Finally got this chapter done, I am very sorry for the wait. This fic wil be coming to oa close soon so anything you would like to see or are confused about just let me know!

Enjoy!

Hellfire was so completely and utterly done with these autobots, he had tried to set aside his natural hatred of them when he had come to their base but it had rekindled with force after he saw their concentrated stupidity in all it's glory. He no longer wondered why Bee was so mature, he could tell just by being around these bots that it would be impossible to keep a youngling innocent. Tinker wasn't even that much younger than Bee but they seemed to be ages apart, centuries even; she hadn't been raised in a conventional way but he had tried his hardest to preserve what little childishness he could in his charge. Bee had barely anything left of that, just a young sense of curiosity, and it left Hellfire fuming. If he hadn't truly hated the autobots before he sure did now.

Here was this youngling, barely out of sparklinghood, kneeling on the floor trying his best to keep his sobs at a less than audible level. He couldn't even cry like a youngling, he still tried to deny that bots his age were allowed to cry. Hellfire could see the tension in the poor yellow bot's frame and it shook him to the core with anger and sorrow.

And yet . . . the black and silver autobot who had interrogated him, Ironhide, was now bent over Bee with a servo encompassing his tiny shoulder strut, trying to make it all better as any creator would for their creation.

Hellfire had a hard time deciding whom to be angry with, or even if he should be angry at all. It was altogether a horrible feeling.

As Ironhide picked Bee's shaking form up and walked slowly out, the medic bot following soon after, the leader of the auto bots stepped forward and the door closed behind him.

"I do apologize for all this . . . discomfort. One must be wary in times of war, but you do not seem the type who would cause us harm." He said.

"It's . . . fine," Hellfire sighed, "Everything in this world and in this war is so mixed up anyway, what is a little discomfort to a servo full of bots?"

"You speak wisely, are you Hellfire?" He asked in his regal way.

"I am."

"And I'm Letra, What can we call you?" Letra interjected, not to be left out.

"I am Optimus Prime, leader of the autobots in this grave war." The tall mech then leaned down to Tinker's level "and this is your charge?"

"Yes, this is Tinker" Hellfire said turning slightly to look at the small purple youngling.

Optimus smiled fondly, "We've met."

Hellfire couldn't decide whether he should smile or scowl, he didn't want Tinker to be too exposed to this place, lest she lose what naivety she had left.

Letra could see the tension and the unspoken words that lay in the air, and decided that they shouldn't stay unspoken, but neither mech would do anything or say anything in front of Tinker, so she took the matter into her own servos. "Tinker, Why don't we go find Bee, I'm sure he'd like to see you right now."

Tinker eagerly ran to Letra's side and latched on to her servo, allowing the femme to walk her out of the brig and out of range of the inevitably harsh words.

The two mechs didn't say anything for a long drawn out moment, it wasn't for a lack of things that needed to be said that the silence lingered, but more because neither mech knew where to begin.

"Do you have an explanation for what happened just now?" Optimus asked calmly. "Bumblebee is very dear to us and we do not wish to see him in pain."

Hellfire didn't answer, for fear of what he would say.

Optimus continued, seeing that his companion was choosing to stay silent. "Bumblebee awoke with no recollection of his . . . excursion; or of you. Yet he seems to know you inherently."

"You see our dilemma, that is why we kept him from seeing you. An auto bot would never wish to see a youngling, or any bot, in pain, and judging from the state he returned to us in, remembering would cause him great pain. He is still just a youngling, I hope you can understand that."

Hellfire gave the autobot leader a dark look. "I don't think you understand it, nor do you understand that a youngling should not be raised in a military base. Bumblebee is far beyond his years in intelligence and seems just to be a grown mech in a small frame. You say you want to keep the truth from him so he won't get hurt; but you already have hurt him by raising him!"

Optimus looked genuinely hurt, not for himself but for Bumblebee, "If that is what you believe then you can at the very least agree that we should not add to that pain."

"What's the point! It's only a matter of time before he loses every scrap of youth he has in him anyway!"

Optimus looked at the shadowy mech thoughtfully, pain still in his optics.

"And yet you have not, you still have the rash attitude of a youngling. We never truly lose all of what we were in our youth."

Hellfire just glared, steaming with pent up anger.

"You may believe that he is already too matured to be protected, but I would have to disagree. This is an argument more about him and if he, as an intelligent, aware young bot, deserves to know the truth, or if he should be shielded for the protection of his young soul." Optimus rumbled.

"Quite the moral dilemma," Hellfire said coolly, "You autobots are all about remedying those, aren't you?" he asked sarcastically.

Optimus sighed. "I wish to ask your opinion on the matter. You after all, know better than anyone what happened to Bumblebee on his excursion and how suitable it is for a youngling to know about."

Hellfire let out a growl-like sigh, turning his helm away. "I don't know. It was pretty bad." He looked back up. "But we had some pretty good times too, before things got bad, and the kid learned a lot about himself." The dark ex-con began to pace in confusion and anger.

"Now do you see the conflict?" Optimus asked.

Hellfire grunted affirmatively.

"Have you an informed opinion?"

There was a pause.

"Why don't you just ask Bee." Hellfire suggested.

"I'm sorry?"

"Ask him. Maybe he should be the one to decide if he wants to remember."

Optimus looked at the mech before him, he believed he had underestimated this ex-con. "That may just work . . ."

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