Okay, I need to explain a few things.

This story happens after all events of any current Transformers cartoons.

And I think you guys will enjoy the sequel.

And yes, there will be a sequel.

Look up "A Lost Spark" on 2/15. Earliest I'll post it is on Valintines Day, latest is on the 16th.

Now, enjoy!

Five minutes later, they're riding back to the base, and Eliza stomps off to her room. Or tried to anyways. Optimus stopped her the minute she got off Digit.

"I don't want to hear it! Just leave me alone. And that means you, too," she said, stopping Digit in her tracks. "Eliza, wait," she said, stopping her human friend. She only looked at her for a moment, her eyes full of hate. "No. I-I can't pretend like I'm not mad at him anymore, I can't!" With that, Eliza slammed the door to her room shut.

Silence.

"Uhhhh... What just happened?" Miko asked, shocked. Everyone turned to Optimus, who only looked away.

"Jack... I look at you as if you were my own... For that, I wish to ask you to go talk to Eliza and ask her a simple question: 'Why'?" With that, Optimus walked over to Ratchet, who was doing something on the computers.

"Why you?" Miko asked, a bit jealous that Jack was the one who would have to end up face to some-kind-of-weapon with Eliza. Jack only gulped, walking over to the door. And possibly the belly of the beast.

When he knocked, Eliza was quick to respond.

"Go away!" was immediately yelled through the door. Jack could hear the hoarsens of her voice. He heard a thump on the door and knew she was leaning against it, probably secretly hoping that he hadn't really left. "Eliza?" he finally mustered, leaning against the door himself. "...Jack... W-what part of go away did you not understand?! J-just leave me alone and tell Prime that I'll be gone by morning!"

Jack sighed, shoving his hands in his pocket. A small wave of silence washed over the two teenagers. He could tell she hadn't left the door, and neither had she. In fact, a slight thud told him that she had sat on the floor. Jack took another breath before trying again.

"Look, I... I-I know we haven't known each other for that long... but I'm here if you-you need someone to talk to."

Thick silence filled the air. Jack moved to sit on the floor, too, letting the girl take his time. She had something to hide, but it was eating her up on the inside. She felt major guilt that she needed to let go, but she thinks she can't afford to. She thinks she has a giant weight on her, but she was only forcing it on herself to keep herself going.

"Why...?"

The word had slipped out before he could even think. With his thoughts, Optimus was making sense. This girl put up stone walls around herself for some reason, and she was suffering. But why would she force all this pain on her?

"... It all started... with two little girls playing with their parents."

Jack's breathing halted, not expecting her to break quickly. But then again, she was keeping too much in.

"I have a twin... her name's Delilah. Heh, she's honestly nothing like me if you ignore the looks. She's always happy, always trying to see the light of the situation. She stayed back because she had a minor solo mission... Honestly, I don't know how she can still be so light-hearted," Eliza stated, the last sentence more to herself than to Jack. He stayed quiet, afraid she'd quickly change her mind if he made a sound.

"I still remember it like it was yesterday... but it wasn't. We were four, it was our birthday and we were having our annual after-cake board game in the living room. I still remember the red velvet cake they bought us with marshmallow frosting. We were halfway through The Game of Life. I was about to go again when... the ground started shaking."

Jack felt pressure on the door, and a shaky breath from the other side. He let her take her time, straining his ears a little bit to hear her quiet voice.

"We... we didn't notice until it got so close that the whole house was shaking. I remember Mom telling us to hide in the closet, and to not come out at any costs and to keep our heads down. Dad... Dad was helping us hide in it. They said they'd be right back... Lilah and I thought it was an earthquake."

"But it wasn't," Jack whispered softly. He could hear a hum of confirmation from behind the door. It took a few silent, shaky moments before Eliza could talk again.

"No... not even close. It... it was awful, Jack. We-we heard our parents screams, we heard blasters all around, we could hear and smell our house, our life, get smashed into rubble and burned to ash! And what did I do? I just stayed in the closet, holding Lilah so tight and trying hard not to cry. Half of the closet was smashed, the rest not burned down yet... And that's when I saw it."

"Saw what?" he asked, but he already knew the answer. He knew what her next words were.

"Oh, God... W... we saw the red eyes of S-Starscream, Jack. That fragging monster thought he killed us! A-and he walked away laughing. As if we were just his-his lifeless puppets."

Jack stood, his head leaning against the door. He could hear Eliza crying softly on the other side. But a slow, fragile breath told him she wasn't done.

"Lilah and I were too scared to move... to scared to face it. But then... the ground started shaking again. But-but it wasn't menacing like the first time. They were more mindful, trying to be more gentle. I got up, so did Delilah, and the next thing you know; we're staring straight at the one and only Optimus Prime."

Jack could only imagine the scenes she described. Although he couldnt clearly picture her parents, he could picture Eliza as a little girl with another similar to her go from innocent childhood fun to being scared sensless, crying as they heard their world get destroyed by enemies for unknown reasons.

"He was kind, he looked at us with sympathy and tried to comfort us, despite not knowing who we were," she continued, sighing. "He didnt ask us what happened. It was almost like he knew what did and why... but to this day I cant find the courage to ask. So, he took us to the old silo base, where we met the other Bots."

"We stayed silent for few minutes, listening to them talk to each other about what to do with us, but we didnt catch any of it. Lilah was a sobbing mess and shaking like she was freezing, despite wearing a sweater." "And you?" Jack asked, resting his head against the door.

"... Me? I... I was numb, Jack. When Optimus had picked us up and transformed, I started snapping out of the shock and stopped crying halfway through the drive to the base... At least I think I did... After, I could only remember feeling my arm wrapped around Delilah and staring downward towards that little coffee table. I felt nothing and it scared me. And even back then I didn't scare easily!"

Another silent moment passed by. Jack could hear her breathing quickly on the other side of the door. But it thankfully slowed down enough so she could move on with her story.

"After what felt like forever, Fowler came and dealt with the whole situation. He covered the story up as some kind of accident that I was too young to know, he got in touch with my aunt and said that since she could not financially care for both of us, he would place us in a special care foster home here in Jasper. She loved us, yes, we were her sister's children after all, but she could only make enough money with her job to pay for her own living expenses and was fresh out of college at the time. So, we ended up under the care of the bots, with the requirements being to keep their secret, attend school, and to have at least one of us visit or at least call once a week. And so our new life began.

"The Bots taught us everything about themselves and Cybertron alongside our human studies. Aside from Optimus, who tried to be another father figure to us and succeeded for a while, Digit and Wrench were the first Bots we felt comfortable around. They taught us the culture and art of Cybertron and were like best friends.

"Arcee was a mother figure once we realized her tough exterior was just her way of trying to understand us and gain our trust. About three years or so after we met, she started teaching us how to fight. Hehe, Optimus was so worried that we would hurt each other if we learned how to fight and ended up wanting to spare, since we always argued like regular sisters do. But she made sure we were too scared of facing her wrath, which she never used, to try and step on one another. But other than that, she kept us company and played with us.

"Back when he was still rollin', Cliffjumper was like a mischievous older brother, always teasing us and the others and joking and bragging. He and Lilah got along great, and helped us play human pranks on the other Bots. Delilah had cried so hard when we received news about his death. The next day, we arrived secretly to pay our respects and say goodbye without anyone but Digit and Wrench knowing.

"Bulkhead, though, he was funny. He was such a klutz. But I loved hearing about his war stories from when he was a Wrecker, and how he would drag Cliff and Wrench into playing lob ball and let us watch. Lilah, being the cheerleader type, didn't find anything in his stories interesting, but I would listen to them with fascination and always ask him to tell me again every now and then, a smile always on his face as he did so.

"It took a while to be able to understand Bee, but after a year we could have conversations with little help. He always told us stories about when he was a scout back on Cybertron, how he lost his voice box... But despite that he was really... sweet. He was an innocent kid to us, not like the more responsible one now that you got reaquainted to over the last month." "Wait, how-" "In a few minutes I'm going to give you answers so dont screw this up."

Jack couldnt help but chuckle, the snappy voice of a girl he's know for only a few days telling him she was getting a little better. He could've sworn he heard one from the other side of the door, too, but all he heard was Ellie moving on.

"Now Ratchet was a handful. Back when we first met he was cranky, as he always was, and was complaining about having two very adolescent human girls running around the base carelessly. But I surprised him when I tried to keep Lilah in line whenever she bugged him too much by asking him to play, always reminding her to not run around when the Bots were on the move or in a rush, followed the rules on staying away from energon cubes that they left laying around and out of the ground bridge... But what really surprised him was how smart I was compared to Delilah, trying hard to pick up Cybertronian and their science. He became like another teacher, except this one I liked. I remember we would spend hours on invention ideas and how he would teach me how to make them, science, energon facts, Cybertonian texts, and all the stories of Cybertron he had.

"And then there was Optimus," she said, a bit of sadness but fondness in her voice. Jack perked up a bit and paid extra attention to this one.

"Optimus was... like a father. He would play with us ocassionally, sometimes let us train with him, let us sit on his shoulders as he talked with Ratchet or the others... Sometimes he would just stop. If we asked him to do something with us or to take us to school or pick us up or go anywhere we needed to be, he would stop what he was doing, put all his work aside, and make time for us. I remember if we asked him to tell us a story, he'd carry us to his chamber and have us sit on his berth with him as he described war stories, the other Primes, stories with him and Alpha Triumph, or his days as an archivist, or stories of old about Cybertron. Sometimes, in either one of our rooms, it would be us telling the stories of our lives, of fairy tales, or what we knew or learned about Earth and its history. Optimus was never trying to pry into our pasts, never tried to made us feel unwanted, and never had us thinking that he wanted to replace our father. And for years, that's how our life with the Bots was. Peaceful."

Jack stayed silent, taking all this information in. He hadn't missed a word, and was letting the words stay in his mind for a minute. Then, a question popped into his mind.

"You said for a while Optimus was like a father... What made him stop?" the teen managed to ask.

A slightly frustrated sigh came from the other room, and an answer he was not expecting came after quickly.

"He became too much like one, that's what."

Okay... that's confusing.

"When we were ten, Optimus started realizing we wanted to go on missions for real. We wanted field experience. And this was when I was starting the mission suits, so he knew we were serious. He refused to let us go on assignments, in fear Cons would come out from hiding and attack. We didn't understand since we had grown a partnership with Digit and Wrench, and we knew how to fight. But he wouldn't have it! I got upset while Lilah though he was rejecting it because she agreed on the fact that we were too young. But I was getting tired of just hearing and learning about the action. I wanted to fight, to get closer for my parents by beating the scrap out of Starscream."

"But Optimus didnt want you to,"Jack concluded. "Yup. Not only that, but a few months before our birthday, he had stared getting distant, since he was realizing we were talking a lot about battling Cons. We thought it was nothing, but the constant request denial was making me think that he was hiding from us, since we mostly wanted to go with him and our own Bots. He was realizing we wanted to get close to the dangers."

"I started having arguments with him often, yelling that we deserved to fight against the monsters that ruined our lives. I would scream at him that I didn't want to be the girl sitting around doing nothing anymore. Lilah tries to calm me down, she would always tell Optimus I didn't mean it afterwards..." "But you didn't want that to be true." "...yeah..."

"After a year he would send us to a warehouse in California, have us operate on tiny missions there. But it wasn't enough for me. I started disobeying orders and dragging Lilah and the bots with me. After I nearly got myself buried in an underground cavern, it was the last straw for both of us. He couldn't handle dealing with my urge for battle so he had us turn the warehouse to our home. I told him that from now on, I wouldn't do anything with anyone other than my sister and bots. I wanted minimal communications. When he asked why, my answer was simple," Eliza stated, her voice evening out for a bit.

"I told him that if he wasn't going to acknowledge the fact I was a natural born fighter and just deal with the fact me and Lilah were growing up, I wouldn't deal with him. So I've lived in Cali since I was 13 with Lilah and our bots..."

Silence that was deafening filled the air. Jack was slowly taking this information all in when he heard shuffling, and the next thing he knew the door opened to revealed Eliza with bloodshot red eyes from crying, her face stained with drying tears, looking tired.

"I hated feeling useless," she said softly, her voice cracking a bit. "It just reminds me that I failed to help my parents all those years ago."

Jack wanted to speak, but he held it in for a bit longer. She still had something to get off her chest.

"Before... before I went into that closet... I promised m-my mother one thing: That no matter what I would always protect Delilah and those I cared for and loved. But only two minutes in and I had broken it."

Eliza suddenly tried to stifle a sob, but it was quickly followed by silent ones, the tears returning to her face. Jack immediately pulled her into him, wrapping his arms tightly around the slightly smaller, blonde teenager. At first she tensed at the contact, but then she returned to sobbing herself sensless.

"I-I just hid there crying! I didnt protect the parents that loved me and that we loved back! We-we l-l-listened to their screams, and I did nothing! And for the next six years I continued to do so! All I did was cry, wake up screaming from nightmares, spend endless nights trying to train and build to take my mind off it, I even starved myself because I was so focused on my suits! I couldnt handle being alive and doing absolutely nothing with it! And Optimus was pushing me away! I-I had t-to get away!"

For a while after, all that was heard was her silent sobs and sniffles. Jack just held her, trying to just be the support that she needed right now. With her sister not here, Eliza felt even more alone than usual, the pain becoming even more unbearable.

"You don't have to be alone or feel useless, you know," he finally spoke. Eliza only fell silent and still tears still falling and still not pulling away. Praying he doesnt screw this up, Jack continued.

"You carry the weight of guilt of something you could do nothing about. I mean, what could a little girl do against an unknown giant alien robot? And dont say you could've at least tried, because you still would've been useless."

Pulling away from her but keeping his hands on her shoulders, he looked at her with a smile, soft and comforting.

"I don't remember my father, but from what I've read and been told, a father is a man who would do anything to make sure his child was safe, and if they already sent through some kind of pain before, they would make sure they never felt it again. And maybe that's why Optimus didn't want you to go out on missions. He didn't want you witnessing firsthand another person you cared for deeply be taken away from you or Lilah. He didn't just want you to not feel unwanted, but he also didn't want you to feel loss or like you're useless again."

Eliza couldn't help but laugh. Here was a human body that had only known for a week was giving her advice on her life, which she just willingly told him about! This Jack Darby was a very interesting character. Interesting indeed.

"Are you... okay now?" Jack asked, still looking concerned. Eliza licked her lips before nodding, sniffing as a small smile painted itself on her lips. "Yeah. Sorry you had to listen to my sob story. But thanks for listening, all the same," she said, cleaning her face with the sleeve of her jacket.

"No problem and any time," he responded, pulling her in for one final hug. With that, he finaly broke contact with her and walked with her back to meet up with everyone else.

When they did arrive, everyone fell silent. All eyes landed on Eliza, wondering if she would lash out again or just pretend that nothing happened. It was hard to tell, her gaze was blank.

But she surprised everyone when she calmly and smoothly walked up to Optimus, who looked down at her with a questioning look. They were even more surprised with what she said.

"Ever since that day I took my sister and Bots, I would talk with everyone else via messaging with my sister. We knew of many battles that took place, Cliff's death, finding a way to restore Cyberton, fixing Bee's voice box, and even of your death. So imagine my surprise when I learned that you were returning to Ear5h with Team Prime, and had formed other small groups as well."

Eliza looked at the Prime dead in the eyes, probably just like she did all those years ago on tha fatefull day with her sister. Miko and RAF were confused as to what happened between Jack and the blonde, but he gave them a look saying he would explain later.

"Optimus, I still can't completely forgive you for the actions you took against my wanting to help the Autobot clause, but I can for you pushing me and Delilah away, since you were only doing so to protect us. And... I'd like to apologize for pushing you away as much as I could as well."

As Miko mouthed "She has a sister?!" towards Jack, Optimus knelt down, not breaking eye contact with one of the girls that he considered daughters.

"I, too, wish to apologize for trying to distance myself, Eliza. And I hope that in time, you can forgive me for causing you more pain despite my intentions," he said, a small smile on his metallic face. But he quickly returned to being serious as he stood at his full height again.

"But this mission was not the only reason I asked you here," he said. "Wait, what? We had a deal, Prime!" Eliza yelled, returning to her normal self. "Shut up and listen for once, will ya?" Wrench asked, an amused smile on his face. "You guys knew?!" "Of course we did," Digit smirked, earning a growl from the blonde before Optimus continued.

"As you must know, there have been several different teams of Autobots. The Rescue team, and the Bee team. I would like to know if you'd like to lead them, and the entire group of team Prime."

Eliza and the other kids stared in shocked silence. She almost seemed to turn even paler as she stumbled back a bit.

"You... Teams... lead... wha?" she asked, her eyes wide as she ran a hand through her bangs, breathless. "C-coud you e-explain please?! Also, I think I need to sit down now," she finally managed. Raf, being the sweet little guy he was, had already grabbed the chair from her desk for her to rest on.

"Wh-why me?" she asked as she rubbed her face with her right hand, her left supporting her upper body by resting on her leg. "I mean, Bee says he's managing the Bee team well, from what I've heard the Rescues are split up and functioning well... so what do you need me for? I'm just a human gril."

"Which is exactly why I believe that you are the perfect candidate. You can help them strengthen their understanding with humans, become a bridge between the two worlds," Optimus said, smiling. "Born a human, raised a bot," Jack offered, earning a glance from Eliza. A moment of silence passed.

"Base of operations location?" "Here in Jasper, Nevada." "I suppose there will be more than bots?" "The humans associated with the rescue team and a human father with his son with the Bee team and two mini-Cons." "And you're going to have me drag Lilah here?" "Prefferably."

Eliza gave him a long, unreadablenlook before sighing and looking down at the floor. A few seconds later, she threw her head back with a groan.

"Ugh, I already know I'm going to regret this! Fine, I'll give it a shot. But I hope you know what you're asking of me, Prime," she said, standing and holding her hand out. With a smile he took it gently and shook it. With that, she turned to look at the trio of humans.

"Looks like I get a do-over with you guys: Hi, I'm Eliza Clarkson. I've known the bots for practically my whole life, I'm a bit broken and messed up, and now I'm here to be your new leader."