The attack on the base was a big sign that it needed to be moved. The higher ups decided that being on the main land was too risky. The chance of being discovered was too great and the threat of Decepticon attacking the base in a populated area was high also. Moving didn't bother me even though my parents thought it might. I knew where ever dad and mom were I'd be safe.
Soon the whole of the now labeled NEST was packing up everything to move to the secret location that was revealed to me. It was an island in the middle of the ocean near the equator. I knew it would be Diego Garcia and the top secret name echoing through the links surprised my mom and dad but after shaking their heads and shrugging it off they continued their explanation.
It was before this move that I guessed they would get the Allspark fragment from Optimus. I didn't know how much I was supposed to change things but this felt like it was maybe time to start revealing the possible future to my parents. I didn't know how I would survive three days without the radiance of my dad's spark protecting mine in its strength. I didn't think I was supposed to suffer that much in this new life. But what would the consequences be if I did?
It was in the midst of the move on the ship inside Optimus's sparkling hold the night mare gripped me. It wasn't of hurts passed, it was of future pain. It was just like watching the movie. Sam ran from Megatron and just when dad was winning that Decepticon (so aptly named) ran his sword through Optimus's chest and horrid pain sliced down the bond. There was no way to filter out the terrible stabbing without cutting off his loving and sparkfelt goodbye. The love, care protectiveness, and tenderness he shoved down the links toward me and mom was what I knew would have to sustain me for a Cybertronian lifetime and it was agonizingly bittersweet wracked with pain but glowing in the full force of his spark that suddenly sputtered and died leaving not even that residual of where he was that their battle protocols left. There was just nothing. For a moment I waited for the reconnect that must come because of course he wasn't dead. Even though this is how the movie went. HE couldn't be dead. There wasn't any way that Optimus could die in real life since this was it now.
The nothing became a black hole that threatened to suck me in with it. A sparkling in the bonding and attachment stages was apparently very vulnerable to losing a creator. I felt on the brink of that precipice again that erupted the black lava that was contained in the capped well. I could feel it threatening to erupt bubbling through the safety and love that had begun to build a bottom to that limitless chasm. I threw the walls up backing away mentally but they were still weak from disuse I couldn't harden them in time to stop that anguished distress. I could hear the Cry my parents had been trying to tell me I had. Why couldn't I have accessed it before? When he wasn't gone?
Before the power could reach my vocalizer I was in the arms of my father jumping into alertness which wasn't like waking up when human. It was like being unconscious and then suddenly thrown from a window and expected to land and go on walking as if nothing happened. I vaguely felt a hard line in my wrist that was connected to my dads and one in the other one connected to my mother. I was held between them their sparks exposed to me the light encompassing me. Everything was so surreal. I again reached for my fathers spark with one hand and to my mothers with the other. The bonds were strengthened and the blue shone through the holes in the walls that I'd erected to keep my well hidden. They retracted and my exposed self with out defenses was hit full force by their links filling the empty space with their love. It was like the whole world was that warm blue. The cap on the well never had a chance to explode outward against the force of their protectiveness. So it stayed and the power died like a raging fire being snuffed out suddenly and I felt weak. I gave an exhausted sigh through my air vents and fell into my parents's arms.
My father had me and I looked up at him then my mother. There was nothing else I could do but cry. The sobs were long and hard but no tears followed because there was no way to make them. I missed that sometimes. There was something cathartic about having them drop an outward sign there was something wrong but in this body I didn't need them because every spark in the hold of the ship could feel my distress through my bonds with my creators and the knowing. They would seek my spark to lend what comfort they could not knowing what was truly wrong but they didn't need to. The cries must have rung through several corridors because several people came to the ships hold to see what was wrong. Eventually Lennox was called I guess because at the edge of my perception I remember hearing him. It was about the time I started to get too tired to even cry. I was on empty but I didn't want anything to eat. Nothing satisfied me because nothing but my parents could fill the void and they did through the bonds and arms as they held me.
I heard the footsteps as another human seemed to stumble into the cargo hold that was big enough for everyone to stand up in. Optimus was rocking not only me but Elita in his large arms she held me against him and he rocked all three of us in a slow rhythm as he paced the length of the hold. "Good God Optimus is she ok?" Lennox tiredly addressed the mech. Prime looked down at him over me and mom.
"Will," he sighed. "I apologize for the disturbance." I could tell he wasn't apologizing for my crying just that it bothered his men.
"To the pit with that," he said crossly. "Is the baby ok?" he asked again. My father's smile was genuine. The human they trusted most besides Sam had been more worried about his child than the disturbance it caused the vessel and its men.
"She was disturbed by images in her recharge cycle," he told him quietly as I finally decided that I wasn't going to get any more comfortable until I took some Energon. Since I don't think I could regurgitate it I surrendered myself to the sippy cup and began to drink. The familiar hold in my dad's arms and my mom's chest with the sparks accessible sucking on the cup gave me a sense of déjà vu of a time safer and calmer. The peace flowed down the link. My parents who had been on alert and ridged in posture started to sag in relief.
"She has nightmares?" The human at his feet asked. Optimus nodded. "Poor kid," he uttered under his breath. "Anything I can do?" he offered. Elita looked down with a soft smile.
"No but thank you for your concern, Will," her voice floated down over my dad's arms. He nodded and with a salute he ducked back through a human door and went to calm the soldiers who were freaking out about a child's cries.
I heard the door close and just laid there with a hitch in my intakes every so often. My father leaned against a wall and slid down to the floor sitting cross-legged with Elita in his lap and I between them. My mind was a mess of flashing images along with a plethora of emotions I couldn't seem to hang on to; so I let them go. I didn't want them anyway my creators love was the only thing I needed now. Even as I thought it I knew I was allowing the sparkling programming to take over but at this point I didn't care. The full tank and comfort lulled me into a semi recharge state but the hard lines with my parents didn't allow me to go fully into recharge yet.
I was vaguely aware of what was going on. It felt like being drugged but just registering everything going on around me but not reacting to it and not caring if I didn't. I heard Ratchet come closer his spark brushing against mine stronger. I felt the comforting presence and acquiesced to the offer. "She's comfortable now," Ratchet said over my head to my father. His knees creaked as he bent down to kneel in front of him. My mother was now sitting beside my father and I was in his arms. I felt my father nod.
"The power was building Ratchet," my mech creator informed the CMO.
"Prime, she is special." I could hear the rattle of his inner workings as he either nodded or shook his head I didn't know which. "However, if she uses the Call again it could weaken her spark. If she fractures again I do not believe we will be able to save her."
"I am aware Ratchet," he sighed. His arms tightened around me pulling me closer. I gave a contented sigh and snuggled into his chest armor. "I was in recharge also when her processor started to produce the images that cut me off from her spark. They felt like battle protocols but were so much stronger. I believe she thought our link dissolved and therefore her processor perceived the loss and grief of such an event."
"She was reacting to a perceived severed bond?" he asked completely aghast at the idea. "Dear Primus, it's no surprise she would use the Call under such duress." I heard Ratchet shake or nod his head again. "Keep your spark open to her and bond clear," he instructed, "I think you can let her recharge now but both of you keep close." I felt my father nod again and the world blurred and went black. The images that had haunted my dreams earlier were banished by the blue light I was bathed in and recharge went smoothly the rest of the night or so I guessed since I didn't wake up again.
XXX
The world was in sharp focus this morning as my languid stretch wasn't answered by my father or mother who were both in recharge sitting in their root modes curled around each other and me. I smiled at both of their faces quiet but a flash in my processor reminded me of my father lying on his side his optics dark like he was now and even though the reassuring warmth of his spark wrapped around mine in our bond I reached over to his face and shook him with all my might. "DADDY!" I called in English. Morning usually was in English. His optics flared blue with alarm pulling me close to him with one arm and Elita with the same arm and his sword flare to life on his other. My optics were wide as his battle protocols were shut down.
His sword disappeared into his arm and he wrapped both arms around Elita and I. Elita who had been woken up by the grab for her had deployed her arm blade that was curved on her forearm but it was retracted quickly also as he brought both of us closer. Around us mechs and femmes mumbled in cybertronian. It was a good natured grumble that traveled around the cargo hold everyone coming out of recharge at once except for one medic that was fast asleep in the corner. The noise hasn't roused him. I figured he must have sat up extra late making sure I was ok.
Looking around I had to laugh. It struck me funny how my dad had fumbled awake swinging his sword as if there were a Decepticon on the ship. My laughter was relief and mirth in one and my creators felt their relief mix with mine as they chuckled too. My father rubbed my helm. Since I was feeling safe now, both of their spark casings closed so that they weren't vulnerable any more. He let me be for a few minutes but through the link I could tell he wanted to talk. I looked up at him and sighed but nodded. He gave Elita a quick hug and she gave us one in return and Optimus began to transform. He was in truck form and I was plopped right into his front seat before I could even think. I giggled a little as he pulled forward. He went to the lift to the top level and requested clearance to be there on the deck alone with me toward the end of the air craft carrier.
It must have been accepted because there we were at the end of the ship. He was standing and it was still night which surprised me. I must have gotten my sleep cycles all messed up with the move. IT must be a different time zone here. He looked up at the stars with me in the crook of his arm. I could see his face and the sky. Another image flashed through my mind, Sam bandaged and Optimus battered but functional standing on the edge of a similar ship looking out at the sky. I snuggled more into his pristine armor.
"These images are distressing you sparkling," he spoke the truth. He was trying to broach the subject but didn't know exactly how without setting me off. I kept my cool wrapping myself in the bonds of both creators. I nodded. I entered into the link deeper.
Daddy…
Yes my spark?
Future is bad
Whose?
Ours… You have Allspark piece?
You know?… Of course you do. Why?
Keep it.
But why sparkling? I allowed my memories of the movie to flood the link so he could see it through my eyes. I let him see Megatron rising and then slaying him. I let him see my reaction and how easy it would be to take me with him when he died. The recall of the nightmare shook both him and me. But I stayed quiet. I didn't cry out because I could feel him now. His intakes were coming hard as mine were. That is what prompted you to raise the power for the Call? You were beginning to shatter again. I nodded to him. He finally had all the pieces. The guilt and worry warred in side me. I was scared now that I'd given him this information nothing could change that fact. He couldn't react the same way he had in the movie since he knew that it would probably kill me if he died.
Keep it, I repeated. He looked stricken and felt desperate. It gone?
Yes my spark, even as the words were spoken his comfort and love washed across the bond flooding my feelings of fear and guilt. His love was almost enough to drown them but not quite.
Take me, I commanded him. He knew what I meant. When the time came I had to be there close enough to save him. Since the nightmare I had been thinking. I felt that power accumulating and with this imminent breaking on the horizon I think I could call on that power in time to save him probably not in time to completely stop what was to come but I could do something to stop his spark from being extinguished.
Sparkling there is no way… I stopped that train of data with push a of determined stubbornness. There was no way in the pit that this was gonna happen I was the only wild card in this universe now and I was going to make it count. I shoved my love down the link to him and my protectiveness I felt for him. I wouldn't let this happen not when I could stop it even if it means my death he could live.
TAKE ME! I yelled down the link. He cringed a little inside and out. The Prime shook his head in resigned fondness.
You have the command of a Prime my sparkling. You are truly after my own spark, he smiled. There was an unspoken promise to take me once the events that would put this into motion started to come to pass. I hugged him. And he hugged me back. There was a desperateness to the embrace but we ignored it and tried to put this aside to enjoy the time untainted by the future prophecy.