I tried to make this chapter and the next chapter all one thing, but there's gonna be so much heartbreak in these things I decided to give you guys some of it now, give you a respite, and then finish the job. Besides, I can barely see my computer screen anymore I'm crying so hard! The next chapter's gonna be a glitch! WHY DO I DO THIS TO MYSELF?! *sobs uncontrollably*

I do not own Transformers or anything in relation. I only own Hunter, the Hybrid race, and any other character that you may not recognize.

Evgeny Emelyanov; Sorrow

14

Ω Et Omnes Labenti Ω

(It All Come Crumbling Down)

Hunter couldn't breathe. She wasn't even sure if she was alive; her spark had just completely shattered—she was sure of it. This wasn't real. It couldn't be happening—this just couldn't be real! This was a dream. It had to be—it just had to be! There was no way this was happening again: nobody in life could have luck this fragged up! She was dreaming again. Any minute now she'd wake up back in her berth with Optimus' arms around her and his soothing, deep-as-space voice in her audioreceptor telling her that everything was all right and she was safe. That's what would happen. Any minute now. It had to!

But it didn't. Hunter never woke up. She remained standing there frozen in utter horror, starting at this man who had just dropped the biggest bomb ever imagined on them all. And slowly, as her senses returned, it dawned on her. There would be no waking up: no warm and comforting arms and voice to console her: no reassurance that everything was going to be all right. This… this was no dream. This was reality. And she was stuck her for all eternity. The only thing that was a dream were her hopes and beliefs for her happy ending—her adoption—to finally come true. That was the dream—the absolutely beautiful, amazing, perfect dream. And it was crumbling to dust. Just like it had countless times before, only this time it hurt so much worse. The pain was absolutely paralyzing.

As for Optimus himself, it was all he could do to keep his holoform intact he was so shocked. (In fact, he may have actually flickered, though Jacobs didn't seem to notice. It just slammed into him like a freight train. He didn't understand. This man was here to talk about an adoption for Hunter in place but… it wasn't his adoption of her? That made no sense! How could someone—some strangers from out of nowhere-just swoop in and throw a monkey wrench (as the human expression went) right into the middle of the plan? Fowler had assured him everything was ready to go; that nothing would get in the way. So what in Pit was this?! The Prime just could not understand it. "Uh…" Optimus stuttered, trying to think of what to say. Wow. Quiet of a mech as he typically was, this was rarely ever an issue for him. The Prime always knew what to say, when to say it, how to say it. It was a natural gift. And now it was failing him. Miserably.

Optimus cleared his throat as he tried to pull his thoughts together. "I am… I'm sorry," he finally managed to spit out the dazed confession, "but I am afraid I do not understand what is happening here."

"I think that goes for all of us," Epps declared.

"Yeah," Bulk agreed. "Who are these Prescotts anyway?" The ex-Wrecker was getting demanding now, stalking towards Jacobs and backing him into a corner. "And just what do they want with Hunt?"

Eyes wide with fear, the social worker backed away from the ticked, intimidating mountain of a man until his back came into contact with a wall. Instinctively he held his briefcase up as a shield. However, if this man decided to hit him, Jacobs had a hard time believing the briefcase would actually provide some form of adequate protection. "Um… well… I-I-I…."

"Easy, Bulk." Arcee came in between the two men and gently tried to pull her hulking friend back. "Let's let the poor guy talk before we go eating him alive." However, as she said this, the disguised two-wheeler show a deathly cold glare the worker's way. She couldn't help but feel rewarded when he tremored.

"That is an excellent idea, Arcee," Optimus agreed, crossing his arms tightly over his chest as he gave Jacobs a harsh scowl. He was forcing himself to be calm and rational. More than anything the Prime wanted to beat this man to a bloody pulp for coming in here and saying that he wouldn't be adopting his spark-daughter. Cybertronians—as you all may very well know—are extremely protective of their loved ones: their children in particular. To be between a creator and their creation is a dangerous place to be. And when that creator is a Prime it is even more deadly. Unfortunately for Trent Jacobs, he was in that space right now, and the only thing restraining Optimus was the bow he had taken to not harm humans. Even that was starting to become less and less of a barrier.

Growling one last time at the social worker, Bulkhead backed off. He walked back to stand behind the couch with Bumblebee and Arcee once again.

Jacobs heaved a sigh of relief and slumped into the wall. Then he quickly straightened himself up and, trying to look authoritative again, stepped into the room. "Perhaps we should all take a seat?" he suggested, motion around the room. Everyone took the suggestion and sat back down, including Sarah and the kids, who had returned from the kitchen. Being gently guided back by her spark-father, Hunter sank back down to sit on the couch cushions, her eyes still wide and glued to the floor. Nodding appreciatively, Jacobs cleared his throat. "As I have said," he began, "I am here to discuss Hunter's adoption."

"Just not the adoption we all thought was gonna happen," Will jabbed a bit harshly, glaring coldly at the man.

"Um… yes," Jacobs admitted carefully with a nod. "Unfortunately it seems to be that way."

"I'm afraid I'm confused," Optimus disclosed, watching the worker closely. "I was under the impression that I was to adopt Hunter and that everything was set for it to go through."

"I am afraid I was not aware of this adoption," Jacobs declared with a shake of his head. "I was simply told to come and retrieve Hunter."

"For this other adoption," Sarah cut in, giving the man a glare just as everyone else, save Hunter, seemed to be doing, "by these Prescotts. Who are they?"

"They are Hunter's relatives," Jacobs answered. "Her aunt and uncle to be exact."

Hunter's head suddenly shot up, her eyes even wider than they had previously been (if that were possible). She stared in total bewilderment. "My… what?" she croaked almost inaudibly.

"Your aunt and uncle," Trent Jacobs repeated with a small, friendly smile. "I can see you're surprised to hear about them. Evidently you didn't know you had family?"

Hunter didn't answer the question. She couldn't—she was far to shaken and stunned to. All she could do was close her eyes and lower her head to bury her face in her hands. Family? She had blood family? Why hadn't she known about this all these years?

"If these people are Hunter's relatives," Optimus said, gazing at his daughter empathetically before looking back at Jacobs, "why are they appearing now? Hunter has been in the foster system since she was three and she is now sixteen. They have had thirteen years to be a part of her life, so why are they making themselves known only now?" Now he was starting to get demanding. And why shouldn't he have been? He had every right to! Some strangers who claimed to be Hunter's family were just now showing up out of the blue to try and steal her away from him? Something didn't feel right with this picture.

"I'm afraid I can't answer that," Trent replied regretfully. "All I know is that they're making an effort to reach out now."

"But why?" Optimus demanded. "Why now? Why is this happening now? I am two days away from adopting Hunter! Why did this fact not appear when we first began making arrangements?"

"The Prescotts live in Colorado," the social worker explained. "Hunter is enrolled in the state system of Nevada—it takes a while for the paperwork to go through and be processed. It may have even very well been lost in the mail until recently. There are a million reasons for why it didn't appear."

"Bull crap!" Epps exclaimed.

Annabelle gasped, her eyes wide with horror. "Mommy, Daddy, Uncle Epps said a bad word!"

"But what about first-come-first-serve?" Miko suddenly jumped in, not at all willing to see one of her best friends hauled away to some strange state. "I mean, Optimus here put in to adopt Red first—that's gotta count for something!"
"Not in cases of blood relation," Jacobs responded with a shake of his head. "Family always takes precedent over everything else."

"But we are Hunter's family!" Bulkhead insisted.

"But not blood family," Jacobs patiently explained, trying to make them understand.

"Sharing genetics does not make you family, Mr. Jacobs," Optimus rumbled firmly.

"According to national and state law," the worker countered, "I am afraid it very much does, Mr. Prime."

"Why?" The crackling, barely there whisper suddenly made everyone shut up, freeze, and look towards the person it had come from. Hunter will still frozen on the couch with her face in her hands, but then she slowly began to look up until her dumbfounded gaze met Trent Jacobs' eyes. "Why?" she repeated, only slightly louder this time. "Why do you people always do this to me? Just when I finally start to feel happy and something good finally starts to happen to me, you people always come in and smash it. Why?"

It took Jacobs a moment to reply, as he was shaken by her words. "Ms. James," he began, giving her the most sorrowful of looks, "I am so very sorry and I understand…"

"No!" Hunter suddenly snapped, desperate fury immediately replacing the shock on her face. "No, shup up! Just shup up! Don't you dare sit there and tell me how sorry you are and how you understand how hard and painful it is because you don't! You don't understand! You don't get to sit there and lie to my face! You have no idea how hard it is to constantly be ripped away from people and places that you love! To constantly have all your dreams flushed down the toilet like they don't even matter! You don't understand what it feels like to feel so completely alone and so completely unloved you'd give anything for a loaded gun to take the pain away forever! So don't you sit there and tell me you do! And you!" Eyes beginning to shine with tears, the redhead suddenly whipped around on Optimus and began to target him. "You lied to me, Optimus! You lied to me! You promised me this wouldn't happen—that I wouldn't be taken away again! You promised that everything was going to be okay and that we were going to be a family and you lied to me!"

The Prime could only stare at the child in horror for a moment before sorrow and pain came into his eyes. He desperately shook his head. "Hunter…" he murmured. "Hunter, no, sweet-spark…" he tried to reach out for her but she wrenched away.

"Don't touch me!" the teenager shrieked, lurching to her feet and pulling her hands behind her. She backed away as she shook her head. "Don't you dare touch me!" Hunter became quiet as she continued to gaze the that Prime's holoform, a pained look of betrayal written all over her face. A quiet sob escaped her. "You lied to me, Optimus," she whispered shakily. "You promised me and you lied." The girl gasped and raised a forearm up to hide her eyes as the tears threatened to spill over and with that she went running past Optimus, out of the room, down the hall and out the door.

Optimus was on his feet and running after her, trying to catch her. "Hunter!" he called after her, pleading. "Hunter, please. Hunter!" The Prime opened the door and stepped out onto the porch, but just like that there was a whoosh and a boom of the sound barrier and he knew that Hunter had kicked it into overdrive and was already far away from this place. Sighing heavily, Optimus sank down to sit in one of the porch chairs, and buried his head in his hands. This was a nightmare.

Most teenagers, when they're upset, will either go to their room or to a friend's house, or maybe even lock themselves in the bathroom when they get upset. But in many ways, Hunter wasn't most teenagers, which meant she went to none of these places when she was upset. She always went to Jasper's biggest—and admittedly only—tourist attraction: Oasis Lake. There was just something about the sound of the waves lapping at the shore, the soft sand, and the clear coolness of the air that really helped to calm her down and help clear her head. It was her own special place to get away from it all. Even when there were visitors at the lake—like there was today—it was her own private place away from the world. But today, it wasn't working. The calming effect wasn't working like it normally did. She was thinking more clearly and had gotten herself under control, yes, but her emotion were still a raging storm inside of her. The sixteen-year-old couldn't remember when she'd been more devastated. The entire world was crashing down around her and there was nothing that could be done to stop it.

Among other noises Hunter's sensitive ears caught the sound of familiar tires humming on the road leading towards the lake. She remained sitting on the beach, unmoving as she stared out at the water and a young family that was playing there in the shallows. Finally she heard the hiss of airbrakes on the other side of the beach, an opening and closing of a door, and muffled footsteps shifting through the sand coming towards her. Taking a deep breath, she said, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Dad, I didn't mean to yell at you."

Sighing, Optimus' holoform sank down into the sand to sit beside her. He reached out and rubbed between her shoulder blades. "It's all right, Hunter," he assured her softly.

"I was just so upset," Hunter continued to explain, eyes still staring blankly out at the watery horizon, "and angry… and hurt." Her voice reflected each emotion. The teen squeezed her eyes shut and buried her face in her knees, pulling them closer to her chest as she hugged them. She released a quiet sob.

Optimus' spark, which was already broken at the prospect of losing his spark-daughter, broke even more at the sound of her crying. "Oh, My Shooting Star." The Prime put an arm around Hunter's shoulders and brought the girl closer to hug and cradle her in his arms. "I know, Sweet-spark. I know." He tried to blink back his own tears as he pressed his lips to the girl's hair.

Tears streaming down her cheeks, Hunter curled up into a ball until she was in her spark-father's lap. She clutched at one of his arms. "Why?" she sniffled. "Why is this happening? Why does it always happen to me?" The teen buried her face in the nook of his elbow.

"I don't know, Love," Optimus replied, rocking her as he brushed his fingers through her long copper locks.

Hunter suddenly sat up and dried her eyes, a hard, cynical look on her face. "Oh, wait," she said. "I know why." She met Optimus' eyes. "Because I'm me and I can never be happy."

Optimus furrowed his brows. "Hunter, that is not true."

"No? Then explain to why this always happens. Dad, every single time in my life when people have tried or considered adopting me something has happened to stop it. Every time I finally start to feel loved and at home somewhere I always have to leave. At first it made sense because, "Oh, if I had been adopted by these people, I wouldn't have found you and the place where I'm really supposed to be." But now it's happening again! This is the place I really thought was home! You and the team were the ones I really thought were supposed to be my family. I thought I could finally relax and be happy here, but apparently not! I'm being taken away again and the only explanation that can possibly make sense of it all is the fact that I can never be allowed to be happy! I dunno what Primus or God or whoever else officially runs the universe has against me but whatever it is it means I can't be happy!" The hard, coldness left Hunter's face again and she released a pained sigh as more tears started to well up in her puffy, blood-shot eyes. She looked down. "I can never be happy," she whispered meekly. "I just might as well accept…" she broke off with a sob. Squeezing her eyes shut again, the sixteen-year-old hung her head and pressed her hand over her eyes as she started to cry again. Her shoulder shook with silent sobs.

Optimus pulled her back into another hug, holding her as closely and tightly as he could. He too squeezed his eyes shut as the tears threatened to escape. He couldn't cry. Not now. Not while Hunter needed him to be strong for her. …But it was just so difficult. For a long time the Prime didn't say anything for fear his voice would betray him, but when he was finally sure he had pulled together enough strength and will to keep it from quivering too much, he spoke. "You are being tested, Hunter," he murmured. "And being tested only makes you stronger."

"I don't wanna be tested," Hunter whimpered. "I don't wanna be stronger. I just wanna be happy…." She sobbed and buried her face into her spark-father's shoulder.

Silence reigned over the two as they simply sat there in the soft, red sand holding onto each other for dear life. They never wanted to let go.

Finally Optimus spoke again. "Let me fight for you," he requested, voice hardly above a whisper.

Hunter remained silent a moment more, trying to process what her father had just said, before she finally pushed away from him and looked up with a confused expression. "What?" she sniffled, wiping her eyes and nose again.

"Allow me to fight for you, Hunter," Optimus repeated, more certain of himself this time. "Allow me to fight for you so that you may stay here."

The girl was still trying to put together what he was talking about. "You mean… a custody battle," she finally concluded.

"If that is what it is referred to, yes," Optimus answered with an adamant nod. "Let me take this to your court system and find a way to keep you here." He was started to sound excited and certain about the whole thing now.

Hunter's expression only became sadder. She pressed her lips together in a thin line and slowly shook her head as more tears welled up in her eyes. "No," she barely even said the word.

"But why not?" Optimus challenged. "Is this not a regular occurrence in the human court systems? Hunter, you want to stay here and I want you to stay as well as everyone else. Allow me to try and gain official custody of you! If I do then your aunt and uncle cannot take you away and I can adopt you—we can be a family! Please. With Fowler helping us we can accomplish this—I know we can."

"No," Hunter said more loudly and firmly. "No, Dad, we can't."

"But why not?"

"Do you have any idea how long, hard, and brutal custody battles can be? Remember my friend Mark I told you about? His parents got a divorce and started fighting over custody of him: he was in court almost every other week with them. His parents drug each other through the mud so much and came up with so many nasty rumors about each other to try and get custody that he didn't even want to be with either of 'em anymore when it was all said and done. It was horrible just hearing him talk about it—I can't even imagine the nightmare it was living it. They were both his biological parents. And you're talkin' about going to court against blood relatives of mine? Love doesn't mean anything in the courts, Dad, it's all about genetics."

"But I am your spark-father."

A skeptical look. "And that's what you're gonna tell 'em? That you're my spark-father? How do you think that's gonna fly, Dad? Because I can tell you right now—not well."

"That hardly seems fair."

"Of course it's not fair! This is the American court system we're talking about here—nothing is ever fair there! But it is what it is. And there's nothing we can do about that."

"I'm sure we can find a…"

"Dad, have you even thought about what could happen if you pursue this?" Hunter suddenly cut him off. "What could happen to the team and you? If my relatives are as dead set on adopting me as they really seem to be, they are gonna do everything they can to get me. They are going to hire people to look you up and dig into your background and find out everything they can about you to use against you."

"Hunter there is nothing for them to find," Optimus said, by way of trying to calm her.

"Exactly," Hunter responded with a nod. "And what happens when they can't find any evidence of your existence anywhere? They will take that to court and make some big case out of it—probably make you out to be some kind of criminal—and use it to win. Who do you think a judge is gonna side with? The nice married couple who share blood with me? Or the mysterious, single man who doesn't even seem to exist? Who would you pick?"

Optimus was quiet, starting to see Hunter's point.

"And that's not even the worst thing that could happen," Hunter went on. "Let's say they find out that you—by all rights—don't exist and they get curious about it. They start to dig a bit more and eventually they find out the truth. The whole truth. They could expose you to the entire world, Dad! And then what happens? Humans as a whole are not ready to learn that they aren't alone in the universe, Dad—you know that. If they find out that there aren't just aliens living among them but aliens warring among them and I can guarantee you there will be mass mayhem. They'll probably try to force you off world or hunt you down and kill you and…." Hunter sighed and looked down as she shook her head. "Hybrids can remain hidden, Daddy," she declared. "We've been on Earth for a long time; we have all the right ties to blend in and keep us here without people looking twice at us." She looked up to meet her father's eyes again. "But you Purebreds don't have that. Even with your disguises, if people find out about you, you will hunted down or forced to leave Earth and I…" her voice started to crack again, "… I can't let that happen. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something like that happened—I can't take it. I can't take it, Dad. I just can't…"

"Oh, Hunter," Optimus crooned, pulling into another hug. "Hunter, shh. Shh, it's all right."

"I can't take that chance, Daddy," Hunter squeaked into the Autobot commander's shoulder as she hugged him tightly. "I know it's a long shot, but I can't take. I can't risk something happening to you or never being able to see you again."

"I know," Optimus assured her. "I know. I understand." She was right. As hard and spark-breaking as it was, Hunter was right about everything and the Prime had to face it. He couldn't do anything. He couldn't fight for her. All he could do was love her as much as he could in the time he had left with her and then stand off to the side and watch on as she was taken away from him. That was the only thing he could do.

"I wish you could," Hunter sobbed.

"I know, sweet-spark," Optimus returned, tears starting to trickle down his cheeks. They were too stubborn to be stopped, no matter how hard he tried, so the Prime just quit trying to contain them. "I know. I wish I could as well."

"I love you, Daddy."

And that was it for the mech's spark. It had completely shattered. "I love you too, My Shooting Star. I love you too…" Optimus' voice cut out as a sob escaped him. Never had the Prime felt so helpless in his entire life-cycle. "I love you too." Holding his daughter closer, Optimus buried his face in her shoulder and quietly cried along with her as they watched their hopes and dreams of the future come crashing down around them.

Confession #38:

I don't know which is worse: making Hunter cry or making Optimus cry. Or maybe it's making Hunter be revved and yell at Optimus. Yeah, it's probably that. I think that breaks my heart more than anything else here.

REMEMBER TO SUBMIT YOUR HYBRID QUESTIONS!