Sniper

Oh, Primus. I sit nervously on the cot in ratchet's office. Magnus clutches my cervo. Something's wrong with me. I can tell. We want to know. Ratchet walks into the room. I can not tell what he is thinking. He is unreadable.

"It's bad, isn't it?" I say. Magnus puts an arm around me to comfort me. I will not be comforted until I know what it is.

"Well, it depends..." Ratchet begins.

"Primus, Ratchet, just hit me with it!"

"I'd rather not hit a femme who's expecting." He looks up and smiles at us both. Magnus, his old friend;and me, we just met, but we don't hate each other or anything.

"Really?" My voice squeaks and it sounds pathetic. We'd been trying for a while.

"Yeah. I triple checked. There's nothing wrong with you." Nothing wrong? Something's living inside me now. But it is exciting. I lean into Magnus and sigh. He doesn't try to say anything. It is our moment. Words do not describe it. A family. All our own.

Ultra Magnus

"I don't want to leave you." I really don't, but Sniper can not come with me. I can't just abandon her and my son, and the two on their way.

"You have to go. You must go to this planet called Earth, give Optimus and my brother best wishes." She says. She looks so self-assured, so wise, standing how she is right now.

I sigh, "I know."

"Don't worry about me. Go." she says, she bows her head.

"But you-"

"Will be fine." She assures.

"Sir, we have to go." Sentinel comes out of the ship.

"Yes, of course." I say, not looking back.

"And when you get back," She continues, lifting her head and putting it against me, where she can manage to reach. "I will have two healthy sparklings to present to you. I promise." Her optics rim with tears. They are not tears I have seen in her eyes. Not tears of anger. Not tears of sadness or pain. They are something else. Pride.

"Bye dad." Dahomey says. I look down at him, standing next to his mother like she is his to defend.

I reach down and stroke the side of his face. "Goodbye, my son. Take care of your mother. You are the mech of the house now. Make me proud." I say. He nods, trying with all his might to be strong.

"He will. Now go." She says.

I step onto the Elite Guard ship, not looking forward to having to hear Sentinel the whole way. He does not know when to shut up.

Sniper

"I miss dad." Dahomey whines. He is so bored with no one to play with.

"I do too, baby. But he'll be back soon. I promise. And then we will be a family again."

It is quiet for a long while. We have nothing to do but wait. I feel the twins squirm. It hurts. Really bad. It hurts worse than anything I've experienced. Worse than the beatings, the abuse, the rape, the verbal abuse. I groan and Dahomey looks up, worried.

"Mom, are you okay?"

"Yes, I just need something from the medic." I moan weakly. I am barely able to stagger down the hall. Minia's office is only a door away from us, but this time it seems like miles.

"Minia, something's wrong." The bright orange femme looks down at me, alarmed. She leads me to the cot and I lay down.

"What is it?"

"I don't know, I look like a med to you?" I'm not. I used to be. Magnus does not know this. No bot knows this.

She gives me something and tells me to drink it. I do and it immediately subsides the pain.

"Get Magnus" I say quietly.

"What?"

"Get Magnus!" I scream this time and immediately regret it.

She opens a comm. Link, and tries to call him three times. He doesn't pick up. Damn, Magnus, what in hell are you doing? I breathe deeply. Minia tells me what is happening. Premees. A result of rape in cybertronians. Damn that Ondel. I laugh out loud at the irony of it all. Minia looks at me like I've gone insane. Maybe I have. It won't matter. She can only save the life of one: Me or the children. The choice is clear: Children. Karma. What a bitch.

Finally, Ultra Magnus' appears on the contact screen.

"Minia, you called." He says officially.

"Ultra Magnus, sir, thank you for calling back," she explains the whole story to him. Then she leaves us to make the decision.

"Save the kids, Magnus." I say this before he even has a chance to open his mouth. There is no question on my decision.

"But you-" I cut him off. He should not even try to protest.

"Have less to live for than they do. If you don't save the kids, I will never forgive you." It hurts to say this, but it must be said.

"But-"

"Do it!" He sighs and buries his head in his arms.

"So who will it be?" Minia is in the room again, solemn as ever.

Ultra Magnus

"The kids." I say in equal solemnity.

She nods.

"Magnus," Sniper says. She seems so peaceful.

"Sniper, I don't want you to die." I choke on my words for the first time in quite possibly my life. I sound pathetic.

"I have to, for the kids." She smiles at me, placing her servo on the surface separating us, the way she did the very first time we met. For the first time since we met, she tells me she loves me. And I say it back. It never really needed to be said. We both knew it well, and they were words Sniper had never heard spoken towards her. She didn't know that that feeling was love. I place my servo on the surface,too. We look into each other's eyes and she goes limp. Her hands falls and the comm. Link shuts off. I grit my teeth together so hard it hurts. And I don't care.