Conflict of Interest

AB: I feel like it has been a while, college is kicking my aft but I have been working on this off and on whenever I get free time. I'm open to any suggestions or comments on the story. Obviously I do not own anything from SU or TFA, they belong to their rightful creators.

4

Bumblebee had been alone again for a few solar cycles since leaving Sari by herself on a planet whose inhabitants did not seem to mind the alien presence on their world. They were still on the same rock floating in space and Bumblebee missed her already. The silence now felt restraining once again and the gem's chattering could no longer reach him, there would be no attempting to communicate with her. His decision to leave her ended any chance of them ever becoming friends, they could never come to a fully understand each other. Something Bumblebee did not realize was important to him up until this point, the sight of her watching him walk away caused his spark to twist where it hid under his plating and it took the realization of the danger he put her in just by knowing him for the mech to push himself away from the one person who he could have at his side indefinitely. His thoughts wandered as he packed up and destroyed his camp back to the gem he abandoned. What was she doing? Bumblebee wondered. Did she miss his company as much as he missed hers? The yellow mech shook his helm hoping to dislodge these thoughts, understanding that dwelling on things would not help. He could not entertain doubts, since the concept of this being the right thing to do is the only reason Bumblebee was able to leave Sari behind in the first place. If it was up to him, Bumblebee would keep her at his side for as long as she would have him.

Bumblebee sighed loudly deciding it was finally time to get moving, knowing his departure was the only thing preventing him from going back to ask Sari to leave with him hoping she would choose to leave this place with him. Stowing the few belongings he had back into his subspace and forcing himself to move, he had to leave before he took back the decision to abandon his friend.

As Bumblebee began to walk away from his camp, the mech had a feeling someone was following him. Deciding he was just being paranoid he kept moving at a steady pace until something rammed into him, jumping at him from behind knocking him over. Whatever it was spoke in a painfully familiar voice, but there were no words he understood. That was until the familiar being called him, "Bumblebee." His processor went from screaming at him to defend himself to needing to turn to look at his attacker to make sure he was not just imagining things.

Sari stood there giving the cybertronian enough room to adjust himself, while she contemplated what to say. Milan's hasty lessons bubbled in her memory but the words wouldn't form. They stared at each other in silence, neither moving toward the other as if the contact would cause the other being to disperse from existence. Bumblebee reached a hesitant servo towards the gem but withdrew it quickly, the near contact propelled Sari forwards. Her small body slammed into his, her arms wrapping around his neck hastily. "I'm going with you," Sari finally found the words to say. Bumblebee blinked in shock before wrapping his arms around her in response essentially boxing her in.

"You want to go with me?" Bumblebee questioned trying to keep his cool .

"You are my friend," Sari stated as if that was what he asked. He had no doubts they were friends or at least he considered her a friend.

"I know. Are you sure about this? If they catch us together, there might not be anything I can do to keep you safe." He allowed his concerns out so she could consider what it would mean for her if she was captured at his side.

"Not get caught then, never be found as long as we go together. Do not worry about keeping me safe," Sari argued trying to communicate with the little cybertronian she knew.

"I can't promise that. If I took you down with me… I don't know if I could forgive myself," Bumblebee responded quietly and setting Sari down on the ground feeling weird about holding her against him.

"Nothing to forgive. With you at least it is not being alone. I do not fear my own demise, had you not discovered where I was buried there might never have been woke up," Sari spoke revealing some of her intentions to him.

"I got lucky," Bumblebee responded, knowing any other gem might have viewed him as a threat and killed him for their own protection.

"Can I go with you?" Her gaze seemed hopeful and pleading, he didn't understand why but she wanted to go with him. Bumblebee couldn't argue with her, so instead he scooped her up gently and placed her on his shoulder allowing his friend to perch against his neck.

"Point me in the right direction." Bumblebee smiled, knowing it didn't matter which way they went as long as they left planet and moved onto somewhere new. She nudged him, gesturing in the direction Sari believed to be the best for them to go in.

Sari remained close to him while he walked, slowly muttering things to herself and adjusting herself only went she felt the need to or believed there was a threat ahead. Bumblebee decided he needed to make an effort to learn some of her language as he tried his best to teach her the language of Cybertron. The two of them would make it very far if they could not communicate with one another effectively. This didn't seem to be a problem before since their time together was supposed to be short-lived, if they expected to stick together sharing some of each other's language would become important.

Bumblebee and Sari spent the next few orbital cycles learning about each other while they traveled. Sari absorbed what Bumblebee tried to teach her better than he did when she attempted to teach him the language of gems, but she was patient with him. He became used to hearing his name spoken in the language of Homeworld, the mech had taken to calling her Fire Opal in Cybertronian when he needed to get her attention.

They traveled for thirty stellar cycles together, only remaining in one place for close to ten of them when they met Esperanza. The man lived on an isolated planet, where he ran a repair shop for spaceships and a chop shop on the side. Sari and Bumblebee met him when they attempted to steal one of his smaller vessels. He would have slaughtered both of them if Sari had not scolded him, yelling to the gigantic man in an attempt to defend her mech. Esperanza took a liking to the girl and decided to spare them both, seeing the gem would not stick around without the yellow robot. They made an agreement with him, the man would allow the two to have the spacecraft, once they worked for him long enough to earn it.

Even after Esperanza gave them permission to take the ship, Sari and Bumblebee decided to remain at the repair shop since the three had slowly formed a weird family dynamic. He treated the two like they were his blood, while Sari and Bumblebee regarded each other as partners would. This became a safe place for them, there were many times Esperanza forced the authorities leave by brute force alone. He decided protecting a gem defector and an Autobot fugitive was a priority, they were his crew and over the time working for him they became his family.

It was Sari, who made the decision to leave and convinced Bumblebee they needed to go. The mech seemed reluctant at first, but after Esperanza got injured trying to keep them safe, he knew their presence only put the man at risk.

After a tearful goodbye, Sari and Bumblebee loaded into their vessel and left their home behind. The two drifted in space for days in silence, both solemnly accepting the reality of their situation. Not being able to watch Bee pilot in silence anymore Sari slowly approached the mech, feeling the need to comfort him. "You know why we had to go right?" Sari muttered, standing on Bumblebee's leg to wrap her arms around his neck.

"We have a target on our head and it isn't right for us to bring Esperanza into this." He released his hold on the wheel, turning on autopilot so he could hold Sari against him. She snuggled closer to him, knowing how hard leaving Esperanza and a place they considered home was for him.

"Look how far we've come," Sari commented, "This is our ship and the two of us can go anywhere we want. We are still together after decades on the run."

"You are one of the only good things to come out of this mess." Bumblebee left Sari to take over monitoring where they were headed and if they were being tracked. Sari grabbed the wheel in shock, seeing a blip following them from a distance. He finished his energon and rejoined the gem, who tested steering the ship in different directions to see if the ship altered course with them. "What's wrong Sari?"

"We are being followed," Sari answered. She looked at Bumblebee with worry painted across her features. He slid back into the driver seat, trying to remain calm and find a way for them to escape. Sari remained close by, watching the screen as the other vessel sped up to gain on them. "What are we going to do?"

In response Bumblebee propelled the ship forwards, pushing it to go as fast as its systems would allow. He then allowed autopilot to take over, setting course for a random destination before picking up Sari and carrying her towards the stasis pod. He set her down to open the metal containment, hoping she understood.

"No, we'll be sitting ducks and this ship does not have the mechanisms necessary to wake either of us out of stasis. The two of us could be asleep for any number of stellar cycles, is it worth the risk?" Sari argued.

"I don't think there is another way. Being in stasis will hide my energy signature and with that finding us will become harder. Our ship can get us out of this if we let it, don't you trust me?" Bumblebee questioned.

"Of course I do, you know I do. I just don't like the idea of possibly never waking up again." Sari allowed Bumblebee to lift her into his arms.

"I can't say when, but we will. Even if we don't, the two of us will be together," Bumblebee pleaded with her. Sari shook her head while Bumblebee stepped into the pod with her still in his arms. She did not struggle but her reluctance showed in her eyes.

"We should fight back," Sari responded in a last ditch effort to reason with him.

"Sari, the two of us even together are not enough to fend off an attack like Esperanza could. We don't have time to argue about this and I refuse to be captured. I'm sorry and I love you," Bumblebee spoke quickly not even giving Sari a chance to respond before the stasis pod lid slid closed, forcing Bumblebee into recharge and freezing Sari in a resting position against him.

The ship continued to barrel forwards in random directions until it lost the people who were following it and then losing power after it had traveled for about an orbital cycle. Her passengers remained safe in their pod for five stellar cycles, completely unaware of the passage of time around them. The vessel drifted aimlessly, until it found a huge mass, a planet and it began to pull it into its orbit. Instead of rotating like a satellite the ship headed deeper into the atmosphere and prepared for a crash.

Sirens began to blare around the two of them as the stasis pod opened quickly, immediately after the crash. Bumblebee stumbled forwards causing Sari to cling to the mech as she had while they were in stasis. "What do you think is wrong?" Sari's timid question caught Bumblebee off guard.

"I'm not sure, we need to check on the ship." Bumblebee placed a hand over Sari before he went to the command center. He took his seat at the wheel, Sari leaving him to take her seat next to him at her station, checking all of the ships systems to see if anything is still functional.

"The ship is offline, completely drained of power and most of the systems have been damaged or broken during the crash," Sari explained as she took in the information available to her. The alarm cut off suddenly as Bumblebee stood, preparing to assess the damage. "It will take some time and the materials but we can fix this, we've dealt with worse. At least we got away from whoever was following us."

"Don't be so sure, I don't think we are alone," Bumblebee stated using the only surviving sensor to see what they were dealing with.

"There is no way we can run, the ship is grounded and lacks functionality." Sari looked up at Bumblebee, trying to keep her emotions in check. "What are we going to do?"

"There isn't a we, not this time. Stay in the ship, these are other Cybertronians and you are not getting arrested with me. Once they are gone I want you to lay low, fix the ship and take it back to Esperanza. He will welcome you back with open arms," Bumblebee answered before kneeling to wrap his arms around her. He kissed the top of her head saying a silent goodbye to his gem. When he stood Sari grabbed his hand to prevent him from leaving her, using her strength to hold him back. "Opal, this is what needs to happen it is the only way." Sari let his hand go, Bumblebee spared one final glance back at his partner before exiting the ship to be apprehended by what he assumed were Elite Guard.

"Fugitive, put your servos where I can see them," an authoritative voice commanded and the wanted criminal did as he was told. Allowing himself to be surrounded and shoved down to be put in stasis cuffs.

Bumblebee closed his optics and tried to calm his rapidly beating spark, at least Sari would be free to live her life. The guard backed off and only then did Bee see the familiar faceplates of Bulkhead, who looked shocked as he was told to lift his friend up and carry him back to their ship.

Before they could take him away Sari ran out of the crashed vessel effectively complicating things. She did not consider the consequences as she charged at Bulkhead in hope of getting Bumblebee out of there. Sari's gem glowed and a set of twin daggers appeared ready to defend her mech. "Sari, NO!" Bumblebee screamed loudly in her language.

A/N: Kind of a sucky cliffhanger but a cliffy none-the-less.