Past and Future Chapter 2: Past Encounters, a transformers/beast wars fanfic

Author's Note: Thank you for the encouragement, so I will continue writing this fic. I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: Ultra Rodimus and his skrill Falcon are mine. Everyone else belongs to someone else.

Past and Future

Chapter 1 : Past Encounters

Ultra Rodimus stared up at the other Autobot, instantly recognizing him as Prowl. And that brought out more thoughts. Prowl did not exist in his time; he'd been killed just before Autobot City had been destroyed. It could have been a dimension jump, but Ultra Rodimus was more accustomed than he'd like to dimensional cross-rips and what he'd passed through had definitely not been a dimensional breach. That left only one plausible explanation: he'd traveled in time.

It only took seconds for that to occur to him. Hard on its heels came the knowledge that Prowl didn't know him, that he himself did not exist in this time. And from the look of the Ark itself, the Transformers had not been long awakened. No one knew of them and they did not know anyone.

Fortunately, his reign as Autobot leader had taught him to control his expression, and he schooled his into what would be expected of someone facing a giant alien robot holding a weapon. His eyes went as wide as they could go, his jaw dropped, he went pale, and stumbled backward, as if completely and utterly shocked. A portion of his mind concentrated on his control over his physical appearance and swiftly hid the red faction insignia on his shirt before Prowl could see it. He made sure that all signs of his real nature were hidden. Then a part of his mind began working on a way to get back to his own time.

Something tickled in the back of his mind, and he recognized it as his lifebond. His mate was trying to contact him. Thanking Primus for his unusual ability to mentally multitask, he added his efforts to Magnus's and between them they managed to get the link open.

((Beloved!)) Magnus's mental voice was full of worry.

(I'm all right,) Ultra Rodimus assured him. (But I seem to have jumped backward in time.)

((We found a time window,)) was the response. ((Any idea when you are?))

(I'm on Earth, staring at the business end of Prowl's gun, in front of the Ark. My guess is somewhere in the 1980's, probably just after Mt. St. Hillary blew and woke Teletran 1. Ask Jazz if he remembers anything.)

((Will do.))

The link went quiet.

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Prowl didn't know what to make of the human. He and the others had just encountered the humans, but none of them had looked like this. The male standing in front of him was quite tall for a human, about six foot six, with skin that shone golden and long silver hair. His eyes were a startling brilliant green, oval-shaped and slightly tilted, enhancing his exotic appearance. The pupils, Prowl noted as those eyes went huge, were slitted. He'd been informed by Sparkplug that all humans had round pupils. The strander's ears were also odd, pointed instead of rounded. The stranger's clothing was a light grey with red and blue markings, his long coat and boots of strangely patterned material. But what unnerved Prowl most was the expression he'd glimpsed on the man's face when he'd turned around.

Recognition.

The stranger had looked at him, and his eyes had said I know you. Then his expression had gone from surprised recognition to utter shock, the expression on the faces of the other humans meeting the Autobots for the first time. But Prowl felt certain that this was only an act. That man knew exactly who and what Prowl was, even though he was trying to pretend otherwise. He wondered why the stranger felt the need to pretend.

"Who are you?" Prowl repeated.

The stranger's jaw worked, but nothing came out.

"Drop the act," Prowl ordered. "You know exactly what I am. Do you really think you're fooling me?"

Emerald eyes narrowed at him. "My name is Roddy." His voice was surprisingly deep for such a small (to an Autobot) being.

Prowl got the distinct impression that he hadn't been told Roddy's full name, but some instinct told him not to pry. The stranger must have reasons for not revealing his full name. Something nagged at him as he gestured with his weapon. "Come on."

His sharp tone earned him another pointed look, but Roddy didn't say anything. He merely followed Prowl's directions, allowing himself to be escorted into the Ark. Prowl stared at his back, wondering how the stranger knew him, and wondering why Prowl didn't know Roddy.

Who is he?

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There was complete silence as the gathered Autobots stared at Perceptor, letting what they'd heard sink in. The scientist had just told them that their leader had traveled in time. They hadn't even known that was possible!

"So... how do we get him home?" Springer finally wondered.

"We can't do anything," Perceptor informed him.

"What? Why not!"

"Because if we go after him we risk changing history, and that would alter the future," Perceptor explained. "Our reality would cease to exist. Events would happen differently, and maybe not for the better. This time Ultra Rodimus must find his own way home."

Kup thought for a long moment, searching his long memory, but he couldn't remember ever hearing of or seeing anyone looking even remotely like Ultra Rodimus. He said as much.

Scattershot looked at Magnus. "Can you contact him? Maybe he can give us a hint as to which time period he's in. Then we can go through the archives and maybe find a way for him to get home."

"I'll try." Magnus concentrated, eyes glazing over as he turned his attention inward. "It feels blocked..." Then the block vanished and his mate's mind touched his own. ((Beloved!)) Magnus sent, listening for any hints of pain that could indicate an injury.

(I'm all right,) his mate answered, his voice tinted with something Magnus couldn't identify. (But I seem to have jumped backward in time.)

Relief swept through the city commander. ((We found a time window. Any idea when you are?))

The mental image of a tall black and white robot, aiming a gun and wearing a very suspicious expression, slid into Magnus's mental eye. For a moment absolute rage at somebody pointing a weapon at his mate swept through Magnus. He squashed it with difficulty, ignoring the rising urge to step through that time window and take Prowl apart circuit by circuit. He'd never felt anything like it before; it wasn't in his nature. Then he remembered Kup telling him that lifebonds tended to make both partners extremely protective of each other, and the emotions suddenly made sense. He devoted part of his attention to forcing them down so he could answer his mate. ((Will do.))

Ultra Rodimus sent a wave of affection to him and broke the connection. Magnus came back to himself with a start. He looked at the others.

"Assemble in the briefing room, and bring Jazz with you," he ordered. "Also, anyone else who was on the Ark when the volcano erupted."

"He's then?" Kup asked.

"Apparently."

"That would explain why I don't remember anything. I wasn't there at the time." Kup began making calls while a team of Autobots set up a perimeter around the time window and Perceptor supervised the placement of his equipment.

Magnus looked at the empty air where the window was. He didn't like the thought of leaving it while his mate was still on the other side, but he didn't have a choice. It was the only way he could help his beloved. As he turned back toward Iacon, he privately vowed that, if nothing else would work, he would personally go and find his mate.

To be continued...

I know the chapters of this fic are short compared to some of the other chapters I've written, but at the moment that can't be helped. For new readers, this fic is part of an ongoing series, so if you are confused by anything in this story I would suggest that you read the other stories in this series. It starts with "Transformation", and the others, in order, are: "A New Life" (rewrite pending), "Years of Darkness", "Cyber World", "Of Lightsabers and Autobots", "Unexpected Encounters" (read to find out about Falcon), "Burning Skies" (violent; read with caution), "Chocolate", "Encounters of the Weird Kind", "Cyber Stargate", "Metal and Neon", and finally this story. They can be read separately, but to understand the full storyline you should read all of them. That's just a suggestion, mind you.

You know what to do if you want me to update, right? Send me more reviews. If I don't get reviews then I won't update until I get some. Reviews fuel updates. So to get an update you have to feed the author.