So excited when I finally got to write this chapter! I had been waiting a long time for this! I may have been a little too excited to write it though, it first came out as a bit of word vomit and took a little reworking. Hope it came out alright.
Enjoy!

Chapter 18

Two bots rolled out of the ground bridge, the vortex closing behind the mech and femme. They found themselves at the edge of a town close to a junkyard. Dusk was befalling them though it was not yet dark enough for the lights of the nearby town to be shining. No humans were around, the place having been abandoned for the night.

Ratchet entered through the rough driveway to the junkyard, parking amongst the rusted half crushed cars. Following him, Violetwind glanced at their surroundings with displeasure but remained in vehicular mode. Driving up next to the medic she stopped beside him.

"So what's our next move?" she asked trying to give her mind something to think on rather than the attack on their base; to do anything to move her thoughts from its likely destruction and the only home she could remember. It was too depressing to contemplate the separation of the Autobots as they scattered to keep safe.

"There is none!" he snapped, too irritated by what had happened to offer any kind of support.

"Wha-? Ratchet?" the femme did not understand.

"You heard me!" the mech transformed back to robot more to glare down at her. "There is no next move! No plan! The base is lost! Our home is lost! We have nothing!"

Transforming, she stood up to return his firm gaze, "We have each other, Ratchet. The others are out there and we will fix this!"

"Fix this?! We can't fix this! I can't even tell what's wrong with your head, to be able to fix that! It's hopeless!" the medic yelled back, arms waving about in frustration.

A flicker of hurt shone from her optics; he'd been hiding something. "Ratchet... What's wrong...? What haven't you been telling me...?"

He looked away, silent for a few moments, a heavy sigh leaving him. He deeply regretted hiding the information from her but had felt it necessary. It was not like it was it was easy to explain about something he did not even understand himself. "Your brain scans... They're unlike anything I've ever come across. They're not normal."

"What exactly are you saying?" she looked at him fearfully. She had somewhat suspected that something might have been up, that the mech had been hiding information from her. However, this made her wonder if it had perhaps been more serious than she had previously thought.

"I'm saying I can't even read your brains scans. Your neural network is far more complex than it should be. It's worse than when Bulkhead was infected with the information from the data cylinder! And that memory block, ugh, it- you are an anomaly of science! Nothing about it makes any sense! It's like there's two parts to your head! Two... Two sets of information. Yes, I think that's the only way to explain it. But it does not make sense to how or why such a thing could occur. A Cybertronian mind does not just split into two."

Violetwind stared at him with wide optics, everything falling into place, "Like... There's two of me in my head..."

"That's impossible. By Primus, you can't have two living beings in one body." the mech quickly dismissed the idea, rubbing the back of his neck in thought. "The signals from each of the brainwaves were very different."

"Like... My voice..." she continued, "It's living in there. Invaded my brain..."

Ratchet raised an optic ridge. "I'm sure that's not..."

"Like two minds inhabiting one..." speaking the words out loud and subsequently hearing them felt like she was concreting the realisation. Bringing the wild thought into reality, while it may have sounded crazy, it felt like the truth. Now she just needed some answers to why and there was only one person who could give them.

Raising her voice she called to the air, "You! I don't know what to call you but you that strange voice that's been plaguing me all this time, what are you doing? Why are you there?" She turned away from Ratchet, still shouting, "And how did you get in my head?!"

The medic's concerned gaze rested upon her back, wondering if she had lost it, softly pleading under his breath, "Primus, help us..."

"What do you want from me?!" Violetwind yelled in desperation to what seemed like the air.

The voice did not answer, yet she could feel its presence.

"I know you're there! I know you can here me!"

The mech regretted having opened his mouth. Reaching out a hand to her, he called softly, "Violetwind..."

"Not now, Ratchet," she barked, glancing back at him darkly before turning her gaze away again.

The entity was growing more uncomfortable by the second but still did not respond.

Feeling more heated than she had ever been, Violetwind growled, "You think you can just come and live in my head and hold my memories hostage, you little invader!"

Finally the voice lost it. I'm not the slagging invader, you are!

Everything drained from the femme, her arms falling heavily to her sides, door wings slumping and gaze locked on the ground but not seeing anything. "I'm... the invader...?"

"Uh, Violetwind...?" The mech asked in confusion, not having heard the accusation as she had.

"I don't..."

The voice groaned. Understand? I know.

"But..."

I'm not making this up. You really are the intruder here. This, uh, this could take a while to explain... You may want to tell gramps over there to go take a stasis nap and sit yourself down.

Turning around she looked over at Ratchet. "Um, I... I think there are some things I need to sort out..."

He opened his mouth to speak but she raised a hand stopping him, her voice soft, "Alone..."

Transforming down she drove off, leaving him standing there just watching her with concerned optics.

"Primus, Optimus, I wish it had been someone else to watch her." With a groan he returned to vehicle mode, prepared to power down and wait for everything to end.

Driving out of the junkyard, Violetwind headed out of town. Her mind's voice was silent but a million questions of worry and fear buzzed through her head.

Eventually, she left the road and transformed. Walking through the trees she sat down, hidden from human eyes within the forest. Resting against one of the trees she closed her optics, taking a deep intake of air.

"I think it's time for some explanations..." she muttered softly.

Yes, I do believe I owe you that. Her voice responded. First off, if you haven't got it already, I'm the real Violetwind.

"Yes, I... I guess that makes sense..."

With a deep sigh the voice began. So I shall start from the beginning. When I was but a scientist back on Cybertron, one of the many things I studied was a some organic creatures, though they were nothing like those from Earth. There were some strange little furry six-legged things. Studying them was not my department, but a friend of mine cared for them. Turnblade was his name. He was very interested in them and would often excitedly tell me all about any new things he had discovered. I often just listened good naturedly, he was always so fragging enthusiastic when he talked. The feeling of an inner smile came from her voice.

"Sounds like you were close," a small grin lifted up her mouth as she stared up at the stars.

We were. He was my best friend. The feeling of happiness faded, replaced instead by a deep sadness. He would have loved it here... So many creatures to learn about.

Despite it being a diverting subject to their conversation, curiosity got the better of her and the purple femme queried, "What happened to him?"

He died... He was killed when we escaped from the slagging Decepticons... I never told anyone else that I was with someone when I left. I couldn't bring myself to tell anyone about Turnblade's death as just thinking about it felt like I was reliving the moment. I always felt it was my fault... I... I try to focus on the fact that I was lucky to have made it to the Autobots and that Optimus allowed me stay.

But, this is not something I wish to dwell on right now, the voice confessed. You don't need to hear my sap story.

So, as I was saying, he loved to talk about his creatures and one thing that I actually became interested in was the minds of the little things. He often allowed me to study their brainwaves with him. I don't know if it has dawned on you yet what this has to do with you...?

Wringing her hands, the femme shook her head.

The voice heaved a sigh. This is more difficult than I expected... Let me try again. Studying organic being's brainwaves, learning their patterns and signals, well, you see the Decepticons thought that with the All Spark gone – and before you ask – it is the thing, the essence, that gives life to all Cybertronians. The 'Cons thought they could potentially make soldiers by creating bodies and implanting an organic mind into it. So through Turnblade's study, with a little help from me, we found that we could transfer their consciousness into a Cybertronian body, one that was previously lifeless, anyway. The study wasn't exactly a success at the time but we had the basics of it. I believe it was because the processors we built were not powerful enough to hold the originally organic minds.

Hesitantly Violetwind tried to make sense of things, "Ok, I... believe I know what you're getting at. I- I'm not Cybertronian... You uploaded me into your brain. Am I one of those creatures?"

No, no, slag, nothing that crazy. They weren't that bright actually. Bunch of fragging little idiots if you ask me. Um, she paused momentarily, Actually you're something much closer... From this planet...

"I'm from Earth?"

I didn't intend to do this to any of the planet's inhabitants... It certainly wasn't on purpose. It was just an accident.

"How do you accidentally do this to someone?" she asked accusingly. This whole incident rather horrified her, it was like something out of a science fiction film.

Well, you remember that dream you had about the spaceship crashing, right?

"Yeah..." she responded warily, not sure what the dream had to do with it. "It was a little terrifying. It felt very real."

That because it wasn't just a dream. It was a memory. My memory. It seems I can't control memories from entering your processor while in recharge. Anyway, that's how I arrived on Earth. It was a terrible crash but luckily it was into a forest with no one around. Or so I had thought.

When I stumbled out of the vessel some of the surrounding forest was on fire, something I was quick to try and fix. In putting out the fire, I found a human. She was underneath one of the trees my ship had knocked over and was badly burnt. Rescuing her I did not know what to do. I... I felt terrible for only just having arrived and already injuring one of the natives. Worse, I could tell it was dying...

Violetwind's optics widened, "And you..."

Yes. I did the only thing I could think of. Using my knowledge of organic brainwaves I downloaded the human's mind into my own. Afterward I buried the humans body far from my ship. I had been heading back when I fell into stasis. I suspect it may have been my processor adjusting to the extra information. And when I awoke, it wasn't me in control...

"It was me..." The femme said breathlessly.

To help with the change, I stored away all our memories before you fully regained consciousness. I figured it would help you adjust better if you didn't know what had happened or how you got there. I only wanted to help reduce the trauma. I... I guess I knew this would all have to come out eventually. I was just trying to protect you! I didn't want you to die out there because of me!

"You... You... How could you? I didn't ask for this. You stole my life! My body! Me! You practically kidnapped me!" she yelled, shock and confusion boiling up inside her.

She did not want to believe it but everything about it made sense. It was like something from a movie or a book, some crazy dream and yet was real. The femme grabbed her helm, everything sinking in, her limbs trembling.

"That dream filled with nothing but pain, it was my own memory of that day..." Releasing her helm she brought her hands out in front of her where she could see them. Looking down at them she tried to imagine what they were actually supposed to be like; covered in flesh instead of the metal appendages she currently possessed. The femme whined in disbelief, "Why did you do this? You stole everything from me..."

Violetwind, please-

"No, don't call me that! That's not my name that's yours! I don't even know what my name is..." Tears began to trickle down her face as she sobbed violently, the action shaking her whole frame.

Victoria... I'm sorry...

The femme paused in confusion, "What?"

I'm sorry... Victoria. It's your name. Your human name... Victoria Amalia Evans

"Victoria? But how-?"

I have access to all your memories.

"Then why can't I-?"

The voice cut her off again. I can't release your memories to you I'm afraid. In storing them away I didn't plan properly, which is part of the reason why they're returning to you in your dreams. The voice groaned in annoyance at herself for her own inadequacy and frustration. Think of it this way. There's this fence and you're on one side where you can live and move and the like. Then on the other side is me. On my side is all the past memories. Retrieving memories for me is simple because I have them on hand but they don't fit though the fence so you can't get to them and I can't hand them over to you. We can talk to one another through the fence but neither of us can get to what the other has. But then it seems that sometimes, while in recharge, the fence becomes permeable enough so that some of the memories are able to sneak by and you can experience them.

I'm really sorry, Victoria... I've put you through so much and even now, with everything going on... The war and the fighting... I feel as if I've ruined your life rather than saved it...

Taking a deep vent, the femme allowed her flow of tears to ebb. The original Violetwind obviously felt remorseful about what she had done but she had done it for the right reasons. No one could really have known what to expect given the situation. The science was untested and the femme understood that.

Slowly she allowed a small smile to slip onto her face. Things were bad, that was true, but she decided to count her blessings. It was better to be thankful for what you had, rather than dwell on what you did not; something she thought she was learning. She might not have her memories or her old body but she did have some good friends. "Please don't feel so bad. I'm alive," she admitted, looking on the bright side, "I could be dead right now, but I'm not. So I should thank you."

What? The voice was confused. But it's my fault that you ended up this way.

"I know, but thanks to that dream I know you were coming to Earth with good intentions. You only wanted to help." She wiped the tears from her face, "It's a lot to take in but I think I can do it. I'm not alone in this after all, am I?"

Her inner partner brightened up. You most certainly are not. You won't ever be getting rid of me. I'll always be around.

She grinned, "Like a friend I take everywhere." Her smile slipped away as she became thoughtful. "There really is no way to separate us? So why did you do it then? I mean, you risked giving up your own life when you took me into your mind and you have lost your body thanks to me."

That's right. There's no way to remove either of us from here now. Not without risking serious neural damage to the both of us. And, she hummed thoughtfully, I guess I did it because Optimus and Jazz and then Elita One and her squad taught me a few things. Frag, they dug me out of the tough shell I had put on to shield myself. I had hidden myself away from the loss of my friend. I was always a bit of a tough person anyway but that really cut me deep. Then after that the rejection of the Autobots when I defected. I had been pretty cold. They changed me. The voice confessed a little shamefully.

"Well at least I suppose I have an explanation for the voice in my head now. And it's not that I'm crazy."

Though I'm still not sure if people will believe this explanation either, her voice said, thinking of how the others might react.

"That's true," she agreed but decided to lay that aside for now. "Hey, so you knew the whole time, right? Maybe you could clear some stuff up for me."

Sure. Now that you know, I don't have anything to gain by hiding anything.

"First, what do I call you now? I mean, you're the real Violetwind, not me. Like, I don't even know what to call myself. Victoria feels right and yet it doesn't represent who I am any more."

How about this. You can still go by Violetwind, it'll save confusing the rest of the bots over names, and you can just call me Windy.

"Ok then, Windy," The femme grinned. "Right, second question. When I was seeking answers and tried to get them from Starscream – since you wouldn't tell me – how much do you think he really knew?"

Enough. That's why I gave you the helmache. I was afraid that he'd worked it out and would give it away. I used to know him, you see. Rotten coward he was back then too but we respected one another for our scientific work before he tried to climb the Decepticon ranks and later also found out that his scientific work was actually on dark energon. He knew about my research into brainwaves, so I guess with you acting different he put two and two together. I know they say Screamer isn't the brightest of bots but he's not a complete dumb aft either.

Violetwind nodded and rested back against the tree, closing her optics. Despite the craziness of the fact that she used to be human and was now sharing a brain with a robotic alien, she felt more at peace. Her questions of what had happened and what was wrong with her had been answered. Now that she knew, she no long felt burdened by everything that was strange about her, about why some things had not felt quite right.

Silently the pair of beings rested, listening to the night sounds of the forest around them. Crickets chirped. Leaves rustled lightly in the breeze. Even an owl hooted out its song to the world.

The purple femme broke the quiet as her optics opened and she asked, "Humans have parents. I bet my parents are worried. I mean I just up and disappeared! I hope they won't be too upset about me being gone... Not like I could go see them again anyway..."

Don't concern yourself over it too much, Vi. You didn't live with your parents, so they won't have immediately noticed your disappearance.

"But what will they do when they do realise?"

Not sure but maybe when we get in contact with Agent Fowler we can get him to do something about it. I'm sure he could come up with a good excuse.

"Well, that's ok I suppose..." she sighed sadly.

Something still the matter?

"Yeah, I just wish I could have an idea of what they looked like, of what I used to look like."

Perhaps that's another thing we could arrange with Agent Fowler when we get out of this mess...

"This mess..." the femme groaned. They were baseless and had no way to contact the other Autobots. Ratchet was right when he said things looked hopeless.

"Ratchet! Oh gosh we should probably get back to him!"

Can't we just leave the old slag there? He wasn't exactly in the best of moods when we left.

"No, we can't. I don't think Optimus would approve of that," standing up, she stretched the stiffness from her limbs and wiped away any remaining tears.

Well fine then. Don't expect to go back and have a warm welcome though. Windy replied sourly.

Darkness had descended upon the land long ago and with it hopefully the human population. Making her way out of the forest, Violetwind transformed down, flicking on her lights. Leaving her solitude behind the femme headed back to where she had left the old Autobot medic, having been away far too long.

And we find out things! So many answers! Hopefully it answers a lot of the questions the story has been building up to. But how is everyone else going to deal with it?
So did you see it coming? Did anyone suspect anything? If you did, what was it that tipped you off? I'd love to hear from you!