Chapter 6

After waking up and dressing herself into new clothes, Ellie walked along the empty corridor of Joel's former house. She stopped by the opened door of her old man's room. A look of tranquility formed on her face as she took one last look on it.

"Good bye, Joel. I'm going to live the life that you gave to me to the fullest." The girl made a determined nod before she closed the door and walked down the stairs.

Ellie walked outside and saw the two Cybertronians. Optimus was kneeling by his backpack while Megatron was looking around, checking if there were any Runners nearby.

"Receiving message from Iacon. 'Continue-exiled journey, no progress - Starscream.' That's it though." Optimus said and Megatron lightly shook his head in disagreement.

"Hey oldies, what's up?" Ellie walked up and the two looked at her with excited smiles.

"Well, we just received messages from Cybertron. We're not allowed to go back yet."

"Which means the two of us are still stuck here on Earth." Megatron exclaimed and it made Ellie grin.

"Which means you two are stuck with me. Yay!" She clapped her hands like a seal in a circus while feigning a childish energetic smile. Megatron sighed in fake disappointment while Optimus grinned in delight.

"It will take hours before we reach Norway. We should leave now." The Decepticon said and transformed into his jet form. Ellie took a step and sat inside the cockpit before she looked at the Autobot with a questioning look.

"Wait, Oppy is a truck – how can he cross the ocean?"

"That's be easy, Ellie. I will ride Megatron." Optimus explained and noticed a sly grin slowly forming on Ellie's face. The girl giggled.

"That sounds so wrong for oh so many reasons. Right, Meggy?"

Megatron groaned loudly in protest as he realized what Ellie was saying while Optimus blinked his optics, cluelessly. "Well, I'm ready, let's roll." The Autobot simply said and the cockpit glass closed. The engines roared to life as Optimus climbed on the back of Megatron. However, before they could take off, the girl called the Decepticon.

"Wait," Ellie looked at the house for one last time. See you around. A calm yet beautiful smile spread on her lips as she rested her back on the pilot's chair.

"Let's go now."

- Outside the U.S. Airspace -

At the first leg of the journey, Ellie was very amazed at the sights in front of her. Being high up in the air, she was able to see a great scenery of small buildings and grass fields. However, right now, the trio were flying above the Atlantic Ocean. The girl saw nothing but an endless stretch of blue and it bored her a bit. Her whole attention was on her journal. She was making a sketch of Optimus and Megatron.

"Bored already, Ellie?" Megatron asked as his head popped in the screen.

"Yeah, who would've thought that oceans were actually boring."

"It's like a desert, only blue and wet." Optimus described and the girl let out a jaded groan.

"They say that Norway is near the Arctic, and it always snows there, right?" she asked the two Cybertronians without her hand stopping on sketching Optimus's antennae.

"Yes, and it's also famous for its fjords."

Ellie looked up, a sudden interest flashing in her eyes. "Fjords. What are fjords?"

Optimus made a short laugh and smiled down at her. "I saw one, on our own Earth, so there's probably one in here too. When you see it, Ellie, I think you'll love it."

The girl whistled loudly in interest. She felt very excited on seeing a fjord. "That would be interesting…but for now, let me take a few naps." she said as she reclined her seat and put her journal on top of her face, closing her eyes.

"We're here." Ellie heard Megatron's voice. She let out a slight groan before she opened her eyes and looked to her left. The view that greeted her had made her green eyes widen in astonishment. She could see a large, narrow bay sandwiched between two large mountains. Right on the shoreline of the bay was a small and picturesque town. The ground was colored white as snow covered it and the water was clear blue, the color shimmering brightly like the bay was filled with blue diamonds.

"This is a fjord, Ellie. It's a narrow river, lake or bay that stretches inland and was formed by melted glaciers which shaped the valley into a U-shape like." Optimus said and beamed smile. He watched the girl exhale sharply in eagerness as she looked around the fjord.

"Hold on tight, we're gonna land. And Ellie, I've prepared you a coat. It's in my glove compartment." Megatron reminded. The girl opened the glove compartment. True enough, there was a purple and black checkered flannel coat hiding inside.

I'm so excited for this! Ellie thought, excitedly while she donned the coat around her shoulders.

- Lofoten Archipelago, Norway-

"Fucking wicked!" Ellie couldn't help but gasp energetically while she climbed down from Megatron's cockpit. She sprinted, walked, and danced around the cold ground, feeling the cold air on her coat. Her green eyes landed upon the beautiful, and seemingly abandoned, small town and the astonishing fjord that lay beyond it.

"It's like I'm in a Disney movie!" Only a fucked up one. the girl thought and teetered. Optimus took a step on the cold ground and Megatron transformed into his bi-pedal mode. The former tyrant stretched his legs and grunted as he stretched his aching back.

Heh, look at her, all happy and joyful. Optimus observed with a gladdened heart.

Megatron observed with a grin. Look at her, all jolly and golly, like an idiot…which makes her beautiful. The tyrant blushed, producing shades of blue on his grey face.

"So, what are you two gonna do here again?" Ellie then faced them and the two Cybertronians looked away in an awkward manner.

"We—well uh… I'm going to look for the location of the energon cargo." Megatron said and adjusted his backpack more to his back. Optimus tightened the strap of his backpack and glanced at the girl. "The scanners show that the location was on the middle of the bay, which means Ellie will be left alone..." The two glanced back at her with a look of concern.

However, before they could say anything, Ellie frowned. "I'm not five and I can take care of myself."

"Really, do you know how to read Norwegian?"

"Yes." Ellie said bluntly and Megatron pointed at a road sign beside her. The girl looked at the sign, squinted her eyes and then groaned. "Ok, no. I don't even know what it says."

"It says: Danger curve!' So someone needs to stay with you and guide you through this town." Megatron said, while Ellie rose her right brow, griping his words, and glanced at Optimus. "Oppy, please stay with her."

"Of course."

"I'm not five!" Ellie complained more and Megatron made a Cheshire cat grin.

"The fuck is wrong with him? That Buckethead..." Ellie grumbled while she walked down a deserted street. The small town was abandoned, stores either bored up or had broken windows. The streets were littered with scattered ice and rusted cars that were abandoned by its owners.

"Well, Ellie, it may not look like it, but Megatron was a bit overprotective." Optimus explained while he trailed behind the girl. The woman scoffed, and then she stopped on her tracks. The tranquil bay lay in front of her, its shining blue light shining brightly at her green eyes. The calm and peacefulness returned to her chest.

The Autobot felt her passiveness had returned.

"Have you picked a house where we could all stay for the night?"

Ellie glanced to her left and saw a row of dilapidated seaside townhouse. Those houses could be good. She thought hard while looking at the houses.

"Splendid, isn't this great!" Ellie exclaimed as she walked into a living room that had a large window that overlooked a beach front. She smiled placidly as she opened the window and walked on to the beach. Optimus Prime watched her twirl again on the cold sand, her legs carrying her softly like a maiden dancing on a pasture green field. She was a beautiful sight to the lone Cybertronian.

"So, what can you say about it?"

"Hmm? Of course, its splendid." The Autobot put down his backpack and opened it. "Now then, I shall scan the parameters and see if there's Cordyceps infection nearby." Ellie looked up to him and a thoughtful look formed on her face.

"You know, I didn't see a single Runner or Clicker when we landed." The girl observed as she looked around the silent beach. "It may be a small town, but we should've at least seen a single infected roaming around. But no, none at all." Ellie walked further towards the shoreline, and as she did, a cold wind suddenly blew passed her, and it made her rubbed both of her arms in chill.

That's strange, my radar isn't detecting any living things either, Optimus cast a strange look while he rubbed his chin.

"Strange…I also can't detect a single corpse lying around," Double hmm, the red Autobot thought more as Ellie hummed a song shortly before she groaned loudly and scratched the back of her head.

"Thinking makes me hungry, shall we go fishing?" she said with a dark grin, showing her hunger to Optimus who gulped down in nervousness.

"Yes, Ellie. I'll accompany you on that."

-Underneath the bay-

Megatron trekked the seafloor as fast as he could. His red optics looked up and saw the sun above the surface. The rays had illuminated his whole surroundings into a cool blue. The tyrant huffed as the current pushed against his grey body. "Ugh, curse this body of mine." He groaned and took a hard step on the sands.

I hope Optimus and Ellie are enjoying themselves. The image of Optimus and Ellie, probably building a campfire or fishing for dinner, played in his brain module and it sent a pang of envy on the Decepticon. "Tch. Doesn't matter, she'll choose Optimus over me anyways." Because I'm scary and genocidal mania- His scans made a loud beeping sound, disturbing form his thoughts.

"Ah, its nearby. The Energon must be around here." Megatron grinned excitedly as he took a turn to the left, moving around a huge rock. And then he stopped dead on his tracks.

"What the-" Megatron's red optics stared in horror at the sight in front of him. He saw the cargo box of Energon right in a middle of four shipwrecked ships. And tied on each of the ship's end by a strong rope were hundreds of bloated and dead people.

By—By Primus! Megatron took a step back, in shock. "Four hundred-no, five-no! Are these the townspeople?" The Decepticon had also noticed a lack of Cordyceps infected presence or dead human remains. It puzzled him and now the answer was in front of him.

"They committed mass suicide by drowning." Megatron slowly walked ahead. The dead people were like floating columns of a terrifying palace. The sight had disturbed Megatron to the core as he passed through the shadows of the corpse pillar.

"I shouldn't tell this to Ellie. To Optimus, however-"

*GREE-! * A bubbling screech had cut through the silence on the right of the former tyrant. Megatron jumped back a little. A column of Cordyceps infected corpses screeched at him. It made him frown in dismay.

"I should be quick." He thought as he moved away from the screaming pillars of death.

Ellie found an old but sturdy boat on the shoreline. She quickly invited Optimus for a boat ride. The Autobot didn't refuse – he couldn't as the girl started badgering him. He eventually summoned his human avatar and the two slowly sailed towards the middle of the fjord. The shoreline behind them diminished as they rowed away at a lazy pace.

"Hmph, I've read a little about Norway. They said that they have hot springs here and…Auroras. Northern Lights or something. What is it?"

Optimus, in his human holo-avatar, made a grin. "Oh, have you seen a picture of it?"

"No, not yet anyways."

"Then you're in for a ride." Optimus said with eagerness. He glanced behind him. The sun was already setting now. In a few minutes, the auroras would bathe the night sky and he expected Ellie would be so amazed with it. "Now then, shall we start fishing?" He took out the fishing poles that he retrieved from a shop beside the beachfront.

Ellie took her pole and grinned with mischief. "Whoever gets the first fish will be the one to sing tonight."

"Oh, this is a contest? Well then, I won't hold back." A small laugh came out from Optimus as the two locked into a friendly fishing duel.

"I lost."

"Ha, I win!" Ellie shouted in joy, her voice echoing pleasantly around the fjord as Optimus counted the fish on the boat. Four Halibut and a pair of Cods. With the number of fish on the boat, Ellie could feed herself well tonight and that gladdened him.

"And now," The girl grinned triumphantly as she took out her guitar from behind her, "You're going to sing again." she said as Optimus took her guitar from her.

I sometimes wonder where you keep that thing, but never mind. "Sure thing, Ellie. Now what do you want me to sing?" Optimus positioned himself and put the guitar on his right thigh. His fingers brushed the strings, the vibrant sound reverberating around the fjord.

"Hmm…how about a song from your own language. Your Cyber—whatsoever—dialect."

"Cybertronian? Ok then."

Optimus was about to play when he suddenly glanced up and smile. "There it is, Ellie – Northern Lights."

Ellie slowly looked behind her and then made a loud excited gasped. "Whoa- holy shit…the sky— Its-Its alive!" Her eyes were wide in happiness as she stammered in disbelief. The night sky was now envelope in beautiful, dancing, teal colors of green and blue. The sky was alive and the girl was so astonished with it.

Optimus saw her reaction. He smiled as he grabbed the opportunity to sing her a song that he knew very well. He positioned himself, bringing the guitar closer to himself, and then with a soft voice he began to sing.

"Win dain a lotica,

en val turi silota.

Fin dein aloluca,

en dragu a seilain.

Vi faru les shutai am,

en riga-lint."

Ellie heard his voice and looked at her companion. His blue eyes stared right back at her, both mesmerizing and calm. His voice was perfectly tranquil and it matched with the sky's dancing lightshow. A small relaxed smile spread on her lips as she listened more.

"Win chent a lotica,

en val turi silota.

Fin dein a loluca,

si katigrua neuver.

Floreria, for chesti,

si entia-"

Ellie slowly put her chin on her right hand, completely captivated with the Autobot's voice, as she felt herself being pulled into a world of serenity.

"La la la la la la la la la…ha ha ha ha ha…

Fontina blu cent,

de cravi esca letisimo…

La la la la la la la la la… ha ha ha ha ha…

De quantian la finde reve…"

So calming…so gentle… the girl thought while she stared into the charming and placid blue eyes of Autobot. However, she could feel that the robot had witnessed a lot of tragedy from the millennial war that he had participated, and she could tell it was far worse than hers.

"Win dain a lotica,

en val turi silota.

Fin dein a loluca,

en dragu a sei lain.

Vi faru less hutai am,

en riga-lint."

Optimus finished his song and glanced at the girl. Ellie snapped back to reality and clapped her hands, grateful for his performance. "That was um…great. Though I didn't understand a single word of it." she said and the Autobot made a short, joyful laugh at her.

"What did those words mean, anyways? And who composed them?"

The Autobot smiled pleasantly and looked far towards the open sea. "It was actually a miner's lullaby created by Terminus. When Megs was a sparkling, he usually sings it to himself so that he can sleep peacefully."

Ellie was taken aback. Sparklings were equivalent of children on Earth, and she had just remembered that Megatron was once a child…a sparkling.

Silence loomed over them as the girl visualized the harsh miner's life of Megatron. "It must've been hard for him, what about you?" she asked suddenly as Optimus shifted his gaze at her.

"I was born as a data clerk and during that time, I'd watch his gladiator battles. I always watched him, and then one day, I heard him singing that." The Autobot smiled in remembrance while he looked down on the guitar. "Despite him being big and scary, he was actually very kind."

And yet he changed, just like me. Ellie faintly smiled and remembered her ordeal. The pain from the memory crawled underneath her skin, but it was very hazy and distant. She asked, "Are you going to forgive him, despite all the atrocities that he had done on you and your faction?"

The Autobot nodded. "By the all spark, I will always forgive him."

The girl understood his sincere words and it made her smile. "Gee, I thought my life sucks. Guess I'm wrong anyways."

Optimus chuckled lightly and put down the guitar. "Shall we row back? Its getting dark here." Ellie only nodded as the Autobot started to row back to the shore.

Megatron slowly emerged from the water and walked along the shoreline. His face was grave. The things that he had seen underneath the bay was still fresh in his brain module. It completely disturbed him.

"Megs! You're finally finished." Ellie called him and the former Warlord shifted his expression into a teasing smirk.

"Hope you'd enjoyed the boring company of Optimus." Megatron said as he looked at the two. Ellie was sitting on a large piece of rotten wood in front of a fire. Optimus glanced at him while he was chewing an Energon ore.

"Nice one, Megs. Optimus was a bit of a dull, but still packs a punch."

"Thanks, Ellie." Optimus and Ellie chuckled to each other. Megatron smiled at them. However, he shifted his red optics back to the Autobot.

"About that, would you excuse Optimus for a moment, Ellie. There's something I need to talk to him about." he asked as the Autobot looked up to him, puzzled to his sudden change of attitude.

"What is it, Megs?"

"Yeah, what is it? You can tell me." Ellie said and took a bite of her fish. Megatron glanced down at her with a bothered frown.

"Well…it's a bit confidential-"

"Is it about how the townspeople committed mass suicide by drowning themselves in the bay?" Optimus was startled by what he had heard from Ellie. Megatron took a step back, surprised that she already knew about the column of bloated corpses underneath the bay.

"Ellie, what do you mean by that?" Optimus asked in a worried manner as the girl wiped her hands and took out a piece of dirty white paper.

"I saw this on the boat's compartment. It was a letter of one of the townsfolk who lived here. Surprisingly, its English," She looked at the two and asked, "Want me to read it?"

The two Cybertronians nodded. Ellie unfolded the letter and began to read.

"My name is Kite. If you're reading this, then that means I'm already dead. I was an American and I was on vacation here in Lofoten when the first outbreak occurred. Me and my wife, Marie, and my daughter, Mia, were all stranded here on the beachfront. At first, the local government were helpful to us, but then these Cordyceps reached this place. The first one to be infected was an old man who ate bread that he had bought from a bakery. The infection eventually spread like wildfire and the town was doomed.

The military had isolated the town from the rest of the world, they shoot anyone who would try to escape. For a few days, me and my family had tried to survive. However, it finally got us. The infected had bitten my daughter and my wife. I was devastated, and then I heard our community leader's proposal. If we're going to be infected and turn into monsters, it'd be better for all of us to take our own lives. We would still die as humans and not live like monsters. So, we all decided to join the remaining townsfolk. We would divide ourselves into four groups, each of us riding the last functioning boats. We're planning to tie ourselves to the boat so that when it sunk, all of us will be dragged down to the watery depths.

I wish that this didn't happen. However, at least I got to enjoy my last moments with my family. I have no regrets in this world."

Ellie folded the paper and stared at the fire with a solemn face. Optimus looked down with sadness in his blue optics while Megatron lowered his head and was in deep thought. "Well, at least he died with no regrets."

The girl spoke lightly as she took a bite of her fish.

Optimus Prime glanced at the letter and made a very disappointed sigh. "Life is supposed to be precious and yet this world always finds a way to tell me that I'm wrong."

Megatron sat down beside him and frown. He felt the forlorn in his voice. He grieved for the family that had died.

"And yet it is still precious, Optimus." Ellie however countered it. The girl glanced down at the letter again, a look of relief forming on her face.

"The man wanted to retain the humanity of his family and that's the only way. It would be down right ugly if we saw them, roaming around, as Runners or Clikcers…or even worse, Stalkers or Bloaters." Ellie said and noticed Megatron lightly flinched after she mention the word 'Bloaters'.

"They are all almost intact down there. The cold must've preserved their bodies." The Decepticon added with grimace. But the girl quickly shook her head.

"It doesn't matter anymore. Its their decision and it's a noble one." Ellie finished her fish and threw its bones back to the sea. She stretched her arms up and looked to the sky. The auroras are still shining pleasantly above, uncaring to the tragedy that had taken place beneath it.

The girl stared for a moment. She felt very restless tonight, and it was probably because of the northern lights. "So…do you guys know any activities that we could do for tonight?"

She turned around and flashed a cheeky grin at them. Her smile had chased the sadness away from the two Cybertronians. "I don't know, Ellie. What do you want to do?" Megatron said. Optimus's blue optics flashed as an idea formed on his mind.

"We could have a movie night? I have movies that I got from that Netflix's databanks I got from the other Earth. We could binge a series or two."

Ellie's green eyes blinked in agreement. She liked what she had heard. Netflix, binge? "What's Netflix and what's binge?"

The two Cybertronians looked at each other and laughed while the girl looked at them with a puzzled look.

"Oh well, Netflix is a website filled with movies. Wanna watch now?"

Great, I don't even know what website is. Why should I give a shit? "Fine, I'll watch it." Ellie said, giving up questioning the two.

Woo-hoo! New Chapter everyone! Has anyone been to Norway? I heard its good and its filled with Tuna. My Favorite Fish! It also has Northern Lights, gosh How I wish I would see one. Anyways, in this chapter Megatron and Optimus took Ellie to Norway and there she some of the beautiful parts of the world. She also heard another song form Optimus, a lullaby made by someone who was close to the former Decepticon.

I choose the song from Vision of Escaflowne, the song was very relaxing and pretty to listen to.

Special thanks to Pure Red Crane for beta-reading!

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Transformers Prime and the video game TLOU. I do not own the lyrics of the music. Listed below are the artists involve in its composition. All places and events in this fanfic is purely fictional, if one exists in real life then its purely coincidental.

Song: "Sora"

Anime: Escaflowne

THIS COVER:

⊹Vocals: AmaLee (LeeandLie)

⊹Music: Luke Thomas

⊹Mix: Shawn Christmas & Fruutella

⊹Art: Raeyxia

⊹Video: kuroro