Nemesis hated being alone. He hated the dark, hated how he couldn't see anything past the flashlight beam, hated how Divine was ignoring his requests to scan for Optimus! He hated a lot of things at the moment. And he hated the feeling of being watched. He was feeling it now, but every time he whirled around, there was no one. He heard a creak in the floor and he spun around. Seeing nothing, he turned and nearly had a spark-attack.

"OPTIMUS THE FRAG!?" He threw the flashlight at his brother, staring at him with wide, scared optics. Optimus caught the flashlight and pulled his brother close.

"Thank Primus I found you...come on. The others are worried." He tapped his comm, Arcee's voice floating through.

"Did you find him?"

"I did. Return to the second-class pool. I will arrive soon. Optimus en route."

Nemesis clung to his brother as they walked and he practically squealed when he saw Jazz. He tackled him, buried his face in the familiar mech's neck. "I was so scared I'd never see you guys again!"

Jazz patted his back. "It's fine. You're here now."

Nemesis sighed and looked over at his brother, who was obviously concerned. "Brother?"

"Before I found you, we were visited by a spirit, and I had a disturbing realization. If I ask Divine to scan for heat signatures..."

"Scanning now. Scan complete. I have found: Six hundred and eighty-nine heat signatures and counting."

"She gives me the list of the dead."

Nemesis stared at him for a long time, then snapped his mouth shut. "We need to go to the command room. There will be answers there."

Optimus nodded, and he looked at the rest of the team, who blinked up in scared ways. "Remain here. Nemesis, Prowl and I will return as fast as we can."

Prowl stood, pulling Jazz off him reluctantly. Nemesis led the them through the halls towards the helm of the ship. If Optimus turned his helm either left or right, he would see claw marks on the walls. He shuddered and wished he could make sure he was following his brother and not a demon, but Nemesis stopped cold and stared.

They had reached the helm of the ship. The command center was lit up, as expected, but seated in the captain's chair was...someone. That was unexpected. Optimus walked to the chair and he turned it around.

The body grinned up at him, a hole straight through his jaw and out his helm. A gun laid like a favorite pet in his lap. The body showed little signs of age, since Cybertronians slowly decompose, allowing the spark to be used, recycled. A not-unheard-of way to gain experience without actually gaining it. Optimus opened the body's chamber and sighed down at the spark, pale and cold. On its surface, there was a blemish. Optimus hoped it was just a smudge as he cradled the spark and he guided it to his own to be absorbed.

Nemesis and Prowl made no objections, and before Optimus could warn them of the demon standing behind them, the memories flowed into his core and Optimus was forced to watch.

Darkness. A ripple of movement, crushing and pushing. It is rare to see a birth memory, and so Optimus gathered each detail with adhesive optics. There was no one behind him, no one in front of him, and then there was light, screaming...his own screams. Cold servos cradled his body, bathed him, and laid him in a box beside two still ones. Siblings, Optimus realized with a jolt. Still-born Seekers. According to belief, if two were still-born, the third wasn't going to make it, either. That proved false, since the live sparkling turned out to be strong and healthy. Optimus had himself remember that this was a long, long time ago, long before he was even created himself. He doubted he was even conceived.

The box was sealed shut, discarded in the rain moments after birth. The sparkling was cold, weak, but he had a voice. He cried for hours, slept uneasily, then woke up sobbing. What was moments to Optimus had to be hours, and then a mech came, shuffling along, clutching himself. He heard the cries and he opened the box, cooing down at the live baby and the dead ones. He closed the box, pulled it to his chest, and turned his back. He shuffled back home instead of going to the bar, which, Optimus remembered hearing as he followed the mech, a fight had broken out in there. Primus was looking out for this mech. He wanted to know why.

The old mech set the tiny things on the table, checked the stiffening babies out, then put them back in the box. He stared lovingly down at the now warm and fed sparkling, its belly rounding out with fuel and its optics dimming. "Such a sweet little thing," he breathed, poking it and pushing it around to gaze at it from every angle. The sparkling cooed, and the mech lifted him up and laid him on his chest.

Optimus felt strange after that. The spark was fast forwarding, obviously meaning to show him something. Before him, he watched the rapid, jerky movements of the mech and the sparkling as time passed. The sparkling grew up, and the mech grew older. A pilot's helm covering sat on the table when the spark finally stopped speeding through time. The full-grown sparkling fingered the bill of the hat, sighed, and spun the pin on it. Optimus recognized the pin as a gift given to the pilot's family when they...died.

A femme walked into the room, threw her arms around him. Squeezed. "I'm sorry about your sire, Slingshot...is there anything I can do?" She was showing the beginning signs of pregnancy, and Optimus walked closer, taking a seat across from the mech.

Slingshot shook his helm. "No...all is well. I am thinking about becoming a pilot...a pilot of a cruise ship. I thought that would pay well."

Optimus' digits dug into the table. Was this Divine's captain? Was this the demon? Couldn't be...couldn't be.

And then the femme, turning away and starting to walk to the other room, made a choking sound and Optimus watched as her body aborted the baby inside her. Energon splashed down to the floor, spattered up on her legs. Her shoulders dropped and her wings lowered. She sighed and walked to the shower, her servos shaking. Slingshot mopped up the Energon.

Optimus whined. Slingshot's mate had to have miscarried before. It must have been frequent, because Optimus strained his audios and only picked up soft sobbings. There was another sound, the sound of three rapid spark pulses. The sparklings they did have were sickly, but Optimus knew they would turn out to be stronger.

As soon as he got up, the scene changed and he was watching Slingshot with his femme. His optics widened and he watched him climax, grunting and sighing as he opened her chamber and they pressed their sparks together. Sparking. He was trying to get her sparked. Anyone could spark and carry a sparkling. Anyone. Nemesis had carried a sparked sparkling around as an experiment once. He was very fond of the little blob on his spark, and was very sad when the medics reclaimed it as soon as it was born. Nemesis never saw it again.

The scene changed again, and the femme stood with her mate, their sparklings strong and healthy, as Optimus had predicted. He knew there was a time change, but he didn't see any obvious changes with the femme. She didn't cup her spark chamber, didn't reach up and rub it fondly. He assumed that the sparking didn't work (sparking was far from a guarantee).

"I'll be back," he purred. He was wearing his adopted sire's pilot hat, the pin gleaming proudly. Optimus followed the mech onto the ship. It wasn't Divine. It was her "carrier", her ancestor, her inspiration: Dawnbreak.

Optimus watched the spark fast forward again, the interior of Dawnbreak shifting to Divine. He sighed at the familiar territory, then hesitated.

The mech was leaning against the controls, letting a medic check out his spark.

"There's an unusual bulge on it. Have you and your mate ever sparked?"

"Once. It was unsucessful."

"Ah. Well, I'll run some tests, but from what I see, if it's not a sparkling, it looks very bad for you. I know you were abandoned, and that could have made your spark go through trauma, making it eggshaped instead of a ball, and that can lead to...problems."

Slingshot's optics darkened. "Death."

"Yes."

"I recommend staying off your pedes, relaxing. Don't get too stressed out. This often happens to traumatized sparklings. A few mechs and femmes even survive with eggshaped sparks, but they die soon after discovering it. They stress out. Don't stress out."

Slingshot smiled a little, nodded, and waited until the mech was gone before he returned to work, either determined not to stress out or too numb to feel. Optimus wanted to rest a servo on his shoulder to let him know it would all be okay...but he thought back to the body. Eggshaped sparks didn't detonate in the chamber, so the body would have looked like the mech was sleeping, not dead with a hole through his helm. And Optimus remembered the gun. Something else happens. He narrowed his optics.

Before his optics, Ionus Prime himself walked into the captain's chamber. "Brother."

Slingshot's helm jerked. "I am not your brother."

Ionus smiled and stroked the mech's helm. "Oh...have I intruded on some deep thought?"

"I'm dying."

"We are all dying."

Slingshot laughed softly, closed his optics and crossed his arms. "What do you want?"

"Firebomb is determined to get some excitement on this ship."

"If you had the credits to afford first class, you would have it."

Ionus laughed, deep and rich. He nudged the smaller mech and sighed. "You know I am a Prime. I'm just a figurehead so the High Council have someone to blame when things go wrong."

"True, true..." He shoved at the mech, hard, but Ionus only grinned down at him. "What do you want me to do about it?"

Ionus tapped some controls, opening a map and pointing. "A new destination."

"A sister world? Ionus, be reasonable..."

"Just for a little bit."

"It's not in my orders. I have direct orders, of which I have to follow if I want my good-paying job."

Ionus shrugged a little, then patted his helm. "Do you have to do to make it exciting. My little Lief is content, but even she can get bored."

Slingshot smiled weakly, a stretched out, worn smile he must have put on a dozen times to hide his pain. "How is little Lief? I can't believe you managed to sire a sparkling, a Seekerling!"

Optimus winced. Slingshot, he realized, needs a reason to die, needs a reason to snuff his own spark.

But before Ionus can puff up with pride, his comm chimes. "Good bye, my brother. I will see you soon. The High Council need to speak with me. Urgent stuff." He rolled his optics and he left the room.

Slingshot smiled until he left, then he sighed and sat down slowly in his chair, rubbing his chest and opening the chamber. "More and more, little spark, I'm beginning to doubt..." He reached in, poked the little bulge. "This cannot be life threatening..."

Something in his optics hardened and he got up quickly. His mind had been made. His comm bleeped and he opened the message.

"Hello, Slingshot. I am calling for the medic that saw you, Sprocket. He has news for you, said it was urgent that he spoke to you. Comm back as soon as you get this. It's really important."

He fell to his knee struts and Optimus, too, was filled with dread. It was bad...it was very bad. Slingshot made a silent wail, then his helm snapped up with an idea, and Optimus felt it as well.

He would not die alone.

Optimus stood outside of Slingshot's mate's quarters, tried to shut out the sounds as his sparklings sobbed and his mate pleaded, but they died, suffocated under pillows and arranged so they looked like they were sleeping. It was very sad.

Then Slingshot sat in his chair, laid back, looked at the gun fondly. His comm chimed, an incoming call instead of a message, and he opened it.

"Slingshot! You aren't dying!"

Slingshot froze. Tears welled his optics. "What?"

"I scanned the bulge and the results came in. It's a sparkling! A sparkling! Can you believe that? You are carrying the sparkling you tried to get your mate to ca-"

Slingshot cut the link, stared out the window, and cried out. Then, before he could rethink, he caught the attention of a passing Seeker trine, insulted them, and watched them blow up the side of Divine in revenge. Seekers are reliable in being quick, gentle with their own kind, and quick to anger.

After Divine was grounded, Slingshot moped around before taking his own life in the seat of the ship he loved.

Optimus jerked out of the memory, staring at the demon behind his brother and friend. No time had passed, and as he watched, Slingshot, for it was Slingshot, descended on Prowl. "Slingshot, do not do this!"

The mech stopped, looked up at Optimus and stared. His mouth closed and he backed away. Optimus pulled Nemesis and Prowl behind him. The mechs were like zombies due to Slingshot's presence. "Slingshot...do you remember your name now? Slingshot?"

The mech whimpered, lowering himself to his knees and, slowly, touching his chest. His optics dimmed and he curled in on himself, weeping and clawing his chest.

Optimus knelt in front of the mech, reaching out to touch, but the blackness veiling his body prevented the Matrix's pure touch to reach him, prevented Primus to find him and the other spirits trapped on Divine.

"MY SHIP," Slingshot roared suddenly and he lunged at Optimus, growling. "GET OFF MY SHIP! IT'S MINE!"

Optimus staggered back, out of reach. He watched the angry mech as he growled and paced, his optics dim with sympathy.

"It's mine...it's all mine. Everything and everyone. Mine, mine, mine..." His helm snapped up and he smiled at Optimus. "You'll be mine, too..." And he lunged at him again.

Optimus ducked, pushed Nemesis and Prowl just as Slingshot ordered Divine to shut the door, and he faced the dark mech wreathed in shadows. "You do not belong here," Optimus breathed. He hoped he could reason with him.

"My family is gone. My sparkling is gone. It's all my fault. Primus punishes me for what I do, and I will continue doing what I do." Collecting souls, making them stay on Divine to make him feel more at home, more at peace...foolproof. Except for one little thing...

"Primus loves all his creations, Dark or not, Light or not."

"LIAR!"

But this time, when Slingshot charged, Optimus grabbed his wrist, pulled him close. The Matrix hated this contact, and it was vocal. The closer the mech got, the more shadows were torn from him. Any closer, and he would be absorbed into Optimus, but the Prime pushed him back before his spark caught on that it could, in fact, absorb the spirit. When Slingshot lifted his helm, he was a ghost. Not a single shadow enveloped him. Primus' optics would turn to them any time now...

Slingshot looked down at his servos and sighed gently, backing into the controls and pressing a button. "I have to do this...give me time..."

Optimus nodded and he felt the Matrix hesitate. It had been chirping to Primus, but now it was quiet. It was just as interested as Optimus was.

A message started playing, and Optimus recognized the deep voice of Ionus. The Matrix recognized its former companion.

"Lief, this is your daddy. I'm sorry I didn't get to you on time. I hope you're safe and happy where you are, and if you're wandering the ship...tell Slingshot that I said hello..."

The message ended, but another was quickly at its heels.

"Hello, Lief...I'm back again. I, uh...your mother left me...said I wasn't a good sire...and I picked a successor. A tiny, squirmy thing...I know you wanted to pick him, but I did, thinking of you...Oh, Lief..."

And another.

"I'm no longer Prime. Zaros is Prime, and the Matrix went to him. He's Zeta Prime now, and he's already chosen his successor, little Sentinel...Lief, I'm dying. My spark is eggshaped. I faked my death, and I'm living here, in this pool...the pool you died in. I'm so sorry...I'm giving up. I can't...can't take anymore..."

Gunshot. Optimus felt cold, and he whined gently as he backed away. Slingshot gripped the controls, sighing gently.

"Do you think...do you think he's here? Ionus?"

Optimus looked around, but the Matrix was in numb horror, so it didn't chime like it would if it sensed a former Prime, but Optimus felt someone press by him. He saw Ionus take up the space beside Slingshot, rest a servo on his shoulder. Slingshot whimpered and leaned into his friend, his brother. Lief skipped in and clung to her sire's servo, and then, one by one, Primus found them and smuggled them home.

"Divine! Tell me the heat signatures!"

"Five hundred and two and dropping. Five hundred and dropping. Four hundred and twenty and dropping. Three hundred and dropping. Two hundred and six and dropping. One hundred and one and dropping. Three and dropping...I have lost all heat signatures." She was silent for a little while, confused. "Are they gone?"

"You have been cleansed of the dead, Divine." He patted her controls. "Power down."

"Sir?"

"Rest now."

She was silent, processing before acknowledging his request. She powered down, and Optimus found his friends in the pool. Arcee stood immediately.

"Prowl and Nemesis walked back with this mech, this huge, huge mech. He had to be a Prime. He said that those two had completed their tasks and that he was going back to finsih his job. Optimus, what happened in there? What were all the messages about?"

Optimus smiled and lifted his shoulders in a shrug. "I have no idea."

Nemesis groaned. "Can we get out of here now? This place gives me the creeps."

Jazz got to his pedes. "What about Divine?"

"She will sleep until we are ready to wake her again."

They left rather quickly, although the only dead left was Ionus, as he had yet to merge with the Matrix. When he did, he settled comfortably with the other memories and Optimus' breath hitched at the flow of warm, tender memories. He decided he liked being Prime.

He liked being Prime very much.