DUN DUN DUN! Jack knows the truth! Now we just have to see how he takes it.

REVIEW REPLIES!

Airreon Princess: I hope for no writer's block too.

josephguy217: Thank you!

Awesomo3000: Starscream is a stiletto-heeled bastard.

wiseguy2415: Wait until he finds out how deep it goes…

Guest: Yeah, I wish Chester was here too. Over a year and it still hurts. It took me nearly twelve months to be able to listen to One More Light fully without crying and I couldn't even sit through the tribute concert.

themightygollem: I'll answer that soon.

wolverine12: Thank you! :D

(from my cry for help)

Guest: I'll be having Jack up there next chapter.

Guest: See below.

STRELOK474: I'm not abandoning this story. Life got in the way and writer's block was a bitch. It took me a while to get my creative juices flowing again.

Awesomo3000: Thanks so much for your suggestion.

OK. I've been getting quite a few questions about Talida Prime: Fading Suns and whether or not I plan to continue the series. My intentions have been to wrap it up. However, I've been finding myself not enjoying that series, which is the main reason why I'm doing this story and rebooting the whole Talida Prime series. Unfortunately, with a heavy heart, I announce that I am officially discontinuing the story. I will be posting an announcement on that story when I've uploaded this chapter.

So…yeah. As usual, I own nothing.

Song: The Truth by Good Charlotte

ENJOY!

…or not…

Heavy. That was the first thing Jack felt when he slowly began opening his eyes. Everything felt heavy. His limbs. His head. Even his eyelids as he struggled to lift the weight to see where he was.

The first thing he registered was the fact that he was on the stretcher. He could feel the mattress – strangely comfortable – under his fingertips. He could feel the blanket – strangely not itchy – draped across his body. The one thing the comfort couldn't stop was that slight discomfort one felt whenever they tried to move the arm that had an IV drip attached to it. He quickly recognized that the bag attached to the IV to be the solutions his mother used on patients in the emergency room who were suffering from dehydration.

Then he heard footsteps. Heavy footsteps. With his eyes now fully open, he could turn his aching head towards the sound.

To his surprise, he saw another of those robots he had seen earlier.

'So that wasn't a dream,' Jack thought to himself.

"Good. You're awake," the white and orange robot said gruffly as he busied himself with checking Jack's vitals, "Your injuries were minor. Just a few bumps and bruises. The main concern was your dehydration. Hence the IV. You were out in the desert for a while."

Based on the robot's gruff manner, Jack correctly deduced that he was a doctor. And, he realized, he actually knew his name.

"You're Ratchet, aren't you?" Jack asked.

"How do you know my name?" Ratchet demanded, immediately getting on the defensive.

"There's this doctor that my mum works with at the hospital. She was telling us about him and Lida muttered, 'Sounds like Ratchet' or something like that," Jack explained.

Ratchet froze for a moment before resuming his work.

"Yeah, Tally told us about him. He really does sound like Ratchet."

Whirling his head around quickly (and regretting it because of the wave of dizziness it brought on), Jack faced another robot. This one was injured. Jack could tell from the scratches to his paintwork and the fact that he appears to be favoring one side of his body.

"The name's Cliffjumper," Cliffjumper introduced himself.

"You're that Dodge Challenger that picked her up that day," Jack realized, "Did she really get into a car accident?"

"No," Cliffjumper shook his head.

"So what happened? How does that Starscream guy have her?" Jack wanted to know.

He heard more footsteps, so he turned back towards Ratchet and saw the other four robots that rescued him from Starscream.

"We will answer your questions, Jack. But first, we have some introductions," Optimus began, "We are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron. Also known as Autobots."

"Auto-what?" Jack stammered in confusion, "Where is this Cybertron?"

"It is many light years away from this planet. We are here on Earth to protect the planet from the Decepticon threat," Optimus explained.

"Decepticon? That's what this Starscream is?" Jack asked, "He's the leader."

"No, he's their second-in-command," Ratchet corrected, "Their real leader is Megatron, but he's disappeared, so Starscream's in charge until his return."

"So where does Talida fit into all this?" Jack wanted to know.

"She's what we call a techno-organic, a combination of Cybertronian and human biology," Ratchet answered, passing Talida's gun, which they recovered from the scene in Northern Ireland, to Jack, "Originally, this was a Decepticon weapon. When a Cybertronian was hit, they would be transformed into whatever native species inhabited the planet they were on. Talida's parents were hit. During that year they were human, she was born."

"So my best friend is an alien," Jack surmised, finding himself unable to say anything else.

"Yet, from what we have observed from our time here, she is more…human than anyone else," Ratchet grumbled, not liking the idea of calling the young girl something he so clearly despised.

"Jack, you have to understand that Talida has a great destiny ahead of her. Techno-organics are exceedingly rare, especially ones as powerful as Talida. When the time is right, she will be responsible for Cybertron's restoration…and eventually rule the planet," Optimus said.

"No matter how hard she fights against the last part," Arcee remarked.

"If she were meant to be normal, she would have been born normal!" Ratchet snapped.

"At least she won't leave Cybertron dark," Bulkhead remarked.

"Dark?" Jack repeated in confusion.

"Cybertron has been left uninhabitable due to years of civil war," Optimus clarified, "We fought control over Energon, which is the lifeblood of all Cybertronians. I once fought alongside my brother. In war, ideals can be corrupted and Megatron lost his way."

"Wait. You're telling me that her own uncle sanctioned her kidnapping?!" Jack snapped.

"Were your audio receptors on when I said Megatron left over a year ago?" Ratchet asked in annoyance, "If Megatron was still around, we wouldn't even be in this mess! He's got a protection order on her. No Decepticon is allowed to harm her. Unfortunately, with his absence, some, like Starscream, feel that the order no longer applies."

Jack just sat there in silence, staring at the six Cybertronians that surrounded him. Now he understood. All the secrets Talida kept. All the lies she told. She did it to protect a lot of people.

She did it to protect him.

"So what would they be doing to her?" Jack finally voiced the question he feared asking the most.

"Torturing her," Ratchet answered bluntly, "She's privy to a lot of secrets, including the location of this base. Starscream would do anything to find this base and a way to defeat us."

"One thing I want to know is how Starscream would know about him in the first place," Arcee demanded, speaking for the first time since Jack woke up.

"The photo," Jack finally said in realization as he dug through his pocket to find the same photo Talida carried, "Her and I carry this photo in our pockets. If she still had her photo when she was captured…"

"Starscream or Malita could've found it during an interrogation," Bulkhead finished gravely, heaving a heavy sigh (or at least that was how Jack interpreted the sound that came from the big green Autobot).

"Malita?" Jack repeated.

"Another techno-organic. She's Megatron's daughter and the Decepticon enforcer. She is one of the most brutal interrogators they have. There are only two interrogators who are worse than her: Megatron and Starscream," Cliffjumper chose to answer this time.

"Starscream mentioned that Talida hasn't been cooperating," Jack recalled, "He said that he wanted to take me to persuade her to cooperate with the Decepticons."

"Not a lot of things can make Talida break, Jack. The very thought of harm coming to you because of this…," Cliffjumper trailed off, "If she thought you were in danger, there's nothing she wouldn't do to save you."

"Short of giving us up," Ratchet cut in rudely.

"And lying to me," Jack stated angrily.

"Don't you get why she did?" Ratchet asked just as angrily.

"Hey! I just found out my best friend – someone I care about a lot – is an alien! That's not something you can wrap your head around in the space of five minutes!" Jack defended himself, "I still don't even understand any of this. Why would you bring a child into a war? If you hadn't, she would be here telling me all this herself!"

"If I may…," Agent Fowler cut in, Jack only realizing he was standing there the entire time, "There's something in Talida's room that'll make him understand."

"You keep your IV on. You're nowhere near done with your treatment," Ratchet ordered.

Wow. Ratchet really is a grouch, Jack couldn't help but think to himself as he slowly made his way towards the stairs leading up to the common area, dragging the stand that held his IV with him.

It took a little while, but Jack eventually made it up the stairs (with another Autobot – Bumblebee, Jack thought his name was – holding the stand for him). He walked through the door on the other side of the common area and opened it with a trembling hand.

He saw a rather spacious area that could easily resemble a studio apartment, with a decent sized kitchen complete with a fridge, a stove, a few cupboards and…was that a dishwasher? Going past the kitchen and living area, he saw an enclosed area with a handprint scanner.

Despite knowing deep down what would happen once he did, Jack approached it out of curiosity and pressed his hand against the scanner. The device scanned his hand before turning red and an automated voice said,

"Access denied."

"Paranoid much, Lida?" Jack scoffed.

Despite the situation, the irony was slightly lost on Jack.

"Now if I were Talida Hope Prime, where would I hide my important stuff?" Jack asked to himself.

Like it had been happening over the last few days, Jack was hit with a flashback.

Begin flashback

"Really?" Talida asked in disbelief as she held up his box.

"You try hiding stuff where your mother doesn't find them!" Jack defended himself as he went for the box.

"What do you have in here anyway?" Talida mused as she went to open the box.

Before she knew it, Talida found herself on the floor with a slightly taller fourteen-year-old boy pinning her down and moving the box out of her reach.

"No touchy!" Jack snapped jokingly as he got up and went to find another place to hide his private box.

"Dude, for all I know, you could be hiding those magazines that contain girls that are probably as fake as their breast and butt implants," Talida scoffed.

"I AM NOT HIDING…!" Jack trailed off as he noticed the look Talida was giving him, "OK. You're right. But I'm not just hiding Playboy magazines."

"HA! Caught ya!" Talida crowed, "So what shall I do with this information?"

"You know what my mum would do if she found out," Jack stated.

"Good point," Talida nodded, "So I will do what other best friends do and help you hide it."

"OK. If you were hiding something from your parents, where would you put it?" Jack inquired.

"Easy. Somewhere they won't even think to look," Talida shrugged, "Your mum never cleans in here, right?"

Jack shook his head, explaining, "That's one of my chores. It was either that or the bathrooms."

"I envy you. I have to keep my entire area clean. Including the bathrooms," Talida chuckled as she took the box off him, "The answer seems pretty obvious."

Jack watched as Talida got on her knees and slid the box under his bed, positioning it so it was hiding from plain sight while also being in easy reach for Jack.

"That is obvious," Jack drawled.

"That's the thing, Jackie," Talida smirked at the noticeable wince from the use of her childhood nickname for him, "Sometimes the obvious is not so obvious."

"Alright, I'll bite. Where do you hide your box?" Jack challenged.

"What makes you think I've got one?" Talida scoffed, before sighing at the look Jack was giving her, "Alright. You got me. Mine's under my bed. Whenever my parents think I'm hiding something, they never think to look under my bed. Which is weird, because it was my dad who gave me the idea in the first place."

End flashback

Smirking, Jack approached Talida's double bed and bent down, easily noticing the shoebox, which was covered in various doodles and weird markings that had obviously been drawn on by Talida.

Once he pulled it out, he sat on the edge of her bed. Slowly, he rummaged through the contents.

The family photos were the first things Jack noticed in the box. He noticed a weird pattern with the photos. Some were with the robots he had met moments earlier. Others were with some humans.

He could easily recognize the other redhead in a printout from a photo booth. Simply based on looks, and the fact that he had met her once or twice in his life, he knew the older woman was Talida's mother. He could only tell them apart by their eyes. It became clear to him that while Talida inherited a lot from her mother in terms of physical appearance; her eyes clearly came from her father.

The second thing he noticed was a smaller box with his name on it.

Slowly, he opened the box and found a circular device and a note.

'Press the center and all your questions will be answered.'

"I'm game," Jack shrugged.

He pressed the centre of the circular device. The machine quickly came to life and began to project an image.

An image of his best friend.

"Hi, Jack," a holographic Talida began,

"If you're seeing this, then something must have happened to me. I'm sorry for all the secrets I've kept, but in a war, secrecy is necessary.

I should probably get the biggest bombshell out of the way. I'm not human. Well…not entirely. My parents – in fact, my whole family – are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron. As for my appearance, I was born during a time when my parents were turned human by a dangerous weapon. A weapon I managed to reconfigure and I now have in my possession after getting it away from our enemies.

My family and I are part of the Autobot faction, which is in an ongoing war against the Decepticons. They have been in war for a long time. Optimus Prime leads the Autobots, while his brother, Megatron, is the leader of the Decepticon faction. For many years, they fought on Cybertron, until their fighting destroyed the planet. Survivors – Autobot and Decepticon alike – fled Cybertron before it went dark. Some have fled to the farthest corners of the universe. Others have come here.

There's something valuable here, Jack. This."

For the moment, Talida disappeared and was replaced with a light blue crystal. But Jack could still hear her voice.

"This is Energon. This is the fuel, ammunition, and lifeblood of all Cybertronians, whatever their affiliation. Even I have a slight dependence on Energon due to my Cybertronian heritage. Ever since the war, Energon has been in rare supply, and the Decepticons have control of pretty much every known minable deposit on the planet. During the war, Autobots and Decepticons began jettisoning their Energon deposits off world, hoping to keep their supply out of reach from their enemies. Unfortunately, as a result, we brought the war to your planet.

My family is what I like to call robots in disguise. They hide in plain sight, disguised as common Earth vehicles you have probably seen around Jasper. They're all my family… Which brings me to my roll call.

Ratchet: the Autobot field medic and resident grouch. He transforms into an orange-and-white ambulance, rather fitting for a medic. Unfortunately, he doesn't have the best bedside manner and isn't a big fan of the human race in general. So if he sneers or looks down on you, don't take it personally. He's like that with everyone. Especially Agent Fowler, our designated liaison with the government.

Next is Bulkhead: our resident warrior and the strongest member of Team Prime. He transforms into a dark green SUV, and possesses a chest compartment whether he's in robot mode or vehicle mode. He was part of an Autobot faction known as the Wreckers during the War for Cybertron before he joined Team Prime. The Wreckers are the equivalent of Black Ops. He is one of the lucky few to have survived. He still likes to reminisce about his days as a Wrecker. Seriously. If you want to ask him questions about his day as a Wrecker, have a few hours set aside. He likes to tell a lot of stories.

Cliffjumper is the next Autobot on our list. He transforms into a Red Dodge Challenger, distinguishable by the two horns on the front, and is probably the Autobot you've seen most around Jasper, as he's the one who usually drives me to and from school and your house. Fair warning. Cliffjumper is incredibly cocky and tends to leap before he looks, but he is as loyal as they come, and an incredibly good friend.

The next three Autobots are my family: my brother and my parents.

Bumblebee is my brother. Adopted, if you want to get technical, but we never make that distinction. He's the team's scout, and the last generation to be born on Cybertron before the planet went dark. His biological family was wiped out during a Decepticon attack not long after he was born, and my parents adopted him when they found him in the rubble following the attack. Unfortunately, he can't speak. During a run on Tyger Pax, Decepticon forces captured Bumblebee. He was taken to Megatron for interrogation. Bumblebee didn't talk and as a result, he was left for dead after a serious beating. A field medic found him and saved his life; but during the interrogation, Megatron destroyed his voice box, and the damage was beyond repair. He can talk through beeps and tones, but the only people who can understand him are those with Cybertronian ancestry. He transforms into a black-and-yellow custom-made muscle car, and the pattern actually resembles a bumblebee. The irony escaped his notice for a while.

This now brings me to my mother. Her name is Arcee. She transforms into a motorcycle. Officially, her make is unknown, but she's a lot like an Aprilla RSV 1000 R. She's been through a lot in the war – stuff she won't tell me about. Most of her war stories, I've heard from my dad. In a lot of ways, she's his second-in-command. But I'm not even going to try to lay out the hierarchy in Team Prime. It's not worth the headache.

The last Autobot I have to introduce you to is my dad: Optimus Prime. The others see him as the great leader of the Autobots. He is that, but I see him as someone who has the weight of the world on his shoulders. He blames himself for what happened on Cybertron, although the blame squarely sits on Megatron's shoulders. Not his. No matter how hard you try to tell him otherwise, he won't listen to you. He's teaching me everything he knows about what it means to be a leader.

He also taught me how to hack. Don't tell mum. He wasn't meant to teach me that."

Despite himself, Jack allowed himself to chuckle. That sounded a lot like Talida.

That also explained how she got into his email that time and changed his password as an April Fool's joke.

It took him hours to coerce the password out of her, only for it to turn out to be their safe word.

"So that's my family. Well…my Autobot family at least. I'm sure you remember me mentioning that Optimus and Megatron were brothers. So that means he's my uncle.

I won't go into too much detail about Megatron's past, because I don't know it. That's the one story they won't tell me. What I can tell you is he's the Decepticon leader, and he's rather ruthless. A year ago, he left to go to deep space, promising to find something that will turn the tide of the war in favor of the Decepticons. Just…don't mention that to my parents. They don't know that I know this. Sometimes, being his niece has its privileges. Such as the protection order he put on me. Obviously, with him gone, some think the order no longer applies. Otherwise, I'd be telling you this myself rather than through a hologram.

I won't go into too much detail about the Decepticons, but I'll tell you a little bit about the key players and the ones you really have to watch out for.

Starscream. Starscream is his second-in-command. In a lot of ways, he's worse than Megatron. He's power hungry, egotistic, cowardly, paranoid, unpredictable and unafraid to kill. His arrogance and cowardice are his biggest weakness. But don't underestimate him. He's very cunning and a great strategist and interrogator. Don't get on his bad side.

Soundwave is Megatron's chief intelligence officer. He's as loyal as they come. In fact, he's probably Megatron's most loyal soldier. However, he's silent. Like. Quieter than Peter when he finds out his mum packed meatloaf for lunch."

Jack snorted at that. Their mutual friend was an interesting character to say the least, and a bit of a chatterbox, but the one thing that made him eerily quiet was opening his lunchbox and finding leftovers from his mother's meatloaf. Having tried his mother's meatloaf themselves, Jack and Talida could easily sympathize with their friend whenever he opened his lunch bag and found out that his mother had managed to sneak in meatloaf from the previous night's dinner.

But because they all love her and think she is an amazing person, nobody had the heart to tell her the truth about her cooking.

Or what Peter does to the meatloaf whenever he gets it.

"He's also a pretty skilled fighter. Not as skilled as Megatron – who is? – but he's definitely a close second. He has a Mini-Con called Laserbeak attached to his chest. He deploys Laserbeak for scouting missions most of the time, but he can attack opponents. You never know what to expect from him.

Up next is Malita. She's…the bad version of me. She's the Decepticon enforcer. She's not as bad when it comes to interrogations as Megatron and Starscream, but she's still up there. She's the only Decepticon openly allowed to try to kill me. To be honest, we make a game out of it. Nine times out of ten, I walk away the victor."

"Nine times out of ten?" Jack repeated to himself quietly, "Just how deep are you in this?"

As though she sensed the question, Talida's hologram answered him,

"I guess you could say that I'm in pretty deep. I was born into this war and, if you believe all the prophecies, I'm the one who has to finish it. You know how in school, people say that I walk around as though I have the weight of the world on my shoulders? Well, I do have the weight of the world on my shoulders. Two worlds, in fact: Cybertron and Earth.

I know you're mad at me right now for not telling you. I want to say that I'm sorry. I never liked keeping secrets from you. But then I thought about what would happen if I did. You would end up where I am right now. Captured. Or dead. And I…I love you too much to let that happen to you."

Talida's entire hologram message was filled with information about his best friend that could strike him deep. The truth about her heritage. Her being involved in an intergalactic war.

None of them struck as much as the declaration.

"There. I said it. I love you. More than someone loves their best friend. I love you like my parents love each other. I didn't realize until we were 12 and you were in the hospital because of that influenza outbreak and you nearly died. I guess everything they say about not knowing what you have until you lose it is true. By the way, Cliff has been nagging me to tell you. Please tell him that I didn't chicken out this time.

Right now, I'm recording this before I go to school. I'm hiding out in my workshop so no one hears me and gets worried. I'm so glad I convinced my parents to let me soundproof this place. I think something is going to happen to me today. I can't tell you what, but I know something is going to happen and it may be a while before I can see you again, if ever. But I couldn't go without telling you the truth."

Even if the hologram didn't show it clearly, Jack knew by the way her voice was cracking that she was crying. The sight broke his heart. He had to wonder.

Did she know she would never come home that day?

"Please, Jackie. Stay safe. Stay out of the war for as long as you can. I never wanted to drag you into it. This isn't your fight. It's my fight and mine alone. That's why I never told you about my family. You are the one thing I wanted to protect.

It's time for me to go now. I'm about to see you at school. We're going to be talking about Father's Day and I'm going to be resisting the urge to throw Vince into a trashcan. After that…I don't know when or if I will see you again.

I love you, Jack."

"No. No. No!" Jack pleaded, desperately trying to grab on to the image as it faded.

Astrid Lee Miles said in her book Recovering is an Art, "Emotional pain isn't felt the way a cut or bruise is. This is much different and only you can tell it is there. Sometimes, the pain is at the back of your mind like a pulse. Other times, it pushes itself forward demanding attention. Cutting your heart and mind in half. Stinging with every breath you take."

Jack could feel all that pain he had been pushing to the side clawing at his heart. He could feel the weight against his chest as he struggled to breathe. He could feel the sobs clawing at his throat. He could feel the tears pricking his eyes. His lips could already taste the salt that would accompany those tears.

He remembered something his mother often said to him after his father left:

"Don't wait until it is too late to tell someone how much you love and how much you care about them, because when they're gone, no matter how loud you shout and cry, they won't hear you anymore."

Clutching the circular device – what could be the last remnants of his best friend – to his chest, he let everything go. He let the sobs that clawed at his throat out. He let the tears that were pricking his eyes flow. He let his lips taste the salt of the tears.

He did all this as he came to a horrible realization. He loved her back.

And he may never get the chance to tell her.

Wassup, guys? Sorry for the long delay. But life got in the way. Doing a Graduate Certificate in Religious Education in one semester meant I didn't have a lot of time on my plate. I started having stuff due in week one and from that point on, it's been "Discussion forum, module quiz, essay, repeat".

I've sort of been sitting on this chapter for a little while though because I wasn't so sure about it. But after months and months and months of editing, I thought, "Meh. It's Christmas." Hopefully, you guys will forgive me for deciding to discontinue my original Talida Prime series.

Where I am right now, it's Christmas Eve. So consider this a Merry Christmas from me and also, (belated) Happy Hannukah and Kwanzaa and anything you guys celebrate around this time of year.

I'll try to be quick with the next chapter, but I can't guarantee anything. Especially since I'm away from home at the moment celebrating my nephew's first Christmas.

Again, Merry Christmas and anything you guys celebrate this time of year!