I woke up to the sound and smell of the ocean, and I smiled. Yesterday we'd spent the afternoon swimming, and then after dinner (fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, and soooo good!), Mrs. Lennox had shown up with Annabelle, Mr. Lennox, and Ironhide and all the fixings for s'mores (melty, crunchy, and amazing, even if she only brought milk chocolate and it was too sweet – it was s'mores so it was supposed to be). Other than lots of people saying "Glad you're home safe, Daemon" lots of times, we didn't really talk about what had happened, but I was okay with that. I felt safe and I felt surrounded by people who cared about me. In some ways, it was almost like the kidnapping had just been a bad dream. Almost.

Mom and Dad were still snoring in the bedroom, but 'Trice and I had slept in the other room of the cabin, both of us in hammocks. She sat up when she heard me moving and grinned like it was Christmas morning.

"Want to explore?" I whispered to her.

She nodded and we both got up and went outside as quietly as we could, not bothering to change out of our pajamas since our clothes were all in the same room as Mom and Dad.

Trailbreaker and Hound were both in their alt-forms in the sand.

'Trice tip-toed over to Hound and whispered, "Psst! You can come out now."

"If I did that," Hound's voice quietly said behind us, making us both jump, "it'd wake your parents up and we all know how bad of an idea that is."

I turned to see both of them in their holoforms dressed in shorts and Hawaiian shirts, and Hound was grinning like crazy that he'd pranked us.

"Come on," Trailbreaker whispered, nodding up the beach and away from the cabins. "Let's go where we can actually talk."

'Trice took Hound's hand and 'Breaker and I strolled behind them, and she said, "I dreamed last night that everybody left. Uncle Optimus, Prowl, Ironhide, Chromia, even Besty." Then she looked up at Hound. "But you didn't. You and Trailbreaker both stayed."

Hound squeezed her hand and looked at her with a serious gaze. "That's probably because we'll always stay with you two, as long as you want us." He glanced back at me and I nodded – yes, I was glad they were with us. "I'm your guardian, 'Trice. And Trailbreaker is Daemon's. We'll always be here to protect you."

"Though there might be some changes," Trailbreaker said, sounding like he and Hound had already had this conversation.

"I hope not," I blurted out. "You guys are like brothers to us."

"That means a lot," Trailbreaker said. "Hound and I actually are brothers, and we feel like you're family – like you're kin – too. That's why we agreed to be your guardians. We'd both gladly fight to the death to protect you."

"I hope it never comes to that!" I said, suddenly imagining Trailbreaker fighting Shockwave to protect me. Trailbreaker wasn't much smaller than Shockwave, but he was a lot nicer, and I could only imagine that working against him in an actual battle.

"It won't," 'Trice said, though she didn't exactly sound confident. "It was just a dream. It doesn't mean anything. You stayed behind in my dream because you'll always stay. Right?"

"Right," Hound firmly said.

She looked up at him and smiled. "Promise?"

"Promise," he and Trailbreaker said at the same time.

When I glanced up at my guardian, he was smiling at me instead of 'Trice, and I grinned. Impulsively, I gave him a hug.

Behind us, I heard Mom shout, "KIDS?! 'TRICE! DAEMON!" like she was really scared.

Trailbreaker turned around and called out, "They're both with us!" as Mom came running out of the cabin.

Only then did I really understand that she was scared. Mom and Dad were both as shook up by what happened to me as I was. Maybe even more. I guess we'd all have to deal with this kidnapping thing. Glancing up at Trailbreaker, I grinned again to know that we were surrounded by people who loved us and who would always help us.

Then I sprinted across the sand back to Mom and caught her in a hug.

…

We were just finishing breakfast (omelets and hashbrown patties, and it still tasted so good!) when Jazz's and Prowl's holoforms walked into the mess hall.

"You okay, Prowl?" Mom asked when they got close to our table. "You look a little…"

"I am well," he said, cutting Mom off.

"He's jus' a lil' shook up by some good news," Jazz said. "Happens ta the best a' us." To me, he asked, "Ya ready ta answer a few questions, squirt?"

"Sure," I easily agreed.

"Do ya want anyone else ta come with ya?"

I glanced up at Mom, but I was going to tell Jazz and Prowl everything. Mom might get upset about some of the stuff I said again and whisk me off to Ratchet or something. I knew Jazz and trusted him, unlike that Doctor Whatever-Her-Name-Was.

"Naw," I told Jazz. "I'm fine with just you and Prowl."

To Dad, Prowl said, "We'd like to speak with you afterward on an unrelated matter."

"Okay," Dad said, obviously curious. "Just text me when you're done."

I followed Prowl and Jazz out of the mess hall to their alt-forms, and Jazz popped open his passenger-side door. I climbed in, and he drove me over to the main hangar, down a hallway, and into what looked like an Autobot-sized office.

I climbed out, they both transformed, and Jazz held out his hand so I could climb on. "Can I give ya a lift?"

I grinned. "Anytime." He put me on the surface of what I guessed was Prowl's desk, since he sat in the chair behind it. There was a recliner waiting for me there, along with a little table with some drinks and snacks on it.

"Make yourself at home," Prowl said. As I got settled in, he added, "We can go as long or as short as you'd like, Daemon, and we can take breaks any time you feel you need one. Also, should you change your mind and want to have your parents or anyone else present, you are free to let us know and we'll get them in here, too. Understood?"

"Understood," I said. There was something about Prowl that always made me feel weirdly grown up.

"So, let's start at the beginning. I understand that someone you thought was your teacher handed you a note."

I nodded and started talking. I didn't always remember the names of the Decepticons I crossed paths with, until Prowl guessed a few names and then I usually remembered. Nothing I said seemed to upset or surprise him, and he was calm in a way that was really reassuring. It wasn't until I mentioned Dirge's creepy laughing about Tracks and Annabelle that I realized it was a really dumb thing for me to have told them. "I shouldn't have said that. Now the Decepticons know who everyone's bodyguards are."

"Daemon," Prowl said, his voice all serious. "You did what you needed to in order to survive. Do not regret any choice that led to that outcome."

"But what if it causes problems later?" I asked.

"Then we will deal with them later," he firmly answered, and knowing we had Uncle Optimus and Jazz for backup, I believed him.

When I got to the part about touching the Matrix and meeting Beatus for the first time, it was Jazz who reacted. "So that's how ya knew where ta run!" he exclaimed. "The Decepticons' system alerts said ya'd bolted inta Trypticon's internals, an' then they couldn't find ya there. It shoulda been a piece a' oilcake ta track ya down in the circulation vents, so I've been wonderin' all this time."

"Yeah, and he's also the one who opened the panel that let me get out of that tunnel."

"How the frag he do that?" Jazz demanded, sounding like he didn't believe me.

I grimaced at the memory. "I'm…not really sure. I put my hand to the panel and then I felt like I was covered in fire ants."

"He must have sent a surge through Daemon's nervous system," Prowl softly said. "Mild electrocution."

"From the Matrix an' usin' the All Spark?" Jazz exclaimed. "An' without frying his brain?"

"So it would appear."

"Daaaamn! Can I adopt ya, Daemon?" he said, more teasing now. "I could use that kinda luck!"

"He did it twice," I admitted, dodging Jazz's question. Nobody was taking me away from my family again, not even him. "The first time, he helped me get out the tunnels and then the second time was to help me get back in so I could get warmed up. Then he helped me find the med bay. That's where I accidently found and brought back Jazz."

"An' that was all the doin' a' our little Beatus?" Jazz again asked.

I grinned at the memory. "Pretty much, yeah. I mean, I had to figure out how to get there without getting caught, but yeah, he was my 'guy in the chair.'"

Jazz gave Prowl a confused look and then half a second later started laughing.

"Backing up," Prowl said over him, "you touched the Matrix and had a vision or other supernatural experience in which you communicated with Beatus. What do you remember him saying?"

With a sigh, I dove back in to telling my story.

…

A month later, Dad was beside me, his arm over my shoulders, and we were standing on a platform in Ratchet's 'bot clinic. A yellow robot body lay motionless on the bed in front of us, but Ratchet wasn't paying attention to it. Instead, he was tinkering with something on the other bed. A couple of somethings, now that I looked more closely. There was a black and a purplish-red robot body laid out on the bed.

Looking at the yellow body again, I quietly asked, "This will be Beatus?" The body was as tall as Dad!

"Yes, it will be his frame."

"Is it like when I brought back Jazz? I mean, will I need to do anything?"

He chuckled softly. "Not this time. Beatus was created several years ago, but we didn't have the materials to make a frame for him. Thanks to everything Optimus, Sideswipe, and Tracks were able to scavenge from the space station you and Jazz blew up, we can finally give him a body. And it's about time. He's clung to life in Arcee's frame for more than three years."

"Like when Mom got pregnant and miscarried?"

Ratchet sighed like he was annoyed but didn't say anything.

"Not really," Dad answered, "but we'll go with a pregnancy analogy for now."

"So what are we waiting for?"

"Energon is...well, all Cybertronians need it to survive. And baby 'bots like Beatus apparently need a lot of it. Optimus is harvesting some now, and we'll top off the empty frame when he's done. Then it will be ready for us to transfer Beatus to his own frame. Huh, 'us.' I mean Ratchet. We'll watch him make the transfer."

I was glad I wasn't stuck in the base daycare, but this all seemed really epic and...grownup stuff. "And I'm here because…?"

"Beatus asked for you to be here. You two are kin, probably. He wants you to be one of the first people he gets to see with his own optics and touch with his own frame. He's excited to finally meet you for real."

Back atcha, Yellow, I thought to him, but I was alone in my head. Still, he'd been there for me when it really counted, and I was grateful to him for that. And after spending so much time around the adult Autobots, I was kind of curious what a baby 'bot would be like.

The door opened, and Uncle Optimus walked in with 'Bee and Arcee close behind. Ratchet stepped away from the other bed and accepted some kind of ginormous jar from Optimus. He hooked some hoses up to it and then connected it to Beatus' new body. A green, glowing liquid flowed down into the frame.

After a few minutes, Ratchet disconnected the hoses from the frame and set the jar aside. Then he nodded respectfully to Arcee. "Are you both ready?"

"Absolutely," she said and hopped up onto the bed. Beatus' empty body was even smaller than hers, and she was able to fit between it and the wall. Then she settled in, took the yellow frame by the hand, and opened her chest. Like Jazz, she carried her spark there, and I squinted at how bright it was.

Ratchet leaned over her and did something I couldn't quite see. Then there were two balls of light – Arcee's pale blue one and a white one that Ratchet carefully lifted and then settled into a hole in Beatus' frame. Metal panels slid forward, hiding Beatus' spark, and his dark optics lit up with blue.

Ratchet stepped back, making room for Bumblebee, and 'Bee softly said, "Beatus? Son, can you hear me?"

"Computing…" Beatus answered, his voice all wrong from the one in my head, and Arcee squeezed his hand in what looked like encouragement.

All of a sudden, he sat bolt upright and scrambled to his feet. He threw his arms around Bumblebee. "Dad! Dad, Dad, Dad!" Stepping back a bit, Beatus put his little hands on either side of 'Bee's face and looked him straight in the optics. "You're so big! And there's a squashed bug on your noseplate."

This time Arcee laughed out loud and sat up to slide off the bed, landing on her feet. Then the red and black bodies from the other bed started moving, and they leaped together with Arcee's frame to make an even bigger 'bot. She stood a little taller than 'Bee's shoulder, and she stretched like she was just waking up.

Letting go of 'Bee's face, Beatus shouted "Mom!" and jumped into the arms of the three-in-one 'bot that had been Arcee. "It worked! You've got your whole body back!"

"Yes, sweetspark, I did," Arcee answered, sounding pleased. "And if you'll stop catapulting around the room, Ratchet really should take a good look at you."

Beatus looked around the room for Ratchet but saw me first and waved. "Daemon! Daemon! See? It's really me!"

I laughed right along with Arcee. "Yep, it sure is!"

Beatus started walking across the bed toward me and Dad, but Optimus' hand blocked him. "Careful, little brother. Humans are breakable. Too much pressure and they squish."

"Awww!" Beatus whined.

"Yes," Ratchet said, guiding the baby-bot back down to sitting. Tapping a certain spot on Beatus' wrist, he said, "Open up. I need to check out your motor control and calibrate your tactile sensitivity before you get to touch any human, much less a Prime."

Optimus winked at us, though.

Behind Ratchet, Bumblebee nudged Arcee with his elbow. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

She blinked and then looked up at him in surprise. "Training range?"

"Whenever you're ready to give him a little space…" 'Bee leaned closer and (in the same voice Dad might use when saying 'dark chocolate truffles' to Mom) he said, "...training range."

Dad laughed – I guessed that it was at those two – and Beatus said, "I know you really want to, Mom, and I've got Ratchet and my brothers here, so you know I'll be safe, and Ratchet's going to probably take forever anyway."

"That would have earned me a thrown wrench," Optimus said.

"Yeah, well, I'm confident you've never been this cute, even when you were a sparkling," Ratchet grouched back. "Go ahead, you two. Beatus is right that this will take a while."

Still Arcee hesitated. "If you're sure, sweetspark."

"You'll stay in range of the bond?"

"Of course. And we can be back here in a matter of minutes when Ratchet's done with you."

Beatus shrugged. "We've both got our own frames now. We should enjoy it!"

"Wise beyond his years," Bumblebee said with approval.

"Probably his brother's fault," Ratchet said, "because he sure didn't get it from his parents." But 'Bee and Arcee were already transforming to drive off.

"Where are they going?" I asked.

Uncle Optimus answered, "To practice what you might call hand-to-hand combat skills. Arcee and Bumblebee are both excellent fighters as well as skilled scouts…"

"And now parents, too," Dad added.

Optimus nodded in agreement with Dad. "...which means they need to keep their fighting skills sharp. You and Jazz won a significant battle, but we are still very much at war. Arcee has been patient these last three years, but she has longed to have her full frame restored to her. In times of danger, her first obligation has been to protect Beatus, and that has meant that she needed to run and hide, neither of which come naturally to her."

"Hey Daemon," Beatus asked, interrupting us. "How do you play with Legos? Your dad says you like them."

I grinned, walking closer. Dad made himself comfortable by sitting on Uncle Optimus' hand where it still rested on the repair bed, so I plopped down beside him. "It'd be easier to show you, Yellow, but basically you build stuff. I'm a master builder – I don't need instructions. I can make up cool things as I go."

"Sweet! I can't wait to see!" Beatus exclaimed, and I couldn't help but grin. Ratchet was right – he was way cuter than anybody made of metal had a right to be.

…

Bumblebee and Arcee came back long before Ratchet was done with getting all of Beatus' settings perfect. Dad and I left after about another half-hour. 'Bee dropped us off at the R&R cabins with a promise to bring Beatus over for a visit once Ratchet was finished. Mom and 'Trice were already there with RaFly, and so we went swimming and enjoyed the beach until dinner time.

After dinner, I asked Dad if I could talk to him alone. He and mom exchanged a glance and he said, "Sure." Mom led 'Trice deeper into the water – away from us – while Dad and I walked along the beach.

"What's on your mind, Daemon?"

I frowned slightly, watching my toes get covered in sand as we walked. "You can't just read my mind to find out?"

He slowly sighed. "No. Or at least, not right now."

"But you could before…when I was holding the Matrix?" I glanced up at him to watch his reaction.

He half-smiled. "Yes. Understand, you weren't supposed to know about any of this until you were fifteen. We know you're still just a kid, and we don't want to rush you into growing up. But you have a big future, Daemon. Bigger than you realize."

I swallowed hard, and a part of me felt cold and scared again, like Dirge was taking me into space. "Because I'm a Prime, right?" I quietly asked.

"You have that potential, yes. But again, it's not something you need to worry about right this minute. We wanted to shelter you from all this – the War, bonds, the responsibilities of a Prime. We still do."

I thought about that as the ocean waves washed over my feet. "I am a Prime, though. I already know that because I was able to bring back Jazz. That's what he told me."

"Yes."

"So what does that mean?" I looked up at him again. He opened his mouth, but before he could lie and say I didn't need to worry about it, I said, "I got kidnapped by people I didn't even know were the bad guys. There's no point in sheltering me anymore. It's too dangerous."

"Okay…" Dad walked several paces in silence before saying, "You know how you could hear me in your mind?"

"Yeah?"

"That's what it's like to have an Autobot-style brother bond. It's the kind of bond I have with Optimus."

"That's why he's my uncle!" I suddenly realized. They weren't brothers like humans – they were brothers like Autobots!

"Yes. When we're on opposite sides of the planet, we can sense each other's feelings but not hear each other's thoughts. When we're closer in proximity like now, though…"

"He can hear you."

"And I can hear him, unless I block him," Dad quickly added. "Being brothers doesn't automatically take away your agency or privacy. But it can be a lot to take in, and there's a steep learning curve."

"How…how did that happen? For you and Optimus, I mean."

"How did we become bond-brothers?" Dad asked. When I nodded, he said, "That's a long story…" He gave me the recap version, though, telling me about The Cube and Optimus dying and Dad finding the Matrix and bringing Optimus back and then finally getting a spark of his own.

"By then, I understood what our bond meant for Optimus," he added. "I knew I didn't want to live without that connection either, and so I gladly made that choice. And you have that same potential, Daemon. Except you won't have to go through the same death-defying theatrics to get a spark. Good thing, too, or your Mom would never allow it."

I remembered Shockwave going on about how I was the son of a known Prime. "I have that potential because I'm your son?"

He chuckled softly. "It's top-secret right now, but no. That's not why. It's because you're the son of Mikaela Baines Witwicky. In human biology, the part of our cells that processes energy is passed down mother-to-child. You inherited that potential from your mom. But the Decepticons don't understand that and assumed you're a Prime because of me."

"And that's why it's a secret?"

"Yes."

I squinted as I thought about that. "So 'Trice…?"

"...has the same potential you do."

"But she's had these visions or whatever."

Dad shook his head, half-smiling. "We have no idea where that came from. Only that Jazz recognized something was up when she visited them in Autobot heaven and took her under his wing, so to speak."

"Maybe it's because she's the one who can pass on the Prime gene in humans?"

Dad stopped and looked at me. "You're one quick kid, you know that?"

I shrugged. "Well, it only makes sense…"

"Don't say anything about that to her now." He started walking again. "Like I said, we want to shelter you both from as much of this as we can. The last thing she needs is that kind of responsibility hanging over her head while growing up."

"Shockwave said giving the robots life was the function of a Prime…"

"That's one function for the human Primes, yes."

Oh crap. There were more? "What are the others?"

"Well, we all have the responsibility to protect the All Spark. Optimus has the responsibility as Prime to use the Matrix to create energon for everyone. And we have the responsibility to be the voice of the hunted to the hunter. Kind of like we are the ones who use the All Spark to create or reignite Cybertronian sparks, the opposite is also true. We have to give our consent before the Matrix can be used to destroy anything. That's important because every now and then the All Spark needs to be replenished – like recharging a battery, kind of – and the Autobots have to destroy a sun to do that. Decepticons twice tried to harvest our sun, so that's why we get a say in which star feeds the All Spark."

"How often will we need to do that?" I wondered.

"It probably won't need to be replenished again in our lifetimes. But it's a role we human Primes need to be prepared for. There's other stuff, but it's not as clearly defined. Optimus and I have helped each other all these years because we're brothers. And just because the All Spark is replenished doesn't mean our work is done. In a lot of ways, it's just beginning. There are Cybertronians dying right now from energon deprivation – they're basically starving to death. We Primes have a responsibility to help them, even we humans."

"They're all starving to death?" I repeated, horrified at the thought of Jazz or 'Breaker going through that. As much as I hated nutrition shakes now, at least I never went hungry when I was kidnapped.

Dad sighed again. "Not here on Earth. But there are likely hundreds if not thousands of Autobots and neutral Cybertronians still marooned on Cybertron with no way to get energon and no way to leave the planet. Now that the All Spark is replenished, our next job is to rescue them. But that's a grown-up Prime responsibility, not something you need to be stressing about right now. Right now, you need to learn and grow and prepare to step up when your time comes. Optimus and I can shoulder the rest for the time being."

"So how does Beatus fit into all this?" I wondered. "I could hear him in my head, too. He said something about being my clan leader."

"Beatus will still be considered a kid when your children are full-grown," Dad answered. "But he's the first in the next generation of Cybertronian Primes. Optimus was the last descendent of the first Dynasty of the Primes. When he died, so did that dynasty. Beatus and you and me and your mom and 'Trice – we're all part of the second dynasty."

"So…why does that matter? Is that why I could hear him, too?"

Dad nodded like he just remembered something. "All Primes are brothers, at least among Cybetronians. Optimus and I have a brother-bond with Beatus."

"Wait, really?"

"Yes," Dad answered. "I can hear him, too, when I'm close enough and want to. And as long as we're all somewhere on Earth, we can meet in our dreams, too. The entire clan can."

"'The entire clan'? Who does that mean?"

"Well, Beatus' parents are Bumblebee and Arcee and they each have a parent-bond with him, so they're part of the clan. Arcee and Chromia are sisters and share a sister-bond, making Chromia part of the clan. Chromia and Ironhide are spark-mates like Optimus and Elita are, so he's part of the clan, too. And, of course, there's me and Optimus."

"And Elita?"

"No. She was killed by Decepticons a few years ago, so she's severed from the clan right now. But you heard Jazz. There's every reason to hope that she'll be coming back and rejoining the clan, too."

"And you guys all…dream together?"

"Yes."

"Doesn't that ever get weird? I mean…" I tried to imagine all those different dreaming minds mish-mashing together, and it would have to turn into a really freaky nightmare pretty much every time.

"They don't dream like we do," Dad answered. "It's more like day-dreaming or lucid dreaming. It's only ever gotten weird when I'm in charge of the bond-dream."

I snorted in amusement at that, and he grinned before getting more serious again. "Maybe you'll join us one day. Maybe not. But even with the Autobots being public and the Decepticons spilling the beans early, all this Prime-related stuff is for later, when you're fifteen. And you're not getting a spark until you're at least eighteen. I mean it, and your mom is even more fiercely protective of your childhood than I am. You and 'Trice are both kids still and we're going to make sure everyone respects every minute of that."

"But you're not grounding us from everybody, right?" I pleaded. "We can still hang out with 'Bee and play video games with 'Breaker and I can get to know Beatus, right? Because we're already awesome friends, even if he'll be a kid way longer than I will."

Dad's smile was proud, but he said, "If that's what you want…then yes, you can still interact with them."

"Yes!" I jumped, punching the air, and my feet splashed in the waves when I landed. Out over the water, I shouted to Beatrice, "We're not grounded from the Autobots!"

She whooped for joy, and both Mom and Dad laughed.