By the way, on the last chapter, I am aware that the High Council isn't actually like that. I just thought it would be funny!

Here's the next chapter! Hope you like it!

Chapter 11

I left the building with Orion—Optimus. It's strange calling him 'Optimus', but I suppose I should get used to that. After all, he would have to get used to calling me 'Elita One.'

I wondered what Arcee would think—and my parents! Oh, my poor, poor parents! They're probably worried sick and will be devastated when they hear that Chromia is offline! I still haven't been taking it too well and felt ready to lash out at anyone on our journey to—we have no idea!

That was when I realized that we didn't even know where we were going! I was growing weary, and we were just passing by my neighborhood. I knew I needed to see my parents and explain everything before they went mad with worry!

I stopped and transformed, and Optimus followed my lead, but he stopped me before I could enter. "Optimus, I need to tell my parents what has happened!" I exclaimed, trying to pull away from his strong grip.

"I understand, but there could be Decepticon spies in there that would report back to Megatron if we weren't focusing on the task at hand!"

"Please," I pleaded, more with my optics than my voice. Optimus heaved his shoulders and sighed, letting my servo slowly drift out of his. "I'll be quick," I promised, jogging into my neighborhood.

"I'm coming with," Optimus declared, following close behind. I managed a short smile and looked down the path down my neighborhood—or what was left of it.

Gasping at the destruction, I ran through the littered and deserted streets, Optimus keeping in pace with me. I dodged junk and shredded bits of homes and made my way to the back of the neighborhood. I ran so fast that Optimus took longer to catch up with me.

He looked at my wide optics and then back up, his optics going wide as well. My house—it was barely standing, and almost the whole second floor had been ripped off! My things and my sisters' things were strewn across the front lawn, since our bedrooms were near the front of the house. I ran up to the door and pulled it open, only for it to fall right off its hinges! I threw it to the side and gazed around at what used to be the first level.

The furniture was covered in holes that were obviously made from flying bullets, and many of it was tipped over like a giant shield. The old television screen was barely hanging onto the wall, and a huge crack ran through the wall behind it."Mom? Dad?" I cried out, tripping over debris and pieces of the ceiling.

"Elita, it's unstable!" Optimus shouted, pulling me back just as part of the ceiling came crashing down where I had been standing.

"Thank you," I breathed, slowing freeing myself from Optimus' grasp. I slowly made my way into the kitchen, which had been raided and thrown about, and I shrieked as I saw a steady stream of energon drip down the counter. Optimus ran up to it, carefully examining it all over. He followed the stream to a servo sticking out from the ground, a dead corpse lying beside it.

I covered my mouth with my servo and stepped back before I could scream again, following the trail of energon again with my optics. "A battle," Optimus muttered.

I examined the corpse closer and recognized it as a Decepticon trooper, its red mask faded and armor cracked. "My parents must have put up a fight," I breathed, examining the clutter for more evidence.

I heard a creaking sound coming from the top level and raced towards the stairs, lightly stepping on them and making my way to what was left of the second floor. Optimus had a harder time getting up the steps, his heavy pede bursting through the now-unstable stairs and getting stuck. I chuckled and helped pull him up, and we spread out along the second floor.

I immediately ran to where my sisters' and my room had been, examining the clutter on the floor. Some of our stuff had managed to stay up top, and I slowly bent down and picked up a small datapad. It stored my sisters' and my favorite memories, and we each used it to record precious moments. The screen was partly cracked, but when I pressed the on-button, it flickered to life, each recording of memories the same way we had left it. I hugged it close to my spark chamber and stored it away in a small container on my armor's belt.

I heard the same creaking sound from before and turned around, darting all around the rest of the bedroom. I spotted the windowsill, barely hanging on to what was left of the wall, creaking away as the shutters shivered against the slight breeze. I breathed a sigh of relief and slowly left the room, making my way down the room to the skeletal remains of my parents' bedroom, where Optimus had been exploring. He was just leaving.

"Did you find anything?" I quickly asked, glancing down at his servos. He quickly hid them underneath his armor, and when I tried to slip past him, he blocked my path. "Optimus, let me through," I said sternly, but he didn't budge.

"I didn't find anything. There's nothing there," he said quickly, leading me down to the steps.

I had learned from the start (and from Bumblebee) that he was a terrible liar, so I pushed past him, and when I tried to enter the remains of the bedroom, he roughly grabbed my servo and pulled me back. It was then that I noticed hints of energon on his servos. "Optimus, what are you doing?" I cried, shoving his servo off of me and stomping into the room. He skidded in front of me.

"Optimus, please! What is it?" I tried to peek over him, but he was too tall for me.

"Elita, don't go in there. Just trust me."

"Optimus, just let me look!"

"We need to get going."

"Optimus, it won't even take a nanosecond! Just let me through!"

I tried to push him, but he held against the remains of the doorframe. "I promise you that you won't like it!" he cried, trying to hold himself against the failing doorframe. My spark was trembling, but whatever it was, I needed to know.

"Optimus, whatever it is, just let me throu—" I paused as the doorframe fell, revealing what I knew he was trying to hide. It was like my worst nightmare come true—no, worse.

I gasped and sank to my knees, Optimus guiltily hovering over me. "I'm sorry," he muttered. "I didn't want you to know."

I didn't even try to hold them—the tears just came, dribbling down my faceplates and ripping onto the cold, hard floor. For there, lying, dead against the sky, were my parents.

And their optics were black. They stared endlessly up into the sky, their wounds still open and their mouths hanging to the side.

I didn't move. My knees had locked, and my spark felt like it was fading. My dad's helm had been torn out on one side, and some energon still dripped from the wires. My mom had been shot straight through the spark chamber, and singe marks from the bullet were still on her armor.

"No," I whispered. I slowly stood up and trembled, my helm spinning and my legs starting to give out. Optimus scooped me up before I could fall and held me close, burying my helm in his chest so that I couldn't see the terrifying image anymore.

But it was there, still there, forever burning in the back of my mind. Forever haunting me.

The black optics.

The endless stares.

The fresh energon leaking from their bodies—they were gone. Long gone.

My family was being torn apart—first my sister, and now my parents! Oh, Primus, why do you have to do this to me? Why does the world have to be this way? Why do I have to live the rest of my life knowing that my parents and my sister are dead? Why? Why?

"I'm sorry," Optimus repeated, clutching me so tight that I thought my spark was going to burst; it was already pounding so hard! But I didn't pull away—besides Arcee, Bumblebee, and Moonracer, who I didn't even know whether or not were still alive, all I had left was Optimus. I couldn't lose anyone or anything else—not now, and hopefully not ever.

"Let's just go," I whispered, and Optimus nodded and let me go. I leaped from the second floor and transformed, Optimus driving close behind.

I was trying to erase myself from my thoughts and feelings, knowing that the fate of all of Cybertron rested in our servos. I felt myself starting to lose control and swerved to the side of the cluttered road, coming to a halt and transforming right before I drove into a ditch.

Optimus knelt beside me and helped me up. "Are you alright?" he quickly asked as he tried to help me stabilize myself, but I simply fell over again.

"My helm is spinning," I groaned, collapsing on my knees.

"You can't drive on like this," Optimus replied, holding my servo so that I couldn't fall.

"Then, go on without me! Every moment we wait is another moment that our friends cannot spare, and once Megatron's finished them, he'll destroy all of Cybertron!" I exclaimed, resting a servo against my pounding helm.

"You are still shocked from the events, and I understand, but I can't leave you here! You'd be in danger!" Optimus exclaimed.

"The rest of Cybertron needs you! I'll get better and join you later, but for now, go on without me. You said yourself that you experienced dreams about it, so you'll be fine on your own!"

"About that—I have dreams about it, but in the dreams, I don't actually know where I am. Only what happens where I am."

I sighed. "Oh."

We sat in silence until Optimus declared, "I'm taking you with me."

"I'll just slow you down!"

"I can't leave you here, and no matter how much you protest, I'm not leaving you!" Optimus transformed before I could make another claim and opened up the trunk of his large, cargo vessel.

"Get in!" he commanded.

"But—" I didn't have another protest to make, so I sighed and dizzily climbed in, landing with a 'thud' in his large trunk. It was clear of cargo, for now, and hovered in the air.

I held onto the sides as he zoomed out of the neighborhood. I lied down and rested my helm, watching from the small side-windows as he zoomed by.

Primus, help me! I've already lost family—I can't lose Cybertron, not now.

Not ever.

~Elita

I promise that there will be more chapters besides the one where they search for the Matrix of Leadership! I have a few ideas in mind…

Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it!

Signing off, theautobotprincess.