Sorry it took so long guys :) It's the longest chapter I've ever put out, if that helps ;)

"Then I painted his aft pink. Just his aft, but believe me, he had a huge aft. Nobody told him for orns, and he took himself so seriously the whole time!" Skywarp chuckled. Apparently he was quite the trickster, and he had plenty of stories about the things he had done for fun. He'd been chatting away for hours, while I was only just able to keep from slipping into recharge.

He seemed so happy, happier than I'd ever seen him. His deep voice carried with it a feeling of contentment I'd never sensed from him before, and he laughed and smiled, especially when I laughed too. He had no problem cracking up at his own jokes, though, and he seemed to know I was listening even though I was sometimes too tired to respond.

I checked my internal clock and read that it was past eight in the morning. The sun had risen hours ago and Starscream would be wondering what had happened to his brother, especially since their connection had once again been severed. This made me wonder where Skywarp and I would actually go once we were released from the brig.

"Skywarp?" My vocal processors ground together as I said his name. They didn't want to cooperate so I shook myself awake, sitting up. "What are we going to do? Starscream wanted you to come with him, but…"

His happy smile faded a little. "But he doesn't seem to have a very good attitude about you. I don't know, I hadn't thought about it much. You said you wanted to stay on the planet, even though it would be safer to leave."

I nodded, wishing I could go and sit with the Raptor instead of trying and failing to get a good look at him through our glowing bars.

"Some place without many people. It needs a take-off area, nice and clear, with a good view. Maybe with a hill or cliff, so we can dig out a shelter into it."

I didn't really want to leave the continent, even though Skywarp's skills made distance sort of inconsequential. If he ever had to leave me for a long time at least I could make a road trip back to the Autobot base until he could come back. I might not be willing to admit it to anybot, but I knew I wasn't quite able to fend for myself.

"Maybe Mexico? Or Canada?"

"The northernmost and southernmost countries on this continent…? Most of Canada would get cold often, which is unpleasant at best, deadly at its worst for a femme like you without any survival training. Mexico would be a better choice." If Skywarp realized I was keeping a backup plan it didn't seem to bother him.

"Whatever you think," I said with a shrug. There was a slight chance I could get out of the base without seeing Hotrod again if we made as little fuss as possible. He hadn't visited me in the brig, which either meant he hadn't returned yet or he knew I'd chosen the Seeker and preferred to take the high road, bowing out gracefully.

You don't really believe Hotrod will take this sitting down, do you? He's not like Mirage.

No, he wasn't a bit like Mirage. He'd probably go crazy and either try to hurt the Seeker or me, depending on how just how crazy he went. I'd seen that look in his optic when he'd gotten so mad he'd nearly hit me. The best choice was to try to get out before Hotrod came back.

"I think," he began with a deliberate air, "I might… really agree to the treaty. Not just lie about it."

I tried to hide how pleased I really was, but I nodded in approval. Skywarp watched me rise to my feet, and I smiled reassuringly. "How do you get somebody to come down here to talk?"

He looked at me oddly, then shrugged. "Once they came down after I tried breaking through the bars a few dozen times. Other than that, they come to bring down energon once a day around noon."

I sighed. I didn't completely understand my own anxiety, but I desperately wanted out of that base before Hotrod knew what was going on.

"How much does it hurt, getting shocked?" My fingers hovered inches from the dispassionate glow of my prison.

The Seeker glared at me. "Don't you dare. It's like getting all of your circuits hooked into a chainsaw. It goes away as soon as you let go, but it still hurts like the Pit."

"You said you did it dozens of times," I said thoughtfully, crossing my arms.

"That's different!" He argued. "I'm bigger, older. My systems can take pain better than yours. You're barely past being a youngling. I'm a warrior, I hurt for a living."

I smiled. "You're not fighting for a living anymore, right? We're living for a living."

His anger faded away and he gave me that look, the one that told me he wasn't the same mech he'd been when he'd first met me.

"What changed?" Still standing, I leaned against the wall and hugged myself.

"What do you mean, what changed?" He rolled his head and flexed his shoulders, creaking stiffly. His wings prevented him from leaning sideways against the wall, so he had to turn his head to look at me.

"When we first met you acted differently. You threatened to break my neck, if I remember right," I chuckled. "Surely it's not just my big makeover…" Tapping my chin thoughtfully, I realized he'd changed long before that. My room in the base, his unquestioning willingness to do what I asked… "It wasn't until you brought me to your base when I realized I'd had the wrong idea about you."

"What did you think of me before?"

"That you… were angry. Proud. I was your first conquest on the planet, and it gave you a feel for being a leader. I thought you were happy Starscream was nowhere to be found, so that you could take his place with the other new arrivals. I thought I was a symbol and a pet, and you only wanted me so you'd look like a badass…"

His vents hissed softly, but he only shook his head slightly. "You know now that isn't true."

"I know."

He smiled, and the face that would've inspired confused gratitude and fear just a few weeks ago filled my spark with satisfaction now. Skywarp had made my life better, and I'd done the same for him.

"You reminded me of Frequency so much that night."

"Frequency?"

He smiled. His optics were on mine, but he was looking through me into the past. "The femme I told you about. She worked on a mining colony on a small moon. You had to be pretty big to be able to hand most of the work, bigger than the average mech. She was big too, but still the smallest bot on that rock, and there were only a handful of other femmes along with three- or four-dozen mechs. She put up with a lot, working there, and more than once she scrapped the mechs who thought they could bully her into their berths. If I tried to help her she'd give me that look. Your face that night reminded me so much of hers, grim and defiant and confident in the heat of the moment. I didn't know anything about humans then, but it was so clear."

I hugged myself a little tighter. Was I just a replacement trying to fill the space an old femme had left in his life?

Skywarp must've seen it in my optics. "You're different from her too, you know. She didn't make friends easily, and she usually had to hide after the fights so nobody would see her shaking. She wouldn't let anyone help her, not even the other femmes, and she hated when anyone beat her at anything. She hated me for a little while, because I was faster than her… But we always found each other in the strangest places, and one day…"

He trailed off, turning his head and gazing into the far wall. I didn't really want to know; jealousy might ruin the rest of our indefinite time in the brig.

We fell into silence for a while. I was quiet because I was uncomfortable, and he was presumably busy combing his memories. I'd decided to follow suit and open a few of my forgotten human memory files when the brig door opened and two pairs of metal feet clanked into the brig.

I leaned close to the bars and could just see the red and blue flames of Optimus Prime, and probably Prowl behind him. Prowl stayed by the door, but Optimus came down the aisle and stopped when he came abreast of our cells. He nodded perfunctorily to Skywarp, who looked as if he wanted to give one of his boulder-growls, then turned to me.

"Care to explain why you threatened to expose this operation?" There was little emotion in his voice and I wilted under the unusually cold optics.

Straightening up, I spoke without thinking. "I wasn't really going to tell them anything, Optimus… I just wanted to make a point." My voice didn't seem to want to raise itself above a whisper.

"That point being…?" One of his eyebrow ridges rose suspiciously.

"That I… that he… It was a jerk move, putting him back in the brig!" I finally snapped. I knew I didn't really have a coherent point (other than proving my loyalty to the Decepticon) to make by being put into the brig, but that didn't mean I couldn't at least try to defend myself.

"Your judgment has been clouded, Bravura. My CMO thinks he may have missed some of the virus you caught, which would explain the erratic behavior. Before you leave this cell Ratchet wants a full diagnostic."

I sighed. "I'm not sick. I'm bored. I had cabin fever when I ran away, and I felt sorry for my friend when I made that threat. Skywarp's earned his freedom. He saved me, brought me back in one piece, and then he walked through your base without hurting anyone. He hasn't given away your location, and you still turned on him!"

"It will take more than a handful of good deeds on your behalf to gain our perfect trust, Bravura. You know he's responsible for the deaths of hundreds of civilians, mostly femmes, and probably thousands of warriors?"

I nodded uncomfortably. I'd known he'd killed before… Hundreds? Thousands? "He's different now."

"They're called Decepticons for a reason."

"His name is Skywarp! He's not just the bad guy!"

"That's why we're giving him the option of accepting the non-aggression treaty. We may not trust him completely, but compared to his brother he's a only a low-level threat."

I didn't buy that for a second. "How so?" The Seeker had seemed pretty threatening when he clashed with Starscream.

"He doesn't take much… initiative."

Skywarp cleared his vocal processors uncomfortably. "I'm right here, you know."

Optimus turned sideways with a sigh, but his optics stayed on me. "You will promise me you won't threaten my men or this base's safety again?"

"If you keep your end of Skywarp's bargain, yes. I'll promise I won't give you away."

"He has to agree to-"

"So," Skywarp interrupted, "if I swear not to step on anyone or shoot anybody, we both go free?"

Optimus nodded. "Yes, but you'll also be expected to-"

"As in, right now, if we're both good, we can just walk right out of here?" Skywarp chuckled as I followed his lead and cut off the Autobot myself.

The tall Semi rubbed the bridge of his oddly shaped nose and nodded. "Meet the conditions, and yes."

"Ok, then I promise I won't endanger this base or your people again as long as Skywarp isn't locked up," I folded my arms, amazed that the famous leader had let us bowl over him like that. Maybe he was just as eager to mend things as I was? Then again, maybe he was just sick of having peaceful POWs in his brig. According to Hotrod he was known for claiming "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings."

"And I consent to all of the terms of your non-aggression treaty, so long as your soldiers do the same," Skywarp said slowly. It sounded painful to him. "I reserve the right to defend myself and my companion against Autobot and human military forces should the need arise."

"Stick to the terms and that won't be necessary," Optimus said agreeably.

`My spark leapt in its casing. We were going free! You've only been locked up a few hours, my LP nudged.

Optimus turned back to me. "I'm still going to have Ratchet take one last look at you. Even if nothing is wrong, if you're leaving our protection you'll need all the help you can get."

I was only partly listening, watching the Decepticon in the opposite cell. My expression felt like it matched his, breathless and elated and hopeful.

The next hour or so passed in a whirlwind. Ratchet came down, entered my cell, and did another systems check. I was clean.

"You must have some cross-wiring," he'd said gruffly. "I can't imagine a properly wired bot doing the things you've done in the past twelve hours."

After electronically storing our verbal compliance to Optimus's terms Prowl allowed the cell bars to power down and we were freed.

The first thing Skywarp did was snatch me up and hold me to his chest, high enough so that I could actually see his face. I used the plating on his stomach to lever myself higher and wrapped my arms around his neck, laughing.

The Seeker laughed with me, then his expression turned more serious and he gently disengaged my arms, then lifted me to his shoulder as he'd done before in South Lake Tahoe. I still felt awkward up there, but his wing stuck up low behind me and I didn't feel in danger of falling off. Another plus: I was able to look down at Optimus for a change. I could've reached up and touched the ceiling if I stretched.

"No tricks?" My Raptor asked skeptically. "That's it?"

The tall Semi nodded. "As strange as the circumstances surrounding you two have been… I'm happy to see at least one Decepticon find a reason to leave the war behind."

Skywarp set me down to climb the stairs the main level of the baseon my own power. As I stepped out into hallways I'd come to see as a pale version of home I was swept off my feet and spun around. I didn't have to look to know that it was Mirage; for once he wasn't masking his signatures.

"You!" Skywarp growled.

Everyone froze for an agonizingly tense moment, but the Seeker remained where he was, so Mirage slowly knelt to the ground, setting me on my feet with a smile.

I hugged Mirage tightly, but he gently pushed me back until he held me at arm's length to look at me.

You're sure about him? He asked.

Yes, I am.

The Seeker shifted noisily, so the Lexus released me with a guilty smile.

"I've been ordered by the CMO to teach you how to repair and reform alt mode plating and parts before you go," he said dryly, rising to his feet.

"I could teach her that," Skywarp grumbled behind me.

"Even so, orders are orders," Mirage said with a not so discreet wink to me.

"Skywarp, some energon before you go? You'll be relying on solar power again when you leave," Optimus pointed out pleasantly. "We'll leave Bravura and Mirage to the repairs."

"I'd rather not-"

"It's ok, Skywarp. It'll only take a minute, right Mirage?" My teacher nodded supportively, and the Seeker sighed and nodded to Optimus, who led the unwilling mech away towards the rec. hall. That would be interesting…

As soon as they'd rounded the corner, Mirage grinned down at me. "Ok, along with the regeneration thing, I have another lesson for you. And a present."

"A present?" I asked curiously. "Can I see it?"

He shook his head. "No, lessons first. Let's find an empty room so we don't scare the little guys."

He led me by the shoulder to an unoccupied office of Cybertronian proportions, much like the office Optimus used. Mirage pulled the chair from behind the desk and arranged it so that we'd be facing each other when we sat, close enough to touch. Many of his lessons involved information packets or protocols to get me started on the right track, so I wasn't surprised.

We settled down, and he looked me over. "Pretty bad," he clucked. "Just about every plate of alt mode looks like it took a beating… It's not hard to fix the glass or the cracks, you just have to access the blue prints you took in your scan and reboot the file as if you were scanning it for the first time. It's draining, but it's quicker than trying to replace each piece with actual native materials. Here." He took my hand and sent the precise instructions. "Try it on something small, the mirrors maybe."

I did as I was told, and with a white crackly flash the side view mirrors mended. It was painful, something I hadn't expected.

"The sensors had to reconnect," Mirage explained when I asked. "It's like messing with human nerves, I suppose."

I had felt the drag of energy but it hadn't been too much, so I decided to try my driver and passenger side windows. White crackly flash, sting of pain, and then… oooh.

I hunched in my seat. "That's… I didn't feel this tired after doing my whole alt mode. What's the deal…?"

"When you do the whole package everything forms together, coordinated and synchronized. Rebuilding a piece is like forcing something else to fit where it shouldn't belong, and getting it in line with the rest of your body takes a lot of rerouting."

"Ah… well. The rest is going to have to wait."

"I thought so," he said patiently. "Remember, you can't heal your frame like that. If you ever really damage your actual body, you'll need a medic. For the alt mode, little repairs and maintenance like oil changes or filters can be done by a human- but if you know that the piece is transformed in your robot mode, like your engine, you can't replace it or you'll be trapped in your alt mode until it's removed. Got it?"

I nodded studiously. I hadn't realized alt modes were so complicated…

"Now, I know you aren't any good at signature silencing, but I'm going to give you a performance drill to work on. With practice you'll get the hang of it." Another file came through the connection, and I carefully saved it.

"I could've used this last night," I said with self-deprecation.

The mech nodded. "Just promise you'll practice, alright? And have that big lump buy you a gun you can install, not just something to carry around. And if you can, find a neutral or an Autobot medic to give you a check up and renew you firewalls. And never let your energy stores get below twenty-five percent, you never know when there'll be an emergency. And-"

I leaned over and clasped his other hand tightly. "He'll look out for me, don't worry… Now, didn't you say something about a present?"

The Lexus nodded, his expression brightening. "Yes, I did. Now, it's not the best I've ever built, but I figured if you're going out there, you might need it…"

He reached into his chest where he kept his holograms, and out tumbled one I'd never seen before, smaller and less complicated than his favorite gadget.

"It's not solid," he said self-consciously, "but it's the best I could do for now."

"A hologram?" It had never occurred to me that I might have trouble blending in without someone driving my concrete-hugging alt mode. "What does it look like?"

"Anything you want. You design it yourself, or take a template off of a real native."

"Native?"

He sighed. "Yes. Most aliens don't even come close to looking human, so you have to be flexible."

"I don't think you understand," I said with a smile. "We're not even leaving the continent. We're going to Mexico."

"What?!" The Lexus seemed to erupt, leaping to his feet and forcing me to jerk back in my seat to keep from getting kneed in the face. "There's an army of Decepticons forming here! His brothers will pressure him to fight! Those sleazy glitches will hear about you and want to-" his vents heaved with frustration and he made an effort to lower his voice. "You might not have thought this through, but most of our kind hasn't seen a femme in thousands of years, and Skywarp can't protect you every second of the day from every grease bucket who comes looking for you."

I looked down guiltily. "I don't want to leave my home behind… Or my friends."

Mirage sank back down into his chair. "It's one thing to live on an enemy occupied planet surrounded by an army who can and will protect you… It another thing to live on that same planet with one turncoat who's likely go back to that enemy as soon as they want him to."

"He wouldn't do that," I said a little angrily.
"Bravura… Please. If you have to leave the base, leave the planet too."

Something grumbled in my chest, a higher and less resonant version of Skywarp's growl. It sounded sulky rather than threatening. "We'll be ok, Mirage. I'll e-mail you every day, ok?" I rose abruptly and walked to the door to hide the anger on my face, then smothered it before my friend could see it. "I could use some energon before we go."

The Lexus followed me helplessly, seeing that I wouldn't listen to his reasoning this time.

We were walking down the halls together, avoiding saying anything, when we heard the roar and clash. My friend exchanged a worried look with me, and we picked up the pace, running the rest of the way to the rec. hall. We were about to go in when a red blur was flung through the doorway.

The mech's shoulder caught on the doorframe and he spun off balance, then hit the wall

with another resounding metallic boom. He straightened himself out and I realized it was an enraged Hotrod. His optics fell on me, and if it weren't for Mirage edging between us he might've come at me.

"They tell me," he snarled, "that you are leaving with the Decepticon." He spat the word like poison.

I nodded, but Mirage spoke for me. "It's none of your business, soldier. They're both officially neutral now, and we have no say in what they do or where they go. She's not yours."

This seemed to both enrage and crush the Vanquish. My spark reached out to him… It struck me hard, the epiphany I could neither welcome nor resent. He might not want to admit it, but in saving me he'd given up any romantic future with me. I realized then that the ache we'd been feeling had been our resistance to the idea; his because he couldn't believe he might lose me, and mine because I'd been afraid it'd mean we were bonded.

We were bonded, but not in the way I'd feared. I released the emotional grip I'd been clamping down on my spark all this time, and I saw him shudder.

"Hotrod…" I stepped around Mirage, who seemed confused but alert, resting a reassuring hand on his leg as I went. "You know it's true. It's why we both hurt… I didn't know to fight it at first, but you were blocking me so I never knew… and then I blocked it too. You're like a… a brother."

"No." He choked the word out pitifully, his whole body sagging. "Please…"

I reached up and took his hand in mine, squeezing. "You kept your promise, Hotrod. I'll never be alone again. I'll always have you, here." I touched my chest, and I could see the anguish intensify in his optics.

"Not like this. I didn't want this." His vocal processors sounded quivery and broken, and I could see he was on the edge of an emotional breakdown.

I looked into the rec. hall and realized we had an audience of several dozen men and mechs, including a carefully passive Skywarp. "Let's go talk, Hotrod. We'll make everything make sense, ok?" I nodded to the Seeker, and he nodded back.

Mirage tried to follow us as I led the red mech by the hand, but I sent him away with a look. Hotrod wouldn't hurt me now.

I took him to my quarters, hoping it wouldn't upset the mech further. He'd never been in them before, to my knowledge.

He sat mechanically on the berth, and I stood before him, not sure what to say first.

"How long have your known?" I finally asked carefully.

"Since we woke you up." He wouldn't look at me. "If I had known it would happen…" he whispered.

"Would you have let me die?" I kept any accusation from my voice, but it took more effort to make sure he felt nothing but acceptance through our connection. I couldn't feel anything from him. The ache was gone, but now that I knew what I should be feeling my spark seemed empty.

He shook his head. "No. But… There must have been another way. I should've let Mirage do it."

"Mirage couldn't have done it. You loved me; you were willing to risk dying for me. I don't know if Mirage would've know what to do."

"I still love you," he sighed.

"I love you too, Hotrod. Just not the way I used to. I can't even really say if I ever loved you… the same way. I guess I've known it a while now."

I climbed onto my berth and sat next to him, leaning a little against him to ease the persistent ache I knew he must have been feeling. "It's not so bad, being spark twins," I said gently. "Have you ever had a bond before?"

The mech shook his head, and it reminded me that he was technically a young soldier.

"Me neither," I said, trying to smile. "But hey… at least we're hot twins, right?"

He couldn't help the weak smile that broke through his mask of misery. "You never got to the Marussia. What'd you pick?"

"I didn't really get to pick…" I sent a picture from my human memory of an Elise I'd once ridden in with a friend. It'd been a different color, but he'd get the idea.

"It's nice," he said noncommittally.

"Yes, it will be when I get it patched up and the paint heals."

"Where will you go?" He mumbled, looking at his hands clasped together on his lap.

"Mexico, I think. I don't want to leave the planet."

The red mech gave me a sharp look, then quickly glared back down at his hands. "It's not safe."

"I know. We'll be fine."

We sat quietly for a few minutes, but I steadily sent him positive reinforcement. I knew he could feel it, but he stolidly refused to open up to me.

"I don't want to leave you hurting," I whispered.

"Then don't leave," he whispered back.

Without a doubt he felt the spike of pain that shot through me. "It's the best thing I can do for Skywarp. He needs time to find out who he is again, without the Autobots or Decepticons to pressure him."

"Why do you care about him?" My spark twin finally looked up from his lap to me, though he was several feet taller than me sitting down.

"Because there's more to him than anyone's guessed. He's a very sincere and caring person under all the anger and pretending."

"If… if we weren't… you know. Would you have chosen me?"

I shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. All I know is that things didn't work out that way."

He nodded as if his head was suddenly very heavy, then I felt something…

He reached tentatively through our bond, and I immediately embraced the mech sitting next to me. I could feel his dismay and his pain, but I had the distinct feeling that things were going to be ok.

My exhaustion hit me then, and I leaned heavily against my… brother. It was oddly comforting, not having to explain that I was only tired. He knew.

We came back after Hotrod had calmed down. We went into the rec. hall where Optimus, Prowl, Mirage and Skywarp were waiting. Skywarp was still standing, but Mirage leapt to his feet as soon as he saw us. I held up my hands in a placatory gesture, and Mirage slowly lowered himself back to the bench. Skywarp gave me a strange look, and I smiled blandly, crossing the rec. hall to him quickly and touching his leg.

I have a spark twin, I sent, trying to layer my lingering surprise into the message.

He didn't respond, but I could practically feel the relief coming off of him. I patted his leg noisily, then went and picked out the biggest energon cube my tank could handle. I caught Mirage trying to look disapproving but failing, and I drained the cube anyway. Hopefully it would keep me going until Skywarp could get us somewhere quiet.

This story is winding down... one last big thing is going to happen, it'll take a few chaps I think, and then I'll move on to my next story... I want to do Skywarp and Frequency's story. Take care ya'll!