Transformers Prime: Through Hell & Back Again

by xXBlack'BladeXx

She is his daughter; he loves her with his entire spark. He would do anything to protect her and keep her safe. Now both her fate and that of the universe lies in his hands. He will be tested, and he will not fail. He can't. He will do whatever it takes to bring her back home again safe and sound... even if it means going through Hell and back again.

36. Unbinding

Okay, this chapter took a lot longer than I originally thought it would. I went back and rewrote and reworked parts so many times to get it where I wanted it that it's not even funny. But we're here now—so it's good! I just hope the last several chapters come easier and quicker.

---

"Can you hear me? Can you hear me running? Can you hear me running? Can you hear me calling you…?" Hidden Citizens; Silent Running

35

Solvens Inimicitiam In Carne

(Unbinding)

The Egyptian sky was lightening as the sun began to rise above the sand. Optimus stood at the top of the spire of hangar door that he'd just launched himself off only moments before, staring up into the pale sky. The New Moon had long since disappeared from sight, but he found himself simply unable to pull his attention away from the direction it had gone: The direction Hunter had gone. His daughter was up there, trapped on the warship, and traveling farther and farther away from him by the second, going to Primus-only-knew where. Now he was going to have to find Primus-only-knew where and bring his little girl back home. And this time he couldn't fail.

"Optimus Prime?"

The Prime broke out of his thoughts and turned to look down the spire and find one of the Hybrid soldiers—Sergeant Buckley—standing there. "Yes, Sergeant?" Optimus asked as he began to move down the spire. Time to get back in the moment.

"The search for survivors is going well," the Sergeant reported. "It won't surprise you when I say that we haven't found many Lunation members among the living and none among the dead."

"You do not surprise me," Optimus concurred, his gaze falling to a pair of Hybrid soldiers baring another on a stretcher not far away. They were heading towards a medical transport. "If anyone you find is in need of urgent medical attention, please feel free to tell one of my team. Our medic is on standby if need be."

Buckley nodded. "Thank you, Sir," he said. "There's something else, Sir."

Optimus looked at the silver mech again. "Yes?"

"We've just received a transmission from Councilman Ananias," the Sergeant reported. "He requests your presence at the Council Building asap. I have the coordinates for your ground-bridge ready to transmit if you need them."

Prime was a bit taken aback by this information. He'd only ever been to the building once with Hunter and he'd only spoken to Ananias a handful of times—most of which had only happened recently in the lead up to this rescue operation; it was hardly a normal thing for the Councilman to request his presence or input. But now Ananias wanted him at the Council Building right away? Something important concerning today must have happened. "We have the coordinates saved in our system already," he informed Buckley, "but thank you anyway, Sergeant. I shall leave right away. Did the Councilman say anything about why he requested my presence?"

"Potential information about the Lunation's plans," Buckley reported. His look became significant as he added, "Information that could indicate where they're taking the Fuser."

---

Transantarctic Mountain range;

Optimus exited the ground-bridge and stepped right into a whiteout. Wind howled deafeningly as it carried snow around him in an almost solid wall of white nothingness. Bitter cold already bit at joints and muscle cables, making them ache. "And I believed it was Pit the last time I was here," the Prime muttered to himself, his massive chassis making an involuntary shudder at the drastic temperature difference. At least this time he wouldn't have to worry about perishing from the cold—he wouldn't be outside in the elements long.

"Optimus Prime!" a voice raised above the wind caught the Prime's attention.

Squinting into the storm, Optimus' gaze shifted around the white wall until he spotted what looked like headlights shining through the snow. They appeared to be coming towards him, so he didn't move but turned his own on in answer.

A few seconds later, a well-built Hybrid mech about Ratchet's size—but less bulky—with brilliant gold armor appeared through the storm: Councilman Ananias. "You're here," Ananias stated, his voice raised above the roaring wind. His face and optics were serious but not betraying any emotion. "Come, let us get out of this maelstrom. This way." He walked on past the Prime into the raging white wall behind them.

Wordlessly, Optimus turned and followed close behind him. There were two top entrances to the Council building to two different but parallel wings, he knew, and they were headed for the Titan Wing—that is to say, the wing that was Cybertronian sized.

Out of the whiteness loomed a spire of mountain. As they approached the spire, Ananias reached out and pressed his hand into a snowy patch of the spire. His hand sank through it and a moment later a set of hidden large, hidden doors was swinging inward, opening into a large, brightly lit, and warm hallway. Ananias wordlessly passed through the doors and Optimus followed. The entrance closed behind them, the doors clanking shut and locking, sealing out the wicked Antarctic storm beyond.

"I came as quickly as I could," Optimus said as he followed Ananias down the hall. It was much easier to get words out now without torrential winds whipping them away.

"Yes, good," Ananias said, not looking at the Prime. "Because we may need your help in gaining the information, and the sooner we acquire it at the better."

"Of course. How may I be of…" Optimus trailed off because they were walking through the medical floor, and he had just caught sight of a familiar face through a window of a room. The Prime stopped and stared in disbelief. What in the name of Primus?! He was alive! He was alive—he was here! "Atlas!" he quietly exclaimed, staring at the mech lying on a medical berth.

Ananias was standing beside him again, looking in at the unconscious Professor. "You thought he was dead." It wasn't a question.

"He disappeared after we found Hunter," Optimus murmured, not looking away from Atlas, who was being checked on by a nurse. "He didn't leave the mansion with us. He'd talked beforehand about finding more information on the Lunation while we were behind enemy lines—we assumed that was what he left us to do. But then Hunter irradiated the estate and-"

"He got out of there a good deal before that," Ananias interrupted, "and he came here."

At that Optimus looked at the Councilman. "How?"

Ananias met the Prime's gaze. "Among lesser skills, Dr. Bartholomew has the ability to travel through space," he explained, "but only for a brief period."

"That's how he came here," Optimus surmised, looking back at Atlas.

"Yes."

"Is he injured?"

"A little banged up from the tussle he had before getting here, but otherwise no."

"Why is he like this?"

"A power like what Atlas has can be enough of a drain to an Alpha Hybrid: When a Hybrid that isn't an Alpha has the power and uses it, it goes without say it takes quite a toll on his body. We've already contacted his family and are bringing them here to be with him, but he should wake up in a day or so."

Optimus nodded absently. "Will he be all right?"

"A few days' rest and he should be on his feet again. Won't be able to use that power again for a good long while though." Ananias turned away and began walking down the hall again. "Come. There's intelligence to be gathered."

Slowly turning away from the window, Optimus pulled his gaze from Atlas and followed after Ananias again. "Sergeant Buckley mentioned possible information having to do with the Lunation and Hunter," he stated.

"Oh, I'd say it's more than possible," Ananias said. "In fact, I'd wager we should be able to find out most anything about the Lunation—assuming we can get him to talk."

Optimus raised an optic-ridge. "Him?"

They came to the end of the hall and an open and waiting elevator. The two mechs stepped inside and, with the press of a couple buttons, began to descend into the bowels of the mountainous building. "When Atlas came here," Ananias explained, giving the Prime a significant look, "he wasn't alone."

Optimus' brows furrowed at that. Whatever that meant exactly he wasn't sure, but in general, it could only mean Atlas had managed to bring a Lunation member along with him. And it was likely that member had information about where Hunter might be and what Luna had planned for her. That meant an interrogation was about to be underway. It had been several years since Optimus had truly participated in an interrogation—three or four at the most; but whatever rust his interrogative skills had acquired over that period would quickly disappear. This was his daughter—his little girl. He would do whatever it took to get her back.

In a surprisingly short amount of time Optimus and Ananias reached the very bottom floor of the Council Building. The doors of the elevator cheerfully dinged opened and they stepped out into a dark, ominous space. Extending away on either side of the elevator were wide halls, lights intermittently set along the dark walls that vaulted upwards into dark nothingness. The lights provided just enough light to keep the place from being pitch black. One of these walls with a single light set right in the middle just above Optimus' optic-line stood in front of them, but only a few feet away on either side were breaks in the walls that could only be more hallways that led deeper into the gloom.

"Welcome to the Detainment Center," Ananias said gravely. He turned to the right and walked around the Prime. "This way."

Optimus wordlessly followed. They walked past the first break in the wall and a quick glance indeed showed Optimus another long, dark corridor minimally lit. The light was just enough to illuminate some openings set in the walls all along the hall: cells.

After the first corridor turn-off, Ananias led them past the next and the next then the next after that. Finally, at the fourth, he turned down. As Optimus followed him he saw guards lined on either side of the hall down this way. So whoever they were to be speaking with was here.

They walked down the hall until the entrance was lost in the gloom behind them, always bypassing guards the entire way down, when finally Ananias stopped in front of a cell. The leviathan metal door was solid and shut just like all the other cell doors down the hall had been; the activated keypad to the right of the door was the only clue that spoke to this cell being operational.

Ananias pushed several buttons on the keypad then leaned forward to let a laser set in the wall read his optic. After a few seconds of taking in and calculating the information, the system unlocked the door; with a slight hiss the slab released from the locks and slid up and open. More light came from beyond the open door.

Ananias moved through the door and Optimus stepped up to it. Through the entrance was a short flight of steps, and on both sides of the steps were walls, almost forming a short little hall that led down into the cell before you turned to the left and entered the cell proper. This space was very small and cramped, so Optimus opted to wait until the councilman had left the stairs before he moved in as well. Once he saw Ananais step around the corner, the Prime moved ahead.

"On your feet!" Ananias spat, from within the cell. "You'll show respect to your High Councilman when he enters the room."

A long-suffering sigh came from the prisoner, followed by a rather condescending, "Whatever the High Councilman commands."

As Optimus stepped into the cell, he found himself facing a stasis-cuffed and inhibitor-collared mech much his size and build—perhaps a bit heavier and bulkier. His armor looked as though it was fashioned out of a sunset with the brilliant colors it boasted: orange, gold, yellow, red, even purple. On most mechs—and even many femmes—it would have looked garish, but this mech pulled it off almost too well. When the mech looked in Optimus' direction, the Prime was taken aback: Those were Hunter's optics! Or they could have been, save the sheer magnitude of arrogance and malignity shining like hellfire in them now. That hellfire only seemed to blaze more fiercely as the mech's lipplates curled in a sneering smile. Optimus felt his spark instantly grow cold and harden with a fierce hatred for this mech; the same kind of hatred he'd only ever felt towards one person: Luna.

The mech seemed to sense this, for his smile grew in what seemed like pure ecstasy. Optimus' hatred grew darker still.

"Optimus Prime," Ananias said, his voice disdainful as he eyed the sunset mech, "meet Radiance James, the mate of Luna James."

Optimus' hatred was so cold he could feel it deep in his frame. So this… thing… this… monster of a mech… was Hunter's grandsire. Well, that explained the optics.

"Call me 'Ray'," the mech in question stated, his voice deep and cold as the far reaches of space. Ray looked Optimus over, scanning him up and down, that vile smile on his face only growing more so by the second. "Well, well, well," he finally muttered in almost an amused way after a moment. "So you're Hunter's beloved daddy: The Great Optimus Prime." The derisiveness in Ray's tone could not be missed. The cultist chuckled. "I was wonderin' when or even if I was gonna meet you."

"Where is she?" The savage growl had left Optimus before he even knew he was speaking.

Ray's face lit up in wicked delight. "Straight to the point," he mused. "A mech after my own spark." He made a motion towards his spark-chamber with his cuffed hands.

"Where. Is. Hunter?" Optimus enunciated very deliberately and slowly, hatred lacing every tone, every syllable, every letter of every word. This mech would give him the answer he sought, one way or another.

Again Ray only seemed to enjoy it. He chuckled again as he moved to sit down on the stone bench on the other side of the stone table that was the only barrier between them. "Here's the deal," Ray said, sneering up at the Prime from his relaxed seat upon the bench. "Impress me, and I might just consider tellin' you where the brat is headed." Ray's sneer turned even more wicked. "Think you're up to the challenge, Primey-boy?"

---

The New Moon;

"How does that feel, Steel?" Ally asked. Hands aglow with magic, she passed them back and forth over her brother's fried back. She didn't expect to heal him—the burning was severe to an extent it may never heal properly even with the best of healing magic and aides, but maybe she could alleviate the pain some and heal some of the less severe parts.

Steel groaned as he gritted his teeth against the pain. "I can't… really tell," he hissed. "It hurts too badly to feel if you're doing anything." He gripped the edges of the bench he laid on, crunching the metal between his fingers.

"Let me know if or when it does," Ally said, continuing her ministrations.

"H-How does it look?" Steel asked after a moment.

At that Ally paused, unsure of what to say. How could you tell your big brother that his backside looked like an over-done ham? "It's… not good," she finally uttered, going back to work. "There'll definitely be scarring. … There might be, like… some numbness back here. Because of the nerve damage. Especially if you don't get some actual serious medical attention soon."

"Numbness… would be an improvement actually," Steel stated, trying to fight back the tears that stung at his eyes.

"Give me a little time," Ally tried to reassure him. "I might be able to get you there. … At least, maybe partially."

"Better than nothing," Steel replied.

The brother and sister fell silent again because Steel didn't feel much like talking and Ally wanted to concentrate on what she was doing in order to do her best.

"Hunter's asleep," Steel said after a moment, breaking the quiet.

Ally looked over her shoulder to find their younger cousin curled up in a ball in a corner of the cell. She was indeed asleep, though her face hardly looked peaceful. "I'm amazed," Ally remarked, turning back to her work. "With everything that happened and might happen, I don't know how any of us will be able to sleep, let alone Hunter. If I was at the center of Luna's plans, I know I wouldn't be able to."

"She's exhausted—her energy almost completely drained," Steel said. "I don't think her body gave her much choice."

"She definitely needs the rest," Ally agreed. "We all do. But I don't see it happening." Despite the jacket she was wearing, a sudden chill ran through the girl, making her shiver and causing goosebumps to break out on her arms beneath her jacket sleeves. "God, it's so cold." Ally stopped soothing Steel's wounds for a minute in order to rub her chilled hands together and breathe on them

"Space is cold," Steel muttered in response.

Ally froze in utter shock. Had she heard that right? Space? "We're in space?" she asked.

"Yes."

"H-How can you tell? We can't see anything outside of this cell."

"Apart from the cold? It's the best and safest place for Grandmother to go now that the Council knows she's back. If the military took captives there's always the risk they could force the information of the locations of other estates from them. Nobody but Grandmother knows exactly where they all are, of course, but some Acolytes are aware so that moving operations can be carried out if and when the need arises. How is Grandmother to know of the Acolytes captured which ones have such information and which ones don't and of which estates if they do?"

"That makes sense, I guess." She grew silent for a moment as she began to think about the prospect of being in space and wondering what was going to happen now. "Do you… do you have any idea where we're going?" Ally murmured quietly.

"No," Steel answered glumly. "Just that it'll be away from Earth. For now."

"Until Luna's ready to come back and try taking over again," Ally surmised. The fear finally crept through the seventeen-year-old's voice as she finally asked the question they were all thinking: "What do we do now?" She looked down at her brother and met his gaze as he looked up at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Pray," Steel said softly, his voice dismal. "And hope that someone hears and answers."

At that Ally shifted her gaze over to Hunter again, who was still sleeping fitfully in the corner. "I hope Primus isn't sleeping then, too," she murmured.

---

Luna furiously scanned the pages of the book that was held before her, instructing the Acolyte holding it to turn the page every few seconds. Steel had done a fine job in creating this grimoire in his studies to do with the spark and spark-links; everything she could hope to learn was here. And considering she'd never given much thought to the workings of the spark and spark-links beyond that of her own, Luna had quite a bit to learn.

The witch's attention was ripped away from her studies as a sharp, searing pain shot through her. She hissed sharply through gritted teeth.

"It will take a moment before the spell fades, Mistress," the head healer Acolyte murmured in a soft, soothing voice. "There are many parts to repair and restore with a completely severed arm."

"I'm aware," Luna muttered. And she was; though it had been quite a long time since she'd had anything of hers severed and in need of repair. "What of my other arm?" she asked, still not looking away from her reading. "How badly damaged was it?" The image of Hunter impaling her severed appendage and setting it aflame came to the witch's mind and a surge of anger flared with her spark at the thought. The little bitch! She'd pay for that!

"Unfortunately we were unable to recover your other arm, Mistress," the healer stated. "Now that we have fresh genetic material from you, we can begin to grow a new one for you, but it will take some time."

Luna understood that, but it still annoyed her; she was so used to having things the way she wanted, how she wanted, right when she wanted them that she'd grown unused to having to wait. But she was not a woman without patience: She could wait a while to get her arm back. After all, it would take some time to get to where they were—

All thoughts concerning anything else besides what she was reading flew out of Luna's head as her eyes finally locked onto a particular passage in the grimoire.

Spark-bonds are nearly ever-enduring. However a link is tampered with, it can be restored to what it once was. As a result, the Frozen Bond curse is not permanent. Tests with the curse have proven that nothing more than a simple touch between the bondeds affected is enough to break the curse and free the bond. However, this is a fairly easy problem to avoid, so long as those affected can be kept separated from each other. But should that not be possible, the Frozen Bond is not an effective way to eliminate a spark-bond.

If a more permanent solution is sought, there are only two other options I am aware of that will eliminate a spark-link. The first is to kill one or more of the bonded. The second is a spell of some of the blackest and most arcane magic I have yet come across. It has no name—whether it had one that has since been long forgotten I don't know, as it is an ancient bit of magic.

Below the last paragraph, there was nothing but a blank page, as if that was simply where Steel had ended his writings, but Luna knew better. She'd taught the boy herself; taught him that such magic as the kind he'd just referenced in the grimoire was never to be left unprotected. He would have charmed the book to hide that spell—made it so the information couldn't be seen and never would be unless given the correct trigger to appear. What was the trigger though? Energon? A password? Specific light? She had to know.

Her healing arm still stung, but the pain was the furthest thing from Luna's mind as she quickly rose to her feet, seizing the book from the Acolyte without warning. "See if you can find a way to speed up the growth process for my arm," she commanded as she headed towards the door. "I'm not used to being without the use of both hands and I may need both sooner than later."

"Of course, Mistress," the healer said, "but… you're other arm is still healing, and you lost a good quantity of energon during your battle. I would highly advise that you rest until-"

"Your advice is noted," Luna interrupted. "But I haven't the luxury of time so that I may rest. I will be fine—I assure you; my body is accustomed to pushing its limits."

---

"Dad!" Hunter yelped. She gazed around her in alarm, unsure of where she was and not seeing much of anything in her panic. Where was she? What was going on? Where was her spark-father?!

"Hey," a soft, soothing voice murmured close to her. "Hey, it's okay. You're okay."

Hunter jumped at the voice and looked towards it to find Ally knelt beside her, smiling softly at her. Her confusion began to fade as she remembered everything. "Ally," she sighed. Her eyelashes felt heavy and wet, and when Hunter reached up to wipe her eyes she found she was crying.

"You're okay," Ally repeated, reaching out and rubbing the younger girl's back in a motherly way. "It was just a nightmare."

Hunter nodded. "I saw my dad," she said softly. "And 'Bee. They were falling—we were watching them fall again."

"You know they're okay," Ally murmured, squeezing her cousin's shoulder. "We watched them get caught. And you, like, got a spark-link with Optimus, right? You know he's safe."

Again Hunter nodded, haunted eyes trained on a section of metal floor in front of her. "Yeah," she agreed. "But still."

Ally smiled sympathetically and gave Hunter a one-armed hug, leaning her head against her cousin's. "I know."

"Thing is, I don't know which is worse, though," Hunter said. "My nightmare or waking up-"

"Into a living one?" Steel finished for her. He was still lying across the way on the bench trying to move as little as possible to avoid more pain. Ally had managed to dull it a bit, but the young man was far from being out of agony. He'd just dared to angle his head so he could face the girls, revealing the sheen of cold sweat on his pale face and the hollow look in his eyes. "Let me know when you figure it out," he continued through gritted teeth. "I've been wondering about that myself for a while."

"Well, at least we're all together now," Ally commented, trying to find some good in their situation. "So it's not as bad as it can be. Right?" She looked back and forth between her brother and cousin.

"Yeah, sure," Hunter replied dully.

"I suppose," Steel muttered, turning his head to hide his face in his arms again.

"Well, gee, thanks for the vote of confidence, guys," Ally grumbled. She sat cross-legged on the floor beside Hunter and leaned back on her hands as she glowered down at the floor. So much for her try at optimism. Granted, this wasn't exactly the most conducive scenario for optimism to flourish anyway, but still.

All at once, the cell door whooshed open and half a dozen Field Acolytes rushed into the room. Chains snaked up out of the metal floor and snaked around Hunter and Ally, wrenching them down to the floor as a gravitational field sucked them to it. Three of the Acolytes came to stand over them, weapons drawn and pointing down at the girls. "Don't move!" one of them barked.

"No duh!" Hunter groaned. They were being held down by magical chains and gravity magic; they couldn't move to scratch an itch let alone try to fight back and escape! How the hell could they do anything but stay where they were?!

The other two Acolytes had rushed Steel and seized him. They roughly pulled the wounded boy off the bench and dragged him across the room to slam him into the back wall. Steel cried out in agony.

"Steel!" Ally screamed.

"Get your hands off him!" Hunter bellowed at the same time.

"Shut up!" the Acolytes ordered.

That was when she entered the room: Luna. The witch practically glided across the floor towards Steel, completely ignoring the struggling girls as if they weren't even there. A thick, leather-bound book was clutched in her hand. She came to a stop in front of the young man and lifted the book to hold it in front of his face, holding it open to a specific page. "What is it?" she asked, voice tonelessly demanding.

Steel didn't answer, only grimaced up at the book as he panted and hissed through the pain. The shadow of recognition and then horror fell across his face.

Luna's lips twisted into a knowing smile when she saw that. "What's the secret, Steel?" she pressed again. "What does it take to reveal it?"

"I… I-I…" Steel dropped off, unsure what to say.

"You know I will find out, Steel. One way or another, you will tell me and I will have the spell."

"I-It's not even there," Steel stammered out lamely.

Luna raised an eyebrow. "No?"

"N-No. I never got the chance to record it; I meant to, it just never happened."

Luna stared at the boy in silence for a moment. Then she let go of the book—levitating it in midair—stepped closer, and threw a hand forward towards Steel's chest; the appendage disappeared with a squelch! straight into the boy's chest, as though she'd just plunged her hand into liquid. Steel cried out in shock and pain. The girls screamed in worry for him and rebuke of Luna.

For a long moment, Steel stood rigid in the grips of the Acolytes, his breath coming in short, tight, painful puffs, as though something was constricting his lungs. Then Luna finally ripped her hand back out of the boy's chest, holding a glowing, crystalline object tightly in her grasp: Steel's spark. The spark gave off an audible, steady beat; and the white-blue glow of the crystal pulsed in synchronization with the sound.

Steel gazed in horror at his spark beating in Luna's hand. He was deathly pale and trembling, a knowing look in his eyes as he stared at his own spark. "P-Please," he stammered weakly after a moment, his eyes shifting from his spark up to his grandmother's gaze and he beseeched her for mercy, "please…."

Luna stared him down coldly. "It's your choice, Steel," she told him. "Either you can tell me of your own accord, or I can force you to tell me. One option begins the process of putting you back in my good graces, the other leaves no one happy with you."

"Don't listen to her, Steel!" Ally shouted.

"Don't just give her what she wants!" Hunter bellowed at the same time. "You've given her what she wants for too long! If she wants it, make her fight to take it—don't just hand it over! Don't cater to her!"

"We're with you, Steel! We'll always be with you!" Ally added.

"What would be the point?" Luna asked in exasperation. "I have your spark in my hand—you cannot refuse me. You may defy me for a single moment but in the next, you will do exactly as I command. I haven't time for you to decide if you possess a backbone or will continue to grovel at my feet, nor do I have the patience. Now tell me: What do I do to reveal the spell?!"

Steel became very quiet as he stared into the eyes of his grandmother. His grandmother, who had taken him under her wing and taught him everything he knew about magic and how to become an elite sorcerer. His grandmother, who had allowed him to be what he was after he'd been deprived of the right for so long. His grandmother, who had practically been the only family he'd known for years and had raised him and helped mold him into what he was now. But a grandmother who had achieved that process by littering his body with bruises and cuts and wounds horrible and deep enough to leave scars over the smallest of infractions. A grandmother who had told him that he could trust nobody but her and isolated him from people he'd loved. A grandmother who had said time and again that she loved him, and that they would restore the balance of power together as a family, and that she needed him by her side to help her do it; and yet had, just hours ago, almost willingly killed him in order to attain something she wanted, despite the loyalty he'd shown her all these years. A grandmother who had left his back severely burned, scarred, and with permanent nerve damage.

And just like that, Steel felt the strange sensation of anger—anger towards his grandmother—bubbling up from deep inside him. His electric-blue eyes went hard as he glared at the witch. "No," he said. His voice was just barely above a whisper, but it was adamant and full of resolve.

Luna's face darkened and with a hot, exasperated snort she looked away from Steel and turned sharp eyes on Hunter. "You see?" she addressed the girl, voice dangerous. "Do you see the conflict and rebellion you sow? The insurrection you propagate? Everything I have worked so long and hard to build you corrupt and destroy with your venomous touch and tongue."

"Wasn't very sturdy what you built then, was it?" Hunter snapped back glowering up at the witch from the floor.

Luna glared at the girl, looking like she was considering smiting her right there, but evidently, she decided she had more important things to do first because she turned back to Steel once more. Never taking her eyes off the boy's, Luna raised his spark to her lips. She squeezed the beating crystal-like object more tightly, causing Steel to stiffen and quiver as he gasped in pain. "Tell me," Luna spoke with purpose directly into Steel's spark, "how to lift the concealment charm in the book."

Steel stopped trembling and his posture became normal. The pain left his eyes and they became clear—well, almost clear; there did seem to be just a little glassiness to them that you could see if you knew him well enough. "Tears," he answered, his voice sounding just the slightest bit robotic. Again, you would truly have to know him to hear it. "Tears will reveal the spell that's hidden."

Luna's lips curled slightly in a smile. "Good," she cooed. "But if I taught you anything at all, they won't be just any tears. Whose tears?"

"Ally's."

"Wha-mine?!" Ally gasped incredulously.

"Ally's tears will lift the charm," Steel confirmed further.

"I guess all that tear collecting we did as kids really did come in handy after all," Hunter grumbled. "Wonderful."

All at once the chains that bound Ally slithered off of her and receded into the floor of the cell. The girl still couldn't rise, however, with the gravity spell acting upon her.

"Help her up," Luna said, addressing the Acolytes guarding the girls. "Bring her to me." She looked back at Steel and thrust her hand back into his chest, returning his spark to its proper place. Again there was a sickening squelch! and Steel gasped sharply in pain and stiffened before slumping with relief in the Acolytes' grips.

"I'm sorry," Steel muttered dazedly over and over. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Ally cried out as an Acolyte grabbed her arm and wrenched her up off the floor and dragged her from the gravity circle. The sensation of being forcefully ripped from a massive gravity well straight into a regular gravitational pull (or as regular as simulated gravity could be) was shocking, disorienting, and rather painful. The air rushed from her lungs and she gasped and heaved to try and inflate them again.

"Ally!" Hunter shouted, still struggling to get free of her bonds and rise.

"Ah!" Ally was suddenly thrown or dropped or shoved down to the hard metal floor again, only this time at Luna's feet. Yards of elegant, dark wine-colored fabric filled her vision, the velvetiness of it brushing her nose, filling her nostrils with the scent of her grandmother's sickly sweet and rich perfume, turning her stomach. Ally had always hated that smell—it was just too much.

Luna turned from her grandson to her eldest granddaughter, staring haughtily down her nose at the girl. With a tsk of her tongue, she rolled her eyes. "Stand up, Girl," she sighed in exasperation. She made a little sweep through the air with her index finger.

Ally was suddenly surrounded by a cloud of purple smoke and when it disappeared, she found herself on her feet. More significantly, she found herself face to face with her grandmother. That very familiar, icy fist of fear seized hold of her spark. Her guts tied into a million knots.

"Well," Luna said, looking over at the book in her possession, "you heard what your brother said, Alchemy: Your tears are the key to revealing what I seek." She looked back up at Ally, her eyes and face darkening. "You've always been a blubbery one, haven't you, Darling?" Levitating the book through the air, Luna thrust it into Ally's face so that the pages were right underneath her nose and commanded venomously, "Start crying."

Ally didn't know why: She didn't know if it was the fear that was currently coursing through her; or the stress of everything that had built up to the mission and the disappointment that it had failed; or the fact that deep down—even though she hadn't really thought of it yet—she realized that this was going to be the rest of her life now—whatever was left of it—and that she'd never see her parents or friends or anyone else she loved ever again; or the fact that just being here brought back all the pain and memories that she'd tried bottling up for some many years to the surface; or maybe it was all of it combined into one big monster of emotion. Whatever it was, Ally suddenly felt that telltale sting in her eyes. She blinked rapidly and sniffed hard, trying to ward the sensation off—trying to keep the tears at bay. Her vision began to blur. She fought it. She couldn't let the tears fall; the second they hit those pages whatever dark spell Steel had hidden there would be revealed and they'd be in a whole other circle of hell—one most likely worse than what they were in now.

But the sting burned worse. And her vision swam all the more.

"No, Ally!" Hunter called out to her. "Don't! Fight it! You know you can—you know you're strong enough! You can control yourself! Don't give it to her!"

Ally made a determined sniff and screwed her eyes tightly shut. Hunter was right! She was strong enough! She could control herself, her emotions! She wouldn't give in to them! She wouldn't give Luna what she wanted! She wouldn't! She couldn't!

"You know you will," Luna said, almost tauntingly. "You've always been an emotional one, Alchemy—letting your feelings run away with you. It's a shame really—you could be so powerful if only you could learn to channel those emotions into your magic instead of… well, what you're trying not to do now. Such potential utterly wasted. Oh, well, at least if you can't make use of your emotions in terms of magic, I can. Now sob!" Without warning, the witch reached out and slapped the seventeen-year-old hard across the face.

Ally shrieked in pain and surprise.

"Ally!" Hunter and Steel screamed in unison.

Holding her stinging cheek, Ally turned back to face her grandmother, anger welling up through the emotional storm raging inside her. Unfortunately, the slap and the anger had broken whatever little control the girl had on her tears because now they were streaming hot and free down her cheeks. "You're a bitch!" she hissed, her voice quivering but vindictive.

"Oh, believe me, I'm well aware," Luna replied. Her eyes flickered over to Hunter. "Your cousin has informed me of that many times. Not a very creative insult if you ask me, but I suppose its purpose is more to make you feel better rather than offend me." Without warning, the witch reached out and roughly grabbed Ally's face. She forcefully rubbed her fingers along the girl's tear-soaked cheeks and when she let go they were glistening with tears. Luna flicked her fingers over the pages of the grimoire, sending liquid splattering across the parchment. The flecks of wetness shimmered for a moment. Then, all at once, little black lines began to appear on the pages, creeping across them, making shapes, making letters—revealing a spell. The concealment charm had been lifted.

"Excellent," Luna murmured, grabbing the book and her eyes already rapidly skimming across the new information revealed. "Excellent." With a swish of skirts she turned and began to leave the room. "Come," she called over her shoulder. "We're done here. For now."

The Acolytes quickly followed after her.

Steel dropped to the floor with an agonized yell. The chains around Hunter receded into the floor and the gravity circle around her disappeared. The door to the cell closed and sealed shut, securely locking them in once more.

Silence fell over the cell, only broken by Ally's angry sniffling and Steel's painful breathing.

"I forgot just how much I hate her!" Ally finally seethed, voice quavering with intense emotion. "I told Mom she was worse than Luna because I was mad at her, but now I just wanna slap myself for even exaggerating! Luna is the absolute worst: No one could possibly be more horrible than that bitch! I hate her! I hate her!"

"She's gonna rot in one of the hottest, darkest pits of hell," Hunter rumbled as she slowly rose up from the floor. "I'll make sure of it, even if I have to drag her down there and throw her in myself."

The sound of quiet sobbing drew both of the girl's attention to the corner, where Steel still lay crumpled on the floor. Forgetting about Luna for the moment, both girls moved towards him. Ally's hands were already glowing with magic, ready to soothe her brother's pain as soon as possible. "Steel!" They fell to their knees beside him.

"I'm sorry," Steel was still murmuring as he cried. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

"You don't need to apologize, Steel," Ally assured him. "Luna had your spark and ordered you to tell her the key. You couldn't refuse her."

"The important thing is you defied her until you literally couldn't," Hunter added. "You made Luna realize she doesn't have you anymore. You're free now—your own man."

"That's not what I'm apologizing for," Steel groaned as he slowly, agonizing pushed himself up. He met Hunter's eyes, gazing sorrowfully at her. "And yes, Hunter, I do need to apologize even though I know no apology will ever be able to make up for what's coming: For what my actions are going to lead to."

Ally sent a confused look Hunter's way, but Hunter's gaze remained locked with Steel's. The younger girl looked just as confused but also far more wary and even fearful.

"What are you talking about, Steel?" Hunter murmured, her spark pounding in her throat. She recalled the moment it had been revealed that he was the one behind the spell that had frozen Optimus' and her spark-bond: This scenario felt so much like that one. And the look on his face was even more distressed and guilty than it had been that time too. "What's coming?"

Steel shook his head and pressed his lips into a thin, pale line as he swallowed hard. Tears trickled down his cheeks. "I'm sorry, Hunter," he repeated softly, voice breaking. "I'm so sorry."

The dread welling up in Hunter had just about crested. She already felt tears pricking at her eyes and she didn't even know what the bad news was, yet. (Though, deep down, in some way, she already knew.) "Steel?" she squeaked, her voice frightened.

"T-The s-s-spell that was… was concealed…" Steel stuttered slowly, trying to keep himself under control, "… it's an a-ancient… ancient dark curse called Solvens Inimicitiam In Carne —Unbinding. It's… it's a curse powerful enough… to eliminate a spark-bond"

Hunter's spark froze. It felt like the life had just seeped out of her, leaving her a cold, empty shell. For a long time, she stared at her cousin, trying to comprehend what he'd told her. A curse that could eliminate a spark-bond? When she spoke again, she wasn't sure that the voice talking was really hers, it sounded so small and meek: "Y-you mean… like freezing a spark-bond, right? Like your Frozen Bond curse? Steel?"

Steel could only look at her in desperate sorrow.

Tears were already streaming down Hunter's cheeks. Panic was setting in. Her whole body began to tremble in terror. She suddenly found it difficult to breathe. "Steel?!"

---

The Hybrid Council Building—Detention Level;

"I understand what you're doing, Ray," Ananias said, seated opposite of the large, sunset-colored mech at the table. "You're a good mate; you're loyal to your femme. It can't be argued that you don't love Luna, what with you actually taking her last name and all. And you think because you love her so much and because you're so loyal, the best thing you can do for Luna is to hold your tongue about what she's planning and where she's going." He leaned forward, looking Ray right in the sapphire optics with his purple-gold ones, a serious expression on his faceplate. "But let me tell you, Son," he warned severely, "that's going to do both you and your femme more harm than good going about it like that; because we will find out the truth, Ray—I assure you of that. It's going to be a lot worse for the both of you if it doesn't come from you. Cooperate and we can work out a deal. It doesn't have to be as bad as last time, Ray. And it sure as pit doesn't have to be worse."

For a long moment, Ray and Ananias held optic contact, neither blinking nor looking away or showing any sign of being intimidated. Finally, Ray's face split in a large grin that was both charming and disturbing as he began laughing. His eyes glittered in a twistedly amused way. "You've never played the role of "good cop" very well, Ananias," he chortled dismissively. "And I don't play the role of "snitch". So, as much as I'd enjoy seeing you all riled up and angry in frustration and disappointment, I suggest we end this pointless charade. Besides, we both know I don't want to talk to you." Ray suddenly turned his gaze from the Councilman to Optimus who was still standing there on the other side of the table, quietly fuming and stewing like some dark, ominous wall of thunderheads on the horizon. "I want to talk to him." He sneered with a chuckle. "After all, I'm sure he's got more than a few things to say to me."

"Where's Hunter?" Optimus repeated, glaring down at the gloating, mocking, prickling mech before him. What he wouldn't give to just reach across and rip Ray's smarmy, smiling helm right off his shoulders….

And that oily smile that already grated the Prime's gears only grew bigger, the sapphire optics sparkling more insidiously. "Where she belongs," Ray answered lightly, "with her family."

Optimus growled and took a step forward, looming taller over the seated mech from across the table between them. "I am her family," he snarled. "My team is her family. She belongs with me!"

"Ha! How sentimental," Ray taunted, raising an optic-ridge in an irksome way. Then he lifted his head and jutted his chin out in a superior way as he looked the Prime authoritatively in the eyes and declared, "She's with her real family."

"We are her real family!"

"Her genetics say differently."

"Genetics make you relations," Optimus said slowly, trying to keep himself under control. It was getting harder and harder by the second. "Genetics does not make you family."

Ray smirked. "Maybe that's how it worked on Cybertron," he said, "but unfortunately for you, you're not on Cybertron anymore, are you? This is Earth. And according to every natural law on Earth, the blood flowing through that girl's veins binds her to Luna and me in a way she will never be to you. Not even your spark-link compares."

Optimus was about to erupt. At the back of his processor, he wondered if Ananias would try to stop him if he attacked Ray and if he'd even be able to if he did. The way he felt right now, the Prime wasn't sure Primus himself could stop him from ripping into this mech. "Where is she?" Optimus asked once again, his voice deadly quiet.

At that, Ray sat back a bit more casually and once again looked the Prime up and down. "I don't know," he answered and it didn't sound like a lie. "Halfway to the moon, maybe? Despite her size, the New Moon is quite a speedster—special kind of magic Luna and her Circle cooked up—real incredible stuff. It doesn't matter anyway where the hell she is: You had your chance to take the brat back and you flubbed it. You'll never see her again now."

"I will find her," Optimus said, his voice adamant and determined. "Mark my words, I will find Hunter again, and when I do, anyone who dares to stand in my way will suffer dire consequences."

"How do you know Hunter won't be someone standing in your way?" Ray challenged, leaning forward again in his challenge. "How do you know Hunter won't be the one trying to stop you from taking her back? How the hell do you even know she would want to come back with you?"

"I'm her spark-father: I love her."

"And yet you didn't even try to fight for her. You found out somebody else wanted to adopt her—blood relatives—and you just stepped off to the side nice as you please and let her go when you knew she wanted you." Ray scoffed with a sneer as he looked Optimus up and down once again. "And you claim to love her. So much for blood apparently not meaning anything, huh?"

For a brief moment, the Prime's anger was tempered with guilt. He hadn't admitted it to anyone (though he suspected Ratchet—being his oldest and closest friend and knowing him well—assumed it) but the Prime blamed himself more than a little for Hunter's abduction. Despite his desire and against his better judgment to fight for custody of Hunter when they'd been told of the "adoption application" put forth by her "aunt and uncle", Optimus had opted to stand down from attempting such an endeavor when Hunter had begged him to. She hadn't wanted to risk the team's protection; she'd been afraid that the Autobots would have been discovered and forced to leave Earth; so she'd begged him to not challenge the supposed adoption. And he'd done so, despite everything. Because she'd asked him. Because he loved her and would do anything for her. And now Hunter was in the hands of a maniac cult leader and missing.

Optimus knew that, even if he had gone through with challenging the adoption and they'd discovered the scam, Luna still would have come for Hunter; but deep down in his spark, Optimus couldn't help but blame himself for what was happening. Because the fact remained that, had he fought, they would have learned about Luna much sooner. Had he fought, Cody Philips never would have been able to take Hunter to the middle of nowhere where she was far from home and alone facing her captors. Had he fought, there may have been a chance they could have defeated Luna before she ever got the chance to take Hunter. Had he fought, they might not be here right now—he might still have his Shooting Star.

But he hadn't fought. And now they were here, with both Hunter and Ally missing. The thought of Ally being taken just piled another truckload of guilt onto the Prime's spark.

"You know nothing about it," Optimus seethed, his voice slightly trembling as the guilt began to fuel his rage. "You weren't there."

Apparently hearing his tone, Ananias looked sharply at the Prime. "Don't let him goad you, Prime," he warned, keeping his own tone firm and even. "Don't let him get a rise."

Ray continued on, pricking, and poking, and prodding, and looking incredibly satisfied with himself as he did so. "I don't think I had to be there to come to the only reasonable conclusion," he said with a shrug. "You failed Hunter, Optimus Prime. And now you've failed her twice in a row. Not exactly "spark-father of the year" there, are we?"

The torrent of Cybertronian that left Optimus' mouth in response to that was one that he hadn't heard for eons but had become accustomed to while befriending Megatron in the gladiatorial arena. It was also one that would have had him scrubbing his daughter's mouth out with cleaning solvent if he'd ever caught her muttering it. He took a lunging step towards Ray, his face distorted in fury.

Ananias quickly jumped between them, trying to shove Optimus back. It took all he had just to stop the Prime. "No, Prime!" he bellowed.

"I'll have his helm!" Optimus roared still trying to shove past the Councilman.

"Attacking a shackled, powerless, unarmed mech?" Ray jeered, indicating his cuffs. "And here I thought Primes were supposed to be honorable!"

Optimus lunged again. "Don't you speak to me of honor!"

"No!" Ananias ordered, practically body-slamming into the Prime to force him away. "We might be able to barter with Luna—to trade: her mate for the Fuser."

That caused Ray to laugh again. "She'll never trade for me!" he exclaimed. "Now that she's got Hunter back, she won't trade for anything: We won't let Hunter go a second time." An almost fondness came into Ray's eyes and he smiled as he continued on: "She'll come for me, though. And then we'll be off to restore the Hybrids to their rightful place of superiority. And we'll rule together, and everything will be as it should."

"Where is she?!" Optimus roared once again, still struggling towards the sunset-colored Hybrid. "Where is Hunter?! Where is my daughter?!"

"I already told you, I don't know," Ray answered with a nonchalant shrug. "But it wouldn't matter if I did because it's too late now. You're too late. Hunter is beyond your reach—you can't save her now. No one can."

"Watch me," Optimus growled. With that, the Prime ripped away from Ananias and lunged at Ray. Grabbing the mech, Optimus slammed him with all his might up against the back cell wall. For the first time that haughty smile that had been driving Prime up the wall left Ray's face as he cried out in pain. A wicked flicker of satisfaction went off in Optimus' spark at that cry. Oh, Primus, that felt good! He was going to enjoy making this worthless hunk of scrap metal hurt! Drawing a fist back, Optimus released it harshly into Ray's side up under his armor, and then quickly delivered another blow to his face.

Again Ray shouted with pain and then he was kicking a leg up and shoving it into Prime's mid-plate, propelling him away. Inhibited powers or not, there was enough strength in that kick to shove Optimus into the opposite wall of the cell. Of course, the cell wasn't very large.

"Ugh!" Optimus took a moment to shake off the daze from being kicked in the stomach and then quickly put on his battle mask. Just in time too, as Ray came lunging across the cell and brought his fisted, cuffed hands down to hammer against the Prime's head. A sharp point of the stasis-cuffs nicked Optimus' temple right near his optic. Optimus' audio-receptors rung with the impact, energon trickled into his optic, and his processor swam for a moment. It had been a while since he'd received a blow like that. But then he was coming back up and thrusting an uppercut and striking Ray hard under the chin with such force the Hybrid was lifted off the floor with energon showering from his mouth. "Rrah!"

"Ah!" Ray hit the floor against the other wall.

Optimus was on him again. In the blink of an optic, he had the Hybrid by the chest armor and was hoisting him above the floor. "If you can't tell me where she is," Optimus rumbled, "then you'll tell me where she's going! Where are they taking her?! What does Luna want with Hunter?!" He bashed Ray into the wall and extracted a blade to hold it against Ray's throat. "Talk," he growled dangerously, pressing the blade closer.

"Like I said, I'm no snitch," Ray snarled in return. "It doesn't matter for you anyway; your days are numbered—you'll never live to see her again! All you need to know is when you meet your maker, Hunter'll be the one that sent you there."

"What does that mean?" Ananias demanded. He was standing behind and slightly off to the side of the two mechs, watching and listening intently.

Again, Ray sneered a mocking smile and snorted. "Come on, Councilman," he taunted. "You know what it means." His blue eyes turned back to Optimus' and held them. "And you do too," he murmured darkly, "don't'cha, Primey-boy? You know exactly what it means."

And Optimus did. The specifics and details were complete mysteries, but the main point was that Luna was somehow going to use Hunter to destroy him—to kill him. And while it seemed unlikely that his demise was the main scheme behind everything Luna had planned, at this point, it was doubtlessly an integral part; for while he lived, he would continue searching for Hunter until he found and rescued her; while he lived, Hunter would continue fighting Luna in order to return to him. And Luna couldn't have that.

"I won't let that happen," Optimus declared, glowering with determination at Ray. "I refuse to let it happen."

"You. Can't. Stop it," Ray repeated slowly, condescendingly. "What part of that do you not get? You can't stop what Luna is going to do—what she and Hunter both are going to do. It's fate. Destiny. It's Hunter's destiny: You really wanna stop that?"

"You know, that's the funny thing about destiny," a sudden, new voice suddenly sounded through the cell, drawing the attention of all the occupants, "it can be interpreted and twisted in so many different ways to mean so many different things by so many different people."

"Greasy," Optimus and Ananias said in unison. Optimus sounded relieved as he all but dropped Ray to the floor and moved towards the old Hybrid. Ananias sounded a bit annoyed. Ray did nothing but glare and sneer at Greasy.

"Yes," Greasy said as he stepped down into the cell, "I'm back." He sounded weary and looked absolutely exhausted and distraught. "And it seems I'm too little, too late." As he said this, the old Hybrid's eyes were on Ray, who in turn continued to stare unflinchingly back at him.

Ananias cleared his throat. "Luna is in possession of the Fuser, Greasy," he confirmed, voice grave.

"We launched a rescue attempt," Optimus added, "but Luna… she managed to gain the upper hand and escaped with Hunter again. We don't know where she is, Greasy." The Prime gazed at the Hybrid with a significant, beseeching look, hoping beyond hope Greasy might be able to shed some light on or find a solution for the situation. Finally, there was someone here that Optimus knew he could trust; someone that Optimus knew could potentially help him; someone that he knew would try his hardest and do everything to save Hunter because he loved her too.

Greasy nodded severely, his face even more troubled at this information. "Yes, that sounds like Luna—never one to be foiled twice," he muttered. With that, he looked in Ray's direction again, and his gaze hardened. Wordlessly, hands folded behind his back, Greasy moved towards the massive, sunset-colored Hybrid and stood before him. Only half Ray's size at most, Greasy had to crane his ten-gallon helm back to meet gazes. Stony sapphire blue stared into somber flint gray. Silence reigned.

"Ray," Greasy finally said in greeting, slightly nodding to the large mech.

Ray snorted and rolled his optics as he looked away. "None of this concerns you, Greasy," he rumbled.

"It concerns Huntress," Greasy countered firmly. "Anything that concerns her is my business."

"She's our business," Ray shot back, glaring at the little mech. "Ours—Luna's and mine. She's not of your blood; you have no right butting in where you don't belong and aren't wanted!"

"As Comet Thunder's spark-father and the Fuser's Guide, I have every right!"

"Yeah, the Fuser's guide chosen by who—the Council?! They picked you because you're a slimy, groveling worm that asks how high when they tell you to jump! You little stooge—they picked you so they can manipulate Huntress; make sure she's under their control—in their pocket!"

"That girl," Greasy growled dangerously, stepping up to get in Ray's face, "is my entire life."

Optimus looked at Greasy, listening intently. He knew the old Hybrid loved Hunter, but he'd never heard Greasy put his feelings into words before, much less those exact ones.

"I have been in her life from the day her mother became pregnant," Greasy continued on, voice, full of conviction even as it was quiet. "I watched her grow—in the womb and out. I felt her kick at my hand inside her mother's belly. I followed up on every check-up, every stage of development. I was the first to hold her as I delivered her into the world. I watched her take her first steps; heard her say her first word. I have bathed her, changed her, fed her, comforted her, protected her, guided her, and made sure she ended up where she was meant to be. My entire world revolves around that girl. She is the grandchild I never had; I want nothing but the best for her and strive to make sure she has that every single day. The Council did not choose me to be Hunter's guide—I told them. I may serve at the pleasure of the Council, but I am the one that tells them what we do when it comes to Hunter. I am nobody's stooge, Radiance." He narrowed his gaze at the sunset mech and challenged, "Can you say the same?"

Ray snarled in anger. "We could have been all that for her," he rumbled. "We should have been all that for her. You stole that from us!"

"I can't steal something you never had claim to, Ray. You and Luna lost any right you had to Hunter ages ago; if not because of everything you did to her father, then certainly because of what you did to her mother."

As if Optimus hadn't been paying close attention before, now he was zeroed in on the conversation between the two Hybrids. What they'd done to Hunter's mother? The Prime was well aware that Luna and her mate had disapproved of their son's choice of mate and had disowned and estranged themselves from them, but the way Greasy phrased that… it sounded like there was more to the story. Much more. And more sinister.

Ray snorted and rolled his optics. "Please," he scoffed. "The human was hardly worth the air she breathed—she wasn't a loss. Ahh!" The mech suddenly clutched at his helm as he screwed his optics tightly shut, grimacing in pain. He sank to his knees.

Now that Ray was crumpled on the floor, Greasy was taller than him, and he took the advantage to tower menacingly over the larger mech. Fire raged in his eyes. "That human," he seethed, voice hardly above a savage whisper, "is the reason Hunter even exists in the first place. I'd suggest you think long and hard about that, Radiance James, or next time it won't just be a headache that I give you."

With that Ray slumped to the floor with a massive sigh of relief, venting heavily and still clutching at his head, though not as tightly. After a moment he snickered darkly. "Good, ol' Grease-stain," he muttered, his tone mocking even as his voice still sounded pained. He sneered up at Greasy again. "Good, ol', fleshy-lovin' Grease-stain—you haven't changed."

"Neither have you," Greasy returned. "More's the pity." Closing his optics, Greasy splayed a hand across his forehelm and massaged his temples. He wasn't used to making such intense psychic attacks as the one he'd just made on Ray, and his cranium was now reminding him of the reason why he didn't make them enough to become used to them. At least Ray was fairly simple-minded, so it had been easier and less strenuous than it could have been.

"What are Luna's plans, Ray?" Greasy sighed. "What does she want with Hunter?"

Ray snickered. "You mean after all these years, you still haven't figured that one out yet?" he questioned, tauntingly. "I'm disappointed. I'd've figured you'd be an expert on that by now—especially when you claim to make everything about my granddaughter your business."

Greasy felt his already festering anger spike again as those comments pricked at him. Ray was right—at least partially. Ever since Luna had discovered Hunter's potential to be the Fuser, she had been trying to get her hands on the girl, and for what purpose, Greasy still hadn't figured out yet. It wasn't a family bond issue, whatever Luna may have claimed through the years: Luna had shown time and again that concepts such as that were last on her list of things that were important. No, Greasy knew it had to do with Hunter's role as the Fuser—with the power that came with that. But how Luna was planning to utilize that power he couldn't understand.

"What does Luna want with Hunter?" Greasy repeated again, the only thing he could think to say or do. The temptation to mentally reach out and strike Ray's mind again was considerably strong, but the old Hybrid held back because he knew another attack like that would be too much for him to perform. He needed to remain on two feet now; Hunter was counting on him.

Ray just continued to sneer. "Like I told the Prime," he replied, "it doesn't matter. This isn't like the first time, Greasy. Or even last time. You're not taking Hunter from us again."

"The first time"; "last time"; "again"; the words and phrases impacted into Optimus' processor, causing more realizations to happen and even more questions to occur. This had happened before. Luna taking Hunter had happened before—at least twice before! But when? How? Why? How had Hunter been pulled out? Why had Hunter never mentioned this? All that time they'd spent looking at the Lunation symbol, trying to figure out what it meant or who it belonged to, and Hunter had said nothing, claimed to not recognize it! How could she have not recognized it?

A coldness struck Optimus as he suddenly realized it: Hunter hadn't recognized the symbol because she hadn't remembered the symbol. She hadn't remembered the Lunation. She hadn't remembered being taken by Luna, whenever it had happened. Her memories of such things had been taken from her—removed. Just like her memories of being in the Primus-state in the Chilean mine.

The Prime's eyes fell on Greasy and he looked at the Hybrid in a completely different way than he ever had. Bewilderment, betrayal, anger, fear, awe, sadness; He wasn't sure what to think or feel at the moment. All Optimus knew was that Greasy had some very serious explaining to do.

---

The New Moon;

Luna paced back and forth across the floor of her vault, chewing on a painted thumbnail. Her insides twisted in trepidation. Not even the familiarity of her spell books, magical items, potion ingredients, and cauldron could comfort her as they normally would have. She was about to do something she did not want to do—something she wasn't going to like—something that would deeply wound her—something she wished more than anything she had another option for. But she didn't have another option; this was the only way she would be able to do what needed to be done—the only way to ensure that the Prime, and therefore nobody else—would ever be able to find the Fuser again.

The outcome would be well worth the sacrifice. Ray would understand that; he was excellent about these kinds of things—always supportive for her—for the cause. That was why she loved him. That was why, even as she was resolved to what she was about to do, Luna wished deep down that there was another way.

"Mistress?" Gibbous, one of the members of Luna's Circle and something of her personal assistant, called from the far corner of the room where he stood out of the way. He watched with worry as the woman paced.

At the call, Luna stopped, facing the large working table at the center of the vault. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and released it slowly. She could waste no more time contemplating this; it had to happen now. It was time.

Reaching out to a white, glass globe on a stand, the witch pulled it towards her. "Bring me the box," she called over her shoulder.

Gibbous quickly moved from his spot in the corner towards a cabinet full of magical items. Opening the door, he reached for a dark, wooden box on the center of the topmost shelf and brought it down, hurrying across the room to his Mistress. As she turned towards him, he presented it to her with a bow.

Wordlessly, Luna passed a hand over the box and a slight click could be heard from the lock, then she opened it. Tucked neatly into the box in three rows of four were stoppered vials. Luna deftly reached in and pulled one out: The bottle was full of aqua-blue liquid: energon. Closing her hand around the glass, Luna held the vial close to her spark, looking at it somewhat sadly. "I am sorry, My Love," she murmured, turning back to the globe on the table, "but it is the only thing to be done." Uncorking the bottle, Luna held it out over the globe and carefully let a single drop of energon drip out onto the globe.

Immediately the glass ball absorbed it, turning the same shade as the energon. That lasted for only a moment. The next moment the blue was receding from coloring the whole globe and forming images of land masses across the surface of the ball: continents, countries, islands. Earth's continents, countries, and islands, to be exact. After a few seconds, the globe looked like a strange version of a globe you might find in a school classroom.

Luna's eyes scanned the globe, looking from the telltale spot that would indicate where the owner of the energon she'd used—Ray—was located. It didn't take her long to spot the small glowing speck, even located almost on the bottom of the globe as it was. Luna's lips turned up in a grim smile. Of course; they'd taken him to the Council's headquarters.

Reaching out Luna pressed a finger to the glowing speck on the globe for a moment and muttered a brief incantation before pulling her finger back. The speck followed her finger even as it remained attached to its place on the globe. Luna drew out the speck, pulling it bigger and wider until there was a full-blown portal before her, glowing with silvery light.

---

"She won't come back for you," Ananias stated, giving Ray a cold, cruel look. "You realize that yes? And if Luna doesn't come back for you, whatever she's planning to use Hunter to do you'll be caught up in. If our time is limited, then yours is too, Ray."

Ray snorted as he rolled his eyes. "You don't know my wife," he said, smiling superiorly. "You don't know the relationship we have—the love we have. We will always find each other." His sapphire optics turned to a stewing Optimus once more as he added bitingly, "When you love someone like that, you stop at nothing to fight for each other; not everyone here will understand that."

"Shut your mouth or I will weld it shut for you!" Optimus barked with a death glare. He was getting more than a little tired of Ray coming back to that accusation, and these new revelations about Greasy hiding maybe several significant parts of Hunter's past from him were not helping his mood at all.

Ray just laughed, completely unfazed by the threat. "Besides," he continued on, "even if Luna doesn't come for me—if she is unable to—and I am caught up in it—if I do die—my death will not be in vain. My death will have been a sacrifice for the betterment of the future; a foundation stone for the new world to be erected upon."

"You've always been a headache to talk to, Ray," Greasy remarked, "but I'd much rather listen to you spitting your own scrap than regurgitating Luna's garbage."

That grating smile slipped from Ray's face as he turned to Greasy again. He looked annoyed and angry with Greasy's comment. "You still doubt her," he growled. "After all the centuries you've known her—been her friend—you still don't think she can do it."

"My opinion of what Luna preaches has nothing to do with doubt," Greasy said. "I have no doubt Luna could accomplish what she believes is her destiny; she is powerful and cunning and intelligent enough to make it happen. But Luna and everyone following her teachings seem to forget one very important thing: Luna is not a god. However powerful she may be, however she may have been worshipped by humans, she is not in fact a deity, whatever she wants to believe. Gods make prophecies; gods set things in motion, and gods make sure that what they intended to happen happens. The particular god in this case made it quite clear a long time ago that the Fuser is to be the one that restores the honor of the Hybrid people, and he has also made it quite clear since that the Fuser is not going to be Luna."

Ray shook his head defiantly. "The prophecy says nothing about how the Fuser will do it," he stated. "Luna doesn't claim to be the Fuser-"

"Near enough, I'll be bound," Ananias muttered.

"-she is the guide for the Fuser—the one who will help the Fuser achieve her destiny. That's all Luna believes and wants—that's all she's ever believed and wanted!"

"The Lunation's mission is holy."

The three Hybrids in the room turned and looked at the only Purebred.

Optimus was looking only at Ray, bringing down the hellfire and brimstone as he recited: "It follows the vision of the Mistress." He was walking forward now, moving away from his spot in the farthest corner of the cell towards Ray who was standing in the one opposite. "The Mistress is the true savior of our people," he continued, adding emphasis, "and the Fuser is the vessel through which she will accomplish our salvation." In three or four strides he'd crossed the room and was standing in front of Ray, barrel chest to barrel chest, snarling face to snarling face, smiting eyes to smiting eyes. "The Mistress shall restore honor upon the Hybrid people. These are the truths of the universe, as deemed by Primus himself."

There was a moment of silence as the two mechs glared at each other.

"Luna believes herself and only herself to be the savior of your people, Ray," Optimus rumbled severely. "That is all she's ever believed. That's all you've ever believed."

"Luna and Hunter are two halves of the same whole-" Ray tried to explain.

"The Fuser is one. One Hybrid chosen by Primus. One Hybrid who agrees to be his vessel," Optimus stated.

"Luna is the one that has the plan," Ray kept saying. "Hunter is the one that has the power that's needed to carry out the plan."

"My daughter has power, yes," Optimus said. "But it is power that only she will use as she deems fit in the manner in which Primus himself has intended. Hunter is not and will not be a vessel for Luna to use at any and every whim she may possess: Hunter is not a weapon."

Again Ray suddenly sneered as though he'd caught Optimus in a trap. "What'd'you think she is for Primus, Prime?" he challenged.

As if his temper weren't already raging enough it roared all the higher and hotter at that insinuation. Ray was speaking of things and people in a way he could not even begin to understand! Once again Optimus was tempted to ask for a welder and for a couple extra superstrengthed hands to hold Ray down. How he managed to not give in to that temptation he'd never know.

Shoving his face in Ray's so that they were just inches apart, the Prime growled, "Hunter had a choice with Primus. He gave her an option and she chose. From what I've witnessed so far, that is far more than Hunter would ever get from your glitch."

A brilliant light flashed through the cell, blinding everyone.

Optimus found himself being yanked back across the cell as if a hook and cable had been attached to him and suddenly retracted. He slammed into the wall and found himself pinned there. The force holding him felt all too familiar: gravity magic! "Luna!": The witch's name surged through his mind, adding fuel to the fire raging inside.

Ananias and Greasy had been trapped against the cell walls just like he was. The only person free in the cell was Ray.

There was an oval of silver light on the back wall of the cell next to Ray, and soon she appeared through it—ornate headpiece creeping through first like the twisted horns of some monstrous demon.

"Hello, Gentlemechs," Luna greeted in a voice that was like syrupy venom. She turned to Ray and smiled lovingly as she moved towards him. "Darling," she murmured.

Ray moved her way as well, looking just as lovestruck. "Moonbeam." He took her faceplate in his hands and kissed her deeply. "I knew you'd come," he whispered when they broke apart.

Luna smiled up into his gaze. "Of course," she answered. "Always." Then she looked away from her husband and around the small cell which was now starting to feel very cramped with five Cybertronians in it. The witch sneered as her gaze landed on Ananias. "Ah, High Councilman," she said stepping towards him. "It's been a while. I see you're looking fit as ever. Pity." She turned away from Ananias and looked towards Optimus. Her smirk only seemed to deepen as she watched him struggle and try to free himself, but she said nothing to the Prime. At least not verbally; the triumphant gleam in her eyes said plenty.

Finally, the witch's eyes came to fall on the last occupant of the room. The smile slipped from her face and she became stone-cold somber as she stared at the little, old Hybrid who in turn stared at her just as solemnly. "So," Luna voiced after a long moment, "you've returned."

"So have you," Greasy remarked, no emotion in his voice. "And leaving a trail of destruction and massacre behind you as you did."

"They never should have tried to stand in my way. Or better yet, you never should have put them in my way to begin with. What right had you to try and stop my returning to Earth? What right had you to try and keep me from my granddaughter?"
"Hunter isn't yours!" Optimus bellowed emphatically.

Luna quickly whipped around on the Prime to fix him with a deathly stare. "Muta."

Immediately Optimus' voicebox froze up on him. He couldn't make any sound; not a buzz or a chirp or a hiss or even a groan. It was incredibly alarming and infuriating.

"There," Luna said, looking satisfied with herself. "That's better. Let us see if you're more tolerable when you aren't able to speak. As much as you may have rubbed off on my granddaughter I can see the reverse is true as well: You're just as rash and incapable of holding your tongue."

Optimus opened his mouth in a silent roar as he attempted to lunge for the witch once more. (Of course, he remained hopelessly stuck to the wall.)

"The Prime's right, Luna," Greasy said, voice calm, unafraid. "And you know it. Hunter isn't yours. And she'll never join you either, for that matter. But I think you've figured that out by now, too."

Luna turned back to Greasy, smirking in a knowing manner. "Well, she doesn't have to join me," she stated, sounding a little mysterious. "In fact, she doesn't have to do anything willingly now for me to get what I want from her. Because I've figured it out." Her eyes glinted with dangerous fire. "And I know how to take it."

Greasy's eyes narrowed as he tried to decipher what she meant. "What are you talking about?"

Luna turned from the mech. "Don't you worry," she assured him. "You'll see." With that, she went back to Ray.

"Ha! You tell 'em, Moonbeam!" Ray cheered on his mate. "Now let's get outta here and get home. I'm gettin' sick of this cell." He began to move towards the silvery portal.

"I'm afraid that's not what I came back here to do, Darling," Luna said, reaching out to place a gentle hand on his arm.

"Huh? Not come back to do what?" Ray asked, turning all his attention to the femme.

"To bring you back home," Luna answered. Her face looked very grave, even sad. "That's not why I came. It's… a bit more complicated than that."

Ray was silent for a moment, processing this information and studying his wife's face. "You look… upset," he finally stated.

Luna's lipplates drew together in a thin line as she nodded. "I am," she agreed. "I'm… very conflicted, Ray. I… I have to do something that I don't want to do, but it's necessary and I must do it if we're to accomplish everything we've planned and worked for."

"Then do it," Ray said adamantly.

Luna smiled thinly. "Darling, you don't even know what it is I have to do."

"Doesn't matter—do it. Whatever it is, Moonbeam, do it! Nothing must stand in the way of the future we've worked towards. The universe must be restored; our people must be saved and uplifted to their rightful place; you must take the throne so that you can lead them in the new world. It's the way everything should be. You can't let anything stop you from bringing that around—from setting it all right again."

Luna sighed heavily and looked down. "Of course, Darling," she said. "You're right. Of course, you're right." She smiled up at the mech. "Thank the stars I have you by my side to keep me on track."

Ray chuckled warmly, lovingly, and pulled Luna into an embrace. "Always, Moonbeam," he murmured, gazing deep into her raspberry optics. And with that, he bowed his head and kissed her.

Optimus was beyond sickened. The fact that these two monsters could stand there and speak and make displays of love and affection after all the atrocities they'd committed and the people they'd hurt and killed without so much as blinking an eye. After all the times they'd mercilessly beaten Hunter physically, mentally, and emotionally. It was outrageous! Infuriating! As clear as it was that Ray and Luna truly loved one another and thus were capable of such emotion, it was evident that tenderness couldn't (or wouldn't) extend to anyone or anything else beyond the bond they shared: Not even to their own grandchildren. Despicable! Unable to move his head for the gravitational force trapping him, Optimus rolled his gaze away from the pair in order to look away.

Ray and Luna broke apart and rested forehead to forehead for a moment, smiling dotingly at each other.

"I love you," Ray purred.

"I know," Luna whispered back. "I love you too, Darling. And that's why I need your spark."

Ray raised an optic-ridge and pulled back from her, smiling awkwardly and looking confused. "What?" he snorted. His face suddenly contorted in shock and he released a pained gasp and tensed as Luna's hand suddenly and forcefully disappeared into his chest.

"Luna!" Greasy exclaimed.

"No!" Ananias shouted at the same time.

Optimus' stared in silent horror.

Luna gazed up into Ray's face, once again looking distraught. "I'm so sorry, my darling," she murmured, her voice slightly quivering. "I'm so sorry, but I have no choice; the spell needs the heart of the thing I love most—it's the only way it will work."

"S-Spell?" Ray gasped breathlessly.

"To keep Huntress from ever being found," Luna explained. "I can't kill the Prime for fear of the Primus-state, so I must kill you."

Ray could only stare in wide-eyed, open-mouthed shock as he made small gasping, choking sounds.

A single tear dripped down Luna's cheekplate. "I love you, Radiance Solar James," she quivered. Then she leaned in and pressed a lingering kiss to his cheek before pulling away and, in one fluid, violent motion, ripped her hand out of the mech's chest. Ray slammed to the floor, a lifeless husk. His mate stood over him, his spark in her dainty hand, staring down at him with a face shadowed in controlled grief. But only for a moment.

Face hardening into a killing scowl, Luna whipped around and focused her attention on Optimus once again. She looked about ready to strike the Prime dead. "Because of you," she seethed, "I'll never see the love of my life again." Then, as quickly as it had taken over her face, the scowl left and Luna looked as inscrutable and emotionless as ever. "And now neither will you."

A freezing cold dagger was driven into Optimus' spark with those words. There was no mistaking what Luna meant by that. Once again the large mech struggled against the force holding him back to try and break free. He couldn't allow Luna back through the portal! But no matter how he fought, the magic held him tight.

Noting his desperation, Luna allowed a corner of her mouth to quirk up into a slight smirk before disappearing again. She swept her gaze over the cell. "Gentlemechs," she addressed the room. With that she turned and moved to the portal, stepping through it as her metallic cape rippled and shimmered behind her.

The very last bit of her cape disappeared through the silver circle, and the portal instantly disappeared. And the second the portal disappeared, the spells Luna had cast in the cell ended. The small room rang with a furious roar as Optimus' voice finally returned to him. "NO!" The Prime hit the floor running and lunged across the room to where the portal had been only to slam into an unyielding wall. Too late; the portal was gone.

Luna was gone.

Hunter was gone.

The lifeless husk that had once been Ray began to dissolve into stardust and disappear. A much too delicate and peaceful process to coincide with the hell that had just happened and was about to take place.

---

Gibbous stepped wide and back as Luna returned through the portal. He took in her emotionless face, the almost automaton way she walked. His Mistress was deeply upset. That meant that somebody—or maybe a lot of 'bodies—was going to pay and pay dearly.

"Is it ready?" Luna asked, voice monotonous. She strode over to stand in front of the cauldron bubbling over a fire and stared down into the dark, boiling mixture.

"I've added and prepared everything as you've instructed, Mistress," Gibbous answered. "Only the final two ingredients are needed to activate it."

"Very good." Luna turned from the pot and walked across the room to the doors. She opened them and looked out upon a pair of Field Acolytes who were standing at attention, awaiting orders. And the order was simple: "Bring her to me."

---

Hunter sat huddled back in the far corner of the cell again. Hugging herself she trembled, cheeks wet and stained and eyes glistening with more tears ready to fall at any moment. Luna had done a lot of terrible things to her already: taking her away from her family and friends; abusing her; torturing her; borderline starving her; playing tricks and using mind-games on her. But what Luna was about to do would be the worst thing yet. In fact, it was just about the worst thing the witch could ever do to Hunter: Even the notion of it terrified Hunter to her very core! Her spark shattered at the thought of what was about to come. She had never felt so helpless. She had never felt so hopeless.

Suddenly the cell door opened once again and Acolytes filed into the room, four of them rushing Steel and Ally (two for each) and the other two coming Hunter's way.

The fear in Hunter's spark became all too real and tears immediately began falling from her eyes again. She backed away as far as she could into the corner, instinctively trying to get away. "No!" she begged pitifully, shaking her head. "No, no, no, please! Please don't do this! Don't take me to her! No!" Hunter flinched away from the Acolytes as they grabbed at her and tried to shove them back, but she was still so weak from everything that it was no use. The Acolytes snagged her up, one on each arm, and wrenched her up off the floor. Hunter threw all her weight against, trying to pull away. "NO!" she screamed. "NO, I WON'T GO! I WON'T GO! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME GO! PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME GO! PLEASE!"

But the Acolytes could make her go, and they did make her go, unceremoniously dragging and pushing her out of the cell.

Hunter pulled and strained and fought back the entire time. She dragged her feet. She tried to catch hold of the benches and sides of the door as they passed them. She tried to pull free from their grips to run. Nothing worked. The Acolytes hauled her off down the hall, a crying, screaming, desperate, hysterical mess. She continued begging for mercy. "PLEASE DON'T DO THIS! PLEASE! DON'T TAKE ME TO HER! DON'T DO THIS! NO, PLEASE! PLLLEEEAAASSSEEE!"

When Hunter was well out of the cell, the Acolytes holding Steel and Ally let them go and retreated from the room. The door shut once more, locking them inside, but they could still hear Hunter's screams as she was dragged down the hall.

Ally stared in wide-eyed horror, shaken by her younger cousin's distress. In the short time she'd known her—or remembered knowing her anyway—Hunter had seemed so strong and unshakable. The only times that mask had cracked a bit were when Luna had been using the Angustia on Optimus and when they'd been trapped in the cage and Optimus told Hunter he had to let her go. But neither of those times had been like this—not as bad as this! This was like… someone being dragged into Hell itself!

Ally looked away from the doors to her brother who was sitting slumped on the bench elbows on his knees. He too was gazing at the door in a pained and guilty way. "Wh-what's gonna happen to her?" Ally stammered. She wasn't all that sure she wanted to know, actually; but at the same time, she did want to know.

Steel's eyes flickered away from the door to her, held her gaze for a moment, then fell to the floor, apparently finding it too difficult to look at her for long. "She's gonna have her soul ripped out," he muttered glumly. "Or at least part of it."

Ally's stomach plunged in horror. "What?!" she gasped in horror. "Her soul ripped out?! That's not possible!"

"What do you think a spark-bond is, Ally?" Steel asked, his voice suddenly hard and angry. He looked up at her with a tired glare. "A spark-bond is essentially souls tied together as one, and that bond exists between two or more beings; their souls are inside of each other, merged, united together as one soul. The Unbinding is meant to destroy spark-bonds—to sever them. What do you think happens when souls tied together are cut apart? Huh? Each soul goes back to their respective body; they're ripped out of the other bodies, Ally. And when they're separated after being united for so long… the souls are just remnants barely existing in comparison. Hunter is going to get half her soul ripped out of her by our grandmother, Ally, and there is absolutely nothing we can do to stop it! And it's my fault! It's all my fault!" With that, Steel buried his face in his hands and hung his head, tears dripping from between his fingers and shoulders shaking with sobs as he succumbed to his guilt.

Ally could only stare at him, too shocked and shaken to do anything but stand there and wish more than anything that things were different. She wasn't sure how she wished they'd be different, she just wished things could be different. She just wished things could be better.

---

Optimus stood against the cell wall, arms braced against it, optics staring blankly into the place Luna's portal had once been. He was trapped in a daze; a daze of both horror and numbness, and he couldn't tell which he felt more of. Vaguely he heard the voices of Ananias and Greasy speaking in urgency.

"You didn't warn us!" Ananias bellowed at the smaller Hybrid. The Councilman was positively fuming. "You knew about Luna—you knew she was coming here—probably already was here by the time you reached the outpost—and you failed to warn us!"

"We tried reaching you!" Greasy shouted back. "We tried hundreds of times for days as we came back from Mars, but we were never able to get through! The Lunation must have disabled the communication satellites as they came through. Luna knew what she was doing—nothing was going to stop her from getting what she wanted this time. We went as fast as we could to get back here to warn you. But you knew Ananias. You and the rest of the Council knew that this was a possibility when the last Epsilon crew didn't check-in. You knew there was a chance Luna had returned. We all did." Greasy sighed heavily and rubbed his forehead. "I should've ordered protective custody for Hunter before I left. That's my mistake. I failed her."

With that statement, Optimus came back to himself; and when he did all of a sudden all he could feel was boiling anger. "Yes," he rumbled, almost too quiet for anyone to hear. He slowly turned from the wall to glare around at Greasy, who was staring back at him with a guilty look. "Yes, you failed my daughter. And, what's more, you've failed me, Greasy!" He was shouting now, voice getting louder by the word.

"Optimus…" Greasy began but his voice faltered off because he couldn't think of any response.

In one step Optimus was in front of the little mech, towering over him, getting up in his face. "The memories about the mine weren't the first you took from Hunter, were they?!" he demanded. He was growing so angry dark smoke was starting to curl out of the exhaust pipes on his back. "You've taken others from her before, haven't you?! Memories concerning Luna and the cult! This has happened before, hasn't it?!" he demanded.

There was no answer.

"Hasn't it?!" There were some flames accompanying the smoke now.

Greasy sighed and looked towards Ananias. "Break it," he said.

Optimus looked between the Hybrids in confusion. Break what?

Ananias' face became hard and he gave Greasy a severe look. "Greasy…" he said meaningfully.

"There's no point in keeping it a secret now, Ananias," Greasy pointed out. "It won't help anyone. It doesn't look like it helped much anyway—look at all the damage that's been done." He looked back up at the enraged Prime. "Besides, he deserves and needs to know."

Optimus narrowed his gaze. "I need to know what?"

Again Greasy looked to the Councilman. "Ananias."

For a moment Ananias' face remained hard and unyielding, and he and Greasy seemed to have a stare-off for a brief period. But apparently, the Councilman realized that Greasy was right because he was the first to look away, sighing heavily. He looked more annoyed now than hard. "All right," he muttered, meeting Greasy's gaze again. He made a flicking motion of his hand and a little cloud of a smoke-like substance appeared around it for a brief second before disappearing to reveal a long piece of unfurled parchment.

Optimus stared wide-eyed in some alarm at Ananias. "You have-"

"Magic as well, yes," Ananias finished for the Prime, not taking his eyes off Greasy's. "Not as much as Luna, but in a certain way just as powerful—if not more—than her." Deftly, the Councilman took the parchment between both index and thumb digits and neatly tore the entire thing down the middle, from top to bottom. A small ripple seemed to go through the air as if something had snapped.

"There," Ananias said, continuing to tear the parchment into smaller pieces. "The contract is broken."

Greasy nodded to Ananias, then turned to Prime again. "Now I can explain everything," he said, looking rather weary at the prospect. "You may want to sit down, Optimus. What I'm about to tell you is a lot to take in… and you're not gonna like much of what I have to say."

---

Hunter was dragged, pushed, carried, and thrown to Luna's vault. She screamed and cried and begged and fought the entire way though she knew it was pointless. What was going to happen was going to happen. There was no stopping it: Mercy would not be shown. Finally, she was pulled through an open door and harshly flung to the floor. "Ugh!"

Hunter slowly pushed herself up off her face and raised her head to look up into the stony expression of Luna. For once the teen found she didn't have a quip to shoot off the tip of her tongue. For once she couldn't feel anything but fear for her grandmother.

Luna must have sensed these things because a look of triumph suddenly glinted in her eyes and she smirked ever so slightly. "Finally run out of things to say, have we?" the witch mocked. "I'm a little disappointed. I thought you'd have at least one last disparaging comment to hurl my way."

"Please," the small, meek voice that Hunter heard couldn't possibly be her own, "please don't do this." Fresh tears welled in her eyes. "Please, Grandma, please—I'm begging you don't do this."

Luna raised a manicured eyebrow. "'Grandma'?" she repeated, sounding amused. "My, my, we are desperate now, aren't we? Desperate-" Luna reached down and crushed Hunter's jaw in her hand as she wrenched the girl up onto her knees, sticking her face in Hunter's "-and utterly pathetic." Her voice was nasty now, full of venom and hate. She let the girl go, reeled a hand back, and threw it forward, slicing her sharp nails through Hunter's cheek.

Hunter yelped in pain as she fell back, grabbing at her bleeding face.

Luna turned and walked away towards the bubbling cauldron. Coming to stand over it, she lifted her hand—the one she'd used to strike Hunter—and held it at the level of her eyes, fingers pointed up. For a moment she watched as her granddaughter's energon trickled down her nails and fingers, painting them blue. Then she held up Ray's spark, still tucked safely in her other hand, and tipped her energon coated hand down over it. The energon dripped off her nails onto the spark, speckling it. When the last few drips left her fingers, Luna looked down at the cauldron and gently dropped Ray's spark into the mixture.

In contrast to the delicate, reverent way she'd added the spark to the cauldron, the huge pot started to boil and churn aggressively. In fact, the thing seemed to rumble like an earthquake. The steam over the cauldron increased and thickened and began to swirl in an unnatural way right over the top. As the rumbling continued and the steam kept flowing and growing, Luna stood over the cauldron, hands held out in strange positions over the mix, and began to chant strange words: "Et quod falsum est, disrumperentur; unitum esse divisa, moles ista animarum…." At first, her voice was soft, but it grew louder with each repeat of the incantation. "Et quod falsum est, disrumperentur; unitum esse divisa, moles ista animarum…."

Squinting against the burning pain in her cheek, Hunter rose to stand on shaky feet. The minute she was up, Hunter lunged into a sprint, her instincts to make an escape while Luna's back was turned kicking into gear. Or at least, she tried to run. She took a step and a half before she was suddenly forced to stop as if slamming into an invisible wall. Stumbling back a bit, the teen shook off the daze and looked down at the floor. A magical circle glowed magenta beneath her feet, as wide around as Hunter was tall. Hunter's stomach dropped. No! Lunging out again, Hunter tried once more to run out of the circle, but again she hit the barrier at the edge and was forced back into the center of the circle. The teen felt a fresh wave of panic rising up anew. She was trapped!

Hunter looked in horror over at Luna and the cauldron. "Please!" she begged again. "Please, don't do this!"

Luna wasn't listening. "Et quod falsum est, disrumperentur; unitum esse divisa, moles ista animarum…."

---

"You're right," Greasy admitted to the glaring Prime. "This has happened before; twice before. The first time Luna took Hunter was the night after Hunter was born. It took us two weeks to find her and get her back that time. The second only a few years ago. We thought being in the foster system would protect Hunter—hide her away from Luna what with all of the moving around, and it did… for a while. But then her powers manifested-"

"Hunter's powers manifested only just last year," Optimus stated.

"Because that's what you were supposed to think," Greasy interrupted him, giving Optimus a remorseful look. "That's what Hunter was supposed to think. The truth is they manifested when Hunter reached her tenth year, as often happens with Alpha class Hybrids; and Luna found her because of them."

Optimus stared at Greasy in shock. "But… Hunter displayed no powers when we first met. How…?"

"Councilwoman Delta is very adept with power suppression," Ananias declared. "It's a remarkable thing really: She managed to cap the Fuser's powers until she came into contact with you—or more specifically "the disciple of Primus"."

Optimus stared at the Councilman for a moment, before looking back at Greasy. "And once you'd accomplished that," he concluded, "you took her memories of the event and changed them."

Greasy nodded. "Everything concerning Luna and the cult—including the memories and knowledge of the existence of family—was removed and replaced with the fabricated memories of what Hunter has told you. And then bound everyone with the knowledge of these occurrences—the entire Council and myself—to secrecy with Ananias' contracts."

Optimus was quiet, processing this information. This had been what he'd expected to hear when he began asking questions, but at the same time, it wasn't quite exactly what he'd expected to hear either. "Everything I know of my spark-daughter…" the Prime murmured after a moment, a cold sensation of fear creeping into his spark, "… has it all been a lie?"

Greasy gave him a sad, but comforting smile at this point. "Not everything," he assured the Prime. "Most of what you know of Hunter's past—most of what she knows of it—is true; there's simply a period of time within her more recent history that has been…" he trailed off, trying to think of the best way to describe it.

"Built out of lies," Optimus supplied for him, his tone biting.

"'Lies' is such a nasty word," Ananias said, waving away the Prime's accusation. "In this case, I prefer to think of them as 'necessary untruths'."

"Necessary?" Optimus scoffed skeptically.

"Yes, necessary, Optimus," Greasy said.

Optimus didn't look all that convinced yet.

"As necessary as it was to change her memories about what happened back at the mine," Greasy assured him further.

Optimus' face became a little softer after that. They'd agreed to take and change those memories in order to protect Hunter: If changing Hunter's memories back then had been necessary, it could only have been to reach the same ends. As infuriating as it was to find out such an important part of his daughter's history had been hidden from him (and her) it tempered the sting a bit to know that it had been in complete service to Hunter. Though how it helped Hunter, Optimus still couldn't quite see yet.

"Regardless," the Prime said, "we should have been told, Greasy. We should have been warned of the Lunation. If we had, perhaps we could have been prepared."

Greasy smiled sadly at the Purebred. "I'm afraid there's not really such as a thing as "being prepared" where Luna comes into play, Prime," he muttered. "Luna wants what she wants and she takes what she wants, and there's no stopping her when it happens."

---

"Et quod falsum est, disrumperentur; unitum esse divisa, moles ista animarum…!" Luna was shouting the incantation now. The commotion in the cauldron had reached a fever pitch: It suddenly exploded, the steam transforming into a dark, virulent cloud that rushed upwards until it met the ceiling and began to race around the vault. It quickly spiraled around the room, kicking up an awful wind that pulled and tugged and tore at and moved clothes, hair, paper—anything not significantly heavy or anchored down. The scream was almost too much to bear as both Gibbous and Hunter's hands flew to their ears. Luna was apparently deaf to that as well, as she didn't falter in her chant: "Et quod falsum est, disrumperentur; unitum esse divisa, moles ista animarum…!"

All at once, the cloud came in an onrush at Hunter; being trapped in the circle as she was, Hunter had no way to dodge it. It slammed into her and overtook her, converging upon her. Finding her mouth, nose, eyes, and even ears, the cloud wasted no time in diving into Hunter's body. It happened so quickly, Hunter hardly had time to register what was happening before the cloud had completely disappeared inside of her. The teen stumbled and fell to her hands and knees, choking and gagging as she struggled to breathe. Eyes rolling white she collapsed to the floor.

---

"I won't abandon Hunter, Greasy," Optimus stated in defiance, optics aflame with savage determination. "I will not leave her for Luna to do with as she pleases—I will not allow Luna to take my daughter from me."

"Yes, well, as nice and sweet as that sounds, you may not have a choice in the matter," Ananias grumbled with a scowl.

Optimus turned his gaze to the High Councilman. "She is my daughter," he declared with finality. "I have every choice in the matter."

"If you go after her, you'll die," Ananias said matter-of-factly, giving the Prime a harsh look.

"If he doesn't, we all will," Greasy countered, he, too, turning to the Councilman.

Ananias turned on the smaller Hybrid. "You know as well as I that he may be the only chance we have now, Greasy! Whatever Luna has planned, we know it will involve the Fuser—likely as some sort of weapon." The Councilman pointed at the Prime. "Being her spark-father, he may be the one thing that will be able to stop the Fuser in whatever rampage she'll be forced to unleash upon us!"

"We may avoid the rampage altogether in I go after her now and free her," Optimus said. The tone in his voice clearly said that he'd already made the decision (and long ago) and nothing Ananias did or tried to do was going to sway him. Indeed not even Primus himself at the moment would be able to change the Prime's mind.

Ananias shot a glare his way. "You'll never come back from that mission—mark my words, Prime. Besides, how do you imagine to find your spark-daughter? Not even Ray had any idea of where Luna's taken her; they could be anywhere on the planet. Primus, they could be anywhere in the galaxy by now!"

Optimus placed a hand over his spark-chamber. "The link Hunter and I share has been restored," he proclaimed, completely undeterred. "I will be able to track her and-" the Prime trailed off as he caught a glimmer of light out of the corner of his optic. He looked down. Out of nowhere a circle that glowed magenta had appeared on the floor around his stabilizing servos. He raised an optic-ridge. "What in the name of Primus…?"

Then Optimus was overcome with a very strange sensation, a sensation that he could only describe as being crushed from the inside out. It started in his middle, then moved to his chest, then moved up his throat, almost as though he were about to purge it from his body like bad fuel. Optimus choked and gagged and hacked violently against the sensation. He collapsed to his knees in the circle, grabbing at his throat.

"Optimus?!" Greasy's alarmed voice seemed to come from far away.

Optimus didn't respond—he couldn't. All he could do was brace a hand against the floor to try and keep from toppling over completely as he suddenly became lightheaded. At the corners of his vision, he noticed a nothingness creeping in. Not black, but white, brilliant white like a light. For a brief moment, the wonder of if this was the end crossed Prime's mind because wasn't this what you were supposed to see when you joined with the AllSpark: a bright white light? For a few seconds, the whiteness remained at the corners of his sight, giving him tunnel vision, but then it surged in without warning, blanking out everything except the infinite whiteness. Then his hearing was blanked out. And Optimus knew nothing more of what had just previously been his surroundings.

"Prime!" both Ananias and Greasy shouted, watching in horror as the Purebred's optics clouded over in a gray mist.

---

When Hunter opened her eyes again—when she could breathe again—she found that she was not in Luna's vault any longer. It appeared as though she was somewhere… in space? The circle was still around her, and she was standing on something solid, but she could see an infinitude of stars and galaxies and space beneath her. And she could see the same to her left. And her right. And above. Hunter wondered if this really was space or some pocket dimension, or if any of what she was seeing was real or just what the spell she'd just choked down made her see, and she was really still in Luna's vault.

Beyond the circumference of her circle were both Luna and the cauldron. Luna was still chanting the spell, but the cauldron had quieted down now—in fact, it looked empty of anything. And farther beyond Luna and the cauldron—

"Dad!" Hunter shouted, gaze and full attention locking onto her spark-father. How was he here? Was this spell like Angustia: affecting both parties of a spark-link? The teen supposed that would make sense, considering the nature of what the spell was used for.

At the sound of her cry, Optimus' head shot up. Still kneeling in the circle, he was no longer choking now, and the sensation of being crushed from the inside out had disappeared. Quickly he stood, eyes locked on the teen across the way. "Hunter!" he called back. He tried to take a step towards her but found he could not move beyond the circle border. The Prime tried again and again and found the same result. He quietly cursed and looked helplessly over to his daughter again to find the same expression of longing and desperation on her face as she stood at the very edge of her matching circle, also unable to escape. She was there! She was right there in front of him! Two, three steps and he would be holding her; but he couldn't make that happen! The circle wouldn't release him! And so, yet again, his Shooting Star remained sparkbreakingly, frustratingly just out of reach. "Hunter!"

Tears shining in her eyes, Hunter looked away from her father to Luna. "Please!" she pleaded once again. "Please, Luna, don't do this! Please, I'm begging you—I'll do anything! I'll join the cult! I'll pledge loyalty! I'll do whatever you want me to!" She looked at Optimus again, the tears trickling down her cheeks and her chin trembling, making the girl look even more pitiful and helpless than ever. "Just please, please don't take him away from me—please! Please!" Her voice had never sounded more wretched to anyone's ears.

Optimus could feel through their link his spark-daughter's heartbreak; her complete and utter desolation; her terror and desperation; but he didn't understand why. He didn't understand why Hunter was saying what she was saying, but the nature of it—the pleas, the promises to do things he knew she would never agree to except possibly in only the direst circumstances—horrified him. Why was Hunter saying these things? "Hunter, what's going on?" the Prime asked in alarm.

Hunter wasn't listening to him; she was frantically looking back and forth between him and Luna, continuously imploring the witch: "No, don't do this! Please, please, please! No! Daddy!"

"Hunter!" At her cry for him, Optimus instinctively tried to go to the girl again, only to again be stopped by the circle's confines. "Hunter!" The sheer magnitude of her emotions was starting to override his control over his own. (Though granted, the control of his emotions hadn't quite been what it usually was ever since Hunter had been abducted.) He was starting to feel panicked now; shifting around in his circle like a caged wolf. "Hunter!"

Still chanting, her voice now echoing around them and growing louder once again, Luna reached down into the cauldron and pulled out Ray's spark. "Et quod falsum est, disrumperentur; unitum esse divisa, moles ista animarum…!" She turned from the cauldron. The spark cradled in her hands in front of her, Luna stepped away from the cauldron, staring unseeing and straight ahead as she did so: The spell had put her in a trance. "Et quod falsum est, disrumperentur; unitum esse divisa, moles ista animarum…!"

After a few steps, Luna was standing directly between the father and daughter duo—perfectly in line with them. She lifted the spark as high as she could above her head, held it there for a second, then pulled her hands away. The spark remained floating in the air. Luna stood beneath it, arms lowered closer to her sides but still uplifted, eyes focused solely on the spark. Again the witch's voice increased in volume, echoing throughout the emptiness around them until the force of it rattled their bones. "Et quod falsum est, disrumperentur; unitum esse divisa, moles ista animarum…!"

Something wrenched at Hunter's spark, stealing her breath away. Her body went rigid and arched backward for a moment. She began to tremble as her body began to alternate between waves of feeling swelteringly hot and frigidly cold. After a second her entire being began to glow with a purple light.

Across the way, Optimus was experiencing the exact same thing.

"Et quod falsum est, disrumperentur; unitum esse divisa, moles ista animarum…!" Luna's voice continued to rise. The spark began to spin in the air, slowly at first but rapidly picking up speed until it was a blur. "Et quod falsum est, disrumperentur; unitum esse divisa, moles ista animarum…!"

The glowing light receded from Optimus' and Hunter's bodies, but they remained frozen. Then after a moment beams of purple light shot out of their spark-chambers with a warbling, pulsing sound. The discharge of the beams seemed to release the pair from their immobile states and they both fell to the ground or whatever the solid thing beneath them was in their circles. "Oof!" When they turned to look back at what had happened, Optimus and Hunter found themselves tethered by the spark-chambers to the spinning spark by the light beams. No—not light beams—their spark-link; a visible manifestation of their spark-link!

"Et quod falsum est, disrumperentur; unitum esse divisa, moles ista animarum…!"

The spark in the air was alight now as well; glowing brilliant purple as it whirred in the air. But after a few seconds, the color of the light in the spark and the lights of the beams themselves began to change. The spark began to look less purple and more defined as blue and red. As such the spark beams reflected that: Optimus' becoming far redder in color and Hunter's changing bluer. Within a few seconds, a stark red beam of light connected the Prime to the spark: A brilliant blue-violet beam attached Hunter. Both father and daughter groaned and stumbled, hitting whatever barrier kept them contained and leaning against it for support as they were overcome by a sudden faintness. They gazed wearily at each other across the short yet overwhelming distance between them, panting and heaving as if they'd just finished an intense sparring match. If only that was the reason.

"Et quod falsum est, disrumperentur; unitum esse divisa, moles ista animarum…!"

"Daddy…." Hunter's voice quavered.

"Et quod falsum est, disrumperentur; unitum esse divisa, moles ista animarum…!"

"Hunter…." There was an evident tremor in Optimus' voice as well.

"Et quod falsum est, disrumperentur; unitum esse divisa, moles ista animarum…!"

All at once, the spark slammed to a standstill, almost as if it had never been spinning. It was split in half by the colors of the spark-beams now: Optimus' half red, Hunter's half blue-violet. As brightly as a star, the spark shone.

"Et quod falsum est, disrumperentur; unitum esse divisa, moles ista animarum…!" Luna reached up and reverently took up the spark again, bringing it down to cradle in front of her once more. She didn't look at the spark as she handled it, simply kept staring blankly forward into nothing, eyes glazed in her trance. The spark equally spaced in her delicate yet dangerous hands—Hunter's half in one and Optimus' half in the other—the witch took a firm hold on the glowing crystal, squeezing. "Et quod falsum est, disrumperentur; unitum esse divisa, moles ista animarum…!"

Optimus and Hunter both reacted at the same time, sucking in a sharp intake of air as they tensed and trembled with a sharp pain deep in their very sparks.

"Et quod falsum est, disrumperentur; unitum esse divisa, moles ista animarum…!"

"No, please!" Hunter pleaded yet again, clutching at her chest as if that would prevent the spark-bond from being taken away. "Please!" She looked beseechingly at Luna.

As if hearing her, Luna stopped chanting the incantation for once and slowly turned her head in Hunter's direction. Her eyes were still glazed over and empty, so she didn't really look at the girl, but Hunter knew she had the witch's attention regardless.

The tears were hot on Hunter's skin as they cascaded down her cheeks and dripped off her chin to warp the glowing lines and symbols of the circle beneath her. She shook her head. "Don't do this," the teen squeaked. "Luna, please, don't do this, I'm begging you Please, please, please."

Luna's painted lips slowly curled up into a very Grinch-like grin that was made all the more unnerving when coupled with her unfocused, thousand-mile stare. Immediately she picked up the incantation again, never turning her head away from Hunter's direction. She squeezed the spark harder and slowly rotated her hands in opposite directions, twisting the crystal as much as its limited pliability would allow. "Et quod falsum est, disrumperentur; unitum esse divisa, moles ista animarum…!"

Optimus and Hunter cried out in agony, both of them clutching at their chests now. They fell heavily against the barriers of their circles, instinct forcing them to stay on their feet for as long as they could.

"Et quod falsum est, disrumperentur; unitum esse divisa, moles ista animarum…!"

"Please, don't!" Hunter was screaming at Luna, face red from crying and screaming and with the strain of fighting against the hurt. "Please, don't! Please, don't do this—don't take him from me! Don't break our spark-bond—please, don't! Please don't do this! Please, Luna! Please!" Hunter's knees buckled with another twinge of pain as Luna twisted the spark again and she hit her hands and knees in the circle.

"Et quod falsum est, disrumperentur; unitum esse divisa, moles ista animarum…!"

Hearing a cry of pain, Hunter looked over to see Optimus on his knees, a hand braced against a thigh and a shoulder jammed against his circle's barrier to keep from going all the way down as he clutched at his chest, faceplate screwed up in agony. Instinctively she reached out to him. "Daddy!"

"Et quod falsum est, disrumperentur; unitum esse divisa, moles ista animarum…!"

The Prime looked to Hunter. She was there—right there! She was reaching for him! Optimus took his hand off his thigh and reached for her. "Hunter!"

Luna's voice roared with finality: "Et quod falsum est, disrumperentur; unitum esse divisa, moles ista animarum!"

A bright flash like lightning; a sharp clap like thunder. The Prime and the girl screamed in agony as a pain—a pain that felt like their very souls were being torn in half—seared through them. The beams connecting them to the spark suddenly snapped back towards them like bungee cords, disappearing into their spark-chambers with such force that they were thrown backward and away from each other.

---

Optimus' backplate came into contact with something very hard and unyielding, and the back of his helm cracked sharply against it. "Ack!" He fell dazed and confused in a hundred different ways to the floor, the world spinning around him in a quickly darkening haze. Where was he? This wasn't where he'd just been. Where was Luna? Where was Hunter? Where was his daughter?

Voices that sounded like they were a million miles away drew his attention, but he couldn't make out the words through the ringing in his audio-receptors. He managed to focus just enough to recognize the two faces that came swimming into his vision: Greasy and Councilman Ananias. They hadn't been where he'd just been; at least he didn't remember them being there. Where was he now? Where was Hunter? Why did his chest feel so empty?

Optimus didn't have time to try and figure it out as everything quickly succumbed to the darkness.

---

"Ugh!" Hunter slammed into something hard, glass and paper and books and other magical things raining down around her after the impact. In a daze she looked around, finding herself back in Luna's vault, one of the cabinets at her back (that's what she'd slammed into). The pain in her chest was gone, but in its place, and almost worse, was a sensation Hunter hadn't felt in quite some time; a sensation she'd hoped to never feel again: loneliness—emptiness, like there was nothing there. Like there was no one there.

Optimus. Optimus wasn't there.

Panic setting in, Hunter quickly tried to focus on their spark-link only to find that there wasn't a link there to focus on anymore. No! No, no, no it had to be there! The link had to be there—Optimus had to be there! The sixteen-year-old searched her entire spark, feeling and reaching out as far and as hard as she could to try and find the familiar sensation of her spark-father, but there was nothing to find.

Tears immediately spilled over as the reality settled in: Her father wasn't there anymore. It was just her now. She was alone; all alone again. "D-Daddy?"

"Daddy can't save you now."

Hunter startled and whipped around at the voice. Eyes wide with terror she looked up to see Luna looming over her, no longer in a trance, but clear and focused directly on her. In each of the witch's hands were blackened, smoldering, coal-like objects: the spark, snapped in half. Hunter looked from one spark half to the other then back up to Luna's face. Despite her triumph, the witch didn't look the least bit victorious, just sinister, and angry, and vengeful. The teen gulped and instinctively tried to get away, but she was far too weak to try and rise to her feet. In fact, the only thing she could do was try and back away, but with the cabinet at her back, she wasn't going anywhere that way either. Hunter was trapped. Alone and trapped with a witch that wasn't known for her mercy. The girl whimpered as she shrunk away from the oncoming witch.

Seeing the fear in her granddaughter's eyes was what brought finally a triumphant sneer to Luna's lips. Finally! After all this time and trouble, she finally had the girl where she wanted her—trembling at her feet! In only a short time now it would be even better, with Hunter trembling in supplication at her feet. And Luna would enjoy every second of every minute it would take to put the brat there.

With a flick of wrists and fingers, Luna threw the pieces of her mate's spark away, forgetting about them as she focused all of her attention on her cowering granddaughter. "Daddy will never save you again," she hissed as she advanced on the girl. "Daddy will never find you again." She stopped to stand over and stare down at Hunter, her shadow looming dark and large over the quivering girl.

Hunter sat completely overcome with and frozen in terror in a mess of shattered glass and spilled potions as she stared back up at her grandmother. She'd never felt more small and helpless. Or more hopeless.

Luna's sneer turned into a mockery of a grandmother's doting smile and the coldest of chills ran down Hunter's spine. "It's just you and me now," she crooned in a sickeningly sweet tone, "my darling granddaughter!" Her voice had suddenly turned harsh and her raspberry eyes blazed as the witch grabbed for the girl, palm gleaming with magic.

Hunter screamed.

---

Latin translation: Et quod falsum est, disrumperentur; unitum esse divisa, moles ista animarum::Let that which has been forged be torn asunder; the united souls be split in twain.

(Or at least that's what it translates to according to the translation website I used. I make no guarantees of accuracy.)