AN: Two updates in a row? On my fan fiction? It's more likely than you think. This is a very short chapter, and that's because the last one was extremely long. Have a beautiful day, everyone uwu

Chapter 32:

The last thing I saw was Lockdown diving after me. You know when you stand up too fast and it looks like the void is claiming you for a moment? That's what happened to me, but everything became dark. I fainted on the way down. I became conscious again for just one moment. The last thing I remembered was being gripped tightly in the mech's fist. He was falling back-first, and I was clutched tightly to his chest. The darkness was closing in, again.

Both of us had hit the ground. I was still pressed to his chest. I guess he broke the fall for me. He grunted slightly in pain. I can't understate how lucky I was to live through something like that. I couldn't tell if I was hurt or not. I wasn't all the way awake, yet. He wasted no time getting back on his feet. He began running like a bat out of Hell away from the falling debris. I opened my weary eyes for a moment. My ears felt as if they were clogged, my head was cloudy. We were far away from there, now. I could tell we were safe at least.

I looked up at Lockdown for a second. He was as stoic as always. His face was scuffed, as was the rest of his body. The building was still coming down. I wasn't able to fully comprehend the severity of what was going on. I spotted something. I could faintly make out a figure in the distance. A silver body, tarnished and dirty. It was Sideswipe. I gasped slightly. I guess it was loud enough for Lockdown to hear, he turned around and noticed the bot, too.

He was unmoving, but Lockdown still approached him. He stomped hard on the bot's back and I heard a groan. Sideswipe was still alive. He must have crawled away from the wreckage.

"Look what you've done," Lockdown scoffed. "You try to hide behind the alibi that you want to protect the humans, but you destroy their cities."

Sideswipe was trying to pull himself together and stand up. He didn't get very far, though. He was trying to muster whatever strength he had left, desperate to fight back. It was no use. Lockdown unsheathed his hook once more and dug it into his back. Sideswipe let out a horrific cry. I had no energy to plead with him to stop. There wasn't anything I could do, anyway.

"You kill their people, you destroy their homes…" Lockdown taunted. He dug the hook in deeper and yanked the bot up. "We know your patterns… where is he hiding?"

"I… I-I won't tell you…" Those were the last words Sideswipe sputtered out. Lockdown gripped the hook hard. He planted a foot on his lower back, and without mercy, ripped the bot right in half. That fluorescent blue fluid sprayed out of his wound violently. Lockdown was splattered. So was I.

I can't describe the way that he screamed. It was horrible. Horrible? What an understatement. I don't think I ever heard anything worse in my life. Lockdown unhooked him and let him fall to the pavement. The fluorescent life fluid was pouring out of him. It was unlike anything I had ever seen. Lockdown just walked away, after that. He left him there to suffer.

Lockdown held me out front of his face. He stared at me for a moment. That moment, it felt like time stopped. My mind had gone totally blank. He knelt and then placed me on the ground. The second his grip loosened, I took off running. I can't explain to you why. I just… did. I heard him call out my name a few times. He didn't both to chase.

I ran. I kept running and running until I was far away from this mess. I wasn't even sure where I was trying to go.

I was crossing a road, then just like that, everything went dark, again.

...

I was having trouble hearing, again. My ears felt clogged up. I tried opening my eyes, but I couldn't make out anything around me, at first. Slowly, my senses were coming back, though. I could hear wind blowing, now. Waves crashing. I sat up and saw sand. Lots and lots of sand. It was cloudy, and it looked like it was about to rain. Was I at the harbor? Maybe Lockdown caught up with and brought me here?

Something wasn't right, though. There wasn't any snow. It wasn't cold, even. I turned around, expecting to see some buildings or something. There was nothing but sand for miles and miles. Was this a dream? This sure was confusing and pretty worrying, but it didn't feel surreal, enough. When you dream and you realize it, there's a certain way things feel. This wasn't it. Part of me wanted to panic, but the other part knew that probably wasn't a good idea.

"Vega?"

I felt cold. I felt a chill rip down my body.

"You shouldn't be here, right now,"

That was Marina's voice.

I turned around and there she was. Her brunette hair was let down. I don't think I had ever seen it that way. She looked so concerned. I couldn't think of anything to respond with. I noticed several meters away, a red bot looking out on the sea. It was Sentinel. He didn't seem to pay us any mind.

"What happened to you?" Marina asked.

I paused for a moment. "What do you mean?"

"How did you get here?"

"I don't even know where I am," I stood up and dusted myself off. "Is this another dream?"

Marina bit her lip and turned and glanced at Sentinel for a moment. He was walking to the water. He knelt down and placed his hand in. I could faintly hear his voice. It sounded like he was singing.

"This isn't good," Marina muttered.

"What's going on?"

"Vega… you're dead!"

I recoiled. "I'm… what?"

"You died!"

"Are you fucking joking?"

Marina shook her head. After surviving a fall from a skyscraper, I run off and die? I was on death's doorstep, for a second. No, I just wasn't at the doorstep. I knocked on its fucking door. I broke down the situation for her. Chasing after Sideswipe, falling off a collapsing building. Taking off running. And now here we are.

She rubbed her temples for a moment. "I just don't get it… were you crushed by debris?"

"Couldn't have been," I answered. "We were away from the building."

"Maybe you went into shock or something…-" Her voice was trailing off for a second there. "Sentinel told me all about your fate. I don't think this was supposed to happen."

Sentinel was still in the same spot. Still singing that melody. Marina was going on about something, but I accidentally tuned her out. My brain was a little more interested in listening closer to his singing. Just then, I realized something. The melody sounded… familiar. Marina liked musicals. I remember her and I used to watch a whole bunch. Her love for musicals must have rubbed off on him, because he was singing "The Music of the Night", a song that was in The Phantom of The Opera. I gave a slight chuckle. Marina paused when she heard me. I began walking toward him and Marina followed suit.

"Slowly... gently... night unfurls…-"

He stopped and turned to look at me. He must have heard our footsteps.

"Here so soon?" He spoke.

"What do you mean?" I replied.

Sentinel gentle removed his hand from the water. The drops rolled off his fingers back into the sea. It looked like rain falling.

"You tried your best, Vega," He said in a low voice.

Those words made me stomach tie up in knots.

"I know you wanted to save Sideswipe," I saw remorse flickering through his optics. They became a little dimmer. "But, the cards fate had already been dealt."

Sentinel Prime, the embodiment of evil- The bringer of death and turmoil to our planet was looking so docile.

I tilted my head a little. "Huh?"

"You were never meant to save him, Vega, don't let it dishearten you. Your work isn't over."

"Am I really dead?"

Sentinel smirked for a quick second. "You're not dead, Vega," He said shaking his head. "You're stuck between the world of the dead and living, right now. Think of this place as your personal haven."

"Personal haven?" I repeated.

"An alternate dimension outside of reality,"

"This is why you brought me here, isn't it?" Marina chimed in.

"That's right," He responded.

"How could you have known where I was going to be?" I asked Sentinel.

He leaned back and looked at the clouds for a few seconds. Deep in thought, it seemed.

"On the day of your passing, there would have been a lot of people you've affected throughout your life," He began. "Your interactions with them- your words, even. They all yield an outcome. Think of yourself as a seed, and your actions are the root. When you pass, you're shown every impending fate of each individual who is still affected by you."

He placed his hand in the water once more, letting the waves roll over it. His turned his hand around and let the water fall from his fingertips, once more.

"And here you are now. I didn't want you to be alone, for your first time here,"

Marina and I exchanged glances.

"You're doing just fine, Vega," He smiled, again. This time for more than a second. "We'll be waiting for you here on the beach."

I felt faint, again. I got that feeling like when I stand too fast. The darkness was closing in.

"Vega!" Marina shouted one last time.

The darkness finished claiming me, and all I heard was the fading voices of the two. They were talking back and forth. Marina sounded frantic, at first, but Sentinel was able to calm her. Then, he continued singing once again.

"Hear it... feel it secretly possess you...

Open up your mind,-"