Now everything seemed to scare Danni. When a soldier accidentally bumped into her, she could give way to a small shriek, until she realized it was just one of the guys there to protect her. It seemed that the news had gone around about Skywarp, and everyone seemed a bit more protective of her when she was around. But she didn't want them to be like that around her, she just wanted to be treated as she normally would. Ignored. But now, everyone was so clingy to her, asking her how she was doing, if she was alright, asking about her constantly. It was just getting just plain annoying now. Danni slumped in her chair, playing with her food.

Surprisingly, the food here wasn't half bad. She had mashed potatoes, what looked like meat, and veggies. Everyone got the same food, same time each day. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. If you were feeling a bit peckish during the day when it wasn't a meal time, boohoo for you. If you missed a meal time, you'd have to go through the day starving, so everyone was there, eating up their food. Danni sat alone, as she liked it that way. She couldn't make conversations, and didn't know exactly how to join them, so it was better being alone.

She wasn't hungry, not after her nightmares. She'd barely eaten anything in several days her nightmares were so bad. They were of Chicago, or Skywarp chasing her. Both made her uneasy, and she felt on edge. Yawning, she took a fork full of mash potatoes, and put her tray in the trash, rubbing her eye as she walked towards her quarters. It was 11:30 P.M, and she was pooped. Entering the bedroom, she flopped down on her bed, and cocooning herself in her blankets, falling into a deep sleep.

XXX

Danni ran through the battle field, looking frantically around for any sign of life, anything! When this battle had occurred, she didn't care, she just wanted to know if anyone had lived. Her bare feet felt the tough, burn ground, and looked at the fallen bodies of soldiers, Autobots, and enemies. But one stood out among the large group of bodies.

Optimus.

She could feel the tears forming in her eyes, and she carefully walked towards his lifeless corpse, not wanting to believe her eyes. His body was mauled apart, wires creating tiny sparks as they stuck out from his large wounds. Energon dripped from his torn body, and she put a hand on his faceplate, her shoulders sagging. A gentle moan alerted her, and she looked at his half opened optics, which flickered as he struggled to keep them online. "Da….Danni." He said weakly. Danni nodded towards him.

"I'm here Optimus." She said quietly. He gulped for air, though he didn't need it.

"Promise…..Promise me…you'll..never lose…hope." He said, and Danni bit her lip, trying to keep back her tears as she nodded. He gave her a small smile. "Do not cry little one…everything….everything will be alright." His voice got fainter and fainter. "I will be returning to the Matrix….." He slowly closed his optics, and the color drained from his body. Danni shook her head, tears flying as she did so.

"No Optimus! You're not gonna die!" She cried. "The world needs you! I need you!" She laid herself on his cold faceplate, tears sliding down the smooth metal. "You can't die…" She whimpered. Their only hope, her only friend, was gone. And she couldn't do anything about it. She was just a little helpless Human, insignificant and useless in every way. "You can't leave me Optimus….." Her voice was lower than a whisper now, and she looked over Optimus to see a pair of blood red optics, narrowing at her. At first, she thought it was Skywarp, and felt enraged that the mech had killed him, but she felt her heart stop as she saw who this was.

Megatron, Leader of the Decepticons.

The humongous mech came from the shadows, face blank as he put his foot onto Optimus' chest, looking down at her with cold, unforgiving optics. Danni felt as her blood turned cold, and she shook with fear at the mighty mech. He stepped off Optimus, and walked towards her, reaching his servo out to her. It came closer and closer, until it blocked her vision.

"DIE!"

Danni felt her heart pounding as she jolted upright in her bed. Beads of sweat ran down her face, and she licked her lips to taste the saltiness of her tears. Another bad nightmare, the worst so far. But this one scared her more greatly then the others had. She hadn't had one dream where Optimus died, her other dreams didn't even involve him! And she had had the perfect picture of Megatron in her head, even though she had never even seen him, which scared her even more. Eyes widening, she jumped out of her bed, running through the hallways, down the corridors to the Autobots rooms.

She passed them, becoming more frantic as she didn't see the mech she was looking for. She had already passed Roadbuster, Leadfoot, Dino, and Bumblebee, yet still no Optimus! At the very last room, she darted into it, and looked at the berth, sighing in relief. Optimus was still there. Her heart rate quickened again though at another thought. Was he still alive? She scrambled onto the berth, having slight difficulty to climb onto Optimus' chest, and crawled towards his faceplate, looking at it nervously.

"Optimus?" She whispered, putting a hand on his large metal face. "Optimus, are you still alive?" She said, a little louder. But, it was enough to wake him. His optics snapped open, light slowly coming into them, and his body gave a small twitch. He looked around for the cause of his awakening, to find an overjoyed Danni on his chest. She smiled, and hugged his face. "You're alive! Optimus, I was so worried that you died!" She cried, nuzzling into the warm metal.

Optimus slowly brought himself upright in his bed, letting Danni slide down onto his lap. "Why would you be worried I went offline Danni?" He questioned, tilting his head to the side. "Nothing has happened to me." Danni shrunk slightly, playing with her hands. "Danni, what do you want to tell me?"

"I..I had a nightmare….where..you died.." She said quietly, crossing her legs. "I was scared that something happened to you in real life….." She admitted. Optimus looked down at her thoughtfully as her cheeks became slightly red with embarrassment. "I'm…I'm sorry that I woke you up, I was just, kinda scared-"

"Would you like to sleep in my berth with me tonight?"

Danni looked up at Optimus in surprise. The mech simply smiled down at her at her reaction. He knew from experience that this comforted Sparklings. When Bumblebee was a youngling, he would have Night Terrors, and come to Optimus to talk about them, and would sleep with him throughout the rest of the night. "Uh, s-sure." Danni said.

Optimus laid himself back down on his berth, and Danni crawled back onto his chest, curling up on it like a cat. It was pretty warm in that spot, but it actually was right above his Spark Chamber, so that made sense. Danni closed her eyes, the warmth, and the rhythmic sound of Optimus' spark beat, lulling her into a dreamless sleep. Optimus simply watched as her own heartbeat slowed, her breathing became calmer. He'd never really seen a Human fall asleep before, and was strange to him.

Cybertronians simply had to shut off their optics and go into recharge, but Humans way of sleeping was quite interesting to him. He watched the small Human sleep on his chest, chest rising and falling as she breathed in and out. He felt his own body needing some recharge of its own, and put his head down on the berth, offlining his optics. He felt the warm little ball on his chest all through his sleep, and had a rather calm recharge for once. It wasn't full of his thoughts on the war, it wasn't one where he would barely get any recharge because he was so tense, and it wasn't one where he was awoken by the sounds of Sunstreaker and Sideswipe arguing. It was quiet, the way they were at NEST.

For once in his long lifetime, Optimus felt peaceful, a sudden calm in their never ending war.

I just love doing these Optimus and Danni fluffy moments :) It makes me fell all warm and fuzzy inside. Hope you enjoyed chapter 6! And a special shout out to Lunar mist! As you requested that the chapters be up to 1,500 words, I have done so! Or, kinda did. This chapter of Earths Darkest Hour is 1,560 words!