"I don't wanna go, and I am not going. Primus, how many times do I gotta say it?" Acrion stated firmly, before her carrier could begin scolding her. Sighing, she flopped down onto her berth with her arms firmly crossed.

Rimma glowered at Acrion's childish acts. It was one thing to deal with her out burst, it was another to deal with her defiance. Rimma couldn't understand how Acrion could be so stubborn, and so dead set on not attending such a prestige academy. Over the past few cycles, she had made that fairly clear. First, she threw away the acceptance chip and told Rimma that she had not been accepted. However, thanks to her countless resources, it was only a matter of time before Rimma discovered the truth. Acrion's, then, tried to argue which proved to be useless.

Rimma had hoped that Acrion would be filled with pride to have been accepted. It would be a golden opportunity for her to make a new start, take a new path in her life, a chance to finally intermingle with femme's she may befriend, a chance to discover herself and learn what she could do for her future. But with Acrion being her usual stubborn and strange self, it was getting harder and harder to not shove her out the door and drag her to the Academy.

"Now Acrion, just because you are upset about this doe not mean you can act like a sparkling." Rimma scolded, struggling to keep her words sympathetic. Although the school is promising and famous, it was also terrifying. "I agree, it is a lot of pressure and it is nerve shaking." She paused and glanced around the nearly empty room with heavy nostalgia. Her spark still grew warmed when she remembered at the memories of Acrion's room. Back when Acrion's bedroom was a disk library filled with many of her favorite classical disk stories, family albums, and documentaries. Then, Rimma and Skreen converted it into a disk library and Acrion's bedroom. As years passed, it changed more into Acrion's library and she added her own style which Rimma found odd. No large and colorful accessories, reflectors, brightly colored additions, the many items Rimma had when she was young.

Now the adolescent femme's room has been shrunk into two different large cases, most were just miscellaneous things Rimma believed Acrion would eventually need. Acrion had either sat outside, or on her berth, refusing to comply.

"Don't bother lecturing me, mother, I'm not in the mood for listening." Acrion mumbled, scooting back until she was against the wall, and stared out the window. The second sun of Cybertron was slowly setting over the horizon, leaving the sky a beautiful variety of colors. Sunset was always her favorite time of day; the sky was at it's most majestic colors, the air had cooled down enough to actually enjoy the outdoors, and the stalks of Crystal shined rainbows in her room.

"Now Acrion, you have potential. I certainly will not see it go to waste, and neither will the rest of our family."

"Oh please, that is utter scrap."

"Language, Acrion."

"Whatever."

"Now this call's for celebration, not stubbornness and disputes." Rimma placed her servos firmly on her hips pads. "Even Alpha Trion agree's it is a prestigious school."

"Would you stop saying prestigious? By the time the first seven solar cycles have gone by, it will be pretentious, prejudice, high strung and snobbish. The only students who are deemed good enough to be accepted is because they have high social class. Things I don't have nor want!"

"Well, then this will help you fit right in; Alpha Trion put in a good word for you and has, personally, assisted us with everything you will need."

"Whoa, what? He didn't need to do that-"

"Indeed, he did not. As a matter of fact, when he showed the admission board of your transcript, they were impressed. Apparently, they did not need his good word to accept you. Although, I dare say, you will need to work on your social skills, but I reckon that will not be a problem."

Oh, are you in for a big surprise, Acrion thought with a smug grin.

But hearing that Alpha Trion, one of the oldest bot's on Cybertron, was looking out for her made the tension in her system ease. It was nice to have someone play kind of a big brother role. For a moment, she saw going to the academy differently. She saw herself excelling in her classes, actually having a friend or two, and a chance to prove she was just as good as the preppy femme's from her previous schools. A smile appeared on her lips, her spark warmed at the idea of a bright, war-less future with her family. A future where she has a chance to prove herself, and to have something to be proud of.

'Freak! Wanna-be! You don't belong anywhere! Freak!'

Those thoughts melted away until it had dried up and was gone. Her spark grew heavy and the smile turned into a spark broken frown.

"Look, mom, everyone down there thinks I'm pretty much worthless, just like those femme's at school."Acrion admitted, moving to the edge of the berth with a glum expression, her optics focused on the ground. "And I do not live to impress family who just show up, or invite us to special events only to criticize us. They've made it fairly clear we do not belong with them, we are the outcasts'. Going to that school is only going to prove it."

Rimma felt her spark grow heavy with pity, noticing the depression on her young daughter's faceplate. These last few years have been hard on Acrion, and with no friends, she held a lot in. And Rimma feared that, even though it's a promising school, nothing will change. Acrion was just too different for those other femme's.

Then an idea came to her.

"Perhaps, this may cheer you up." Rimma said, sitting on the edge of the berth and turned to face Acrion. "I am going to let you in on a family secret."

"You're not one for sharing secrets, Mom." Acrion said with heavy interest. "Well, what is it? Come on, out with it already."

"Patience, child." She began, fighting the urge to smile. It was good to see Acrion smile and show interest in something again. Ever since her father left for the war, she has been more down on herself, and has lost some self confidence. "Now, listen to me very carefully, for passing on this secret to you means you are not to speak of this to anyone. Is that understood?"

"Well, duh! Of course." Acrion caught herself at the last part of her sentence, realizing her excitement was getting to her.

"This has been passed down in my creator's family for many generations. It was passed on to me after I graduated from the academy." She began as she placed her servo over Acrion's softly. "One that has such a long history, that it must be kept under lock down in it's own hall at Iacon."

"Without going into a long spiel please." Acrion begged, still smiling excitedly.

Sighing, Rimma shut her optics and relaxed. Her chest opened, tension quickly filled her chest plate, her spark gleamed with such radiance it seemed to belong in a Accessory Exhibition Gallery. Acrion stared agape at the bright blue, nearly white spark like a white sun. A spark wasn't all that fascinating to her, some mech's have opened more just to show off their 'upgrades', and how the war didn't intimidate them.

Then she noticed a red glow next to her carrier's spark. Green light emerged on the other side. Acrion had to stare very hard to even see the red. Her optics began to burn, that was when she finally broke the stare and focused on blinking away the sensation.

"Ouch, that's what I call shining brilliantly." She commented, rubbing her sore optics, seeing some spots and her vision was blurry for a brief moment. "What was that? Two more sparks? That's crazy, mom!"

"Lower your voice print." Acrion met her carrier' optics, and gasped. Rimma's left optic was red, and the other was green, as if she was being possessed. "I was not to mention this until you were older, but as long as you understand the responsibility and will one day have, I see no harm done. Also, these two are not sparks, but it maybe just as precious, Acrion." Rimma informed, her chest closing and she shut her optics.

"What so fad about it?" Acrion tilted her head.

"There are many things about our family you know not yet about."

"But I will, right?" She asked, her optics begging.

Rimma gently grasped Acrion's chin, and held it up so their optics would meet.

"Once you have graduated, the gem's will be passed on to you." Rimma said with a serious tone. Acrion narrowed her optics slightly in a curious manner, she could hear her mother's speech was slow and quick which was out of character. "You must be able to handle the responsibility."

Acrion chuckled mockingly, pulling herself away from Rimma. "Responsibility? What can be so hard about taking care of a gem that's inside you? Who's gonna know?"

Rimma sighed heavily, praying she wasn't making a mistake. She closed her optics again, and a red spirit appeared beside her, bowing his head and crossing his arms. It stood tall, fading in and out like a bot about to die.

"Whoa. What the..." Acrion became speechless, backing into the corner of the bed. She couldn't see it's face, it had weapons on it's back and hip pads.

The spirit disappeared back into her mother's chest.

"A spirit of the Ancients." Acrion tilted her head slightly, hearing her mother's speech have more of a slur than before, as if summoning the spirit took a great deal of effort. "Eons before this war was even fathomed. There are many stories to these gems, the one I truly believe is that these gems were created to protect future generations. There are some rumors that say these were meant to protect the planet itself."

"You keep saying 'stories', are any of them, you know, factual?" Acrion asked, leaning forward on her elbow pads.

"Sit up straight, Acrion." Rimma scolded, and Acrion adjusted herself. "As much as I would like to say 'yes', not many are actual facts. There are not many records on these Ancients."

Acrion pondered on her mother's words before asking any more questions. She was already told stories about Skreen's family, and the many legend's he took pride in. This was the first time she heard anything about her carrier's side of the family. "But then, why should we be so protective about them?"

Rimma's glare hardened, she crossed her arms. "They protect us, and our planet. Is that not enough?"

"But no one has ever tried it!" She shot up and started to pace, thoughts buzzed around in her processor. "How do we even know if they work? How powerful can they be? Are we allowed to look at these records?"

"Did you not see my spirit standing before me?"