Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers. Just the plot and OCs

Chapter 8

"But . . . you don't even know what you're looking for."

A heavy sigh puffed down over the top of his antenna topped head, but he didn't come out from the safety and warmth of Ironhide's chest with those powerful arms wrapped tightly around his back. His doorwings were hanging loosely behind him around the thick armor looped between them and the thinner winglets that hung below them.

"No, but we'll figure it out, Bee." Ironhide responded, voice deep and resonating around him in stereo because of how he was snuggled in. Bumblebee's bright blue optics were fixed on the world outside the window. The world of swirling wind and red sand that seemed to stretch on forever. They'd be landing soon and Hide, Ratchet, Jazz, Optimus, along with the twins would be walking off into that empty red void for they didn't know how long in search of they didn't know what.

And they were leaving him behind.

There had been quite a long talk after he'd finally come out from hiding behind Grimlock and Scorn. A lot of explanations he didn't believe and promises he knew would probably never be kept, but in the end he knew there was nothing he could do.

Too little and too young.

That was still the odds he was up against and though he knew they did it because they loved him and they only wanted to protect him it was still going to be hard to stand there at the top of a hanger ramp and watch half his life walk away.

He figured he was entitled to a little bit of clinging since Hide was leaving. Neither the big ebony mech nor the bright blue femme also tucked into his large side had any problem with it. As the sound of the ship's engines slowed and strained under the fight of gravity and speed to land in the shifting unsteady sands echoed through the whole cruiser.

"You will comm when you can right?" He muttered against his sire's strong chest.

Another heavy sound rolled through Ironhide, but it was Chromia who's hand was petting lightly at the hinges of his doorwings that answered.

"Being quiet is going to be the best option, Bee, but when they find something they'll call."

"Okay." He muttered softly, gaze shifting slightly to watch the pair of black hounds at the end of the berth staring with fascination out the window down to the world before. The Sea of Rust is the world they had come from. The edge of it where Jazz had picked them up what seemed like so very long ago and brought back to him.

They remembered.

A part of their sparks missed it too.

He could feel that.

The side of static-hounds that would never be tamed inside them stirring. The wild side. The side that longed to run. To hunt. To fight.

Freedom.

He could relate as his bright optics stared out through the window. It wasn't the same longing he could feel inside them, but it was still there. He'd noticed over the last few orns as they'd gotten closer and closer to the edge of the Sea of Rust that there was almost a familiarity when he stared out the windows and watched it get closer and closer.

His hounds belonged in this place by birth. They had chosen to be with him, but there was still a piece inside them that knew what they were from.

That didn't explain why Bumblebee was starting to fell drawn, but then again he didn't even know where to start on figuring out most of what was going on inside of him lately. At this point he was opting to ignore it and hopped it would go away.

Scout and Echo thought that was a rather stupid idea. However, they couldn't explain to him any better what it was that was happening to him so the truth was he was kind of fumbling.

Watching the whirls of sand get thicker and thicker as the ship's engines puffed it up and blown it free Bee's mind wondered to last night when his bubbling frustration about all the things he couldn't explain and didn't know what to do about lead to him sneaking out of his berth leaving even Scout and Echo behind to creep down to the shooting range and blow the slag out of some holo-cons.

"Fraggin' stupid glitches!" Bee hissed under his breath to himself in the darkness of the large empty room while he loaded another set of rounds into his snatched up blaster and fired. The molten energy slammed dead center of the holo-con's chest though it did nothing to curve the little mech's mood.

He snarled out through teeth clenched so tightly together his audios were pounding from the pressure and a rather impressive helm-ache was forming. Tension had a habit of doing that though and over the last few orns he hadn't be much able to even breathe for how thick it was inside him. Glaring hard again at the flickering image in front of him his optics narrowed before he hiked up the blaster, not even aiming while he went to firing again and again until he was once again he was out.

Kicking a random box laying on the shooting range floor he choked back the yell of frustration that wanted out while he glared to the ceiling pulling at his antennas with his free hand in frustration while marching over to collect more ammo from the long table at the back of the range. He still couldn't make his own plasma and didn't have the subspace to carry as much as he should—a fact which he was really starting to hate—so he was constantly having to get more. Add onto of that he didn't have the size or strength to even have his own blasters, let alone cannons, it made for a rather frustrating annoyance.

He hated that too.

He fraggin' hated a lot of things right now! No matter if they had talked. No matter if they supposedly thought he was alright with it.

He wasn't!

And they couldn't even tell!

"Why can't you just fraggin' let me try!? I can do it if you'd just let me try!" Slamming his palms down on the surface of the ammo table he sent the whole thing vibrating with a groan of stressed metal before he sank down to the floor in a heavy collapse. Wrapping his arms around his knees, he bent, clanking his forehead down on his arms, letting his wings droop pitifully to his back, and proceeded to scream muffled curses into his brightly painted plating.

He wasn't helpless.

He wasn't weak.

He wasn't a hindrance.

He could help!

Why couldn't they see that he was doing every damn thing he knew to do to prove it to them!?

That he could help. That they didn't have to constantly be checking over their shoulders to make sure he hadn't gotten blow to scrap yet.

Why wouldn't they let him prove himself to them?

That was all he wanted. That was all he had wanted for a very long time. Grimlock seemed to understand, so why couldn't everybot else?

Why couldn't they see that above everything else he just wanted to prove that he wasn't here by accident. That he could help protect his family like they protected him.

A large, strong hand falling onto his shoulder startled the mechling out of his mind and sent him scrambling to his feet. With a surprised squeak he popped up only to crash backward into the table behind him where he somehow managed to fall backward over that and crash into a rather funny looking ball of yellow and black on the other side.

The pair of quiet chuckles that greeted him made him glare darkly at the spinning roof above him.

"Oh, Bee." Ironhide said lovingly reaching over the cluttered and now half overturned ammo table offering a hand to his stuck youngling.

Bee just glared smoldering holes into the outstretched offering before he twisted. Levering himself around to his feet somehow on his own and after a few failed attempts managed to get halfway out from the space behind the table that was even too small for him. He wasn't really getting anywhere after that though, stuck between the half turned table and the boxes on the other side against the wall. So when the pair of hands from two massive mechs grabbed him by the scruff bar and hauled him back out all he did was cross his arms and pout like a sparkling not even caring what he looked like. They sat him carefully back on his feet grinning every so slightly at the anger and exasperation while those bright blue orbs to the Prime and the Weapons Specialist.

They both stared at him for a moment.

"Not a damn word." Bee hissed, the sound rumbling up from his spark.

Ironhide and Optimus deflated at the sight of him.

The slight grin they had had slipping away while they stared down at him.

Why couldn't he just understand?

They were only trying to protect him.

Clamping down on his scattered emotions that had yet to fully level out after watching the little yellow thing stalk away from him a few orns ago the massive ebony mech reached, snatched a hold of his youngling, and yanked him to his frame without another thought. Bee went tense for a nano as Ironhide wrapped his burly arms tightly around him hugging him tightly before like a dam breaking all the tension flowed out of the little yellow mechling's frame and he latched onto his adopted Sire for all he was worth.

"We are fully aware you are capable of what you put your processor to, Bumblebee." Ironhide told him quietly resting his chin atop his head lightly kissing him between the antennas. He'd tried to tell the young mech that a few orns ago when he finally came out from the Dinobots' hanger it seemed he still wouldn't except it. The action got a content purr and warm pulse from the young mech's spark as he snuggled deeper into the warmth that was Ironhide's frame. The little youngling hardly reached Hide's hips let alone mid-section, but it truly was a far cry from when he use to fit in his hand.

The mech's hardened spark gave an unhappy twist at the realization that his little youngling really was growing up.

He didn't want it.

He wanted him to stay little forever. Little and protect-able. Where Ironhide could just scoop him up hold him to his spark and never let anything get within twenty miles of him. He couldn't do that anymore though, and he knew that.

"But you are still my, our, youngling. We aren't going to put you into unnecessary danger." Hide finished.

"I'm not a sparkling anymore, Hide." Bumblebee whispered, as he had been doing for so long now.

"You will always be my sparkling." Ironhide rumbled protectively as he nuzzled his nose plate against a flicking antenna while Optimus nodded at his side reaching forward to rub the little mech affectionately between his doorwings making the drooping appendages perk back up.

"That is not something even time can change, my little Bumblebee." Optimus murmured. "But it's only because we—"

"Love you, want to protect you, can't lose you, and are pretty sure the universe would stop spinning without you . . . ." Bee trailed off as he pulled his faceplate from his guardian's chest and glanced around between the two towering mechs that were smirking down at him. "Did I forget one?"

Optimus reached forward and snatched the little mech from his guardian pulling him into his own hug. "Okay . . . so we repeat ourselves a lot. It's not our fault it takes stuff too long to get into this thick head of yours."

Bee leaned away laughing when Optimus knuckled him between the antennas making the little mech scramble to get away until he was laughing and grinning once again. The way both officers knew he should always be.

For a moment after that the three of them stood there staring at each other until the truth of what was going on settled back in and Bumblebee's smile faded once again.

"I can help if you would just trust me."

"We do trust you." Ironhide shook his head pulling his mechling into his side again not comfortable with the distance he put between them. Bee didn't struggle to get away, but he didn't really lean into Ironhide's touch either. He was bitter and he didn't understand. It still hurt the massive black mech though. "But this time we have no reason to put you in harm's way. So you're staying out of it."

"I am a solider you know, at least I'm gonna be. Sometimes I think you both forget that."

The silence that took over both grown mechs cut into the young one's spark making him immediately regretted his words.

"Bumblebee," Optimus sighed heavily. "We will never be able to forget that."

Bee studied the floor, doorwings lowering behind him. "I know."

He snuggled into his guardian's side then more to calm the frantic beating under his audios than anything else.

"I'm sorry."

"You've got to stop apologizing." Ironhide scolded him.

"Sorry."

Ironhide shot him a glare for the word he didn't even know he'd said. For a moment Bee just looked at him confused until he realized he'd said it again. Hissing out a breath he shook his head.

"Sorr-Gah why is that always the first thing that comes out!?"

Optimus and Hide rumbled a laugh at their youngling's expense before seriousness settled in again.

"We'll be back soon, alright?" Optimus held the little mech's gaze.

Bee's bright orbs lifted up the great height difference between them and studied the wise and powerful optics that held him before he nodded.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'll be good for Prowl and the femmes. Can't promise I won't spend the whole time either planning something to prank you for this or talking to Rider, Smokey, and Hammer on the vid phone though."

They chuckled at that.

"Just so long as you don't do anything stupid." Ironhide pet him on the head making him purr despite himself.

"No promises." Bee smirked.

Those big blue optics narrowed slightly as the memory faded and he found himself pulled along from their tiny room to head to the hanger so that the mission patrol could leave.

No promises indeed.

Arms crossed over his chest Optimus stood gazing down the dropped ramp and out into the billowing rust storm raging around them.

"We did have to land in the middle of a storm didn't we?" Hot Rod sighed.

Optimus bright optics shifted from the storm to look down at the bright expanse of his little brother. His same shade gaze was fixed out on the blurry world of swirling sand outside. Though Optimus couldn't say he blamed him. Roddy hadn't been long gone from this part of Cybertron and the last time he'd been hear he'd watched over half his crew fall around him in an explosion of fire and metal.

He was taking the Nemesis and the Cons vanished worse than most.

Roddy had never been a vengeful mech, he was a little too laid back about things to be, but that didn't mean he didn't know how to hold onto his anger. Especially anger he had all the right in the world to.

"We will be fine, Roddy." Optimus assured him softly. Knowing that above all else right now was bothering the younger mech. He might agree with the need to go out and figure out what was happening, but that didn't mean he wanted them to go alone.

The Prime, the CMO, the WS, the spy master and two of the best frontliners in the whole army all going out together for a mission as fuzzy as this wasn't the best of military strategy they had ever come up with.

Prowl had made sure everybot understood that.

Jazz response to that had been at least they weren't taking the SIC too.

Prowl hadn't been amused.

Ultra Magnus had agreed with Optimus though. That the chosen to go would be able to look after themselves and were the best suited for this mission.

Roddy was just scared of the ghosts that might haunt it.

"I know." He said softly. "Just be careful, okay? I'm not ready to be the Prime."

An amused rumble echoed through Optimus while he gazed down at his little brother. "You mean you don't want to be the main one in charge?"

"Oh please," Roddy huffed. "We all know that's Prowl not you."

A snorted chortle made it out before Optimus could stop it the sound making Roddy grin up at him with amusement as he went on.

"But to answer your question, no. No, I don't want to be in charge. So don't do anything stupid, like die. Because I don't want the title and I don't want to have to listen to Prowl drone on and one about stuff even more then I already have to."

"Well," Optimus shifted a bit as his gaze turned again to the blowing storm. "Think about it this way. At least you'd get the amusement of Megatron finding out what we've been hiding from him all these vorns."

The red, yellow, and orange mech opened his mouth with a retort before pausing as he twisted around to look up his larger brother. Then promptly broke down into giggles.

"Primus." He snorted. "That would almost be worth it! Can you imagine his face!?"

"Wouldn't that be counterproductive to how much work you've put into hiding who Roddy really is all these vorns, Optimus?" Magnus' deep voice rumbled as he walked up behind him. As new as it was and as strange as it still sort of was, Optimus couldn't say it didn't warm him a little inside to see Roddy's smile grow bright at the sight of the bigger mech and the way he leaned into his side when he came to stop beside them.

It was good.

It truly was.

In the face of all the destruction and death the sight of life and love—that they could still bloom on this doomed planet—filled Optimus with a rare bit of hope. It made him feel like he could face the storm that waited outside.

In both the figurative and the literal sense.

"True as that maybe," The Prime shrugged. "It would still be funny."

"Yep." Roddy grinned.

Magnus rolled his optics.

"So who's actually in charge while you're gone?" Hot Rod asked after a moment.

Both the huge commanders shared a glance before saying in unison. "Prowl."

It was worth it to watch the smaller groan and bang his head back against Magnus' side.

"I take offence to that." Prowl's even voice echoed from the back of the hanger making them all turn to find him walking toward them with Jazz skipping along beside him.

The twins were following just a few paces behind walking on Elita and Arcee's other side as they spoke with Ratchet while they all walked forward. Behind them was Ironhide and Chromia with Bee tucked between them.

They'd left the hounds in their room it seemed.

"I'd say I'm sorry, but I'm not." Roddy grinned at the black and white mech with that ever present cheeky look of his.

Prowl simply rolled his optics.

"Is everything ready?" He turned his attention to the Prime instead of his little brother, amused at the puffed up annoyance Roddy got at being deemed not bother enough to even answer.

Optimus nodded to his second. "Yes."

"I've got the information copied over." Jazz went on. "And Ratchet has all our supplies. You won't hear from us again unless we're in trouble, we've found something, or it's time to call it done."

"Do be careful." Elita's sweet, rich voice said as she quickly tucked herself into her mate's side earning a rumble from him. They had said goodbye this morning, but that did not mean either of them indeed the quick touch before they would be separated again.

"We have every plan to." Optimus assured her with a warm look.

"Plans go astray." Prowl warned sternly, his cool optics flickering over the gathered circle.

"We'll be fine, Prowl." Sideswipe smirked down at him.

"You'll be wishing we were gone again before long anyway." Sunstreaker teased with an arched optic ridge.

"So don't miss us too much." Sides finished.

Bumblebee snickered from his place tucked into Mia's side. It was clear from the beam the twins gave him they were goofing off and teasing for no other reason than to pick the deflated little mech up a few pegs.

"It's really storming out there." Arcee couldn't help the comment making every set of optics dart out the lowered ramp. Assessing and watching the billowing of the storm turn the world outside into a blurry red cloud of blankness. They wouldn't be able to see much more than a few steps in front of them in that mess, but there was a reason it was Ironhide and Jazz that were going beyond just the skills they possessed.

Jazz and Hide had been born out there in those swirling sands and endless red.

If there were anybots among them now that could navigate the Sea of Rust for something they weren't even sure what it was they were looking for it was them.

"It will lay before night." Jazz drawled with a shrug. "Besides, it will help cover us for a while. A little sand ain't gonna hurt nothing."

"Speak for yourself." Sunstreaker grumbled. "It's gonna slag my finish."

Sides poked him in the arm.

It got him smacked upside the head.

"Stop it, the pair of you." Ratchet scolded them. "I'm not going to listen to you bicker the whole time we're gone. You're paint will be fine, Sunstreaker."

The golden twin huffed and didn't look any less ruffled, but he didn't say anymore.

"Be careful." Bumblebee said quietly, safely tucked against his carrier's side. It earned him a few warm looks and before they left the twins snatched him up and squeezed him tight, Jazz knuckled him between the antennas, Ratchet and Optimus hug him hard, and Ironhide held him for a long moment but then they were gone.

Disappearing out into the whirling sand.

Chromia, Arcee, Elita, Bumblebee, and Prowl stood there for a long time after they were gone. Watching the sand fly and twist.

"How soon until we take off?" Elita questioned Prowl after what had to be a breem.

"Before midnight." Prowl answer. "Inferno, Hound, and Trailbreaker are checking some of the engines. They didn't like the way it sat down in the wind. After they get it all checked out we'll take off."

Bumblebee's antennas twitched at the information.

He had a bit of wiggle room, but he was running out of time.

Sneaking into Jazz's office wasn't the hard part.

No.

The hard part was getting Chromia, Arcee, and Elita to let him out of their sight. They were convinced he was upset—which he was—and they were also convinced they were going to make him feel better. It took four joors to get Mia to believe he was tired and wanted to go to berth early.

After all that playing and such with the femmes he had to admit he felt better, but it didn't change his mind.

No, at this point nothing was going to change his mind.

He'd made it up after the first talk about him just being too little and too young. That he had to stay here because he wasn't ready for what lay out there in the real world.

Well.

They were about to see just how wrong they were.

Even if he didn't have a plan.

At least not much of a plan. More of a frustrated righteousness that was more than likely going to get him in a whole pit of a lot of trouble, but to be perfectly honest he didn't give a damn.

Even as he slipped out of berth after night had fallen, optics glowing as they watched Chromia's quietly recharging in her now too big and too empty berth. The sight of her laying there by herself had worried Bumblebee.

He'd been afraid it would kill his resolve and make him stay, but if anything it just hardened it. Made his jaw clench as he gave a harsh nod.

Because this was right. Even if it was going to get him in a lot of trouble.

It was right.

He wasn't all that sure why it was right outside the burning need to prove himself. It just was. There was something more bubbling under it all that he wasn't sure how to define. It was still there though.

This calling.

He had to.

He had to go.

It was important.

He blew his resting carrier a kiss, patted a rather confused Scout and Echo on the head, and made for the door only to have to pause and look back when they both huffed at him.

"What doing?" Echo asked, audios pushed forward with a curious expression on her face.

Scout look suspicious.

He had every right to be.

"I'm going after them." There was no point in lying. They'd know that he was.

Both of them shot upright on the berth, their black optics widening, only to pause when Bee lifted a hand and pointed at the berth.

"No." He shook his head. "No, you both have to stay here."

"What slaggin' mean stay here!?" Scout's audios pinned back and his lips curled up over his head. He lowered it and glared hard at his alpha, looking all the world ready to tear something apart. But the world couldn't see into his spark.

Bumblebee could.

There was more hurt and confusion there than anything else.

Sighing he sent a pulse to the both of them, knowing they wouldn't completely understand, but also knowing they couldn't go with him. He wouldn't put them at risk. Even if they probably could protect each other out there. There was just too many variables and he was too afraid to lose them to let them come with him.

Besides, this was about proving he was capable. That he could do this.

He couldn't have them there watching his back and make it work the same.

They were just going to have to accept that.

"I have to go alone." He explained. "I need you to stay and protect Mia while I'm gone."

The angry mech hound deflated a little at that as the siblings turned to look back in a shared motion at the recharging femme.

"They not know you going." It wasn't a question, for Echo already knew the answer.

Bee just nodded.

"Gonna get in trouble." Scout huffed.

"Probably." Bee nodded again. "But I have to do this."

"Why?" Echo whined slightly, uneasy and unhappy but knowing Bee was in charge. He was the alpha. He made the rules. Even if they were stupid rules currently.

"Because I need to." Bee answered with a sigh.

Neither of them were happy about it, but with a quiet huff both laid back down onto his berth with a slow nod.

"Okay." Scout huffed.

"We stay." Echo promised.

"We protect." Scout finished.

Bee walked back over and gave them both a kiss between the audios then left with a quiet wave heading forward Jazz's office.

He knew the pass code to both the door of Jazz's office and his computer console. Jazz didn't know he did, but he did.

Turns out he didn't need the later information though.

He'd figured Jazz would have locked up the information they had spent so much energy not telling him about, but apparently he didn't. Which was why Bee was currently standing by his desk flipping through the datapad he'd seen being passed around for a decacycle.

He couldn't make it out.

He knew that Wheeljack had asked Swoop about it a few orns ago, but turns out even the one Dinobot that could read the stuff of ancient times couldn't figure out what he was looking at. That had been the last deciding factor that said they were just going out with or without information to find out what was out there.

To Bee it just looked like a bunch of wiggling lines and twisting text.

As in . . . actual wiggling.

It . . . almost seemed to be moving.

Bee tilted his head back and forth as he stared at the screen. Each time he did it all seemed to change. Dancing and swaying a little across the page to look like something else.

He didn't have any idea what any of it said, but the fact that it was moving was pretty interesting. So he kept flipping through the digital pages watching the words wiggle until he came across the last little bit of writing.

It was sloppy, and looked like some kind of last klick note thrown in.

Suddenly Bee tensed.

Because . . . he . . . could read it. Even as the symbols and glyphs swayed on the screen he could make out what it said.

War and Dust,

Have a clue.

Oh, and don't break him.

-Trick

Bee blinked.

Shaking his head slightly he looked a bit harder at the text but that was it. That was all it said. He was left standing there staring down at the datapad in his hand thinking as that growing since of go within him got a little stronger.

It almost seemed familiar.

Like he should understand more than the vagueness of it, but he didn't.

Instead he decided he'd look at it some more later. He was losing time.

Tossing the pad into subspace he figured that was enough information. They didn't have any more than he did now. From this point on it would just be tracking.

Bee could do that.

He would do it.

He'd track them and shadow them.

He'd prove he was more than just some useless little burden that needed to be taken care of and sheltered.

The warming ship engines gave a low hum as they finally clicked into order and were ready for lift off.

He had to go and he knew just the way out.

All it took was a few halls. A slip into the lower boiler rooms, down between an old underused maintenance tunnel and a cat-walk he'd found on accident. Then it was a simple flip of a switch and a purge of trash cargo hold.

He ended up face first in a pile of sand scrap, which was less then comfortable, but hey it worked, as the Victory climb through the quiet night not knowing he wasn't on it.

Popping up out of the sand with a slowly growing grin the little yellow and black highlighted mech rolled over to watch his home disappear into the clouds and the night.

It was time to prove himself.

Rolling to his feet he sat off at a jog through the night.

Grinning through the shadows of the night a set of ice blue optics watch alongside a burning set of red as a small bundle of yellow metal head out across the cold desert night in pursuit of his destiny. Though he didn't know quite yet it was that that he was chasing.

"I can't believe that actually worked." Impulse admitted in a low, quiet rumble as he stared out through the darkness.

Trickster just grinned all the wider. "I can. He's a clever little fragger."

"I didn't think he'd disobey them." Impulse huffed. "I thought we were going to have to come up with something else."

"No." Trickster shook his head slightly. "I knew he would. I knew they'd say no and he'd get angry enough to defy them."

"It's about time." Impulse had to put in. "He's not some helpless sparkling."

"Yes, and it's time for him to prove it." Trickster nodded.

"You think he'd figured out how to read it all yet?"

"Nah," Trickster shook his head again. "Maybe some of it, but he's gonna have to work for a while to understand it all. He's never seen the old script before. It will take him some time to work through how to look at it."

"He doesn't have much time." Impulse sighed. "None of us do. The Fallen and Megatron won't stay out licking their wounds for long. He's going to come for it soon and Wardrums is not yet convinced about his part."

"That will come sooner than you might think." Trickster smirked at him with a lifted optic ridge. "He's about to get thrown back in no matter if he likes it or not."

"You're sure it's best this way?"

"No, but its what we were told to do so we will do it. They're all on the right track now. They'll find the All Spark and if we are lucky they will do it before the Cons come back."

"You know that won't happen." Impulse rolled his shoulder, gaze narrowing as he stared out into the desert night watching their youngest sibling disappear into the night.

Yeah.

Trickster did know that, but he could hope all the same.

Hope that this didn't have to end in energon and fire.

He knew it would though.

He knew what was coming next. All three of them did.

There was no changing this line of fate nor thread of destiny. The balance of the universe was set on a very thin set of shoulders. On how much he was willing to leak before it was all said and done. For he couldn't have help yet.

First he had to be on his own.

The balance was shifting.

Darkness was slipping under the growing light of what had finally come to pass. The two had returned and it was time for them to rattle the stars. But first the youngest would have to stand up and face the last turning point.

The last darkness before light could come again.

He would have to do what he was so desperate to. He would have to prove himself.

Though he didn't know to the full degree of what yet.

He didn't know just how much swallowing down the orders and defying them this time was about the rock this whole planet. Of course, he wasn't meant too.

Not yet at least.

He still had a long way to go before he'd ever know the truth but soon he'd figure out a great deal of it. No matter what Ironhide, Optimus Prime, and the Autobots wanted or thought.

He didn't belong to them.

He belonged to something far older, and far more powerful.

His purpose was greater than they could ever guess on their own.

"What needs to happen will happen." Trickster said in a soft voice as he turned away from the dark desert night. They had more to see to. For now, he was truly on his own. "It always does."

"Ever if we don't always agree with it." Impulse nodded along, following his guild brother. His balance partner. His . . . other half.

"Oh we very rarely agree with it, but sometimes you have to break something before it can heal. Before it can ever be all it was meant to. Life is strong. It endures. It adapts and it gets stronger. It can never be held down for long. No matter what, there is light out of darkness just as there is life out of death. That is the way of things. No matter what, that is the way it always has been. That is the way it always will be."

"But Death is needed just the same." Impulse put in as he followed. "There cannot be one with the other."

"That's why there is two." Trickster looked over his shoulder with a smile. "That's why Ever is watching him. We've still got some time before that has to happen. For now, Bumblebee must rattle Cybertron to its core. The universe will just have to wait to after that."

"I'm looking forward to this." Impulse grinned darkly as the two of them vanished into the night.

As am I, Impulse, as am I.

So, yeah, hi guys. Been a little bit. Sorry for the delay, but well things happen. This is a bit of a in-between chapter, however, it was needed to put us into place for what will be happening next. I hope you all liked it and I look forward to seeing what you thought.

There is more then a little bit of hint thrown in for you.

Thank you for reading and reviewing. See you all next time.

-Jaycee