TWC: Part I - The Beginning (old ver)

by willowbeean

You've probably heard countless stories about me, right? You probably think you know everything there is to know about me too huh? Hello everyone, my designation is Windswept, and what you've heard about me probably won't compare to the story I'm about to tell you. So what are we waiting for? From my own two optics, here is my side of Team Prime in the Cybertronian War.

15. Chpt 15: Out of His Head

They say never judge a book by it's cover. Well, you'd be more than dead if you tried to judge me by my appearance. I maybe small, but I pack a mean punch if you mess with me and my team... Oh, I'm sorry. That was rude... hey there! I'm Windswept! And boy, have I got a story to tell you. Well, what are you waiting for?! Get over here and get ready for my adventures on Team Prime!

Hello again fellow Fanfiction readers! I've just got home from work and am feeling very inspired to post up part two of this Sick Mind/Out of His Head saga!

Before I get into it, a special wee thank you should go out to Angelwings2002, who took the time to read every chapter of this story all the way up to now, and has favourited and reviewed! I'm very touched by you taking the time to read this! And I'm trying my very hardest to make these characters of mine as different and interesting as possible! Thank you very much for your kind words and I hope you enjoy the future chapters!

- Transformers Prime does not belong to me. All rights go to the people and brands who were able to create this show.
- Windswept and the other OC's belong to me.

(Chapter Title: Get Out of My Head!)

---

"Follow the light."

I looked up suddenly at Ratchet shining a light in Optimus' optics, obviously checking him over to see if he had fully gotten over the Cybonic Plague. I sighed quietly beside Arcee, Sunburst, and Starlight, who whom, including myself, were still concerned about Optimus' well-being.

My concern wasn't exactly with Optimus well-being – well it was, but not all of it. I hadn't seen Megatron's red optics again since Arcee, Sunburst and I returned home yesterday. But that didn't mean that it was just a fluke. I was well aware of the possibility that Megatron was somehow inside my mind, preparing to use me as a pick to somehow bring himself back from the dead.

And if we're being honest, I'd say that's what might happen.

And I'm a little scared by that fact.

"Good. Good." Ratchet switched off the torch he was using to perform the optic check.

"Ratchet and I wouldn't advise anything strenuous, Optimus. But the scans show that your systems have fully recovered from the Cybonic Plague," Starlight announced happily.

The arms around Optimus' form separated from the Prime, allowing him to walk out of the medical chamber. He gave a nod at Starlight before looking at Ratchet, "Thanks to your medical expertise, old friend."

"It was your second-in-command who braved known territory to locate the cure," Ratchet added as he and Optimus looked over me.

I smiled embarrassingly, waving them off, "You can stop, Ratchet! Please!"

"Lucky for us Megatron was still alive," Arcee remarked.

Sunburst whipped his helm around to look down beside him at Arcee. Even I widened my optics at the words.

"You actually said that?" Sunburst questioned in disbelief.

"Yeah. I actually said that," Arcee replied, a tint of surprise evident in her voice.

"Wow. Those are words we are never ever gonna say again," Sunburst hummed, Arcee and I nodding in agreement beside him.

"What matters is that you are on the mend, Optimus" Ratchet interrupted us, looking up at the Prime, "While Megatron-"

"Should hopefully be pushing up lugnuts now," Sunburst cut in, looking down at me and clasping my shoulder, "For real this time."

"Maybe," I shrugged with an unsure tone, "I tried my hardest to finish Megatron's tale. Just a shame I didn't stick around long enough to see how it ended." I shuddered inwardly and looked over at Arcee and Sunburst. I couldn't let them know about those red optics. "Hey, I'm just gonna wait for the kids to come in. I'll see you guys later."

I began walking away before I got a response, walking down the corridor towards the main room where Bulkhead and Bumblebee should be arriving with the children any minute now. Arcee and I had stayed to oversee Ratchet and Starlight's scans to make sure that Optimus was a-okay.

I was just walking into the main room when a sudden pain in my helm made me grit my denta to stop myself from crying out for help. I fell to the side of the archway, my right shoulder pretty much holding my entire weight. I took a moment to recollect myself before I pressed my servos onto the wall to help myself stand, my optics locking onto my servos. I went to remove them off the wall, but I couldn't. It was like something was holding me back.

"It is a matter of time before Optimus discovers all is not right with you, my niece," Megatron growled, the sight of Megatron's unconscious form on the medical berth in the Nemesis taking over my vision, "I must reclaim my body…which means taking complete and total control of yours."

Megatron.

"No..." I whispered, ripping my servos off the wall and curling them into fists, "I won't..." Another sharp pain occurred in my helm, causing me to grit my denta again. "Let you..."

"I have ways of making you, dear Windswept," Megatron argued. Suddenly the images of the Cybertronians that the Decepticon had murdered I had seen through his optics reappeared, "You will help me, Windswept. Even if I have to torment you to do so."

The images of Megatron killing the red femme and the blue mech kept flashing in my mind. But this time, there was audio. The femme's Energon-curling screams made my audio receptors hurt. As she fell to the ground offline, the mech appeared in front of me, angrily waving his arms about.

"You weren't supposed to kill her! We made a deal!" That was all I heard from the mech before he was stabbed in his spark chamber, falling beside the femme.

The mech's voice... it was familiar...like I knew who he was. And the femme too! Even though I only heard her screams, their voices still sounded familiar. But I couldn't find a face to place their voices on. Come on, 'Swept! Think!

Images of the couple began flashing in my mind. I shut my optics tightly, watching the couple flash into my mind, different images of them, but still they looked the same.

"My darlings."

I pushed myself off the wall in fright of the words, optics snapping open and looking around. No one was here.

That voice... I know that voice!

---

TRANSFORMERS PRIME

---

"Basketball! By way of Cybertron!"

When the humans had returned to base, we all quickly grew bored with the video games that the humans like to enjoy playing. So they, along with all of us except for Optimus, Ratchet and Arcee, the latter who had gone out for patrol, decided on the human game of Basketball. But the Cybertronian version of it.

Sunburst and Aquastrike, who had just returned from her patrol, were on one side while Bumblebee and Bulkhead were on the other side. Starlight and I were on the crates near the controls – we had decided that we weren't getting ourselves involved in whatever this could turn out becoming. Miko was dancing around the back of the hoop Bulkhead had to protect while Jack, Carly and Raf were sitting on one of the air vents we had to repair from the Scraplet incident about a month or two ago.

I was unable to put any names to the voices that had appeared in my mind. Megatron had blocked me from attempting to locate anything in my mind that could help me remember. It meant that I couldn't do anything, but not let the team know - I didn't want to stress them in any way, so for now, I was just gonna have to sit and wait until the next time Megatron attacks.

"Let the games begin!" Miko announced before blowing the whistle

Aquastrike began twirling the ball, the same one Sunburst, Wheeljack and Bulkhead had lobbed with when Wheeljack was here, with her fore-digit easily with a grin, "Come on boys! You scared of loin' to a girl!"

"Yeah, yeah! Just throw the ball!" Bulkhead grumbled, smashing his fists together to prepare himself.

Aquastrike stuck her tongue out and chucked the ball towards the hoop Miko was standing around behind. With a laugh, Bulkhead snatched the ball out of the air before it landed through the hoop. He jumped around, ready to throw the ball when Aquastrike leaped in front of him, attempting to block the shot. With his sight blocked by the femme, Bulkhead managed to spot Bumblebee and chuck the ball at him, the latter catching it mid air and throwing towards the hoop.

Score!

"Yeah! Go, Bulk and Bee!" Miko cheered.

"This isn't going to be a fair match if we have the biased Miko as ref," Starlight muttered beside me.

I just shrugged beside her. Yeah, it was a little unfair. But I don't really feel arguing with a Japanese exchange student who could easily use that whistle of hers to her advantage.

As the ball rolled and bounced back over to Bumblebee, Bulkhead turned around to face Aquastrike and Sunburst, "Come on. Best two out of three!"

Bumblebee scooped up the ball and chucked it at Bulkhead, who quickly lobbed the ball at Sunburst to throw off his aim. But Sunburst never lets any so called trickery or games throw himself off. He managed to catch the hard lob, albeit nearly hitting the wall behind him, and soon, he was racing up towards the hoop, dancing around Bulkhead and Bumblebee's swipes at him to try and steal the ball of him to no avail.

Just as Sunburst was beginning to reach the hoop, the sharp pains I had earlier that morning appeared again. I grabbed my helm, gritting my denta tightly together so no noises would exit out of my mouth. I couldn't control what Megatron was doing inside my head but one thing was certain – he was starting to take control over me.

And that was something that was scaring me more so out of anything that has occurred to me in my life.

"DUNK IT SUNBURST! YOU'RE IN THE CLEAR!" I heard Carly cry out.

I felt myself watching Megatron punch Optimus. Then the images flashed, changing and showing me the Decepticon Spacebridge ahead of me. Flashes of the Terracon army Megatron was bringing through the portal appeared before I was suddenly looking up at the roof of the Spacebridge. It was beginning to break away just as the lead Terracon of the army was holding out his hand towards me, begging me to help pull him through.

Then the Spacebridge exploded around me in a ball of blue.

"Sunburst! Quit hogging the ball!" I heard Bulkhead complain.

There was a thud noise followed by much more noise as that mech and that femme appeared in my visions again, but this time they were joined by a blue and red-striped youngling.

A very familiar youngling.

Whirlwind?

The pain was starting to become to much for me to bare. I cried helplessly for help as I watched the femme and mech, like before, die by Megatron's hand. But this time, there was a new image. It was my sister crying and screaming.

"You hurt them! You hurt my Carry and Crearry!"

Carry and Crearry... They were nicknames Whirlwind and I... gave our parents while we grew up...

Oh... my... fragging... Primus...

"WINDSWEPT!"

I bolted up suddenly, my frame shaking as I looked around me. Sunburst was leaning over me, his grip on my shoulders tight like he had been shaking me to get me to respond. Starlight was on the other side of me, her servos resting on my arm and tugging gently. Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Aquastrike crowded around behind them. And right near my helm was a very distraught Carly.

H-How did I get on the ground?

"W-What?" I mumbled as I sat up, "How did I get down here?"

"What? 'Swept, you fell!" Sunburst exclaimed as he and Starlight helped me to my feet, "You mentioned something about Whirlwind!"

"I-I did?" I questioned with a stutter. Did I? I can't remember?

"You screamed her name," Starlight told me.

"Are you okay, 'Swept?" Carly asked me with concern, looking up at us.

I looked down my body. Everything seemed to be intact. Physically, I was okay. Mentally? Yeah, not so much.

"I'm fine," I lied in response, "I just have a helm-ache. It must be affecting me a bit more than it should be." I took a few steps away from Sunburst and Starlight to make sure that I was able to stand and walk on my own. I looked at the concerned group with a fake smile, "I'll be okay. Just need a big old rest."

"If yer sure t'ere Windy. If t'ere was somethin' wrong, you'd tell us, right?"

Yeah, normally.

I smiled at my worried friend, "Yeah of course, Aqua. You just go and keep playing basketball okay? Make sure you win for me!"

I continued walking, heading down the corridor where all the berthrooms were, listening to Miko blow the whistle behind me at something that must happened when I blacked out.

"FLAGRANT FOUL!"

"T'at ain' fair! We were helpin' a friend in need!" I could hear Aquastrike begin protesting in the background.

... I couldn't believe what I had seen in the visions. Megatron... he murdered my parents. But why?! WHY!

And how am I his niece?!

It's not like I could really ask him as such. I didn't know how he was moving around in my mind. I didn't know how much control he was starting to have over me, if he didn't have complete control yet.

The sharp pains in my helm returned once more, freezing me on the spot as Megatron's glowing red optics appeared once more.

"If I am to return to my body, I must first restore its functionality," Megatron pondered, closing his optics.

I began to realise how much control he was beginning to have over me when I felt my optics black out when his did, "How did I escape annihilation?"

My optics came to life once more, seeing something land on top of me – or what I presumed was now Megatron's form. I looked around at the sight of floating shrapnel.

The remains of the Decepticon Spacebridge after the explosion.

Then I felt something being pulled from chest, painfully fast and roughly. Optics widening, I looked up at the Dark Energon shard that had pumped through Megatron before his final moments.

"Of course! Dark Energon!" Megatron gasped in realisation.

It was being held up by someone, someone who had pulled out Megatron's life force for a reason. The person looked over at me – or Megatron, I don't even know now – with a smirk of glee.

I gasped.

The images disappeared and Megatron's optics reopened angrily now that he – or we – had realised who it was that attempted to murder him.

"Starscream."

---

NO ONE'S P.O.V

The Decepticon Warship was flying above the clouds for a change, allowing the round and bright full moon to cast a spotlight on the ship. The stars twinkled around the ship, lighting up the Warship further. It was a beautiful sight, really.

If only anyone cared.

"Knock knock! Is anyone in there? ... No? Oh well. Seems I possess the only thing that would allow you to rise off that slab and walk again. My dearest Megatron." Proudly, Starscream held up the Dark Energon shard that he had stolen off his sister. "The only scrap left on this planet!" He threw the shard up in the air, letting it spin around before landing back into his hand with ease, "Plucked from your very spark chamber! But, it cannot restore your mind. The Decepticons need a leader. NOT a decorative centrepiece. And I will convince them that I am the true heir to your throne. With a plan so epic-!"

"Not even the mighty Megatron could have conceived it?"

Starscream turned around to find Knock Out and Moonlight at each side of the doorway, leaning lazily on the arches with amusement.

"That was the idea, Knock Out," Starscream nervously nodded. Then he let his voice drop lowly, embarrassed by the fact that he had an audience during his speech to the comatose Megatron, "How long have you two been there?"

Moonlight pushed herself off her side of the doorway, her smirk still proudly resting on her lips, "Oh, long enough."

"And it's Commander Knock Out and Commander Moonlight to you," Knock Out added as he and Moonlight bowed before Starscream.

"Once and future Lord Starscream." Said Lord looked on proudly at the words and the attention he was finally getting. And from two of his most supportive followers! He couldn't believe it!

"Lord Starscream, where is your co-leader? Lady Slipstream?" Moonlight asked kindly, looking around Megatron's berth with her optics.

"Slipstream has been relieved of her duties, Commander Moonlight. She is no longer leader or has any involvement with the Decepticon leadership any more," Starscream answered, a smirk playing onto his lips.

---

If Carly didn't think that there was something wrong with her guardian yesterday, then she would've definitely thought something was wrong now.

When she had first walked out to the garage to alert her friend that it was time for her to be taken to school, the brown-haired girl was surprised to not find her red and blue-striped motorcycle resting on the driveway for her.

And since she hadn't received a call from her friend or anyone from Autobot base, it was more than safe to say that something was seriously wrong.

So while she continued to wait and allow the time to pass, she pulled out her phone from her pocket and dialled a familiar number.

"Carly, where are you? Class is starting!" Jack whispered.

"Well, hello to you too babe," Carly rolled her eyes at the boy, "'Swept never turned up to take me to school. And her comm-link's been switched off again. Did Arcee mention anything to you this morning?"

"Now that you say it, Arcee did mention something about 'Swept still acting weird," Jack answered, "But she thought that was just her in general."

"Odd. I'm getting really concerned, Jack," Carly hummed worriedly, looking down each side of the road before sighing, "Can you let anyone that asks know that I'm not turning in today. Tell them I'm ill."

"Then where are you going to be?"

"I'm calling base to tell them that they need to pick me up. If something's wrong with my friend, then I need to be there for her. I'll see you later, babe."

"I'll call you during lunch." That was all Carly allowed Jack to say before she hung up and began dialling another number. She dumped her bag on her side and let the phone ring. When she got an answer, she walked up to the mail box, leaning an arm on it.

"Sunburst? Yeah, it's Carly. Can you come pick me and Raf up? I think something's wrong with 'Swept."

---

WINDSWEPT P.O.V

Megatron haunted my dreams all night last night. He continued to torment me about my parents' death and how it came to be. New flashes of images appeared in my visions, but they kept being repeated as the night went on.

The images showed my parents walking towards Megatron with me and Whirlwind in their hands. Then my creator bowed before Megatron and mentioned something about recruiting part of his new army. It was like my creator had betrayed us and my carrier. We were forced into servos of some Decepticon drones and they made us watch Megatron murder our carrier before our optics. We had screamed in pain at the loss of her while our creator stormed towards Megatron and argued that his spark-mates death wasn't part of the plan. But Megatron had said that it needed to be done and he ended up turning his back on our creator, killing him on the spot.

I couldn't believe it. Slipstream had told me once that Megatron had fed Whirlwind and I lies to keep on us on the Decepticon side. She had told me that Megatron was there to OVERSEE the death of my parents.

What we didn't know was that Megatron was the one to MURDER them.

But what didn't add up was the fact that I couldn't remember their deaths. As far as Whirlwind and I knew, we had grown up on the Decepticon side.

So... did that mean that I hadn't grown up with the Decepticons? Were we Neutrals like we first thought? Did we know Sunburst longer than we were made to believe?

As I walked into the main room, all these questions and more were swirling into my helm. It just didn't make sense! None of it! Why had Megatron lied to me?! And what did he do to make us forget?!

My optics locked onto one of Ratchet's tools just the sharp pains in my helm returned. I could feel myself walking over to the tool, losing whatever control that I just had. I couldn't control a thing! Megatron please! Stop!

I grabbed the tool and starred at it for a moment, listening to Megatron urge me to destroy the darn thing.

"Yes. Go on, my niece. Obey my will."

I fought as hard as I could, really I did, but Megatron's control over me was starting to become too strong. I could only watch as the tool was destroyed by my servo.

"WINDSWEPT!"

Uh-oh.

I slowly turned around to see my favourite medic starring at me in disbelief.

"I NEEDED THAT!" he cried when he saw what was in my servo.

"Sorry," I apologised quietly, looking down at the tool I was forced to destroy.

"What has gotten into you?" Ratchet asked me softly.

I refused to make optic contact with him so I wouldn't tell him what's going on. I couldn't tell him! I didn't want to make him or anyone else worry about me like half the team already were! They had other things to be bothered about.

Ratchet placed a servo on my shoulder, "Don't think that I'm not well aware of your little fall yesterday, Windswept. Sunburst told me all about it last night."

... Yeah, that sounds like Sunburst. Always worrying about me.

If I didn't do something soon, then Megatron will just gain more control over me as time went on.

I sighed, looking up at the orange and white medic, "Ratchet, I need your help. I keep getting visions of Megatron's face. And he keeps showing me visions of my past! Things I didn't even know about!"

"You're seeing Megatron's face?" Ratchet asked with a concerning tone.

I nodded at him – and that was all I got to do before he escorted me into the medical chamber near the main room. While he connected me up into the chamber, most of the team members in the main room saw us and sported concerned looks.

"Ratchet? What's going on?" Starlight asked as she, Bumblebee and Aquastrike began approaching us.

The disoriented sounds of car doors opening and slamming shut made me force myself to keep my optics open. Something was wrong if one of the humans were here - they should be in school!

"'Swept?!" Carly's voice was distant, like she was on the other side of the room. But I knew very well that she wasn't too far away. It was because I was slowly falling away into stasis.

"What's happening?!" The urgency and panic in Sunburst's voice was all I got to hear before my optics blacked out and I began fading further into unconsciousness...

---

NO ONE'S P.O.V

"Windswept has been complaining of intermittent visions. Waking nightmares, if you will," Ratchet informed the team.

"But you said Windswept was fine when you and Starlight checked her over!" Carly protested

"We only did a physical scan on her Carly," Starlight corrected with a shake of her helm, "We never performed any mental health checks on her because we first believed that she could handle what she just went through." The white and pink femme looked over at her friend in the chamber, biting her lip, "I regret not performing it now."

"The experience she endured seems to be having a temporary effect on her psyche," Ratchet further explained, "This induced coma should allow Windswept's mind to rest and recover."

Carly starred at her friend helplessly, watching her body fall limp in the arms of the medical chamber. Why didn't she think to talk to friend to make sure that she was okay? It was obvious that something was wrong – after all, she did see her friend collapse the day before! She shook her head; there was nothing she could do now. Nothing but to sit down in front of the chamber and hug her brother tightly beside her.

A familiar beeping sound began emanating from monitors. As the Autobots began approaching the controls just in front of the medical chamber, they realised that they were receiving an incoming call. Ratchet pressed a command on the screen to accept the call, and no sooner had he done that, a familiar dark-skinned man appeared on the screen.

"Prime! You spot any Decepticons wearing hula skirts lately?"

"No, Special Agent Fowler," Optimus replied, looking slightly confused as to why his liaison would be asking such a question, "Why?"

"'Cause I was hoping you'd have a lead on the 'Cons that busted into the Hawaiian Naval Observatory," The Agent answered, "Place looks like it was hit by an army of wrecking balls."

"Why would 'Cons break into an observatory?" Arcee questioned

"Does the Heuck Nigoghossian ring any bells?"

"The space telescope," Raf recognised as he walked up to stand beside Optimus.

"As of last night, missing its primary lens," Agent Fowler added.

"It's difficult to guess Starscream and Slipstream's intent without knowing where the lens has been taken," Optimus told the Agent.

"Good thing the lens has a tracking device."

The team looked up at the main monitors where a map of planet Earth was displayed before them. The computers wasted no time zooming in on a certain part of map, a small red box indicating a familiar sight for some of the team.

"Ain' t'at what t'ese humans call 'T'e Arctic'?" Aquastrike questioned, cocking her head to the side.

"Great," Arcee rolled her optics as she remembered a few memories from her last encounter with the polar region, "Another chance to freeze our spark-plugs off."

Bulkhead meanwhile, whistled at the sight that map zoomed in on, "That's a ND7 class. Biggest un-mineable Energon deposit there is."

"Un-mineable until Starscream melts his way down to it," Optimus corrected.

"With the help of the lens," Arcee piped in.

"Melting a glacier that size would cause sea levels to rise and to demolish coastal cities."

Optimus narrowed his optics and nodded his head at the information Agent Fowler had just provided. He would not allow human causalities to occur under his watch. He simply refused to.

---

The sun was shining brightly upon the snowy-white land known as the Arctic, its' heat lighting up the blinding ground known as the snow. A few clouds floating alongside the source of the sun rays, barely blocking the blue sky that joined the nice day with the sun. Floating around below the clouds and blue sky was a familiar Decepticon Warship, resting just above and between the glaciers.

"Let the reign of Lord Starscream begin," Starscream announced, his arms folded and a smirk playing upon his lips.

Behind him, Knock Out and Moonlight were proudly standing beside him, proving that they were now the Second-In-Commands. The red, vain Decepticon known as Knock Out raised an arm up, allowing a device to appear before Starscream's optics. The trio of Decepticons watched the device become active, locking its' eye down onto something on the ground.

Orange rays began circling around the eye of the weapon, powering up with a whirr. The middle was shining a bright yellow and slowly darkening into an orange around the edges of the circle of the weapon. When the weapon was fully charged, it release a beam of fire, the orange and yellows striking down towards the snowy land below.

---

While Optimus Prime, Arcee, Bulkhead and Starlight were out to explore the Arctic to see what the Decepticons were planning, Sunburst and Aquastrike rested in the main area of the base, keeping an eye on their friend, or sister in Sunburst's case, currently in a coma induced by Ratchet in the medical chamber.

Sunburst was angry at himself for not being able to help his sister-in-law sooner. He knew that something was wrong. She hadn't been herself since she had left Megatron's mind. Primus, he fragging saw her collapse before his optics the day before! Everyone did! And yet, he allowed her to just walk around freely and continue to act like nothing was wrong.

"So when Pilar said that motorcycles weren't that fast, I proved to her that they were faster than she thought by speeding past her in less than five seconds."

"Her face was so white and in shock, you'd think she'd seen a million ghosts!"

Sunburst and Aquastrike looked down at the two humans at the bottom of the medical chamber, talking excitedly to the unconscious femme. The two Esquivel kids didn't seem to be bothered by the fact that the femme wasn't replying. And that seemed strange to the two Autobots, who exchanged a look of confusion.

"Hey, ya know t'at 'Swept 'ere ain' gon' hear ya if she's in power-down mode, right?" Aquastrike asked confusingly, causing the two humans to look up at the aqua blue femme curiously.

"Rafael, Carly, it's getting late," Ratchet announced before either of the humans could reply, walking into the room, "Why don't I bridge you both home to your family?"

Carly looked at the mech in disbelief, "Raf and I told Windswept that we'd stay." The brown-haired girl looked up at the unconscious femme worriedly, "We're worried about her. She's like family to us, just like Bee."

"Don't be ridiculous," Ratchet scoffed.

"Humans and Cybertronians aren't even the same species, Carly," Sunburst added.

"That's being related," Rafael corrected with a shake of his head, "It's not the same thing. We'll show you." The small boy pulled out his phone from his pocket, flipping it open and pressing a few commands on the keypad. He held up the phone at the three Cybertronians, revealing an image on the screen. "This is our family."

The image showed a recent family picture showing seven members of the Esquivel family. The tallest figure at the back looked similar to Raf, her hair shaped like his and having the same red-rimmed glasses like him. The rest of the family included a tallish teenage girl who looked like Carly beside the tallest figure on the left, a slightly shorter boy beside the teenager, a smaller girl with pigtails in front of them, another female child in front of an older male behind her and finally, a small child who looked exactly like Raf.

Ratchet took a step down to have a look at the image before nodding and humming at the image uninterestingly, "Mm-hmm, it's very nice."

"You mean, it's very LARGE!" Carly corrected, shaking her head like she was remembering something about her family.

"Sometimes, Carly and I can shout and no one hears us. We only have each other to listen to."

The uninterested orange and white medic only shook his head, "Yes, yes, yes, yes."

"But since we met you guys, we've had more friends to talk and listen to. Bumblebee always listens to us. And we can understand him," Raf explained, looking over at Bumblebee at the monitors, "We don't know why, but we do."

Carly looked up at her unconscious friend with a small smile, "And Windswept isn't just my guardian any more. She's my best friend. I can talk to her about anything and she won't judge me. She can talk to me and I won't judge her. When I think about my life before meeting you guys, it's hard to think how I coped without her."

Aquastrike and Sunburst shared a sad smile. The humans considered their teammates their family. It was a term that they had become familiar with at Iacon with their teammates and friends. But when the two Autobots arrived onto the planet only a few months ago and joined Team Prime, they were unsure if they could really call their team a family again.

Seeing the humans discuss their bonds with their guardians made the two Autobots know that they didn't have to worry about the term. Because they knew that that was what the team were becoming if they already weren't one.

---

WINDSWEPT P.O.V

Where am I?

Am I dead?

"Windswept."

What's going on?

A blinding light appeared in my vision, forcing me to block my eyes away from the white light. A black figure began appearing in the middle of the white light, walking slowly closer and closer.

Alpha Trion? Is that you?

Wait…

AM I DEAD?!

"Relax, my dear niece. You are not offline...yet." The voice chuckled in some sort of amusement.

Oh… it's just Megatron.

Why would Megatron be so amused by this?! I'm certainly not! I mean, come on! I don't know where I am! This place… it's pitch black and with the white light disappearing, it's hard to see Megatron's dark silver form at all. But I know he's there.

Those red piercing optics of his may haunt me for the rest of my life after this.

A cold breeze brushed past, causing me to wrap my arms around my torso to keep myself warm. As I did so, certain words of Megatron's continued to swirl around me.

My. Dear. Niece.

"Why do you keep calling me your niece?!" I asked him in a yell.

"Because you are my niece," Megatron answered simply.

Images of parent's deceased frames flashed into view again as I looked into his red optics, "How?"

"Your creator was my dear brother. He met your carrier before the war began. They fell in love quickly and sparkbonded," Megatron explained, a hint of disgust in his voice, "Why my brother chose love over being a gladiator, I will never know."

"Love always wins." I nearly smiled at thought of my charge who once spoke those three words to me not too long ago. It had been a few days after the racing incident and it had all been a few days since Jack and Carly finally decided to act on their feelings.

She believes in love. She believes in love always finding a way. She believes that love will always prevail.

And so do I.

"Love is a powerful weakness during war, my dear niece. You would do well to remember that."

Right… Megatron's still in my head. It's not some twisted dream or nightmare or anything like that. It's all real.

"This dear Carly…" Megatron began, humming for a moment, "Is she special?"

Rage boiled up inside of me. I had to use all of my willpower not to lose control. I gritted my denta together angrily, "Leave her out of this!"

"She is, then." Megatron hummed once more.

My hands flew up to the sides of my helm when more sharp pains began appearing once more. I couldn't take it any more! I just needed him out and gone!

"What do you want from me?!"

The red optics scrunched up slightly as the silver and slightly purple Decepticon chuckled, "That's no way to treat family, dear Windswept."

I don't care, Megatron! If you can hear these thoughts, then pay attention! I want you gone! How can I get you out of my head so I can be back to the way I am?! Please Megatron! I'll do anything! I promise!

"Do you treat all of your teammates this way?"

Don't you dare!

"Do you treat your friends this way? Your brother-in-law? What's his name? Sunburst? And what about the others? How about Optimus?"

I suddenly began to feel weak, my legs becoming unable to hold up my frame. I fell to my knees, my servos still gripping my helm as Megatron's frame began stomping closer to me, "Optimus… is my leader. A Prime! I treat him..." Come on Windswept! Do not let this pain and this weakness make you suffer! "...With the utmost respect!"

"How come you treat him with respect but you don't treat me like that?" Megatron asked, his red optics turning slightly as if the Decepticon Warlord was cocking his helm to the side, "We both deserve the same amount of respect. After all, we are all family."

We're all family? What?

"What do you mean?" I asked him as he stopped his walk just in front of me.

He bent down to my level, looking deeply into my optics, "Dear Windswept, you had to get those purple optics of yours somewhere."

What are you getting at?

"Orion Pax wasn't just an only Cybertronian youngling. He had a sibling - an older sister. She was a descendant like Orion. But dear Moxiestrom didn't want to follow tradition. She didn't want to follow in Solus Prime's footsteps like she was meant to."

Solus Prime? The creator of all those weapons like Alpha Trion taught me and all my friends back at Iacon? She created the biggest, baddest weapons! The Star Saber, the Apex Armour, the Requiem Blaster! Oh wow, even the weapon that was named after her – The Forge of Solus Prime!

Alpha Trion told us stories about the Thirteen. He told us about Liege Maximo, who had began plotting to see which of the Thirteen Primes were the most like Unicron after their battle in defeating him. Each of the Thirteen were tainted with slight darkness after their fatal fight. Maximo had Megatronus try and steal this armour that he needed for these 'robotic beasts' he was creating.

Alpha Trion also told us about the tragic love between Solus Prime and Megatronus. They both became so close to one another and they both deeply cared about one another. But, they both had such strong, fiery personalities. And unfortunately, it was this that was part of the reason why Megatronus killed Solus Prime with the Requiem Blaster. She professed her love to Megatronus before she passed in his arms.

A sharp pain hit me in the helm once more when the name Moxiestorm continued flash in my mind. Why is that name so familiar? Why can't I remember that name? Why do I sense that these words are so close to me and yet I can't remember what or who they are?!

"My dear sister-in-law fell in love with my brother. She was a descendant of Solus Prime and she was meant to be remembered by such a title. But she refused the name and wished to be her own individual. When the war for Cybertron began, it was her mistake to not take on the role. For us, it was a joy," Megatron explained. He grabbed my chin with his clawed digits, making sure that I was looking at and listening to him, "My dear niece, you are not only my niece, but you are the Optimus Prime's niece! And a descendant of Solus Prime!"

I couldn't believe it.

My creator was a descendant of Solus Prime?! Whirlwind and I are descendants of Solus Prime?! How was this even possible?! I mean, come on! Every femme alive is a bare descendant of Solus Prime.

Maybe my carrier was a direct one...

… Optimus Prime and I are related. Like Megatron and I.

… All this time I had desired to be a Prime… and running in my veins were the Energon of the once living Solus Prime!

"How?" It was the only word I could whisper once I allowed all the information to begin sinking in.

"Moxiestorm was created by Primus himself. Just like Orion Pax. Both were destined for greatness. But only one claimed the title of the Matrix. The other simply chose love to guide her path. A costly mistake that lead her to her death before me."

None of this made any sense! ...Well, some of it, but still! How could I not remember any of this?! Why would I not remember any of these important details?! Give me some answers, Megatron! Please!

The sharp pains came hurling back into my helm as Megatron stood to full height before me. I wanted to stand my ground and prove that I wasn't as weak as I was showing Megatron to be. But these pains were starting to make my helm dizzy.

"M-Megatron..." I gasped out, looking up at him.

"You want to know why you don't remember," The Warlord hummed, looking down at me. A grin started appearing on his face, letting fear and panic seep into my body once more, "We needed to convince you and Whirlwind that you had been with the Decepticons from the start. So we took away everything you knew."

I looked away from him, letting out gasps of breath every few seconds as I processed the information. It was Megatron who took away our memories... How?

I felt my body suddenly fall backwards onto my side, pain almost erupting immediately from my stomach when sudden contact was made. Groaning and clutching my stomach, I looked up at Megatron, who was baring his denta at me at the joy of seeing me in pain on the ground before him.

"Why..." I wheezed, coughing to try and be able to speak properly, "Why tell me... this... now?"

"Because now, I can gain control on your body and find myself a way to bring myself back to life!" Megatron laughed, his chuckles echoing around me.

Megatron told me all this information about me to weaken me while I was already trapped. And while I was weak, he could start to take full control of my helm and my body.

And I could only lie here in pain and let him.

"MEGATRONNNNNNN!"

---

NO ONE'S P.O.V

The four Autobots continued their journey through the snowy-white land known as the Arctic, determined to figure out where the Decepticons intended on doing with telescope lens. But with the location of hidden Energon hidden beneath the white snow they were currently trudging in, it wasn't too hard to guess what the Decepticons might have planned.

But that wasn't the thing Arcee was concerned about. She was more interested in the differences between this trip to the Arctic and her last visit, "A lot different than our last polar visit. Feels like summer."

Bulkhead went to walk around a glacier to continue the search for the Decepticons when he caught sight of something around the corner. He paused and hid behind the corner, looking around and watching the sight before him, Optimus, Arcee and Starlight, "Here, that's a bad thing."

The Autobots spotted the Decepticon Warship floating high above the white snow. But that wasn't what really bothered them. What bothered them was the giant orange and yellow beam travelling down from the Warship to the glacier below, the snow melting away so it could reveal the Energon that was hidden.

"If Starscream melts enough of the snow, then it's goodbye to the Arctic as we know it," Starlight whispered as she stood up.

"Autobots," Optimus began, grabbing the attention of the three Autobots, "Remember the end run on Polyhex?"

"The place where Cyberton's Satellite Command Centre was located before the Decepticons bombed the area," Starlight realised, looking up at Optimus. She may not've been there to be part of it, but she sure had heard of it. "What'd you have in mind?"

---

The group of Autobots and humans continued to watch over their friend, still in power-down and resting from her latest mission.

Sunburst, although very, very concerned when the decision was made, was proud of his sister-in-law for going on the dangerous mission. He was proud of the femme for not wasting time and quickly coming up with ideas to fool Megatron, allowing Ratchet and Starlight to steal frames of the cure.

But now that she was in power-down, allowing to rest from the ordeal, Sunburst was more concerned. He knew there was something wrong! He knew! His instincts were right... and his actions weren't. He should've helped her.

He broke a promise that he had made back on Cybertron.

Promises weren't made to be broken. They were made to be kept.

"You lot." Sunburst shook his head from his thoughts as he, Aquastrike, Carly and Raf looked up at the approaching Ratchet, "I'm going to the supply vault to see if I can find parts to repair this. Do you know what that means?"

Sunburst and Aquastrike exchanged a knowing look as they spoke with the Esquivel siblings, "Don't touch anything."

Eyeing the two Autobots with suspicious looks, Ratchet turned away and began his journey to the supply vault down the corridor.

"Ratchet doesn't trust you two, huh?" Carly teased, grinning up at the aqua blue and the yellow and white striped Autobots.

"Of course Ratchet trusts us!" Sunburst scoffed, flexing one of his arms, "These guns are trustable!" The Cybertronian pointed to his friend beside him. "Unlike this robot cow-femme here."

Aquastrike shrugged, "I don' really care if Doc Bot trusts me or not, ta be fair wit' y'all." She elbowed Sunburst in the side, grinning proudly. "And I ain' jus' a sou'hern-speakin' Cybertronian! I 'appen to be a tough-as-nails femme who's gon' knock you out if you continue speakin' t'at way."

Sunburst overlooked his resting friend briefly. He knew he should just keep still and watch over her, but he also knew she'd be egging him on. "Bring it, cow-femme!" He punched his fists and followed the aqua blue Autobot out to the controls.

As the two circled each around the Autobot logo, the Esquivel siblings shrugged at one another before Raf began walking over to the last step on the stairs. Carly took one look over her shoulder to make sure that her guardian would be okay without her. With a sad smile, she slowly followed after her brother out.

Her close friend was getting some well-earned rest. Nothing could go wrong with that...

Right?

---

WINDSWEPT P.O.V

There was so much pain coursing through my body. I couldn't take it any more! I felt so weak and powerless against Megatron. It didn't matter if I wanted to do anything to stop him or not.

I wouldn't be able to anyway.

"Megatron..." I wheezed, clutching my optics shut at the pain inside me, "Please..."

Megatron was gonna have a field day with me begging at my breaking point.

Red optics stared at me before a chuckle started echoing around me. Even though the darkness was still surrounding us, I could actually see the Warlord bare his denta while he chuckled.

It had my frame shaking.

"It's time."

"NOOO! Please... please! Have... mercy..."

There was nothing I could do to make Megatron stop from taking full control of me.

My optics opened...

---

NO ONE'S P.O.V

"Come on Sunshine! Jus' give up now while ya still have ya dignity!"

...The sparring match between Aquastrike and Sunburst quickly became a match of personal dignity and bragging rights. While Carly and Rafael just sat and watched the match unfold, they quickly found themselves rooting for Sunburst, who was currently the underdog in this battle.

He would need a miracle in order to win.

"I... will... not... surrender!" Sunburst growled, his arms shaking from holding off Aquastrike's weight for so long.

Then something caught his optic behind his teammate. Someone who should've been resting in the power-down that Ratchet had induced. Someone who was starting to make their way towards them.

"Windswept?"

"Sunshine, I know yer pretty bad at hand-to-hand combat, but I didn' know t'at you were bad at names too!"

Carly was confused by the sudden turn of events. Was Sunburst starting to feel the effects of being unwell just like her guardian? Could that even be possible considering everything that Team Prime had already been through?

"Carly?" The girl felt a small tug on her arm, hearing the small gulp in her little brother's voice. Looking down at her brother, she found him pointing at something behind them. Gulping herself, the brown-haired girl looked behind her and gasped in fright.

"'Swept?!"

"Oh come on!" Aquastrike groaned, peeking behind her to look at the humans, "Now 'e's got ya playin' 'is game too?!" That was when she noticed that the siblings weren't watching the sparring match any more.

They were actually starring at the standing figure of their friend herself.

"Windy?" She gasped in disbelief.

The blue and red Autobot didn't acknowledge any of her friends, optics locking onto the Groundbridge controls, immediately taking footsteps towards them.

Sunburst's attention went back to Aquastrike, looking up at her in a panic. They had to figure out what was wrong with their friend.

Aquastrike looked at him sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head, "Huh, ahh... heh, ya see... I-I t'ought that y-you were uhh-WOOOOAAHHH!"

The yellow and white-streaked mech had to figure out was wrong with his sister-in-law now.

So he threw Aquastrike off his frame and quickly proceeded to stand up, quickly walking over to his friend who was already fiddling around with the Groundbridge controls.

"Hey 'Swept? You okay? What's going on?"

His friend chose to not answer him, too focused on the work before her on the small screen. She pulled the lever of the Groundbridge controls down, turning to face the tunnel when the familiar whirring sounds began.

"Windswept! What are you doing?!" Carly asked her guardian, running towards her guardian with her brother in tow.

Completely ignoring everyone around her, she quickly set her sights on the Groundbridge. Before everyone knew it, their friend had walked through the Groundbridge before them, disappearing in the green and blue swirls.

"What did you lot do?" Sunburst nearly jumped at the sound of Ratchet making his presence behind him.

"We did nothing!" Carly cried out in answer, looking up at the sceptical medic, "Promise!"

Ratchet didn't believe the teenager at first, narrowing his optics at the two humans before setting his glare at Sunburst. They had one bloody job... and Sunburst of all mechs couldn't do his duty.

"The lil' lady's right." The orange and white mech looked around Sunburst to find Aquastrike, down on one knee and wiping her mouth from what Ratchet believed was a small Energon leak on her lip, "'Swept jus' wen' up 'nd left for no Primus-damned reason!"

It was Sunburst' turn to glare at the femme, who was using language that he believed shouldn't have been used around the humans, "Aqua! Seriously? Not around th-"

"Windswept was in power-down!" Ratchet reminded the Autobots of the current situation, "Where does she think she's off to?"

---

WINDSWEPT P.O.V

I never had someone take control of me before. I've been through a lot of things in my life such; being lied into the wrong team, having to escape those lies to see the real truth... I've even been to death's door and back once! But never before have ever felt my arms and legs moving like this.

Without my control.

I tried to fight against Megatron. But his control was far too powerful. He was far too powerful. The more I tried to push against him, the more I felt like I was being pushed to the ground like he was the bully and I was his innocent victim.

In this case I was… but that's not the point.

Megatron had used the Groundbridge to take us to a place that was a familiar sight to me. And for Ratchet and Optimus to if they were here. The site was the once battlefield that Optimus, Ratchet and I fought on when we were fighting the undead Cybertronian army that had been controlled by the one and only Megatron himself. Pieces of the undead were still scattered around us, the once reanimated pieces that would, hopefully, be unable to be brought back to life.

"Where is it? Where?" Megatron wondered intently, searching around the battlefield through my optics.

He threw the shard to the ground in front of us where it disappeared below the surface. At first, we were nothing but silence as we waited to see what it would do. Suddenly, the ground started to show cracks, glowing a burning purple. I gasped as I watched Megatron stab himself with Dark Energon, now possessing himself with limitless power.

When the memory ended, I gasped in disbelief.

Megatron was now tapping into my memories to remember what happened with the Dark Energon shard.

The Warlord must have remembered where it was now. My helm whipped around to my left, and there it was. The shard had made a gaping hole in the ground, glowing the same burning purple. Focusing my optics, we began making our way over to the shard.

The purple Energon purred contently as my hand wrapped around it, slowly pulling it out of the ground. Megatron brought it close to our optics, making sure that it hadn't been damaged since he had seen it. It seemed to remain intact, its rough and uneven edges still giving the shard its' shape.

I felt my energy start to disappear from my body... like something was making me weak... something that I had just come into contact with... Of course, the Dark Energon! But it doesn't make sense! I haven't been near the stuff since Arcee and I lost Cliffjumper and some of the Dark Energon he was reanimated with got on our hands...

Why was I being affected this way now? I had never been affected by the Blood of the Unicron, this occurrence should've been no different!

Megatron, what are you doing to me?!

---

NO ONE'S P.O.V

The three Autobots and two humans studied the Groundbridge coordinates their friend and teammate had put into the controls to bridge to her destination. They knew something was very, very wrong with their comrade. They just didn't know what it was that was making her so... out of control.

But when Ratchet finally recognised the coordinates, the medic began to slowly get an idea of what was going on. His optics locked onto the two Esquivels standing at the protective bars above the Groundbridge controls, "These are the coordinates for the sight of our previous battle with Megatron's undead."

"Maybe we should call Optimus," Raf suggested, trying to keep his voice steady for his sister's sake.

Sunburst looked away from Ratchet, quietly eyeing up the Autobot logo tattooed on the floor of the main room. Almost silently, he muttered, "He is family after all."

Aquastrike's audio receptor's lit up at the quiet mutter from her teammate. She looked over at him a few steps behind Ratchet on his right with confusion and curiosity. She never rarely missed anything to do with her teammates, she knew everything about everyone, even including her newer teammates and friends!

What did Sunburst know that she didn't? What did he mean?

"Optimus is busy preventing a Polar Ice Cap from melting," Ratchet replied to Raf, bringing both Sunburst and Aquastrike's attention back to the situation, "We need to handle this on our own." He gripped the Groundbridge lever, pulling it down to reopen the portal.

As the portal swirled to life, Aquastrike and Sunburst turned around and walked to the open portal while Ratchet stood with the humans. Each of them knew that, despite their teammate's short stature, she was more than highly capable of defending herself when need be. So if something was going on inside their friends head that they weren't able to control, their best bet would be Sunburst and Aquastrike since they were two of the currently available strongest members in the base.

As the two got closer, Ratchet noticed that something was happening deep inside the portal. He narrowed his optics as he realised what was happening.

Someone was coming through the Groundbridge.

"Windswept?"

---

WINDSWEPT P.O.V

I instantly felt sick to the core upon arriving back to Autobot base. Sunburst and Aquastrike were waiting either side of the 'Bridge like they had been anticipating mine and Megatron's arrival. Ratchet stood by Raf and Carly like he was protecting them from me. They looked at me with pure fear, especially Carly, who seemed to be even more frightened than ever before.

That was something I hoped I would never have to see again after this ordeal. I never wanted my charge to be fearful of me. Ever.

And now look what's happening.

Sunburst grabbed mine and Megatron's shoulders, looking over our frame like he was checking that we were okay.

Well... checking that I was okay.

"Swept? Are you alright?" I heard Sunburst ask, locking his optics with ours.

I fought against Megatron. I needed Sunburst to see how trapped I was. How I was unable to control my own actions...

Ughhh, come on!

... Megatron's already taken over every kind of movement. I was not going to allow him to control my own emotions.

Sunburst seemed to react at something that had appeared in my optics, letting me go instantly and taking a few steps away from me.

No! Sunburst please! Come back!

"Settle, my niece," Megatron's whisper echoed in my mind, "It is time to have some fun."

"Windswept, what have you been doing?" My body turned to Ratchet at his question.

There was some sort of movement behind me that I couldn't make out. Megatron wasn't fast enough to make any sort of move to react to it. Not when we felt someone grab our wrist tightly and pull it closer to them.

"Primus be damned..." Aquastrike gasped.

Ratchet widened his optics at the sight of the Energon in hand through the corner of my optic. He hasn't seen the shard since the battle between myself, him and Optimus against Megatron, Slipstream and the undead Cybertronians. My helm turned to him, seeing him whisper in disbelief, "Dark Energon?"

It was Ratchet's mistake to even think about getting distracted with the shard.

Megatron suddenly sprung into action, making myself literally spring up and knock Ratchet down with a half-twist kick into his side. The medic fell below the Groundbridge controls with a quiet groan.

"WINDSWEPT!" Sunburst instantly scolded while Aquastrike went to attack me.

I had always warned Aquastrike, as well as Sunburst, Starlight and anyone else I cared, to always try to put up a fight against me in case something was wrong and I was unable to control myself. I could get really out of control at times because revenge used to, and still does, control my actions. Sometimes I never realised my own strength. So with Megatron now controlling my entire movements, and with me being a really strong femme with a small stature, I was quickly becoming a dangerous enemy that needed putting down.

Aquastrike threw a punch at me, but Megatron was quicker to dodge the throw. We ducked away from her view, sneaking behind her. Using both my arms, Megatron held them in defence position and used them to knock Aquastrike forwards. The force sent her into the entry/exit tunnel, collecting Sunburst along the way.

"OH COME ON!" I heard her snarl in disbelief.

Ratchet attempted to climb back up, sitting on one knee. Megatron easily kicked him down before locking his optics with the humans.

No... no, no, no! NO!

"Windswept!" Carly yelled, standing protectively in front of her brother like a good sister does when there was danger.

"What are you doing?!" Rafael asked nervously, peeking his head out from behind his sister.

"Don't hurt them!" I begged to Megatron as we slowly proceeded to stand before them, "PLEASE!"

"Why?" Megatron questioned me simply as he picked up the children with ease, despite them trying to escape our grasp.

"It isn't them you want, okay? They're innocent. It's me you want. You need me to continue your plan, okay? Me! Not them!" I reasoned with a pleading tone.

Megatron seemed to halt our movements, deciding on what to do with the Esquivel siblings. Just because he was in control of me, didn't mean that I was in control of him at all. I couldn't read what he was thinking like he could figure me out.

Somehow I managed to find a little strength – and I emphasise on the little – to take back some control from Megatron. Giving it everything I had, I made myself walk over to the vents and place my little friends there where I knew that they were safe.

Megatron growled as I gave away that slight control I had back to him, "You will pay for that silly mistake."

If that was going to be the last time I would ever take any control of myself, then making sure that my charge and her brother were safe from harm was probably going to make me feel okay. It meant that I was saving someone from myself.

Well... not exactly me... But you get the point.

"Windswept, please!" Carly begged once she knew that Raf was alright, "I know you're in there somewhere! Please fight 'Swept!"

"Fight whatever's making you do this!" Raf pleaded with her.

I wanted to scream. I wanted to tell them that I was trying my very best! I just wish that they could see it through my optics.

Sunburst and Aquastrike were just getting themselves back into the room after my attack on them as Megatron made us walk towards the open Groundbridge. Still swirling with its blues and greens – and this time even purples – the portal whisked us away to his next destination.

A wave of pain hit me, forcing me to nearly collapse. My body even fell to my knees because of the sudden pain, forcing me to breathe heavily to recover from what I presume was Megatron's personal attack on me.

"I will not allow you to pull such a stunt again." Standing back onto both feet, I felt my body start walking as I started to take in the new surroundings...

The Warship...

Oh no...

Suddenly I couldn't see out of my own optics any more. I couldn't see or do anything to stop Megatron from taking full control of my frame. I started growing severely heavy, like I was tired or something. But I wasn't! I swear!

Please Megatron… spare me mercy… please…

Everything... went dark. Everything... faded... aw...ay.

Eve…ry...thing...

---

NO ONE'S P.O.V

Carly and Raf's pleas and cries weren't enough to stop their friend from racing through the Groundbridge, watching it close when Ratchet regained enough strength to get himself back on his feet.

Raf quickly turned to the medic when he groaned in pain, attempting to climb up onto his feet. Aquastrike helped him, making sure that he was steady enough to stay on two feet.

"Ratchet!"

"I'm fine," The medic immediately said, shrugging off Aquastrike's help as he watched Sunburst make his way over to the humans.

"Wha' 'bout 'Swept? Is she gon' be alright?" Aquastrike asked worriedly.

"I fear the time she's spent in Megatron's mind is causing her to think like a Decepticon," Ratchet realised in a sad tone.

"No!" Carly shook her head angrily as she and Raf hopped onto Sunburst's waiting hand, "Windswept is not a 'Con!"

"I second that," Sunburst nodded in agreement, turning to face Ratchet.

Aquastrike also nodded in agreement, looking at Ratchet. There was no way her friend had suddenly gone Decepticon. Sure, she may have come from the Decepticon side, but she was lied into their side – she had no idea just how purely evil they were until it was too late. And she knew her friend wouldn't suddenly jump ship like that.

"Agreed," Ratchet also nodded, "But we need to find out exactly what Windswept intends to do with that shard."

"Accordin' to Prime, 'Swept and yerself, the only one who knew of the damned stuff-"

"Was Megatron," Ratchet interrupted the aqua blue femme, narrowing his optics at the realisation.

"So what does that mean?" Carly asked in a panicked tone, "Windswept has Megatron's memories?"

"It's worse than that, Carly. Megatron is occupying Windswept's mind," Sunburst growled darkly, "There was anger in her eyes, yes. But that wasn't her anger. That was Megatron's."

"How could I have been such a fool?" Ratchet growled to himself, "The cortical psychic patch acted as a two-way conduit. When Windswept returned to her own mind, Megatron followed." Ratchet looked at the Groundbridge controls with interest, "And now Windswept – MEGATRON – has bridged to nearly the same coordinates Optimus used," Reactivating the Groundbridge portal, he looked at the four members of Team Prime, "Aquastrike, come with me. The rest of you, stay here."

"No!" Carly instantly shook her head, "Windswept needs her brother!

"And she needs all of her friends!" Raf also argued.

Sunburst looked at the siblings with a small smile. They would do anything to try to help them. It was then that he realised that Raf and Carly were right. They were her family now.

They, Jack and Miko were all family to the Autobots now.

He looked at Ratchet, "'Swept needs her family."

"Of course she does," Ratchet sighed in defeat.

---

Meanwhile, the plan in the Arctic that Starscream had created continued to run smoothly. The orange fiery beam continued to melt the white snow below. And right below that was the waiting fuel that all Cybertronians alike needed to continue living.

It was all going simply well for Starscream.

"Yes! I love when a plan comes together!"

He spoke too soon. The sounds of engines interrupted his party. Looking down from the Warship, he spotted three familiar vehicles. A familiar army green off-roading vehicle was quickly storming into his view while two motorcycles, one blue and one pink and white, were leaping off cliffs on different sides and joining it.

Bulkhead, Arcee and Starlight were coming to trash the Decepticon party.

"The Autobots," Moonlight growled, instantly spotting her sister.

"Please, Lord Starscream, allow one of your second-in-command's the honour," Knock Out insisted before turning to his partner, "Breakdown, total them!"

Breakdown didn't need to do anything to prepare for the upcoming fight. He just needed the urge to fight, which was quickly fulfilled when he realised that his good old enemy Bulkhead was waiting for him. Jumping off one of the wings of the Warship, the blue mech let out a chuckle, eager to stop the Autobots from putting a premature end to the Decepticon party.

He allowed himself to land belly first onto the snow just behind the three Autobot vehicles. This sent them flying from the force of the contact between the Cybertronian and the ground. The trio of Autobots wasted no time transforming and landing on their feet to prepare themselves for battle.

Breakdown stood, clenching his denta together when he caught sight of his favourite enemy just getting himself onto his pedes. Arcee and Starlight stood either side of him, also clenching their fists and getting ready for what was to come.

Suddenly, another figure came into the view of the Autobots. The black and dark pink femme landed on her hands behind Breakdown before flipping onto her feet with a smirk. Already, her optics were eyeing up her younger sister, taunting her with a 'come-at-me' motion with her servo.

Starlight's optics narrowed at her sister, gripping one of her Kunai knives tightly.

The battle was on.

There was one Autobot missing from this battle. And that Autobot was Optimus Prime, who was scaling a glacier that, when he was on top of it, would lead him to the Decepticon Warship still floating high above in the blue sky. He paused for a moment to recollect some of the energy he had lost. But he didn't waste the moment at all, his mind instantly going back to what he had left behind back at Autobot base.

So while he continued his scaling towards the Nemesis, his mind kept a lock on the Autobot currently in power-down back home who he cared about more than anyone else ever knew.

---

Unfortunately for Optimus, he was wrong about one fact.

The Decepticon Warship wasn't normally this quiet. But with Starscream and Knock Out overseeing the battle between the Autobots and their teammates Breakdown and Moonlight, there really weren't any other Decepticons around.

Starscream doesn't always keep track of Decepticon activity.

A Groundbridge swirled into view down in one corridor where three Autobots leapt out, one racing ahead with their weapons activated and another following suit behind the medic, with the children on his shoulder, waiting to make sure the coast was clear.

When the Groundbridge swirled shut behind them, Ratchet took a look at his surroundings and gasped, "The Decepticon Warship!"

"I'm gettin' a bad feelin' about this," Aquastrike muttered, joining Ratchet with her triple blasters still activated and ready to fire if need be.

"We haven't got time to lose." At Sunburst's words, the three Autobots took off in a sprint instantly.

They had to save their teammate and friend.

They reached a corner that turned into another corridor down the right of them, slowing their speed down just in case. Aquastrike, still with blasters activated, looked down the corridor before signalling Ratchet and Sunburst, as well as Carly and Raf to join her.

Unconscious Vehicons were scattered down the corridor, clearly showing the Autobots and humans that someone had already come through to get them out of the way. Carly and Raf looked at each other in worry of their friend.

"Windswept did this?" The brown-haired teenage female asked, looking at Sunburst with worry.

"I fear Megatron's mind is dominant," Ratchet answered, "And clearly he came here for one purpose."

"To use that Dark Energon shard resurrect his own body," Sunburst explained.

"'Swept won't let him do that!" Carly argued, looking around at the three Autobots while Ratchet placed her and Raf on the ground, "She's too strong to let him… right?"

Aquastrike looked at the small female, thinning her lips, "If t'ere's one thin' that 'Swept don' like, it's lettin' someone else 'ell 'er wha' ta do. If we can get 'er to remember that…" The aqua blue femme trailed off.

They couldn't stand around much longer. Each of the Autobots took one look at each other before Aquastrike, still with her weapons in hand, started taking steps down the corridor full of unconscious drones. Ratchet and Sunburst slowly trailed after her, the former keeping a hand out towards the humans to make sure that they knew that whatever danger was ahead of them could force them to turn around and run away.

But when Aquastrike gasped at the sight before her, all of that worry about the humans disappeared. Ratchet and Sunburst joined the aqua blue femme, looking around the corner and seeing what had warranted her to gasp.

The Autobot was hooking herself up to a cord that connected to the back of the medical berth that belonged to the one controlling her. The three Autobots instantly knew what that cord was.

The Cortical Psychic Patch.

Ratchet took off running towards the femme. There was no more time to lose. He had to stop Megatron regardless of what was going on.

"RATCHET! DON'T HURT HER!" Carly screamed at the medic, nearly running out behind him if it weren't for Sunburst getting his foot in her way to protect her.

"That's not Windswept any more.…"

---

WINDSWEPT'S P.O.V

Sudden movement re-awoke me from what I presumed was an induced stasis on Megatron's part. He must have tried to take me well out of the picture while he continued on his plans. I got a slight glimpse of the sight before me, which was well familiar to me considering I was here, standing in this almost exact spot nearly three or four full days ago.

This ordeal with Megatron better be over with soon. I'm starting to lose count of the days!

Before I could see how I was exactly connected up to Megatron's body, my body swung around in time to see Ratchet throw a punch at me. Megatron dodged the first one, before ducking under the next one. Leaping up, the Decepticon kicked Ratchet into the wall and onto the other side of the room, landing heavily and nearly lifelessly.

RATCHET!

Aquastrike came charging next, her blaster shots aiming right for me. Megatron managed to dodge each of them, using my small stature to his advantage. As soon as we were in front of the former Wrecker, my fists connected with her front to distract her. She attempted to throw a punch, but Megatron was too quick, grabbing her wrist with both of my small hands and flinging her over my shoulder towards the medical berth.

AQUASTRIKE!

Sunburst next came into my view, his arms at the sides of his helm like he was surrendering to me, "I don't want to hurt you, 'Swept. Don't make me."

Megatron refused to take his pleads into account, activating my blasters and shooting rapidly at him. Sunburst chose not to fight me at first, allowing Megatron to continue walking up to him with both my blasters still firing at him.

Then he struck. Sunburst grabbed my arms and tempted to restrain me to try and get through to me once more, "Where are you, 'Swept?"

My pedes climbed over Sunburst's chassis, flipping myself out of his grip. Leaping up, Megatron hit Sunburst in the chest using both my pedes, also flinging him well away from me and down the corridor, I presume, he, Ratchet and Aquastrike came from.

SUNBURST!

…What have I done? I've let Megatron gain too much control of me! And now he's hurting all my friends!

Pulling out the Dark Energon shard from what was usually MY subspace, he turned my frame towards his, "I thought I put you down and out of mind." He must've finally recognised that I had been reawoken.

"'Swept!" I looked around to find my charge Carly, her eyes wide with fright and…

Hopefulness?

Wait?! Was my screams so powerful enough that I managed to break through Megatron's stranglehold on me?!

"You have to fight it!" Raf begged, joining his sister, "Remember who you are!"

"Fight for control, 'Swept! You have to take back what's yours! Megatron can't control you!"

She's right. I can't let Megatron take over what's mine.

Carly must have reacted positively when she saw my optics. It was like they softened at her pep talk for me. But then she went neutral as my optics had hardened upon seeing her. I could feel my optics changing emotions. It was because of how hard I was fighting against Megatron.

I can do this! I can fight him!

"C-Carly…?" I weakly whispered through the shifts of power.

"That's it 'Swept!" Carly cheered excitedly, taking a few more steps forward, "It's me!"

While the balance of power shifted between Megatron and me, I could feel the former's rage start to build as he began to realise that I was slowly taking back some control over myself, "Unbelievable!"

I suppose Megatron couldn't believe just how capable a small human such as Carly could be. Especially when her loved ones were in danger. That's what I thought was the most important about the humans like Jack, Miko, Carly and Raf – they had spirit. They were able to guide us, help us when we needed them too and more importantly, be there for us when we needed them.

And right now, I needed Carly more than ever help me push through the stranglehold that Megatron refused to let go of.

"Take back what's yours!"

I pushed against Megatron. Inside, I could feel myself slowly stepping up to face Megatron. I was not going to let him get to me any more. So what if we were related? So what if he kept this all a secret from me? So what that he had my mind erased to keep me on his side?!

There is one thing that I do not allow. And that is when someone tries to take control of me.

NOBODY TAKES CONTROL OF ME!

I pushed back as hard as I have during this entire ordeal, regaining the most control I've had. But Megatron wasn't ready to exactly give up yet, already beginning to push back slightly.

"NO YOU DON'T!"

I groaned in pain as Megatron pushed back, clutching the front of my face tightly to attempt to remove the helm-ache regrowing in my helm. It was becoming too much. I took a few lazy steps forwards, falling onto my knees in front of two of my human friends. The Dark Energon shard was still tightly in my grasp despite my arms falling onto the floor of the Warship to brace myself.

Carly gasped, placing her small hands onto my arm… but that was her mistake.

Megatron regained control once more, easily brushing Carly and Raf away from me.

NO! LEAVE THEM ALONE!

Megatron made us stand to full height once more, turning around just in time to see Sunburst clutching the life-support cord connected to Megatron. I instantly knew what he was planning to do – he was trying to get rid of Megatron's only option to currently live while we were connected to his body. He was going to do whatever it could to get rid of the Decepticon Warlord despite him still being locked deeply in control of me.

And if that was the only option we all had at this point, then I would happily back Sunburst on the play one-hundred per cent no matter what happened to me.

"Farewell Megatron," Sunburst whispered as he tugged on the cable with both servos, pulling out with ease.

Megatron reacted violently, making us race towards Sunburst where we easily got into a scrap with him. He refused to fight, allowing Megatron to throw him over my shoulder once more and towards Carly and Raf, who were being taken care of by Ratchet. Soon, Megatron turned back to the medical berth.

"Windswept!" My body paused at the teenage girl's yell behind me.

I tried to answer her cries, but Megatron wouldn't allow it. Instead, we slowly looked over my shoulder with the Dark Energon shard purring closer to my face, "Windswept cannot hear you any more."

YES.

I.

CAN!

"As much as I want you to leave my best friend's body, I won't let you go back to your own!" With a battle cry, Carly raced towards me and leapt up, grabbing the cord connecting the back of my helm to the medical berth Megatron's body rested on. She attempted with all her might to try and break the connection.

Megatron wouldn't allow her to do such a thing, making a sharp turn to make sure that Carly lost grip of the cord and flinging her away from us.

When this ordeal is over, I will not let Megatron get away with that. He messes with my best friend, he messes with me.

Megatron made us leap onto his frame on the medical berth, and with the Dark Energon shard in hand, he made me stab the Energon deep within the gaping hole in his chassis. His body began shaking as the shard began to work on healing the hole while I leapt off his body and watched as his optics snapped open.

Those red Decepticon optics.

Megatron had finally returned.

My servos gripped my legs tightly as I started to regain some of my strength. Sunburst came racing up behind me and began checking to make sure that I was all right. I felt okay physically… but mentally I think is an entirely different story.

Everyone began stepping backwards around me, pulling me back with them. I dreaded what was happening in front of me and, as much as I didn't want to look, my helm lifted up.

Decepticon drones came filing into the room from out of nowhere, the five of them pausing to watch the Warlord of the Decepticons stand and bark his announcement.

"Decepticons! Your rightful lord and master has returned!" He took a few steps towards us, pausing to stand beside me as our optics locked, "Finish these pests-" He began walking towards the corridor that the Decepticon drones had come from, "I have my own extermination to perform." He disappeared down that corridor while the drones activated their weapons.

Ratchet ducked away from the blaster shots to grab Raf and disappear out of target sight while Aquastrike and Sunburst fired back at the drones. I quickly found Carly shielding herself from the blaster fire, trying to run away from it all. Sliding under a few shots to dodge them, I scooped Carly up before joining Ratchet and Raf.

"I'm so sorry Carly," I whispered to her, holding her close to me to make sure that she was safe.

I was supposed to be her guardian… and I failed her.

"Worry 'bout t'at later!" Aquastrike yelled, joining us with Sunburst behind her, "We gotta ge' outta 'ere!"

Aquastrike was right. It was time to get out of this hell!

---

NO ONE'S P.O.V

After minutes and minutes of scaling the snow-white cliff, Optimus eventually reached the top, seeing the Decepticon Warship continuing to shoot the orange-flamed drill into the snow where the Energon was. He was quick to spot a thin glacier that was already beginning to become affected by the heat, racing towards it before transforming into his truck semi and using the glacier as a ramp to propel himself over to the warship.

The aim was perfect, reaching heights that were nearly higher than the warship itself. He transformed back into his Cybertronian form, reaching his hand out toward one of the wings of the ship. He was successful in grabbing it, quickly beginning to climb onto it and further onto the ship.

The battle on the ground meanwhile, was just beginning. Arcee began charging, her arm blades unfolded as she raced towards Breakdown for a quick attack. But the blue mech wasn't interested in her attempts, racing towards her with a battle groan.

Arcee leaped up, flipping a few times to prepare herself for the attack. But Breakdown was too quick, grabbing the blue femme by the arms and throwing her into Starlight, who was preparing to battle her sister. The two femmes were knocked away by the force of the throw, but both were quick to land on their feet with their cat-like reflexes, ready to go again for another attack.

Moonlight stood in their way, two knives spinning in her hands with a smirk. Arcee and Starlight gave each other a nod before beginning their charge towards the black and pink Decepticon.

Breakdown focused his attentions on his old enemy, chuckling as he activated his hammer, "I'm gonna put you on ice!" He raised his weapon, ready to strike.

But Bulkhead was prepared, his wrecking ball also raised in the air as he charged towards his enemy. With a battle cry, he smashed his weapon against Breakdowns, the force large enough to split the ice underneath in half...

---

While Starscream and Knock Out watched approvingly, the red medic soon found something wrong with the battle that was occurring below. There was... something missing.

"Don't the bots seem…understaffed?"

The sounds of a truck engine answered his question, forcing the two Decepticons to turn around to find the truck form of Optimus Prime speeding towards them.

Starscream threw up his hands, growling in frustration, "What good is a second-in-command who fails to watch the rear?" Pushing Knock Out out of his way, the silver Decepticon leapt onto the controls of the laser beam, kicking the Decepticon that was controlling it off, "Get out of my way!"

Typing commands into the control panel of the beam, Starscream managed to turn around the laser and point it in his enemy's direction. But despite the burn and the force of the beam, Optimus would not be pushed back so easily, groaning with all his might to continue towards the Decepticon.

With a battle cry, he transformed and jumped away from the beam, activating his blade from his arm.

Starscream instantly knew what the Autobot was trying to do, "NOOOO!"

The destruction of the laser beam caused an explosion of whites and oranges and grey smoke, sending shock waves through the arctic and pretty much ending the battle between the Autobots and Decepticons below. They were knocked off their feet instantly as deep cracks began forming in the ice and snow.

While Bulkhead and Starlight started to stand and regain their strength, Arcee was the first onto her feet, instantly worried when she spotted something in the snow.

"Optimus!"

Lying amongst the snow where patches of grey smoke were rising from parts of his frame was the Autobot Leader, severely weakened from the explosion he caused. But he couldn't stay there for long as a silver jet swooped into everyone's view, flying threateningly over Optimus. Gasping to regain his strength, he opened his blue optics and found Starscream preparing to dive straight towards him.

"Megatron's greatest mistake was ever allowing you to live, Prime!" Starscream proclaimed, preparing to fire a missile towards the Autobot leader.

This would be it! This would be the day he would finally be able to defeat the leader of the Autobots! This would put all the doubters to shame! It would prove himself to the others of the Decepticon Warship that he didn't need his twin sister beside him to lead the Decepticons to victory!

And he would've been able to do it had a certain silver and purple jet crashed into him, changing his course to the Decepticon Warship.

Optimus instantly recognised who that certain jet was, his tone showing a hint of surprise as he spoke, "Megatron."

"He's back," Arcee realised as Bulkhead and Starlight joined her in watching the two Decepticons fly back onto the smoking Decepticon warship.

---

Starscream was quick to be transformed back into his Cybertronian form, being flung on to one of the wings of the Decepticon warship. Coughing and spluttering, he watched as the jet ranged upon him, transforming and revealing himself to be none other than Megatron.

"Lord Megatron!" Starscream gasped, trying to show true happiness and surprise that his master had finally been saved, "You are…you're healed! Praise the AllSpark! It is a miracle!"

"Oh, it will be a miracle alright, Starscream... if you survive what I have planned for you."

Starscream was a coward, yes, but he wasn't stupid. He knew exactly why Megatron was coming after him. He knew that the silver and purple Decepticon knew that he tried to offline him when he was floating around in space. Heck! With Soundwave's help, he probably knows everything that Starscream had done during his brief time in Decepticon leadership!

So Starscream did what he normally did best and attempted to flee from the rage of Megatron, transforming and trying to take off. But the true leader of the Decepticons knew better than to let him simply get away from him, grabbing his tail-wings and throwing him into another wing of the Warship a distance away.

Starscream spluttered as he transformed out of his jet form, watching as Megatron appeared onto the wing to join him.

"But the Autobots! Optimus! Right there! Waiting for you!" Starscream attempted to distract Megatron as he approached him.

"My greatest mistake? I've made a few! But there is one I do not intend to make again!" Grabbing the traitorous Decepticon's face, Megatron began dragging him towards the doors to the Warship while listening to Starscream's screams.

"No! Master! NOOOOOOO!"

---

WINDSWEPT'S P.O.V

Starscream screamed so loudly from the Decepticon Warship high above us, it had the group of us thinking that we wouldn't see him for a while!

After escaping the warship, Sunburst, Aquastrike, Ratchet, Carly and Raf, the latter's on Ratchet's shoulder, we wanted to stay away from any Decepticon trouble just in case they would come after us again. But we didn't expect to find ourselves in the Arctic, a place that was probably quite familiar to Optimus and Arcee already.

Even though the Arctic felt unusually warmish, it was still quite cold, my denta chattering quickly. Sunburst was quick to be by my side, making sure that I wasn't going to become the first out of all of us to be affected by the cold conditions.

I didn't trust Sunburst to be anywhere near me too be honest. I was too scared that I was going to hurt him again just like I did multiple times back at base and on the Warship. But I was too scared to push him away. I didn't want him thinking that I wasn't myself again.

I shuddered. I never, ever, EVER wanted to have someone else totally in control of me EVER again.

"Ratchet, we need a bridge," Optimus' voice came over the comlink.

"You are not the only ones," Ratchet replied as came around the corner of a glacier.

Standing at a decent distance ahead of us, Optimus, Arcee, Starlight and Bulkhead turning around to face us, their faces a mixture of confusion and relief. Raf and Carly waved to them from Ratchet and mine's shoulders, big grins going from ear to ear for each of them.

At least Raf got to see snow!

---

We had to ask a confused Bumblebee, who had returned to base with Jack and Miko, to 'bridge us back to Autobot Outpost Omega One. They had no idea of what had occurred to my group that were still at Autobot base the last time he was there.

So while Sunburst and Aquastrike explained their side of the story, I waited in the medical chamber as Ratchet and Starlight performed checks to make sure that I was okay. Starlight really wanted to make sure that I was all fit and healthy in my mind before she wanted to confirm that I was free to go. I could sort of understand why she was a bit weary – Starlight was never to keen on incident's similar to this happening. She was much too innocent despite all that we've been through.

I saw Starlight and Ratchet give a nod to each other and myself before I felt the arms around me pull away, allowing me to be free once more. As the medical chamber doors opened, Ratchet announced the diagnosis.

"Everything's back to normal."

I rolled my optics at the comment, and a quite a few of the team chuckled in disbelief at the words.

Me? Normal?

Ratchet was quick to correct his comment, a small smile spreading onto his face, "Well…normal for Windswept."

Carly was the first to greet me, racing into the medical chamber to see me. I knelt down before her and grinned at her.

"Carly, I am so sorry for what I put you through today," I apologised with what I hoped was regret showing in my optics. I looked up at all of the team still gathered around the medical chamber, "And for what I put all of you through."

Carly almost instantly shrugged at my apology, "Don't worry about it, 'Swept! You're my best friend! I'd stay by your side no matter what! You know we all would!"

I grinned even more at my human friend, gently sticking my digit out to poke the girl in the shoulder teasingly now knowing that she was okay, "Bet you were scared, huh?"

"Duh, of course I was!"

"I hope you never go through something like that again."

"I hope you don't as well."

I stood up to full height, looking over at Sunburst with an innocent smile as I privately commed him, "Thank you for sticking by my side today. If I had to go through this again, I would want you by my side no matter what. You're my brother, and we have to stick together."

Sunburst chuckled, his arms still folded over his chassis, choosing not to speak over the private comm, "Hey, what else are siblings for?"

I shook my head in amusement at Sunburst before I noticed Miko below us reach Carly and me. She looked between Sunburst and I for a few moments before looking at Sunburst, "What'd she say?"

The yellow and white-striped mech's face turned soft, looking down at Miko, "She said thanks. In her normal 'Swept fashion, of course."

"Lemme guess!" Aquastrike raised her arm up like a student excitedly. When Sunburst called upon her, she continued, "She wen' on 'nd on 'bout how t'ankful she was that you were by 'er side 'nd so on 'nd so forth?"

"Bingo!"

My jaw dropped in fake disbelief as most of the Autobots and humans chuckled and nodded in agreement. I crossed my arms with a fake pout, "Am I becoming that predictable?"

"Yes."

---

Despite Ratchet and Starlight's warnings that I should get as much rest as I could before they believed I was fully fit to return to the battlefield, recharge was not going to come easy tonight.

Not when the real truths about my past were in my mind.

I wasn't really able to deal with those truths because of Megatron taking full control of me during the day. But now that I was in my berth attempting to rest, my mind was unable to be pulled away from what I now knew.

Megatron murdered my parents.

He also had mine and Whirlwind's memories erased.

He also fed us lies to keep us within his ranks.

Until Slipstream hinted that what we thought was the truth were in fact lies.

It's his fault that me and Whirlwind aren't together.

...I couldn't get another detail out of my mind.

I was related to BOTH Optimus Prime and Megatron.

BOTH!

This was insane! This war wasn't supposed to be about family drama or anything like it! It was supposed to be about our homeworld and everything related to it! Why is this happening?! WHY?!

It made more sense to me about why Optimus and Megatron referred to each other as brothers now and then. Sure they had been comrades already during Optimus' pre-prime state apparently, but still. Somehow everything just all made sense.

So everything was starting to fall into place. But I still had a few questions.

Did Optimus know that we were related?

Have I known Sunburst longer than I was led to believe after all?

Did Sunburst know that Optimus, Megatron and I were all related?!

I'll get my answers eventually, I know that. But when was an entirely different story.

---

Yay, part 2 of this saga been and gone! There will be a follow up original chapter to this to deal with the repercussions. I'm looking forward to tackling this development - what Windswept has learned in these last two chapters will have effects on her and some of the team for the rest of this story and the future ones.

The original chapter, which I guess you could call a part 3 to this saga will come out soon hopefully. Maybe a follow, favourite or review might inspire a quicker update.

Thank you for reading.