*Sigh* Okay, I really, really, truly meant to hold off on this chapter until I had the next chapter to As We Come Together typed and posted, but as it turns out, a good friend of mine that I've made on this site recently had a cake die on her in a horrible baking accident (in which the oven decided that the cake would not cook, thus leaving it gooey inside), and so in offering my condolences for the loss, I also offered to post this to cheer her up! So, yeah, Bunnylass, I hope you enjoy this cheer-up chapter! Everyone has to thank you for this quick update, 'cause otherwise they would have been waiting for a couple of weeks until Come's chapter was up. Much love~

There a few mind benders in this chapter, but I do hope that all of you enjoy reading! Some will smile, some will roll their eyes, and others will have the hair on their arms stand on end. There are mysteries and stories within stories in this chapter, and plot points that not only are relevant to this story, but are key to the grand arc of the WE universe. There may not be all the answers in this chapter, but coming to ones own conclusions has always been more fun than having them handed to you. I'm so very interested to hear about what you all think!

FunkyFish1991- Oh yes, I am indeed an evil woman, hehehehe... But you'll see if someone comes for them in this chapter.

Elita One- Don't worry, this chapter will reveal if someone finds them or not.^^

Bluebird Soaring- It certainly WAS one heck of a ride down. I swear, my pulse was racing when I wrote their fall! It certainly does look like someone's looking out for them, doesn't it? Hopefully that someone is still looking out for them.^^

Shizuka Taiyou- Hopefully help will come very soon for them~

DitzyMusicLover- Ahhhh, my dear, there are so many great and terrible things in the universe, and so many of them with eyes. I'll let you draw your own conclusions on who is watching the twins. *Cheshire grin*

Bunnylass- My dear, I really, truly have no idea what to say in light of your review. I feel like a broken record every time I write a response to you, since I'm always scrabbling to say thank you enough. I even squealed a little when you pointed out one of my own favourite lines from the chapter- "Something unfathomably huge had awakened, shifted, and glanced down..." I swear, I shiver every time I read that line! I do so hope you enjoy Sunny'n'Sides together in this chapter!

Shimmershadow30- Awwww, please don't cry, my dear! This chapter will surely bright you a ray of light~

Flarire- I didn't mean to leave you hanging too long~ Everyone knows they're going to be okay in the long wrong, but it's always a nail-biter to see what happens to them in between their past and present.

Dankesque- It'll be on a hope and a prayer that they're not taken away due to negligence~ If the last chapter struck a chord with you, I think there's elements of this current chapter that will certainly catch your attention.

Silveriss- Aren't mysteries the best part of life? Although, sometimes mysteries don't always have a definite answer... *Cheshire grin*

Surface of the Sun
Chapter 4: Part III

Wildride was the first to transform, resuming his bipedal mode long before he had stopped rolling, which left him flying into Blaze with his fists cocked.

"You glitch! You damned fragging glitch!"

"Wildride!"

"You swore you'd look after them! You said they'd be okay!"

One sharp fist hit its mark, sending Blaze's head to the side with a sharp snap. The next one landed as well, denting the pyrotechnic director's olfactory sensor casing. They toppled backwards, landing with a loud clatter. Wildride's third swing was blocked by Blaze's hand, and then the rest of the troop finally caught up, instantly upon Wildride to drag him off his fellow stuntmech. Flashdance took an arm, Blindside took the other, while Skyfly and Clouddrift pushed helplessly at Wildride's kicking feet in hopes of getting him to back up.

"You swore they'd be okay, you Primus damned liar!" Wildride roared, struggling for all he was worth for a second round with his best friend. "You liar!"

Blaze turned his faceplate away, one hand up to nurse the crushed plating of his olfactory sensor. He couldn't bring himself to look to his friend, the mech that was practically his brother among the troop. Wildride and Blindside had placed their trust in him and his mate to keep their sparklings safe, and what did they do? Let them fall down a lift shaft. What could he possibly say for himself?

Thrillride suddenly slipped out of the crowd, squeezing between two mechs' lumbering feet. She had picked up her troop's spark resonances the moment they had come into range, and had sped up her quest to get to them the moment she felt the attack on her mate.

"Wildride, I'm so sorry! This never should have happened!" she called to the fireworks-motif mech, hoping that he would hear her over his own cursing.

Indeed, Wildride did hear her, but that was not necessarily a good thing. "You little glitch!" His optics flashed dangerously, his temper uncontainable. The tiny aerial acrobats were useless to block the attack as Wildride threw back his leg, and then lashed out, catching the femme around the middle and sending her flying into a support pillar.

"Thrillride!" Blaze roared, forgetting about his own damages out of fear for his mate. He raced for her, scooping her up from the ground where she had fallen before an unwitting bot from the crowd was jostled into stepping on her. Thankfully, her frame was built stronger than it looked, allowing her to shake off the attack with only a slight amount of dizziness.

"Urgh, I wasn't expecting that," she grunted, holding the caved section of her abdomen.

Furious, Blaze spun around on the struggling mech. "That was uncalled for, Wildride!"

"You wanna know what else was uncalled for?! Dropping my sparklings down a shaft!" the mech snarled back. Inch by inch, Flashdance and Blindside started to lose their grip, even as they dug their heels in and tried to haul back. While Wildride's temper was something of a rarity to be seen, it was fearsome when it did come out. Just when it looked like he was about to shake free of the two holding him, Flicker was finally able to lumber through the outskirts of the crowd and transform, using his superior bulk to pin Wildride to the spot.

"You've got to calm down before you hurt someone, Wildride," Flicker warned.

"Let me go or I'll tear your arm off, Flicker! I'm going to kill those two!" Wildride snarled, struggling against the large hands that held him fast.

"I mean it, Wildride, you have to calm down. Flip's right behind me, and if he sees you acting like this, he's going to whip you a new one," Flicker warned worriedly, looking to Flashdance and Blindside for help. Flashdance was too busy looking around for their feared director to make optic-contact with the larger mech, and Blindside was too caught up in his mate's rage to do much else but try and calm him down.

"I don't give a frag about Flip! I'm going to kill those two pit-fragging sparkling-losing aft-glitch-!"

Before any of them had a chance to shield their friend, Flip was there before them all. As silent as a ghost, fast as lightening, his hand shot up under a slate in Wildride's armour and struck a vital pump, causing the mech's frame to seize for an instant. In his surprise, Flicker fumbled, dropping Wildride, allowing him to crumble forward in a shuddering, gasping heap. Blindside dove for his mate, emitting a high-pitched keening noise as he gathered the subdued mech from the floor. The rest of the troop stood frozen, not even daring to make a move. All optics were on Flip.

"That was a poor performance you just put on, Wildride," he admonished sharply, his voice cold as ice.

"This is no show, Flip," Wildride managed to growl, optics burning despite his frame being incapacitated.

"You know very well I expect the best out of all of you at all times, especially in any public place," Flip stated. He may have been on the small side for mech-sized frames, but he was frighteningly imposing. "If you cannot handle your temper at a time like this, I will have Flicker escort you home by force-."

"But-!"

"Regardless of whose sparklings are at the bottom of a lift. Do you understand me?"

Wildride shuddered, supported on his hands and knees by Blindside. "Yes, director," he murmured rottenly, optics averted to the ground.

Flip jerked his head in a nod, and then turned to Blaze and Thrillride. He looked the femme over for a moment, confirming that she was alright, and then he asked in a voice that was just as glacial, "How did this happen?"

Thrillride slid from her mate's hand. "Flip... it's was an accident, I swear. We just came down here to get the explosives for the shows- we didn't think it was that big a deal to let them wander off for a little bit. They'd been so good all morning, and the industrial district is a lot calmer than the upper levels..." her vocal processor turned to static.

"If we had any idea what was going to happen, we would have kept them with us," Blaze said ardently, his fists clenched.

The director remained icy. "You had no idea what would happen if you let them wander off. You did as any of us would have done. It was an accident." He turned to glare down at Wildride. "And accident," he enunciated for the mech, whose mouthplate's pulled into a snarl.

Blindside looked close to a breakdown. "An accident..." His optics had long since drained of all colour, becoming wide and crystalline, barely an ounce of light reflecting from them. "Primus, an accident here of all places..."

"Blindside, it won't do you any good to have a panic attack here. You have to try to stay calm," Thrillride warned, trying to come forward. Wildride snapped at her, so she kept her distance.

The star-spangled mech heeded no warning, shaking his head to himself, as if his logic center had finally given out. "Oh Primus... Primus... If they're alright, an accident like this could ruin us. What if they're taken away for this? The Council's taken away sparklings for less in the past..."

Thrillride waved her hands, clearly upset by the thought. "Oh no, my dear, the Council wouldn't do that! They couldn't do that on grounds of an accident! We'll appeal to the Prime if that happens!"

"Right- accident. We can go to the Prime..." His gaze flickered over the crowded alleyway where the Security Response bots had barred entry to the gathered horrified crowd. "They're down there, somewhere- at the bottom of that shaft. They might not even be-."

"Don't say it!" Wildride howled, regaining enough mobility to rear away from Blindside. He took his mate's head by the crests and held him, glaring at him. "They're alive, Blindside! They're alive! Don't you dare think they're dead!" Blindside stared up in shock for a frozen breem, and then crumbled, shaking, sobbing, leaving Wildride to flounder angrily. "No, don't- I didn't mean... Frag! Frag it all!" Even if Wildride had succeeded in scaring his mate out of having a panic attack, that didn't stop Blindside's fear from slapping him in the faceplate. Temper dissolving, he gathered Blindside's frame and rocked him gently. He couldn't be mad at a time like this- he was stupid for getting worked up like he had. It wasn't doing anyone any good. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to take it out on you. My temper got the best of me. Blindside, please-."

"Skyfly and Clouddrift are back," Flashdance suddenly announced, spotting the two pastel bots as they slowly weaved their way through the throng. On their heels were two Security Response officers, a navy-blue minibot and the dull-copper femme Blaze had run into earlier.

"Is there any news?" Thrillride asked desperately, having spoken with them earlier about any news concerning the twins.

The copper femme bowed sombrely. "We have been unable to get to the bottom of the shaft yet. I assure you that my team has been doing all they can to clear a path, but it looks as if the shaft may have collapsed right after the cables gave out. Judging by the rust deposits on what's left of the support structures, this was an accident waiting to happen; the moment your sparklings touched the controls, it would have been enough for the whole thing to give out."

The noise that suddenly keened from Blindside was like glass shards down everyone's insides. "I just saw them this morning- they were both fine... I should have told them I loved them," he cried. "I should have said something else, instead of worrying about their stupid plating. I should have hugged them, or drove them myself into the city."

"You had no idea this was going to happen," Blaze intoned softly. "Even if any of us knew... Primus, if any of us knew what was to happen, we never would have let them out of the coliseum."

Sadly, Blindside heard nothing of Blaze's assurances, nor of his own mate's pleas to calm him. He was like any other desperate Creator whose sparklings' were in mortal danger and there was nothing he could do to help; utterly senseless with worry, hoping to Primus he was going to be able to hold them again without having to say goodbye.

"Do you know how deep they are?" Flicker suddenly asked the femme, kneeling to be on par with everyone else.

She shook her head. "There's no telling how deep the thing goes until we can clear a path through."

"I see," Flicker sighed. "That's probably going to take a while, isn't it?"

"Seeing as many of the supports in the shaft are rusted through, we have to clear the debris away very carefully or else we may cause another collapse. Our best estimates are around half a joor to a joor, at the very least."

This only seemed to incite Blindside's anxiety to a new level; his intakes wheezed in an effort to re-pressurize his insides, which had lost every ounce vital pressure the moment he started going into an attack. Wildride was holding him carefully, his shaking hands doing their best to steady his mate. A media-drone hovered over Flicker's shoulder, recording the moment so that millions could partake in the misery of the Creators. Not liking the idea of having such a private moment recorded, Flicker subtly jerked his shoulders back, striking the drone and sending it spiralling elsewhere. Judging by Flip's pointed glare, the director had seen, but thankfully refrained from saying anything, which meant Flicker was going to pay for the damages to the drone later.

Flashdance jigged where he stood, looking desperate and lost. "Shouldn't there be some alternate lift or something? I mean, where exactly does that one go? Shouldn't it be on one of the city maps or something?" Every mean thing he ever said to the little pipsqueaks was running through his processor, making him regret every one. The last thing he had ever said to them was 'be good little monsters' when he'd seen them in the corridor that morning. If that was the last thing he ever got to say to them...

The copper femme looked to her fellow officier, calling on him to help explain. He offered a precise and practised bow. "Ah know dis is news no one wants ta 'ear, but we don' ev'n know what dis lift is doin' 'ere. It should be on a ciddy map, and 'dere should be anodder lift down ta whereva it goes, but dis one ain't on any o' our maps, nawt ev'n in de archives. Strange 'ding is, Ah don' dink we've ev'n 'eard o' dis one before. Somedin like dis 'as nevah 'appened before- 'dere ain't no tellin' where de bottom is. No one knows which odder lift to take." The mech was from Kalis, if his accent was anything to go by. He was probably a transfer from one of the precincts there.

Flashdance made a noise of exasperation, which only got him a frown from the officer.

"If we knew where de lift went, 'den we'd be down 'dere now," the mech insisted. "We doin' all dat we can ta clear de way- we gawt ev'ry microbot en' femme in de precinct workin' 'dere afts off ta get down 'dere."

"Microbot and femmes?" Blindside repeated wonderingly, still rocking on the verge of a panic atack. The entire troop was morbidly aware of the media drones recording them, and none of them could have given less of a frag at the moment. They had dropped their fun-loving performance personas behind the moment they had caught wind of what had happened.

The minibot waved to the alley. "De way too narrow fer anydin' bigger dan a femme."

"Figures they'd make it hard for us to even rescue them," Flicker sighed, tall enough see easily over the crowd and regard the packed alley with more than a little consternation.

"I assure you that we are doing all that we can to get through- our rescue teams are highly trained for this sort of thing, and we have our medics on hand for the moment we have the twins. The Youth Sector's medics have also been alerted and will be here any breem," the femme announced. She glanced back when someone sent her a message. "If you'll excuse me, my services are needed." She hurried back towards her fellow officers.

Blaze made a rumbling noise, a deep, deep grating sound that rattled from the depths of his chassis. "Tell me, what are Sunstreaker and Sideswipe's chances of surviving a fall like this?" he asked the minibot. Instantly, everyone's attention zeroed in on the officer, who was clearly uncomfortable with answering such an enquiry.

"It be quite a fall yer sparklin's took, and dey still be in 'dere first frames- fragile 'dings like 'dem don't stand up ta much abuse. If 'dey fell far, or if 'dey hit de bottom hard, 'dere chances o' bein' found alive ain't too 'igh."

"No," Blindside moaned pitifully. He couldn't bring himself to face the possibility.

Wildride growled, clutching to his mate's armour tightly. "Please, you have to give us something more! Isn't there anything else you can tell us?" he demanded fiercely.

"Ah can't say noddin' more until we gawt somedin' substantial ta say, but... Ah wouldn't get mah 'opes up too 'igh if Ah were you, ya 'ear me? Ah don' mean ta make dis any tougher fer ya, but when dings like dis 'appen..." he sighed, a navy-armoured hand rubbing the back of his neck. He glanced back as someone called him. "Ah 'ave ta get back ta mah post, but if any o' ya need anydin', just give a shout."

"We will, thank you," Flip replied, the only one who appeared to have his wits about him, as glacial as they were at the moment. The remainder of the troop was too stunned beyond words in the face of their sparklings' probable deaths to be able to function on more than just passing thoughts.

"Shouldn't we be able to help in some way?" Skyfly said, peering up to Flip with wide optics. "Clouddrift and I are small enough to fit- we can try to find some way to help Security Response in there."

"You're performers, not rescue bots. You'll only get in the way if you try to help," Flip said, frowning deeply. Something caught his optic over the heads of the crowd, just as a sweet breeze drifted through from some unknown place. There was a brief flash in his gaze, recognition, before he nodded to himself, and turned back to his troop. "I want you all to stick together for now. Support each other, help if someone requests the help but do not get in anyone's way. And whatever you do, do not fight amongst yourselves or I will see to it that it is the last thing any of you ever do."

Obediently, they all bowed. "Yes, director," some of them murmured.

Flip regarded them quietly for an astrosecond longer, his gaze sweeping from Thrillride and Blaze, to Flashdance gathered with Flicker and aerials, to Wildride and Blindside, who rocked together in attempts to sooth the horror brewing between them. Flip had known them all from the orn they had been brought online; he'd been there for them through every tragedy their lives have ever known. They were a stronger than they would ever know, bonded to each other as closely brothers and sisters. They were strong enough to do without him for a short while.

Thrillride made a small noise, inching forward cautiously. Flip looked to her, his expression softening from the ice that had taken hold of it. He waved her forward, leaned down to allow her to press her smooth and glossy forehead to his pockmarked brow, and he blew a jet of warm air across her.

"Everything will turn out as it should, my brightspark," he murmured, turning her around to face Wildride. "You should make amends while you can."

Thrillride nodded, cautiously stepping forward. She paused before she came within arm's reach of Wildride, wary of attack, but found his gaze now dull, meaning it was safe for her to scramble up his frame and embrace his faceplate, placing her forehead to his.

"I didn't mean to kick you," Wildride murmured repentantly.

"Shhh, it's alright. I've had worse," she soothed. "You were upset. It's alright." Her arms went out to Blindside, drawing him into an embrace as well. "I am so very sorry. So very, very sorry."

"That's right, stay together. Don't stray apart," Flip urged, turning from the crowd and beginning to wander away.

"Where are you going?" Flashdance called, even as the others did as they were bid, gathering around the sparkmates whose sparklings' lives were in question.

"Nowhere of consequence to you," Flip assured, his gaze stating quite clearly that Flashdance was to enquire no more. "I will be back shortly."


Without their chronometers, they had no sense of time. To them, eternity had already passed. Still, they waited for someone to come.

Sideswipe remained paralyzed where he lay, unable to move from the puddle of congealed energon he found himself in. While the cold energon did nothing but send a chill through his already numb frame, its thick presences had been enough to stop his wounds from oozing. A small victory, to say the least. He had not spoken a word aloud for the longest while, keeping in touch with Sunstreaker directly through their bond now. Had he even had the slightest inclination to speak aloud, he wouldn't have been able to, as depleted in energon as he was.

Sunstreaker stayed vigilant, sitting at his brother's head, keeping him as comfortable as possible. He still hurt all over from his own injuries and from Sideswipe's, but by now things had dulled into a vague haziness. He was numb on the inside. He couldn't tell where one thought pattern ended and the other began. The one optic that still worked flickered dully, the light disappearing briefly before reinitializing.

Don't let your optic go off, Sideswipe pleaded weakly.

"Why?"

I'm scared.

"Of the dark?"

Yes.

"It's not completely dark down here. The phosphorus is glowing."

It's dark enough. The cavern around them had morphed into living, breathing being, whose optics and audios and teeth and claws hovered poised around them. Both of his optics may have been working, but all Sideswipe could see in his limited range was a great and terrible darkness, vague shapes hovering in shadows around him. The only real point of light he could make out was Sunstreaker's optic floating near, and if that went out, then whatever was lurking beyond the touch of light was sure to come out and gobble them alive. He had never been given reason to fear the dark before, but he was finding all sorts of reasons to cower now.

"I think it's kind of pretty down here," he said slowly, tracing a particularly enchanting curl of phosphorus with his gaze.

Not for the first time, Sunstreaker let his gaze drift; sliding from Sideswipe to the void they sat in, he contemplated the strange hollow place. It was dark. It was terribly dark, and silent, and frightening, and yet the fear Sideswipe felt was not equal in Sunstreaker. He didn't mind the dark, not even this kind of dark that was kind of, sort of alive. It was almost welcoming, with claws outstretched, welcoming him in. There may have been unseen things lurking in the shadows, monsters and pit-hounds and terrible things meant to eat sparklings alive, but there were no looming bots watching him in the dark, no optics looking down on him, thinking he was ugly. Monsters he could deal with, he'd been called monster enough (even if it was as a joke), but ugly- ugly, on the other hand, he could not stand. He found he liked the dark more than he knew he should have, because nobody was ugly in the dark.

Sideswipe shifted, unnerved by the feelings he was receiving from his brother. He couldn't understand them completely. He attempted to turn his attentions elsewhere, trying to focus on something, when he was having such a hard time trying to remember everything else but Sunstreaker's name. He stared up, up, up into the eerie green-glowing gloom, and found that it felt as if something were staring back.

Don't you get the feeling there's something down here with us?

It took a while for Sunstreaker to answer, because he was reluctant to admit to the heavy gaze that weighed down on him like a physical presence. "Sort of."

It's watching us, isn't it?

"I think so."

Something big and silent, something so immense that the air was charged by it, made heavy and powerful, sat in wait beyond the realm of what they could see. Something was watching them. Or maybe it was all in their heads? They were scared little sparklings, after all. What did they know?

I just want someone to come find us, Sunstreaker. I'm scared.

"Just hold on, Sides. I bet someone's on their way right now."

Sideswipe barely had the strength to sigh anymore. Someone better be on the way. I'm tired.

"I thought you said you were scared?"

There was a moment of confusion, and then Sideswipe was vaguely able to hold onto a thought. Yeah... I'm scared and tired. He tried to focus his limited concentration elsewhere to that his brother wouldn't realize he was forgetting things, too.

"You can be scared and tired if you want, okay?"

Okay

Sunstreaker frowned worriedly, briefly catching on to Sideswipe's inability to concentrate. Sure, that was normal for his brother on a regular orn, but he was pretty sure blanking out while hurt badly wasn't good in any case. He was too scared to place his forehead completely to Sideswipe's in fear that he could hurt him more, so he carefully leaned down in a way that wouldn't aggravate the twisted metal of his back and hovered a breath away. Just hovered. "Sideswipe, you gotta stay with me, 'kay? You're not allowed to recharge right now."

I don't wanna recharge.

"Then stay online."

Sideswipe groaned, a sound that creaked through him painfully. Easy for you to say, brother.

"Just try, okay?"

I'll try until someone comes.

"Someone is coming."

The atmosphere warmed fractionally, a whisper of a breeze suddenly travelling through the great atrium. They found the air was sweet, tickling their olfactory sensors strangely. Awareness prickled across their plating, a familiar sense by now.

Tip-tap...tip-tap...tip-tap...tip-tap...tip-tap...tip-tap...tip-tap...

The disturbance in the darkness was enough to startle them into squeaking, which they quickly smothered out of fear. Something was making its way through the gloom. It shifted in the way of a few phosphorus veins high on the wall, disturbingly high, revealing the approaching creature to be something far taller than anything they knew. Nothing living on Cybertron was built that big. As far down the tunnel as it was, the sound of the giant's metallic footsteps created a cacophony across the cavern, echoing, haunting. It was such a delicate tapping noise, for something so big. The echoes made it sound like an army of ghosts were tip-tapping down the tunnel. No resonance came from it, leaving the twins blind to who or what it could possibly be.

Whatever it was, it was coming towards them.

Unable to see properly, Sideswipe panicked a little. What is it?

"I don't know," Sunstreaker murmured, easing his brother's head out of his lap. He took up a defensive stance between Sideswipe and the approaching thing. "I'll protect you."

Tip-tap...tip-tap...tip-tap...tip-tap...tip-tap...tip-tap...tip-tap...

As the creature drew near, it seemed to inexplicably shrink. Never faltering, always easing forward with a loping grace that appeared fluid through the shadow, a being coalesced into their vision that was disturbingly larger than an average mech, but smaller than they had originally thought it'd been. A trick of the light and shadows, maybe? Or an optical illusion. They knew well enough that things didn't just shrink on Cybertron- they had files on proper mass displacement, and what they were seeing didn't match any of their information. In fact, none of it fit any of their current information on beings that inhabited Cybertron. It was not designed with the visual cues of a mech, nor did it fit into the design of minibots, femmes, or microbots. As far as either sparkling could tell, it was Cybertronian in origin, if only barely so. Other than that, it was an enigma. A blank slate. A ghost.

It loomed overhead momentarily, and then crouched.

"S-stay back! Don't come any closer!" Sunstreaker commanded, standing his ground even though every inch of him shook. He had to turn his head a little to see with his good optic, making sure to glare.

The creature quirked something like a smile, though its facial design was so beyond anything they had ever seen that they could only guess what the expression truly meant.

"And what manner of creatures might you two be?" The sound of its voice made them jump, not because it was loud, for it was actually quite soft and musical, but because it was in a similar range to femme default range. How very strange for a monster, especially one so far out of the normal femme size range. In all the stories they'd been told, monsters generally sounded, well, monstrous. This one sounded downright pleasant.

"We're twins," Sunstreaker asserted defiantly, fists up.

"Twins?" the creature repeated. Her optics lit up the darkness in a honeyed-haze, made from some amber material instead of the clear crystal used for normal bots. "I never knew there were twins about..."

"Everyone's heard of us!" Sunstreaker exclaimed, puffing out, trying to make himself look tough. "We're famous!"

"Ah, I don't get out much," the being hummed amusedly, as if the answer were a very private joke. There was something about her gaze that was old. Very old, and calm, and gentle. A very long, dark finger extended toward's Sunstreaker, the very fingertip pressing to the side of his faceplate to wipe away the grimed energon that dried there. Her touch was as cold as a statue's, light as a ghost's. "You and your brother fell down here, didn't you?"

Sunstreaker stared up with wide optics. He couldn't think of any reason to lie; she was strangely reassuring, in a frightening kind of way. "Yes. The lift collapsed."

"You poor little things." The expression upon her face was still so alien, and yet they knew she meant sympathy somehow. Her voice was as sweet as the breeze that seemed to be drifting about the cavern, which made them relax fractionally, thinking of Blindside's soft voice, or Thrillride's musical cooing.

Slowly, hesitantly, Sunstreaker dropped his fists. "You're not going to hurt us, are you?"

"Now why would you think that, little one?" she laughed.

"Because you're a monster, aren't you?"

Again, she laughed, looking from one sparkling to the other. "Have either of you ever seen a monster?"

Sunstreaker had to answer for his brother, but at least their answers were the same; a very reluctant, "No."

"Then how do you know I am one?" Her hand unfurled, an invitation for Sunstreaker to climb on, which he did so shakily, strangely reassured. Her palm was like her fingers, cold like a statue's, and made from a dark, dark metal. With her other hand, she gently brushed aside the debris trapping Sideswipe and gathered him as gently as she could. Sideswipe stared up in wonder, as if he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. A long, low keening noise drifted from him, straight from his spark, which only spurred their saviour to rock them gently, humming. "Shhh, there now, that's a good little one. I'm here. I came for you." She cradled them as if they were precious jewels, straightening and turning back into the eerie gloom of the immense tunnels from which she came.

"Where... take- us?" Sideswipe croaked.

"Somewhere safe for now," she replied.

In total silence, trusting the strange being as only young ones could, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe allowed themselves to be carried away through endless tunnels, lit only by glowing amber optics and the threads of phosphorus that curled along the great arched walls. The only sound around them was the tip-tap-tip-tap of their saviour's feet, and an occasional trickle of liquid as subterranean mercury streams flowed through the walls. They traveled deep, and deeper still, into a dizzying maze of twists and turns, the intensity of the air thickening the deeper they went. The optics of the great, invisible thing that watched them from the dark never once left them, only intensified when they came to a set of ancient carved doors that stretched up into infinity above. Curiously, the structure of the doors appeared as if they were part of the shadowed walls, as if they had always been there from the orn the planet had been created. A sweet breeze billowed out from within as the way opened on its own, a deep and ancient groan shuddering through Cybertron itself with the effort to move the great slabs.

"In there?" Sunstreaker wondered breathlessly, unable to look away from the gaping maw of atrium beckoning them in.

"Where else?"

Through the doors, across the cathedral illuminated by twisted stalactites of strange blue phosphorus, they were brought to a dais whose center had eroded away from eons of mercurial drips falling from the shadowed ceiling. Water, actual water, in all its bizarre rarity, had somehow managed to accumulate in the eroded gouge, sparkling in the ghost-blue light. They were set on the dais with a whispering clatter of metal-against-metal, carefully arranged by hands that felt as if they knew exactly what they were doing. Once satisfied, their saviour went about silently splashing them with water from the puddle, easing the dirt and dried energon from them. They ended up smelling of rust and oldness, but at least they were clean. Sideswipe attempted to gurgle something, a thanks maybe, but he couldn't summon enough energy to operate his vocal processor. His gaze drew to Sunstreaker, begging for his brother to come. Sunstreaker attempted to crawl, but his exhaustion was too great. He crumbled into a numb brown ball.

"Your optics are pale," their saviour said softly, stating the painfully obvious.

"Tired," Sunstreaker croaked.

"Rest, then. You will be better soon," she assured him gently.

A new tip-tapping came from beyond the natural-borne cathedral, a new being entering. As with the first, at a distance it was an immense creature, so big that its head and shoulders disappeared into the shadows above. As it drew near, it transitioned to a more reasonable size. The amber of its optics illuminated a faceplate that was strange and alien, its frame similar in design to its companion, in that it was unlike anything the twins had ever seen before.

"You've been gone for so long, Vector," the first scolded gently, not even looking back at the newcomer. She busied herself with seeing to the twins.

"My apologies, dear Prima," Vector said, bowing gracefully. Its voice sounded similar to the range of mechs, even if it did not look like a mech. "I was seeing to a disturbance up above."

"It can't be helped, I suppose," Prima sighed. "It's been so long since- ah, well..." she trailed off, moving her hand as if fascinated by the idea of movement. She quickly returned to nursing the twins. "Do you think you'll be able to help these little ones? The fall damaged them so badly."

Vector came to Prima's shoulder and stared down. The twins stared back dully, able to do little else while stretched out on their backs. A cold-as-death hand graced their frames, so gentle they barely felt the touch. "I'll do what I can for them, but much time has already passed."

"Please do what you can," Prima urged.

Sunstreaker tensed. "What are you going to do?"

"You will see in time," Vector chuckled. "For now, you must trust me."

As if the words were a magic spell, they trusted him.

Without even meaning to, their optics offlined, fizzling out. Statue-like hands gathered them, and suddenly something very warm enveloped them- like the feeling of being hugged. Warmth seeped up through the palms that cradled them, though the metal itself remained cold. There was the sense of slowing down, rolling back; a dizzyingly funny sense of going backwards even though they remained still. The air turned sickeningly sweet, embracing them, easing the numbness away. They knew without seeing, someone was smiling. That silent, watching thing that had woken up and looked down was now smiling. It all passed them by in moments, and suddenly they found themselves set down again.

"What did you do?" Sideswipe suddenly asked, and then squeaked delightedly when he discovered his vocal processor worked. He no longer felt tired, or hurt, or cold, or numb. His optics came online, and he saw his arms back where they were supposed to be. He kicked his legs, discovering them in prefect working order.

"Sideswipe, you're okay!" Sunstreaker shrieked, diving across the dais for his brother. They tumbled into a boisterous hug, banging their foreheads together so hard they saw happy stars. "You're okay! You're okay! You're okay!" Blinded by ridiculous happiness, they accidentally rolled into the erroded gouge, sending rusty-smelling water splashing everywhere, causing them to shriek even louder.

"You're okay, too!" Sideswipe laughed, hands splayed over his brother's faceplate, looking into both optics, now whole and sparkling. "You look handsomer than ever!" They laughed together delightedly, hugging each other as if they couldn't imagine letting go.

Eventually, when they remembered they had their strange friends to thank, they untangled and spun around to say something, only to find they were alone in the blue-lit cavern.

"But, where-?"

A spark signature suddenly came to life on their resonance scanners. Through the doors, gliding silently on antigravity thrusters, a humming mossy-green hover-pod came to rest before them, transforming into a very familiar mech.

"Flip!" They cheered in unison, scrambling to the edge of the dais with their arms out, demanding to be picked up.

"I'm sorry it took so long, little ones. I'm not as fast as I once was," the old mech crackled fondly, plucking them up and holding them close. They curled into the warm frame, clutching to the familiar worn edges of his plating and snuggling to the beat of his spark. Unable to restrain themselves any longer, they ended up crying out of relief, wailing freely and loudly so that their cries echoed off the walls like ghosts. Flip said nothing, humming gently, enigmatic as he ever was. He understood their need to cry, letting them wail until their sparks' were content. Without their chronometers, they had no sense of how long they sobbed and hugged and wailed and clutched, but soon the noises died away to hiccups and wimpers. Sidwswipe peered up to Flip as if he were peering into the faceplate of an avatar.

"You're going to take us home now, right?" he asked between static sobbing.

"Oh yes, I think it's time to go home now. You two have had enough excitement for one orn." He looked around the cathedral for a moment, spotted something to his left, smiled at it, nodded, and then set Sunstreaker and Sideswipe on the ground, steadying them when they swayed. "Before we go, though, we must bow our thanks."

"To who? There's no one here," Sunstreaker pointed out, frowning, trying to peer through the gloom to see if the two other bots were just hiding the shadows. They were very much alone; no sign of Prima or Vector.

"Are you quite sure about that?" Flip asked, gesturing sweepingly to along the walls. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe tipped their heads, looking up, and suddenly realized the walls of the great cavern were lined with giant statues, so tall that their heads and shoulders disappeared into the gloom. There were 13 of them altogether. Frozen, Sideswipe looked to Sunstreaker, who stared back just as dumbstruck.

"Bow your thanks, little ones," Flip reminded them, bowing to the two nearest statues himself, strangely familiar in design.

Shivering for some unknown reason, they bowed. Sideswipe was the first to straighten, curious of something. He trotted to the foot of the nearest statue and touched its foot. It was solid. Cold as a statue should be.

"Thank you," he chirped quietly as he'd been instructed to, and then reached up to his chest where he found his trinket still twinkled. With great deliberation, he pulled it from himself and set it at the dark metal foot of the statue. He looked to his brother to do the same. With a little reluctance to let go of his pretty golden prize, Sunstreaker peeled it from his head and set it at the other statue's foot.

A deep rumble reverberated through the walls, shaking them to the core.

"Ah, that would be our cue to leave," Flip intoned wisely, gathering his charges and heading for the doors. He peered both ways down the tunnels, as if trying to determine which way to go, and then seemingly saw something and decided to follow. When the silence grew too great, Sideswipe spoke up.

"How did you find us?"

Flip's smile caught in the glow of a phosphorus vein, turning it into something that sent shivers coursing through the pair. "The same way I'm leading you out." His old optics remained fixed ahead, watching, tracking.

"You're following something," Sideswipe said; a statement, not a question.

"In a way," Flip replied.

"There's nothing there," Sunstreaker pointed out.

"Nothing you can see," Flip chuckled. Another deep rumble trembled through the air, hurrying their pace along. "We're almost to the shaft, dearsparks. Would you like to hear a story before we get there?" A little unnerved, they nodded, not knowing what else to do. Flip smiled once more as he opened his mouthplates to speak. "When I was a youngling, I had a bot I would always play with in the coliseum. And every time someone would come along, they would ask me, "who are you playing with?" and I would always tell them, "Breaker." They would look at me funny and walk away. For vorns and vorns, they would ask me who I was playing with, even though Breaker was sitting there in plain sight."

"Was there something wrong with everyone's optics?" Sunstreaker enquired.

"Oh no, there was nothing wrong with anyone's optics."

"But if your friend was there, why couldn't they see him?" the brown sparkling pressed.

"Ah, that's the thing, my dears. It wasn't until I was much older that I realized they couldn't see him." Flip paused in his story to chuckle dustily, shaking his head. "You see, Breaker was a stuntmech for the troop, only he had died long before I had come online."

Sideswipe twittered. "You mean he was-?"

"Oh yes, most certainly."

"So, you see-?"

"Things that others can't? I suppose that is what I'm saying."

Awed, and a little dumbstruck, the twins were left to try and process the new revelation. They knew death from their downloading sessions, but they knew nothing of where a bot was supposed to go after death. There was no scientific proof of where they went, so they were not taught it. Things considered supernatural, hearsay, or myth were left to the individual to decide if they were real or not.

"You can't see something that's not there," Sunstreaker suddenly said, albeit uncertainly.

Flip glanced down, chuckling. "You're right; I can't see what's not there, so that must mean there's something there if I can see it."

They breezed into the original cavern fluidly, Flip easily manoeuvring through the gloom as if guided by an extra sense. Though, if one were to believe what he was saying, he most likely was.

"If you can see something, how come we can't?" Sideswipe asked.

"For the same reason the older mechs of my troop could not see Breaker, I suppose. No two bots can see the same reality, you see- not even split-spark twins like yourselves." He set them upon the destroyed remains of the lift, arranging them carefully to make it appear as if they had never moved from the wreckage.

"No, no, we want to go with you- don't put us back here," Sideswipe pleaded, trying to push away the debris being piled on him.

"You have to go up the way you came, or else you won't be able to go up at all, little ones," Flip shushed, easing Sideswipe back down, and then adjusting Sunstreaker within his own little nest of junk.

"How come?" Sunstreaker asked, head canted to the side. He let himself be buried and tried hard not to think about how much the colour of his paint looked like the rusted debris.

"That's just the way some of these things work." He smiled down fondly when they stared back with wide optics, confused. He pet them fondly. "One thing you would do well to keep in mind is that the universe is a little bit too big for everything to be explainable."

He started to back away into the gloom, just as the lift gave a shudder and started to rise.

"We'll see you up there, right?" Sideswipe called.

They saw his optics bob in the fading shadow. "You will see me shortly."

"When they ask about what happened to us, down here... what do we say?" The red sparkling called.

One last breeze blew up from the dark, carrying Flip's laughter with it. "Say nothing, brightsparks. This place, everything within it; they'll never believe you, because they did not see it themselves."