I stood at the end of the aircraft carrier, listening over the bond-sense. Feeling my brother join me, I smiled just before he said, "Hello, Sam."

I glanced over at him as he took his place beside me. "Optimus." For a while, we savored this moment frozen in time – the moment we first truly stood together as brothers. We together took in the sun on the waves, the warmth of the bond, and the relief that came from knowing all was right again. Daemon was safe, Optimus was fully repaired, and the Matrix of Leadership was again in the possession of the Primes.

"How is Daemon?" Optimus asked. "Bumblebee reported that he reacted badly to the fire drill at school today."

"Firebrand was quick to point out it was nowhere near as bad as her trauma responses." I half-smiled, remembering him explaining it all to Jazz over a comm call this afternoon. "He was convinced the fire drill was a Decepticon ruse to get him out in the open and kidnap him again, so he somehow managed to hide in the bathroom's false ceiling instead of going outside with his class. It was only thanks to his fitness watch that we knew he was still in the building, but he wouldn't answer or come out for anyone. Mikaela had to finally go talk him down from the innards of the school. We've already got an appointment scheduled for him with Dr. Sarkisian."

Optimus nodded, and his approval washed in across the bond. "Good. She has experience counseling Primes."

"I think Daemon should probably hear that from you," I pointed out.

"Over a comm call," he agreed.

I looked once more out over the water and inhaled deeply through my nose. This memory was so vivid it even included the stench of jet fuel and the ache of healing injuries, when I was paying this much attention to the details. We'd wandered so far from this moment, and yet it would always be with us.

All good things, though, must come to an end. Taking another deep breath, I asked, "So…what's next?"

Optimus jutted out his chin. "We win the War. And we save Cybertron."

I smiled into the rising sun on the horizon, but there was grim resolve in my spark. With a nod, I said, "About fragging time."

Authors' Note: This marks the end of the Kinship Trilogy, which was focused on exploring what it meant for both Sam and the Autobots that he was a Prime. However, as Optimus points out, there's a lot of story yet to tell. After much discussion, we in the Botosphere have decided that another trilogy will be necessary to tell that story, but it will be a little while before we can start posting it. We're calling it the "Energon Wars Trilogy" (in reference to what the conflict is centered on rather than in reference to any canon continuity.) Please follow us to make sure you don't miss it when we begin the first installment, "Enegon Wars: Making War."

In the meantime, the first chapter of "Introductions: Mikaela Banes Witwicky" just went up. Hope you enjoy!