HOL-E-COW. 600 REVIEWS! THANKS GUYS! I felt so happy and I was so psyched about that! A boat-load of praise for my lovely reviewers; MysticFire101, Starlit Storyteller, SapphireSpark, The Silvernote, RewindandDomey4ever, zudebaby, maria-ioanna984, Alter-OGE, AquaJinx, xXxEveryRoseHasItsThornxXx, Desmol, sakurawriter, AutobotCopperShadow, Bee4ever, NovaShifter15, 99luftballonsx.o.x, KayleeChiara, jgoss, Sydney, cyber ninja374, SeaKissed140, Storygirl747, and LiVe-in-colour!

Also, it is that time of year again! Complex Robotics 2nd year anniversary is coming up (Feb 1st). But this time I have a one-shot already planned and written out so that's covered. I just feel like I should do something else too, since it's the 2nd anniversary. Maybe a contest or something? I dunno...I'll keep thinking, but definitely review if you have any ideas.


Chapter Thirty-Seven: Dark Energy

(Still Sideswipe's POV)

Love.

The word kept floating around in my processors, and the more I thought about it, the more right it felt. Because there was no other way to describe this euphoric feeling bursting in my spark every time I was around her. The way my spark thrums so hard that I could feel it circulating throughout my frame when she smiles. And the intense desire to be with her for the rest of my life. It had to be love, and as the shock cleared through our twin bond from this sudden realization, I found myself smiling, because deep down, my spark knew it all along. Ever since I saw her, in Sunny's hands, when she came back on base, I knew I loved her.

I blinked again with new prospect, and glanced down at our intertwined hands. There was a soft, almost undetectable squeeze from Charlie's hand, and I felt my spark race wildly again. I fell in love, without even realizing it.

Charlie let out a soft groan, and I looked up to see Sunny sitting on the other side of her bed. He had grabbed her other hand, and was stroking the inside of her wrist softly with his holoform's thumb. He didn't look up when I glanced at him, although I knew he felt my gaze. He was in reverie, gazing down at Charlie's gentle features as she slept. She moved softly, slightly leaning towards his soft touch, and I didn't miss the small smile fighting it's way on to his lips.

Nope, we fell in love without even realizing it.

The moment of tranquility was broken when the door was pushed open again harshly, and both of us snapped up from our seats, glaring in the direction of the loud noise. I only relaxed when I realized it was only Jenna and Quickshift, rushing into the room with frantic worry in their eyes, but Sunny still had his guard up. He even went as far as to growl at Quickshift when he tried to climb up on the bed to see Charlie better.

"Back off Sunshine, this is my charge!" Quickshift hissed back, totally unphased by Sunstreaker's death glare.

"We heard she was in here, what happened?" Jenna asked worriedly, directing her question to me.

I sighed, shaking my head, "I don't know...one moment we were all fine. We were helping her train and we were going to get food and then...she was zoning out. I felt something was wrong, but she didn't want to talk about it. Her hands were on her stomach, and she was screaming at something. I couldn't see it, but I knew something was up. Something just felt wrong about the atmosphere around us, and her skin..." I trailed off, trying to recall the horrifying events, "Her veins turned purple. She screamed something out, before fainting in Sunny's arms."

Jenna cursed lowly under her breath, before moving towards the bed, "Is she okay?"

"She's been stabilized." Sunstreaker said.

"Oh, Charlie." Jenna murmured solemnly.

"Why didn't you slagheads do somethin' when you saw her actin' up the first time!" Quickshift snapped, turning to us with anger forming in his silver optics.

"We didn't know what was going on!" I defended.

"Ya said ya felt somethin' was wrong! Yet ya let her walk on until she collapsed!" Quickshift snapped back.

"Don't you think I know that now? Don't you think I don't beat myself up over it for not doing anything sooner?" I growled, anger from the stress simmering in my voice, "Don't you think if I could, I would've-"

"Sideswipe!" Jenna suddenly yelled, and my gaze snapped to her.

"What?!"

"She's waking up." Sunstreaker said, appearing at her side again. The conversation was forgotten as we all raced over to either side of the bed, watching as Charlie's unconscious form groaned again, before her eyes blinked a few times, before opening slowly. We held our breaths, the room was silent enough to hear a pin drop, as everyone's gaze was on Charlie. My spark thrummed happily again at the sight of her brown eyes, full of life again, and I could feel the shared joy racing across the twin bond.

::She's awake, Sunny!:: I said happily.

::Thank Primus.::

We both watched intently as her pupils dilated before glancing around the room momentarily. She let out a soft sigh, before speaking in a voice so low that it was barely a whisper, "S-Sideswipe?"

I leaned in, spark thrumming eagerly at the sound of her voice again. The feeling of love washed over me again, and I had to constrain myself from wrapping my arms around her and shouting out to the heavens. I was overjoyed.

"Yeah Charlie, it's me." I made sure to kept my voice calm.

"Where am I?" She croaked, before coughing and her hand tentatively reaching up to her throat.

"Don't stress yourself sweetspark," I murmured, placing my hand gently on top of hers. "You're in the Med bay, you fainted in the halls."

"Charlie!" Quickshift exclaimed happily, squeezing himself in between us, and I frowned.

"Quickshift." Charlie replied, smiling slightly, before frowning, "What's wrong?"

Quickshift chuckled humorlessly, "I should be askin' you that question."

"Do you remember what happened?" Jenna asked, and Charlie glanced at her in surprise.

"Don't overwhelm her." Sunny warned, his tone left no room for protest.

I leaned closer to her, "Are you okay, Charlie?"

She stared at me for a long moment, before nodding slowly, "I...I think I'm fine." She suddenly winced, and I twitched, ready to lean forward and help her, but Sunstreaker grabbed my arm before I could. She hissed softly, pressing a hand up to her left temple, and I quickly ran a scan over her. Other than some slight inflammation in her head from a headache, she was okay.

"Charlie?" Jenna asked worriedly.

She paused for a moment, closing her eyes, before shaking her head, "Sorry, I just had a bit of a migraine." She opened her eyes again, and I relaxed slightly, "Other than that, I think I'm fine."

"You're not moving from that spot until Ratchet comes back." Sunstreaker said firmly.

"Where is Ratchet?" Quickshift spoke up, and all three of them looking around the room briefly.

"He's running tests on Charlie's blood," Sunny replied, "We already commed him. He's sending Jolt to come check on her."

Quickshift and Jenna seemed to nod at that, but Charlie was silent. I frowned, wanting to question her aloud, but the doors to the room had been opened again, and Jolt's holoform stepped in. He smiled timidly as everyone's gaze landed on him, before announcing that he had come in Ratchet's place and quickly scanned Charlie, checking over all of her vitals to make sure she was doing well, before giving her some medication for her headache. I started to panic when her eyes drooped low, and her breathing slowed, but Jolt quickly explained that the medication he had given her could cause drowsiness, and she needed to rest. And as much as I hated to admit it, he was right. Her body was still weak, and frail from whatever that happened to her in the hall.

"Sideswipe..." She murmured softly, and I leaned in again.

"Yeah, Charlie?" I asked.

"Sunstreaker..." She murmured again. Sunstreaker leaned in too, a strange emotion rolled across the bond as he looked at her, his gaze softening.

"I'm right here, Charlie."

"We're here too!" Quickshift added, grabbing her hand softly. "We're all here for ya."

She smiled down at the red mini-bot, rubbing the top of his helm in an affectionate way, before looking back at us, "Thank you for saving me."

"Please, don't ever scare us like that again," I said softly, "I don't think my spark could take another one."

She smiled again, before drifting back off to sleep.


"So," I drawled, bringing my gaze to Sunny. We were both leaning on opposite walls, just outside of Charlie's hospital room, "...we love her."

He inclined his head, "It appears so."

I sighed, my processors still felt like they were spinning from the realization. I knew I loved her, and I wanted to be with her, but Sunny loves her too. We both did. The whole situation in itself was complicated. We both bonded over Charlie for different reasons, but grew to love her and wanted to protect her from anything.

That was the thing with spark-split twins though, we did everything together. And shared everything together. We've had our fair share of femmes in the past, but of course, this was different. Charlie was human. There was no telling how she'd react if she knew both of us loved her. It was unusual for Cybertronians to be sparked to more than one partner, and it was no doubt even more stranger for humans.

"What are we going to do?" I asked.

He shrugged, "It's not up to us, Sides. It's her choice."

I raised an eyebrow, "You mean...she chooses one of us?"

He nodded. "That's who she'll be with."

I was reluctant to say the next part, "And the one who doesn't get chosen…?"

He seemed to share my same reluctance, and grimaced. "He will back off respectively."

There was a long silence that drifted between us for a moment. Before I pushed myself off the wall and walked over to my twin brother.

I stuck my holoform's hand out, "That seems fair enough. Deal?"

Another moment passed between us, before his wrapped around mine.

"Deal."

"What deal?" A voice asked, startling the both of us. Our gazes snapped to the familiar ginger, who had appeared from the corner of the hall.

"Jenna...?" I trailed off in surprise, "We..."

"I just came to check on Charlie again," She seemed sincere in her statement, but something about the way she looked in between us spoke differently, "Uh, sorry for interrupting."

"It's okay," I chuckled nervously, before switching to the bond, ::You don't think she heard us, do you?::

::It's hard to tell.::

::Slag.::

"You guys...sure you're okay?" Jenna asked slowly.

"We're fine." Sunstreaker said cryptically, and I sighed as Jenna frowned at him. ::Sunny, stop being aggressive or she'll get suspicious!::

::Stop calling me that.::

"I'll go check on her, then." Jenna muttered, walking past us to open Charlie's door slowly, before stepping in. I waited until she was away from the door, before letting out a loud sigh, and shot my brother a pointed glare. He simply shrugged the glare off and walked back towards the door as well, and I followed him.


(Charlie's POV)

My eyes fluttered open softly, and I blinked back the dark spots clouding my vision. Once my eyes refocused, I recognized the familiar cracked, dull, white ceiling of the med bay. I heard the sounds of sharp whispering, and the whispering fading away as someone murmured;

"She's awake again."

Were they talking about me? I frowned, rubbing my eyes to clear any of the lethargy from sleep. My body felt numb and heavy, as if there were weights tied to me, sinking me further into some dark abyss, and I groaned again, before slowly sitting up on the bed. My head still felt heavy, and my fingers curled around the thin blanket as a stab of pain raced through my left temple. My vision flashed that dreaded amethyst for a moment, before melting back into the natural colors of the world.

What was wrong with me?

"Charlie?"

I snapped up at the sound of my name, and remembered that I wasn't alone. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker's holoforms were in the room, along with Ratchet's, Jolt's, Jenna, and...Optimus. My eyes widened at that, but before I could question the Autobot leader's presence, Sideswipe was at my side again. His hand on mine as he leaned in to check on me, I could feel his quick scan, but said nothing.

"Are you okay? Do you feel any different?" He inquired frantically. My frowned deepened at the tone of his voice, usually I would just dismiss his tendencies to be over protective, but there was something else in his apprehensive tone that told me something else was going on. Something much, more dreadful.

"What's wrong, Sides?" I asked softly, staring into his cerulean eyes.

He seemed taken aback, but didn't stay that way for long. He sighed softly, his warm hand wrapped around mine squeezing nimbly, "It's not good, Charlie."

"What?" I breathed, Sideswipe didn't respond. No one said anything. "Well, if there's something wrong, then just tell me. Anyone? " I pleaded, gazing at the solemn looks on their faces and my heart quickened with fear.

"Charlotte," Ratchet finally said, walking up to me, he was reluctant to say the next part, "Have...have you've ever heard of dark energon?"

Dark energon? I shook my head, "No."

"It's another energy source, found on Cybertron. But unlike energon, it is highly unstable, and very dangerous. Fatal, even." He said carefully.

I swallowed some of the dread building in my throat, "W-What does it have to do with me?"

"As I was running tests on your blood, I...discovered traces of dark energon in your blood." He shook his head, "The amounts were so miniscule that they were overlooked in my first scans I performed when you first returned."

"So," I trailed off, glancing down at the glossy floor, "Does this mean I'm going to die?"

Sideswipe's hand twitched in mine, but all I could do was look at the grave expression on Ratchet's face. The room was deathly silent, and I could feel the headache creeping up on me again, the heaviness threatening to flood my mind.

"I am not sure," He said honestly, "With such a highly unstable substance flowing through your veins, there's no telling what will happen."

"But can't you get it out of her?" Sideswipe argued.

"She's already suffered from radiation poisoning once, Ratchet," Sunstreaker added coming closer, "And it nearly killed her."

"I cannot," Ratchet replied, "As much as I wish I could, I can't. The dark energon has...grown, invaded her circulatory system, important organs, and flows in her bloodstream. The only way I could expel it from her body would be to take out the source from where it's growing."

"Which is?" Sideswipe pressed.

"Her heart."

The silence was almost too much to bear, and I felt the dread rise again. "W-What? M-My heart?"

"That's impossible," Sunstreaker snapped. "She's a human, energon is highly toxic to humans."

"I don't know how, but somehow, the dark energon has attached itself to her heart, and had her body adapting to the point where it can function with dark energon streaming into her bloodstream. To the point where she can't function without it," Ratchet sighed, running a hand through his hair in frustration, "I...I don't know how or why, but the energon's been intertwined with her DNA. It's in everything, and to reverse the process...if even possible, could kill her."

"So this foreign energy is just floating inside of her?" Jenna asked quietly, "But how...?"

"The radiation poisoning," Sunstreaker answered, "Must have not been poisoning at all. It was the dark energon, integrating into your systems."

"This still does not make sense," Optimus rumbled, speaking up, "Shouldn't we have been able to detect any signs? It is a Cybertronian substance afterall."

"The hearing," Sunstreaker suddenly said.

"What hearing?" Ratchet asked.

His holoform's eyes brightened with a shocking realization, "The hearing! The healing, the communication...those were the signs. A byproduct from the dark energon invasion. Charlie mentioned that she gained these strange abilities around the time that she had woken up in the warehouse."

My eyes widened at that, and as much as it was hard to believe, it made sense. Somehow, I'd contracted dark energon and through that process, I had gained Cybertronian characteristics like advanced hearing, advanced healing, and mental communication. I also feared that my abilities had something to do with those ghastly nightmares too. But the only question I couldn't answer was why. Why were these things happening to me?

"So what does that mean? Is she transitioning into a mutant Cybertronian or something?" Sideswipe asked.

"She's already mutated," Ratchet answered gravely, "Primus, I can't believe we hadn't seen this before."

"This still doesn't make much sense," Jenna interrupted, her eyebrows scrunched in confusion, "How did Charlie get energon inside of her anyway?"

He suddenly turned to Sunstreaker again, "Sunstreaker, how exactly did she get in contact with energon?"

"Some lone Decepticon had went after her," He explained, "I was tracking down the bomb Starscream had planted, and was only thrown off because I picked up his signature, and I heard her screams. I had killed him before he could hurt her, but some of the energon had gotten onto her skin in the process, and burned her. After that, she fainted."

"But you didn't detect any dark energon?" Ratchet asked. "Anything unusual at all?"

"I wasn't paying much attention, Ratchet!" The golden twin protested, "We were in the middle of a battle."

"Try to remember." The doctor snapped back, "This is important."

"...He had purple eyes." I muttered. Everyone's gaze had suddenly snapped back to me.

"His eyes were what?" Jenna echoed.

"They were not like regular Decepticon eyes," I clarified, "They were purple."

An eerie feeling had settled amongst the Cybertronians in the room, as a perturbed expression settled on their facial features. I could tell they were in a heated discussion in the comms from the way their eyes darkened, and a high pitch noise buzzed in my ears. It was the sound that I'd pick up when Sideswipe or Sunstreaker commed someone around me. At first, it was very distracting, but I got used to it. I never told them that I could hear it.

"Okay, so his eyes were different," Jenna said, breaking the uncomfortable silence, "But Quickshift's eyes are different. What's so wrong with purple eyes?"

"But it's impossible," Sideswipe suddenly exclaimed, shaking his head in disbelief while also grabbing my hand tighter, "There's...there's no way! It's a myth! A legend! There's know way he can be real!"

"What can't be real?" I demanded, "Stop hiding things from me! Tell me, who is he?"

"In Cybertronian culture, purple optics are associated with an evil being of darkness," Optimus explained grimly, and I could feel the dread bubbling up my throat again. "A destroyer of worlds, and that dark energon was originally created from his blood. A being with power that could only rival Primus himself. His designation was-"

"Unicron." I mumbled solemnly.


CLIFFHANGER. LOL. Things are definitely heating up, now that Unicron is into play. Thanks for reading, sorry for any mistakes, and make sure to review. Also if you guys have any ideas as to what we should do for CR's anniversary as well, I'm all ears! Until the next update!