As they walked out into the main part of the base, they were immediately greeted by Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. Optimus stood back and waited as they checked Hope over for injuries all the while shooting him suspicious looks. Finally Hope had enough of their protectiveness and gently pushed them away.

Stepping back next to Optimus,  she once again joined their servos. A sense of surprise  and then anger shot through her as the twins registered what had happened between them. Turning as one, they advanced on the couple before screeching to a stop when Hope growled at them and transformed into her dragon form.

Curling her now immense form around Optimus, she hissed at her brothers. He reached up and petted her snout to reassure her. Bending her long neck, she nuzzled against him. The twins stared in shock before a sense of bemusement flooded through the bond to her from them.

"Well Sunny, looks like our little sister is ready to fly the nest."

Sunstreaker watched the bonded couple and sighed before nodding in agreement.  Walking carefully up to her, he extended his servo to touch her as well. He sent a wave of love and acceptance to her before nodding to the Prime.

"I guess she can take care of herself but Prime..."

The tone of his voice caught Optimus off guard. "Prime or not, you hurt her and we'll turn you into scrap metal. Though to be honest, she'll probably beat us to it."

The brothers transformed and sped out of the base, leaving them to watch in amusement.

*******************

Time continues on and the base settled down, its occupants finding a new lease on life among the natives of Earth. Some became guardians to soldiers but most set about making Earth their home.

Together Hope and Optimus forged a stronger peace between the Autobots and Decepticons. Hope managed to charm even the fierce Megatron into agreeing to a new treaty. It was decided though to keep the two factions somewhat separate. Grudges formed during the war would take time to heal.

Optimus and Hope had moved into a berth room together much to the dismay of the twins. It had come as a surprise to the rest of the base occupants that the stoic Prime had found his match in Hope.

She challenged him both emotionally and physically in battle. Their practice bouts tended to draw crowds of observers.  She would often thwart him in bi-pedal form unless he gained the advantage.  Then she would rapidly transform to dragon mode and pin him.

At the moment,  she had him held down with her front claws, her dragon muzzle staring down his face plate. He reached up and stroked her jaw. Leaning into it, she closed her optics and spoke to him alone.

"That's dirty pool you know."

The Prime smiled. "Truce?"

"Truce."

Sitting back on her haunches, she transformed back into bi-pedal form. Optimus stood and held out a servo to her. After a moment,  she accepted with a smirk in her optics. Before he knew it, she had launched herself off him and flown out of the practice ring. Laughter flowed through the bond to him as he watched her go.

It was there that Ultra Magnus found him. "Optimus, we have a situation.  You're needed in the briefing room."

Both mechs hurried to the meeting room to be greeted with chaos. On the view screen was Megatron,  but something was off about him.

"Is he on Cybertron?"

"Yes Optimus.  He appears to be controlled by Dark Energon. Knockout was able to tag him with a camera link before he went AWOL."

"Unicron is controlling him."

At the strange pulse through him, Optimus turned to see his sparkmate. Hope's optics were unfocused and glowing, the bright light surrounding her. She walked closer to the screen.

"He wants to destroy Cybertron once and for all as revenge against his brother Primus."

As she spoke, her armor appeared and strengthened around her. Optimus recognized it as the armor she had worn when first battling Unicron many years ago. He placed himself in front of her.

"Move Optimus, this is my battle to finish. The souls left in the well will be lost forever if he succeeds in his misson."

"No, this time it is our battle. You were lost once, I won't lose you again."

Optimus turned to the bots assembled around them and was greeted with protests before Ironhide stepped forward.

"No offense Prime but it's our planet too. We're with you until the All-Spark claims us."

Optimus slid his battle mask across his face plate and stood next to Hope.

"Then Autobots prepare to roll out!"