Azura stretched her limbs as she woke up from her recharge. She smiled a little as she opened her optics and rolled onto her stomach, laying her right cheek on her pillow. She was not sure what time it was, but she knew it was the morning, and Optimus would come into her room soon to greet her. It has been a few days since she and Bulkhead had sometime together, and both she and Bulkhead have bragged about having a successful mud fight. Ratchet and Optimus did not fully understand it, but the humans did. Miko was jealous that she as not there, but understood that Azura had wanted to spend time with Bulkhead without her present. She was not offended by that, so it would be okay.

Azura was getting used to her crystal being a part of her body too. She had woken up the last few days with a slight start because she could not feel the necklace around her neck anymore. As the crystal could not be removed, she has had to get used to it. And while she still was not sure if she was happy about it, Azura has noticed something. Around the crystal, each more and night, it itches. She hasn't figured out why it would be the case, but assumed it might just be the reaction of her body. She hasn't told Optimus or Ratchet about it yet, as the itching hasn't bothered her too terribly.

Even now it was itchy. She scratched her chassis around the crystal at the subtle itchiness bothered her slightly. She only had to scratch a little until the itchiness subsided, and she would be fine until night. She still did not know why it did that, but regardless, it was not hurting her and she felt it was not necessary to mention it to Optimus or Ratchet. If they happen to notice and ask about it, she would be honest about it.

Azura remained on her stomach for a moment before she grabbed her Stitch toy and hugged it against her side. She smiled to herself as she was quite happy that she has gotten used to having plush toys. She did end up making several more dolls too, but Ratchet was unhappy she had cut up pillows to make them, but she had not made a huge mess so it wasn't such a huge deal to the medic. Optimus found her creativity to be enjoyable. He enjoyed watching her create things.

Azura sat up as she held the toy against her chassis before she stretched her legs and stood up to climb down from her berth. She wanted to check on her fish to see how they were going. She hummed softly to herself as she walked down the stairs happily and jumped to the floor once she reached the bottom of the stairs. She walked over to the fish tanks and looked into them to check on the fish.

She smiled as she saw nothing seemed out of the ordinary, until she spotted several dead rainbow fish. She gasped as she was not expecting that. And these fish were some of the longest living fish she had. She felt tears in her eyes as that meant they died of old age, or something changed in the water, whether it is the PH or something else. She knew crying over a fish might seem silly to the autobots, but these animals were her pets after all.

She let out some sniffles before she grabbed a bag and scooped the dead fish into it. She tied the bag and sat it on top of the table, staring at the fish to see what they could have died from. She saw no fin rot, no physical damage or sign of parasites, which meant it could be old age or a change in the water. But it certainly hurt to know she has lost several fish that she had bought three years ago.

"Azura?" The sparkling jumped and turned her head to see Optimus walking into the room with a concerned expression. "I heard you crying. Are you okay?"

Azura shrugged as he walked towards her and she picked up the bag to hold it up. "Several fish died. These were the ones you looked after, daddy. I think they got too old for fish."

"Oh, I had not realized." Optimus lowered himself onto one knee and leaned down to look at the bag. "That certainly seems like they have been here a long time. I am sorry you had to wake up and find them dead." He eyed off the bag as Azura sniffled while looking at the fish. He sighed and looked at her with a smile. "We did very well for the little animals, Azura. They did not have a bad life. I was not sure how long fish live in this world, but their lives are far shorter than humans it would seem." He gently moved his hand to place his palm on her back lightly. "We gave these fish a good life, Azura. They got a clean tank, excellent food and they never got sick. You shouldn't feel sad because of that. Know that they had a good life."

"I know…but…it still hurts to see they have passed, daddy. It would be no different to a dog, or a cat…" Azura sniffled loudly and placed the bag on the table before she wiped her tears. "But I will at least see if there any changes to the water, in case they died to ammonia poisoning or a sudden change in PH level. Though I do believe old age was a factor."

Optimus smiled as her as he watched her get out the water testing kit. He knew she cared deeply for the fish, and it was great to see. And at least it seemed she was simply looking for closure, even though Optimus knew that there was likely no way to bring fish back. He's learned enough about fish to know they were extremely fragile, and that when they are dying, it can be hard to save them. But given the fish were healthy the day before, there was no way to know what could have been done to save them. Which is why old age is definitely a factor.

"I suppose you are just doing it for clarity. Just know that I am also sad for the fish." She knew that, she could hear it in his voice. "At least it seems the other fish did not try to eat them in time. I know that they will eat dead fish." Optimus assumed that it was possible that the fish died within the last few hours based on that, but he did not say it out loud. "I suppose you won't want to use the toilet and have a feed until after you've checked the tanks."

"That's right, daddy. I'll be okay." Azura focused as she filled the little test tubes with the tank water to test each vial for PH, ammonia, nitrate and nitrite levels. She would be surprised if any of those have had a sharp change, due to the fact that she has taken care of the tanks extremely well. "I guess I just need to process it as well."

Optimus completely understood. Grief at her age would be hard to manage, so Optimus would be there. He watched as she carefully poured the correct drops in each vial to see what the tank had. And it seemed, but her expression, that the PH was the correct level, and there was no high ammonia, nitrite or nitrate, which pretty much confirmed what caused the fish to die. She tested the other two tanks too to make sure, and they were clear. This was a relief to Azura, even though she was still deeply upset.

When she finished doing that, she ran into the bathroom as she really needed to go by the time she finished water testing. Optimus smiled as he saw her dashing to the bathroom. He didn't fully understand the need, but he never stopped her. Optimus did still wonder if she would still use it when she goes through the procedure to repair her current system and give her body the full system that was needed for her to grow and survive properly, but Ratchet already suspected it wouldn't change anything.

Optimus waited patiently until Azura finished and she walked out of the bathroom, walking towards the tanks again as her optics eye the bag with the dead fish. "What do you wish to do with them?" Optimus asked the sparkling gently. "I don't imagine you want to keep them around. Do you wish to bury them?" Azura nodded and turned to him before lifting her arms up to him, and Optimus picked her up. "Where would you like to bury them?"

Azura thought about the place to bury the fish for a moment before she looked at Optimus. "Well…next to Cliff." That surprised Optimus as he had not expected that. "He was here when I sat up the first tank. He was here when those fish first arrived. So…I do think that it would be good to bury them next to him. I am not sure where else they could be buried, as there is no where significant for me."

Optimus smiled at her and kissed her forehead gently. "That is a wonderful idea. Do you want to do that now? Or later?"

Azura pondered for a moment. She wanted to wait, but she also did not want the room to stink like dead fish. There really was no use in the fish sitting on the desk for the whole day. She sniffled as she let more tears fall and looked at Optimus's opitcs. "I guess we can do it now. I guess I would rather just…not hang onto them. It will make burying them later harder, and fish tend to stink rather quickly as well." She sniffled again and Optimus leaned down to grab the bag gently. "You will come with me?"

Optimus nodded. "Of course. There is no reason not to."

Azura was happy as she wrapped her arms around Optimus's neck and buried her face into the crook of his neck as more tears fall from her eyes. "Thank you…the last few days have been nice and quiet at least. And you were supposed to take me for training today."

"Do you want to skip it?" She shook her head and Optimus softened his expression. "Are you certain you wish to train today? There is no shame in missing it to grieve, Azura. And you know that the training itself can be done on a different day."

Azura looked at his optics and kissed his cheek gently, appreciating the gentleness from her father. "I am certain, daddy. I will be able to train fine, but if I do struggle to concentrate, then I guess we can stop it and come home."

Optimus expected that to happen, but he kept that to himself. He made his way to the lobby, and Azura noticed no other autobots were in the lobby. That was a surprise. Ratchet usually was here, but she guessed he was in recharge, in his lab or he was doing something else. The other autobots likely were with the humans, so Azura did not find that strange at all. She did not bother asking about it as she turned her head to look at the bag in her hand as Optimus walked over to the lift platform.

Azura knew she had given the fish a good life. Though it was short, it was good. Azura smiled a little to herself, even though it was sad to say goodbye to them. She was glad that she could bury them next to Cliff. It might not be necessarily significant to the autobots, but it was to her. After all, she got the fish three years ago. And it felt like another piece of her past when she and the autobots had first met had been ripped away. She was thankful she had the fish, they had given her something to look forward to everyday. And she now had more reasons to be happy.

Optimus rubbed Azura's back gently as he walked to the lift platform and pressed the button to have the lift raise towards the top of the silo. It has been some time since Optimus had been at the top of the silo. He knew Arcee came to here often to sit by Cliff's grave and speak with him about her thoughts and troubles. It was something she did to cope with grieving the loss of her sparkmate. It will be nice to give some respect to Cliffjumper while he was up there while Azura buried the fish beside the stones.

Once they were on the top of the silo, Azura glanced around at the desert as Optimus stepped off the lift and approached the pile of rockets that covered the only piece they had of Cliff's body. Azura smiled a little as the desert looked beautiful. She intakes heavily, feeling the fresh air around her and warm sun on her body. She wiped some more tears away and looked down as Optimus stopped in front of the rock pile.

He lowered the sparkling to the ground and she walked over to the rocks, staring at them tearfully before moving to the right side and kneeling down to start digging a small hole beside them. Optimus crouched as he watched Azura quietly. Once she had dug the hole, she gently turned the bag to drop the fish bodies into the hole and she covered them and placed a pale rock on top, so they would know where they were.

Azura leaned back as she rests the back of her hands on her knees while she stared at the rock. She took deep intakes and exhales to keep herself calm as much as possible. She did feel sad for losing the fish, but knew that they had a good life. It was just saying good bye that was the hardest for her to deal with. She smiled a little as she stared at the rock before she glanced up at the sky.

She stared at the white clouds before concentrating. It didn't take long for the clouds to darken slightly, and Optimus took immediate notice, especially as a light shower began to fall and a rainbow formed from the water and light. Azura smiled as she stared at the rainbow as a symbol of the rainbow bridge for animals. She felt it was right to symbolize it for her fish, and it made her feel better.

"It would seem you didn't need to concentrate much to have those clouds and rain form," Optimus commented gently, making Azura flinch and look at him. "We might be right about that crystal." She placed her hand on her crystal as she wasn't thinking on that. "But you created a wonderful symbol, Azura. A rainbow for the rainbow fish is quite beautiful." She smiled and nodded in agreement, turning her head and looking up at the rainbow. "Take your time, Azura."

Azura thoroughly appreciated Optimus respecting her need to process the loss of some of her pets. She knew that some of the other older fish would likely follow soon, and she would bury them here as well. She let some more tears fall as knowing that still hurt. She knew she could get more fish, but she probably wouldn't for a long time. After all, she grew attached to each little animal that she cared for in those tanks. Getting more too soon didn't feel right.

Azura intakes heavily and stood up, brushing the sand from her knees and turned to face Optimus. "I guess we should get ready for the day. My tank is rumbling, and I am hungry." She smiled at him and he picked her up again gently. He stood up and cradled her before he turned to walk back to the platform. "Thank you for being patient with me, daddy. I wasn't expecting to wake up to find some of my fish dead…especially since you looked after them so well when I wasn't here. It feels a bit unfair, but I did run away at the time."

Optimus smiled at her and kissed her forehead gently. "Azura, don't blame yourself. I went about it the wrong way when we were reunited three years ago." She listened to him intently as she was curious about what he was going to tell her. "If I…I had thought of a better way to approach you, things might have been different."

"I know, but I don't blame you, daddy. You probably thought you would never see me again, so it was like I came back from the dead." She placed her hand on his cheek and he softened his smile as he appreciated her kind words. "And considering I am an infant, you probably weren't sure how to approach the situation. Especially since you had no idea about my personality, likes, dislikes and so on."

"You are correct. I was unstable. I am not normally like that, so it was unusual. But I am glad that everyone has understood. It isn't like I intended to hurt you or push you away, but it happened." He kissed her forehead again and she giggled a little. "But we don't need to think back to it, Azura. You and I are close. I love you so much."

"Me too, daddy. Me too." She giggled some more as she nuzzled his cheek gently. He reached the lift and pressed the button to go back down. She glanced at her crystal thoughtfully and looked back at him. "You know, if I am now able to use my abilities effortlessly, I might not need as much training."

The autobot hummed in amusement as he listened to her. "Do not get overconfident in your abilities, Azura. The crystal may have given you the edge you need to control your abilities, but you still need to train on precision. You can't just control water, fire, ice and so on a whim, Azura. You should know this."

"Yeah, I do. I know…sorry." Azura didn't want to be too overconfident, she had not meant to be, but she guessed she just acted like that. "I might still be getting used to the crystal, but I am also happy at the idea of not needing to struggle."

"And that is fully understandable. But you still need to learn and be responsible." He opened the panel on his chassis and Azura smiled and bounced excitedly as she was very hungry. "But until we go and do some training, you need to fill your tank." She took a hold of the line and placed the tip in her mouth, waiting patiently for the fuel line to fill with low-grade energon. And it didn't take long. "Especially since you are needing a lot of it."

Azura did not argue. She ingested a lot of low-grade energon. But she was growing, so it made sense. She began to gulp down the low-grade energon happily as she relaxed against Optimus's shoulder. She knew she was never going to get tired of it. She did wonder, as she grew older, if she would got through that teenager stage and resent anyone touching her. She hoped not. Azura couldn't imagine acting that way. But she knew she wouldn't know until that happened.

Her past though would likely factor into that. Especially since her first years were hard, and she had to learn on her own without Optimus. And she cherished being with him everyday so much, so it was hard for her to imagine being that way. So she hoped she would always enjoy when Optimus hugged her. She knew she will not always be held like this as she grows, especially when she gets much bigger, but she would still enjoy her father daughter bonding time.

Once the platform reached the bottom, Optimus made his way to the lobby where he would find Ratchet at one of the consoles. The medic turned his head and seemed surprised as he had not expected Optimus to walk in from the direction he had walked from. "Where were the two of you?"

"On top of the silo." The medic stared at Optimus curiously, glancing at the feeding sparkling as he was not sure why the two were at the top of the base. "Azura woke up to several of the older, rainbow fish passed away in one of the tanks. She wanted to bury their little bodies beside Cliffjumper's grave." Ratchet immediately softened his expression as he now understood. "Azura is coping fine, but she is still sad and grieving for the loss of her pets. Even I am sad, as I did look after them very well in her absence. But it seems their lives are far shorter than humans."

"I see." Ratchet saw that Azura's face was filled with sadness as she listened to them. "I am sorry you woke up to losing a pet. I might not have had anything to do with the fish, but I know you cared deeply for them." She nodded and sniffled a little while she focused on drinking the energon. "Does that mean you plan to train has been pushed to another day?"

"Azura is adamant that she wants to continue through with the day. If she feels like she can't, I'll bring her back. I am fully aware of how long it can take for a sparkling to fully process their grief." Optimus glanced towards the driveway as he heard the engines of the other autobots arriving. "Of course, she can always choose to spend time with one of the others."

"She wants to go and have another mud fight again, huh?" Bulkhead said enthusiastically as he transformed upon reaching the lobby. "I am all down for it!" He chuckled as he hit his fists together playfully.

Ratchet shook his head. "So you can trudge mud into the base again?! Absolutely not!" Azura giggled as she was still amused that he had disliked that in the first place. "While I understand you and Azura had a good time, you still carried mud into this base. It took you way too long to even clean it up."

Bulkhead rolled his optics in amusement at the medic. "Calm yourself, doc. I was only kidding." He looked at Azura curiously and looked at Optimus. "But why were you suggesting she could spend time with us? I thought she would be training."

Arcee smirked a little. "Well, maybe Azura wants to just be a sparkling and have fun. And I understand. I have a great idea she and I could do together."

Optimus was smiling in amusement at the autobots. "The reason I suggested that is because some of the fish have passed away from one of her tanks." Arcee, Bulkhead and Bumblebee immediately softened their expressions to sympathy for the sparkling. "And Azura may have trouble focusing on her training today due to that reason."

"And spending time with us doesn't really require thinking. If you ever need a little pep talking or a shoulder to cry on, I will be there for you, Azura. Or…" Bumblebee had to think on something else for a moment. "We could definitely play a video game, or watch a movie, whatever you want, Azura. Only if you think that will help you feel better."

Azura was smiling as the autobots were being so thoughtful. She looked at Bee with a grateful expression. "Thanks, Bee. While I am sad about the fish, I do want to go and train. I want to keep my mind thinking about other things. But if I change my mind, a movie would probably be my first choice."

"Perfect!" Bumblebee pumped his fist happily as he knew what Azura will do if she felt the need to come back from training. "I know you are going to do well with your training too, Azura. Don't forget that. You're a little super star here."

Azura giggled while she continued to feed from Optimus. She thoroughly appreciated the support from the autobots. She knew that they would not fully understand, but she was glad that they supported her. And Optimus was sad about the loss of the fish too, which was nice as well. He might not feel the same connection, but he sympathized. She was still hoping for a good day for training. She was sad, but she wanted to train to take her mind off them.

Plus, knowing how to control her abilities, even with the ease of having something like the crystal to help her, was important. And if Optimus was right, then it needed to be reeled in. Azura had yet to even be happy about the crystal being a part of her chassis, even though she would never lose it again. She knew she would get used to it, as it was not coming off at all. But that still did not mean she would be happy with it. But at the end of the day, being confident in herself with her abilities was the most important thing.