Yo! articmadador here with Chapter 12. Maybe it's just me, but I think I've got this out a little sooner than the other. I DO NOT OWN TRANSFORMERS. Hasbro does. I only own whatever plot material you don't recognize. Sapphire-Starz17 owns Xvan. Please review and enjoy!

"Yes! So much doggie-ness!"

Xvan lay on her back and pet both Solstice and Anthos as they ate dog food off of her shirt. She had been trying to feed them when she had fallen over and the dog food fell on her. The dogs took it upon themselves to help her out by eating it, and she could only laugh and enjoy the moment. A few minutes later, Gray came in and gasped at the scene before her.

"Xvan! Xvan, what are you doing!?" she exclaimed as she rushed over to pick up the bag of dog food.

"Feeding the dogs," Xvan replied as she sat up.

Gray began scooping up handfuls of the food and placing it back in the bag. "We don't have an infinite supply of food, Xvan. We need to be more conscious about how much we eat and how much of our supply we're using."

"You make it sound like this is a zombie apocalypse," Xvan mumbled as she got up and brushed herself off.

Gray pushed Anthos away as he tried to stick his muzzle in the bag of food. "You're the one who keeps saying this is the end of the world."

"According to Conley, it's the end of the world as we knew it. She says there's a difference."

Gray picked up the bag of food and placed it back in the closet that they always kept it in. "Where is Conley, anyway?"

"She's in the gym doing archery. She got me to shoot a few times. I think I did good."

Gray smiled, then leaned against the closet door. "At least you know where she is. She's always wandering off."

"Yeah. She's a dreamer. Likes to daydream and think. You kinda do that too."

"We all do now that there's nothing else to do these days."

"So…we're just doing it because we're bored?"

"Yeah, probably."

"Well, I'm never content with being bored. Let's go fuck with Conley," Xvan piped. Gray was about to protest, but Xvan was already walking. Gray signed, then followed with a smile. The dogs followed them and ran around in the hallways. "Gray, I was talking to Conley yesterday and…she says something's coming too.

"What else did she say?"

"Well, I asked her if she knew what was coming, and she said no. She also said we can't do anything until it comes."

"It?"

"Yeah…I don't know what she meant by that. She didn't want to talk after that, but she did ask me what I thought it might be. I told her I didn't know."

"So, I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens."

They walked down the hallways that connected the school building to the athletic center. They then headed to the gym. The school gym was very large and very new looking. The floor was clean and seemingly freshly waxed. The walls were painted gray with a crimson and black stripe running through, just like in the cafeteria. A large painting of a cartoon-like Spartan warrior was on the wall at the end of the large gym, while the American flag and Kentucky state flag hung on the walls opposite of each other. Large black and crimson bleachers sat on either side of the gym, and metal chairs were stacked against the front bleachers. The basketball goals hung up out of the way, and if anyone wanted to put them down they would have to find the controls to do so. There was the large equipment closet next to the gym entrance that had two entrances. Equipment was neatly put away, and everything was in good condition. The gym was well lid, with multiple large lights on the ceiling and metal guards around them to prevent them from being damaged and broken.

Conley was walking across the gym with a green bow in her hand. She waved at them when they came in, then started running when Anthos and Solstice ran towards her. She managed to sit the bow on a stack of chairs, then fell over when the dogs jumped on her. Conley laughed as they jumped around and wagged their tails. They were excited to see her, and wasted no time licking her face until it was almost dripping wet.

"Xvan! Gray! Help!" Conley cried.

The two girls just stood there and laughed. "You sure, Conley?" Xvan asked. "You look like you've got this under control."

Conley pushed a hand around Solstice and gave Xvan the finger. Xvan laughed and crossed her arms. "Well, I was going to help you, but now…"

Now Conley managed to pull herself up and chased after Xvan. Xvan, being taller, was fast enough to get away. Conley was only a sprinter, but when she found a good running pace she was able to chase Gray. Gray wasn't as fast, but she managed to keep just out of Conley's reach until she ran out of breath. Conley finally had to stop, and Gray kept running and looking over her shoulder. She then ran into a stack of chairs and fell over. Both Xvan and Conley were at her side the moment they heard a pained cry. The dogs ran over as well to see what had happened.

Gray had cut her arm on a broken part of a chair. The part was plastic, so there was no need to worry about rust. There was the risk of infection, since there was no telling how dirty the chair was. Xvan ran off to get the first aid kit at the front of the gym while Conley sat beside Gray and tried to comfort her. She hugged her and began apologizing.

"I'm so sorry, Gray. I shouldn't have chased you."

"It's okay, Conley," Gray forced out. "I wasn't looking where I was going." Gray was doing her best to keep from crying. The cut ran a good distance up her forearm and was bleeding quite a bit, but it wasn't anything that she could die from. She would be fine once they cleaned it and bandaged it up.

"I still feel like it's my fault."

"You didn't push me into the chair, Conley. I ran into it."

"You were running because of me."

"But we were having fun. We didn't expect this to happen."

When Xvan ran back and got ready to clean the wound, Conley hugged Gray tightly. As Xvan started cleaning the wound, Gray could no longer hold back the tears. She tried not to make a sound, not even when Xvan bandaged it up. She tried to bear the pain, but she couldn't hide the tears. Conley noticed she was crying and could only hug her tighter. By the time Xvan had finished, even the dogs were sitting still in the silence.

"I'm so sorry, Gray," Conley said again.

Gray just nodded quietly. Conley looked up at Xvan and noticed she looked a little spooked. "What's wrong? You hurt too?" she asked.

Xvan shook her head. "I don't know how to console people when they start crying."

Conley stared at her, then looked at Gray, then looked back. "Me either."

"Then what do we do?"

Conley hugged Gray tight, then leaned over and licked a tear off her face. Xvan get down on her knees and shook her head. "What are you doing, you idiot?"

"Letting her know I feel her pain," Conley replied.

Xvan stared at her like she was crazy, then looked away. She then stood up and walked around to Gray's other side. "We're all crazy," she murmured before she sat down and licked Gray's tears. In between the two of them, Gray smiled, then she laughed.

Go to the Allspark, but be warned. Great evils await you, a battle shall come. Your new home draws closer, a blue and green jewel. On pass the cold planets, on pass the gas planets. Go gently through the sea of rocks that block your path. You are almost there. Go to Earth, Oh Primes, go to Earth.

Optimus woke up with the worse processor ache on this side of the universe. His entire frame seemed to ache, and his fuel tanks were churning like he had just drank bad energon. He onlined his optics, but his vision was blurry and his optics stung. He tried to move, but a wave of pain shot through him and he quickly went still. He couldn't really sense anything around him, so he didn't realize that someone was standing over him. It took a few minutes for his optics to clear up before he could see Ratchet leaning over him and checking something. It took a few more minutes before Optimus was able to feel what Ratchet was doing. Apparently Optimus was hooked up to some sort of monitor, and now Ratchet as unhooking it. When Ratchet finished, Optimus was fully conscious and tried to move again. He still felt pain, but this time it was not nearly as bad. With Ratchet's help, he managed to sit up.

"What…happened?" Frag, even his vocalizer was feeling strange. "The relics…"

"We can only assume that they've been sent off by the Matrix to some unknown location. We have no way to track them. I believe they're lost to the stars."

Optimus put a servo over his chest. The Matrix was there, but now it was humming quietly as it always did. "The Matrix made me do it. I did not mean for this to happen."

"So…your chest plates opened on their own?" the medic inquired.

"I believe the Matrix opened them."

"Is it speaking to you? Can you hear it? Do you think it will give you an answer for why this happened?"

Optimus shook his head. "It seems as if nothing ever happened. It's just…calm."

Ratchet signed and leaned against a wall behind him. He crossed his arms and was quiet for a while. When he finally spoke up, he stared off into the distance. "We've got this ship, and supplies, now. We're headed to Earth, but it'll take years to reach it at this speed. There are not quantum engines on this ship. We will…have to stop and add them on."

"That could be dangerous. It would be safer to find a ship that already—"

"Earth is running out of time, Optimus. At this point, we may be returning to an empty husk of a planet."

"Don't say that, Ratchet."

"It's true. If Megatron—"

"Considering the state he was in, Sentinel has probably beat him into submission."

"Megatron won't stop until he is killed."

"Then Sentinel will kill him."

Ratchet fell silent and thought for a moment. "Yes, Sentinel would kill him. Then he would take his place."

"Ratchet—"

"He tried to offline Ironhide! He betrayed us all! He's a traitor no better than the Decepticons!"

"Ratchet, though it was his choice to—"

"And you stood there and blamed yourself for what happened! You allowed the humans to blame you for it, but it wasn't your fault!"

"I put them all in harm's way."

"You're not a fragging mind reader, Optimus! You can't see the fragging future! No one expected Sentinel to betray us! He was one of our greatest leaders, and even you looked up to him! How were you, or any of us, supposed to see his betrayal coming!?"

Optimus stayed quiet, which was a wise choice. Ratchet was angry now, and if Optimus said the wrong thing, he might get a wrench to the helm. He did state at Ratchet, and he hoped that that wouldn't get the medic angry enough to fling the nearest object at his head. Luckily for him, Ratchet just vented and did not move from his spot.

"I've watched you blame yourself for so much. You blame yourself for the war, but it isn't your fault. You blame yourself for the deaths of so many Cybertronians that you didn't kill. You blame yourself for the loss of Cybertron, but you didn't destroy it yourself. You blame yourself for the destruction of the AllSpark, but you didn't shove it into Megatron's chest. You blame yourself for the many humans who have been killed in our battles, but just one Decepticons has more human blood on their servos than all of us Autobots combined. Now you want to blame yourself for Sentinel betraying us." Ratchet turned and looked at Optimus. "I won't allow that. I've had enough. You hear me!? I've had enough of you blaming yourself, and taking the blame for things that aren't even your fault!"

"Ratchet, I am responsible—"

"Don't give me any of that 'I'm Prime and I'm responsible for blah blah blah' crap! You're not responsible for what's not your fault! Stop blaming yourself!"

"Easier said than done, old friend."

"Then promise me something. Promise me that you will work to forgive yourself. I forgive you. It…it took me a while to forgive anyone, even Primus, for what's happened, but I forgave him and you. Not everyone has done that, and I may get angry again and end up blaming someone for all this. But then I'll just forgive them, especially when I realize that I may be blaming them for something that isn't their fault. You need to do that. You need to recognize what is and isn't your fault. You're making everything so much worse by blaming yourself. Can you promise me that you'll try, Optimus? Can you promise you'll try to forgive yourself?"

Optimus didn't reply. Even as Ratchet stared at him for a few minutes, he did not reply. Ratchet waited patiently, and Optimus took his time thinking. He thought quietly for what felt like an eternity. He thought about the war, how it started, what it had caused. He thought about the Autobots, the many close friends that he had lost. He thought about the many Cybertronians he had killed. He thought about the events that led to then going to Earth, and the events following their arrival. He thought about the Allspark, the Fallen, and Sentinel's betrayal. Then he finally answered Ratchet.

"I will try to forgive myself. I promise," he replied. He felt so guilty, but as he said these words, he felt as if just a little bit of weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

Ratchet seemed content with that answer, and he stood straight and walked to Optimus' side. "Good, now get up. Everyone is worried about you, and you need to refuel."

Optimus slowly stood up, this time without Ratchet's help, and followed his friend out of the room and down the hall to where the other Autobots sat waiting for him.

There you go! I'll have Chapter 13 out soon, and hopefully not too long after that I might be able to another one-shot or two. Hope you enjoyed! Have a good'n!