Chapter Four: Halfway Gone

Sam, quite frankly, was beginning to feel tired of all the flashing lights and blacking out.

In his dazed state of mind, it took him a moment to realize where he was sitting. This wasn't the blue city. No, it definitely was not. Sunlight, warm and bright, shone down from the sky between two buildings which retained a sane height of only a few feet. Several metal garbage bins sat innocently along one concrete wall.

There was no sign of the All Spark. Was it possible it hadn't made it to wherever this is? Slowly, he stood, groaning quietly as his knees and back cracked.

"Do be careful, Samuel. You haven't used a physical body in some time."

Sam spun around, the voice having startled him. There was nothing behind him. Absolutely nothing. So…he hadn't escaped the All Spark. A sigh and a small, half-hearted laugh met his ears.

"No, Samuel, I am afraid that you have not gotten rid of me. Nor will you anytime soon."

"Well, w-where are we?" He questioned the air in front of him.

"I am surprised," The All Spark didn't sound surprised as it continued, "I thought you would be able to recognize your home planet. Samuel, we are on Earth. Of course, it is not the Earth you are expecting."

"I-I know what planet we're on." He said indignantly, "What do you mean 'not the Earth I'm expecting'? Why are we here?"

"My dear Samuel, I will admit, the appearance of the Primes threw me off. I cannot quite sense them like I would my own children. I…lost my focus. The city fell apart and disappeared after I threw us into this alternate dimension. I would not risk losing you over something so frivolous."

It took Sam a while to gather a reply because his brain had started feeling fogging; making it difficult to concentrate.

"A-alright. So we're in some alternate dimension? Does that mean…?"

"That no one from your previous life exists in this world? Of course. It is definitively safer where none of my creations can reach us. More importantly, neither can the Primes. You are free from them here Samuel. I have given you a chance to return to the place most familiar to you. This will make you happy, correct?"

"Er…I – yeah…" He trailed of, thoughts drifting to his parents, 'Bee…how they were still without of his reach. How he couldn't see them. A noise of disapproval echoed against the concrete walls -or was it still in his head? - he stood quite alone in between.

"Samuel, Samuel…you honestly need to stop thinking about these beings if the mere thought of them brings you so much…sadness."

The fog in his mind grew steadily heavier; Sam supposed it was akin to the winds of the blue city, only the All Spark held no power over this Earth.

Did it?

The silver saboteur had become steadily more confused as time had passed.

First off, he had been left alone for some time in the black empty space, with no further enlightenment. After that, everything around him got very bright and very warm and then he wasn't in the empty space anymore.

With a thump Jazz found himself suddenly in the middle of a street in his alt. mode. A rusty pickup swerved around him, nearly careening into a parked car. Realizing he should probably move, Jazz spun his tires and peeled off down the road.

Later, the man driving the pickup would be sitting in a police station, trying to explain to one of the officers how a Pontiac had fallen from the sky.

Jazz drove until he reached an abandoned looking section of buildings. Parking, he ran system checks over himself. Nothing. Everything was normal with the exception of him being pretty dead a while ago.

Which brings him to his location; his internal GPS was now telling him his was downtown in…Mission City? Doubling checking, he confirmed that it was telling the truth. But…how? The place had been in ruins the last he'd seen of it, what the Decepticons blowing up buildings and altogether causing chaos. Surely it hadn't been that long since the incident.

Oh.

His chronometer was telling him it had only been a couple of days since the battle. Scanning his surroundings and as much of the city as possible from his location, Jazz deduced that there was absolutely nothing damaged on a large scale anywhere nearby.

Where were the humans trying to cover it up? Or repairs still being started and finished? Was he being Punk'd? The ridiculous thought was seriously considered for a moment before it was laughed at and deleted.

Pulling himself out of park, Jazz started to drive; remembering the words of the invisible entity, he sobered up. A friend in danger? What was that supposed to mean? Clearly the Autobots had won if the city was already returned to its previous state. So…who was in danger? These and similar questions bombarded his processor as the saboteur drove aimlessly through the streets.

Sam was still standing alone in an alley.

Well, not totally alone. There was still the tiny voice of an all-knowing energy in the back of his head. He was unsure whether or not he wanted to leave here, so the All Spark decided for him.

"We should leave. It would be unwise to continue to stay here. You need this time on your home planet, whilst I need this time to regain my strength."

"What? W-what does that mean?"

"As I have said before, building up that city took much energy to do. That along with the arrival of the Primes, and me bringing us here, has left me terribly fatigued. However, it should only take but a few hours until I can take us from here."

Sam was rather confused at this point. Hadn't they All Spark just drained itself for the sole purpose of getting them here? Wasn't the universe-thing safe from the Primes?

"Somewhat, Samuel. Though I hold no control over the environment here, that does not mean the Primes have the same restrictions. I believe they will find us eventually…" At this the All Spark paused. The silence was a little awkward, considering it was inside of Sam's head.

"But it is not them I worry about. No… If the Primes find us, I would be able to hold them back, send us to an entirely different dimension. The one I worry about…is Primus himself."

"Primus?" Sam wondered aloud. The All Spark did not respond right away.

"…Primus; the one who had initially begun race of Cybertronians. He directed the Seven Primes in the creation of my primary vessel, the one which you destroyed, and gave me life. Though the Primes are powerful in their own right, it is only a miniscule percentage of the power Primus possesses. He is the only one who could extinguish my life-force permanently." The All Spark finished solemnly.

Sam only nodded. His head was feeling foggy again, but that didn't stop him from starting to walk to where the alley met open sidewalk.

He only made it a few steps before there was a funny feeling in the back of his head. Like a tugging sensation. It got stronger and he had to place a hand against the cool brick of the building beside him to keep standing. The All Spark did not speak. The tugging grew worse and a then there was a noise. A tone that started low and humming, steadily growing into a high-pitched. It only increased the pounding in his head.

Sam's hand left the wall to join the other in clamping hard over his ears, trying to staunch the noise. Without the support of the wall, he fell to his knee, teeth grit, a low groan of pain passing his lips. His eyes were shut tight, there was a flash that glowed red beneath his eyelids. And suddenly…

Nothing.

The noise and the tugging feeling had simply disappeared. Slowly, he opened his eyes. Sam found himself still kneeling on the dirty pavement of the alley. Nothing had changed.

Except now there was a pair of feet in his line of vision.

Jazz had set himself a slower pace than he would have normally liked. However, if he was going to find this 'friend in danger', he would need to take it slow in order to locate them. So far none of his Autobot comrades had answered their comm. frequencies; in fact, it was as if they weren't even there anymore.

All he could hear was static.

Everything here was strange. And now -despite the fact that this was so improbable it could even the most imaginative 'bots would've short-circuited- Jazz was fairly certain this was not the same universe he had been sparked into.

A ping interrupted his thought process. A flare of energy, akin to the All Spark, sparked on his radars. It burst in a wave of energy before momentarily disappearing and returning to pulse steadily, smaller than before.

AN: Well, here's another chapter! I hope everyone is enjoying the story so far. This one is probably one of the shorter chapters word wise. And look! Sam didn't pass out at the end of this one! I feel so accomplished. Anyways, thanks for all reviews, favourites and alerts! They are much appreciated.

If anyone wants to see my 'Head-cannon Sam', the link is on my profile!

Halfway: At a point between two others.

Gone: No longer present; departed.

-DrHooksTowingandCo