Chapter Fifteen – You Again

Darren's Point of View

I sat in the corner of a cold metal cell, trapped behind pure steel bars, the drafty air slipping through and making my body shiver with so many chills. I pressed my knees against my chest, my blonde hair falling over my tear filled eyes as I shut them tightly. Tears fell from under my eyelids, wetting my cheeks. I wrapped my arms around my knees, looking around the cell. I shuddered in a groan.

"Where am I…?"

There was barely any light in the jail I had been thrown in. Dark lights, no windows, and absolutely no ventilation. The air I took into my lungs sometimes was hard to exhale, even painful at times. It was completely silent. I could only hear my own fearful breathing, and my pounding heart. This was like Hell at its finest.

My backpack was taken, so I had no way to contact anyone. I opened my eyes with a sniffle. I wasn't getting out anytime sooner.

I buried my head in my arms, hopeless, vulnerable, miserable… I dropped my gaze and shut my eyes again. I thought of Bumblebee, my sweet guardian angel…Where was he?

I clenched my hands into fists. I prayed that he was coming after me. Oh, God, I hoped he was. I would die here if he didn't. That monster would come back…

Crying, I slid onto my stomach, lying against the cold metal with my head in my arms.

Picture yourself in a nightmarish scene of such grotesque complexity that you'd kill to be dreaming…
Your body's been dying, while your mind has been trying to make you picture a life where you'd kill for your lover and a song in your head.

The deaths of countless others simply set up the lyrics for your symphony.
That's where you'll find me…

I shook as I jolted in a sob. I wanted to be in his arms again…Against that warm body and cradled in his sheltering arms. I wanted to put my ear to his chest and listen to his heart beating, steady and solid…letting me know he was still there.

Now, place your ear to my lips.
Trace these notes with your fingertips.
They dance alone on my last breath.
This is the end. This is death.

Bumblebee's mouth whispering in my ear, his breath against my neck. I just wanted to feel him, living, breathing, and I wanted to see him alive. I'd kill just to see him again…Before I was killed by that monster.

The lines I wear around my wrist are there to prove that I exist.
Someone call an ambulance, because something's not right.

The smell of her perfume struggles to cover everything…

I suddenly sat straight as I heard the huge thuds of that giant beast coming down the hall. I heard a metallic shing, death to my ears. It growled out at me, threatening.

I scrambled into a corner and hugged my knees tight. It kept coming, one foot, then another. Freakishly steady.

"N-No, please," I groaned. "Don't come back."

Footsteps drew closer.

I screamed, clawing at my tattering jeans, digging my head into my knees to shield my eyes. My heart thudded madly. I was living a nightmare.

"NO!!" I cried out. I heard the monster appear before my cell and undo the locks one by one, laughing at my fear. I whimpered and pressed into the corner, screaming louder. "N-NO! Please! Don't!!"

It thudded into the large cell, aiming its mace at me. The spikes shined in the dim light.

I shut my eyes tighter.

"God, no!!"

I screamed a blood curdling cry as I felt a spike dig into my side, stabbing deep into my organs. I fell on a side, feeling blood ooze from my wound, soaking my shirt. I groaned in many sobs, clutching the blood injury with both hands. I screamed again, my own voice unrecognizable to my ears. I felt my mind slipping away. I drifted, my breaths slowing with each second. I coughed up blood onto my shirt, falling to my stomach. The monster laughed at me, kicking me onto my back. I shook uncontrollably.

I felt a warm trickle in my stomach and started sobbing. My side throbbed, and the organs the spike had penetrated stung like a mother.

"B-Bumblebee," the final word I uttered before slipping unconscious. The beast's evil chuckles were the last thing I heard, along with his fading footsteps. I laid there on the cold metal, letting blood stain my palms. I tried to see myself in Bumblebee's arms, tried to see him smiling face.

But, what good was it? It was only a picture in my head.

//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\

Bumblebee's Point of View

I didn't care that it was pitch black outside, at the beginning of the late evening. I stepped one foot out of the Adonis III, not caring that it was against my commander's orders. I had to save someone dear to my spark, and there was no way in the Pit that I was putting him on hold.

I let the entranceway double doors slide shut with a firm hiss and thud against each other. Donning a serious faceplate, I cocked my arm back once to unleash my arm cannon, letting it pulse to life with a satisfying hum. I smiled at it, brushing it clean with my other hand. Nodding, I cocked my arm back again, letting out my shoulder cannons. I looked to each one, making sure they looked intact, then replaced them between my shoulder blades.

"You'll pay for this, Barricade," I said lowly. I flexed my fingers, then balled my hands into fists. Smiling almost evilly, I chuckled. "…Pay for this all."

Taking a big step forward, I leaned down into my Camaro 2009 form. I let my engine rev before driving away from the base, following a road. The roads were practically empty, as it was very late in the night. Humans were tucked away in their homes.

I swerved a smooth right and nearly floored the gas, listening to my engine purr in a jolt of speed. I made it growl, going even more over the speed limit.

Darren, don't worry. I'm coming for you, my precious one.

I came to a near halt as I felt an awkward feeling in my spark, causing my engine to sputter. A small surge came to life inside me, like a second pulse for only the shortest moment. I turned off the main road and to the highway, following the little beat. It weakened and I sped quicker.

"N-No, don't go," I breathed to no one.

I darted past a car, following the pulsation like a hungry lion. It grew as I neared in every second. I lifted the gas pedal and turned sharply. It faded again.

"No…"

Gaining speed, I followed the faint pulse my spark felt inside its own. It led me to a deserted road, buildings crumpling, streets old, and infrastructure deteriorating. Looking around, I saw homeless humans lingering in alleyways, and stray Earth creatures chasing one another, darting in front of me. Luckily, I swerved in time, but barely. I had to follow that little pulse.

Follow my spark.

I didn't know why I was following it, but something felt right.

I slowed under a long-standing bridge and I felt the pulse strengthen in me. It "hovered," not weakening or strengthening as it sat there. I transformed into a robot and waited a little. I looked around, searching for anything, but saw nothing.

"What could it be?" I asked myself.

It moved and I followed, ducking under the bridge. It led me to a narrow passageway, like a thin tunnel, dark and strange. I struggled to squeeze through the passage and track the pulse, my armor plates scraping shrilly against concrete walls. I came to a dead end and froze.

It lead me to a dead end? For what?

The pulse "hovered" again, sitting beside my spark's own. I blinked, confused.

"What do I do?" I seemed to ask it. Of course, I didn't get an answer, but another surge inside my chest, coming from the wall in front of me. I narrowed my optics.

"What…?" I said, becoming frustrated. "What could be…"

I let my hand slide down the cool concrete wall, and I feeling nothing, I shook my head.

"There's nothing…"

I stopped. Between my palm and the wall, I felt a rush. Not a rush exactly, but a force. The ones you created when you put the same ends of a magnet close to each other. That unbreakable barrier you could only push against. The second pulse fluttered and strengthened inside me as I pushed my palm towards the wall. I blinked, mystified.

"What is this?"

As if answering me somehow, the barrier moved down and my palm followed on its own until it reached a corner of the wall. I stared, then widened my optics as I heard a sound. Lifting my antennae, I pressed a receptor against the concrete. I heard groans and whimpers.

"What in Primus' name…?"

I stared at the wall again, blinking many times. I tapped it with my finger.

Silence. The sounds stopped.

"What the…H-Hello?" I called.

Nothing.

I sounded ridiculous. No one was there…

Anyways, I tried again, tapping my finger several times. "Hello? Is someone there?"

//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\

Darren's Point of View

I fluttered open my eyes at that voice, lifting my head from the cool metal ground, listening to dead silence.

I didn't hear anything. That was crazy. I was locked in a cell, all by myself. Who could be here?

"H-Hello? Is someone there?"

My eyes widened and I sat straight, one hand staying on my bloody side. I knew that voice, that accent, that always-smooth tone it had.

Bumblebee.

I scrambled to the wall and sat both of my hands against the metal, my eyes searching frantically for his face, his eyes, anything. My fingers brushed over the metal, tears stinging my eyes and blurring my vision. My chin trembled as I looked for him, lost.

"B-Bumblebee?" I uttered softly, my voice bouncing of the wall and back at me.

I was hearing things. Hallucinating because I missed him so much.

But, no. I heard metal fingers scrape against the opposite side of the wall, and a familiar click, then a purr. I smiled.

"Bee…"

"Darren," I heard him breathe. "Thank Primus. Y-You're alive." His voice was shaking. I was sure he was on the verge crying.

"H-How did you find me?" I asked in barely a whisper. I had to keep quiet. I didn't want that monster to come back and hurt me.

He chuckled at me. "Simple, Darren. I followed my spark."

I chuckled at him. "Y-Yeah, but…How did that help you find me?"

He thought for a few seconds. "It must be something we have between each other…"

I raised an eyebrow. "What…?"

"A bond, of some sort, Darren. Between our hearts…or spark in my case."

A bond…

I shook my head. "How is that even possible? We're two different creatures."

He laughed. "Anything's possible, you know."

I laughed shortly at his witty reply. I started to say something, but he beat me to it.

"I'm getting you out of there, Darren," his voice was firm now.

"How? You can't go to the front door and expect open arms."

"I'll figure out something." He sounded determinated.

I hesitated. "Bee, that monster will come back and h-hurt you again…"

"…Let 'im."

"I don't want you t-to…t-to die, Bee." Tears stung my eyes again.

He didn't answer for a long moment.

He cooed, "I'm willing to give my life for you…"

I didn't know what to say.

"Bumblebee, you can't do that. I'm not worthy of that kind of…"

"Darren, you are. You are worthy of my life's sacrifice," he cut me off strongly. "I love you. I'm not letting anyone hurt you anymore. These Decepticons will be destroyed, and you won't hurt any longer. I promise you, my friend. No more pain."

No more pain…

I fell on my knees, sobbing, my body trembling. I couldn't let my friend risk his life for me, some average, ordinary teenaged kid. I'm no one special.

But, he told me he loved me. And no one else had told me that before.

"Just promise me you'll be careful," my muffled words came out.

I heard his fingers stroke the opposite side of the wall.

"Anything for you, Darren."