-1PM me if you want to know what happened between Chapter 20 and Chapter 21. I'll send you a copy and you'll get the answer to this question: "What happened on the mountaintop above the Ark?"

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Once he had recovered fully, Sarah decided it was time to try to duplicate what had happened to her on the battlefield. It had been a reaction before, a manifestation of the desperate terror she had felt, but if she could learn to do it at will… She grinned. If she could learn to do it at will, she could do more than help Ratchet and watch the others fight. It had really burned her that she couldn't do more. Even Rumble was able to fight. But now… She headed for the commons area and went into the secluded corner where she'd crafted those laser cannons so seemingly long ago. Standing there quietly, she closed her eyes and focused inward. All right, she thought to herself. It can't be much different from shaping metal. That had been easy once she'd mastered it, since it was merely a matter of focusing on what she had wanted it to become, what she had wanted it to do. Now she directed that focus inward, remembering what her desperation had made of her and pushing to become that again. She had known deep down what she had needed to become during her first transformation. The Autobots were strong, but none of them were capable of flying. Starscream and his kin were able to fly, but they weren't quite as strong. She wanted to be both, but who could she look to as a basis for her new form? There was only one who was the way she knew she needed to be, to her knowledge. Only one had possessed the balance of power and flight she wanted, and that was Megatron himself. No wonder she'd transformed into something very like him. Give me strength to fight, she urged the power inside her. Give me wings to fly. Make of me what I wish to be… now!

The play of brilliant pale blue light on the walls alerted Optimus to the fact that something was up in the commons area. Jogging down the hall, he rounded the corner in time to see the last scraps of blue fire die away from the dark-hued being that had obviously been Sarah mere moments ago, that coal-black almost-twin of Megatron himself… Opening her eyes and looking to him, she smiled. "I did it," she said in delight. "I can change at will."

Her newfound ability to transform would place another fighter on the battlefield when the Decepticons returned, but before that could happen she needed training. A scan by Ratchet confirmed the hypothesis Optimus had come up with. Though her eyes were blue, her new form was not an Autobot. She had taken on Megatron's design, and Megatron was a Decepticon, so that made her a Decepticon as well.

Sarah met his gaze and reality seemed to fracture around them. Time stopped. It was as if neither of them had really seen the other before this moment. Both of them could feel something between them, some kind of connection, a bond… It made sense. Had they not been tied together from the moment she first touched the Shard? She had been his lifeline, keeping him from dying under the sea, giving him the strength to escape and find her, and if they ever won the war she would regenerate the world that was the homeland of the power she now bore… She was a lifeline for a whole planet. Indeed, she was bound to all of them, but all those bonds of trust and friendship were as nothing compared with the bond she shared with Megatron. If there were words for what they had between them, she didn't know them. Friendship had deepened into something more, something she couldn't quite describe or explain, save to say that she knew he felt it too…

The decision was made with little to no discussion, as if it were a foregone conclusion for everyone involved, Sarah included. "Megatron, since she copied your design and you're the only one who really knows what you're truly capable of, the lot of us have come to the agreement that you should be the one to train her." Megatron didn't mind in the slightest, since he had the feeling he'd have ended up doing just that anyway. From what he'd heard, her first transformation and flight had been guided by the All Spark, so he would have to teach her to do both. It had always been a pleasure to fly with her, but now he would be able to fly alongside her… Starscream's actions aside, things couldn't have been better.

The first few days were filled with her practicing transforming and building up her tolerance for doing so. It wouldn't be anything but bad for her to collapse again as she had the first time she'd done it; not on the battlefield, anyway. No, it was better for her to do it here, changing back and forth at a whim. It was a little like having a very young child around as she tested her reflexes and learned what her new form could do. Optimus was put in mind of his youth as he watched her run. Megatron had been playful like that once.

Ironhide headed for the shooting range for some nice relaxing target practice like he usually did, but he was stopped in mid-step by the sound of shots, and the sound of voices. "Ha! Beat that!" A feminine voice laughed in delight. Sarah? Several shots followed, and then a second exclamation. "All too easy, Sarah. Try this!" That was Megatron. The two were talking and laughing together as if they were playing a game. Entering, he saw them standing side by side, forearm cannons smoking as they took turns at blasting the targets. "Three in a row, straight through the center! How's that for a trick shot, huh, Megatron?" Ironhide found himself staring at the former Decepticon leader, thrown for a loop by how utterly different he was acting. Sure they'd been a team for months now, but it hadn't really sunk in just how much Megatron had changed. Were it not for the fact that he still looked the same, Ironhide could have easily believed him to be someone else entirely.

He taught her to transform, to use both her cannons, to wield her own whip, and to fly. The latter was their favorite thing to do by far, and all the Autobots couldn't help but want to watch them do just that. It would have made an utterly astounding sight to anyone not in the know… A warplane seemingly sculpted of solid chrome circling overhead, with a coal-black alien aircraft following a little bit behind it. She mastered quickly everything he tried to teach her, the use of her jet form's weapons included, and soon she was as ready for her first real fight as any amount of training could make her.

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Okay, so now she can do it at will.She deserves to at least be able to fight, and shouldn't the fact that she's the living incarnation of the very life essence of all Transformers mean she should be able to transform too?