Azura cried softly as she mourned the loss of Cliffjumper. It seemed like it was too good to be true. His life signal coming back online was nothing more than a false hope. Azura knew that she would forever carry the guilt now of never being able to apologize to Cliffjumper in person. She could only go to his grave to do it. It wasn't the best feeling and she didn't know how she was going to process it. She knew that the autobots would have done what they could. They explosion that followed them through the ground bridge clearly showed something went down. And Azura has already seen how they fight. She wondered if she would have to learn to fight like that at some point too.

She was distracted when Miko ran over to the railing, all excited with a big smile on her face. "What was that explosion?" She asked, pointing at the tunnel while Azura stared at the girl in disbelief. She had the audacity to think this was fun, and clearly wasn't taking it seriously. "Was there a fight? Can I come with next time?"

Ratchet himself was in shock at the girl's audacity, but he was holding his tongue. However, Arcee did not seem like she could. She growled angrily, glaring at the girl for her disrespect to the autobots. "Look…"

The femme did not have a chance to say much as Jack walked over, seemingly shocked himself at Miko's words. "Hey, hey, Miko…" The girl looked at the boy when she was addressed by him as he placed his hand on her shoulder. "Let's go see what the bots hide in their sock drawers."

He pulled the girl along as Miko's expression turned to unimpressed. "Seriously?"

Azura really wanted to say something, but she held her tongue. Ratchet was still rubbing her back gently as he looked at Arcee, who seemed to be the most shaken out of them all. She was actually still visibly trembling. Azura couldn't help but worry that Arcee had seen something horrific regarding Cliff, and she was glad she was not there to see it. But she also wished she was…at least she would have closure, even if it was bitter.

"Arcee, what did you see?" Optimus asked the femme gently as she placed her hands on her arms.

Arcee shivered with a slight grimace of horror. "Not Cliff. At least, not anymore." Azura frowned a little as she listened and wiped the tears from her cheeks as she listened to the femme. "He was mutated. Butchered…" The pain in her voice was clear as she remembered what had happened and Azura was trying to picture what Arcee had seen. "Like…something from those con experiments during the war." Arcee suddenly seemed to get lightheaded and fell to the side, bracing herself on some boxes near her.

Bumblebee stepped forward in concern as Ratchet suddenly hands Azura to Optimus. Azura had been surprised, but she did not complain as Ratchet had to tend to Arcee. "Are you feeling okay, Arcee?" The scout asked worryingly.

Arcee raised her hand to them as she stared at the ground. "I'm fine…just dizzy." She placed her hand back on the box to keep herself braced.

That was definitely a concern. Azura did not see any visible injuries, but that did not mean anything. She barely heard the kids say something to each other as Arcee pulled herself onto the box as Ratchet stepped forward to scan her body for anything unusual. At first, there was nothing until the scanner scanned her left hand resting on her knee. Ratchet scanned back over it just to be sure until he focused on the point.

He turned off the scanner, staring at the wrist and Azura was just able to see some kind of purple substance on Arcee's hand. And for some reason, she felt herself shiver as though she knew what it was. "What is this?" Ratchet asked in concern as he gazed at the liquid substance, narrowing his optics as he studied it.

"Don't know." Arcee shook her head and placed her hand on her head as she was still feeling dizzy. "Cliff was covered in it. Leaking it."

Ratchet said nothing as he grabbed out a large scalpel and took hold of her wrist to quickly scrape off the substance. Azura was surprised he was able to get most of it in one scoop. "Go take a decontamination bath now."

Arcee said nothing as Bumblebee assisted the femme to her feet. Azura watched as the femme walked away, stumbling a little from dizziness as she wondered what the substance was. She glanced back at Ratchet as he walked away with the sample. The weird feeling of déjà vu from seeing it made her wonder how her subconscious knew what it was. But her thoughts of wondering about it was interrupted.

"O-Optimus, I hate to bug," Jack began politely, sounding guilty about speaking to him after overhearing such a heavy matter and Optimus turned to face the boy. "But no bars." He held up his phone to show Optimus there was no signal.

"A security precaution," Optimus explained to the boy calmly, seemingly unconcerned by this issue. "The silo walls isolate all radio waves."

Jack immediately seemed very worried at the thought of not being able to use his phone. "Well, if I don't call my mum, like now, I'm pretty sure the cops will be out looking for me."

Optimus seemed concerned by the sentence and leaned in slightly. "Have you broken the law?" Azura snorted in amusement and Optimus briefly glanced at her as her amusement confused him briefly.

"Oh, curfew," Jack shrugged in response to Optimus's question. "It's after ten pm." She widened her eyes when she realized what time it was. That made her realize she was tired and Azura yawned suddenly, making her cover her mouth as she had not expected to do that in that moment.

Raf nodded in agreement. "I better get home too, or I'll be grounded for a year."

Optimus looked at Azura curiously. "Is this something that is normal on this planet?" She nodded and Jack raised an eyebrow. "Earth customs, I hadn't considered." He moved to place Azura on the platform and she happily slipped off to stretch her legs, even though she actually wanted to remain in his hand as it was comforting to her in this moment of grief. "But the issue of your safety remains. Azura will have the luxury of remaining here with us at the base, and I will bring her to school tomorrow." She looked up at Optimus in surprise, but she couldn't feel the desire to smile. She was still too sad. Optimus glanced behind him as Bumblebee walked back into the lobby at this time. "Bulkhead…" The wrecker stepped forward when addressed by his leader. "Accompany Miko home."

Miko was immediately excited by the idea. "Awesome! My host parents will freak!" Azura rolled her eyes in irritation at the girl. She wished Arcee didn't bring this girl, but she couldn't say anything.

"And maintain covert surveillance," Optimus continued his instruction as he completely ignored Miko's comment. "In vehicle form."

Bulkhead and Optimus turn to glance at the kids. "Curb side duty, got it."

Miko was rather disappointed to say the least, and she groaned loudly knowing she couldn't show or even tell her host parents about the autobots. Azura did wonder why the girl would even think that was okay, when it was clearly a classfied place. If Azura wasn't a sparkling, she would still think Miko was not thinking. She wondered what exactly was even going through her head since it seemed like she was acting way younger than her actual age. Rafael actually seemed more mature than her.

Optimus glanced over at Bumblebee. "Bumblebee, you'll watch over Raf." The young boy smiled at Bee looked at him. It was a good fit, Raf somehow could understand him. Optimus than turned towards Ratchet who was at his desk looking at the sample just as Arcee walked into the lobby as she was done with her decontamination bath. "Ratchet…"

The medic raised his hand quickly. "Busy."

Acknowledging that Ratchet was busy with something important, Optimus glanced at the femme. "Arcee, you'll accompany Jack."

Jack himself was shocked as he stiffened and rubbed the back of his head. Arcee wasn't thrilled about this either, so she simply sighed loudly and rubbed her head. "Woah, still dizzy."

"Your fine, says your physician," Ratchet spoke quickly and glanced over his shoulder. "Optimus will be remaining here as he will look after, Azura."

Arcee grumbled under her breath, knowing that Optimus was needed here. She just wanted to have space to herself to relax, but she was put on some other kind of duty. The three autobots line up in front of the entrance to the driveway and transform, waiting for the children to take them home. Azura watched as they walk down the stairs and she followed them as she wanted to start making her way to her home.

Jack paused and turned to face Azura with a sympathetic expression. "Hey…" She looked up at the boy in surprise. "I just wanted to say that I am sorry for your loss. It sounds like Cliff was a good friend to you."

She smiled a little as some more tears fall from her eyes. "He was like a big brother to me…" She sniffled and rubbed below her nose. "I guess…Bee will kind of take his place, even though I also think of him as a brother."

"I still think it was cool of them to go and try to save Cliff though," Miko commented in a cheerful tone that rubbed Azura the wrong way and she frowned at the girl. "I am not sure what exactly went on, but it looks like there was fight. Ugh! If only I was there to take some snaps to remember it by."

Azura grits her teeth and Jack glanced between her and Miko, worried about what was going to happen. "Are. You. Serious?" She asked in an angry tone as she glared at the girl. Miko reached the bottom and turned to look at Azura in surprise. "Do you talk this way to everyone who lost a friend, spouse or family?"

"Uh, no, of course not. That would be wrong." Miko placed her hands on her hips defensively. "I lost my grandmother a few years back and…"

"You should know exactly what that feels like!" Azura snapped. Optimus had turned to speak with Ratchet about something and looked back when he heard Azura's angry tone. "I can't…why are you acting like this is some sort of game? This is real! I…Jack, Raf and I could have died yesterday! They could have died today too!" She points at the autobot vehicle modes angrily. "I lost someone near and dear, and you are just…just being unbelievably immature about it!"

Miko took a deep breath and softened her expression. "I'm sorry, okay? You are right. I said something stupid…I guess…I was just so riled up…" She gasped loudly in surprise when Azura suddenly shoved her hard. Azura had never laid a finger on someone else, and Miko was actually shoved rather forcefully compared to a human teenager shoving her. And she landed on her backside and elbows very hard, scraping the skin on her elbows. "Ow! What the…" She frowned at Azura with a pained expression. "I said I was sorry!"

Azura let out a sob as Jack moved in front of her. "Let's just calm down, alright?" He glanced at Miko with a frown. "You really should have held your tongue, Miko." The girl huffed as she stood up slowly. Bulkhead, Bee and Arcee transformed back into their full forms as they were shocked. Jack looked at Azura. "And she did apologize."

"It sounded insincere…" Azura muttered with a sniffle.

"As much as verbal conflict is to be expected amongst yourselves, physical altercations between your four will not be tolerated," Optimus spoke in a stern tone as Miko inspected her elbows and looked up at the leader. "Is that understood?" He glanced at Azura, disappointed she had shoved the girl even when she had apologized.

"We completely understand!" Jack said affirmatively with a nod. "I'll make sure we remain calm."

Optimus nodded and looked at Azura. The girl was walking away slowly as she looked at the floor. "Is that understood, Azura?"

Azura flinched when she was addressed and turned slightly with a sniffle. "Understood." Her voice cracked when she responded and turned away as she kept walking.

Miko's elbows were bleeding a little from the impact on the ground and she was not happy. "Ugh…that hurts…" She complained with a sigh.

"You kind of deserved it," Jack commented with a frown at her. "Being insensitive is not tolerable."

"I know…I won't do it again." Miko turned to Bulkhead. The bots were still concerned, but the three of them transformed back into their vehicle modes. Miko climbed into the passenger side. "Is it odd that she seemed stronger than normal?"

Jack looked at Miko in surprise when he sat on the bike. "Um…I don't think so. She was at a breaking point."

"Hmm…maybe…" Miko shrugged as the door closed and Bulkhead drove away.

Bumblebee followed shortly after and Arcee was the last to leave. Optimus himself was disappointed by how Miko had responded to hearing of their loss. He didn't quite understand, but he knew she was young. He was not there to discipline the girl. But he did know that Azura was stronger than the children, not terribly stronger, but strong enough to break a bone easily if she wanted to. She might be an infant sparkling, but she is still a Cybertronian. And she will always be stronger than a human.

Optimus walked towards the hallway, deciding he should speak with Azura. "Optimus…" He stopped in his step and turned to Ratchet. The medic was looking up from his microscope with a concerned expression. "I know you've made the decision to allow Azura to go to school. I hope it will be a wise decision."

"It should be. I do not want Azura to be excluded. And she does not wish to let them know about…her real identity." Optimus himself felt extremely awkward about not telling the truth to the children. But he understood why, and yet, Jack has already seemed to notice something was different. "If I refuse to let her go to school, they will ask questions. Azura is already going through…the loss of Cliff, and learning to accept who she is."

"At least she didn't cause serious damage to that girl," Ratchet said as he turned to look back into the microscope. "I hope Azura will realize she is stronger than humans are. I know she reacted out of pain and frustration, and to be frank, I don't understand that human. At least Jack and Raf have sense. Raf even helped to clear out errors in the system, surprisingly…"

Optimus smiled slightly upon hearing Ratchet comment about the young boy. "That is good to hear, Ratchet. I think you have underestimated them because they were young humans. But they have much to learn about us, as we do them. I believe we will form bonds with them in time." He turned with that and continued walking. "I need to attend to Azura."

Optimus knew that on top of all the emotions that she had been feeling, Azura was tired as well. It certainly was not the best mix, which would have fed the reason why she had shoved Miko. Optimus wasn't angry, he was simply disappointed that she had gone ahead with that action. Even if it was seen as justified by Jack, Optimus would not encourage such behavior in the base. Arguments would be normal, but not physical altercations.

Optimus could hear Azura's crying as he approached her room. She was really wailing and his spark hurt as he listened to her. But he did need to speak with her. He entered her room and he saw Azura was in the berth. He knew she would have climbed the stairs to reach it and she was hugging the unicorn plush against her cheat tightly and her cheeks were stained and eyes were red.

She glanced up at him and looked away quickly. Nothing was said as Optimus walked over to one of the drawers to get out pyjamas for her. There was no reason to not get things ready for her. Azura glanced at him as Optimus walked into the bathroom and she heard him run the bath. She didn't know if this meant that Optimus was really mad at her or not as he has said nothing to her this whole time.

She waited until the water was turned off and Optimus walked back over to her. "Are you...mad at me?" Azura asked in a small voice, sniffling as she looked at him.

Optimus shook his head. "No. I am disappointed in you, however." She groaned and looked away from him. "I do understand you are grieving, Azura. I am also feeling sad that I couldn't bring Cliffjumper home. However, it was something we had to do as it could have been a chance to save him."

"I know. You tried." Azura wiped her cheeks and sniffled again. "I just...got angry at Miko. And I'm supposed to be an infant sparkling, and she goes ahead and says things like that."

"Miko seems like she isn't mature for her age," Optimus agreed as he listened to her. "But I do not tolerate any form of physical altercations within the base. You might have felt justified, but Miko did apologize." Azura just frowned slightly as she still felt it was insincere. "And you need to understand that you are stronger than those three. You might be the same size as Miko, maybe a little smaller since your growth has slowed from lack of low-grade energon, but you are at least twice as strong, maybe a little more. Even at your age, you can break bones in a human easily. We were lucky you didn't use your full strength."

Azura knew she was small, she hadn't grown much since Optimus last saw her three years ago, and she was a little smaller than Miko. But she did think she was as strong as them. "But my body is weakened from lack of energon...I guess that was lucky." She pulled up her knees as she leaned against the side of the berth. "I will try to keep my hands to myself."

Optimus noticed Azura's knees seemed to be scraped. There was small droplets of energon on her skin. He suspected she might have slipped on the stairs when she rushed up them. He gently picked her up from the berth and smiled slightly when she immediately huddled against his chassis when he brought her against his chassis.

"That could also be a factor, but you are still stronger, nonetheless," Optimus said to her gently as she leans against him. She was still hugging the plush as it was bringing her comfort from holding the stuffed toy. "And the last thing we want is for you to cause unintentional damage to the human children. Your grief is valid, and I do not want you to stop grieving for Cliff, but I do want you to learn to control your actions and reactions."

"I'll try." Azura did not know how she would cope. She hasn't really been through something like this, on top of being stressed at accepting who she is and now having to learn more things from Alpha Trion during her sleep. She almost wished she could create a storm and sit in the middle of it forever. At least it would be peaceful, while the world around her would rage without bothering her. "Can I have some energon? I am hungry."

"I had thought that would be the case," Optimus said with a smile as he opened the panel and drew out the transparent fuel line. "I do hope you will be fine for school tomorrow." She smiled a little as she took a hold of the line and watched as the pale, blue liquid began to flow. "I know you were surprised I have decided to allow you to go, but I know it would not be fair for you to not go as it would make things more suspicious from the children."

"Yeah…I think Jack is the most suspicious. But he did spend the most time with me." Azura stared at the low-grade as she waited for it to reach the tip as she was hungry and eager to ingest it. "I don't intend on dragging it out for a long time…I don't even know how to tell them if…I am still…" She glanced up at Optimus and looked away with a guilty expression. "I lived my whole life on this planet, and I have…somewhat accepted that I am not a human, but I still have yet to fully accept…everything else."

"And I expect that to be the case for some time." Azura placed the end of the fuel line into her mouth and began to drink the low-grade energon and she closed her eyes as she enjoyed the taste of the energon. "If you do ever need space from us, Azura, I might be able to have that arranged. But it would certainly need to be safe for us to do so."

Azura knew that. She wasn't going to expect Optimus to just let her walk away again. She didn't really intend to. Being with the autobots was something she was still getting used to, but the need to be with them now was getting stronger. Especially with Optimus. She knew it was due to the fact he was her father, and he brought her comfort in this time of grief, but she was relaxing around them as well. And slowly, but surely, accepting she is a Cybertronian and who her father is.

Azura really did not feel up to talking at this time. She was extremely tired, and she found herself having a hard time fighting sleep. This would be the second time it has happened and Optimus found himself highly amused. He did not make her try to fight the need for recharge and she soon fell asleep shortly after he stopped the flow of low-grade energon. He pulled the line inside and took her into the bathroom to undress her and bathe her. He did think he might wake her up from these actions, but thankfully that did not happen.

He did have to take the plush she was still holding onto in order to clean her. He inspected the injuries on her knees and simply cleaned them and applied some ointment to them to ensure they would not discomfort her the day after. He did not take long bathing her and dressing her. Optimus was happy to do this. All these little things that he could do for her was something he loved. He soon laid her down in the berth and she took hold of the toy when he placed it back with her. He knew it was out of reflex as she stretched her limbs in her sleep and relaxed. He leaned down and kissed her forehead gently, wishing his daughter a wonderful dream.

In Azura's Dream

Once again finding herself in her dream, Azura found herself within the castle instead of standing in front of the mirrors. She was surprised because that it what she had expected. Instead, she was inside a large room that somewhat mirrored the room she had in the base. Instead of a high berth, she was in a lower nest surrounding by energon crystals that were warm. There were some mirrors on the wall, but they were decorated with golden fern leaves on the corners unlike the plain mirrors she used to see. This seemed significant.

She stood up and approached the mirrors to see she was still the celestial dragon in this world. She felt like she had to keep looking in the mirrors to see if she was a dragon or human. She walked over to the large, wooden door and pushed it open, flinching a little when she saw the door opened to a set of stairs overlooking the large room with the pools in the ground. That was another thing she had not expected at all to see.

"Evening, young Azura," Alpha Trion's gentle voice spoke as she looked around and spotted him walking down a set of wide stairs at the other end of the room. "I have been awaiting your return since yesterday. There is much for us to discuss."

Azura smiled a little and walked down the stairs carefully. "I…I haven't had a good day today, Alpha Trion. I have been hurting all day. I hope that…well…" She reached the bottom and took a deep breath. "I feel like I've let Cliff down. I didn't return to the base like he asked me too, and I said bad things."

"Cliffjumper has forgiven you, young Azura," Alpha Trion responded to the girl in a reassuring tone, making her gaze at him curiously. "He is with the All Spark, and he is at peace. You have no need to feel guilty for your words and actions in the past. You will learn from it and wisen from those lessons." She nodded a little and he smiled at her. "And it would seem, the wall you have put up for yourself is slowly falling down. I am happy to see that happen."

Azura didn't want to admit it out loud, but Alpha Trion was not incorrect about the walls coming down. "I think I am ready to look into the pools. Since they seem to be used as a mirror…I am not sure what exactly to expect."

"And to be honest, I don't even know what you will see either," Alpha Trion admitted kindly as Azura listened to him. "All I know is that they will be things Primus wants you to see. Just remember, youngling, you can pull away at anytime. There is no shame in looking away and needing a break." She simply nodded and looked at them as she wondered which one she should look at first. "The pool with the pearls is the one you should look into first, Azura. As I said yesterday."

Azura did not know which pool had pearls, but she walked over to the pools and looked into each one until she saw the pool with a silver tinge to the water with the pearls at the bottom. She did not know what to expect. But as these pools seemed to be mirrors to the past, present and future, she was nervous on what she might see. She walked over to it and glanced at Alpha Trion. He nodded, giving her the encouragement to look into the pool and see what would reflect back to her. She looked into the pool and stared. At first, nothing would happen. But then the water rippled and image began to form on the surface, making her widen her eyes in amazement at what she was seeing right now.