Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers: Prime or any of the characters in the show.


To say that Optimus Prime was shocked at the scene that lay before him and Ratchet would be an understatement. When Ratchet had told him that Arcee's life signal was fading, he knew things would be bad, but neither of them had expected to see all of the energon coating the femme or see Bumblebee trembling while continuously begging Arcee to not die. Ratchet immediately went over and removed the webbing from Arcee's frame before scanning her. She was still alive, but barely. He would need to get her to his med-bay immediately if she was going to be able pull through.

"'Cee don't die," Bumblebee begged again.

"Bumblebee," Optimus said trying to gain the youngling's attention, before looking at Ratchet in concern when he failed to do so.

"He's in shock," the medic quickly explained. "We need to get Arcee back to base immediately. She's in critical condition."

The Autobot leader nodded before contacting Bulkhead to open up the GroundBridge. It took only a moment for the Bridge to appear and for Ratchet to go through it with Arcee. Bumblebee still appeared to be oblivious to everything that was going on around him, forcing Optimus to have to guide him back into the base. By the time the leader and scout were inside, Ratchet was already at work trying to repair Arcee.

"What happened?" Bulkhead asked walking over to Optimus.

"I am not sure. Bulkhead, would you go check on Jack and Nurse Darby? It may be best to bring them back here for a while."

"Sure thing," the former Wrecker replied before transforming and driving out of the base.

Optimus turned his attention back to his scout. Bumblebee was still trembling and energon was starting to pool around his optics. It was clear that the youngling needed to be comforted, so he could calm down. Bumblebee was also the only one at the moment who would be able to tell him exactly what had happened to Arcee.

"Bumblebee, could you please come with me?" Optimus asked, guiding the youngling out of the med-bay.

Once they were far enough away from the med-bay, Optimus bent down to where he was optic level with his scout and gently placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Can you tell me what happened?"

Bumblebee started to shake his head no, but ended up speaking anyway, "I-I wanted to go out of the base for a while so me and 'Cee went out for a drive, but I got tired. I h-had 'Cee go far enough off the road to where no one would see us so I could recharge. When I woke up Airachnid was there and 'Cee was trapped in her webs. I tried to get her out, b-but Airachnid shot me in the back and trapped me too. S-she said that she was going to kill me, but 'Cee told her to kill her instead and to leave me alone… It's my fault Optimus!"

"What happened was not your fault Bumblebee."

"Yes it was!" he wailed. "If I hadn't of wanted to leave the base so badly my sister wouldn't be about to die! I could have come back to the base instead of recharging out there! I could have protested more when she was telling Airachnid to kill her! It's my fault!"

"Bumblebee, stop blaming yourself," Optimus scolded. "You had no way of knowing that something like this would happen."

"She made me watch Optimus. I had to watch as she tortured 'Cee and I had to watch as she started to die…" at that the energon tears started to fall down his face. "I don't want her to die Optimus…"

While Bumblebee considered all of Team Prime to be his family, Arcee was the only one that was actually related to him. He knew next to nothing about their creators, having only been a sparkling when they offlined, and Arcee was the only one who could tell him anything about them, as well as being his only remaining connection to them. He wasn't sure if he could handle losing her. With that thought in mind, he hugged Optimus, the closest he had to a father – burying his head in his chest as well. While the Autobot leader could be rather stoic and distant at times, Bumblebee could always count on him being there – which was why he hadn't hesitated to go inside Megatron's mind to find the cure for the Cybonic plague to save him.

Optimus carefully placed a hand on Bumblebee's back in an attempt at comforting him. He knew that this was hard for the youngling and hoped that Ratchet would be able to save Arcee. But now there was a new concern as well. Airachnid knew that Arcee was close to Bumblebee now, the fact that the femme had wanted to die in his place would be enough for the Decepticon to know that. Was the youngling going to be her new target now? That was certainly a worrying thought.

"Optimus she won't die right?"

"Ratchet will do everything he can. He was able to bring you back from near death once; he may be able to do the same with Arcee."

"Can we go check on her?"

"I believe it may be best to give Ratchet space while he works Bumblebee. He will let us know when he is done."


It was three hours later before Ratchet finally told Bumblebee that he had done all that he could. Arcee was still unconscious and there was a chance that she would remain that way for a while, but Ratchet had said that he was fairly confident that she would wake back up, baring no complications. Bumblebee had decided to sit next to her berth until she did wake up. His sister had always done that whenever he was injured, it only seemed right to do it for her. He wasn't the only one staying next to her berth though. Jack had joined him as well, though the two of them had not said much to each other since Jack's arrival. Bumblebee almost wondered if the human teen blamed him for what happened to Arcee. He couldn't blame him if he did, he still felt at fault himself.

"Hey 'Bee are you okay?" Jack asked finally breaking the silence.

"I don't know," Bumblebee shrugged.

"Optimus told me that you kind of blame yourself for what happened to Arcee. I don't think she would want you to blame yourself."

"She wouldn't," Bumblebee agreed. "But I can't help it."

Carefully he reached out and gently touched Arcee's hand.

I'm so sorry you had to go through all that 'Cee, he thought to himself. You shouldn't have had to protect me like that. I should have done better to protect you. Please don't leave me and please wake up soon.