And now, we return to our regular programming… After a long time, I know. But I had my saxophone exam and then my mother took my laptop so I couldn't work on the chapter.

Basically…do what you always do. Blame your mother.

REVIEW REPLIES!

Awesomo3000: I'll keep that in consideration.

Dusk Prime: Chill.

Life-Luvr123:Don't worry. I won't.

Girl Supersonicboy: Hold your horses there, buddy.

storygirl99210:Where'd you get the flaming spear?

Megatronus117: Don't worry, OK? …oh. Right. You fainted. Ratchet, any chance you got some smelling salts on ya?

AlphaTrion99210:Well, unfortunately, I can't kill him without screwing with the TFP storyline. Not yet, anyway (she says hopefully).

Shadow Katakura: Calm down. Everything will be resolved.

haloangel21: Take your time. There is no rush.

rsdk525:Hmmmm…

Guest:Don't worry. I will.

HiyaCodey:I'm not really a fan of My Little Pony and don't intend to become one.

Transformers: Prime rightfully belongs to Hasbro and The Hub.

© Talida and other OCs rightfully belongs to me unless I say otherwise.

Another short one this time. :/ Writer's block hates me. And I've also got my Tumblr, Quotev and MAYBE Quizilla to catch up on. And…honestly, I'm more scared of everyone on Tumblr.

Also…anyone wanna do a Optimus/Arcee story on Archive of Our Own? There's literally no story with that pairing I can find on that site.

ENJOY!

He let out a sob. A short one so loud, it almost echoed around the giant room. Tears began streaming down his pale cheeks in a way they hadn't before. Nothing could be done to stop them. Whenever he dried them, they came back. So he did nothing. He let them flow.

Everyone knew that it was serious with the way the medic was crying. Something that Ratchet rarely did was cry in front of his family and friends. Nothing made him cry like this. When his creators died, his optics were dry.

"No," Miko murmured, allowing Jack to pull her against his side in a comforting hug.

June knelt down to wrap her arms around the abnormally small twelve-year-old. His body was wracking in sobs as he refused to believe it.

Not her. Anyone but her.

Arcee began shaking her head furiously, coolant burning the backs of her optics. Not her baby. Please. She would trade anything – even her own life – for her. They had just found her again and they didn't find her to lose her like this.

Bumblebee immediately began wishing that he had done more to begin with. Blame wasn't enough to describe the immense guilt the young scout was feeling. He should have done more. He could have done more to prevent this moment.

But he hadn't.

And now, he was paying the price.

Then Ratchet said this,

"It's working. She's improving."

"Oh thank Primus!" Arcee cried in relief as she knelt next to her daughter, "Tally? Honey, can you hear me?"

"She won't wake up yet. The Energon's just beginning to stabilize her spark rate. After she's had a few more doses, she should wake up," Ratchet promised, "However, when she does wake up, it'll take another hour or so for her to regain her strength completely. It's a gradual progress. So she shouldn't do anything too strenuous. Fortunately, as far as I know, she doesn't have any outstanding dancing commitments."

Everyone was free to let out the breaths they hadn't realized they were holding. She was alive. She was stabilizing. Everything was going to be alright…

Well, it appeared it would be alright…

"Optimus, we did it!" Ratchet cheered silently as he prepared a secondary dose of Energon to give her.

"Ratchet, I've got it," Jack cut in as he took the syringe from Ratchet and grabbed the end of the intravenous tube, ready to inject the Energon into the tube and into Talida's body.

"Anything happens to her on your watch, Arcee will be the least of your worries," Ratchet threatened.

"I can't count the amount of times I've said that to someone I was entrusting Lida to," Jack couldn't help but laugh.

It was then that some people, namely Arcee, noticed a certain someone's absence. Arcee had just noticed that her spark mate had not returned with Bulkhead. She was surprised. Whenever their daughter was in peril, he refused to leave her.

For him to not come back was unheard of.

"Wait. Where's Optimus?" Arcee asked.

At Arcee's worried question, everyone else looked up in identical worry. They, too, were shocked to see that the towering Prime was missing.

Everyone except Bulkhead, that is.

"Er…," Bulkhead winced.

"Bulkhead…," Arcee growled menacingly.

"Everything about what Megatron had done to Tally was getting to him. Seriously, Arcee. In the time I've known him, I've never seen him like that," Bulkhead stammered.

"Like what?" Ratchet demanded.

"HesaidhewantedtodestroyMegatrononceandforallsohed ecidedtotrackhimdownandfacehim," Bulkhead blurted in a speed that would make Blurr proud.

Everyone looked at him in bewilderment. They didn't catch what he said in his nervous ramblings. So Bulkhead sighed and repeated his sentence, slower this time,

"He said he wanted to destroy Megatron once and for all. So he decided to track him down and face him."

"WHAT?!" everyone exclaimed in disbelief.

"Bulkhead! I can't believe you let Optimus face Megatron ALONE!" Arcee exclaimed in disbelief, "Especially after what Megatron did to Tally! Everyone knows that when she's hurt, Optimus throws everything he teaches out the window!"

"I didn't have a choice!" Bulkhead tried – and failed – to defend himself against Arcee's murderous gaze.

If, as the humans say, 'looks could kill', he was certain he would be fading to gunmetal grey by now.

"It could be a trap," Ratchet pointed out as he raced to the computers and typed in a few commands, "We need to get a fix on his location!"

"Hurry, Ratchet," Arcee pleaded before suddenly gasping and clutching her stomach in pain.

"Arcee!" Jack cried as he raced towards his guardian.

"I'm fine. It's Optimus!" Arcee gritted.

"Hurry, Doc Bot!" Miko snapped impatiently.

It took a few minutes. But they eventually heard the words from Ratchet they so desperately wanted to hear…

Among others they never wanted to hear,

"I'm locked onto his signal. …Wait! How is this possible?!"

Ratchet didn't answer Arcee's anxious question. Instead, he turned around and barked,

"We need to get Optimus out of there! NOW!"

There wasn't a moment to lose for either of them. Ratchet sped to the GroundBridge controls. Jack, June, Miko and Raf remained at Talida's side. With everyone going out to battle, she shouldn't be left alone.

When Ratchet successfully activated the GroundBridge, they all raced through. Bulkhead was the first to go through to take care of any threat that would face them at the other side. After a few moments, Arcee raced through as well.

When she saw what her spark mate had been facing, she couldn't believe it.

Told you guys it was short. But…man! I had you guys going with that beginning, didn't I? I am so evil!

Well, you guys should know what to do by now. Review. Fave. Alert. Whatever. Hopefully, this time, I'll be a bit quicker with my updates. However, as usual, I hold no promises.

BYE!