In an insane asylum, Andre works as an orderly alongside human and Transformer employees. One of his patients is a youngling but he never could figure out their name.

Andre scowled as Minicons who oversaw delivery of food and other majority necessities maneuvered around him at a quicker pace than he was walking. They were always on the move and although they did their job well, it was somewhat annoying.

He checked in all his assigned inmates until he got to one particular door. Andre unlocked and slowly opened it to reveal a red Caminien youngling. They were looking out the window with a glasgow grin. They never left their room, never once tried to escape or eat or do anything yet they seemed to be the happiest patient.

"Will you come out today?" Andre asked.

The youngling shook their head, "No, not today. Could you imagine the look on the doctor's faces if they saw me out and about, yeah? They always want me to come out, be who I was but that bot is long gone. So, why should I appeal to their desires to see me 'healthy?' There's no point."

Andre couldn't help but agree and nodded, "True, but it would be nice to see one day."

He knew not where they had come from or why, just that they were here. He once brought the case of a youngling being held in the facility to the board members, but they found no evidence of a Caminus-born youth admitted into the asylum. An oversight, no doubt.

Andre sighed, "Alright then, see you in a few hours."

"You know I'll be here. Bye, bye Andy!"

That was their nickname for him. He never argued because they were technically the equivalent of a child after all. Andre closed the door and marked on his check list room 13B's resident being present though he skipped the check box that wanted to know whether the patient was being responsive. They were responsive, just didn't want to go outside which was considered defiance.

He paused when he realized he had drawn extra lines on his clipboard below and above the proper entry, lost in his train of thought. A simple mistake. He put down "Kid" as the name; he never managed to learn it for every time he asked, they would dodge the question. As he finished his rounds, he gave the clipboard for the head doctor to look over. Everything was perfect until he heard Dr. Robinson speak.

"This entry for 13B, you put 'Kid.'"

"Yes?"

"Andre, we talked about this. That isn't a name. Either do your job or I'm going to fire you. You can't be doing this stupid prank all the time. It was funny at first but now it's annoying."

Andre slowly nodded, "I understand."

"I hope you do because you're slipping. This isn't the Andre that was hired two years ago who excelled at his job. Fix it."

The orderly took back his chart and went to leave when Dr. Robinson said, "Look, Andre, your father was a great psychiatrist and I want you to succeed where he couldn't because of his obsession in that so-called experiment of his. You're better than he is and you know that. Why don't you come back to us, son, when you want to get serious."

He turned around quickly, "You're firing me?"

"Paid leave, so to speak. Today is your last day for a while. Take a breather. You need to get out of this hospital. That'll jog some memories and maybe your lost ambitions."

Andre didn't know what memories had to do with anything, but he knew his father enough to know there wasn't much he wanted to remember about him. He was a great psychiatrist, but his days were numbered when he decided that being a family wasn't worth it.

He walked back to 13B...only to find the walls were scribbled on, every inch. Andre stared at the hieroglyphs and words mingled together.

"Do you like it?" The youngling asked.

"Wha-what did you do?! This again? You know how hard it is to clean this up!"

The youngling frowned, a rare sight. "But you always liked it. You would come play with me all the time and write down our favorite verses from those laughable college books. What a waste of money."

Andre paused, "What...did you say?"

"I thought you always wanted to play with me? Ever since when your father showed you that new device of his, you found me watching and you never stopped playing until recently. Did you not like our games?"

Andre thought about the "device"...his father created a device, no, machine that was said to alter someone's psyche and he went with his father to work after graduating at his university and...all he remembered was finding the youngling who was later a resident of the asylum...

You know I'll be here...

You can't be doing this stupid prank all the time...

That'll jog some memories and maybe your lost ambitions...

He frantically looked around at the walls and their words only to notice that each time he returned to a previous wall, it had new sentences, new glyphs, and sometimes drawings. This wasn't right. He then stopped when the youngling appeared in front of him angry.

"Don't you recognize me, Andre?" The youngling said as their voice suddenly changed to his own.

The human stepped out of the room panting as his heart beat faster. He turned around only to scream as the patients that normally roamed the halls were now all the youngling themself. He muttered, "No, no, no, no!"

They all spoke in unison, "What's wrong, Andre? Don't you want play?"

He ran in the opposite direction, but the voices only seemed to be growing louder as everyone he passed was a replica of the youngling. Laughter, sickening laughter was all heard could be heard as he went to the sanitarium and barricaded the door.

This wasn't happening! He paced as his mind tried to piece together just what was going on. Suddenly, he looked at the walls of the sanitarium and froze. Those words weren't there before! Various sentences and random words were all over the room, on the ceiling and decorating the floor. The most prominent was the word "play" and it was daunting.

He clutched his head muttering for it to go away. The youngling wasn't real, or were they? This wasn't real, or was it?

"Andre, you need to come back," the youngling said behind him.

Despite the visible barricade, the youngling somehow still managed to get in and Andre freaked as they reached for him. The barricade behind them pulsed as if someone was trying to break down the door but it changed to where the objects bent and shifted into a heartbeat.

"Andre, I know you can hear me," the youngling said again. "Please, son, you need to calm down."

No, he wouldn't go anywhere with this kid even if it was the last option. He grabbed a surgery kit from beneath a cabinet and held the largest scalpel before glaring at the youngling who now looked concerned. He backed away as the youngling held up their servos.

"Easy now, Andre, put that down!"

He didn't want and as the barricaded door's pulse quickened, he snapped. Running at the youngling, he impaled them in the chest until they fell to the ground.

"You cannot make me!" He said in a childish tone. "Leave me alone!"

He brought the scalpel down as he watched the youngling's face grow terrified. Energon spilled all over his coat and face as the barricade gave out and several more younglings came through equally horrified by what they saw. He kept going regardless until a giant puddle of red was present...but he thought it was blue a moment ago.

Andre stopped with a grunt as he then noticed his hands weren't human anymore, but they were the youngling's. In a flash, the body beneath him wasn't the youngling's, it was the head doctor himself. The Energon staining his hands...servos wasn't Energon.

He suddenly felt a prick on his shoulder and swiped his arm to knock down a relatively frightened nurse...not a youngling clone. He tried to stand up but whatever they injected immediately took effect and he stumbled on all fours until he blacked out.

When Andre awoke, he was in a room.

"Wakey, wakey, Andy, I knew you would be back!" The youngling said with glee. "You always do."

He looked to the side and acknowledged the youngling with a nod.

"How long was I out?"

"Mm, maybe a few days, but that doesn't matter now. We can play again!"

"That sounds...fun."

The youngling handed him a glass of water but when he tried to reach for it, he frowned as he couldn't move his arms from the straight jacket.

"So, what game would you like to play?"

While Andre and the youngling talked, several doctors watched behind a one-way glass and one of them shook his head, "Poor kid, that experiment broke his mind. And he was such a promising orderly. He wanted to help them, but he couldn't help his own father. Reduced to a child-like state, such a shame."

The human and Minicon doctors watched as the water covered a corner of the room and Andre was banging his head against the wall muttering, "Play, play, come and play with me."

"Do you know who will take Dr. Robinson's place?"

"Can't say but I think our supervisor, Roadline, is going to be promoted by the Board."

"Doesn't he have a youngling?"

"No, Heyday passed away a few years ago. Besides, I wouldn't trust a kid around an insane asylum, especially not near Andre. The guy's already thinks he's a child, that should be enough."

One doctor finally activated the speaker. "Andre, will you come out today?"

Andre shook his head, "No, not today. Long gone..."

"True, but it would be nice to see you again one day."

They continued to observe Andre, some with defeated sighs and others who stayed quiet watching the man in 13B repeatedly talk to himself nonstop. The scribbles on the wall did nothing but encourage him.

AN: This was the prototype to this series hence why it was so short. I didn't post it first because I was unsure about the quality. I'm trying to get this series up and running again so bear with me.