Yes I'm still alive.

It just suddenly got really hard to write… sorry it's only a shortie after so long. I've been working a lot and haven't really had the drive to write.

I have an idea though that will help inspire me!

Hey all you fellow artists out there! I would like to hold an art contest, in which you draw your favorite scene from my fic or whatever you like from it… or even a poster that would be cool. One where the title goes.

I don't really have a deadline (cause I know most of us don't like deadlines)… but before New Years please?

Reward you ask? Besides my eternal gratitude?

I'll write a two shot for First Place (length of the chapters depends), and for Second Place I'll do a one shot. I'll post all of the entries in my deviantart account files(with appropriate credits and links of course) and of course link them through my profile here on fanfiction. And lather them with attention and love cause you all are AWESOME! (thumbs up)

Please let me know if you're interested! Send me a PM for more details!

Thank you so much for being so patient and sticking by me! On with the show!

Chapter 25:

Ring…

Ring…

Click!

"Hello?"

"…"

"Hello?"

"Mrs. Taylor."

The Islander pulled her hands out of the dish soap so that she could hold the phone better. The caller ID was some strange long number, which made her grimace, "Sino to? Kung telemarketer hindi ako interesado." She would get on the city's case about being on the National No Call list. Wasn't it supposed to count for foreign countries as well?

"Hindi ho ako salesman… kai bigan ako ni Diana."

Mrs. Taylor simply stared at the floor for a long moment. Then she ushered her son out of the kitchen to his room, however he stalled at the stairs. He understood Tagalog as well as English, and from the tension in his mother's voice he wanted to know if it was news about his sister. His father came in from watching the news. The TV had been on nonstop since the incident down in California had happened with the aliens.

"Sino ka? Nasaan ang anak ko?" she demanded.

"Masama ang pakiramdam nang anak ko." Not well was the understatement of the human century.

"Gusto ko siyang makausap!"

"Honey, who's that?" Mr. Taylor asked but was silenced by a finger.

"Kung pupwede lang... pero hindi sa ngayon… wala siyang malay." There was the sound of something metallic shifting on the other side of the line, there's no hope of her speaking sense any time soon, he thought "Please, Mrs Taylor, gusto kolang na malaman mo kung anong nang yayari."

"Gusto naming bumalik si Diana!"she snarled. It had been more than six months since she'd spoken to her eldest, she wanted to hear her voice now! She wanted her little girl back.

"Naiintindihan ko…" Trust me… I do understand…, "Please, sit down, this is going to be a long call." He added out loud.

O

It had been the most painful thing for Stalker to do, explain a situation where he couldn't give all of the details that really filled the heart's longing for answers. He sat back and watched Diana float at Ratchet's shoulder, watching what the medic was doing with the curiosity of a five year old. As with her family, many questions were running through Stalker's CPU as well. The black femme's comments about him… for some reason they made his fuel lines boil with anger but he couldn't pin down why. Too many of his memories were fragmented or corrupted. Perhaps he'd just have to ask them directly. Yes that's it, he'd get in contact with them.

It's time don't you think?

Shut up Shadow…

Look who's talkin'.

"From the way you're still registering sound I take it they didn't chew your audios out." Ratchet said. Diana suddenly disappeared in a pop of sound and light.

She did that a lot now, constantly going here or there, where ever that was no one knew. The Avatars weren't subtle in their presence, being of an older generation, they didn't think the humans on an equal level but didn't seek them out to destroy like toys either. Regardless their presence had added gas to the flames between the factions. Starscream had already tried to approach them and had nearly been incinerated. The group constantly split up into different teams, gathering things, disappearing off of the radar and then reappearing in a different location with different companions.

Another loud 'pop!' from the displacement of air and Diana was present again, this time leaning on Stalker's shoulder, a mischievous grin on her face.

"Why's she acting like this?" Stalker asked, taking her hands in his, she practically purred at the attention.

"She's autistic." Ratchet explained.

"… I thought that was-."

"Only in the human's young children right? Well, autistic is the best way I can explain it for now. You say that whenever you try to touch her through your bond that you just hit a solid wall of chaotic images and sounds correct?"

A nod.

"Her mind is on overdrive, it… at least partially from what I can tell, shut down its higher functions. With her new and enhanced senses it's over loading her perception." Ratchet's joints creaked as he knelt down to their level. Diana was now playing with Zan who'd jumped onto her shoulder.

"Chaos rules as chaos does… chaos brings in blood by floods." Diana smiled. She'd come to do that now, if she wasn't babbling incoherently she was rhyming. Stalker guessed it was her one bit of control she could hang on to.

"What about physically?" Stalker asked, chuckling when Zan swung back and forth via his tail claw from Diana's arm.

"The device Wheeljack and I have made has only stifled the bleeding of her… spark blood as we'll call it. Replace it back into her body."

"But she lost a lot of it…"

Ratchet nodded, "I'm getting to that." He cleared his vocal processors, "Because she lost so much essence, her life span indeed has been shortened."

Stalker's audios drooped.

"But!"

Zan looked up, as well as Stalker.

"Since she's been fused with our race so to speak, her life could've also been extended."

"…"

"In theory anyway, I've come across many things in the wars but never something like this." He leaned back when Diana appeared, sitting on his left knee joint. She was trying to get her hair to stay down… but for some reason it just kept drifting with her every movement, much like it would under water.

"Wow… you are one complication after another." Stalker snorted at the girl. She looked back at him and stuck her tongue out. Then she tilted her head as if she heard something off in the distance, and disappeared completely from the room again.

Stalker let out a frustrated sigh, "I wish she would stop doing that…"

"yeah…" Zan sighed. Then he perked up when he noticed a light fixture flickering and scaled the walls to fix it.

"Is there anything you can do to help clear her mind?" Stalker asked.

"It'll take time to figure that out Stalker, in the end it'll probably be you that will be a major help to her. Then again she might never be the same Diana we knew ever again." This was the part of Ratchet's job that he hated the most, telling someone that there was a chance of no hope.

"Please come in and have some tea… please come in and play with me! Hahahaa!" the voice echoed in his mind. This was a constant occurrence as well.

Stalker dropped to his quadruped mode, the one Diana liked because she said it reminded her of a fox (but with no tail to speak of) and took off, trying to pin point his partner's erratic signal.

O

Jazz exited the main control room. Optimus had been 'talking' with the President directly about having been attacked and the human leader was denying any release of any of their F-22s to the landing site. Either way, their cover was blown as far as ET was concerned. The silver mech rubbed his aching joints and bounced on the edges of his stabilizing servos. Ever since he'd been engulfed in all those Avatars auras he'd been feeling glitchy. Anomalies were coming up in his systems that he couldn't track and made him feel like something was squirming through his energy lines.

"Jazz?"

The small mech looked up to see Prowl, his dear friend since childhood.

"I'm alright… must be just side effects from being brought back from the dead." He chuckled.

Prowl wasn't convinced, "You should check into the medical bay if you're having any problems."

"I know bud, I ain't incoherent. It's just right now they're dealing with a problem greater than me." He patted his friend on the shoulder guard, "I'll be fine." He tried to assure the other. His smile vanished when Prowl stiffened up, "I can make it an order Jazz, now get going." He warned.

Jazz rolled his optics but nodded. If anything to at least keep Prowl off his back for a little while longer. He turned to continue his walk down the hall but had to halt abruptly when a silvery streak zipped on pass at his face level, followed by a black and green one on the ground.

Diana suddenly appeared next to him and gave him a small kiss on the cheek plate, "Lovin' life?" before he could answer she was gone.

It was one thing to chase this girl while she was floating around, it made it quite another when she used her teleportation that she'd become so fond of recently.

"Diana!" Stalker yelled.

She appeared obediently, startled by his loud voice.

"Sit!" he pointed at the floor, "Stay… good girl." Stalker straightened up, trying not to laugh at the pouty face she was giving him. Slowly he placed both hands on either side of her face, cautiously reaching out with his mind toward her. Again he hit that wall of chaos, however this time he didn't pull back. He tried to make sense of the information. Most of it was just the blather of the internet, wireless signals and the chit chat of Cybertronians. It seemed that Diana couldn't really organize it, or at least she hadn't learned to yet… or couldn't. Primus there were so many things that were uncertain right now.

Stalker continued to try and sift through the mass of information… eventually he came to realize that most of the noise wasn't even from wireless talking… he couldn't understand it… but he believed it was the thoughts of her fellow humans. She was listening to their thoughts. Stalker attempted to focus all his CPU power on them, but every time he heard their words or feel what they were feeling it went through one audio receptor per say and out the other. He just wasn't synchronized with organic thought patterns.

"Want to know a secret oh shadow that creeps?"

Stalker pulled out of Diana's mind, the sound of silence almost defining, "What?" he asked.

She held up both of her index fingers, "Megatron and Optimus, two sides of the same coin. Yet never will they join."

Stalker frowned at this comment.

Diana curled her fingers around each other, "As long as they exist together the war goes on, both Autobots and Decepticons." The small mech wanted to say 'your point?' but he'd learned very quickly that he had to have a tremendous amount of patience with this new Diana.

She moved her hands in mystical shapes, like she was trying to write with the air, "The Allspark has given with no bias and no trials, indiscriminant." She looked directly into his yellow optics, "That it depicts sides with no bias says something does it not? It makes passions hot."

"So… you're just saying the obvious, if the Allspark returns the wars will be started up again." Stalker clarified.

Diana nodded excitedly and leaned forward whispering, "What if the power of creation had a mind of its own? Would there be sides to sit at a throne?"

"The Allspark… with a bias?" Stalker found that hard to fathom. The Allspark was alive, it spoke to those who touched it… how could it be any different if it were created again? If it favored the Decepticons then there would be nothing but destruction, if it favored the Autobots it would only be an amount of time before a seedling of thirst was planted in some Bots' CPU and something went wrong. Power, no matter who the wielder was, had that fine, very very fine line of corruption. Perhaps that's one of the reasons why the Autobots looked up to Optimus. He'd not crossed that line of destruction.

"Just like I want to kill you I want you to live."

Stalker looked up in surprise, seeing a rim of red forming around her pupils.

"Starscream and Sparkle's line of thought… they coincide with battles not fought. Then there's me that trembles inside… just wanting to hide." She hung her head, glowing tears forming at the corners of her eyes, "Courage gone as all she thinks is wrong…"

Stalker watched her cry for a moment before moving closer and hugging her close to his thin frame. So his Diana was somewhere inside, confused and scared as the tribulations of his own kind swirled around her heart, trapping her in her own body.

"We'll have each other… right? Even if my cities are razed?"

Stalker looked down at her, for once her hair wasn't flying everywhere and her eyes weren't sparkling with strange colors.

"Yes, we'll still have each other." Stalker promised, placing his hands on both her shoulders.

Slowly, she closed her eyes, a smile, a real smile touching her lips, "Mahal kita…"

Mahal kita…

Such a beautiful phrase. Be it in Cybertronian or in an Earthen dialogue.

I love you.

Those words made his spark grow warm.

Suddenly Diana stiffened and looked up, like a startled animal she was on edge.

"Dia?" Stalker inquired as she stood up.

"The mixing of ingredients is about to begin. I wonder if this is the end." She looked down at him, "Will those with four faces win or will they fall again?" she went away on foot this time.

"Four faces?" Stalker followed her, surprised at her speed, "Diana! Can you try and make a little more sense??"

"As the desperate wait for a break would you be there to take?" Diana asked, eyes flaring with light, "So many voices so many choices… I will not stand by will you help me or say goodbye?" she growled, each stride increasing in speed, "Lose your heart or stay by my hearth." There was the sound of energy bolts striking the concrete and a loud moan of agony lacing the air. Stalker saw streaks of teal light wink around the corner.

Another squeal of pain and a figure stumbled into view, slamming against the far wall as another wave of teal energon washed over him. Stalker skidded to a stop when he realized what was happening.

"Stay still!" clicked an unknown femme voice.

Jazz screamed, his whole frame frozen in place as all of his security systems were overridden, allowing for the locks over his spark box to be opened. Stalker was about to alert everyone but then noticed Diana was grinning from ear to ear practically, as if dazzled by the spectacle.

"What are you smiling for?!"

"She didn't want to play with me… isn't that a little mean?"

Stalker now realized what that echoed thought had been earlier… Diana had let this Avatar inside the base! The attachment didn't have time to wait for the others. He saw the femme lift up her hand slowly, drawing the rapidly pulsing light from Jazz's chest plate. The small mech ran up and released a flurry of disk shreakens just in time to be knocked aside by a clawed tail. It seemed that this femme had a draconic attachment similar to Sparks. There was a scream of surprise as the line of light was broken, shattering into a million light particles. The femme hopped up and down holding her knee joint while Jazz slumped to the ground, his frame smoking slightly, his chest plates sliding closed automatically.

"You idiot! I was helping him!" the femme squealed, plucking the blades from her leg. She didn't look up in time to dodge the flurry of energy bullets. Stalker was nearly trampled on when Jazz sprinted forward, grabbing the femme's 'pigtails' and yanking her head back, holding the tip of his whining arm canon to her chin. Diana was nowhere to be seen.

"Jazz! What are you doing?!" Stalker yelled.

The mech turned his attention to the small mech, optics simmering in angry red.

OOO

(holds up shield)

Yes… the all ebil cliffy… I'm positive the next chapter will be uberly longer! Bare with me!

Thank you reviewers!