Chapter 1

Changes

…Five years…

…five winters blanketed the mountains and forests with snow and ice…

…five summers filled the warm air with the scents of wildflowers…

Looking back Songbird couldn't help but chuckle slightly to herself as she remembered the times, both the good and the bad. In the beginning everything had been challenging since she had to adapt in order to properly care for two other living creatures that were not of her own species. Even though they both needed to be cared for, Felicia had tried very hard to take care of Chloe primarily by herself. But she didn't really know what she was doing as she was also very young. Not that Songbird had any more experience at it than Felicia, but she did try and found ways to steal what was needed for little one to survive. Her first attempts to obtain food for the baby, namely milk, had come in the form of her attacking and mutilating livestock… Literally ripping the udders from cows, and then crudely butchering the rest of the meat for Felicia to eat as well. At first it seemed like a win-win situation…

However the first time she did this, she quickly learned to clean the blood off before presenting anything to either child…

Because neither of them stopped crying for the rest of that night…

She later decided that it was just easier if she hid in the woods while Felicia went into a human store and the little girl nonchalantly stole what was needed to feed the baby. They very rarely got caught and if they did Felicia was fast enough to run away and then they would simply find a different store to steal from. Even though Songbird would have preferred to stay in her own territory rather than venture so close to the human settlements... But as time went on things became easier and Chloe grew bigger every day under the gryphons' careful and watchful optics. But the name Chloe had never quite sat well with Songbird; here was a child that she was protecting and caring for… and if she was to truly care for this little one she needed to protect it from everything, including a bad name. So she picked one out that was not only pleasing but represented the little girl whom she was growing so very fond of. She named her Moonrise, for she seemed to grow under the calm silvery light of the moon. Felicia immediately loved her little sister's new name and asked her mother for a new one as well.

Mother…

That had been the first time Felicia had called her that and at first Songbird didn't know how to react… Although within seconds it brought an immense feeling of joy and happiness to her spark and from that moment on she was happy to accept the title. Although she did not give Felicia a new name right away, she would find her a more fitting name but it would take a little bit more time. As they had only been together for several months and naming a sparkling was easier than naming a youngling who was a little more grown up. But as that first winter turned to spring and little Moonrise became more and more capable of toddling around… Songbird felt better about having the two children situating themselves on her back when she went to fly rather than always carrying them in her claws. Perhaps it was an act of fate, or perhaps she really didn't really think it through, but during one of the first times that the children were holding onto her back she may have been flying a little bit too fast… and this resulted in Felicia and Moonrise losing their grip and thus were ripped off by the speeding winds. Songbird had immediately panicked but still managed to avert her course and catch her falling sparklings.

At first she felt terrible about it, how could she have done something so stupid? How could she have almost killed her precious children? But before she could give voice to these thoughts with apologies; imagine her surprise when Felicia started laughing wildly from her position within the sharp claws that had just caught her and her sister mid fall. She looked up at Songbird, eyes wide with joy and asked if it was possible that she could do that again?

It was those words that earned her a new name…

…Freefall…

Of course Songbird had far more memories than just that, but the time of looking back was short as she pulled herself out of reminiscing and then cast her blue optics over the two small forms that were curled up on sleeping mats next to the fire pit and were just now starting to rouse themselves from a night of peaceful slumber.

Over the course of five years both children had grown up quite a bit, especially Freefall. The twelve year old girl was now visibly stronger and more capable than other individuals her age. She was taller and her thin body was now hard with muscle and did not have so much as an ounce of fat, the direct result of the lifestyle she had been living these past few years. Her deep chocolate brown hair was extremely messy and unkempt, as well as drastically uneven since whenever it got too long Songbird would cut it… unfortunately she always had a very hard time making it even. Her blue eyes were striking, a deep rich ocean blue that could be seen clearly shining against her pale porcelain skin. As to be expected the clothing she wore was unconventional; she wore a sleeveless shirt that was made from animal skin while her pants were a pair of tattered jeans that she'd found somewhere and were ripped off just a little bit below the knees. She also wore a white polar bear skin cloak that covered most of her back and concealed her right arm as well as the right part of her chest. The palms of her hands were bound with a few straps of animal skin which gave her the appearance of wearing fingerless gloves and her feet were bare. One of the more interesting things she had was a brown animal skin strap that went from her right shoulder to her left hip, and attached to this strap were three razor-sharp daggers made from animal bone and right next to her was a very large heavy looking spear that had also been crafted from bones.

…it pretty much went without saying that Freefall had become quite the hunter and fighter in these last five years…

Nevertheless Freefall had managed to wake herself up quicker than her sister and after taking a second to wipe the sleep from her eyes she stood up, cracked her back and then she walked over to where Moonrise was still sleeping and gently shook the younger girl awake.

It was clear that even the five year old had a body that was also strong for her age and when standing she managed to just come up to her older sisters hip. Moonrise was a beautiful child; like her sister she had extremely pale skin and blue eyes, only unlike Freefall whose eyes resembled the deep blue of the sea Moonrise's eyes were a lighter shade of turquoise with a faint tint of sea green around the pupil. Her hair was a shining gold but just as unkempt and uneven as Freefalls was… She wore an animal skin tunic and pants, both were rather big on her but that was most likely due to the fact that these clothes were hand me downs from her sister. Around her neck glittered a handmade necklace with various sized energon crystals woven into it and her feet were also bare.

Moonrise grumbled a bit upon being woke up and even more so when Freefall smoothed down her messy hair. However her expression changed completely when she looked up at Songbird and she smiled a warm joyful smile.

"Good morning mama!" She said happily bounding over to the massive Predacon. Songbird merely chuckled and began to gently pet the small child's head with one of her talons.

"Good morning my sweetsparks, how did you both sleep?"

"Good." The girls answered in union just as Songbird stood up and began walking towards the entrance of her lair, being closely followed by her adopted daughters.

"Would you two like to join me on today's hunt or do you have plans?" She asked once the three of them stood directly outside of the cave. The mid-summer sun was already shining and a warm wind gently blew bringing with it the various scents from the surrounding forest; the smell of the trees, the flowers and the animals that called this area home. The light from the sun also exposed something that had been somewhat concealed in the cave; Songbird had what appeared to be a large satchel on her back. It was rather well made from various kinds of animal skins and hides although what it actually contained remained a mystery for the moment.

"Actually I was thinking that we could head over to the eastern woods, since all of the berries in that area should be ripe about now." Freefall explained. Of course Songbird mentally kicked herself, she should've known… the wild berries that grew on her lands were among the girl's favorite foods and since they only had a limited growing season Freefall and Moonrise didn't get to eat them as often as they would have liked. So it was to be expected that they would want to go off by themselves and forage for their desired treat.

"Alright then; if that's the case I will see you both at sunset... do either of you want anything particular for dinner?" No sooner did these words leave her mouth, Moonrise suddenly started bouncing up and down.

"Seal! Seal! Can we have seal? Please mama?!" The energetic child squeaked as she requested what was apparently her favorite food, Freefall however just rolled her eyes at her sister.

"Moony we just had fresh seal four days ago, let's have something different!"

"You want a different kind of seal?"

"No that wouldn't make a difference since seals all taste the same…"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Sweetsparks…" Songbird said firmly, deciding to interrupt before this little debate got out of hand. "I think I know of something that will please you both so don't argue. And if you are going to the eastern woods, stay together and be careful… and avoid the roads." She added that last part quickly having almost forgotten to mention it, lately there seemed to be fewer and fewer humans brave enough to trespass on her land these days. Since so many people would come back raving about some sort of monster while others wouldn't come back at all, local authorities have no choice but to deem area off-limits. It was something that Songbird was rather happy about… but still it was better to be safe than sorry.

"Don't worry about us mother; if we run into any intruders I'll just slice 'em up!" Freefall declared as she effortlessly swung that heavy spear around like a baton, a small but deadly testament as to what she was capable of doing to an opponent.

"I'm sure that you will, but remember Freefall sometimes it is better to be the shield rather than the sword. If you find yourselves in danger, remember that you need to protect your little sister." It brought Songbird a great deal of pride to know how strong her daughter was, but she was even more proud of how Freefall carefully watched over her sibling. She did not need to be reminded to do so, but as the girl's mother she felt inclined to say it anyway.

"Alright mom." Freefall muttered, like all children she didn't particularly like being reminded to do things that she already knew. Still, her expression became lighter as a thought suddenly occurred to her. "Tonight after dinner can we go falling?" The child asked hopefully. What she meant by 'falling' was their equivalent of skydiving… Where Songbird would fly them up to an incredible height and they would jump off of her back and freefall down from the heavens, always to be caught by their mother just before it was too late. This was Freefall's favorite activity above all others.

"I see no reason why not." The gryphon Predacon chuckled. "Run along then my sweetsparks, I will see you at sunset." And with that Freefall took a hold of Moonrise's hand before they both started to head off into the woods.

"See you at sunset!" Freefall responded momentarily taking her attention off of her little sister.

"Bye-bye mommy!" Moonrise also called back to her mother… before seeing an opportunity and escaping from her older sister's grasp and running as fast as she could to the forest, closely followed by Freefall was now yelling something along the lines of: 'Wait! Get back here you little imp!' Songbird just laughed and shook her head as she began to spread her wings and prepared to take flight… when all of a sudden a thought occurred to her and rather than flying off, she reached up and pulled something out of her bag. Curiously the item that she had taken out was what appeared to be a large deck of cards that were made of metal… It was something that she had obviously made herself. Something that she had apparently invested quite a bit of time and effort to make, since each of the cards were proportionate to her size and were also very intricately detailed. But what these cards really were was something that most would find particularly odd…

It was a deck of Tarot cards…

Songbird was not entirely blind to human's technology, nor was she oblivious to the world that existed outside of her domain. She had found a way to tap into the internet which made finding and gathering information easy and she had grown rather fond of reading through the humans archives… She loved to tell her children stories that she'd come across. The happier children's tales such as Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella for Moonrise, while Freefall held a preference for more exciting stories… some of her favorites being about the gladiators who had fought bravely in the Roman Coliseum. But Songbird herself held the stories of Camelot, Merlin and King Arthur's Court particularly close to her spark and she grew curious about the human's concepts of magic and divination. Enough to spend several weeks crafting this very deck of tarot cards. She already placed a great deal of belief in fate… for her own had been changed right when she had been at the very brink of death. And over the years she had become rather skilled at reading these cards.

At the moment Songbird was merely curious about how this day was might go. No matter how much talent one had for fortune telling, it was far from being an exact science. Personally, Songbird found that the past was easy to read and she was rarely wrong since the events that happened were permanently woven into times eternal tapestry and could not be rewritten, the present was always at a crossroads and could be obscured and tricky to decipher unless the card readers eye was well trained, but the future was eternally veiled in mist and could never be truly read… but it was not impossible to see the shadows of what may yet come. The future that could be made or unmade depending on the choices of the present… So Songbird drew a card, seeking to see the shadows of the future that loomed over this day.

The card she drew was The Tower, which was an ominous symbol at best. It represented that bad things would be likely to occur, accompanied by conflict and the disruption of life… Ultimately it was a symbol that change was on the horizon.

While it was definitely not what Songbird had been hoping to see… it didn't really make her too nervous, since her adopted children were the proof that not all change was unwanted. Although she couldn't help but think that maybe she should not take too long on her hunt today… just in case… So with that she put her cards away then spread her massive wings and took to the air without giving anything another thought.

…little did Songbird know that the changes that were about to occur would complete turn her world upside down…

A lot of changes had happened at the Autobot base in these last five years as well…

Some were good, some were bad… or at least that's how it was in Miko's opinion anyway. The energetic teenager had grown up to now be an energetic twenty year old. And while other things may have changed Miko was proud to declare that she hadn't changed at all… with the only exception being that she was now taller and her hair was somewhat longer... but other than that she was still the same person she always had been, after all she had always been proud of the person she was… Even if she was still yet to learn how to think things through…

The kids were now attending colleges, even Raf who managed to skip a few grades and graduate early. Unsurprisingly he had also obtained a full scholarship and was currently studying to be a scientist. Miko had absolutely no doubt in her mind that he would succeed because that was just the kind of person he was... Jack was also at college albeit for something completely different. The eldest boy was currently enrolled in various mechanics courses and he was also taking a few nursing classes on the side, undoubtedly due to his mother's persuasion. It will be noted that at this point Agent Fowler had married June Darby and become Jack's stepfather... at this point the two got along reasonably well all things considered. And as for Miko she was the only one who was a bit more undecided in where she was going in life. Currently she was taking basic college classes as well as several courses on photography, those being more keyed towards her interests. But other than that she was probably having the hardest time deciding what she really wanted to do. Especially considering she would rather spend all of her time at the Autobot base with Bulkhead, Wheeljack and the newest members of Team Prime.

A pair of sparklings…

Well actually at this point they weren't sparklings anymore. Four years ago during a rather routine mission to check on a supposed energon source, naturally one thing led to another and the kids had gotten separated from their Autobot partners and come across a horrifying sight. Tied together and left all by themselves were a pair of sparklings just slightly older than newborns. Hell, they were only a little bit bigger than Raf at the time… The two had been tightly bound and each had one of their legs broken, no doubt prevent them from escaping. But by far the worst part of this whole thing was that the two were strapped to a bomb; a big one at that. Miko and Jack had been the first ones to react, darting forward in seeing if there was any way to free the injured sparklings while Raf examined the device that they were strapped to… He quickly determined that the bomb was set to respond to some type of signal; and taking a shot in the dark he guessed that the signal would be if an Autobot got into the proximity of the device… Which was undoubtedly something nasty that had been cooked up by Shockwave; but it had been a brilliant play if one was to think about it… the two sparklings were wailing miserably in a mix of agony and fear, their cries would have undoubtedly attracted any Autobots that had been nearby and when they went to investigate… Boom!

But leave it to the Decepticons to overlook the human members of Team Prime, as Raf managed to deactivate the bomb thus allowing the sparklings to be safely extracted from the area. It was Optimus's idea to then detonate the said bomb, in order to fool the Decpticons into thinking that the sparklings were dead… Which was easy enough to do and afterwards once the sparklings legs were repaired by Ratchet, it left Team Prime with two tiny new members. Two siblings, a femme and a mech.

And they were loved.

They named the mech Tripwire, or more appropriately Bulkhead named him Tripwire. Even at his young age it was somewhat obvious that he was going to be a large and powerful mech when he fully matured. His color scheme was primarily a deep ruby red while his secondary color was a rich silver. His face was white and as helm was a slightly darker shade of red than the rest of his body and had three prominent spikes on it, one in the center and two on the sides, the two on the sides being bigger and sweeping back over his head. His large optics were primarily black but were held shining gold orbs within them… Personality wise Tripwire was a little spitfire! He was energetic and fun-loving although he had his times were he could be really rather shy. Right from the moment he was found, Bulkhead and Wheeljack had taken a particular shine to him and it was those two (Along with Miko) who had primarily raised him. This may have not been so good in some cases since he may have picked up from Miko a habit of not thinking things through and the two Wrecker's habits of breaking things…

The femme was an entirely different story; she was named Paradox and unlike her brother she was quieter and more secretive. Her primary color was a beautiful shade of sapphire and her secondary color was a stunning white. Much like her brother she had three horns upon her helm only in this case it was reversed, with her center horn being larger than the two on the sides and they were also much sharper than her brothers and her optics were also a deep solid gold. As the case was with most femme's it appeared that she was naturally going to be smaller, but her rate of growth suggested that she may very well be taller than Arcee when she was fully grown. When she was younger she lived up to her name, since she seemed to be very clingy and yet in spite of this she didn't seem to want to be held by any of the Autobots! No one quite knew what was going on with her until Ratchet theorized that she wanted to be held by a particular someone… more than likely one of her real parents. She must've bonded with them more so than her sibling and thus as much as a sparkling could reason, she only wanted to be held by that individual. Quite a sparkbreaking situation since it was an accepted fact that whoever her Carrier and Sire were they had more than likely been killed by the Cons… Although as time passed, Paradox seemed to bond a bit more to Ratchet and started helping him out in the med bay; she even slept in there rather than with Tripwire in their designated room.

Although it was still hilarious the first time she called Ratchet grandpa…

Other than that both sparklings grew quite close to Bumblebee and Smokescreen and naturally Optimus. Arcee and Paradox had a strong sister like relationship, while Tripwire tended to regularly get into some trouble with Smokescreen, usually as the older mech's little accomplice… However both sparklings did NOT like Ultra Magnus. No surprise there really, since Magnus's personality was a big put off to children no matter what the race. Of course Tripwire was obviously influenced more so by Wheeljack's obvious dislike of Magnus as well.

Putting all of that aside Miko refocused her attention to the situation at hand, namely watching Tripwire wrestle with Wheeljack just outside of the Autobot base. At this point in time both sparklings were more the equivalent of ten year olds. Height wise the two were around the same height currently coming up to Arcee's waist and it shouldn't have surprised anyone, but they liked to play… all the time.

"You're going to be one strong Wrecker someday Tripwire." Wheeljack chuckled as he took another playful punch to the chassis from the young mech, noting how strong it actually was, not enough to cause injury but still in a few years this kid was gonna be a force to be reckoned with!

"You really think so?" Tripwire asked, his large optics shining brightly as latched onto Wheeljack's neck as the older mech stood up, letting him dangle for moment before picking him up.

"It's obvious Trip! You're gonna be one of the strongest bots ever!" Miko injected, taking particular pleasure in watching how Tripwire's face just lit up with joy from the complement… Damn… her baby bot was growing up too quickly… Of course Tripwire's smile faded somewhat when he took notice of Ultra Magnus approaching this little scene.

"I've been looking for you Wheeljack." The ever uptight mech grumbled coldly, he was even more irritable than usual since his hand had been destroyed by Predaking only three months ago and he was still not allowed to go on missions. Not to mention that he had never once understood what was so entertaining about playing with a sparkling. "Optimus wants everyone inside for a meeting… Now."

Tripwire and Wheeljack responded to Magnus by both sticking their tongues out at him…

Wheeljack had to make a conscious effort to do something other than swear at his commanding officer ever since Tripwire called Magnus a fragger to his face…

Miko burst out laughing at the surprised and irritated look on Magnus his face and watched as he stormed back into the base angrily muttering something about a lack of respect under his breath. Nevertheless she and Wheeljack walked inside where he put down Tripwire and they walked over to where the rest of the Team Prime was already assembled with the exception of Smokescreen who had been injured in their last confrontation with the cons and was currently recharging in the med bay, and Jack, who had classes today and thus Arcee wasn't there since she was still his primary means of transportation. Miko could see that Raf was busy typing something into his laptop and talking to Optimus, Bumblebee and Bulkhead about something that was currently displayed on the large screen in the center of the room. From what she could see it was an aerial view of... Alaska?

"What's up?" Miko chirped as she walked over to Bulkhead, more than ready to get this party started.

"Our scans have just picked up a high energon concentration coming from this area here." Optimus explained gesturing to a particular point on the screen. "Judging by the readings, it's a pretty rich vein."

"Definitely something we don't want the Cons to get their hands on." She chuckled rubbing her hands together and getting that all-too-familiar glint in her eye. "So when do we head out?"

"Soon… we were just gathering some information on the area we're heading to. Since it seems to be a pretty isolated area." Bulkhead explained as he reached down and carefully picked up Miko.

"Not to mention that were not the only ones who are doing the scans, I'd bet that the Cons are probably noticing these readings as well." Raf muttered more to himself than anyone else. But then he looked up at Optimus, his eyes serious and somewhat worried. "You should know that this area has a really bad reputation, apparently a lot of people have gone missing around there."

"Meh, don't worry about it Raf, we can handle whatever is thrown our way." Miko interrupted, trying to be reassuring but only earning an agitated glare from the far more cautious boy.

"It never hurts to know what you're getting yourself into." He explained.

"Are you heading to up to Alaska?" The voice of Paradox drew everyone's attention over to the small femme no one had noticed enter the room and currently stood quietly next to Ratchet. "Can I come?"

"Yeah me too! I want to come and beat up some Decepticons!" Tripwire exclaimed as he suddenly ran over and looked up at Bulkhead expectedly.

"Sorry, not today." Bulkhead said as he reached down with his free hand and patted Tripwire's head. "You're too young to be fighting the Cons." It was sad to see the enthusiasm leave the youngling's face, but still it was for his own good. Paradox on the other hand just sighed and shook her head.

"I didn't actually want to fight. I just wanted to see the northern lights… you know the Aurora Borealis?" She explained calmly looking up at all the present adults.

"Maybe after the mission. Once everything is safe; I'll take you there myself." Ratchet said with a smile as he placed a hand on the young femme's shoulder. It was undeniable, the old medic had become very fond of Paradox and had even grown to not mind it when she called him grandpa.

"That would be lovely." Paradox said with a quick nod before walking over to her brother and grabbing him by his arm and dragging him off somewhere to play and also prevent him from trying to sneak through the ground bridge which he had a habit of doing.

"Can we go now?" Miko practically begged at this point, as she was completely starved for an adventure. Ten page history paper due in three days be damned, she was going to fight Decepticons and find energon in Alaska!

Sure enough Ratchet then began setting the basic coordinates for the ground bridge and Bulkhead carefully put down Miko and transformed; but just as Miko was about to climb in she paused and turned her attention towards Raf who was just about to get into Bumblebee.

"Hey Raf, does this place were going have a name?"

The seventeen year old paused and turned to look at Miko before adjusting his glasses slightly. "Actually yeah… A lot of the people who've gone into the area and actually made it back tell stories that there's some kind of hideous winged creature living in the woods that kills anything that trespasses."

"No need to give me a lesson in folklore, I have a big enough history research paper due in a few days… So just spill what do people call it?"

"First off history and folklore aren't exactly the same topic. As for what the locals call the area… well…"

"Well?" Miko pressed.

"They call it The Gryphon's Keep..."

Alright that's it for this chapter! I really hope that I'm keeping everybody in character and not making anyone to OOC… As always please remember to Read and Review!