THUD

Skreen stopped in his tracks, looking around for the source of the sudden noise. Usually, he would do his late night walks in the Crystal Woods while most of Cybertron slept. He felt safe, he felt more at peace then he did during the day. Other bots often saw him as an odd-ball for going out that late, let alone find peace in the deathly silence and the eerie maze of the Crystal Woods. With it's reflecting, white-blue light, sharp and jagged ends, various and haphazard shapes sticking out of the ground creating multiple paths. If it weren't for the lit signs, guiding all who would venture down those paths, it would be easy to get lost in there.

But, in all the solar cycles that he has done this, Skreen never felt more at home. A lot of those other bot's couldn't understand him and he, honestly, didn't care. Even though, the loneliness was the painful consequence of being different and not caring. Just because he was different, didn't mean he was a selfish, uncaring jerk.

Well, Skreen thought to himself, maybe a drunkard stumbled in here.

He stood still, observing his surroundings, waiting for someone or something to jump out at him. Something that hasn't happened to him, yet. Cybertron's suns were down and darkness covered the sky, but even with the bright lights from the crystal trees, it was still difficult to see. It was like trying to protect a loved one from a villain lingering on the other side of a jagged wall.

Thankfully, Skreen was more than capable to defend and protect himself. And, so far, no one came out at him, no creature sprung out from any of the openings or falling out of the sky. For a moment, he believed that maybe he was hearing things or that it was the wind knocking a bit of crystal loose.

Then, a blue light started to shine brightly like Cybertron's suns. The light emanated on the other side of the crystal tree, still on the same path that he was treading.

But the only time these Crystal's would shine, Skreen thought to himself, is when they are touched.

As carefully as he could, he tip-toed up to the corner and peeked around the glowing crystal, and spotted a small lump laying in the center of the path. Not moving and silent. Cautiously and quietly, Skreen approached the lump. As he grew closer and closer, he noticed that the lump was a a bright silver and dark blue femme sparkling at least Elementary Academy age. She was laying on her front, her head turned slightly, her optics were closed, she was sprawled on her out like she was pushed from behind and she was covered in energon. He looked around, making sure that they were alone or if her caretakers were around.

The area was clear, there were no other bots around. If she was with some other bot, that other bot was long gone. He decided to see if the sparkling was hurt.

"Hey kid, you alright?" Skreen asked, gently nudging the her with his landing pad. For a moment, he kept nudging her, but she wouldn't wake.

Oh slag, Skreen thought to himself, come on.

"Hey, c'mon kid, wake up. Just give me a sign that your online, anything, c'mon."

Finally, her optics opened and she looked up at him. Skreen let out a sigh of relief, at least she wasn't dead.

"Hey, you hurt?" Skreen asked again, kneeling down next to her." You're covered in energon."

The sparkling stayed still, looking at him with confusion which, quickly, turned to fear. Then, she curled into a tight ball and started sobbing and trembling. Feeling pity for the little one, he reached down and picked her up. He wasn't sure what to expect from her, but he felt rather surprised that she didn't fight him when he picked her up and held her close. "Hey come on, what are you crying for? Does that mean you're hurt? Do you know where you're caretakers are?"

"Don't hurt me...please..." She whispered, covering her faceplate with her servos.

"Well...'course I'm not gonna hurt ya." Skreen assured her. "I just wanna know if you're hurt. I mean, you're covered from head to toe in energon."

"I-I don't think I am." She replied, looking down at herself.

"How did you get here?" He asked, glancing around again, expecting a carrier to show up. "Where are you're caretakers?"

"I don't know." She replied with a sob, sadness showed heavily in her bright blue optics. "I-I want to go home. Please, I want to go home."

"Yeah, but you're obviously gonna need some caring for, kid." He stood up and started heading back down on the path.

That's when an idea came to Skreen, he knew that there was a house not far from where they were. The only bot living there was the window femme, who was also his coworker and friend Rima. And since no other bot was showing up to claim the sparkling belonged to them, he figured he should make sure she wasn't traumatized or bleeding. No doubt, Rima would love to have some company. Also, he wouldn't mind seeing her again, as long as he could fight back his blushing faceplate from her.

What was it about that femme that made him blush and his system's go haywire? She was, pretty, domineering, posh, and a bit stuck up. But she was very kind and had a smile that made his spark sing.

Ignoring those thoughts, he started his walk down a hill that connected with his path, carrying the kid in his arms.

"Where are you taking me?" She asked, wrapping her arms around his neck, tightly. She whimpered and her little husk trembled. "Please, don't leave me alone! I don't want to be left alone!"

"Don't worry kid, I'm gonna take you to a femme who will take care of you." He said with a friendly smile on his faceplate. "Meanwhile, how about we get to know each other, heh?"

She looked at him with curiosity in her optics. Skreen wiped away the lubricants on her faceplate.

"What is your name?" She asked.

"Skreen's the name. Now tell me your name."

She looked down at his shoulder pad with an ashamed expression, then she put her knuckle bolt in her mouth.

"I don't know my name." She mumbled, slowly, chewing on her knuckle. "I...I can't...remember..."

"What do you mean?"Skreen asked, moving the bolt away so he could hear her more clearly.

"I don't have any memory of my name."

"Well, do you remember what you were doing laying on the ground? Or how you got to the woods?"

"No."

"Are you sure?" To Skreen, what she was saying didn't make sense. How could a kid not know if she was left behind? Or who her caretakers are? Or even her own name? It was just a jungle of puzzle pieces where nothing was fitting in it's proper place. Well, there was one piece of that puzzle that Skreen created, the kid was going to be safe and she was going to be put in a safe home until someone came looking for her.

She looked back at him, expressionless, and nodded.

"So, I see."

"I... remember waking up and my head was hurting really bad." She closed her optics and placed her servo on her helmet, as if it still hurt from the fall. " I fell into a wall, and it got really hot, so I fell to the ground. Then I saw you and that's all I remember."

He sighed in defeat and continued walking up the hill. As they continued their small journey, Skreen wondered what will happen to her after he drops her off. Should he report her as a missing sparkling? Will anyone cone looking for her? And if they did, where will the authorities send them? Where will they send her? Skreen imagined that little sparkling would be passed around from one foster family to the next, hoping and praying that she would be found, hoping she would have a family. The foster care system on Cybertron was hitting it's worse peak than it has ever seen, and that is thanks to many caretakers being recruited to fight in the war.

The war between Autobots and Decepticons, between former gladiator menace Megatron and former archive clerk Optimus Prime. A battle for freedom of all beings, a battle costing the sparks and life spans of many, seemingly never ending. Skreen has been considered to be one of the lucky ones; he worked in the transportation area on the medical clinic, he was responsible for bringing in wounded and shipping out the healed and healthy. All in all, his job was considered too valuable for him to be recruited, but it was fading fast. Many essential workers were being condensed to just one or two workers, while the rest were being shipped out or running to the recruitment office. Skreen saw it as an honor to be a member of the Autobot army, there was no greater honor than helping his fellow Cybertronians gain their freedom, to give them a life they deserve.

A life they deserve...

those words echoed in his processor. He glanced down at the child, pondering about her life. She looked at him as if pleading him to help her. He swallowed down the lump in his pipes. Then, he wondered, maybe Rima could give this sparkling a chance at life, a stable life, something every youngling deserved. "Well, when I take you to Rima, you can start your life over again."

"Over again? Like a game?"

"Well...kind of..."

After a few more blocks and hills, they came to the edge of the Crystal Woods and upon a house at the bottom of the hill. It was a small and simple house, almost like the architect just picked it up and put it down like picking up a toy. The lights were off, yet, it still appeared to be welcoming.

The sparkling poked his faceplate. "What if she doesn't like me?"

Skreen chuckled light and smiled, kindly. "Oh trust me, I think she'll love you."

Rima woke up to several loud knocks on the door. At first, she thought she was dreaming. Until she heard another knock. Keeping her system calm and her focus strong, she slowly and cautiously slide off the berth and left the bedroom. The knocking continued, louder and longer. She paused in the sitting room, thinking about who would be visiting her so late. Then, she started getting worried if she was about to be robbed or attacked by Decepticon's. Or, what if some overly exhausted bot was begging for help. Maybe a child running away from the dreaded foster system? Maybe it was work pleading her to come in and help with the wounded soldiers.

Just look...

She swallowed down the anxious spark and walked to her door, turning on the porch light. The knocking stopped and she heard the metallic sound of landing pads backing away from the door. She waited for either the knocking to commence or someone to kick the door down.

"Hey, Rima, it's Skreen."

Skreen?

Slowly and quietly, she walked to the door, grabbed the door knob. She paused, thinking about why Skreen would be visiting her. She, like their other coworkers, was aware that he took late night strolls around this time. But, he never stopped by, even when he took earlier strolls.

"Rima!?" A familiar voice shouted from outside.

Taking a deep breath, she turned the knob and opened the door. At first she couldn't see anything but darkness, minus the light from the porch. After a moment of looking around, she could make out a figure in the dark. Then, she heard whimpering and sobs, like a sparkling was afraid and separated from it's caretakers. Looking a bit closer, in Skreen's arms was a young femme, trembling and leaking. She was being held by a Skreen who seemed to be more calm than her. Rima looked at him confused.

"Rima, it's me, Skreen." He took a step forward into the light where she saw him more clearly."You know, we work in tansportation together?"

"Oh, yes, good evening, Skreen. Is everything alright?" Rima asked concerned, narrowing her optics at the sparkling. Skreen wasn't known to be a family mech, in fact, no one knew if he even had caretakers. Rima studied the young femme with lubricant soaked optics, searching for any sign of injury or fear. Instead, she saw confusion and hope.

"Yeah." He felt a nudge on his chest. He felt embarrassed, for a moment, he forgot about the kid in his arms. "Well, for me it is...but not for her." He said, pointing to the little femme. " I found her laying in the Crystal Woods, I think she's hurt."

"So you brought her here instead of taking her to the medical clinic?" Rima asked in a firm tone, crossing her arms. It wasn't that she was angry, in fact, she loved having company for once. But, really, a mech appearing in the middle of the evening with a strange sparkling in his arms? Claiming to have found her? Who could blame her that it sounded suspicious? "Why?"

"Because," He swallowed down his nervousness, realizing she had a point. The common sense act would have been to take the sparkling to a clinic, allow a doctor on staff to examine her, and maybe, weld any of her wounds. Skreen gulped again and continued."Well, she's got a lot of energon on her, and I'm not sure if it's hers or not. Also, the nearest clinic is a good drive away and not open. If this is her energon, I thought it would be best to bring her to someone, a professional, to check her out first. After that, if I need to, I would take her to the clinic in the center of Tyger Pax. Sorry that it's so late, and I was hoping you wouldn't mind some company for a short while."

Rima sighed and shook her head. It was typical of Skreen to talk fast and explain a bit too much when he was nervous. However, she had to admit, Skreen did have a point. And since she was awake, she figured there was no harm in allowing them inside her home, and make sure the sparkling wasn't seriously injured.

"Yes, I suppose you do have a point." Rima mumbled, suddenly realizing how lonely she was feeling. After her recent mate's sudden passing, she's been feeling like something was missing in her spark, like a part of her passed with him. She found it difficult to occupy herself if she wasn't at work, even more so to not get lost in her thoughts and memories of her mate, their dreams of having a family, their ambition to make Cybertron better for the next generations, for Rima to create a name for herself that would make her stand out in her clan.

Once she was threw with the first part of her grieving, she tried to rediscover herself at one of the busiest hospitals on Cybertron; helping weld wounds, go on supply runs, finish and file data, provide a mother-like comfort to the injured and traumatized sparklings. But now, she has found herself in a rut.

"So, think you can help this little one? I mean, obviously, I'm nowhere near qualified to help her. And I promise I'll take her to the authorities, see if they can locate her caretakers, once she's been taken care of."Skreen smiled, resting his servo on the femme's back. She gasped and whimpered, looked back and forth between Skreen and Rima, confused on what was going on. Then, she looked up, pleadingly, at Rima. Rima studied the femme again, searching for any resemblance between her and Skreen. Then, she looked at Skreen, narrowing her optics.

"Based on your reaction to finding her, and the non-existent tone of urgency in your voice, is it safe to assume she is not your sparkling? " Rima asked sternly, crossing her arms.

"Oh no!" Skreen shouted, so startled at the thought that he nearly dropped the sparkling. He sat back up with her squirming in his arms, and stutter:" I-I m-mean...I...I mean...I am the one who found her, so, I guess that makes me responsible for her...not that it's a bother or anything...but I don't know how to take care of a sparkling."

"But I do?"

"Don't you have more experience than me?"

"Are you saying that because I tend to the sparklings in the traumatized unit?" Which she could understand why Skreen would say that. In the past, she and her mate tried to have a sparkling. But they found out that Rima was incapable of having sparklings. So, to compensate the empty feeling and sadness in her spark, she got a job at a sparkling care, letting the other sparklings fill that gap. But they only temporarily filled the gap, because it would become empty at the end of every day.

"Yeah, I mean no...well kind of yes and no." Skreen cleared his throat, trying to be more confident and collected than before. "It's just, between you and I, you have the experience and skills, so you know what to do when it comes to odd situations like this. But, I kinda thought that...maybe...you would like some company, you know...since..."

Rima knew what he wanted to say, just didn't have it in his spark to say it. Over the solar cycles since they met, and Skreen was friends with her mate, Skreen tried to ease her pain by visiting her, or trying to break her dull cycle of work, then home. Which is why Rima liked him; he had the common respect and kindess that most mech's lack.

She gave him a small, kind smirk and walked up to them, taking the femme into her arms. As she was being transferred from one bot to the next, the femme kept her attention on Rima, confused and hopeful. Rima met that baffled look with a warm, and comforting smile, holding her close and gently as though ensuring the femme that she was safe.

"Poor love, you must be cold." Rima whispered as she carried the sparkling into the house, pausing at the door, she gestured for Skreen to follow her. Blinking in surprise, he followed behind her into the house and closed the door. "Now then, tell me your name, dear."

"I don't remember." She mumbled. "I told Skreen that, too."

"So, I see." Rima stated, setting the young femme down and started cleaning the energon off the femme. She grabbed a rag from one of the higher shelves, ran it under the faucet in her kitchen sink, and started wiping off the blue liquid as gently as she could. While she continued clearing, she would check for any signs of open wounds. Once the sparkling was cleaned, Rima was surprised, but also relieved, to find that the energon wasn't the femme's.

The next question was, whose energon was this? Rima wanted to ask, but she knew better. From the looks of the femme, there was not much left she could take of all the questions and uncertainty.

"I'm... sorry... I can't give you better answers." She said, drying off her faceplate, lowering her head in shame.

"Do not be sorry, little one." Rima said with assurance, smiling and caressing the femme's faceplate. Suddenly, she gasped and grabbed onto Rima's servo, holding it against her faceplate. Rima's spark ached, wondering how scared the sparkling was, what did she see before Skreen found her. Or worse, what if she was suffering amnesia and can't remember anything. Rima has had plenty of experiences with sparklings like her, but she took comfort that their caretakers would be able to come and take them home. And since this femme didn't have caretakers looking for her, or a home to return to, Rima knew there was only one thing she had to do. "Well then, I cannot allow you to remain nameless. I will name you Acrion and from now on, you will be under my care and protection."

"Acrion." She said slowly, as if the name sounded very strange yet interesting to her.

"Yes, my darling. Your name will be Acrion and you will be my daughter."

"Then you are my mommy?" She asked in a light tone, pointing to Rima.

"Yes, but, you must refer to me as 'mother'."

"Mother..." She said the word slowly as if the word was familiar, but didn't know how.

"Yes that is correct, I am mother." Rima whispered in a happy tone. She placed her servo over her spark, feeling it race and become light for the first time in solar cycles. Her smile grew, the darkness in her processor was dissipating and fading, so many thoughts ran threw her processor. Exclaiming gleefully, she picked up the femme again and hugged her tightly. "Come now, it's getting late and we must go to the berth now. You must be tired."

The sparkling, now named Acrion, didn't think she was tired, but she yawned and her optics started dimming. Then, she looked at Skreen and pointed.

"Are you my daddy, then?" She asked.

He gasped, uncertain what to say. He didn't want to say 'no' and hurt Acrion's feelings. The poor kid had enough trouble for one night that she didn't need any negative responses. But if he said 'yes', he would be lying. Unless he became her adoptive creator, then he wouldn't be lying.

But was he ready for that responsibility? Could he help raise a sparkling? And what about Rima? What would she think if he agreed? Hoping for an answer, he looked up at Rima, who smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, I guess I am." Skreen replied, feeling surprisingly comfortable with his decision. Or, he was just too tired to understand what he was getting into.

"Skreen, I hope you do not mind, but I have a spare berth you may use for tonight." Rima informed as Acrion laid her head on Rima's shoulder pads. "It has been awhile since I cleaned it, but since it has not been used for a good while, I believe it is better that powering down on the floor."

"That is more than I can ask for, thanks a lot." He said, scratching the back of his helmet in a bashful way. "And with that, I bid you lovely ladies a goodnight. And are you sure it's if she sleeps in your berth? I don't mind if she shares mine."

"Yes, it will be just fine, goodnight." Rima carried Acrion to the other room and up to a berth. Gently, she laid her down and laid next to her. After Rima laid down, she heard light snores from Acrion. She couldn't help but giggle. Her spark felt warm as her optics gazed onto Acrion's sleeping faceplate. The innocence and beauty of her adoptive daughter, somehow, made her life feel better, nearly complete.

Can a single sparkling do this?

"Acrion, my daughter." Rima whispered, pulling Acrion closer to her, holding her protectively. "We will be a family."