(Please see all previous disclaimers)
Back at the castle where Megatron and his mate Optimus resided, Optimus continued leading his sons around the place. Optimus was extremely happy to see them, though Megatron could feel the hurt in Optimus' spark about the three being sent away. And in feeling that, Megatron could only guess just how much it hurt those who had sparked sparklings to have their precious little ones taken away. Megatron silently sighed to himself. He truly had made a mess of things.
Unaware that his mate had felt his true feelings, Optimus continued to chat and show the young bots around. All three were so amazed – not at being related to the leader, but at being wanted by their true creators. But then came the question that Optimus had dreaded. "Mom?" Orion asked as the other two wanted to know as well but weren't about to ask.
"Yes, my son?" Optimus asked, ready to answer another question.
"Why didn't you keep us and raise us if you love us so much?" Orion asked.
Optimus sighed at that. He hadn't wanted that question to be asked, but he knew it was inevitable. "I wasn't given the option to keep you, my wonderful sons. At that time, your father and my mate Megatron was a different bot than he is now and he decided many things" Optimus started saying.
"So, dad decided he didn't want us and shipped us off?" one of the others asked.
"In a sense, the answer to that is yes, however, you weren't the only sparklings pulled from your family. Megatron did much damage to many families during that time – slaughtering bots that couldn't be reprogrammed and stealing sparklings away from loving homes simply because he wanted to" Optimus explained.
"It doesn't sound like it was a very fun time" the third triplet stated.
"We who were reprogrammed really didn't see much of a choice. But when Primus finally intervened and restored things – things changed for the better, including your father" Optimus stated.
"Wow" was the response of all three triplets.
"It truly was amazing, as once your father was changed for the better, he did many things to try and rectify for the evil he had done in the past. He's not perfect, but he tries to do his best" Optimus answered, wanting his sons to give their father a true chance, unaware that Megatron was close by and had heard everything that Optimus had told their sons.
Megatron was in awe. He couldn't understand how his mate was so forgiving and warm. Megatron realized he still had a lot to learn, but at least now, he was willing to do so.
Meanwhile, back at the library of sparklings, bots were coming from far and wide to hopefully reunite with their precious sparklings that had been taken from them or their family, as one young bot who had come to visit wasn't much older than a youngling herself. She had been sent by her parents to search for any siblings she might have. She understood, as both were too sparked to travel safely from the other side of the planet, so she had come instead. She didn't know what age group she was looking for, but at least she knew what area of the library to look.
She slowly entered the enormous edifice and headed to the area that was marked with the citadel that she came from. She soon headed over, hoping to find what her parents had sent her here for. She started with the very young sparklings. She tried to look over them and see if she felt anything, but she couldn't as she didn't have any kind of bond with any potential siblings, as she had been raised alone, for whatever reason, rejected by Megatron which made her parents grateful that they had been allowed to keep her.
She entered the area and none of the bots she saw looked like her or her creators. She searched each sparkling, but she didn't seem to find herself drawn to any of them until she saw a sickly mech towards the back of the area. She wasn't sure why she was drawn to the little guy, but it was obvious why he was sick – he had been experimented on and had survived. She was livid with that, but realized the best thing that she could do was take this little one with her in hopes of giving it a loving home. She carefully scooped the little mechling up and he curled into her. She hoped she was doing right in taking the little one and then she headed to the other two areas with younglings and sparklings from her citadel.
Only once again amongst the younglings did she find a couple of bots who might possibly be siblings. They were both mechs and none of the three realized that they were triplets from the same sparking, but seeing the two, the young femme named Swan could see why they had been taken, as the mechs were huge and strong even as younglings.
"Excuse me" Swan asked, carrying the little mechling she had picked up from the other area.
"Yes?" answered one of the youngling mechs.
"I sense somehow we might be related" Swan stated, a bit intimidated by the two mechs size.
"It is possible" the other answered. "Let's get checked out."
Swan agreed to that and they went to find Ratchet. Ratchet wasn't too surprised when the four came to him, three walking and one being carried. "How may I help you?" Ratchet asked.
"We want to know if we are related, sir" Swan asked, unaware of the shock she would be in for.
"Fair enough" Ratchet stated and scanned all four.
"Well, you younglings are all triplets from the same sparking, and you two mechs are twins from that triplet sparkling. As for the young mech, his code doesn't really match anyone's code, as he seems to be from a pieced together experiment" Ratchet revealed. "If you want to take him, you may, but he needs a thorough exam first."
Swan was absolutely stunned. She now had brothers and the sparkling itself was the product of a dangerous experiment. The mechs, named Bulldozer and Excavator, were stunned as well. "Well, we want to go home with our sister and meet our true creators" Bulldozer stated.
"And we want the little mechling, as he seems quite attached to all three of us" Excavator stated, much to Swan's delight. Ratchet nodded and then checked over the mechling, fixing a few things before sending all four on their way and documenting that the three had been claimed by their family. Ratchet was happy to see the four leave.