Author's Note: Seeing as I am not entirely sure I will be able to set up a consistent upload schedule with my course load (the struggles of being a Mechanical Engineering major), I will just being uploading whenever I finish a chapter. Like now. All mistakes are my own, so if you find anything particularly bad, let me know so I may fix it and update the chapter. Thank you, and enjoy.


Chapter 12

Systems coming online…

Beginning start up protocols. Standby…

Start up successful.

Rathet's optics onlined, form tensing up as he prepared for another attack. Even with Drift there now, he doubted he could survive another beating from the Decepticons. He had been stupid in forgetting to keep up with his combat training, and would likely get an earful about it from Ironhide if he survived this. He braced, calling up his weapons and preparing to lash out when a servo settled on his shoulder strut.

"Ratchet, it's me! Jolt." The voice connected to the servo took a moment to register, as did their surroundings. Once they did, Ratchet shuttered his optics briefly and let his processor catch up with everything. He onlined his optics once more time, taking in the all too familiar sight of his medbay, Jolt standing by the berth he was on with a worried expression on his faceplate. He was safe. He was back on base. He was safe.

If he let out a ragged sigh of relief, Jolt did not comment, and wisely so. "Report." Ratchet ordered his assistant, sitting up. He winced at a pain in his chest, looking down to find his chest plating removed. It was likely in for some extensive repairs. Thankfully Ratchet was not modest about his protoform. He ran a quick diagnostic program, everything else returning fine. It seemed Jolt had done a thorough repair of everything. Jolt seemed hesitant. "Now, Jolt."

Jolt sighed, nodding. "There was pretty extensive damage done to your chest plating. I had to replace quite a lot of tubing and wiring, too. Otherwise, they did not do any real damage to your internals. It would not have been the same if Drift had not shown up when he did, though." The young medic sounded very grateful that the other had stumbled upon Ratchet. As rude as the medic was to most, Jolt did enjoy his company and did not feel quite so ready to take over as CMO. "As for here… Inferno's spark extinguished the day after you left. Sam's stayed stable, but his, uh, skin is what remains of his human traits."

"You've done what you could. And a damn fine job of repairing me." Ratchet nodded his thanks, smirking internally as Jolt stood a little straighter at the praise. "Is he still unconscious?"

"Unfortunately, yeah." Jolt's posture sagged a bit once more at the admission. "He won't respond to anything I've tried. I've never experienced something like this. I have no clue how to handle it."

Ratchet expected as much, patting the mech on the shoulder strut as he came to a shaky stand. "Sometimes, these things just need time. He will come to eventually. I've known Sam for quite a while, by human terms, and have witnessed him come back from death." He made his way over to examine their topic of discussion, frowning at how much body fat the boy had lost. "I believe that his processor simply went into stasis to help him deal with his body changing as it had. As you stated, his skin is the only human part left, unfortunately-"

"Unfortunately?" Jolt cut him off. "Why unfortunately? Surely he'll be safer and more capable of taking care of himself like us. Isn't this, y'know, a good thing?"

"It most certainly is not!" Ratchet snapped quickly, his legendary temper flaring briefly. He would not wish something like this on his worst enemy, and especially not on Samuel Whitwicky. He had already had so much happen to him because of them, and to add this on to all of that… "I feel very sorry for Samuel. We have only brought suffering to him since we landed on his planet. And now we have actually taken his humanity from him. I hope that he may one day be able to forgive us."

"I don't think it will be that much of an issue, Ratchet." Jolt stated, shrugging some. He did not appear to be the least bit frightened after Ratchet snapping at him. If anyone asked him, he likely would have said he had even missed it. "I think Sam will take to this just as he took to everything else. True, he'll probably be pretty upset about it, but like you said, he won't be human anymore. But he seems to be really resilient. I think it will turn out alright." Jolt nodded as if to solidify his opinion, looking over to Ratchet who was watching him curiously.

The medic shook his head after a long moment, moving away from Sam to check one of the monitors attached to his spark. "If even half of the Autobots had that sort of outlook on things, we may have won this war a lot sooner. Or all be dead, depending on how you look at it." And with that, he set to work. He had a lot to do, especially if he wanted to get his chest plating repaired.

. . .

Sam eventually grew used to Primus' occasionally harsh tone, opting to not argue for fear of the other's wrath. He planned on being allowed to go home eventually. He had no clue how much time had passed, or why he was even being held in this in-between world. But he had long since learned that questions made his situation worse. He could play at being passive. He was good at that.

When the deity was not in an odd mood, he told Sam of the Transformers and their history. It surprised Sam, knowing all of what had happened to them as a species. They had complicated beginnings, starting out just with the Primes of old that Sam had once met. They were enslaved, though, after several of the original Primes had left them to search the stars for something greater or died. One remained, and he struggled with the same hopeless feeling Sam felt until he gained the courage to break free from the shackles and lead an uprising that saved his people. Then he faded to the background, taking a job as simply an archivist. He stepped up occasionally to advice the new Primes, but never did he take control for himself. That intrigued Sam. Surely he could have, yet he did not want it. As he people started to stagnate, Sam did not get why he would not. He could have saved them from the caste system that brought about their demise. He could have prevented the war. Sam was annoyed by this, because now a whole species was like going to go extinct.

Sam did not realize when Optimus and Megatron had come into the story at first; he had just assumed that they had both always gone by the same names. He finally remembered what Optimus has once mentioned about knowing Jazz before the war and put two and two together. Megatron was a bit easier to catch on to. He listened as their tale unfolded, latching onto every word or image he was given. He… He saw a side of both of them that he never expected to see. He saw their love start to blossom and then with a few words get crushed by anger and jealousy. He doubted either of them had even realized it before it was much too late. It made it easier for Sam to understand why Optimus would have accepted Megatron's surrender so easily. He had thought the move was stupid before. Now, though, he knew why he did it instead of killing the other. He did not quite get how deeply one cared for their sparkmate, but he knew why Optimus could not kill him.

Eventually, Sam could not fight back his own curiosity for his own situation. "Primus, why am I here?" He asked, needing to hear something that told him he was not just here because the other had gotten lonely. He prayed that he would not somehow anger the other with his question, although you never knew with Primus.

"I am keeping you here while the allspark does its work." Primus said simply, surprising Sam because he had not expected an answer so easily. "Your human body could not handle the raw energy of the allspark, so it is changing you, Samuel. That way you won't die. You went comatose when Red Alert died because of the allspark's energy overwhelming your body. Had you had better control of it, you may have been able to save him." The voice trailed off with a thoughtful hum, Sam taking a moment to process the information.

"So, it is making me one of you guys?" That seemed the only likely answer, really. He… He was not sure how it was doing it. He knew his body had been changing before, but he was still partially human. Was he going to grow like twenty feet while he was here? That would certainly be interesting.

"In a way, yes." Primus' voice left Sam with more questions, the tone carrying more to it.

"What do you mean, 'in a way'? Am I gonna grow an extra arm?" That was too interesting for Sam's liking.

"You'll see, boy."

What- Sam went to ask more, but suddenly felt his eyes snap open, body pulling in a long drag of air. His chest heaved with a few more deep breaths, optics adjusting quickly to the bright lighting above him. His body felt frail, head difficult to lift off of the softness it was resting upon. He rolled his head to the side, taking in his surroundings. His processor took a moment to catch up, still not booted up apparently.

"Look who finally decided to wake up." He knew that grumpy voice; Ratchet. Sam felt his spark rate pick up, hearing it echoed by a monitor. The medbay. He was awake. He was awake. "Oh, calm down. You were stable the whole time you were out, don't start causing trouble now. I'm sure Bumblebee would very upset to hear you woke up to find you died shortly after." There was gruff affection to that tone, though. God, how Sam had missed it. He felt a sob escape him, tears no longer coming forth. His body had changed, but he could worry about that later. He was awake.