Lucy sat there staring blankly at the monitors of the medical bay, with her servo on her forehead with a pained expression. The throbbing pain from her head was unmistakable. She rubbed the bridge of her nose—that was nonexistent, instead, pinching the metal plating. Being so caught up in her thoughts that she failed to notice heavy footsteps approaching her. Her optics were focused on the floor before she eventually noticed a pair of pedes standing in her line of sight. She raised her gaze where she was met with two mech figures: Optimus and Ratchet, looking down at her with utter relief.

"Thank Primus your awake! We thought you were-" Ratchet was interrupted by Lucy uttering suddenly.

"Arcee—I hurt Arcee...didn't I?" She looked vacantly at them as they shared glances to each other, so her suspicions were true after all. She watched as Optimus stepped forward towards the berth she was sat on.

"You did, but the injuries weren't enough to cause any serious damage to her voice box." Optimus reassured her, however she wasn't having any of it.

"You say that...but that doesn't change anything for what I have done. I remember—my fingers around her neck—I...I could've killed her!" By simply raising her voice had caused her hair and optics to glow.

All of the nearby electronics began to flicker violently. The television had turned on and there was a loud static coming from it. She realized what she was doing and took in a deep breath to calm her nerves. Eventually the glow around her had toned down significantly to its natural state before glancing over to them, and apologizing.

"I'm sorry...but if you hadn't been calling out my name Optimus—I would've definitely injured Arcee." Lucy said in a quiet tone, afraid of raising her voice at them. She turned her helm to the side, staring at the opposite side of the room to avoid their gaze.

"Yet you didn't. However, this much we did learn: your abilities are strongly linked to your emotions. I believe that with proper training you'll be able to manipulate these powers to aid those around you." Optimus informed her, noticing her shift awkwardly from where she sat.

"Optimus is right." Ratchet approaches her and kneels right beside her, placing his servo on her shoulder-pad. "It's all up to you to decide whether or not to go through with it."

She raised her helm up to Ratchet and then at Optimus. There was something in the way they were acting towards her felt off—treating her with more care than what she's used to. She opened her oral vent to say something when suddenly a voice chimed in.

"Hope you don't mind me joining in on the conversation." That voice was Agent Fowler, resting his arms against the railing and was staring down at them. His hair was disheveled and his eyes were sunken in.

"Fowler? When did you-"

"Arrive? I've been here for awhile now...I wanted to be here when you would wake up. Besides, that is not the only reason why I stayed overnight." Fowler commented which earned a quizzical look from her. He was rather hesitant to speak and he could feel the palms of his hands were beginning to sweat from how nervous he was. Taking in a deep breath to allow his nerves to calm down before speaking. "They know."

"...I'm not sure I understand what you mean." She stared blankly at Fowler, his eyes avoiding hers. His words didn't sink in until it finally clicked inside her head. "OH…" Lucy looks over at Ratchet and was meet with a comforting look on the field medics faceplates.

"How much did you tell them?" Lucy asked, looking from the corner of her optics at Fowler.

"Everything—Well, except my involvement in the re-investigation of your families case." Fowler stated earning him surprised expressions from the two mechs. "Lucy had reasons to believe that something else had played a role in her family's demise—turns out she was right."

Optimus turns to fully face Fowler, gesturing his servo forward. "What did you find?"

Fowler looks over to Lucy where she bowed her head for him to continue. "One of the reports said that her family died by misadventure. The alleged truth is that the fire began in the library when their cat knocked over a lamp—setting the place ablaze almost instantaneously."

Suddenly Ratchet interjected. "That's it? The source of all the pain was a domesticated mammal?!" Ratchet argued, forming his free servo into a first before huffing in disbelief. "Well, good riddance…" he muttered through his gritted dentas.

"Except...we didn't own a cat…" Lucy suddenly uttered loud enough for them to hear and then looked up to meet their gazes, her optics hardened. "A body of a cat was found inside our home—no name tag or collar. So they suspected it was our indoor/outdoor cat."

"Do you mean…?" Ratchet trailed off, turning his helm towards Optimus.

"Indeed." Optimus's face hardened and his lips were pressed into a thin line.

"Someone planted the cats already deceased body into the house and made it seem like the poor thing was to blame. With the new evidence that Lucy provided, I was able to pinpoint the person responsible for the incident."

"Who was it?" Ratchet pressed on as he felt Lucy shift from under his grasp.

Fowler exchanged quick glances at them before landing at Lucy, his hands gripping the railing tighter. "The person behind it...was Silas."

….

There were cheerful chatter coming from the main room of the base. The voices belonged to the three young teens that were sat on the couch. They were so caught up in their conversation that they didn't notice Lucy standing in the corner of the passageway, keeping her presence hidden from the rest of the group.

It had been three days since she had awoken and when Fowler had revealed her the truth of her family's demise. She purposely shut everyone out after the revelation, allowing herself to go into the deepest darkest pit of her own sorrow. The two bots that she had come to know and trust tried to comfort her through her pain but all she did was push them away.

No one else knew, not even the three young teens.

She sighed inwardly, placing her servo on her chassis before silently hovering away from the corner of the passageway. Unbeknownst to her, a pair of optics had caught sight of her flowing energon hair before she had disappeared from their line of sight.

Lucy hid herself inside her quarters, making sure to lock the door behind her. The inside of her room was dark and the only source of light was coming from her flowing energon hair. She made her way towards her berth. She took a seat and turns to the side, pulling her legs close to her chest and then wrapping her arms around them before lowering her forehead against her knees.

It was only a matter of time when she decided to leave the comfort of her quarters.

Lucy peered around the corner and glanced at the main room, nobody was around. She took this opportunity as she made her way towards the ground bridge controls, typing in the coordinates and activating the ground bridge. Her pedes moved on their own as she walks through the swirling vortex, unaware of a second party catching a glimpse of her disappearing form.

Ratchet had just came back from his own quarters after taking a short rest from overworking himself a couple of hours ago, per Optimus's orders of course. He was about to resume with the work he'd left of but that was when he spotted the ground bridge active, with Lucy walking through it. He didn't think twice before he quickened his pace to catch up to her.

Once on the other side of the vortex, he arrived at a dense forest in the dead of night yet he couldn't see her anywhere, in fact, she was nowhere in sight.

Soon the vortex had closed behind him, as he stood there and realized that the pathway where he stood was overgrown with weeds and dried up leaves scattered across the ground. This leads him to believe that this used to be a rural road at some point.

He remained where he stood for a moment longer before proceeding forward. It wasn't long before he had reached the end of the path. The first thing his optics spotted was a house seemingly existing where it stood, far away from civilization.

It was clear that the house has been abandoned for quite some time, being made entirely out of wood that was prone to be eaten by wood eating insects. Now, it was nothing more than a dilapidated building that once held meaningful memories, if it has any. The closer he got to it is when he noticed how badly damaged it really was, the roof was exposed, it's windows were shattered with pieces of glass still scattered on the floor and the furniture inside were all depleted of its value.

There was a sense of dread in the air, he couldn't explain why but that's what he felt the longer he stood there. His gaze drifted off to his right where he stared off into the open field which had a small lake in the center. That's when he saw an all too familiar figure, with flowing energon hair, sitting right in front of the lake.

Soon he made his way over to her before stopping right beside her, with her back facing him. She had her knees close to her chassis with her arms wrapped around her legs as she stared off into the distance.

He took in a silent intake of breath before making his presence known. "Mind if I sit beside you?"

She responded after a moment, without turning to look at him. "Not at all."

Ratchet took a seat beside her and was now staring off at the lake before him. The surface of the water was glimmering from the reflection of the moon, it was peaceful and statue still. He took this opportunity to break the silence between them.

"Out of all the places. Why here?"

Lucy can feel his gaze on her as she kept her optics forward. Staring into the crystal clear waters of the lake and her eyes followed a lone Gerridae zipping across the surface of the water with confidence.

She lifted her head from her knees and looks over her shoulder-pad at the abandoned house. "I grew up here…"

Ratchet followed her gaze towards the house and then back at her. His face contorting into a deep frown, instantly regretting what he said. "Lucy...I-"

He didn't get to finish his sentence when Lucy had already cut him off in mid-sentence.

"It's ok. You didn't know." Their eyes meet for a brief moment before she stared straight at the lake. Purposely avoiding his gaze as to not show the pained look in her eyes. "It's been years since I last set foot here. No matter how much time had passed. No matter how much I've grown. The memory still feels fresh after all these years…"

Her chest tightened at the recollection of that dreadful night and despite her emotional turmoil she continued on. Hesitating at first but pushed through the lump that was painfully forming in her throat. "...I still relive that night...I...I had to watch my sister die right in front of me. My parents cries...If I've known I had these abilities from the beginning they'd still be here."

"Lucy."

"I could've saved them…" She trailed off in a quiet voice yet still audible enough to beheard.

Ratchet laid his servo on top of her shoulder-pad to comfort her. "Lucy, their death is not yours to blame."

He watched as she turned to face him and his spark instantly fell. She had tears pouring down her cheeks with a pained look across her features. He can feel her trembling underneath his servo and before he got the chance to even say something she had already beat him to it.

"Ratchet... Silas specifically targeted me—the necklace and MY family were in the way of his objective. None of this wouldn't have happened...if I just stayed DEAD!" She admitted before placing her hands up on either side of her head as she choked back a sob. Then she was pulled into a strong embrace.

Ratchet held onto her like his life depended on it, with his servo on her helm and the other on her back. "None of this is your fault…" he mumbled onto her temple. "Nothing could've prevented it…but what matters most is that your here surrounded by people that undoubtedly care for you...if you need anything, I'm always here for you."

With that her walls began to crumble as tears were coursing down her cheeks before sobbing quietly into his chassis. He squeezed his hold around her and with his digits he traced soothing circles on her back. Eventually, Lucy's sobs quieted down and had fallen asleep in Ratchet's arms.

Ratchet took this opportunity to contact base requesting a Ground Bridge. Initially there was no immediate response and assumed that there was no one at the end of the comm-link system. That was until the Ground Bridge was heard. He didn't question it, in fact, he was grateful to whomever sent the bridge to their location. Ratchet stood up with Lucy in his arms before he proceeds to walk towards the swirling vortex.

When Ratchet arrived at the base, standing right by the computer system for the Ground Bridge was Optimus Prime with a look of concern written in his optics. Optimus glanced down at Lucy and then back at Ratchet with sympathy.

Neither of them said a word. It wasn't really needed.

Optimus simply observed as Ratchet walked across the room and disappeared around the corner down the hallway.

Ratchet tread carefully down the hallway until he arrived to his quarters. The doors slid open as he walked inside and approached his berth where he gently laid her down. His servo remained on her helm with her flowing hair in between his digits. Slowly he removed his servo from her helm and turned to walk out the door but was stopped after he felt a hand grasping onto his own. He looks over his shoulder-pad to see Lucy looking up at him through tired and pleading eyes.

"Stay."

His spark skipped a beat. Her request had caught him completely off guard. When he went to open his mouth but was unable to utter a single word.

"Please…" She pleaded.

He couldn't bring himself to say no to her as he now took a seat beside her. However, she nudged on his servo implying for him to lay down next to her. This made him visibly panic yet the reassuring look she gave him was enough to slowly calm his nerves before gaining enough courage to lay down next to her. Of course, he wasn't expecting anything else than just lay there.

Oh how wrong he was.

Before he knew it, she had made herself comfortable by resting her head on his chassis. The warmth of his cheeks had become apparent but he remained silent as to not disturb Lucy. When he made sure she was fast asleep, he proceeded to shift into a different position his and was now facing her.

He couldn't help but smile at how peaceful she looked, then he leans over and places a kiss on her forehead. Cradling her closer to him before he eventually slipped into a deep recharge.