Ruby's see-through image stood before them, flickering slightly as the holo-imager adjusted. With a quick cycle of air through her cooling system she squared her shoulders and saluted. "Head of Maximal Security for Earthen Ambassador, Commander Ruby reporting." With her introduction completed she dropped the salute and relaxed her stance, holding her arms behind herself as she focused forward.

"Incident began approximately 21:35 Central Earth Standard Time. I was currently on duty for a gathering that my charge had organized in celebration of one of her Earthen holidays when a hot surge of pain shot through my form. When I became aware of my surroundings I was on a repair table that retired Maximal engineer Rhinox had placed me on to make repairs and upgrades to my form so that I might survive. Cybertron had been struck by a temporal wave that had affected everything due to a change that occurred in the past. It was a device that Rhinox had created to place its wearer slightly out of phase with time, making them less susceptible to any past changes to the time flow. It is unknown how Megatron had escaped from prison, but he had managed to go back through time once more and alter the outcome of the Beast Wars. Cybertron had turned dark with only mindless drones as its occupants.

"Rhinox and myself made our way to the space port and commandeered a Predacon ship with Transwarp capabilities. Rhinox had programmed the computer with the proper time and coordinates, also including a Maximal distress signal into the Transwarp signature before he sent me on my way."

Ruby looked down, almost tearful as she said quietly. "The last time I saw him was as he was drawing the drone's attention away from my ship before it took off." It took her a few moments before she was able to continue.

"My ship became damaged during my escape, but it still functioned enough to get me to my destination. I crashed on the planet roughly six deca-cycles after the initial arrival of the Cybertronian ships Axalon and Darkside. I joined with the Maximal crew at that time.

"Rhinox had chosen me for the mission due to two important facts: First was that I had grown up listening to stories from the survivors of the Axalon crew that had returned after the Beast Wars. I had knowledge that was as close to first had as one could have been allotted past all the reports that had been given after their return. Secondly, I was not a part of the original crew that has served under Optimus Primal, so the fear of a temporal paradox was lessened. I was warned to not change history and to not reveal myself or my intentions. I had integrated myself into the crew, making sure that I did my best to not alter the timeline in any way despite being given several opportunities to do so.

"I had made contact with my foe during the time of the probe's search of the sector. Words were exchanged, but there was no open conflict at that time. I had made contact a second time when the Megatron of the original time frame had cloned Dinobot and had sent him to the Maximal base. I had found my foe lying in wait for the original Dinobot in hopes of killing the former Predacon. I had distracted Megatron from his goal, which allowed Dinobot to enter the Axalon and fight the clone that waited inside. Again there was no open conflict, only words were exchanged.

"The third time I encountered the enemy was when the Maximals received Airazor. He had been lying in wait to seize the stasis pod for himself so that he could turn Airazor into a double agent so that the Maximals would not only lose the Beast Wars, but Tigerhawk would not have able to have been formed. There was a conflict between Megatron and myself which left me badly damaged. My temporal device had sustained damage as well and had to have been replaced.

"My repairs had been completed in time for the original scuffle over the flying island that had been planted on the planet by the Vok. I had been prepared for a possible attack, but it never came. Afterwards was the incident of Megatron taking the Maximal's rectifier coil for the Axalon, leaving the crew trapped in their beast modes. Due to the original lessons learned at this time I had already had the programming block removed from my own codes, leaving me unaffected to the excessive time spent in my beast mode. I had an encounter with my foe during this time; I was able to successfully win that battle. He had made an attempt to take out the Maximal base while everyone was busy with the hunt.

"After we had all returned to the base my being unaffected came into question. I claimed that I had had my program block removed already due to the fact that I was the Head of Security for the Earth ambassador and that one of the ladies that I had served had requested that scan her to be a body double. The answer appeased most of the group at that time. Dinobot's suspicious and protective nature prevented him from accepting my answer.

"When Sentinel detected the odd energy signature of the future Megatron, Optimus Primal had sent Dinobot and myself to check it out. I knew that Dinobot was one of the main targets of my foe and that it was a dangerous situation for him to be in. Megatron was enraged due to his last loss and had begun to attack Dinobot and myself as we entered the cavern, causing the opening of the cavern to cave in. I managed to get Dinobot to safety further into the cave after we had worked together to bury Megatron under more rocks from the cavern ceiling.

"It was in this cave in that Dinobot had … " Ruby paused with a slight frown to think about her words, "forcefully confronted me over things he had found questionable since my arrival, especially since Sentinel had logged both myself and the odd signature in the same area the night before while the others were being hunted by the Predacons. Against the warning my grand-sparker had given, I decided that I had no choice but to trust Dinobot with my mission due to the fact that he could easily end it without knowing the harm that it would cause. I knew deep down that I could trust Dinobot due to what I had been told by the survivors.

"After the encounter with Starscream taking over Waspinator's body, I had become painfully aware that I had not been told everything. Rhinox had become infected with a deadly Energon discharge virus, which put his life at risk. As far as I can tell, the incident repaired itself as it originally came to … pass."

Ruby took a few moments to stifle her laughter, clearing her throat a time or two before she was able to continue. Apparently she recalled the end humorously, despite the worry she had originally felt during that time.

"I managed to not interfere too much when it came to the upcoming conflict with the Vok's attempt to destroy the planet. My foe had made an attempt at an attack during the cease fire, but I replanted him under a pile of rocks to prevent any damage. Optimus Primal still sacrificed himself to save the planet. After which the Quantam Surge struck the planet, stabilizing most of the Energon located on the planet and altering several members of both sides, myself being one of them. Rhinox had searched for Optimus' spark in the Matrix while the others were either searching out stasis pods or dealing with the Predacon threat to the ship. I had followed Dinobot since that morning and had taken the Golden Disk he had hidden on the mountain top, thinking that my foe would seek it out for his younger self.

"My foe once again sought to destroy the Axalon and prevent Optimus Primal's return while the Maximals were busy. I had guessed that he would make a move and had quickly prepared myself. The conflict ended when both Maximal and Predacon descended on the ship, bringing the attack to our doorstep. Optimus Primal's spark was returned to a blank stasis pod that the crew had found earlier in the day and things continued as they had originally.

"The incident between Dinobot and Megatron about the Golden Disk that they had taken from Cybertron came to a head quickly. While I had the "Sound of Earth" in my possession I had taken all the encrypted data into my personal system, which included the access codes to the Ark. Upon returning to the mountain top I had discovered the area destroyed and scorched. My hypothesis had been correct. Unfortunately it left the area damaged and I was not able to hide the disk in it's original place. Dinobot's loyalty was called into question and I had made a choice that I would stand beside him if only to try to protect him, even it if meant joining with the Predacons. I know that choice had done damage to the trust that I had gained from my team, but I was willing to do what I had to.

"The next encounter with the Vok was bitter sweet. I had attempted to warn Tigatron and Airazor of the trap that they had walked into. Unfortunately, my foe had decided to try to revise history for that day as well. I was unable to prevent my friends from being taken, but I had prevented their destruction at the hands of my foe. It was a vicious fight with my foe that had left me broken and near death. I was told later that Optimus and the others had returned me to the base just in time."

Ruby looked down, chewing over the next bit in her head before she continued. They needed to know everything. Looking back up at the recorder, she pressed on.

"Rampage's stasis pod had been discovered shortly after the Vok incident. During the Energon storm that erupted during a fight over the pod I had become separated from my group and crashed with the pod and it's occupant. As I was fleeing I had thought that since history was not likely to change, even feeling remorse at the idea of losing another friend, I had decided that I would trust Rampage in aiding me in the future, since his anger with Megatron was only going to grow. This would give me a powerful, near immortal, ally when I would have to face down my foe. This decision has aided me on several occasions, but I think my luck won't hold out for much longer.

"With the upcoming battle for the Ark pressing closer, I had decided that I needed to try to take our my foe in a more decided manner. Accessing the records for cybervenom I had created a powerful blend that I had then placed into projectiles to inject into his system. I was pressed into using my new weapon at the valley where Dinobot had given his last. Again, I encountered my foe, a battle that was taxing and emotional. Our interference was not how I had wished to aid Dinobot in hopes that he would survive the night, but Dinobot had utilized the fire blast from my foe to destroy the disk. He did; however, use the last of his energy to save my life."

Again Ruby went quiet, struggling with controlling her emotions over the matter. "I had fallen in love with him, even though I knew he was going to die. I had hoped to save him, that it would help prevent that twisted creation in the future, but I had failed. It was after the funeral that his spark had returned and resided within my form. I wasn't sure if it was a dream or not at the time, but it became more evident later on that he had returned to help me.

"As Dinobot's spark recovered, I still mourned his loss. I had let my anger control me more than I should have, even going so far as to sneak onto Ravage's ship to take our Megatron in the past. I had been captured, discovering that Megatron had used a message that he had found on the Golden Disk that had been left there by the original Megatron from the Great War to turn the Decepticon against us. Ravage had no intention of returning any of us back to Cybertron, so in the end it only aided the Maximals for the event to come to light when it had.

"Before they had gone to fight with the Maximals, the pair had dropped me off as a gift for my foe. There was a fight, and he had even been nice enough to carry me back to the Axalon so that I could witness his victory. Rampage had come to my aid, and thanks to a secondary code in my programming, I was able to bypass the stasis lock override programming block that Rhinox had upgraded us with. It allowed Dinobot to utilize my form and give me an upper hand in the battle. The Axalon was safe, until Megatron ordered it pulled into the lake, as it originally happened.

"With the damage I had sustained from that fight, I was forced into recovery for a while. It was during my repairs that they had found Dinobot's spark. It was believed by the crew that it was our sparkling," she said with a sad smile. "It was a good enough cover to buy us some time until we could get him a blank stasis pod to utilize. Depth Charge came in shortly there afterwards, only adding to more stress between myself and Rampage. Megatron had gained access to Sentinel and Cheetor got his Transmetal-2 upgrade when Megatron created the Transmetal-2 Dinobot."

"My foe had become desperate, having resorted to kidnapping Rhinox in order to prevent my threat to his victory. With the help of Rattrap, who had found the memory files that Dinobot had backed up in the computer system, we went in search of aid to rescue Rhinox. I had enlisted the help of Depth Charge and Rampage, somehow getting them to work together, and saved my grand-sparker from the foe he had sent me to fight. Rhinox had been badly injured and survived long enough to reach the CR-chamber. He had made a full recovery after the fact.

"It was during this scuffle with my foe that Dinobot's spark had temporarily taken over the Transmetal-2 version of himself. Together we were able to defeat the future Megatron, but Dinobot's spark wasn't strong enough to take complete control. Also, during that night, I had found a stasis pod with a blank protoform. The locater beacon had been damaged, making it nearly impossible to find with the scanners. Moving that stasis pod to a hidden location near the Predacon base, I had intended to utilize it to hopefully either give Tigatron or Airazor their own form when the pair returned later on. I had also set off on a mission to track down the rest of the pods, to either find comrades to aid us in the battle or find more blanks to utilize. I know I was beginning to go against the request of my grand-sparker about not changing history, but unfortunately that had unintentionally happened when Dinobot's spark had resided in my form instead of going into Dinobot-2's when he was created. Depth Charge had even helped me locate a couple of pods, even continued a search for the last pod. We had yet to locate it as of this log.

"Megatron and his forces invaded the Maximal base, and even though I had changed the codes to access the Ark, he was still able to get in and steal the spark of the original Megatron, and thus become upgraded with the power from the spark."

Ruby sighed softly, frowning softly before she continued. "I'm setting off to try to guide one of the sparks of my friends to the blank stasis pod near the Predacon base with the return of Tigerhawk. I am taking the Spark Extractor that Rhinox and myself had worked on and maybe a few other provisions if the crew can spare them in the off chance that I can take back the stolen spark and maybe take out Megatron. I wanted to make sure that my official report was made before I left. I am hoping to be returning to the base with my friends, but things will only get crazy from this point forward."

Then she smiled warmly. "On a personal note: I know that I have been one huge confusion for you all, but I wanted you all to know that I loved you and I was proud to serve with you during this time. I always loved hearing you all speak of this time, the time where you developed your familial bond with one another, but living it with you has been something I could have only dreamt about growing up. I want to thank you for sharing this time of your life with me, both before I was sent back and while I was here. End report."

Rhinox leaned heavily on his knees as he sat in the briefing room for Ruby's team, his old friends gathered around as the holographic image of Ruby slowly flickered off. It was of her final report on the incident that she had recorded before the Vok returned Tigatron and Airazor, which she had left on the data disk that she had used to tell them about the Autobot shuttle. They had all watched it a hundred times over when they first discovered it, and yet viewed it for the very first time today.

Back then Rhinox and Optimus had openly discussed the matter with their crew as they waited for their trip back home to complete, since the ship was automated during the transwarp section of the flight. Now they had listened to Rhinox as he gave them the rest of the story. The confusion of the double set of memories the others had gained had helped the engineer, since the time storm had not only fixed things back to how they were before, but had taken away the temporal deices off of both himself and Waspinator when it returned the former Predacon back to his old self. The broken mass that remained of Ruby's device lay on the table in front of the old bot. None of them dared to touch it until Rhinox had given them permission to do so.

"Geeze, I feel bad fer not sharin' more with de kiddo," Rattrap muttered.

"I think she did very well, overall, given what we had told her," Cheetor said with a proud smile.

"I shouldn't have sent her," Rhinox sighed gravely. "I should have gone alone or at least gone with her."

Airazor gently rubbed his shoulder, making him look up from his hands. "You were needed here. We needed you here."

"Wazzpinator ztill be in bad dream if not for Rhino-bot."

Optimus gently leaned closer, the room actually large enough to house him without trouble. "You made the right choice, Rhinox. You understood what would have happened if you had caught yourself in the past."

"I should have never asked her to do it in the first place!" Rhinox closed his optics, doing his best to calm down.

"She was the best equipped for the mission, old friend, even if that wasn't her intention when she'd listen to our stories," Primal reassured.

"He's right," Black Arachnia replied with a smirk. "You both made the right call in sending her back."

With another sigh, Rhinox nodded slowly as he let his head sink back down. Logically they were right, but emotionally he was still screaming at himself. Glancing back up, he quietly looked over the gathering as they quietly spoke amongst themselves. It was thanks to Ruby that Tigatron, Airazor, and Dinobot all survived. It was a loss that he had mourned for so long that the joy was overwhelming. Also, Waspinator actually fit into their quirky little group very well, making him wonder what would have happened if Waspinator had joined up with them sooner.

Better not ask that or she would try to make that happen, he thought with a smirk.

The door sliding open drew everyone's attention in the room instantly, the twins stepping in before they closed. The pair looked tired, not having recharged since the night before things went crazy. Bada Bang looked up at Optimus. "We came to update you before we spoke to the Ambassador."

Birdsong filled the air, along with the scent of exotic flowers. It was a wonderful mixture that greeted her that she could almost feel the sun warming her frame. But something was still off. If she listened close enough the birdsong sounded metallic with a faint grind, like it was a recording. The smell of the flowers were off, too, with a faint chemical undertone drifting with the scent. As she became more aware of herself she began to feel twinges of pain all over. Her spark also ached terribly. The sound of murmuring voices, as if the owners didn't wish to disturb her, started to bring her further out of recharge. With a groan, Ruby blinked her optics online.

The worried looks of her family greeted her, but she could also see the sheer joy that was melting their worry away. Rhinox was at her side, gently scooping up her hand in his own. "That a girl. Slowly."

"Grand-sparker?" she asked, still feeling groggy.

"Yes, Little One, I'm right here. How do you feel?"

"Sore, very sore," she answered, her free hand reaching up to brush where the temporal device had resided. When she didn't feel it she glanced down at herself. Had it all been a dream? No, unless she was dreaming now; her body wasn't the same.

With her face etched with confusion, she looked back up at the others. They all were smiling at her, but the absolute look of joy they had only made her confusion worse. That was until her optics settled on one particular pair, the male holding one arm lovingly around the back of the femme at his side.

"Tigatron? Airazor?"

Airazor smiled, hugging Tigatron closer while he chuckled as he said, "Hello, Ruby."

Waspinator was near them, waving sheepishly at her she focused on him.

Alarmed she surged to sit up, looking the group over again. Back behind them all, she spotted him standing beside Optimal Optimus. "Dinobot."

The others stepped aside to let him walk over to the other side of the bed, where he had to kneel down to keep her from straining to look at him. "Yes, Ruby. You saved us. You saved us all."

" 'n Chopper-face here helped," Rattrap said with a smirk. "Danks ta him fer holdin' onta yer spark while dey fixed ya up."

"I was simply … returning the favor," Dinobot replied sheepishly with a slight snarl.

Ruby reached up and gently cupped Dinbot's cheek with her hand, smiling lovingly at him. "Thank you."

"It is us that owe you our gratitude, my lady," Silverbolt said with a bow, playfully lifting up his wings.

Black Arachnia was smirking at her spark-mate's playful, yet humble bow. "Bowser boy is right. You did a great job."

Ruby looked over at Rhinox again, still not having let go of his hand. "It was all real?"

The engineer nodded gently. "We all have the altered memories to prove it."

"Unfortunately," Optimus gently interjected, "due to the damage you had sustained, especially with what had happened to your spark from the incident, you can no longer hold your post as Head of Security."

It was a sad smile that she gave him, but he could see that she understood. "That's alright. I have my own story to create now. Bang will be a good replacement."

With a deep sigh she settled against Dinobot, enjoying his warmth as she closed her optics. Opening them back up, she playfully smiled up at her grand-sparker. "You have got to tell me what happened after I left."

Rhinox chuckled, having missed seeing that look in her eye when she use to ask for a story. "Alright, Little One, alright."

The rest of the group settled in, each one listening as Rhinox shared his own adventure.

Several mega-solar cycles had passed since her retirement. She and Dinobot had settled in, raising several sparklings of their own. Now it was Ruby's turn to play the doting grand-sparker. The children were out playing as she prepared Energon for them, all the while smiling as she enjoyed the sound of their laughter. When they all came running in, her spark warmed. What a legacy to have.

Two of them tugged on her arms, trying to pull her with them to her chair. "Grandma, tell us a story."

"Yeah," a little femme with large eyes that sparkled with mischief pleaded with her brothers. "Tell us about how you met Grandpapa. Please!"

"Yeah! Please?"

Chuckling, Ruby let them pull her to her chair, and scooped them onto her lap. "Alright, my Little Ones, alright. Just remember, the end of one story can be the beginning of a new one."

The End.

Author's Note: I don't own the show. Thanks for reading.

15 years! This story has been in my head for 15 years. Not exactly how this had come out, but the original premises and plot.

The title of this chapter is the title of a song by Thousand Foot Crutch. I had found that the song had fit very well with the story. I even had Ruby lamenting in my head how it'd make a great video, if she had been animated.

Again, thank you all for reading this set of stories. Thank you for all of the favorites, follows, and reviews. It's part of what kept me going this time. You all really mean a lot to me.

2k19 Edit: Decided that this really a huge editing to fix plot holes, spelling/grammer errors, and errant commas. A little something for the little Maximal who's still bouncing off the walls of my mind.

Thank you all for all of the love!