" she asked dubiously.

"Right-eo on that one," Erin said cheerfully. "I'm Erin, and the heartless weirdo you were talking to a little while ago was Mei – also known as the AllSpark. What's your name?"

"Sara. Sara Lennox." She held out her hand to shake, for Erin looked rather friendly.

"Just to warn you, though, before you try to shake my hand. I'm blind." Erin smiled as if she could see the confusion on Sara's face. "Mei n' I'll be right back – we'll get you a gas mask." Her eyes – now brown, now that Sara thought of it, while they were silver before – twinkling, she spun and ran away, limping slightly.

-

When the teen returned, the gas mask was slung around her neck and she was half carrying half dragging a body slung over her shoulder. Gently she set Major Lennox down in front of his wife with a goofy grin. Silvery eyes curious, she handed Sara the gas mask before bending to look at the unconscious and twitching major.

"What's wrong with him?" Sara asked, alarmed.

Mei shrugged. "We're not entirely sure, but there's no physical injuries that we can see."

"Isn't Erin blind?" Sara asked, frowning at Mei who shrugged.

"Yea, but I can see and she can't." was the blunt answer. "Hmm… I kinda hoped the fresh air would do him some good, but it seems that Erin was right and we need to physically get him out of that stupid sleep." She murmured to herself, poking the Major's shoulder. "Ms Lennox, do you by chance know his worst fears?"

The woman blinked in surprise at that. "Uh, I think he's afraid of spiders, why?"

Mei's eyes were hard. "The toxin makes you go to sleep and dream, amplifying your worst fears with your greatest desires." Mei felt Erin shudder at that. "If he's afraid of spiders, there will be spiders in his dream that have something to do with his greatest desires, if Erin's dreams are any basis of comparison."

'Let's do this,' Erin said quietly. Mei nodded wordlessly and putting her hands on Will's wrists, she cast herself into his mind, leaving the gasping Erin behind. Her arms shaking with the effort, the teen forced herself to hang on so as to not lose Mei. She could hardly feel her symbiote anymore, and only the fact that she had promised to return kept Erin there and sane. Otherwise it would've been exactly like her dream.

"Are you okay?" Erin looked up as Sara Lennox knelt worriedly in front of her.

"Yeah, kinda." She offered a shaky smile but frowned when Sara tried to make her let go. "If I let go, I'll lose Mei."

"Where'd she go?" Sara asked in her I'm-talking-to-a-psycho voice.

Erin growled, dark eyes flashing. "To save your husband. I mean, if you want him to be stuck like this until he dies, then I can just call Mei back right now. It wouldn't mean nothing to us if I did 'cause we have other things to do and other people to save. I just happen to be close to freaking out because I can hardly feel Mei and it hurts. " Sara blinked at her. "I'm sorry for being rude, but it's a necessary evil, I'm afraid. I was an athlete, and I can run and function with physical pain, but emotional ones like Mei leaving like this I can't bear as well. So you choose: do you want to encourage my psychosis (schizophrenia, bipolarity, or insanity, whichever you prefer) by letting me do this to save you husband, or ignore the fact that I'm completely nuts and force me to let go which will force me to live once more through my biggest fear and lose Mei and your husband in one fell swoop?"

Sara Lennox didn't answer, and Erin couldn't see her facial expression, but she emanated a sense of worry and wary acceptance; the hands around the tan wrists released and Erin could relax once more, making sure to keep her hands on the major's skin in the process. Now they just had to wait.


My father claims I'm a machoist, and that I don't admit to being afraid. He also finds it strange that I try to stop screaming on roller coasters, but oh well. Anyway, who isn't afraid of spiders? I know that I am to some degree. I can chase after them with a broom and squash them with my bare hands, but if one seems to suddenly appear out of nowhere in front of my face, I flip. D: Same with cockroaches; if they fly at me out of nowhere, I get scared, but I rarely scream. ;(

Anyway, enough about me. ((goes to get working on the next chapter))