Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers, Michael Bay/Hasbro do. I'm not making any money from this.

After the battle

Drastic mood changes aside – it had to be the stress –, the previous events were beginning to take their toll on Seventeen. Well, that, and her sudden need to scurry down to empty her stomach's contents. Why had she eaten something knowing she wouldn't hold it, again?

"There, there… I knew it was no good eating all that so quickly." Mikaela's voice startled her and the patting on the back made her nervous, all her aching muscles tense and posture rigid. At least the other girl didn't seem to notice, which spared the white-clad girl further humiliations.

"Here," She was handed a water bottle, but before she could reach it, the black-haired girl warned "small gulps,'kay?"

Glancing briefly at the other girl and surprised by her seemingly genuine concern, Seventeen nodded and did as told; there was no energy left to argue. She was so tired that, when she was lifted up to Jazz's shoulders, just moved a bit, plopping her upper torso down his head and closing her eyes in an attempt to ignore the… void. And whatever it meant. But her eyes snapped open at the insistent feeling of being watched and she glared at the bigger, yellow robot-alien-medic; either he didn't catch the message or simply didn't care and kept looking at her, the little metal plating above his blue eyes rising, resembling a frown. Just as she was about to snap, those glowing lights shifted to the silver one, who nodded and poked her with a finger.

"If ya feelin' funny, lemme know, ya hear tiny?"

In response, she yawned and promptly ignored him. She wasn't that small, anyways.

Having nothing better to do, she watched Mikaela as she doubled over the driver's seat of the tow truck to get the engine started, and thought about her possible courses of action now that she was out in the open and the battle was over. She had a promise to fulfill and was running on borrowed time, so whatever decisions she took, she would have to take them soon. Seventeen just sighed in defeat and closed her eyes, still paying close attention with every other sense. While she hadn't been given a reason to distrust this faction of aliens, she had learnt the bad way to never lower one's guard. Finally, they moved towards the meeting point, three robots walking, a fourth in the tow truck Mikaela was driving and Seventeen being carried like the smallest of kids on an adult's shoulders.

The scene that greeted them upon reaching their meeting point was discouraging. There were impromptu barricades made from cars and near buildings' debris, crates on the road, lots of dust, wounded, civilians, soldiers… Seventeen noted from the corner of her eye how Ironhide puffed up a little as he approached Optimus Prime, who stood the tallest of them, while Ratchet looked at their leader sharply, assessing the damages. Mikaela drove the truck to a stop beside one of the military men and exited the vehicle, running to say something to Bumblebee and then stopping a moment to scan the small crowd of people, seemingly looking for someone.

'Probably Sam.'

Jazz spotted what had to be a fallen Cybertronian, and after a moment whistled and muttered "Ah don' envy ya', Blackout."

Curious, she took her time inspecting the dead metal. Sure, it had more or less a humanoid shape, with what seemed to be helicopter blades at the back, nasty looking dents and holes in the chest area… and the worst visible damage was located between his legs, with the zone practically melted to form an unshaped mass, where the gaze of the silver Autobots was very intently not focusing on.

The Subject supposed it wouldn't be pleasant to see someone who could have been you in such bad shape – really, she could relate to that – so she tried spoke up "You knew him?"

At first she though he had not heard her, but then he and craned his head to look at her.

"Ya' could say. 'e was one of tha' first to follow ol' Megsy ta battle. Even 'ad 'is nasty Symbiote afta' ma aft… "

Jazz shuddered and, after looking at the metal corpse one last time, whispered something she didn't quite catch and then turned away from the Decepticon, joining his comrades.

"Prime."

Optimus turned and regarded the silver bot, pausing a moment to look at the human sitting on the shoulders, who was suddenly really busy looking somewhere below to look at him. Then, he sent a stern gaze to the lieutenant, whom true to his nature didn't even try to appear repentant.

"I've been told of your actions, Jazz. Do I need to say how dangerous they were?"

"Ah' had no choice."

"You had; alas, it is good to see you in one piece, old friend." Both mechs stared at the other, probably discussing some matters with no other witnesses than themselves. With no further delays, the Prime could say what felt necessary, and his voice carried on along the avenue, deep and commanding, each word specially measured to the military men and women who had joined them in the so desperate battle, without forgetting a meaningful glance towards both Sammuel and Mikaela.

"Today, we have defeated a great threat. You honor us with your bravery. Thank you, all of you."

"Permission to speak, sir." Seventeen looked down, noticing, with surprise, that it was Bumblebee who had spoken.

"Permission granted, old friend." Was his response, and the girl though she heard someone below exclaiming You speak now!?

"I wish to stay with the boy."

"If that is his choice."

Everyone paying attention to the conversation looked at the so called boy, who looked in turn at the Prime, then at Mikaela, then at the yellow and black 'bot. He smiled.

"Yes."

Subject Seventeen choose that moment to scurry down Jazz and hop to the ground. Ever since they were in that -former-street-now-battlefield, she had been feeling something in the back of her mind that she dreaded, and it had grown in intensity the moment they had approached the leader of the 'good' faction of aliens. The brunette clad in the stained white suit almost jumped when she recognized the greyish mass at their feet as the one who almost squeezed her to death and then probably tossed brutally to the ground. He was clearly dead, so she fought the need to bolt and hide and purposely searched around.

Feeling afraid and self-conscious, the girl closed her eyes and focused on breathing, trying to calm herself down, and then followed that thread of feeling blindly, crouching down and using her hands so as not to stumble. Finally, her hands began to distinguish an increase in temperature in the surroundings, and she knew it was there, so she opened her eyes and blinked confused at the hole that was now in the center of the chest of the grey remains. Her brows furrowed, but she looked inside anyway.

This time, she couldn't help but flinch. There, nested in that melted cavity, was a sliver of the damned cube. It released little shocks from time to time, and it wasn't even a quarter of its compressed size. Just a small fragment, but the sensation was unmistakable. She trusted that 'sense' more than whatever her eyes could see, after all, she had never glimpsed it in the flesh until today.

Without thinking, her hand shot in and closed around it, pulling out, and although it burned her palm a little, she paid no heed to it: even as damaged as it was, its carvings were somewhat recognizable and she traced them pensively with a finger.

'And what's going to happen to you?'

She hoped the Autobots would take it far, far away, and she wouldn't have to fear it would end up in Sector Seven's clutches again.

At the sound of drifting metal, she looked up to see Optimus Prime crouching down, looking at both the corpse of the grey one and the shard in her hands with what could only be described as grief.

"You left me no choice, brother."

Wordlessly, she offered the shard to him, and he took it between what would be the equivalents of thumb and forefinger.

"Thank you." This being was looking at her with infinite sorrow… and compassion. It made it really difficult to hate them for letting go of their artifact in the first place. And to keep in the tears. Thankfully, she was saved from the situation by the same man that shoved her into the yellow bot earlier in the day, who offered a nod to the tallest of the Autobots. "Captain William Lennox, sir. Secretary Keller is asking for a meeting."

She took her chance and distanced herself, observing absent-minded her surroundings as she moved, feeling the air moving and causing goosebumps to rise in her flesh, the rubble digging in her feet soles and the not so pleasant smells of the city, but the subject stopped once she neared a cracked car window.

Her reflection was a complete stranger. Too green eyes to be really her own, a pale, gaunt face, only worsened by the fact she was completely covered in dust and other things, her hair a graceless, lifeless mane of brownish straw. Eyes travelling down, she noted humorlessly that she could see her bones jutting from her body in a sharp contrast.

A sudden light made her close her eyes in reflex; a stray sun ray reflecting on something metallic. When Seventeen opened her eyes, she saw in the reflection a black van almost behind her, with a shining, long object sticking out of its left side.

Someone was pointing a gun at her.

Throwing herself to the ground and feeling something shooting past her, she sought cover behind the car, not really knowing what else she could do. More shots rang in the air, impacting the body of the car, shattering the windows, and people began shouting; it was just too much. She lost all notion of time while she was hiding behind that car, with her hands over her ears and hunched over herself.

She screamed at the feeling of someone touching her shoulder and tried to jump backwards but failing because the car was at her back. Feeling trapped and with her hands up in an attempt to protect herself, Seventeen focused on the person before her. Brown hair, dirty tan skin, military fatigues, a really big gun. She knew he was talking because his mouth was moving, but right then she was incapable of understanding anything but the gun he was holding between his arms.

"E-s, c-e he-." Someone approached, but her vision was becoming too blurry to get any details. "-re, tak- i-. A—g- -e a b—nk-t." She watched how the really big gun changed owner warily, but then focused on the man before her once the other disappeared from her line of vision.

He held his arms up at both sides of his head, showing them empty, and approached her slowly. Seventeen tensed, she was breathing to quickly, she noted, but it was impossible for her to slow down right then. The soldier – he was a soldier, she had seen him before, right? – kept moving closer and closer, but she had nowhere to hide.

Distantly, she heard voices in her head, and she knew them too, but everything was too blended together to really make out what they were saying. She felt trapped in her own body, unable to do anything but stand and shake, but at the same time she felt about to take flight, and she was afraid she would just disperse like the air and disappear. Then, a grounding weight fell upon her shoulders, and it was soft, and warm. She held on it tightly, dimly aware she was being guided somewhere.

A flash of yellow had her recoiling back in the warm hold – how long had it been since someone had touched her like this, with no ill intentions? – but then remembered that metallic yellow wasn't plastic yellow, so it wasn't bad, and obeyed the force behind her, and then she was sitting in a car seat, double seatbelt crisscrossing her torso. That was comforting too, now she would definitely not float away.

A/N: I'm back! I still can't believe how much attention this fic is having, even after my long absence. As I've stated on my bio, I intend to finish it, but it'll take time. This years I've managed to finish my studies, but now I have another four years of even harder studying. I think I'm more fluent writting in english too, but as always, bear with me and please notify me if there are grammar mistakes or something unclear: I try to think in english when I write, but there is always something from my native tongue that just eludes my proof-reading and I have no beta.

I wanted to thank everyone who has reviewed and encouraged me to keep writing, as well as those who didn't but kept hoping for an update. To be honest, I originally was going to have this chapter focusing between the end of the battle and Keller making a statement about Sector Seven being disbanded, but... Seventeen apparently comes with her own package of baddies and they lurked around unitl the end of this chapter. A shout out to the people who guessed she formed a bond with Megatron; it's a good one, but slightly off the real target ;3

Don't be shy guys, tell me what you really think! Until next time!

17/8/2016