The pain Optimus was feeling right now was ripping through his core. While Megatron was not at fault for this, Optimus could not help but feel that if Megatron never found dark energon, this wouldn't have happened. And now, he was looking at his daughter. The dark energon has reacted in such a way that was different to how it reacted to Megatron and Starscream. And Optimus did not know what he could do to help her. And her abilities were now raging, and there were signs multiple tornadoes were starting to form around them. The hail hitting their bodies were being ignored, even if the hail stones were big and making loud noises as each stone hit their bodies.

Azura hovered in front with a glare that was mixed with pain, confusion and anger. Her whole body seemed to be surrounded in a ghostly, black, blanket, giving her a near full dragon appearance. Though the ghostly blanket moved like smoke around her body, and it was spilling from the crystal in her chassis. The crystal was glowing brightly. Blue and purple lights glowed, with part of the dark energon shard still sticking out after it had impaled the Cybertronian crystal. Around the rim of the crystal itself, a red light could be seen, with steam rising and showing that her system was extremely hot.

However, this was not the worst of it. Around her neck and chassis seemed to be bright, purple chains that had formed from her chassis. And they looked to be tight around her body. It was like something had trapped her, and was forcing her to do its bidding. It was horrible to see. And her optics were glowing white, and she was looking at all of them. She growled loudly and it seemed that she was going to attack. But it was not Azura in control, it was something else.

"Optimus…" Optimus flinched as Arcee spoke. He looked at her, and saw Arcee holding her arms over her helm to protect herself from the hail stones. "Um…what do we do? This is not something the dark energon should be doing."

"That's simply because Azura is not just mixed with the CNA of Optimus and myself…" Arcee glared at Megatron, even though Megatron had an expression if concern at the moment. "But also part of the Matrix, and the DNA of the dragon. That mixture with the dark energon clearly is not meant to be." Megatron glanced at Azura before clenching his fist. "This was not meant to happen…Starscream, I…"

Befoee Megatron could finish, he was alarmed as Azura suddenly breathed out a huge wave of fire at them. The wave was at ferocity that Azura has not produced before, but the fire was mixed with energon, causing it to be hotter and stronger. Megatron was quick to dodge it, as did the autobots, as Azura was moving her head as she breathed the fire at them.

"What in Primus?!" Bulkhead stared back to see the fire spreading over the grass, burning it completely to ash. Azura let out a loud roar that was high pitched, and it sounded like she was both angry and in pain before the sparkling lands on the ground. "She just attacked us. What…uh, I don't want to hurt her…"

"And you won't." Optimus walked towards Azura as the sparkling grimace and he saw her jaw clenching, like she was also fighting herself. She turned her head and glared at him. "I'm right here, Azura. Let me help you. I'll take that shard out right now, and…" Azura roared and lunged suddenly, surprising Optimus, and the sparkling swiped, striking her claws at his face plate, leaving a claw mark on the plate. He stepped back in surprise, and the sparkling stood on her hind legs, and her chassis glowed a mixture of blue and purple, and her mouth began to form a plasma blast. "Azura! You can fight this!" Optimus reached to grab the shard from her chassis, causing the sparkling to shriek and Optimus grunts, stumbling back as she hit him with the plasma blast. And he was surprised it hurt. He glanced at his chassis to see fire smouldering, and the center of his chassis had cracks from the blast. "I know this is not you, Azura…" He raised his arm as her tail swiped at him, and he blocked the attack, making her roar at him and jump up to fly around them. "We need to get that shard out of her."

"And how do we do that without getting our tail pipes blasted?" Arcee questioned in a sad tone. "Optimus, she is…acting savage. If she attacks, I will…"

"Block." Optimus knew that the other autobots may try to defend themselves. "She might be acting savage, but she is a still a sparkling. Any attack will damage her system, and we need to figure out how we are…" Optimus flinched as they heard a huge crack and look down to see the ground splitting, causing the edges of the cliffs to begin to falter as pieces of the rocks begin to fall to the beach and raging ocean. "She's not in control."

"Optimus is right, Arcee. We can't attack. We might…terminate her if we aren't doing the right thing…" Bumblebee looked at Azura to see her flying around them, and he noticed a tornado forming over the ocean, and widened his optics. "We still need to figure out how to save her, Optimus. She is out of control, and we are about to cause a serious hurricane for this area if we don't. That's already a powerful tornado she's making."

Optimus looked at the tornado that was forming and nodded in agreement. They needed to save her, and he did not know how to do that. He knew that removing the shard that had not been absorbed by Azura's body would be a start. But it did concern him deeply with how her body has reacted to the dark energon, and the fact that it has brought out a side of her that was savage, and caused her to not be in control of her abilities, to the point where he believed that the dark energon was also causing them to be stronger then they should be, was not good.

He glanced at Megatron, as he was surprised that the decepticon had chosen to stay. "I would have thought you would leave and allow this to occur." Megatron looked at Optimus with a raised eyebrow. "Or have you chosen to stay? Let me guess, you are in control of her."

"Optimus, that shard has not been absorbed into her body, so I cannot control her. Even if I could, this would not be what I would want to happen. Especially with the little control she has." Megatron glanced up with wide optics as Azura hovered above and unleashed lightning at him, making him roll to the side to avoid the attack. "I'm staying because…" He dodged another lightning strike again and frowned at Optimus. "Whatever you think I am planning for Azura, is not what you believe. She's my sparkling too, and I have every right to know her!"

"You lost that right with how and why she was created!" Optimus argued back, watching Megatron dodge another attack from Azura.

Megatron wanted to respond, but he couldn't. He knew that he didn't have the best argument in regards to Azura, given with how he created her, but that might change. Megatron stood up and looked around, noticing Azura was not hovering. She had landed and she was whimpering, shuddering and shaking her head. He saw energon dripping from her mouth, and he softened his expression as it also seemed foamed was forming around her mouth.

Optimus approached Azura before she shrieked, and they all watched as another chain suddenly emerged from her crystal and it wrapped around her neck, clamping down loudly, and making the sparkling flinch from the harsh pain she felt from it. And they all saw tears were falling like a waterfall from her optics. They didn't know if she had been crying before, but that didn't matter. Optimus wanted to reach her.

However, the sparkling turned and lunged at Megatron suddenly, making the decepticon flinch in surprise. He jumped to the side, but he felt the jaws of the dragon clamp over his ankle. He was surprised by the strength, as she was still much smaller than them, even in her dragon form. She chewed and chewed down on his ankle, and Megatron rolled onto his back, not knowing how he was going to get her to stop without hurting her.

"I got you, master!" Starscream ran over and aimed his missile at Azura. "I'll stop this savage beast from…"

Megatron armed and aimed his canon at Starscream, and Optimus had armed his canons, aiming them at Starscream. The seeker was alarmed and looked at Megatron in confusion. "Try and fire that weapon, and I will end your very existence where you stand." Starscream widened his optics in shock. "This is your doing…" Megatron flinched as Azura lets go of his leg, which was bleeding streaks of dark energon, and she jumped on his chassis, glaring down at him with bared teeth. "Azura…" Megatron gently grabbed her jaws when she tried to bite at his neck, and he held her back, though he did not use force. "Stop…" He glanced at the crystals and looked at Optimus. "Now is the opportunity to take that shard out, Prime! I am not hurting her…AHH! Her claws!"

Azura was scratching at his chassis and her claws were surprisingly cutting deep. Optimus observed how Megatron was holding Azura back, and he could see that he was not being rough at all. He did not know what to think, but he ran over to Megatron and crouched to reach to Azura's chassis. She shrieked and attempting to throw her body before Optimus grabbed the shard and pulled it out. With the dark energon shard in his hand, Optimus threw it to the ground and destroyed it with one blast.

He looked back at Azura, and she was still shriek, and scratching at Megatron's chassis before a plasma, lightning blast before to form. Megatron was alarmed and threw her off his body, but not hard enough as she skids across the ground and blasts the plasma, lighting blast at him, hitting his side, and Megatron grunts upon feeling pieces of his outer shell cracking, and causing energon to bleed out of those cracks. And he realized removing the shard did nothing.

In fact, they heard a crunching sound as the chains tightened, and four more suddenly emerged, wrapping around Azura's chassis and front legs. Optimus stared in despair, not knowing what to do, but he ran over to her and gently grabbed her face, making the sparkling look at him as he lowered his face guard. "Azura! I am right here. I love you so, so much. I know you can beat this. I know you are afraid, but…" He grunts as she swiped her claws at his face, cutting the right side of his face and making him stumble back in surprise. "I will not give up."

"Fight back!" Optimus looked at Azura in surprise as she spoke. Her voice sounded ghostly, and it almost sounded like another voice was speaking as well. "Why won't you fight back?"

He had not expected her to speak, and he felt his spark break as hearing her ask why he was not fighting back hurt. "I will not give up on you, Azura. I am here for you, and I know you know that deep down. Whatever it is, I know you will fight it." He looked at his hand after rubbing his cheek to see energon, which he knew there was a wound because he dropped his face plate. Azura growled and lunged at him, making Optimus raised his arm to block her, and she hit his arm with her chassis, making her yelp and land in front of him. "I will not fight back."

"Why?" Azura tilts her head suddenly, narrowing her optics. "You didn't fight to keep me. So why don't you fight me now?" Optimus was stumped, as he opened his mouth to respond, but he did not. "You didn't fight to tell me the truth, and you didn't fight to keep me from running. Why don't you fight me now?"

"Don't listen, Prime, that is not Azura." Arcee walked towards Prime, before Azura turned sharply and her chassis glowed again, and Arcee tensed. "We are not…" Arcee widened her optics and backflips away as Azura unleashed a sudden wave of magma, spreading it across the ground, with a mixture of fire and energon that would keep it hot and burning. "Scrap…"

"Arcee, what is happening?" The femme flinched when Ratchet spoke suddenly. "No one has said anything since Optimus ordered a bridge for Azura, what is happening?"

"Um…Starscream…uh…" Arcee did not know how to respond to Ratchet. "Azura was hit with a dark energon shard by Starscream. Now she…she's savage, and not in control."

"What?! No, no! That is not good!" Ratchet was very alarmed by what he had just heard. "Azura's system can't handle it! And what do you mean by savage?"

"She's attacking us! There's like a shadow, ghost-like cloak around her body and chains have formed around her, locking onto her body and squeezing. It is like something is controlling and attacking her at the same time." Arcee, Bulkhead and Bumblebee were still walking backwards away from the spreading magma, and Azura turned to face Optimus, Megatron and Starscream. "Optimus managed to remove the shard, but she is now asking why he is not fighting. And using past events to…I am not sure what is going on."

"That is definitely not good…not good at all…oh…dark energon is from Unicron." Ratchet went silent as he was deep in thought. "No…oh no. What if, uh, what if this is Unicron's doing, in some way?"

"How do you mean?" Bulkhead questioned with a frown. "He isn't even here, why would he have anything to do with it?"

"Unicron is a being beyond any of us. He doesn't need to be physically here to have the power to do anything. Azura is the offspring of his enemies, and he will take revenge on her, and Optimus by any means. And if his blood touched Azura, Unicron may have potentially sensed her, and taken advantage. Azura needs to be brought here."

"And how can we do that?! She's covered the ground with magma and she's leaving good wounds on both Optimus and Megatron…" Bulkhead widened his optics as Azura lunged at Megatron, and the decepticon dodged, only for Azura to hit Starscream. The seeker shrieked loudly, and Azura scratched his face and blasted his chassis with an ice blast, causing his head and chassis to be encased in an ice cube, making Bulkhead laugh suddenly. "And giving Starscream a much needed brain freeze..." Starscream managed to break from the ice as Azura bit his leg, and as he was about to push her away, Megatron held Starscream down to stop him from hurting Azura while Azura turned her attention on Megatron and lunged at him again. "I'm afraid this is something we can't help with, Ratchet."

"Well, you need to do something! Azura could die from this!" Bumblebee, Bulkhead and Arcee glance at each other with wide optics as they realized this. "Azura's system has to be struggling from this…"

"And yeah, well, she's also transformed into her dragon form, managed to fly and she…" Arcee jumped as lightning began to strike the ground, and as the wind began to pick up, snow began to fly around them, and two more tornados began to form. "Her abilities are out of control…"

"Scrap…I have the med bay prepped and ready, but when you guys are ready to come back, contact Rafael. I have to get other stuff prepared, but he will bring you back."

"Understood."

Arcee looked at the magma in front of them as it stopped spreading, which they were relieved, but they couldn't cross it. It was still hot, and will take a long time to cool down. Azura was standing between Optimus and Megatron right now, and she clenched her optics shut, throwing her head around with loud whimpers and grinding of her teeth before reopening her optics, which were flashing between blue and white now, and turned to Megatron.

Azura growled at Megatron as he prepared to avoid her attack. "Why won't you fight back? You started a war, a war because something did not go your way…" Megatron blinked in surprise and looked at Optimus who seemed just as surprised. "You made me and the other sparks for destruction, you did not fight for them. Why don't you fight back?"

"Did you already tell Azura your side of how the war started?" Megatron asked curiously, avoiding Azura's question, which seemed to anger her. "You seem to react as though it was not something that was meant to happen."

"I haven't gone into details with her. She only knows briefly how it started." Optimus widened his optics as Azura lunged at Megatron again, and the decepticon caught her, holding her by her chassis to hold her back while she snapped her teeth and swiped at him with her claws before she began forming another plasma blast. Optimus grabbed Azura from Megatron's hands and turned her around to hug her suddenly, causing the sparkling to tense and whimper loudly, as though she was surprised. "I am right here, Azura. I love you, and I will make sure things will be right again." He kissed her forehead and her optics turned to blue for a moment as she stared at Optimus. "That's right, I'm here. I will never let you be alone again."

Azura stared at him for a moment before she grimaced and swiped at his face again, with her claws slicing at his cheek again and cutting deeper in the wounds she had already caused. Optimus grunts and loosened his grip, allowing her jump out of his grasp and land on the ground before she began to walk around, stumbling a little as though she was in a daze and she grumbled while grimacing and shaking her head. Optimus watched in despair as he watched her fight whatever was controlling her, as they could only stop her from attacking them.

Optimus did wonder what Megatron was thinking though. Megatron was remaining, and he seemed just as concerned. Optimus did not know if it was out of genuine desire to protect Azura or not, but seeing how Megatron was even handling the situation was curious to him. He knew that would be a conversation for another time, as Optimus knew that time was ticking. He glanced at the burned forest as lightning was striking the trees, ground and ocean, plus there was a sound of water rushing behind them and he looked back curiously. However, he realized in that moment a tidal wave was forming, and he was immediately concerned, even though none of them would be harmed, but it was still worrying.

Optimus looked at Azura. "I am so sorry, Azura." Megatron glanced at Prime in surprise when he began to apologize. Azura turned her head to look at him. "I know there have been many mistakes in the past, and things could be different now. But I cannot change what has happened. But know that moving forward, you will never be alone. You have always been worth something. And I love you. I know you can beat it."

Azura listened to Optimus and stared at him for a few minutes. She seemed to be processing exactly what he had said. And Optimus was hopeful that something was going right. Azura's body shuddered and she let out painful whimpers, clenching her optics shut and shaking her head again. She coughed and energon splattered on the ground. Optimus approached her before she turned suddenly and opened her mouth to spit multiple fireballs at Optimus, Starscream and Megatron, causing a massive explosion as they hit the ground, and hit both Optimus, Starscream and Megatron, sending them both flying and almost landing right in the magma. Starscream transformed to fly up and avoid hitting the magma. Optimus grunts as he felt damage to his abdomen, hips and right thigh, but he sat up and looked back to Azura. Only, she was not there. She was gone. Fear rippled through his body as he stood up and limped quickly to the edge of the cliff, and looked over to look down at the beach, just as the weather began to calm down rapidly.

He gasped loudly and jumped over to the edge, clinging to the side of the cliff to climb down. "Azura!"

Meanwhile…

It felt like a dream, but it also felt real. She was standing on a large, circle, stone platform with dark purple bricks with green moss and ivy over it. Pillars stood around the edges that were broken, and dark purple clouds with black shapes of autobots, decepticons and dragons seemed to run through the clouds, and she frightened as she saw imagines of Cybertronians and dragons fighting each other. She looked for a way off the platform, but there was none. It was like she was on a tower.

"Azura."

Azura looked around as she heard Optimus's voice. "Daddy?" She looked around desperately. She screamed as she felt sharp pain through her body, causing her to fall to her knees in pain. "Daddy! Help me!" She looked around as tears fall from her optics. "Where am I? The shard…Starscream hit me with a shard…"

"And now you will learn the truth." Azura flinched as she heard a dark, deeper voice and she looked around fearfully until she spotted a massive face, looking at her glowing purple eyes and massive horns. She trembled as she stared at him. "Daughter of the Primes and the dragon who defeated me, it seems we finally meet."

Azura realized who he was. She swallowed nervously as she stared at him. "U-U-Unicron…"

"A little, young, sparkling that was nothing more than a pawn of destruction by a decepticon." She glanced to her right as she saw a white light form before showing an image of Megatron. She saw he was hooked up to some system with deep concentration on his expression. "Using new sparks for destruction, an idea I never considered." Unicron chuckled softly as Azura could see a chamber that was full of new sparks, and she knew she was one of them. "I can't tell you how much enjoyment I take from this knowledge."

Azura looked away from the image as she didn't want to see. "Why are you here?"

"To take revenge." She shivered and looked up as she heard Optimus's voice again, and looked at the white light, only to see as though she was looking through her own optics. She widened her optics as she saw herself unleashing a wave of fire at the autobots and the decepticons, making her try to stop herself. "I never knew what kind of power your ancestor had. But I sense it now. And all the fun that I can do to get my revenge."

"No! No!" Azura shook her head in despair, trying to find control back of her body. "I don't want to fight! I don't want to hurt them!" She shrieked, feeling pain through her body again, watching herself lunge at Optimus to attack him. "Daddy…help me…"

"He cannot help you. And why should he?" She looked at Unicron in surprise. "He sent you away. He claims it was for safety, but it seems your sire, Megatron, is showing signs he would never have hurt you. So it was a waste of time. You and Optimus are not even bonded, so does that even make you his daughter?" Azura shook her head and covered her ears, but she couldn't block out Unicron's voice. "You did not develop properly, you are nothing but a little abomination."

"Stop it! I'm not an abomination!" Azura shook her head as tears continue to flow, screaming as she felt more pain through her body. "I just want to go home! I wasn't alive when you were banished, why take it out on me."

"Because any spawn of Primus and the dragon will feel my wrath!" Unicron chuckled as he was enjoying the sparkling's torment he was putting her under. "And of course you are an abomination. Your CNA is a mixture of beings that should not have been created. Yet, it worked. But you were sent away. You were not formed properly within the body of your carrier. Even your sire only wants you now because of your power."

Azura pressed her face into the ground, sobbing as she tried to ignore Unicron's taunts. She hated this. She wanted this to be just a nightmare. She wanted Optimus to help her, but it felt like she couldn't break out of this prison. There was no where for her to go, and she didn't know what to do. Plus, she didn't know why Unicron was in her mind, and how he was even able to control her. She focused, trying to take back her body, but she was shocked by pain again. Unicron definitely did not want her to take back control.

"I don't even have to act out my revenge. It seems your life was meant to be cursed from the beginning. Now I can use the same powers on them that were used against me." Azura gasped as she felt a surge of energy, and looked up to see orbs floating around her. "You have no clue what kind of power you have, don't you?" Azura did not know how to respond. "But you are just a baby…but I have the power to force you to grow. And you will be nothing more than my puppet. A beast under my control, and they will be forced to destroy you." Azura shook her head as she did not want that. "And you will be nothing more than a passenger in your own mind! And…UGH! NO!" Azura shrieked as she felt a sense of the shard being pulled from her body.

She looked at the white light, and saw Optimus had pulled the dark energon shard from her chassis and destroyed it. And she also realized time was moving differently, but this was a sub conscious of a sort. She felt as though she had some control back, and she focused to regain it, not wanting to let Unicron win. She felt a sense of control, but it was hard, as Unicron was much stronger than her, and even though he has lost a connection, he still had a hold over her.

"Azura! I am right here." Azura looked up, hearing Optimus's voice and seeing through her optics, the despair in his face and the love that he had for her. She wanted to respond to him so bad. "I love you so, so much. I know you can beat this. I know you are afraid, but…"

"NO!" Azura shrieked, watching as she saw herself swiping Optimus's face, and causing an injury. "No, I didn't do that! No, no!"

"I will not give up!"

Azura smiled as she heard him say that. "I know…you never do."

"Fight back!" Azura flinched as she heard herself speak to Optimus. "Why won't you fight back?"

"Get out of my head!" Azura screamed, trying her best to force Unicron out of her mind. "Stop hurting me!" She clenched her optics shut. "You are not in control! Let go!"

She felt the air around her change drastically, and she opened her optics, expecting to see herself standing in front of Optimus. But that was not the case. The area had changed. She was standing on a wide, metal plain with dark clouds swirling around her. She could no longer see or hear Unicron, but she also could not see or hear Optimus. She looked around in confusion before standing slowly as she looked around slowly and carefully to find a way out.

She did not see any particular direction, so it took her a bit before she began to walk in one direction. She certainly felt like she was walking through some kind of void, as walking felt strange. It was like she was walking through something that was holding her back, kind of like water, but it was very hard to describe. Azura looked around for any sign that would allow her to escape, and she was still trying very hard to take control of her body, but it was so hard.

"So these are all the sparks ready for detonation." Azura flinched and turned to see the ghostly, white images of Megatron looking in containers containing the sparks that had created her and her siblings. She also saw Shockwave standing nearby. "Hmm…it will be interesting to see how effective this will be, but I am exhausted. This many sparks, even with your help, has left me weary to the point of not wanting to fight. This is not ideal."

"What would your plan be should any of these sparks survive, Lord Megatron?" Shockwave asked Megatron in a curious tone. Megatron looked at him and seemed to not really think about it. "While these sparks will cause a self destruct within any Cybertronian body upon contact, there is a possibility that some will survive. Logically, it will come down the medic that cares for them. But what will you do? These are your sparklings, after all."

"Hmm…never really thought of that." Megatron looked at the sparks within their containments and he shrugged. "Well…I have no ill will to these little sparks. They are here to do a bidding that no one else has ever thought of. Hmm…well, sparklings are innocent, so I have no intention of harm. It will be interesting to see how the autobots respond to these. Especially Optimus Prime. After all, they might consider them abominations."

"In a sense, they will be. I don't know how their development would progress, but logically, within their carrier they should be fine." Shockwave turned to prepare the weapon. "The weapon is ready to fire on your command, Lord Megatron. Shall I unleash the wave?"

Azura shook her head and ran away, not noticing that the images faded away like dust. She did not want to see that at all. However, she ran into another set of images. This time, showing Alpha Trion in the Hall of Records. She was surprised, as she had not expected to see him again. But she already didn't like the first ghostly image, and this was likely nothing more than as attempt to bring her down. And it was painful as well.

Alpha Trion was looking at someone in surprise. "Optimus Prime was hit with Megatron's latest, vile weapon? A fresh spark is attached to his spark?" Alpha Trion tilts his head thoughtfully. "Such a poor, defenceless spark, likely unable to see life as we know it, because of Megatron. I do not know what Optimus plans to do, but I am sure my old friend knows how to handle it."

"But Alpha Trion…" Azura frowned as she heard the echo of a different autobot responding to him. "If any of the sparks survive, they will be abominations. I know they are innocent, and this is not their fault, but it will always be their destiny to destroy. It will be in their nature, and we may not be able to teach that out of them."

"Maybe. If the war ends, any sparks that survived will be given a suitable life. Even if we have to tailor their lives." Azura did not know what that means, but this must have been long before Alpha Trion would have known what she would have been born with. And long before he was killed. "I know Optimus will have mercy on his spark, as he should, but you are right. They will only want to destroy, and we need to contain that somehow."

Azura couldn't believe her ears. She didn't even know if what she was hearing was true. She ran from the ghostly images again, before running into Optimus with Ratchet, Arcee, Bulkhead, Cliffjumper and Bumblebee. Her spark panged when she saw Cliff again, as she missed him deeply. But seeing all of her family in front of her now, made her fearful of what might be said. But she still did not know if this was even true.

"The kid managed to get out somehow, and that is so impressive!" Cliffjumper said in enthusiasm with a big smile. Optimus had a very regretful expression on his face, and this must have been sometime after she had run from the base. "I must say, her abilities clearly do things that give her an advantage. It's so cool!"

"Yeah, but we should have found a way to keep her here." Arcee seemed worried and she shook her head. "She's already been through so much, Optimus. She must feel like that she is nothing, because she had to be sent away." Azura frowned a little as she listened, while wanting to run from them. "But she is young. She probably won't understand until we find her again."

"I agree, Arcee. Hopefully, Azura only ran into the town. She's bound to be there somewhere, and it is not big." Ratchet seemed to be confident as he placed his hand on Optimus's shoulder. "We will find her, I promise."

Azura ran from them, not wanting to hear more, as she looked around for a way out. She gasped when she felt as though someone was embracing her, and she felt warmth radiating through her body and the world around seemed to lighten suddenly. She felt herself relax and she looked around until she saw Optimus. He was hugging her, and Azura let more tears fall as she knew that Optimus was not giving up. But she was still not in control.

"I am right here, Azura. I love you, and I will make things right again." Azura felt his kiss on her forehead, and she whimpered, wanting to hug him back. She ran towards him, but the image was moving away from her, making her sob a little. "That's right, I'm here. You will never be alone again." Azura knew that, and she really wanted that.

"I hear you, daddy. I am trying to reach out…" Azura stretched her hand out, and the world suddenly turned dark again, blocking out her vision. "NO!" She shrieked and glared around at herself. "GET OUT OF MY HEAD! STOP CONTROLLING ME!"

She focused as she felt a surge of energy through her and she unleashed it suddenly, even though this was in her mind. She felt the ground beneath her crumble, and she dark clouds washed away. She felt as though the power of a thousand suns just surged through her, giving her the will to push out the darkness in her mind, and she felt as though she could take back control again. And she could feel it. She just needed to wake up.

"I am sorry, Azura." Azura blinked and saw through her optics again, and she was surprised Optimus was apologizing to her. "I know there have been many mistakes in the past, and things could be different now." Azura softened her expression as she listened, while also dropping her guard slightly. "But I cannot change what has happened. But know that moving forward, you will never be alone. You have always been worth something. And I love you. I know you can beat it."

"I love you too." Azura stared at him for a moment, before she felt someone taking control again, forcing her body to react and form fireballs within her body. "NO! YOU WILL NOT KILL MY DADDY!" Azura shrieked, focusing as she finally broke out of her dream, reconnecting with her mind. But she felt her body unleashing the fireballs, but she managed to tilt her head down to stop the fireballs from hitting Optimus and Megatron directly.

End of Dream

Azura's optics cleared briefly as she saw the smoke and sparks from the fireballs she had unleashed at Optimus and Megatron. She could not see them. She could only hear their grunts, and she heard someone transforming and flying above. But Azura could not focus. Her whole body was shaking and vibrating, she tasted energon in her mouth, her throat was sore, and her body felt hot. She stumbled, not realizing she was on her hind legs before she lost balance and fell over the side of the cliff.

She made no sound. She couldn't. Her vocal processor was damaged, and it would need repair. She lands and rolled over the sand, and she laid there intaking and exhaling heavily before she managed to make herself transform back into her bipedal form. She whimpered as she felt pain, even though the transformation process was natural, it felt like each part was on fire, and she wanted to relieve that pain. She rolled onto her back, looking up at the sky as the clouds began to clear, and the ocean seemed to calm down again.

Her vision was blurry, but she saw Optimus peer over the edge and spot her. Azura whimpered a little, wanting to speak, but she couldn't. Her lips would move, but no words could be formed. And it hurt when she tried to speak, making her whimper and weakly hold her hand up towards Optimus, wanting him to come down and get her. She let out like sobs, though she did not know if Optimus could hear her, but he was definitely watching her.

She watched him climb down the side of the cliff. She noticed he was injured, and knew it was her fault. "Azura!" She flinched as hearing him speak actually hurt her hearing, even though it was not his fault. Optimus jumped down to the sand with a heavy thud, and ran over to Azura. "Oh…no, no…" Optimus saw just how weak Azura was. The chains were gone, so was the ghostly blanket around her, but she was so weak. Her crystal was still glowing dimly, with a hot, red line around it with steam still rising. She needed Ratchet. Arcee, Bulkhead and Bumblebee ran over as they had climbed down too. Megatron remained on top of the cliff, watching curiously. Optimus opened his com link. "Optimus to base, I need a ground bridge now! And Ratchet, I hope the med bay is prepped. Azura is in critical condition."

"We need to hurry!" Optimus flinched and glared at Arcee before noticing that the tidal wave that Azura had formed before was rushing towards them. "That wave is going to hit us."

Optimus widened his optics and quickly, but gently, picked Azura up from the ground and cradled her against his chassis. The vortex opened in front of them, and he ran into it without hesitating. Arcee, Bumblebee and Bulkhead follow him quickly. Megatron stood staring as the vortex closed and looked at the wave as it crashed against the cliffs with a massive impact. Droplets splatter on his body as thoughts go through his mind.

Starscream lands beside Megatron and sighed deeply. "Well…that did not go as I planned." Megatron narrowed his optics and turned slowly to face Starscream, making the seeker flinch back in surprise. "Uh…M-Master? She will be okay…uh, you know that. Right?"

Megatron clenched his teeth as Starscream began taking steps away from him. Megatron intakes heavily and opened his com link. "Soundwave, I request a ground bridge." Starscream sighed in relief before he shrieked as Megatron grabbed him by the neck harshly. "Don't think you will not get away with this, Starscream!"

"W-W-What…" Starscream was shocked and confused. "But…b-b-but I was only trying to…to have her in your control!"

Megatron tightened his grip and looked at the vortex as it opened beside them. "You have undermined my authority yet again, Starscream. You had better pray that you survive what I plan for you this time, as I went easy on you before." Starscream was alarmed, and Megatron began to walk towards the vortex, dragging Starscream and the seeker began to scream and plea. "Attempting to kill Optimus Prime is one thing, trying to end my own life is another, but I not accept the attempted corruption of my sparkling! And if she dies…" He brought Starscream closer and growled at him. "And I hear about it. I promise you, I will ensure you will perish. And I will make sure it will be long and excruciating."

"No! Please, master!" Starscream pleaded as he was dragged into the vortex, trying to get away. "Have mercy! NOOO!"

The vortex would close as Megatron dragged Starscream through, leaving a scarred land behind. A land that will take time to heal before it could return back to the way it was. Anyone who might come by here, will see cracks in the cliffs and the top of the cliffs too. Some of the pine trees may never grow back in their place. And for a while, meteorologists will be stumped by the weather phenomenon detected today. But today will be burned into the memories of the autobots and decepticons. For someone else, determined to get his vengeance against Primus, he was not done yet.