*Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Transformer, Pokémon, Star Wars, or Star Fox in this series. Don't sue me.*

Chapter 11

"Longest Day"

"Yesterday's tragedy down in Arizona has sent shockwaves throughout the country and the world—," flick.

"—Worst terrorist attack since 9/11. Over 200 people are confirmed dead, hundreds more injured and missing—," flick.

"—Protesters from all around the country have gathered at the White House, and numerous city halls in—," flick.

"—The question is, who do we blame? Was it faulty—," flick.

"—What were those monsters flying around—," flick.

"—She lured those attackers to this world! If we get rid of her, then we'll get rid of them!" Sapphire hit the power button on the remote. She huffed and brought her legs up onto the oversized, worn out couch inside the Ark, and folded them under her body.

"Yesterday's attack on the Intelligence Headquarters is all over the news. The Department of Homeland Security bumped up the Threat Advisory System to Severe after the attack. Some of the higher-ups think there will be more attacks on other Government buildings across the nation. Some have even dared to speculate across the planet." Sapphire pinched the bridge of her nose with her right hand. Her left arm was heavily bandaged, and thrown in a makeshift sling. "Idiots. They will never see the entire picture even if it was hanging in front of their faces. Those hunters are long gone by now, I'm sure of it. Their source for their money is gone. If it were me, I wouldn't stick around. There's no point now." Sapphire unfolded her legs and stiffly, rose from the couch. She still felt the beating she received yesterday.

"Thanks ori'vod, I see now karma's a bitch." Sapphire wore a pale blue sweatshirt and gray sweatpants. She also braided her hair into a single knotted tail that fell down her back. If she ventured outside, she made sure she would not resemble her usual self. She refused to think what could be waiting for her if she were spotted by those pesky reporters, or those equally annoying paparazzi members. She scuffled out of the room, and slowly weaved her way through the halls towards the last place where she saw her father: The med bay. Even with Ratchet present at her side, she still felt a power hovering within those closed walls. She could not determine if the presence was recent, ancient, or perhaps, within her. No. "This cannot be happening. Not now, not ever. I will not allow it!" Sapphire was so engrossed with her thoughts, she failed to notice a certain orange mini-bot.

Brawn turned a corner and almost ran into the recovering humanoid. "Whoa, Sapphire, you should be resting right now. You're still pretty dinged up from yesterday." Sapphire grunted at him and waved the mech off with her good hand. Brawn paused. "Are you going to tell us the truth now?" She shot him an icy look. "Not to offend you, but sooner or later you're going to have to trust us, because we all trust you." Brawn pointed an accusing finger at her head. Sapphire sighed and waved him off again.

"I've kept many secrets my entire life for the greater good of others. There are things I have seen and done that are too horrific to repeat," She stared coldly at the soldier, "but under the current circumstances, it seems I have no other choice, unless I want lose the trust of my handful of allies on this mud hole." She shouldered past the orange mini-bot. "Be careful what you wish for, Brawn. You might regret it later on."

Brawn turned and gazed warily at the female as she quietly, walked away. "You think you're the only one who's done things they can't repeat? Look around you, Sapphire! You're not alone!" She silently disappeared from the view of the fuming mini-bot.

"Damn that girl," Brawn spat through his teeth, "she's just digging herself a bigger hole to die in."

"Ya really think she doesn't know that by now?" Ironhide spoke in his "southern" accent as he walked around a corner behind Brawn. "She's exactly like us: A soldier. We don't like ta talk about our experiences. Knowing and seeing what she can do makes ya wonder," Ironhide scowled at his oldest friend, "what hasn't she done?"


Prowl being Prowl, was diligently filling out reports from yesterday's incident in his room/makeshift office he shares with his younger "brother", Bluestreak. The former was out on a patrol, and he had the entire place to himself. He did not mind the younger mech's company; in fact, he preferred it over the drone of silence that filled his quarters when the marksman was absent. But business was business, and he had reports that needed to be completed. Usually, when he fills out said reports, he can do so without allowing any other distractions to interfere. Write, sign, click, and repeat. Unfortunately, a pseudo-catatonic being was causing his insides to crawl with fear. He did not know whether it was the chilling battle he witnessed, or the November draft that had squeezed its way into his quarters. The chill of fear danced around him, taunting his patience to give way. This game of tubocat-and-micromouse agitated him to the point of screaming.

And there she stood in the dimly-lit doorway—motionless. Staring into the space behind him as if the SIC were invisible. Eyes as cold as stone, she was a killer in disguise. But who was real: The heroine or the assassin?

"You said you wanted to resume our 'talk', remember?" A faint beam of light from a crack in the ceiling, shone on the bridge of her nose. "You wanted to know what I was capable of at the time. You wanted to know all the facts, all the data about me. You wanted to figure out a way to counter attack me in case I wasn't on your side." She paused, "that was nothing." Prowl tightened his grip on the data pad and the stylus he held.

"I am capable of things people can only imagine in their dreams. I can kill people without looking at them. I can kill people without being on the same continent as them," Sapphire's eyes pierced his soul, and frightened the mech in a way he had never before experienced. "I can kill people by staring at them." Prowl snapped his head up—she was staring at him.

"What are you?"

"I am."

"What?" Two words had never confused him in his life, until now.

"I exist because I do. I am what you see. I live to see the next day," She crept towards the mech, "and I will do whatever it takes to see that next day. Just like you, I have goals I must accomplish. Dying does not help in any way, shape, or form to accomplish my goals."

"It seems to be the case with most beings, no doubt." Prowl bit his lower lip plate, a gesture he thought he weaned himself of when he was a sparkling. He only did this when he in a nasty predicament. It was now or never.

"How can you be killed with all the powers you possess? The Decepticons will be asking the same question, and I believe—."

"I can't." Prowl's words were snatched from him.

"These powers are a blessing, and a curse." She turned and walked out of his quarters.

"Wait." She stopped at the doorway. "There's one more thing I must ask," She turned halfway to listen to his words. "What are your goals?" The humanoid turned back to face the air compressed door that led to the hallway.

"I need to see my daughter's eyes again." With that, she phased through the door and disappeared from sight. Prowl's mouth hung from its hinges.

"Daughter?"


Sapphire knew there would be only one way out of this mess she was in: Tell the honest-to-God truth about everything. She called forth a meeting with all the Autobots who were in the Ark, at the time. Her audience was Bluestreak, Bumblebee, Brawn, Hound, Ironhide, Jazz, Mirage, Optimus, Prowl, Ratchet, Sideswipe, Skyfire, and Sunstreaker. The mechs crowded into the control room were awaiting the story they were about to learn.

Sapphire had seated herself in one of the chairs in front of Teletraan-1. Her head rested on folded hands and her back faced the alarmed Autobots. The room was still as a lake in the early hours of a pristine morning. No one moved, no one spoke, no one felt safe. The seconds ticked past. Tensions were rising and the mechs could only wonder if this meeting would end up in a massacre.

"Since the beginning of time, all sentient life has evolved to stay alive; to live and see the next day." Sapphire lifted her right hand and clenched it into a fist. As she slowly loosened her grip, a shimmering, aquamarine orb of light poured through the cracks of her fingers. She swiveled around to face her audience. "What you are looking at is an evolutionary step in the long process of life." The orb exploded and simultaneously, blinded and engulfed the entire room with its grace. All the mechs shielded their optics from the blinding light. When the light dimmed to a bearable level, they saw thousands of images and short video clips spinning all around and through them. The images were of Sapphire's life seen through her eyes.

"I'll start from the beginning I've only known." She waved her hand to the right and thousands of images mimicked her motion. All the images disappeared from sight except for one. A three-dimensional image of a green planet with swirling, pale yellow clouds floated its way to the center of the room. "This planet was called, Uur'a. A planet covered in mountains that towered over the famous Mt. Everest, forests whose trees were as grand as the Red Woods, and an ocean that had more life in one square mile than all the oceans of this world." The image zoomed in on one section of the planet until a village, whose architecture resembled a town built in the renaissance period, filled the screen. The village was built on the side of a towering, snowcapped mountain, and it spread into a lush, green valley for miles on end. A grand castle with four spires surrounded a massive, hourglass-shaped central structure. The castle floated above the cliff of the mountainside overlooking the village. "I lived in this village with my adopted family, the Verburyc . They were the warlords of this city, Shi'yayc. My father, Achi'bat found me in a crater on the outskirts of Shi'yayc when I first landed on Uur'a. I believe I was seven, but I don't remember how or when I arrived." The image of the village zoomed in on a hillside on the outskirts of the village. A blue skinned, raptor-like lizard was seen hunched over a twisted, ebony cane. He had a pair of vibrant, emerald green eyes, a pencil thin, white moustache. A pair of gold framed, round spectacles sat on his narrow snout. Finally, a long, flowing, purple robe danced around his slender frame. The robe was embroidered with golden symbols of the written language spoken on Uur'a. A tall, cobalt colored, vase shaped tree with sky blue, triangular leaves drooped over like those of a widow tree, stood behind the elder reptilian male.

"My father taught me everything I know about warfare, combat strategy, and how to be a leader." Dozens of brief "videos" of Sapphire learning how to fight with wooden staffs, swords, and rifles flashed by her audience. "But the rest of my family was skeptical of his liking towards me, especially my mother." A flash of a slender, magenta colored reptile of the same species as Achi'bat became the central picture. She had fire-red eyes that struck fear into the hearts of those unfortunate enough to gaze into them. She also was wearing a dark green robe with the same golden pattern on it as her husband. "My mother was a ruthless warrior queen. If she did not like someone in the village, or if someone looked at her wrong, they would be beheaded by her own claws." Multiple clips of the same female raptor illustrated how she slashed and bit relentlessly at the throats of her theropod denizens in the village. Once she finished toiling in her bloodbaths she created, she held up the heads of her victims and crushed their skulls with her bare hands.

"Dear Primus…" Sideswipe muttered to himself.

"I agree," added Sunstreaker.

"She was brutal because she was corrupted with the love of power. She wanted the throne for herself and was waiting patiently for my father to die. Killing another family member in this society was viewed as the greatest evil one could ever bring upon themselves in their lives. Unfortunately for her, my father knew about her plans and knew that if she were to become the queen of Shi'yayc, the village would fall into a state of depression. He loved his people too much to let that happen." A clip of Achi'bat was brought forward and he was signed a slip of paper and handed it to what seemed to be a scribe or a servant of his. "He created a will stating, everything under his power would go directly to me." A clip of the purple dinosaur bumped out the previous clip. The female dinosaur was throwing golden plates and chalices across what looked like a suspended dining table. She roared towards the ceiling in frustration and stamped out of the room. "My mother would not stand for this kind of 'betrayal' as she called it. She planned to kill me and my father, but failed, multiple times." Multiple clips of assassins dressed in full black body suits were seen with daggers, swords, and strange, double barreled rifles, attempting to kill Achi'bat and Sapphire. All were slain by the two.

"Then one day, my mother frustrated with her minions failures. She attempted to kill both of us herself." A clip of Sapphire and Achi'bat enjoying some sort of tea on a balcony in the floating castle faded into view. Then, from above, the purple theropod dropped into view holding two, serrated long swords. She rushed swords first trying to impale the king, but Sapphire leapt over him and unsheathed her two short swords she carried on her back. She blocked blow after blow from her mother, and cried out for her father to run for help. The mother was advancing relentlessly against her "daughter" and slowly pushing her closer and closer towards the railing of the balcony they were on. The mother was screeching profanities and cures at Sapphire in her native tongue. "My mother failed." Sapphire's back was against the balcony and her mother charged at her one final time but Sapphire evaded her lunge by sliding through two of the posts on the rail lining the balcony. She held on for dear life while her mother sailed over the railing and plummeted through the clouds to her death on the mountainside below.

"With her death, peace could finally ensue…" All the images spinning around the sphere suddenly stopped, "…then he came." Several clips exploded out to the epicenter of the sphere. They depicted the destruction of Shi'yayc. Some clips showed the village on fire while others revealed the close ups of the theropod citizens of Shi'yayc being attacked and gutted alive by an enormous black furred werewolf. The muscles of the beast were clearly seen through the long patches of the black fur. The beast was Neco. "My brother came to Uur'a and slaughtered my people. He was unstoppable. None of my father's armies stood a chance." A clip of Neco using his psychic powers to tear the castle out of the sky was shown to the Autobots. The castle's spires rolled down the mountain side and flattened sections of Shi'yayc. Finally, the main building soon fell, and it took out half of the city in a cloud of dust and debris.

"That sick fuck captured me and threw me into a cage like a rodent, and paraded around Shi'yayc looking for anyone I was close with on Uur'a. He made me watch them all die." Hundreds of images of her father, friends, and family were seen in the ruined streets of Shi'yayc being be-headed, de-limbed, and eaten by the monstrous werewolf. Her father was the last to be murdered by her brother. His limbs were torn off by Neco in his beastly form and then, gutted alive. What was left of him were blood stained bones stuffed ungraciously in a scaly, crimson bag of flesh. He ripped out his heart and brought it up to Sapphire's face. Neco stuffed the heart down his bloodied throat.

"Once he finished with Shi'yayc, he decimated the entire planet. He burned every village, city, and forest. He even poisoned the water on the planet, including the oceans. He killed my home world and left me for dead on it." One final image remained in the sphere: An image of land once filled with towering teal forests and jade grasslands faded into a burnt wasteland, with the blackened tree trunks and auburn fields of ash. The light in the sphere vanished, and the entire room became as dark as night. "The innocent child I once was died that day. I no longer felt joy or happiness." A pair of red eyes lit up the center of the room, "From that day forward, I felt only hate. My hatred for the person responsible for killing everything I had ever known at the time unlocked the powers I have now." The bluish light faded back into existence. "Since that day, I have roamed the galaxy searching for the person responsible for the destruction of Uur'a. I've visited many planets learning thousands of different battling techniques, such as my proficiency with my lightsabers, rifles, hand-to-hand combat, piloting skills, and so forth." Thousands of images of Sapphire were seen with her many teachings, trials, and test runs with her lightsabers', long range weapons, close-combat missions, and flying lessons throughout the universe. "I have visited many planets and systems in my life." She paused, "I've even visited Cybertron before." All the mechs visibly flinched.

"When did you visit Cybertron?" Optimus boldly asked.

"A time before your war with the Decepticons, I believe." Sapphire clenched her right hand again and the sphere of her memories collapsed back into her fist. When she opened it, the ball of light had vanished. "The reason I was there was—not good. I was originally there to participate in the underground circuit of fighting rings to win some easy cash."

"You participated in the Gladiatorial Arenas? " Prowl blurted out.

"Yes, I did. I was a mercenary at the time and I needed some extra cash to keep up the repairs on my suit, weapons, and my stolen spaceship. I won very easily down in those pits. I battled for few Earth years until, a Cybertronian named Shockwave offered me a deal I could not refuse at the time." She turned her back on the mechs and placed both of her hands on Teletraan. Her head fell to her chest and she and released a heavy sigh. "You may not like what I'm about to tell you, but realize that I am not the person I once was."

"What the slag did that frayed wire called Shockwave, want to do with you?" Skyfire angrily barked at the humanoid.

"He wanted 'volunteers' for his research. I was assigned to get him his test subjects. He offered me twenty-thousand credits per subject. Cybertronian credits were worth a lot across the galaxy at the time."

"Y-you brought innocent mechs to that psychopathic glitch?" Bumblebee was horrified. Sapphire turned to face the yellow scout. Bumblebee saw no sadness or regret in her stone-cold eyes.

"Yes."

"How? Do you have any idea what that fragger did to mechs?" Bumblebee could not control his emotions.

"I didn't care what happened to those I brought to him. When you're a mercenary, you do the job, get the money, and never let emotions get in the way of anything you do!" Sapphire bitterly replied. She bit her lip and continued. "It's a tough life, but I had no choice at the time. I got the money, and he got his subjects. We were both happy for a while," she pinched the bridge of her nose, "until, he asked me to do something I wish I never did."

"He offered me over three million credits to help aid in the destruction of a city on Cybertron. He never told me why, but he told me if I did this, I would get the money, all the weapons his faction would find in the city, and unlimited resources to do anything I wanted. I was still searching for the bastard who took away everything I had—and now, I finally had a chance to find him. I didn't care about the money, or the weapons. I was so hell-bent on satisfying my cravings for revenge, I was willing to destroy am entire city to fulfill my goal." Sapphire shook her head. "It was one of the worst decisions I've ever made in my entire life. Not only did I say yes, and carried out the task, I got nothing but Shockwave's cannon in my face. His use for me was gone, and he wanted to 'eliminate my variable from his equations.'" She gazed at the dull and scuffed floor plates in the control room, "I cut off his cannon and then his head." Ironhide faintly chuckled in joy, but remembered a key bit of information the female alien had deliberately left out. "I vowed to never set foot on that planet again." Silence.

"Do you know what city it was called—the one you destroyed?" Optimus, again, bravely asked the female. Sapphire kept her mouth shut and continued to stare at the floor. "Did Shockwave tell—,"

"Yes, he did." Sapphire irately cut in.

"Then tell us what city it was." Optimus demanded from Sapphire.

"One of you will hate me for the rest of your lives." Sapphire murmured.

Everyone waited.

Finally, after a great pause, she gathered her courage and gradually raised her gaze from the dull and dreary floor. She focused her steely gaze on one mech. "Bluestreak, I'm so sorry. The city was Praxus."


The younger mech's spark stopped beating. His jaw fell, as did his emotions, and they fell hard. Bluestreak's past had haunted him for his entire life. Demons were always a constant threat, waiting to consume his soul whenever he let himself become vulnerable. Like now. He struggled to keep himself from collapsing to the ground in front of everyone. Prowl came to his side and gently gripped his right arm. Prowl knew his disturbed "brother" had to leave the room right now, before his emotions overcame his judgment.

"There's nothing I can say that can bring back everything I took from you that day. If you hate me, I do not blame you." She turned her back on the mentally crippled mech, and faced Teletraan's gigantic reflective monitor. Bluestreak snapped. He jerked his arm away from Prowl's and subspaced his white photon rifle. His rifle had never missed a target before. Today, he refused to taint his record. He fired. The bullet of concentrated energy burnt the air around it, and sped towards Sapphire's head. She tilted her head ever-so-slightly to the left, and the bullet only razed her right cheek. Her flesh burnt like a crisp all the way to the bone. The photon bullet left a smoldering hole in Teletraan's control panel. Bluestreak flung his rifle at Sapphire, but she stopped the rifle in mid-air with her psychic powers, and tossed it aside.

"You fragging bitch! It was you?" Bluestreak screamed at the red-haired alien. He tried to grab her, but Ironhide, Sunstreaker, and Sideswipe stopped the infuriated mech from murdering the girl with his own servos. The three struggled to restrain the younger mech as they pushed him out of the control room. Bluestreak was spitting horrible curses at his comrades for stopping him, and at the one who has caused him to experience so much sorrow in his life. Prowl quickly followed the four outside. The doors hissed together, muting the screams of Bluestreak. The room was deathly silent. The only sound that was heard was the humming of Teletraan-1. Sapphire placed a hand where Bluestreak's stray bullet had sliced through. A pale green aura dimly lit up her hand, and partially lit up the section of Teletraan's damaged control panel. A few seconds passed, and she gently removed her hand from the bullet hole. The hole was gone, as if it never existed.

"I have names." Sapphire muttered to everyone in general. "Give me a data pad and I'll write them down." Jazz happened to be carrying one of the blue tablets at the time; he stepped forward with a solemn expression and handed the device to her. Sapphire scribbled down dozens of names as fast as she could. When she finished, she gave the data pad back to Jazz. He hesitated to grab the list of names, fearing the worst. The saboteur eventually folded to his curiosity, and took the device from the female's hand. Jazz read the list very slowly, retaining all the names of those who met gruesome deaths in the hands of a sick minded Decepticon.

He read them silently and mouthed their names, "Backlash, Razorfang, -Razorclaw's brother? Dear Primus-, Goldeneye, Bounce, Zig Zag, Chromia, -please not Ironhide's Chromia-,Turbo, Killoton, Sentinal unit number 649,-Damn, one of the Old Sentinal Units too?-, Bulldoze, Sound Blaster—,"

Sound Blaster. "Primus…No…" Jazz's visor flicked off and he sulked towards the entrance of the room. Before he reached the doors, he paused, and turned towards the smallest Autobot member. "Sound Blaster was my younger brother." Sapphire's head rose slightly and her back became rigid. The iciness in his voice was clear. He was the first to leave. The data pad was handed throughout the mechs present in the room, and one-by-one, they all left.

"Was this Chromia blue as the sky here on Earth?" Ironhide savagely demanded Sapphire to answer. She was still facing Teletraan's reflective monitor. Ironhide grabbed Sapphire with one servo and slammed her on top of the control panel. Ironhide made sure she could see into his optics. Sapphire scowled at the soldier. He slammed her once more into the control panel, and brought his face only inches away from hers, "ANSWER ME!"

"She escaped." Sapphire's words were strained because Ironhide was slowly crushing her in his grasp. "I helped her escape. She said she didn't want to leave her mech all alone in this dark universe." Ironhide released his vice-like grip and towered over the injured female. "She was the last one I was supposed to give to Shockwave."

"Why didn't you help the others?" Ironhide impassively challenged.

"Because my need for revenge was more important than the lives of strangers." Ironhide slugged Sapphire. She flew towards the Autobot commander. She skidded back first across the control panel on Teletraan. A few knobs and keys tore out of their sockets in her wake. She flipped head over heel and landed face first on the aged metal floor in front of Optimus' feet.

"Ironhide!" Optimus barked at his senior soldier. The two mechs glared at each other, neither one were willing to back down. The red mech growled at his commanding officer.

"Ya sure ya still want her now, Prime? Even after all the slag she's caused us?" Ironhide pointed an accusing finger at the crumpled form beneath his figure. Sapphire raised her head and shot up ten-feet into the air. She pointed an equally accusing finger at Ironhide.

"You son of a bitch, not only did I saved her, but I've saved your sorry ass twice!" She flew right up to Ironhide's face and screamed some more, "I was a different person back then! I have changed! I'm not some greedy, self-centered fuck that goes around killing people for fun like I used to!" Ironhide's optics were still burning with hatred, but he did agree with her last statement.

"Ya may have changed, but that doesn't change what ya have done ta us!" Ironhide stormed out of the control room leaving Sapphire and Optimus alone. She opened her mouth to say something intellectual, but she decided against it. She was defeated. No more could she try and fight the truth: She helped kill innocent Cybertronians for her own self-gratification.

"I should have never brought up the subject. None of this would have happened if I just kept my stupid mouth shut." Sapphire bitterly remarked to herself.

"The truth must eventually come out, Sapphire. You made the right decision today." Sapphire shot Optimus a confused look.

"The right decision? Are you sure about that, Prime? I just told them I handed over dozens of your people to their deaths! You call that a right decision? No!" Sapphire chocked, "I should be put to death for what I've done in the past. Damnit Prime, I practically killed Bluestreak. He's a good kid, and didn't deserve to be put through the shit I forced him to go through."

"We all make mistakes, Sapphire, but we have to know how to right a wrong. That is what you must do now."

"I can't bring beings back to life. That's the one thing I don't do." She tenderly touched the gaping wound on her right cheek and winced. "I deserve this wound on my face; I deserve every bit of hate the guys have thrown at me. I brought it upon myself. I carry around with me the deaths of every being I have killed with my own hands, or the ones I've lead like lemmings to their deaths." A single tear rolled down her right cheek. "They don't know what it is like to be evil." Sapphire floated down to the floor. She scuffed her feet towards the air compressed doors. Hisss. The door slid open. Before she went her way, she addressed her leader once more. "Optimus, why have you spared me?" Her eyes were cloudy and dull, reflecting the emotions she felt.

"You are not the person you think you are, despite the crimes you have committed. Revenge is deadly force to be controlled by. You have killed few Cybertronians compared to the millions Megatron and his forces have slain. Your judgment has already past. Living with your actions was your punishment. As I said before, you must take initiative to settle the discrepancies with the others. Killing you would only cause greater harm to my soldiers." Sapphire took a moment to ponder what her leader told her.

"Thank you for giving me a second chance, Optimus." Sapphire indifferently responded. She nodded courtly and hustled out the doors. Hisss. The doors closed. Alone was she in the hallways of the seemingly abandoned base. Sapphire sighed and held her cheek.

"I need a drink."


Three hours later…

Giggling: Hearing giggling from a child is one thing, but hearing uncontrollable giggling from a plastered young adult is another story. Sapphire was having, needless to say, a good time in the White Eagle bar in Portland. She had spent about twenty-five dollars on drinks already (and that was not counting the whiskey). She made the female bartender "forget" to check her identification to see if she was legal (although, she has existed longer than the human race), or ask why it looked like she lost a fight. Oh well, live life to the fullest as most people in the pub would say.

"No way!" Sapphire slurred out to an empty chair next to her at the bar. The White Eagle was haunted by some apparitions and in three hours, Sapphire had met several spirits including the famous Rose and Sam. Presently, she was taking to Sam. "Dude, if ah were you, ah would've taken tha girl and ran. You deserved so much more than this bar." Sapphire leaned on top of the counter and stared promiscuously at "Sam". The African-American waitress had her long, jet black hair pulled back in a ponytail. She walked back to the drunken female, and leaned hip first against the bar counter.

"How's Sam treating ya little lady? I hear he's quite the ladies man." The bartender smiled cutely at the intoxicated red-head.

"Oh, Sam," Sapphire dragged his name out in a drunken manner, "You're so much fun!" Sapphire hiccupped. "Ah wish you were alive. Yer so much more fun than those robots ah hang out with." She giggled some more. Inside the bar, only a few people were present. Because of that, her drunken actions were merely ignored by the other patrons as she continued to converse with Sam.

A new customer walked in just then. New faces were always welcomed in the pub. The customer was an older male with graying, short, brown hair. His eyes were brilliant blue, and his weathered skin was accented by a well trimmed goatee. He was also wearing a pair of rectangular glasses with black frames. The gent was wearing a white undershirt, a simple grey long sleeve shirt with a black "bomber" style jacket. He was also wearing black slacks and black, suede dress shoes. Two red columns ran all the way down to his shoes on the sides of his pants. Oh, did Ratchet look spiffy today.

"What's up doc?" Sapphire slurred as she flirtatiously patted the empty seat next to her (of course, not the one where Sam sat). "Ah hear you handle females with extra care." Ratchet scowled and awkwardly sat next to his drunken friend. He had never seen her so over energized up before. He only prayed this conversation would not last long.

"Sapphire, I think you need to come back—," He searched for the appropriate word, "home." She just laughed at the hologram.

"Oh you party pooper! Ah was just having a civilized conversation with Sam here." She overly exaggerated the empty seat next to her. "Why do ah have ta go back? Ah obviously made the family members upset. Ah think little Johnny will never speak ta me again…a shame, really." Sapphire took a swig of the half empty draft of beer in front of her. Her voice lost most of its vigor, "he's a damn good kid."

Just like old times I suppose…"Actually, Johnny and the others want to talk to you." Sapphire's head spun towards the man, and gave him the classic clueless face. "Coltrane and Hellboy the most." If Sapphire were a machine, her head would be sparking from a processor meltdown.

"T-they really wanna talk ta me? Even after all ah said?"

"Sure do." Ratchet placed an arm around her shoulders and squeezed them a little bit. "You know, going out and swimming in alcohol doesn't solve anything. I hear it also can make people do stupid things too, if consumed in great quantities." Sapphire laughed lightheartedly at the medic. She gulped the rest of her glass and shook her head.

"No shit Sherlock. Ah know that." She leaned over and kissed Ratchet's left cheek. His face almost turned as red as the trimmings on his pants. "Stupid things, eh? Well, what'd ya make of that!" She tightly one arm hugged his shoulders, and rested her head upon his shoulder. She giggled some more. "Ah know ya love me, darling!" She scooted her chair as close as it could get next to Ratchet.

"Keep it together, keep it together, keep it together," Ratchet could not believe how— unchained this girl could be when she downed a few glasses. Still, what to make of that kiss? Oh how he longed to just sweep her off her feet and carry her to the nearest vacant room. But what use would that bring? She's an organic, and he's mechanical. Love is definitely more confusing than repairing a dismantled seeker.
"Wait, why the slag am I thinking about that? She can't be taken seriously right now. Primus, I must be getting old."

"Come on, darling," Ratchet emphasized harshly, "you need to come home now." Sapphire laughed some more and spun out of her chair. As she left her chair, she looked at the ceiling and snapped her fingers together. Dozens of coins rained down and she caught them all in her hands, and slapped them on the counter in next to her empty glass. The waitress rubbed her eyes and stared wide-eyed at the coins.

"Jesus, this place really is haunted." She scooped the coins off the table and put them in a special "tip" pouch on her hip. Sapphire giggled some more and turned her attention to Sam. She waved cutely to the empty seat and blew him a kiss.

"Buh-bye Sam! Maybe ah'll see ya around sometime soon!" Ratchet rolled his eyes and grabbed her shoulders and pushed her out of the establishment. Once the two were outside, they made their way to an ordinary white van.

"Get in. We need to talk." Ratchet opened his passenger side door for her. Sapphire chucked and hopped in—only to stumble back out again. She fell into Ratchet's arms and looked up at his not-so-amused face.

"Ah hope it's the kind of talk ahm in the mood for." She smiled impishly at the medic. Ratchet growled and sat her in his seat. The door closed automatically and the hologram zapped into the driver's seat. Sapphire reached for the seat belt, but the belt carefully strapped itself across her chest. Sapphire's giddiness faded. "Oh, so it's going ta be one of those talks." Ratchet's hologram grimaced at her pitiful form.

"Look, Sapphire, I know today's been rough; for you and for some of the mechs," The engines started in the van, "but you can't just run off like that and go drown your emotions in alcohol. It's not healthy for you, or for everyone else."

"Is that what you really think? Or are ya just saying that ta avoid the obvious fact that ahm a terrible person." She leaned her head on her fist and gazed absentmindedly out the side window. The van began to pull out of the parking space and drive.

"You're not a terrible—,"

"Bullshit and ya know it." Sapphire shot the hologram a scowl. "Ah've told ya some of the other things ah used to do. Sure, none of it was about Cybertron, but let's be realistic here: Ah killed your people, Ratchet. And ah did so without thinkin' twice about it." She pointed at her chest with her index finger. "There's nothing that ah can do that'll compensate for what ah've done." She leaned back into the plushy seat and stared at the roof of the van. She closed her eyes. "Keep 'n eye on Bluestreak. If what ah heard about him is true, he could very easily screw himself o'er real bad."

"Yeah, I know," Ratchet grimaced from the awful memories of the first time Bluestreak tried to offline himself. He was haunted for many Stellar Cycles after the procedure he had to perform on the young mech to save his spark. He took a vibro-blade to his main pumps in his neck and tore them out one by one. By the time Prowl carried him into his medbay back on Cybertron, he was already in stasis lock. He could not have imagined the amount of pain Bluestreak endured cutting tube, after tube in his neck. The poor mech blamed himself being the only survivor when Praxus—.

Praxus.

"Now do ah make mahself clear? That kid tried to kill 'emself once. Ah'll bet my life savings he'll try it again." Sapphire rubbed her eyelids, "Ya got anything that'll sober me up? Ah need ta find Bluestreak."

"He's back at the base still. That's why I came—," A frantic, blinking red button on the dashboard cut the CMO off. His hologram pressed the flashing light. "Ratchet here, what's going on?"

"Ratchet? Did you find Sapphire, yet?" Bumblebee's frantic voice shouted through the van's speakers.

"Yeah, I was just—."

"Good! We need her tracking skills! Hound can't even tell which way he took off!"

"What?" Ratchet's hologram yelled into his speakers. "Are you telling me—?"

"Bluestreak's gone!"

"Slag it!" Ratchet hit his steering wheel, but his fists phased through it.

"We're reviewing all the security tapes just in case—."

"That boy knows where all tha cameras are at. He doesn't want ta be found." Sapphire rummaged through her pockets and pulled out her spare homing beacon for her Arwing. Ratchet's hologram snatched the device from her before she fiddled with the controls on it. "Hey!"

"You can barely stand, you're not flying."

"Ass." Sapphire pouted. "Fine, then get us back to HQ, stat!" Ratchet floored it and weaved through traffic like a snake through tall grass. "Holy—doc, ah want to live, thank ya very much!" Sapphire screeched as she held onto the "Oh, Jesus" bar for dear life as the cars zipped only inches from Ratchet's frame. Sapphire gulped. She mentally kicked herself for drinking that last draft.


Prowl knew what Bluestreak was going to do. He found him the first time in his quarters back on Cybertron, barely functioning. He did not want to find him a second time deactivated. Hound, naturally, was the first one inside their shared quarters when Bumblebee reported to Prowl that his "brother" had disappeared. Bluestreak may not be his true brother like Smokescreen, but he treated him like one. He was always there for him whenever he needed his company, or whenever he needed to vent his frustrations. He has grown attached to the young marksman ever since he stumbled across his severely damaged body after the destruction of Praxus. Primus—he still cannot think about Sapphire's involvement with Praxus. If he were to do so, his logic chip would most definitely crash. Now, with Bluestreak gone, he has realized it will be just a matter of time before his emotions breach his firewalls. Then, all hell will break loose. He bit his lower lip plate again. He wished Hound could find some sort of clue to lead him to the whereabouts—.

Sapphire walked in.

Prowl's wings went rigid. Slag.

"Sapphire." Prowl forced out of his vocalizer.

"Prowl." Sapphire responded in kind. She surveyed the mechs' quarters and sighed. Hound was laser scanning the room for any traces of soil that could have been left behind in Bluestreak's footprints. The way his shoulders sagged, she could tell he was not going to find any. No footprints, no video footage, no traces of him anywhere in the ark. She rubbed her head out of frustration. Her head was still spinning from all the booze she drank. Thankfully, Ratchet had a special serum that eliminated the alcohol from her system. Unfortunately, the side effects were comparable to a hangover. At least she would not have to wait an entire day to feel the effects.

"Bluestreak definitely didn't want to be followed whenever he left. I haven't found any energy prints or tire tracks here or around the Ark. I can't even find his energy signature." Prowl clenched his servos together, and marched up to the tracker.

"Not good enough Hound. Keep searching. I want some answers now." Prowl felt a twang of pain shoot through his processer.

"Prowl, you should sit down for a little bit." Sapphire noticed the black-and-white mech's subtle reaction. "Hound and I can handle this. We'll find him. I'll make sure of it. I started this whole mess, and I'll be damned if I don't finish it." Sapphire had never been more serious in her entire life. She gave him a quick nod and joined Hound, trying to see if they could discover any clues to Bluestreak's whereabouts. She had the fire of determination within her eyes. Something most mechs would constantly tell Prowl whenever he had his mind set on a goal. This struck him as a quaint situation. Sapphire never ran away from her problems. She always challenged them head on, even if they had the potential of killing her. Then why, of all times, did she run away? She has been challenged by more difficult situations than this. Whatever force was at work inside of her thought process, he concluded it must run very deep into her history. There is no other possible explanation, and whatever this explanation is, she is scared of it. What is she scared of? And why? Is it something she did? Too many questions filled Prowl's processor all at once. His logic circuit could barely take anymore of his questions. Meanwhile, Sapphire and Hound were still occupied with their search.

"Hound?" Sapphire called the green mech to her side, "what is this?" Sapphire pointed to several cacti plants sitting in a long, flat, steel pot, sitting on top of a windowsill.

"Those are just Blue's collection of Cactus plants. I don't know why he has them, but he takes care of them as if they were his sparklings."

"Can you scan all these cacti and see where they originate?"

"Not a problem." His optics shot out a blue, laser scanner, and he quickly downloaded the three-dimensional images of the plants in his processor. He accessed the internet and ran a search to find the names of the plants. He found out the species of cacti were a teddy bear cholla, a night-blooming cereus, a golden hedgehog cactus, and an Engelmann's prickly pear. "All these plants are all found in the Sonoran Desert in the United States of America." The two looked at each other.

"There's only one place in that area that's big enough to hide a twenty-foot robot." Sapphire spun on her heels and addressed the resting SIC. "Prowl!" He was startled by his own name, "You and Hound are coming with me in my Arwing. We're going to the Grand Canyon."


Hours later…

"I thought you said this scrapheap was fast!" Prowl complained to the tiny organic at the controls of the hastily repaired Arwing. He was on all fours and somehow, managed to scrape his dome next to where Sapphire sat in the cockpit.

"If you recall, Neco shot me down. I haven't gotten all the parts replaced yet, because this rock we're on doesn't have the technology available to repair or manufacture the parts I need. I'll have to go back to Space Dynamic's plant on Corneria to get the parts I need." The ship suddenly, dipped to portside. Sapphire pulled the two handlebar-like controls in order to stabilize the ship. She winced in pain as her left arm screamed at her for moving it while it was still healing itself. "Damn G-diffusers are a pain sometimes." She tapped a few commands on the control panel, and simplified blue prints of the G-diffusers sitting on top of the wings of her craft, appeared in front of her. She touched the two portside diffusers, and typed in a few more commands on the control panel in front of her. Slowly, her Arwing leveled out.

"You sure this thing can carry another mech? It's already cramped as is in here." Hound wiggled around trying to find a comfortable position to sit. His right leg was stretched out to the other side of the hull, while his left leg was touching his chest. He was leaning on one arm and trying to avoid being kicked by Prowl's legs whenever he shifted up front.

"You two will drive the entire way back if you don't shut up about my Arwing. I didn't modify this craft with twenty-foot robots in mind." She paused, "I think we could squeeze one more in the cargo hold." The two mechs sighed and waited impatiently for their destination to appear on the horizon.

"Prowl, you know this search will take a while, considering how big this place is—," Sapphire started but never finished when Prowl's hand slipped around her pilot's seat. "I'll drop you guys off at different ends and continue to search from the sky. I'm pretty sure my Arwing will have no problem going inside the Canyon—,"

"No," Prowl sharply interrupted, "You search above the canyon and radio us immediately if you see him. Hound and I will search where we are by our vehicular modes."

"Alright, but be careful. I don't want to haul you guys back in pieces. Ratchet will kill me."

"We will."

Sapphire smiled when the Canyon, which can be seen from space, came into view. "Alright Hound, you're first. I'm dropping you off at the northern rim. You should have a much easier time navigating the terrain than Prowl." She guided her Arwing only ten-feet from the Canyon's ledge, and held her craft as steadily as she could with a bum arm. She pressed a bright green switch on the panel in front of her. A hatch behind the scout, opened like a sideways book. "Watch out for icy patches on the edges!" Sapphire shouted to Hound over her Arwing's hissing engines. Hound crawled his way to the edge of the opening. Before he jumped he gave the "thumbs up" to Prowl.

"If Blue's in this area, I will find him, Prowl!" Hound grinned and leapt headfirst out of the opened hatch. While falling, he transformed into his vehicular mode: A Mitsubishi J59 Jeep. His wheels kicked up rocks the size of softballs when his carriage dug into the rocky cliff edge. Primus, did Hound love that feeling. He loved racing endlessly on the untamed terrain on Earth. He loved the rocks bouncing off his undercarriage and the air swooshing past his mirrors. He felt alive. And he was going to bring another mech back with alive as well—if he found him first.

Sapphire nosed up and raced as fast as she would dare, to the other end of the Canyon. Prowl watched Hound bounce into the mighty Douglas firs and the grand Aspen trees surrounding the Canyon's ridge, like proud, stoical soldiers, waiting patiently for the arrival of their beloved ones. He secretly wished for Hound to find him first. If Prowl found him first, he would not know if he should throttle the mech first or never let him out of his clutches again. He could only pray to Primus that they would not be too late. A few minutes later, Sapphire had managed to reach the southern rim of the Canyon. It was a whole new world compared to the northern rim. The mighty Douglas', and Aspens' were all but gone, and they were replaced with cacti of all sorts, and lowly shrubs. An ideal place for a vehicle, not built for an off-road excursion, to navigate.

"Okay Prowl, you're next!" Sapphire shouted over her craft's engines once more. She carefully held her Arwing steady ten-feet above the southern rim of the Grand Canyon. Prowl could not turn around in the cramped passenger compartment of Sapphire's Arwing, so he had no choice but to crawl backwards. "No use going by the humans! If I had to kill myself, I wouldn't let anyone else see me do it!" Prowl tightened his lip plates together and gave a swift, acknowledging nod to Sapphire. She nodded back, "I'll make this right Prowl, I swear it on my life." A smile crept across his face plates.

"Thank you." Prowl pushed himself with all of his might through the opening, and transformed, mid-air into a Datsun Fairlady Z police cruiser. Once his wheels collided with the rocky terrain beneath him, his engine roared to life. His wheels spat rocks behind his tailpipe and before anyone could say go; the cruiser had drifted into the shrubbery of the Utah Junipers and the yucca plants. Sapphire watched the police cruiser race into the distance from a monitor she brought up in her Arwing. The monitor locked onto Prowl's energy signature, and a blinking yellow dot steadily headed north on her monitor. Sapphire winced in pain as she pulled her left arm back on the left control stick. Her Arwing responded in kind.

"The things I do for people…" she mumbled under her breath. Once her craft was facing south again she pulled her arms backwards, and her less-than-steady Arwing lurched forward. She pressed a foot pedal that controlled the wing flaps and her craft slowly, nosed up into the sky until she had a bird's eye view of the grandest canyon of all. She figured if she were up this high in the sky, Hound and Prowl would be able to spot her if she suddenly dived down to land on one of the most beautiful sceneries she has seen since—since Uur'a. The canyon's vastness brought back so many memories of when she was a little girl; back to the only place she really called home. Memories of her father flooded her mind. Good ones and bad ones alike. She remembered the scenario oh so clearly: During the monsoon season on Uur'a, Sapphire decided to go play along the edge of the Shi'yayc Gorge. She was a foolish child, just like any other child of her age. She was alone except for a giant red-and-silver Autobot that had also wandered to the side of the cliff where she was playing—.

Sapphire blinked. "Bluestreak?" She slammed her controls forward and released the pedal beneath her foot. She dove so fast, she did not have enough space to pull out of her dive. To compensate, she had to pull out inside the Canyon. The missing gunner watched like a impassive soldier as the disfigured Arwing rose from the Canyon, and perched itself about an arm's length away from where he stood. White smoke coughed out of the landing gear's openings. The craft powered down in a drawn-out, whining decrescendo. The still, cracked canopy of the damaged craft, hissed open and a person whom, he had learned to hate with all of his passion, frantically scrambled from the pilot's seat like a scared sparkling that would run away from a Decepticon.

"Bluestreak! Wait! You don't want to do this!" Sapphire flipped off from the nose of her Arwing and landed inconspicuously behind the suicidal mech. Bluestreak's hands balled into fists and he spun around to meet the destroyer of his life.

"Yes I do! You took away everything I've ever known and loved in less than cycle!" Bluestreak screamed into Sapphire's face. Oh, how he wanted to stomp on her like the insect she was! How dare she, out of all people, come and try to save him! "I've been dead since the day you came and destroyed Praxus! I've had no reason to live since then!" He choked up on his last sentence, making his threat less menacing than he wanted it to be.

"There's always a reason to live, Bluestreak! Look at me! I've killed more beings than the entire Decepticon Army, and I still walk amongst the living!" Sapphire ripped off her sling and tossed it over the ledge of the Canyon while she spoke. "If anyone deserves to live, it is you, Bluestreak. You must live so all the citizens of Praxus may live as well." She started to unravel her bandages on her arm. "You don't think I know what kind of pain it's like to lose everything you've loved or known? My fucking brother took everything from me!" Sapphire swallowed hard, "I lost my family, my friends, my home," she was almost done unraveling the bloodied tape from her arm, "and my sanity." Her final word slugged Bluestreak in his face.

"I was poisoned from rage. I changed into a monster; a monster incapable of feeling guilt or remorse for being left alive. I craved the blood of my murderer." Bluestreak's fists loosened their grip. "I searched the universe endlessly until I would run out of fuel in my spacecraft. I killed innocent merchants, traders, and even military patrols if they got in my way of finding my killer." Sapphire choked up and tears formed at the corners of her eyes. "I destroyed your city because it got in my way." She tore off the final strand of dressings and revealed her disfigured arm. All the muscles in her forearm were completely gone, and some of her bones showed through the thinner sections of the remnants of her skin. Bluestreak averted his gaze.

"No, you look at it!" She reached out with her right hand and jerked his head back using her psychic powers. He was forced to stare at an unnerving sight of stitched flesh and bone. "This is what you can lose if you are careful, Bluestreak! If you can't look at this, then what makes you think you can waste yourself away by jumping off this cliff?" Tears were streaming uncontrollably down her flushed cheeks. Bluestreak's mouth opened to respond, but nothing came out. He was speechless.

"I'm sorry Bluestreak. I'm so, so, so, sorry for what I have done to you. What burns a hole through my heart is that I can't do anything to repair the damage I have done." She released the mech from her invisible grasp, "I should be the one by the edge of this Canyon. I should be the one who should be dead right now." She dried each cheek on the arm of her sweatshirt and continued, "I killed my own ori'vod, my brother, Bluestreak. Could you ever hate Prowl that much?" Silence. "He's here right now, searching for you." The young mech's spark sank. He remembered Prowl was the one to find him on the floor of his quarters, bathing in his own energon. He never forgot that primal fear he saw on Prowl's faceplates that day.

"He refuses to lose you, Bluestreak. You're all he's got. Do you really want to make him suffer like that—again?" Bluestreak legs shook with uncontrollable fear. He never meant to scare Prowl as bad as he did back on Cybertron. He collapsed on all fours right then and there.

"I-I never want him to be t-that frightened ever again," Bluestreak whispered, "b-because of m-me." Sapphire stepped forward and laid her uninjured hand on the mech's helm. "I was s-so angry at you I—I forgot about h-him." A blue energon tear ran down his cheek and splashed harmlessly on the desert terrain below. He looked up, and a guilt-stricken look affixed itself on his young faceplates. Sapphire placed her forehead on his, and slowly shut her eyes. She started to chant under her breath. Bluestreak's curiosity got the best of him. "W-what are you s-saying, Sapphire?" She weakly smiled.

"Nothing." She opened her eyes and they were washed out with a green light. The green light transferred from her eyes into his cerulean blue optics. He gasped as his strength instantaneously returned to him. He stared in awe at the female, unable to process any kind of response. "I figured you would be tired from your long drive here." Bluestreak smiled and embraced Sapphire in a bear hug. She patted the side of his cheek with her good hand. After a good, long hug, she broke free from Bluestreak's embrace and sprang into the cockpit of her Arwing. She flipped open a communication frequency and hailed the two Autobots she brought with her.

"Sapphire to Hound, Sapphire to Prowl, do you copy?" No reply.

"Sapphire to Hound, Sapphire to Prowl, do you copy?" No reply.

"Sapphire to Hound, Sapphire to Prowl, do you copy?" No reply. "Oh come on you twits, answer me!"

"This is Hound, sorry about the wait, I had to clear some trees before I got your signal."

"This is Prowl, have you found Bluestreak?" Sapphire smiled and sank back into her chair.

"I found him, I repeat, I've found him, and he's okay. Prepare for departure guys," Sapphire started her Arwing's engines, "we're going home."

Snap!

The Arwing's starboard engine blew. Sapphire's eyes twitched.

"Sapphire, what was that?" Prowl shouted through his com-link.

"Of all times, why now?" Sapphire hit her control panel out of frustration and screamed. "My starboard engine just blew out! You two, I'm sending you my co-ordinates now. Get over here ASAP!" Sapphire powered down her Arwing and ran her right hand through her hair.

"So, are we stuck here?" Bluestreak innocently asked.

"Yeah," she sighed, "I hate Mondays."


Hound finally joined Sapphire and Bluestreak roughly, two-and-a-half hours later. Sapphire was busy trying to see if she could repair her starboard engine so they all could fly back to the Ark. She be damned if she would leave her Arwing unattended in the middle of a giant tourist trap. Unfortunately, luck was not on her side today. The same could not be said for Hound. He successfully contacted the Ark, and was assured that Skyfire would be arriving sometime within the hour. In the meantime, Hound sat himself on the ledge of the cliff, and enjoyed a breath-taking view of the sun setting on the majestic Grand Canyon.

Prowl skidded into view twenty-minutes later.

The SIC transformed and cautiously, walked towards Bluestreak. The latter did not realize the former was behind him, until he spoke.

"Bluestreak?" The black-and-white mech's voice quivered. The red-and-silver mech spun around and stared wide-eyed into his optics. He could not bring himself to utter his "brother's" name. The two mechs gawked at each other for a long while, trying to explain to one another how overjoyed they felt by being in each other's sight. Finally, Bluestreak broke the silence.

"P-Prowl?" The SIC suddenly had Bluestreak in a tight embrace. The young marksman was taken aback by his actions, but quickly recovered and hugged his brother even tighter.

"I thought I had lost you, Bluestreak," Prowl whispered into his brother's audio. "Please, don't do this again. Don't—," Prowl's voice cracked and he could not speak anymore. Bluestreak pulled away and smiled.

"I promise." Prowl smiled and squeezed Bluestreak's shoulders as a sign of sheer happiness. As the two were about to discuss the details from the day, Skyfire's engines faintly echoed across the area.

"Now it looks like we're going home." Sapphire commented happily to herself as she appeared between Bluestreak and Prowl. The female looked at the two mechs and smiled. "I told you we would find him, Prowl." The latter smiled gently at the alien.

"Thank you, Sapphire."

"It's the least I could do." She shifted her gaze onto Bluestreak. Her smile faded and was replaced by a frown. "Bluestreak, I—."

"It's okay Sapphire, I forgive you. I learned that you may hate someone for what they've done in the past, but you can love them for the good they've done in the present." Sapphire smiled with a great sadness in her heart.

"Thank you, Bluestreak." She bowed slightly at the mech she almost killed today.

"And here I thought this day couldn't get any better." Hound commented and grinned as he put his arms around the two Datsun mechs. Everyone laughed –including Prowl- and enjoyed a picturesque view of the sun setting upon a place they all silently, vowed to never return to.


Those were the good ol' days—the days I wish I could still have. War is cruel. I wish there was something I could have done, but I remembered an important fact: I am mortal now. I am over twelve-billion years old. It is about time this old bag of bones and steel can rest for a little while, I suppose.

I am on Cybertron now, waiting for my time to come, and watching my baby girl grow up into a beautiful woman. She has fallen for one of them, just like I did. Heh, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Today, I shall leave my little home that used to house two, and slowly make my way with my walking cane (that can convert into a blaster for those "just-in-case moments"), to greet the boys once more. As I leave the comfort of my home, I am attacked by a thousand stimulants all at once. The beautiful starry scenery is all that Cybertron is blessed to see. Daylight never hits this planet, but that does not mean the beauty of this planet is diminished. Thousands of those tinkling stars light up the surface of this metallic planet. I am fairly certain I have visited at least a hundred of those specks in the sky. Those specks light up something even more beautiful than the Grand Canyon: Iacon. Truly, this is the New York City of Cybertron. There are more lights in that city than there are Cybertronians. It is a good thing these people do not have to worry about the effects of pollution. I won't be around long enough for it to kill me. But it is not the dazzling light display that makes this city sparkle like a Kaiburr crystal; it is the structures the Cybertronians have crafted. They have perfected the balance between sharp spires and round towers. Some of the designs are so farfetched; I cannot describe in words what they look like.

Cybertron is a beautiful planet to live on. The people here look up –realistically, down—at me. No matter if I know their names or not, they all know mine. They call me by my name or by some silly nickname like savior, or grandmother. The last one makes me feel a little old. Just now, I see a Cybertronian couple named Springer and Arcee heading my way. I remember fighting alongside those two a long, long time ago on this very planet fighting for—oh, silly me. I don't want to give away all the details. That story will come later.

"Hey, Sapphire! How's the morning walk today? We haven't seen you in a few orbital cycles. We were just on our way to check up on you." Springer, the tall, pine green triple-changer, cheerfully greeted me with a smile upon his faceplate. Such a sweetheart. He was holding the hand of his partner, Arcee, a shorter pink-and-white femme. She smiled warmly at me as well. I just chuckled, and waved off the green one.

"I may be getting old, but I can still throttle you by a flick of my hand." I used my psychic powers to separate the two Cybertronians. I watched with a twinkle in my eye as they flailed helplessly in the air, trying to break free of my grasp. The temptation was there, but I repressed my disorder's cravings for death.

"Hey, now! I was only kidding!" Springer laughed as he was trying to reach for Arcee. I smiled at the two lovebirds and placed them carefully back onto the metallic sidewalk we were all sharing. I continued my way towards my destination, but those two stuck to me like glue.

"Where are you going today, Sapphire?" Arcee asked me without a care in the world.

"I'm going to see the boys today." Their smiles faded.

"Oh," was all she replied.

"Would you care if we joined you?" Springer quietly asked me.

"Of course, dear. I wouldn't mind some company today. I believe they will be delighted to see you two." Good heavens, I mentally criticize myself for allowing my raspy voice to crack slightly. Everything is starting to break down.

"I wouldn't put it past them." Springer replied with a sad smile. Such a darling mech. Arcee will be happy for the rest of her days with this mech, so long as the peace remains amongst the people. It has taken almost nine million years, but the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons has ended. The ending was—brutal, but an ending is an ending, I suppose. It is a shame Megatron died. Some people still disagree with my views about that brutal mech. They were still holding grudges against him for what he did in the past. Truly, tragedy at its best. But he changed that day; the day I became one of the most important beings alive on this planet. He saw what he could have transformed into if he continued following his destructive path of revolution. He saw a monster so vile; it would consume his planet in a screaming cacophony of fire and twisted metal. He loved this planet too much to kill it.

The screams of the walking dead, continue to haunt my dreams.

Such a terrible day indeed, but the subsequent days after were the birth of a new age: The rejuvenation of Cybertron. It is a shame it takes an invasion to unify a dysfunctional planet. How many deaths will come if another war ensues? Hopefully, such a conflict will not occur in the little time I have left in my existence. I would be forced to unleash my other self once more. If I do that again, I will most definitely lose control of my mind.

Oh, silly me, I have been ranting for far too long. Where were we now?

"Sapphire, do you think they would like some of those meta-gami flowers over there?" Arcee pointed to a hover cart filled to the brim with dozens of the meta-gami flowers that were metallic roses. The mech at the cart's edge folded long sheets of flimsy metal –they looked a lot like aluminum to me- and created beautiful floral designs out of them. I could barely recall my studies on Earth –curse this aging body of mine once again!-, but I did remember what a handful of flowers used to symbolize on that planet.

"Would you care to grab me about two dozen, dear?" I shakily held out my right palm. There were enough Cybertronian Credits in it to buy the whole cart of meta-gami flowers. Arcee was reluctant to grab all the credits. I smiled at her naive nature. "Tell him to keep the change."

A few moments later, she returned with two bouquets of the metallic roses whose colors spanned the entire spectrum of the rainbow. She offered the flowers to me. I smiled and once more, used my powers to pluck them from her dainty arms.

"Now, now, what shapes shall I make of these?" I pondered out loud as I manipulated the flower petals on half of them. "How about some Hyacinths?" Three flowers suddenly transformed into violet vases, with six, curly petals. "Some Asters wouldn't hurt," three more flowers folded into what looked like an explosion of lavender colored petals. "Daffodils for certain," another group of three roses quickly morphed into yellow, crowned trumpets. "I think I should add some Zinnias, too," finally, I chose three more, and re-folded the metal petals into saffron colored, flat, spoon heads layered on top of one another. Arcee and Springer watched with wonderment as I crafted the flowers using my mind. The only alteration I made on the other twelve roses were their colors. They all were crimson colored.

"Wow," Springer breathed. I smiled. This race never ceases to amaze me.

"Now, shall we continue?" I called over my shoulder to the couple. "I'll leave you two behind if you don't hurry up."


Author's Notes: Readers, pretend a Transformer can drive from Portland to Arizona in…10 hours, okay? Great! *derpy face*

First off, I want to say this will be the FINAL chapter in A Life To Live. Now, before you all start crying, I will have a sequel coming up sometime in the future. ^^

Secondly, this shift to 1st person view at the end will be explained…later!

Finally, I would like to say suicide is a very touchy subject to bring up, let alone write about. I have had friends whose family members have killed themselves, and it's a terrible thing to be put through. My father tried to commit suicide a few years ago (even though I don't like him for personal reasons, it's still an unnerving thing to experience), and I can say I have thought about it in the past...it's not a fun thing to experience. Really, it isn't. This is going to sound corny, but if you know someone who is thinking or may be thinking about suicide, please help them. Help them remember who they are leaving behind, and help them remember who still loves them and wants them to live. It seems most people have forgotten that one person can make a difference. One person can save another person's life.

On a happier note, this has taken me three years to make, and I want to give a big round of applause for everyone who has read, commented, and supported my efforts throughout the years! ^_^

*Random crowd of people appears and begins to clap wildly*

Also, The White Eagle bar does exist and it is haunted. ^^ Google it if you don't believe me.

Mando'a used in chapter (and last chapter because I'm a dummy and forgot):

Chapter 9:

Usen'ye utreekove—Get the hell away, you idiots.

Vode—Brothers/Comrades

Verburyc—"Loyal"

Hut'uun— Coward (worst possible insult)

Chapter 10:

Ori'vod- big brother, older brother, special friend.

Shi'yayc—Yellow (city of yellow)

Verburyc—"Loyal"