I'm so so sorry this is late! I've been struggling for inspiration with this particular chapter and have only just managed to finish it off. I hope you all enjoy it. As always, thanks to everyone who has reviewed, followed and faved.

Ch.13

For Sideswipe and Sunstreaker it was over in a flash. Literally. One moment they are watching their distraught little brother prepare to take on Megatron of all Decepticons by himself. The next there was a blinding flash of light and a deep planet-shaking voice rumbled through the air.

-Arise Nightfire Prime. Arise and lead the AlleyBot's out of this war.-

When the light faded they saw that Nightfire had fallen to one knee, head bowed. Whatever that light was it had changed him. The once broad-shouldered, a bit on the tall side AlleyBot was now a giant, his armour much stronger and more aerodynamic. His once black and dark blue paintjob with silver highlights had changed as well. The young AlleyBot was now a deep ocean blue and silver with black highlights along the edges of his armour. Even his weapons had changed: the once small cannons that had graced his forearms were larger and more streamlined while his swords had lengthened and had Cybertronian symbols engraved along their edges. In addition to these changes Nightfire appeared to have acquired two small machine guns, one mounted on each shoulder. But what had changed the most was Nightfire's helm and face. His headspikes had become more angular and now had two points at each end; his once blue helm fins had become slightly larger and had turned black, standing out starkly against his now silver helm. His face mask had fallen off when he'd changed and so the young AlleyBot's scarred face was now visible. His jaw was slightly stronger and more angular whilst his facial stripe had thickened slightly and become more obvious. But most noticeably … his optics, whilst still blind, had turned a cold white.

Nightfire stood, taking a few seconds to adjust to his new height, and reached down to pick up his face mask, jamming it back on his face. It was a bit of a tight fit and the young AlleyBot knew he was going to have to hunt down Jackhammer to get the damn thing altered. Face mask now fixed in place, he glared at the stunned Megatron, deploying both of his swords.

"Megatron … yer gonna pay fer wat yew 'ave done 'ere."

Even his voice had changed. Nightfire's rough, thick Kaon drawl had been beginning to fade as he learnt to ditch the gutter speak and had been surrounded by various other accents from all over Cybertron. Now it had returned full force. His voice while still young had also deepened slightly, he sounded tired … like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

The blue energy continued to flicker around Nightfire's hands as he skated towards Megatron, slowly at first but as he got closer his pace picked up. The unexpected movement shocked the Decepticon warlord into action and he opened fire on the newly ascended Prime, only for the young mech to dodge the blasts with agonising ease. Before Megatron had time to react Nightfire was on him with a roar, bringing his fist across the Decepticon leaders face in a vicious right hook, his sword slashing into the Decepticons helm armour. Snarling, Megatron retaliated angrily and the two former gladiators began to trade blows, snarling and lashing out at each other like a pair of cyber-wolves. Energon flew through the air as they attacked and parried, coating their bodies with painful looking injuries.

"Is … is that rust?!"

Starscream's fearful comment drew the attention of even the brawling duo. They all looked to where Starscream was pointing, a panicked look in his crimson optics. There, where Nightfire's glowing fist had struck Megatron in the face, was a large patch of rust. As they continued to stare, more rust patches appeared wherever Nightfire had successfully managed to land a blow on Megatron. The injuries, once fresh, looked like they had just spent a week without medical treatment. It was almost as if time had been accelerated around the wounds. As the Decepticon backed away Nightfire stared down at his glowing hands. Energy flared and flicked along his palms and around his fingers, doing him no harm whatsoever.

"Whoa … dat's some jumped up slag righ' dere."

Nightfire looked back up at Megatron, an insane grin splitting his face. With a yell he charged the Decepticon, punching him every chance he got. It looked like the tide was turning for the Decepticons as their leader was viciously battered. Until Megatron, struggling under the onslaught, grabbed the nearest Cybertronian and shoved him at the crazy young Prime just as Nightfire launched a powerful uppercut. He tried to stop, he really did, but everything happened too fast. On second the terrified 'copter Con was watching the glowing fist powering towards him, a shocked look on the AlleyBot's face; the next, his head was almost completely removed from his shoulders and rust had started to form on the destroyed struts and gears. The Con landed with a crunch on the ground, his red optics flickering weakly. He tried to look for his older brother with failing optics.

"Bla … Blackout? It's … it's so … it's so dark? Where are you? Blackout …"

The dying Con's optics flared once more before the light in them extinguished.

"Cyclonus!"

Nightfire stared in horror at the Decepticon he had just accidentally killed. He looked over to the Con who had just cried out, another helicopter.

"Ah … ah didn' … it was a acciden' … ah'm …"

The Decepticon glared murderously at Nightfire, who just stood there frozen, coolant leaking from the corners of his optics. He flexed his claws.

"I'm gonna kill …"

"That's enough Blackout! We're pulling back. Besides, we've got what we came for."

The Decepticon stared at Megatron whilst Sideswipe and Sunstreaker began cheering. Megatron simply pointed to where several troop carriers full of Autobots were landing, the fresh troops running into the fray with Optimus Prime at their head. Without even waiting for further orders Blackout took off and transformed, fleeing the battlefield with the Command Trine not far behind him. Megatron glowered at Nightfire and his brothers.

"This isn't over little Prime. You will one day cower before the might of Megatron."

With that the Decepticon warlord transformed and left the battlefield. Nightfire, although still in shock, staggered slightly as he came down off his combat high. He collapsed before his brothers and sons could reach him. Only Sunstreaker was able to catch Nightfire's last quietly spoken words before he passed out.

"Ah didn' wan' dis ta 'appen…"

_PAGE BREAKER_

(Several orns later)

He'd changed, that much Sunstreaker was certain of as the golden mech stalked towards the monitor room to relieve his younger brother. Ever since that terrible, fateful day in Iacon, his little brother had significantly changed. Gone was the snippy, fight happy young mech that they had all known and loved to tease. In his place was an angry, dangerous individual who was obsessed with taking down every last Decepticon. He also obsessed over finding who had betrayed the Iacon base, leading to Glacialnova's death, and dealing with them. It had gotten to the point that Nightfire was feared by both sides, Decepticons got out of his way on the battlefield, save for a certain homicidal helicopter, and Autobots only approached him if they absolutely had to. Although it was questionable sometimes all the mechs in Special Operations had to do to get captured Decepticons to talk was to threaten them with Nightfire, they usually cracked after that.

Nightfire was also spending a lot more time in the Brig as he got into more fights. In the Rec Room, in the hallways, even in the command centre itself. Sunstreaker had once been the sibling that the Autobots avoided, but he preferred things that way. To see his younger brother now the one everyone feared and hated, it angered Sunstreaker right to the very core of his spark.

And don't even get him started about this whole Prime thing, Sunstreaker had been the one to spend a week trying to get his brother to calm down and realise that what had happened that day with the two helicopter siblings had been a tragic accident, that Megatron was the one in the wrong, not Nightfire. After a plethora of tests and several of the Autobot scientists perusing the Archives and talking to every AlleyBot they came across, it was discovered that Nightfire's terrifying new ability was a Prime legacy. Perceptor had managed to find a single data-pad on the subject. It explained that when the Matrix of Balance was bestowed upon an AlleyBot it activated a legacy, one that only a Prime would be strong enough to handle, at the cost of the legacy they had been sparked with. Nightfire was still fast, faster than most bots, but he would never be able to keep up with speedsters again. His new legacy appeared to be similar to an ability that Vector Prime had once had when he was Prime several vorns ago. These legacies were incredibly dangerous and according to the data-pad, no Prime had ever fully mastered their second legacy, most were either offlined before they could fully master it or were killed by the very ability they were trying to utilise. It just had to be Nightfire's luck that he got the legacy that had killed most of the very Primes who had attempted to master it. This new problem only worsened Nightfire's attitude and he withdrew even further into himself, refusing to have anything to do with his new legacy and spiralling downwards into anger and depression.

This dark mask only ever dropped behind the closed door of the room the three brothers shared and even then, Sunstreaker could see how haunted and exhausted his brother was, the pain hidden behind the young mech's visor and in those blind white optics. Only the triplets and Ironwill could get him to smile now; even Sideswipe's pranks only brought a faint, almost invisible smirk to Nightfire's face. And what worried both Sunstreaker and his twin the most was that the sparklings were starting to show signs that seeing their carrier, or in Ironwill's case adopted carrier, offline was starting to affect them. Especially Nexus, whose nightmares shocked everyone out of recharge that first night when the sparkling had woken up screaming and crying. Now the young mechling wouldn't recharge without his sire or one of the twins sitting with him until he fell into recharge, and even then he still had nightmares that woke everyone but Niner up.

Sunstreaker rubbed his forehead tiredly as he turned the corner onto the monitor room corridor before freezing. He blinked once, twice, and then again to ensure his optics were not glitching. Why were what appeared to be half the base all trying to press their audios to the monitor room door?

"Wat da frag y'all doin' outside da monitor room?!"

Bluestreak looked up and quickly shushed the golden frontliner, gesturing at the door. Confused and curious, Sunstreaker shoved several Autobot's aside to press his own audio to the door.

"… Good ta conquer evil, lies ta figh' da truth. Are any of us only sain's or sinna's or issit always Bot versus Con …"

Sunstreaker's ice cold spark lifted at the rough voice echoing out of the monitor room. Nightfire hadn't sung since that day, maybe this was a sign. A sign that he was finally healing.

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