The next couple days went by smoothly and Azura had actually been left alone from Vince and his followers, which she appreciated as she didn't want to deal with him. She knew his ego had been hurt by her, but she didn't care at all. Jack, Miko and Raf had to unfortunately endure being laughed at by the other kids. It was infuriating. Azura did her best to deter the other students, but she couldn't be there the whole time, and she only did what she could. Still, the video she had posted online about Vince's bullying had gone viral and she was pleased that he was feeling the heat from being called a bully by others. She did hear his dad heard about it, and that could be the reason why Vince hasn't gone after her. She wasn't particularly concerned though.

As for the new fish she added to the tanks in her room, they have survived the transition from a store tank to their permanent home. Optimus had enjoyed helping Azura with the fish, even if it wasn't a highly difficult task to do. However, it wasn't so much the setting up the tanks that was most enjoyable, it was the fact that he spent time with his daughter. Optimus never would have thought he would bond with his sparkling over something like fish, but he was happy about it. Even if these creatures are of Earth, not Cybertron.

It was currently Friday afternoon, and Azura was now working on her next assignment. And art assignment. She had set up a canvas stand and a few desks to place her work on, on one of the empty platforms to do her project on. Ratchet did not mind at all, though he was assuming Azura would not make much of mess. She would make sure to not let any paint get on the platform as it would be a pain to clean up.

She was sitting down doing some sketches. Her art teacher had told them that they needed to paint something from close to the heart. Something that means something to them, and Azura needed to create sketches of different ideas. She had been given two weeks to complete the assignment, and it was likely going to be her last, major art assignment. It was one of her favorite things to do, and she had a lot of talent with art. But she has been drawing since she was much younger as it was really calming to do.

She hummed softly to some music as she worked on her project. Jack, Miko and Raf had been taken home an hour ago, and Azura had decided to stay up a bit to just work on her assignment. And also because she didn't want to go to sleep. She hasn't been sleeping very well currently. Her dreams were no longer of Primus or Alpha Trion, she has been seeing something else. A dark, evil figure who seemed to only know destruction and death. And it has caused her to wake up during the night.

Optimus and Ratchet were both concerned as her having nightmares suddenly seemed out of the blue to them. And Azura refused to tell them what exactly she was seeing in her nightmares as well, which was not helping the situation at all. Azura knew why she was not seeing Alpha Trion or Primus right now. Mostly because she did not wish to talk to them. But she hated the nightmares, and she hoped they would fade eventually.

"Azura." She looked up from her sketchbook upon hearing Optimus. "I think it is time to put you to berth." She frowned and shook her head, looking back down at her sketchbook. "Azura, I know you haven't been sleeping very well, but you need to try."

"But everytime I sleep, I have nightmares," Azura responded in a complaining tone. "I don't want to sleep."

"I am afraid you need recharge, Azura," Optimus said in a gentle, yet stern tone. "I understand what you feel. Nightmares are not pleasant." She rolled her eyes as she knew he was trying to appeal to her, but she didn't respond. "But I am sure once you have had some energon and a bath, you will be lulled into sleep in no time. I know you want to get started on your school project, but you can continue doing the rest tomorrow."

Azura knew that would happen, as it has happened more than once. She still didn't want to fall asleep. "But I'll probably have the same nightmare. The same one I have had the last couple days. All I see is something…scary and big and destructive…and I don't even know what it is."

Optimus hummed gently and walked closer to the platform. "That might be the case, Azura, but nightmares pass. If you don't focus on it, you are less likely to dream of it."

"I've heard that one before."

Optimus sighed a little as he knew she was frustrated, but he was also hoping she would not be difficult. She needed to fall into recharge at some point. "Azura, if you want, I can hold you while you recharge for part of the night." She looked at him in surprise at the offer. "Maybe before close to my spark will help you sleep."

She was genuinely surprised by the offer and she thought about it for a moment. "What about inside your chassis? I am assuming that seats that you have in your vehicle mode are within there."

"You are correct. Although…" Optimus had not really considered it. Placing Azura within his chassis would make him sad, mostly because he missed out carrying her properly in the first place. He knew he shouldn't feel that way, but there's a lot of pain he has carried for years that he does not show to others. "Would you not want to be surrounded by your plush toys?

"Honestly, I think just hearing the beat of your pulse and smelling your scent around me would help me sleep without nightmares. I just…well…" She placed her hand on the back of her neck as she thought about. "I don't want to be that kid that relies upon you to have a good night sleep. I'm not really a baby anymore." Optimus smiled at her and she rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean, Optimus."

"That might be the case in your mind, but you are young and still need to rely upon me, even if you are at an independent age," Optimus said gently and she was still slightly annoyed, only slightly, that Optimus still saw her as a baby. Though she couldn't really blame him, given the explanation she's had. And he did miss out on a lot of her first years. "I would be okay with allowing you to recharge within my chassis for a while. If it helps to remedy the issue in regard to your recharge, I will allow it. And if it would also convince you to allow me to feed and bathe you, so be it. However, you can feed on the low-grade within my chassis." She was immediately surprised and curious at the same time. "The fuel line can be open from a different panel, and you might enjoy it."

Azura was intrigued by the idea and she hummed for a moment before she put her pencil down and closed her sketchbook. "Okay, I guess we can try." She stood up and walked over to him with a smile. "I kind of hope it won't bring up pain for you, Optimus. Given…well…how things happened."

"Do not worry about me, Azura." He picked her up gently from the platform and cradled her against his chassis. "I fully appreciate your concern, but I manage my feelings well. This will not hurt me as much as you might think." She hoped that was the case. She turned her head upon hearing an alert from the system, and saw Ratchet frowning in curiosity. "What now? Why is there an alert so late at night?"

Ratchet looked at her sympathetically as he heard her tired, irritated tone. "This isn't something we expect all the time, Azura. I assure you this is kind of unusual." Optimus approached the medic curiously as Ratchet redirected his attention. Bulkhead, Arcee and Bumblebee walk over curiously as well. They were present in the base as they had only dropped the children off at their homes tonight. Mostly because the bots wanted a break from curb side duty. "I am picking an odd, faint signal coming from the Arctic."

"The Arctic? Well, well, maybe you discovered Santa's secret lair," Azura said sarcastically, which brought her confused expressions from all of the autobots. "Wait, you've been here how long, and you don't know much about Christmas? Or Santa?"

"We have heard of Christmas," Arcee said slowly as she thought of it. "We have seen how humans seem to decorate their towns and cities at that time of year, and traffic seems to get stupid too. But I have no idea about anything else."

"Right, right." Azura chuckled a little as she knew she pretty much broke the concentration. "But a signal in the Arctic seems odd, like you said, Ratchet."

Ratchet was still surprised that Azura had said something, and it was clear she was tired. He looked at Optimus. "Maybe you should go and give her a bath to help her settle down, Optimus. She really needs to recharge."

"I will in a moment, Ratchet, but I wish to know what could possibly be under the ice at the north pole of this planet," Optimus responded gently as Azura huddled against his chassis wearily. "There were a lot of things sent away from Cybertron, so it is possible that the gravitational pull of this planet caused something to plummet into the far north of this planet."

"I am surprised that the cons haven't picked it up with all their technology on that ship," Arcee remarked in a snarky tone. "Unless they don't see the need to travel there to investigate."

"That is most likely the case, Arcee. I think the cons do know it is there, but have no need to investigate." Ratchet rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Someone needs to go searching for it."

"Uh, but…it's sub zero temperatures," Azura said slowly as she listened. Ratchet looked at her as she spoke. "Can we survive that level of temperature? Well, maybe I can't, but when I am older, maybe…"

"While it is true that we fair better against sub zero temperatures than humans, our systems can shut down from the extreme cold if we linger for too long," Optimus explained to Azura gently. He looked at the screen for a moment than looked back at Ratchet. "If you believe that this needs to be investigated, I think Bulkhead and Bumblebee should be able to handle the task."

Azura was thinking for a moment before looking up at Optimus with worry. "But…it is still winter in the Arctic, even if we are heading towards summer…"

"Yes, why does that matter?" Ratchet asked curiously.

"It is just that whenever it is winter at either the north or south pole, it gets very dark and very cold for so many months," Azura explained gently. "Is it really necessary to go looking when it is the coldest part of the year? Why not wait until it is warmer?"

Bumblebee was happy that Azura was concerned. "It is so sweet that you are concerned about us, Azura. But these sort of things cannot wait to be found. If the cons do know of this, they could also plan on waiting and we would either be too late, or fight the cons for what is under the ice."

She still thought it was not a good time of the year to go looking for something at the coldest time of the year for the Arctic. "Bee is right, Azura," Ratchet said gently with a smile. "Like it or not, we don't exactly have the luxury of time when the decepticons still outnumber us. Even if Starscream never chooses to locate it, we don't want to give them that chance. And it was by chance we even discovered this signal anyway."

"It will be alright, Azura," Ratchet said to the girl in a reassuring tone. "I think it is very sweet that you are concerned about our wellbeing. But you may find that even if I send Bulkhead and Bumblebee to the Arctic to locate what this is, they will not be there too longer. Mostly because I'll make sure they will be back before their systems get too cold."

Azura still wasn't sure about this. If the bots can still be affected by sub zero temperatures, and they could freeze to death, that still worried her. "If I had better control of my abilities, I could..."

"I don't believe you would be able to change the temperature of the Arctic, Azura," Optimus interrupts the girl gently with a smile. "I also think it would be wrong to change the temperature of the Arctic, it is a place many animals live and I believe causing the ice to melt would be bad for the planet."

Optimus did have a good point, but Azura was still worried. "Well..." She locked her index fingers together as she thought about it. "I guess if you know what you are doing, there's not much more for me to say. But I do still think it's a bad time of year."

"You will see Bee and I again in the morning, Azura," Bulkhead said with a smile on his face. "You have nothing to worry about, youngling." She frowned a little when he called her youngling, but said nothing about it. "We will be back from the Arctic by the time you wake up tomorrow. You need to think about yourself first."

Azura smiled a little at Bulkhead before she yawned softly. "I hope that will be the case. I don't like the idea of losing someone else." She looked up at Optimus. "Alright, you win, Optimus. I'll cave in and have that bath. But I will want to watch Bee and Bulk leave."

Optimus smiled at her and understood what she wanted. Ratchet brought over a scanner and hands it to Bulkhead. "This should guide you to the location of the signal when you arrive. But remember, you will only be there until your core temperature reaches the blue zone. If that happens, you'll return to base, defrost and go back to continue searching."

"Got it, doc," Bulkhead said as he takes the scanner from Ratchet's hand and walked towards the ground bridge tunnel. He looked back at Azura and smiled at her. "And recharge well, Azura. If you have that nightmare again, just think of us and we will be there to fight off the nightmare for you."

Her smile widened at the very thought of that. "I guess I can try that." She giggled a little as she thought about it some more. "Yeah, I guess I can try that."

Bulkhead was grinning as he was glad he could offer some words of advice and encouragement. Ratchet put the coordinates into the ground bridge controls and activated it. She watched as the vortex came alive and the two bots walked towards it. Azura really hoped that the weather wasn't terrible on the other side, but she wasn't too confident given the time of year that it was. She just hoped that they will not freeze.

Once Bumblebee and Bulkhead had gone through, Optimus turned to head to Azura's room. She tensed a little as she had wanted to stay to wait for the two bots to come back, but she knew Optimus probably wouldn't allow it. "Do I have to have a bath now? Can't I wait until Bumblebee and Bulkhead return?"

"It takes an hour and a half before our systems start to feel the sub zero temperatures, Azura," Optimus said gently. "Even if you try to stay awake during that time, I have a feeling that you are going to find yourself falling into recharge regardless."

Azura grumbled a little and sighed softly. "I guess I should relax...I guess Cliffjumper is still fresh in my mind. So I worry about losing more family, that is all."

Optimus smiled and kissed her forehead gently, rubbing her back to comfort her. "I fully understand how you are feeling, Azura. But this isn't something you need to worry about. Ratchet has ensured that the bots know what to do during reconnaissance in sub zero temperatures."

"I know...I guess...maybe I'm just too tired..." She rubbed her eyes and yawned loudly and relaxed against Optimus's chassis. "I don't even know if I'll be awake through the whole bath. You will let me sleep in your chassis, right?"

Optimus nodded. "I want you to recharge peacefully, Azura, and I won't go back on my word. If you fall into recharge right now, I'll handle everything."

"That sounds good to me," Azura said as she closed her eyes. "I feel happy and I can hear your spark. It is nice."

Optimus chuckled gently as he felt Azura's body relax in his hands. She fell into recharge without realizing it, it would seem. He hoped that Azura has a good recharge, and have no nightmares tonight. He knew that she may still have her nightmare, and he hoped she would eventually tell them what she is dreaming of. Though her description earlier sounded odd to him. However, whenever Azura was ready to tell him, she will.

While she was recharging, Optimus carefully bathed her, dried her and clothed her in pyjamas. When it came time to place her inside his chassis, he did hesitate at first. Mostly because of the memories coming back to him. But he eventually opened his chassis, kissed her cheek and placed her inside. It was a surreal feeling for Optimus and he was happy to be carrying her within him, and he hoped she would have a restful sleep. But he would learn that hope would be vanquished soon enough.

Azura's Dream

Azura gasped as she opened her eyes. The air was heavy with metal, smoke and sulphur, the ground was hot to her feet and she saw she was on Earth this time. Before, she had been in some dark, abandoned temple. But this looked like Earth. There were deep cracks in the Earth, spewing with dark energon, something Azura thought was strange. She heard explosions in the distance and looked up, seeing fighter jets flying around, firing upon decepticons who were fighting them.

She didn't know if this was Jasper or somewhere else, but this was terrifying. She looked at her hands and saw she had human hands, before concentrating to try and transform. She needed to fly and see what the cause of devastation was, and why there was dark energon rising from the crust. But she couldn't. In fact, she tried using her abilities to create a cluster of rain clouds to bring down a shower to put out the fires around her.

"Azura!" She turned as she heard Optimus's voice. "Get out of here!" She looked around in a panic as she could not see him. "I am sorry."

She swallowed nervously and she didn't know why she was hearing this. But she ran towards the direction of Optimus's voice. She wanted to find him, and hope that was he was okay. She ran between burnt trees that were falling to pieces and many were still smouldering with heat and fire, but she ignored them. She needed to find what was happening right now. And it was really scaring her at the moment.

She screamed as the ground began to shake, making her skid to a stop and stumble back onto a boulder. The ground before her was splitting and she managed to run behind the boulder to try and hide from it. She assumed it was just an earthquake, but a shadow fell over her and she watched it grow, with a glow of purple looking down at her. She shivered as she knew what that light was, and she did not wish to look at it.

"Child of the one who banished me from my quest of chaos, you shall find punishment for what was done to me by her and the Primes of old," The deep, menacing voice spoke to Azura, making her shiver in fear. "Come and face me just as she did! Or are you too cowardly?!"

Azura didn't know how to respond. She was terrified. She yelped and ran as the boulders exploded suddenly, and she tried to get away. She glanced behind her to see a massive being. She didn't why she kept seeing him. He was completely dark with purple, glowing eyes. He terrified her, and she didn't know who he was. She only knew that he was evil, and she had to get away from him, or try to.

She yelped as she tripped over a branch and rolled forward down the hill. She shrieked as she tumbled down as there were so many sharp rocks that she was hitting, making her grimace from pain. Once she reached the bottom, she groaned and looked over herself to see she was unharmed, but as she looked up, she was met by a horrific sight. She hasn't had anything this bad until now.

Before here were the bodies of the autobots. Ratchet, Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Arcee, they were lifeless with their chests destroyed and energon leaking from their bodies. She was horrified, and tears fill her eyes. She ran over to Ratchet. His optics were dark and his body was cold. She whimpered softly and looked around, wishing she had not seen this.

She jumped as Optimus was suddenly through into a group of boulders, and she gasped when she saw his severely injured body. He was struggling to stand, by he was not going to give up until the end. However, his optics spot her and they widen just as she saw a large, silver mech run at Optimus. She screamed as their mech thrusts his sword into Optimus's chest while he was distracted and Optimus groaned loudly, punching at the enemy to try and get him away.

"And now, I will take what is also mine," The voice from the mech said in a cold tone. "She is also my daughter, after all. Don't worry, I'll take good care of her, old friend." He yanked the sword out, pulling the Matrix out with it. Optimus fell to the ground and he no longer had the strength to stand. "One shall stand, one shall fall, how ironic that it is you who will fall."

Azura shakes her head and clenched her eyes shut as she screamed. "NOOOO!"

"Azura!"

End of Dream

"NOOO!"

Shooting upright and breathing heavily, Azura sat and stared ahead as she took deep breaths. She flinched and covered her eyes when light suddenly blinded her and she jumped when warm hands wrap around her. She was brought out and she looked up to see Optimus looking at her with worried optics. Her bottom lip trembled before she burst into tears and began to wail loudly. He closed his chassis and brought her close to hold her against him as she cried. He rubbed her back gently and looked at Ratchet who was staring in disbelief. Optimus had returned to the lobby after placing Azura into his chassis, and she had managed to recharge for a couple hours.

"Well…that sounded worse," Ratchet said slowly with a worried expression. He glanced at Bulkhead and Bumblebee who were sitting on some berths with leads attached to them. "And it just happened to be right after you both returned."

"Yeah, but…uh, I hope you aren't implying we are at fault," Bulkhead said with a frown.

"Of course not, Bulkhead. It just seems to be a coincidence." Ratchet looked at Azura with a frown. "Hmmph, if she keeps having nightmares, I'm going to have to remedy it with something."

Optimus looked at the medic in surprise. "I dare hope you aren't joking."

"Would you rather she lose recharge, Optimus?" Ratchet asked bluntly. "Never mind, I know you wouldn't. And I know medication seems extreme, but we cannot have you losing recharge too. She might be an infant, but she is far from a new born sparkling now."

"Did I not have a heap of nightmares at her age?" Bumblebee asked curiously.

"Well, yes and no." Ratchet looked at the young bot who was giving him a curious expression. "You never had them every night consecutively, but you did have them a lot. I remember I would be working, and I would hear the patter of your feet as you looked for me."

"And I never needed medication. The nightmares will pass, Ratchet. She's only just started having nightmares. I had nightmares for no reason, and that might be the case for her too." Bumblebee stretched a little and relaxed. "That feels better now we are back."

"Yep, we are definitely fine, doc," Bulkhead said bluntly. He looked at Optimus kindly as Azura continued to cry. "I guess we weren't there to save the day." He looked at Ratchet curiously. "Are you sure that we can't just walk around, doc? Bee and I are fine."

"Oh, no you don't!" The medic snapped back at him. "You will remain where you are until I give you the clear to get up from your tailpipe." He placed his hands on his hips as Bulkhead's optics narrow. "I know you don't exactly have patience, but…"

Bulkhead got a hold of one of the leads attached to his chassis and took it off. "I told you doc, we're fine." He stood up and the other fell off in the process.

Ratchet stepped closer, placing his hand on the bot's shoulder to push him back down. "The only way to be certain you're fine, Bulkhead, is to endure standard defrosting procedure." Bulkhead rolled his optics at the bot. "You know prolonged exposure to sub zero conditions can cause permanent system damage."

He exhaled heavily and looked over at Optimus. "At least we can say that we are back, Azura. And we are both safe and sound." Azura was still crying too much to hear him, but she had calmed down a bit and Optimus could only comfort her. "At the very least, she doesn't seem to have nightmares after putting her to berth a second time at night."

"That is true. But it would be best if Azura recharged the full night." He looked down at her and looked at Ratchet. "Ratchet, have you learned anything more about our Arctic find?"

"Not yet." The medic shook his head and walked towards the console. Azura turned her head slightly as she did overhear that. He brought up an image on one of the monitors of something within a case of ice. "The pod can't be opened while it's frozen solid."

Azura sniffled as she quietened down a bit more, getting their attention. She wiped her cheeks and looked at Ratchet curiously. "Y-You f-f-found it?"

He nodded. "We did. We don't know what it is yet, but the mission was a success. You didn't need to worry at all, youngling."

Azura just smiled at him and sniffled a little. "Good." Her voice was so small as she said that. But Optimus heard it and he was worried about her. "Sorry."

"For what?" Optimus was surprised when she said sorry. "Oh, don't apologize for waking up like that, Azura. You clearly had a worse nightmare than before."

"I did." She sniffled loudly and looked up at Optimus. "But…I don't know why…I saw the same thing, but different." He listened to her quietly as she told him. "I see…a giant mech, with horns on his head and long spines on his body…" Optimus widened his optics in shock. "And then…you all were dead…"

"Dead?" Bulkhead widened his optics and groaned. "Oh…maybe that was my fault for saying you should think of us."

"But…Optimus…he…I think I saw Megatron too," Azura continued and let out another sob. "He…said something before he…well, I woke up before he did anything."

Optimus rubbed her back gently as she sobbed some more and he kissed her forehead. "I guess that is a nightmare that warrants fear. But I suppose I should tell you who I think you saw." She looked at Optimus in surprise. "You know Unicron, right?"

She nodded before frowning. "Oh…th-that's who I see?" Optimus nodded. "No wonder he's scary…"

"And what did Megatron say before the nightmare ended?" Ratchet asked curiously.

Azura grimaced and shook her head before burying it into Optimus's chassis. She didn't want to say. "I don't know." She knew that the bots may not believe her, but she didn't want to tell them.

"Whatever it was, it doesn't matter," Arcee said gently as she approached Optimus. "Look what I have, Azura." She turned her head and saw Arcee holding a large, blue teddy bear. "I hope you don't mind, I happened to find it. It must have fallen off a truck because it was still in a packaging, and I know you might like it."

Azura smiled at Arcee and reached out for the plush. "Thanks, Arcee. It reminds me of the teddy bear that I lost." She took a hold of it and held it tight against her. "This makes me feel much better." She loved how soft and fluffy the toy felt.

"What a nice surprise, Arcee," Optimus commented with a gentle smile. "I have no doubt every little bit helps from the torment she has had." He looked down to see Azura hugging the bear tightly against her and he looked at Ratchet. "If Azura has more nightmares, Ratchet, I may consider allowing her to receive something for recharge. But I think we should wait it out a little bit."

"Alright. I won't press it until you are ready." Ratchet turned with a frown at Bulkhead stood back up. He rolled his optics at his impatience. "Alright, you both are done with the defrosting procedure." Bee immediately removed the lines from his chassis and stood up happily. "But you both know that whenever I say something in regards to medical, my authority goes."

"Yeah, whatever," Bulkhead shrugged as he walked away. "I need to get in some recharge before I head into town to pick Miko up in the morning anyway."

"Me too," Bumblebee added affirmatively. He looked at Azura for a moment and chuckled softly. "And she's out like a light. It would seem a big, blue, teddy bear did the trick."

Optimus looked down at Azura in surprise and he saw that Bee was correct. Azura had fallen back into recharge and he was happy. He was glad she was recharging and opened his chassis to place her back inside, even though it didn't stop her from having a nightmare. But it was concerning that Azura was dreaming of Unicron. That was odd. And unfortunately, Optimus was well aware of the other being who aided the thirteen Primes against Unicron. But he didn't know where Unicron had been banished to, and he wouldn't think Unicron would be using powers to torment his daughter.