Chapter 10: Not Alone

Optimus was on top of the base looking out over the deserted area around the Autobot base. He released a sigh and sat down with his legs hanging over the side of it before he laid down and looked up at the clouds. He heard someone walking towards him and tilted his helm back more to see Artemis. "What are you doing up here all alone?" Artemis asked as she went over and sat down next to the Prime before laying down beside him.

"I came up here to think while the others are down there relaxing and playing music, why are you up here?" Optimus said calmly as he glanced over at the femme.

"The same reason that you did," Artemis said with a small smile as she looked over at the mech. "I did have a couple questions for you though," she said as she leaned up onto her elbows.

"Which were?" Optimus said as he did the same thing.

"Why are you still bonded to Elita after all the hell she put you through?" Artemis said with a frown.

"Why are you still trying to decide between me, Ratchet, and Megatron?" Optimus asked as he looked into the femme's optics. Artemis frowned and looked away before sitting up all the way. "As for your question about me and Elita, I still care for her but the love for her has vanished after I found out everything. Everything about her cheating and her losing our sparkling when out in a battle and being reckless. I am glad I was with her before the war but during it, my spark fell for a different femme," Optimus said as he looked Artemis. "Ratchet confessed his feelings to you because I told him that night. I saw him kiss you and I was alright but felt this wave of jealousy." Optimus stopped himself.

"I can't decide between you three because I can't cause one of you to get hurt," Artemis mumbled. "Ratchet can calm me down and get through my stubborn helm. He kissed me and I kissed him. When it comes to you, we have always had that connection and I have always been here to talk to and I do not know," Artemis said as she held her helm in her hands for a few moments before looking over at the Prime. "And when it comes to me and Megatron, I do love him and want him back to being the Megatronus I loved. But I also know that mech is barely there anymore, in the same way that Elita changed during the war," Artemis said calmly as she looked down at the desert.

Optimus sat up and looked down at the smaller blue femme. "I do not want to hurt Ratchet but I also know he doesn't want to see either of us spark broken," Optimus said as he looked at her and felt his spark skip a beat. "Artemis," Optimus said as he lifted her helm so he could look into his optics. "I told Ratchet to not hide his feelings for you, and I should take my own advice." He said before releasing a sigh. "Artemis, I love you and I know I have made the wrong choices in the past and I do not want to see you hurt either. I know I can protect you from Claw" Optimus said as he leaned down and placed a kiss on her forehead to see if this was something she wanted.

Artemis looked up at the Prime before sitting up a little bit and putting her helm against his for a few moments before standing up and looking down at him. "I do not want either of you to risk your sparks for me. I didn't want to have your sparks broken physically or emotionally because of what I do and my choices," Artemis elaborated before looking over the desert. "When it comes to you and Ratchet, both of you are so different in how you show emotions and feelings towards me, it is overwhelming. I know how the two of you felt on Cybertron but we were during a very intense war that we are all to blame for."

Optimus stood and looked down at the femme before grabbing her helm and opening his chest plates and placing it onto the matrix that laid over his spark. Artemis looked up at the mech shocked before looking and noticed his spark was cracked. "Ratchet is more vocal in his emotions, I am not as emotional unless I fully trust the individual. I trust you. Artemis, my spark has a faint crack running through it from the stress of being a Prime, the stress that this war has caused me, losing someone who I considered a brother, and fearing what happened to so many of my soldiers," Optimus said calmly. "You are not the only one with a broken spark or someone who has to fight this all alone."

Artemis moved her hand away from his chest before he closed his chest. Artemis looked around. She opened her chest plates to reveal a large crack down the center of her spark and many others around it. She looked up and saw the Prime with a look of horror on his face plates. "My spark was weak before the war and had the cracks of stress and such through it and such but Claw forcing his bond caused it to crack more," Artemis explained as the Prime kneeled down and looked at her glowing white spark with an aura of blue and purple. Where his was blue and red. "Once he breaks his bond, my spark will shatter and there is nothing you and Ratchet can do besides allow the Decepticons to take me."

"No," Optimus said as he looked up at the femme before releasing a sigh. "No, I will try my hardest to protect you," he said as he stood and leaned down and kissed her before pulling away quickly. "You are not alone anymore, this is not a battle you must go into solo."