I have a poll on my profile page asking a question I really want to have answered. I'm trying to get as many answers as I can, and very few people visit my profile. I've gotten literally one answer in a week, and that's sad. Please answer, and be honest about it.

I only own my OC's!

The Bond Comes Active

I gasp at a sudden feeling in my chest that's not unlike the feeling I get docking Fixit, causing Ratchet to turn to me worriedly. He finds me with my hand over my chest. "Mariposa?"

I shake my head slightly. ~St-Star?~

~Shey? What the heck? And why did you call me Star?~

I giggle through the bond as a hand lands on my shoulder lightly. I ignore the hand for now. ~That's your designation, remember, Brightstar? From Four-Square during the thing with Faith?~

~Oh… Yeah…~ A heavy sigh over the bond. ~Anyway, what the heck just happened?~

"Mariposa?"

~Oh, my God. I've got so much to tell you!~ I sigh, not even noticing the tears rolling down my face. ~Star… Our Carrier is First Aid, our Sire is Fireflight, Spot's playing double-duty as brother and uncle, and so are the others. Ratchet's sick, but we're dating anyway—~

~Back up. What?~

"Mariposa!"

~We're fully Cybertronian. We were placed into human mothers and separated to keep us from the 'Cons. Our real Mom is First Aid. Our real Dad is Fireflight from the Aerialbots. Hot Spot is doing double-duty by acting as a big brother for the two of us, and he's also our uncle—all eight of them are.~

~Eight?~

~Fireflight and Aid are our parents, and each one has four siblings because they're both gestalt.~

~Okay. Got it. Now… Ratchet?~

~Ratchet's got a Cybertronium deficiency, but he's getting through it all right for now. We're dating, because even though we're only like 6 orns, our sparks are 25 Earth-years, so it's technically allowed. Star…we're going to be big sisters. We just found out this morning.~

~I've never been a big sister before…~

~Welcome to the club, then. Sometimes, it sucks, but other times, it's amazing.~

~I…I just hope we don't fight anymore…~

"Mariposa!" I hear a door open, but ignore it for now. "Hot Spot, thank Primus, I don't—"

"Mariposa?"

~My sentiments exactly.~

Hot Spot lifts my chin to where I'm looking into his eyes.

~I've gotta go. Spot's worried.~ I send her a wave of love. ~But remember, I'll always be right here for you. …They say have courage…And I'm trying to…I'm right out here for you…just let me in…We only have each other…It's just you and me…What are we gonna do… ~

~Wait!~

~What is it? He's worried, Star…and I think Ratchet's scared…~

~Mom said I can come for Spring Break! I'll be there on the 14th!"

~Yes! I'll see you then!~

"Mari, what's wrong?"

"Huh?" I reach up and feel my face. "Oh!" I laugh at myself for crying over Claire again. "Bond came active…"

"Bond came— Oh, Primus! Mari, we've got to let Aid know!" He turns to Ratchet. "Can you manage without her for a few minutes?"

Ratchet looks at my unfocused look. "She'll be out of it for the rest of the day after that anyway. I've got this. I'll call her out if I need help."

"All right." He puts an arm around me. "Come on, Little Sis."

Inside

We step into Aid's room—it's between Ratchet's and Blades'—as quietly as we can. "Aid? You awake?"

"Mmm?" He shifts before rolling to face the room. "Spot? Ratch need me?"

"M-Mom?"

He sits up and turns to me before giving me a weak smile. "Mari? What's wrong, Sweetspark?" He pats the side of the bed. "Come here."

I step over and sit beside him as he turns to Spot. "What happened? I thought she was working with Ratchet today?"

"That's up to her to tell you." Spot winks at me. "But Ratchet gave her the day off because she couldn't focus anymore."

"Mari?"

"Please stay, Spots…" He nods, and sits beside me on the berth, where I'm now sitting between him and Aid.

"What's wrong, Sweetspark?" I shake my head. "Mari…"

"Nothing's wrong, Aid."

"She's been crying, Spot."

"I'm aware of that, but nothing's wrong."

"The bond came active…and I couldn't keep it in…"

Aid smiles at me gently. "Oh, Mari…" He pulls me in for a hug before letting me go. "You need to tell the others, and Silver definitely needs to know. You've got Spot for advice of course, but…"

"Silver may be able to help where I can't."

Aid nods. "Not to mention her Sire will want to know. Any idea when she'll be coming?"

I smile over at Aid. "March 14th."

"They're letting her come?"

"They're letting her come." I stand. "Let's go see Silver so Mom can rest."

Main Base

I watch as Hot Spot reaches up to knock on the door with his free hand, his other arm around my shoulders. "Silver?" The door opens to reveal a harried-looking Silverbolt with a hurt-looking Skydive behind him and a glaring Air Raid staring off past where we can see. "Bad time?"

He sighs before glancing over his shoulder. "Hold on a moment." He ducks back inside and closes the door. "Air Raid, apologize to Fireflight. He's not that bad. Sling… You shouldn't have thrown the datapad at Air Raid, especially since Skydive was reading it. You hit Flight in the head." The door opens again a moment later. "All right. Mariposa, Hot Spot, come in."

"What happened?"

He sighs. "Fireflight wasn't paying attention and fell on Air Raid, who started yelling at him. Slingshot got annoyed at the yelling and threw Skydive's datapad at the two. It's broken, so Dive's upset, and Flight got hit on the head…"

I shake my head. "In other words, a mess."

"Yep." He shakes his head. "So, what happened?"

"Mari?" Spot looks down to where I'm staring at my Sire dazedly. I can all but see a dent on the back of his head from the datapad.

I shake my head before looking up to him. "Huh?" He chuckles slightly as I give him an apologetic smile. "Sorry…"

"Don't be, Mari. Ratch did say you were zoned…"

"Spot? Mari? What happened?"

I turn to them and blink back fresh, but still happy, tears as I smile. "The bond came active…"

"Bond?"

Slingshot slaps Fireflight across the back of the head—right on the dent I'd noticed—getting a glare from Silverbolt. "Her bond with her sister, you dumbaft!"

I glare at the rude jet. "Be nice, Slings! I told you before you're not getting any more brothers, so need to be nice to the ones you've got!"

Fireflight grins at me. "You will, though!"

"I know…" I smile to prove I'm not upset—actually, I'm really excited about seeing them and being a big sister again.

"Aren't you excited?"

I nod. "Of course I am, Dad! I'm just…" I huff softly. "Scared…"

Fireflight steps over to me. "Scared? Why?"

I motion to the five of them. "I lived in this kind of life—worse than that, actually… Flight, I was abused and neglected with my human family. They hated me, and I could never figure out why—it's why I found Defensor in the first place. I'm a pacifist, but…but I can be seriously passive aggressive sometimes… And I still wonder… Can I actually do this, without being a bad commander like 'Master was… After all… I almost lost Star trying to protect her before… Just because I got hurt and angry and I got defensive and…" I glance over at Slingshot. "I guess it's in my genes… But still… It's not the right thing…to hurt my sister…" I turn and cling to Spot. "I'm scared…that I'll hurt them like I did Star… I don't know how to be a good big sister!"

Fireflight steps over and lays a hand on my doorwing, just like Aid usually does. "You'll figure it out, Sweetspark."

Silverbolt steps over to me and lays a hand on my shoulder. "I did, after all, and so did Hot Spot."

"I know, Dad… It's just… Stressful… And I don't handle stress well…" I lean over to look at Sire's head so I can check the damage. "All right, I'm new to this, but that needs fixed, so we need to get you to Ratchet so he can do it."

"Mari?"

"She gets nauseated when she's stressed—especially after she eats, we've noticed—and…"

"It goes through the bond, which means her sister's struggled with it too."

"Yep." Spot sighs. "We'll take Flight over to the med-bay and see if Ratchet will either repair this, or teach our rather out-of-it femmeling to."

"I'm still confused about that." We turn to Skydive. "How is she out-of-it? Her bond came active, yes, but how does that make her space out?"

Hot Spot sighs. "Mari hasn't even spoken to her since the 16th, and you know how deep and strong the bonds are, especially when they've been inactive for a while."

"Actually, you guys would know that more."

Hot Spot sighs. "Yes. We do. I…I don't need to be reminded of that…"

I sigh, and put an arm around Hot Spot. "I'm spacy on a good day—it's been worse since I met Star, actually—but since she's been just as out-of-it as I am when we're together…" I shrug. "She just compensates better than I can. She hides things from me, though…like Mom does with Spot…and it hurt…even when I didn't know…she was my sister…"

"Mari…" I turn to Skydive with a questioning look. "How did you hurt her?"

I look down. "I was trying to fight against a controlling bully of a girl we were in school with, to protect her, because she didn't know her like I did." I sigh heavily. "Well, the day came when I couldn't take it anymore—I had several days like that before and after this, but the times before I'd turned to my journal." I shake my head. "This time, I wrote her a note, but in it, I put all the pain and bitterness I was feeling from her running off with the controlling bitch."

The four Aerials look stunned, while Silverbolt nods. "Wow…" He'd heard this before, if not from me, then from Spot.

"At a later date, I threw a bracelet she'd given me at her and told her to "give this to your new best friend" before running away in tears. They…they followed me…and I didn't like that she had to see me cry… I was hiding beside a file cabinet, though…and she found me." I glance down at my wrist—I never take either of them off now that I live in bot form, and somehow, they managed to grow with my wrist without snapping, though I don't know how—and finger the one with the centerpiece of a floral-print cube. "I got it back a few months later, but it…it just manages to remind me of what I'd done…and how bad that letter I wrote hurt her…"

Silverbolt sighs. "Were there any other moments…like that?"

"…She told me I wasn't her friend anymore a year later, and I…hid under a bus so she wouldn't see my cry. It was a Wednesday night service, and we had my cousins with us, so Briar had to take care of them. I couldn't stay in the same room as her after that…"

"While you were an EMT?"

"After I flunked the first test because I was so nervous I'd forgotten everything I'd learned. Before I passed the second test that actually made me an EMT. That was a tense time for sure."

"And you hid under a bus?"

"Yes. I hid under a bus. There was literally nowhere else I could hide where she wouldn't find me."

"She'll learn that you need that time to yourself after a while, Mar. We did."

I smile, and hug Slingshot. "Thanks…" I turn to Fireflight. "We need to get you to the medbay." I glance over my shoulder before leading him out the door. "Dad, I'm a space case too, okay? You can't let it get to you…when they call you that."

"Hold up, Mari! I'm still talking!"

"Then talk with Silver. I'm getting Dad to Ratch." I stop and start laughing. "Now I'm channeling Spot…again…"

"Again?"

I nod. "I'm hyper and spacy at the same time. It's not a good combination, Dad—trust me on that one."

He nods. "I heard about your foot from your Carrier."

"Yep. I fell up the step." I giggle as I push the medbay door open. "Anyone can fall down the stairs, but it takes a sufficiently talented klutz to fall up the stairs." I huff. "Sadly, I am one sufficiently talented klutz."

"And more than likely a menace on the roads."

"Oh, ha ha, Ratchet." I laugh to let him know I'm not mad. "Actually, yes. Just a couple years I ran into a guardrail because my phone went off and I was barely compensating for my dizziness at the time, so…" I shrug. "Good thing there wasn't anyone around me!" I pause to think. "Or with me!" I turn to Dad. "I have Tink here, and I can show you the dent!" I glance at his head. "But I think we should get yours fixed first. Ratch?"

"Wow, you're a chatterbox today. Feels like Bluestreak's in here with me." He smiles at me. "All right, what happened?"

"Slingshot threw a datapad at me."

"Then he slapped him there." He gives me a look. "Spot and I went to tell them about the bond coming active."

"Ah." He sighs. "All right, up on the berth. Mari, I need the scanner and one of the magnets in the third drawer."

"Got 'em!" I run over to get them before handing them to the medic with a smile.

"Where's Hot Spot?"

"Still with Silverbolt."

"Then I want you to stay with Fireflight, Sweetspark. You're still…"

"In la-la land."

"Yeah. I know it's your baseline, but I don't want you getting hurt, and you are at the same point you must have been at when you hurt your foot."

"Okay." I watch him fix the dent before checking for deeper damage, then smile when he nods to me. "Now, both of you, take it easy. I don't want another accidental injury in here, and you're both…"

"Flighty." I shrug at Fireflight as we leave. "Well, it IS part of your name."

"Better than being called a space case again…" He sighs. "Why do you make fun of yourself all the time? That doesn't seem very healthy to me…"

"Flight…Dad…" I shake my head. "It's better than getting upset when others do it. If I do it to myself, no one can get to me when they do it."

"Oh… Good point. Maybe I should try that."

that night

I sigh from where I'm curled up on Hot Spot's chest, Aid with us even while still sick, because he didn't want to be alone. "I've been meaning to ask you guys something."

"What is it?"

"You know how you told me Aid was an actual carrier?"

"Yes?"

"Would that be the reason I feel Bee too?" The five of them go silent—not even fans going. "Um…guys? Did I crash you all?"

"We're fine, Mari." Aid sighs. "He was my first-born—a complete surprise to all of us. He was sparked on the middle of a mountain, in the middle of the winter, in the middle of a fragged ice storm, and I was trying to repair Sunstreaker at the same time."

"So… You had my brother at the same time as you were fixing Sunstreaker." I smile. "I don't think any human could have done something like that before. You're amazing, but…you had to be scared to death."

"I was." He sighs heavily. "I had left without thinking in the middle of what was probably one of the worst ice storms we'd seen to date, and I was in the beginning stages of labor without even knowing I was carrying, let alone in labor. We had barely reached adulthood, Mari."

"He was a wreck for weeks after that day, Mari. When he learned about the two of you…the war had started up again with a vengeance, and he knew we couldn't keep the two of you safe and look out for Bee…"

"I don't blame him for sending us here, Spot. He did what he had to do. I blame them."

"Mari…"

"They abused and neglected me, Mom. They had no right to treat me like shit because I was what they'd ended up with. I never should have had to run away to feel safe. You know—I came here to die. No one should have that as their story."

Four Days Later, morning

I slide out of the cuddle pile and start downstairs, planning to get a cube with Fireflight so we can have some father-daughter time before my sister gets here on the 14th. I know Brightstar is a serious Daddy's girl, so even though I am too, I'm scared of heights, and she wants to fly, so I plan to let her hang with Sire more—that is, if she wants to. I smile when I notice Aid and Ratchet are sitting at the table with their morning energon. "Morning, Guys!"

"Good morning, Mari."

"How did you sleep, Sweetspark? Any nightmares?"

"Aid?"

"She's had one or two since she got here, Ratch. She's got PTSD from the abuse she went through."

"No nightmares." I shrug. "Had a weird dream about Star though."

"Weird dream?"

"She was sick, and we had been riding on a moving couch with some fat guy. It was getting to me, but I held my own and managed to take care of her before running to hide. She found me, as usual…"

"Mari… Why were you hiding?"

"I don't know! I wasn't upset in the dream, so I can only assume it was to avoid the feedback…"

"You can't hide from feedback, Mari." Aid huffs as I start for the door. "Where are you going?"

"Energon with Dad before shift."

"All right. We'll see you in Medbay at 9."