𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐗
'𝖻𝗎𝗆𝖻𝗅𝖾𝖻𝖾𝖾'

✶ ✶ ✶

𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐂𝐊 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍 Nova Point after the Autobots had returned. Though the sudden outbreak in Cyber City had dispersed, leaving nothing but ruins, Eclipse's disappearance remained a mystery to the public optic. They kept it a secret to avoid panic about Autobot security and the absence of the only Royal left in existence.

The pacing of a particular guardian due to these events never stopped.

Back and forth,
back and forth,
back and forth.

Those in the room with her followed with their optics, her nervousness spreading to them like a space-borne virus.

"I need her back. The sooner the better." Her voice was filled with urgency as she spoke to someone through a commlink.

Tesla continuously kept sending guards, who were under her command rather than the Autobots as a separate group for her and Eclipse's protection, to go look for her.

Another leader, Optimus Prime, stepped into the room. His presence was known but not acknowledged as the femme continued pacing anxiously.

"She's okay." He stated simply, hoping that would easer her nerves in the slightest.

Tesla's helm snapped toward the Prime, "You found her? I need to see her—" She attempted to push past him, but he was quick to place a servo on her shoulder-plate before she could get very far.

"No, her whereabouts are currently unknown, but I sent one of my best scouts, personally, to escort her out of the city and back here safely to avoid any conflict in Cyber City." It was a truthful explanation, but very clearly not the one she wanted to hear.

"You left a scout to protect her? We need her online!" She shouted, pausing just slightly.

Something seemed to change in her optics as she continued in a softer tone, "I don't know what I would do if she didn't come back..."

Optimus nodded his helm in understanding, but reassured her nonetheless, "They're on pede, but they'll be back." He had full faith in their return.

"I trust B-127 with my life."

✶ ✶ ✶

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐔𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐋 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐏𝐈𝐓𝐂𝐇 black, no light flooding in from the outside. The only thing that prevented them from wandering around blind and inevitably running into one another was the headlights on their chassis'. The lights only stretched so far in front of them, a few feet or so, but it was enough to see that they'd be walking for a while in the seemingly endless tunnel.

That's all they could do. They simply walked in rather uncomfortable silence, leaving them to only their own thoughts since neither knew what to say. 

The femme didn't really know him that well, and they hadn't known each other for very long.

Bringing up his mission had come to her processors, but that thought was brushed aside. B-127 had already told her everything there was to know about it.

Five kliks passed, then ten.

When it hit the fifteen-klik ark, the femme was sure she was going to go mad. If anything would distract her from her increasingly aching pedes from all of the walking, she'd be happy. She just couldn't take the silence anymore and there was only one thing she could think of to break it.

To figure out things that were bothering her, as intrusive as that was.

"So, B..." Eclipse started, causing his helm to turn slightly back.

He watched as she did a quick skip to catch up to him, matching his stride as she casually swung her arms behind her back.

"I think I should know more about the bot I'm traveling with. For all I know, you could be a murderer who is really kidnapping me." She joked, but there was some truth to it. The itch to figure out who he was had grown tremendously after what happened at the Wrecker's bar.

"We don't usually do that on the average mission." He paused, smirking slightly as he added, "And I can assure you, I'm not kidnapping you."

All of what he said was very true, especially that last part. Even if he were a kidnapper, he didn't think he'd be able to hold her hostage for more than five kliks before he'd willingly let her go so she'd stop talking.

Eclipse thought about it for a moment before retorting, "Well, I wouldn't really call this an average mission."

He side-eyed the femme, inwardly giving in. She wasn't wrong, but he also didn't want to argue when he knew he'd lose with her stubbornness. "Okay... What do you want to know?"

Now she was stuck. The femme didn't think she'd get this far.
What should she ask?

There was so much she wanted to know, but her processors seemed wiped clean and blank at the moment.

The recollection of what he told her the dark-cycle before flickered in her helm.

Maybe...

"You said you didn't have a designation so you just go by B-127, but why?" Eclipse visibly winced at how poorly she glyphed that question. She was going for the cautious approach since it seemed like a touchy subject, but that plan already crashed and burned.

B-127, thankfully, didn't react in a way that showed he was offended at what she said. In fact, he didn't react at all, which worried her.

His faceplate was blank, as if deep in thought. Truthfully, he was searching for the right way to explain it, trying to find a way to put it into glyphs.

"Well..." His optics drifted to hers, surprisingly finding hers glued to him as she waited patiently for his answer. Eclipse looked genuinely intrigued, like she actually cared. Maybe that's why he was so honest with her. He didn't know.

"My creators both offlined when I was sparkling."

Eclipse was instantly filled with guilt, regretting that she even asked. But then again, what kind of answer was she expecting by asking why someone didn't have a designation. Did she think it was going to be a nice and happy story?

His explanation flooded into her audio-receptors but didn't seep out the other side. No, she retained it all as he went on.

"Optimus and the Autobots took me in, and I was too young to remember my real designation. I don't know, I guess it just felt..." He searched for the glyph, keeping his gaze straight ahead of him, "...wrong to have a different designation than what my creators gave me."

Eclipse frowned, "I'm so sorry." She didn't know what else she could say. This side of B-127 had been unseen by her until now.

His gaze finally flickered back to hers, dismissing her apology, "No, it's okay. It was an honest question."

"I was called a different designation, but I don't go by it." He added casually, "What about you? How did you get yours—"

Eclipse quickly waved her servos around as she cut him off, "Woah, hold on. You have another designation? What is it?" There was an instant shift in the mood, the femme now bubbled with excitement. There was no way he was going to just brush by that so nonchalantly.

B-127, on the other hand, chuckled while shaking his helm, "It's not the best... I don't go by it." He attempted to talk her out of this curiosity. To him, it was really embarrassing.

She wasn't having it though. "No, you brought it up, now you have to tell me."

He remained silent, a ghost of a smile hinted on his dermas as she shook his arm. "Pleaseee." She dragged out the 'e' as she begged him.

The mech glanced down at her, instantly finding her big optics staring up at him.

He couldn't help but vent in defeat, giving in once more, "Okay, fine."

She smiled happily as she waited for his answer.

Her processors scrambled for what it could be, or why he was hesitant to say it. Was it something cool? Bad? The possibilities were endless, but the anticipation was killing her.

"Bumblebee." He finally spat it out, refusing to look at her as his vents kicked on slightly to cool himself.

He didn't like the designation very much. To him, it paled in comparison to his friends and other Autobots. They had such cool ones, and his was... different. Those who knew about it, that weren't Prime or were older bots, teased him constantly.

Even comparing her designation to his own made him frown. Eclipse was a very pretty designation, he had to admit. It fit her perfectly. The one he received on the other hand...

His optics slowly glanced to the side, fully expecting her to be holding in a fit of laughter or maybe even cringing at how horrible it was.

Just as predicted, her grin was stretched cheek to cheek. He didn't know it was possible for a smile to grow wider.

He threw his helm back with a loud vent, "I know, it's embarrassing. Optimus said it a few times after some femme mentioned it, but I didn't like it."

She shook her helm, still smiling, "Well, I think it's great."

Now that caught him by surprise.

He arched an optic-ridge at the femme, nothing short of confusion to be read on his faceplate, "Wait, really?"

"Yeah, I think it fits your look." She nudged his arm a little with her own before adding nonchalantly, "And it's cute."

His optics instantly widened two times their normal size at her glyphs, his frame heating up.

He was sure she'd laugh and make fun of him like the others did, but she actually liked it and thought it was... cute?

His vents only kicked on louder when she asked sweetly, "Do you mind if I call you Bumblebee?"

B-127 took a few moments before he found the courage to utter, "I don't mind."

Her smile grew.

Eclipse was oblivious often times, sure, but she didn't miss how awkward he had gotten after their conversation ended.

The feeling of embarrassment filled her frames. Was he weirded out she called his designation cute?

Changing the subject seemed like the best option.

"If the Autobots took you in, does that mean that you've always lived with them?"

He nods, "All of my life."

That seemed valid considering his age. He couldn't have possibly lived on his own, and not many would have sparklings, let alone take in one that wasn't their own. Nova Point used to even be a safe haven for sparklings found among the war before there was a system in place.

There was just one thing that didn't make sense.

"How have I never seen you before? I know like... every Autobot that is stationed in the base at Nova Point." Boredom was a powerful thing when you had nothing to do but wander the halls of the same building for your entire life.

Bumblebee chuckled a little, scratching the back of his neck cables, "That's not entirely true... We met once, briefly. That was it, though."

Now she was even more confused. She could not pinpoint when she had ever met him.

"We were pretty young, and we smacked into each other in the hallway." He clarified, and the recollection of that dark-cycle slowly came back to her.

Through the now silent halls of Nova Point, little pede-steps could be heard pitter-patting. The three-vorn-old sparkling was doing her best to remain silent, knowing that most Autobots were in recharge, since it was the middle of the dark-cycle, while others worked late or patrolled. Those are the ones she had to avoid in an effort not to be sent back to her berthroom.

As little Eclipse approached her carrier's berthroom, her tiny servo moved toward the already slightly cracked door. Until voices from inside made her freeze in place, almost like the game she played with a few Autobots the other day.

"The Decepticons already want her offlined because of her status. If they find out about her... abilities, she is going to go from simply a target to top of their hit list." It was her carrier, Skywing. "What if... What if I can't protect her? What if they kill her and she offlines? I don't know what I'd—"

Eclipse frowned, not understanding her carrier's glyphs, but recognizing the worry in her voice.

A new voice spoke, "Skywing, I understand your concerns, but Eclipse is in very good servos. Not only do the Autobots protect her, but you most of all. You're an amazing leader and carrier, and I know you will guard her with your life just as I would."

The sparkling cautiously peeked through the crack in the doorway, catching a glimpse of red and blue. She knew who it was all too well, particularly for the many denied game offers. Optimus Prime.

"To keep her safe, I don't want her to become involved in this war. Not unless she absolutely has to. She's like me, she'll push herself to the limit. You know as well as I do what will happen if she reaches that limit with her abilities."

"Ratchet only made an educated guess."

"I don't want to find out if it's true."

"I know. I'll do everything in my power to make sure that doesn't happen, and to do the best for her."

The door was slowly slid open further as Eclipse finally revealed herself. The two bots in the room snapped their helms toward the doorway as soon as they heard the small creak.

Skywing was quick to give her sparkling a stern look, "What are you doing up? You should be in recharge."

Eclipse dropped her helm, "I can't recharge." But that moment of guilt was quickly over as she peered up with only her optics hopefully, "Story?"

Skywing vented as she got down on one knee, opening her arms wide for her sparkling who instantly got the message and trotted over. She sat on her knee, the older femme holding onto her carefully.

She leaned toward her audio-receptor, whispering as she eyed the Prime, "Well, I don't know any stories, but maybe Optimus does?" Her faceplate lit up.

She smiled at her femmeling, "Go ask him."

The sparkling hopped off of her knee and approached Optimus quickly. Even though the Prime towered over her tremendously, his servo doubling the size of her helm, she had become accustomed to his size after spending so much time around him.

"Can you tell me story?" She asked in a small voice as he got down on one knee in front of her in an attempt to shorten their height difference.

He nodded, helping Eclipse up onto his knee to listen. Those large, blue optics stared at him with so much anticipation of the story, he found it rather amusing. She was so imersed that she hadn't even noticed Skywing quietly slipping out of the room.

"As you learned, Primus brought life to our planet, Cybertron." Eclipse quietly nodded, recalling the lesson Ratchet taught her. He was trying to teach her biology, but the lesson went in the opposite direction due to the thousands of questions that kept leaving her intake.

"There was another god, Unicron."

Eclipse titled her helm in confusion. Until now, she had only heard of their god, Primus.

"Primus was known as the Bringer of Life, and Unicron was known as the Destroyer. The gods fought many times until Primus defeated Unicron." He paused when Eclipse began clapping her servos together excitedly at the wonderful news of the good guy taking down the bad guy.

He continued once she stopped, "After the defeat of this planet's first evil force, there was peace. We called it the Golden Age. It was a peaceful era. But another evil group formed, led by a cybertronian named Megatron. He started a war, a war that has been going on for a very long time. With that, the Autobots were formed. They've been led by many Primes in the past—"

Eclipse cut him off, "You lead the Autobots?"

"Correct. I now lead the Autobots because I am one of the last Primes. The Autobots allied with the Royals of Iacon—the biggest city and the capital of Cybertron. You're one of those Royals." He pointed at her, causing the little femme to beam with pride.

However, it faltered after a few moments, "Am I Autobot?"

He nodded, "That's right."

The frown on her faceplate did not fade at that information, confusing the Prime.

She merely raised her digit toward his Autobot insignia, "I no have." Then he realized.

Eclipse was then lifted from the Prime's knee and placed on her own pedes.

She watched him in bewilderment as he walked over to a table on the side of the room. Sifting through the drawer only to pull out a small, silver pen of some sort.

She was yet to remove her optics from him as he kneeled in front of her once more. He brought the pen up to her shoulder-plate, "Stand very still."

A giggle left her intake at the tickle she felt on her shoulder-plate, but stood still as she was told. When he finally pulled away from her, she was growing impatient to see what he was doing.

"There, all done."

She eagerly looked down, filling with joy at the sight of an Autobot insignia engraved on her. This was everything she ever dreamed! As a three-vorn-old, her dreams were new every day, but this one stuck for a little longer than her average attention span.

Eclipse gasped, smiling brightly. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She jumped up and down with joy, causing Optimus to smile just slightly to himself.

Getting a Prime to smile was quite the challenge, but he may or may not have had a small soft spot for the sparkling in front of him.

She pretended her servo was a cannon, imagining to shoot things around the room. She was much too young to have such upgrades on her frame, let alone armor, but she could pretend for now. Her imitations were based on a certain someone who never hesitated or second-guessed bringing out a gun in front of sparkling.

Her faceplate lit up at the thought, "Let's go show Ironhide!"

Eclipse looked up to many Autobots around the base. Ironhide, the weapons specialist, was one of the top on her list. As far as she was concerned, his fighting and weapons were the coolest things in the galaxy. Probably because her carrier forbade her to be around such things, sheltering her from everything they were living through. The mech had his ways, though.

The femme went sprinting out of the room, leaving Optimus to follow behind her. It wasn't particularly hard since her strides were a fraction of one of his steps.

Her path eventually led her to the weaponry testing room, where Ironhide spent the majority of his time. Inside, Ratchet and Ironhide were discussing something, interrupted when the sparkling came bursting in, Optimus not far behind her.

"Eclipse? Shouldn't you be in recharge already?" Ratchet asked her as she ran over, recalling the time to be pretty late last he checked.

The excitement was too great for her to pay attention to his question. It went through her audio-receptors like light piece of scrap blown away in the wind.

Ironhide raised his optic-ridges in surprise as she pointed her servos at him as if they were cannons. Her imagination never failed her. "I'm Autobot warrior! Put servos where I can see!" She demanded adamantly in her choppy-speak, before bursting into a fit of giggles. It was too difficult to contain her excitement.

He smirked slightly, taking part in the femmeling's antics, "You're an Autobot warrior now?"

"Yep! See?" She points to her new emblem. "I just like you."

They couldn't help but grin at her.

The moment couldn't last forever, though. It was only a matter of time before Skywing came stomping in and they would all get in trouble. "Okay, Eclipse. It's time for you to head off to recharge before your carrier gets upset." Optimus stated, causing her to vent.

"Come on, I'll take you to your berthroom." Ratchet waved her over. She had a bounce in her step as she walked beside him, the two leaving the room.

"Story?" Eclipse asked, hoping to score two in one dark-cycle. Her first problem was picking Ratchet as a target.

He denied her instantly.

Silently, they walked down the hall, something she found quite boring and would always find boring.

It wasn't long before she decided to make her return to her berthroom an adventure.

"Race you, Ratchet!" The femme shouted as she ran off, giggling the whole way.

The medic vented, a little too drained to go running after a femmeling. He should've expected this at this point, now he had no choice but to jog after her.

She was a lot quicker than he anticipated.

Eclipse glanced behind her to see if Ratchet was on her tail—which he wasn't—but unfortunately, failed to notice someone turning the corner she was until it was too late. By the time she looked forward, she crashed right into another bot her own size.

Their frames collied, the both of them falling onto the ground with an oomph. However, they stood to their pedes as quickly as they had fallen.

Eclipse looked at the bot in front of her, finding a black and yellow-themed mechling appearing to be about the same age as herself.

It was strange. She couldn't remember seeing a single other sparkling inside Nova Point.

"I'm sorry." She immediately apologized. After all, she was the one who wasn't even facing the right direction. It was kind of her fault.

"It's okay." He dismissed in a small voice, his owlish optics staring at her with just as much wonder as she did. They exchanged puzzled gazes, their locked optics never separating.

This lasted until the sound of pedes approaching around the corner snapped her out of it with a loud gasp, vocalizers sputtering. "Ratchet." She murmured to herself

Eclipse looked back to the mechling in front of her, "Bye!"

She was off again before he had a chance to say anything, watching her retreating figure as he murmured a small, "Bye."

Eclipse gasped in realization, her digits brushing over the insignia that still remained in its original spot, "Oh! I remember that. I was running from Ratchet." They laughed at they recalled the memory, both very familiar with the grouchy medical officer.

"But that was one time. You lived there too. How did I only see you one time?" She shook her helm in disbelief, "I've been trapped inside most of my life. There is no way I wouldn't have seen you." That last part was a helm-turner, instantly grabbing his attention.

She was completely oblivious of his reaction, continuing to be baffled by the situation.

It confused her, not seeing him more than once. Not just because he was an Autobot as she didn't know a few since some came and went, but it was the fact he had lived in the same building as her their entire lives. She knew everyone there, even the guards Tesla had recently hired who never talked. How did she know everyone except Bumblebee?

Bumblebee chuckled, glancing at the femme, "Something about not wanting me distracting you since we are so close in age."

She scoffed at first, but the more she thought about it... Her carrier and Optimus wanted to keep mechs out of her life so she wasn't distracted. They really—

She burst into a fit of laughter, the mech beside her cracking up himself.

"Ridiculous." Eclipse huffed as her laughter began to die down.

He vented loudly, holding a servo to his chassis once his laughter stopped too, "Completely ridiculous."

"So, Eclipse..." Bee began, mimicking the way she started talking to him with his arms behind his back. She stuck her helm out with her optics offlined jokingly, showing that she had his full attention.

"What Autobots do you hang out with? Who is my competition in distracting you?" He joked, prompting a small chuckle from the femme.

This was so new. Where did this come from? They were actually acting like friends instead of two Cybertronians stuck with one another. They were joking... laughing.

It was refreshing.

"Well, I already mentioned Ratchet. He's been in my life for as long as I can remember..." She trailed off, "Actually... a lot of them I've known my entire life. None of them are really competition since they're at least twice or triple my age." He watched her from the side of his optic, a hint of a smile on his dermas as he listened to her.

She hummed, searching through her mental list of those closest to her, who meant the most to her. Only for a loud gasp to leave her intake, "Oh! And Ratchet keeps me out of trouble when I hang out with Ironhide and Sideswipe. Sides is a only a bit older than me, he's closer to the "competition" than Hide is. He's a bit of a salty French fry." He gave her a confused look at the foreign glyph.

Eclipse was quick to explain, "I'm buried in files constantly because Tesla wants to keep me 'educated'. I personally think she just wants to keep me distracted so I don't sneak off, but that's besides the point." Her servo waved as she got back on track, "There is this one planet that has salty french fries. And cars? Like our alternative-modes, but they just get inside and drive it. No transforming or anything."

His faceplate scrunched up.

"I know, it's so weird."

The list seemed endless as she continued on, "And Optimus, of course. He's always been a sire-figure to me..." Her voice seemed to trail off, "Especially after Carrier offlined."

After the mention of Skywing, an imaginary weight plummeted onto the pair from above.

Bumblebee cleared his vocalizers, "I heard about what happened... I'm sorry about your carrier." It was a tragic event, and it left a big hole in the city when she was gone. He was young, but bots never stopped talking about it.

Which also meant she was never able to stop hearing about it.

He sent her a short, sympathetic smile. It wasn't much nor was she one for sympathy, but the gesture was sweet.

"It's okay." She replied, not realizing how small her voice was until it came out as she gave him a small smile.

He eyed her carefully as she wasn't paying attention, gaze dead ahead like she was trying to ignore the situation. The look on her faceplate was something he couldn't decipher. She was obviously trying to hide it, but with the sadness, something else was mixed there. He couldn't help but be curious as to what it was?

The moment was thankfully interrupted when their lights finally revealed the end of the tunnel. Climbing the wall was a rustic ladder, their only escape to the surface.

Eclipse was first to make her way toward it. She gripped one of her servos onto it, placing one pede on the lowest bar. The grease of oil-slicked her pedes and digits uncomfortably, and the slight shaking without even putting her full weight on it were all red flags.

"That's reassuring." The sarcasm was evident in her glyphs.

"Just take it slow. Be careful." Bumblebee paused, "And don't fall on me."

She snapped her helm over her shoulder-plate, meeting the optics of a smirking mech.

Eclipse rolled her optics and wiped her now greasy servo onto his chassis causing him to jump back in disgust.

She laughed, "You deserved that."

Her helm tilted up to where the ladder disappeared into the darkness above. It was a long way up, meaning they must've been walking downhill all of this time.

She grew antsy as she imagined what could possibly be at the top; the mech was just ready to get out of this isolated darkness.

Slowly and cautiously, they climbed up the ladder. The thick grease was anything but helpful for their stability as the steel shook with their every step. Their headlights only reached so far, but that was the problem. The lights on their chassis shined in front of them, not up. It only exposed where to put their servo and pede next. That was really all they needed to get up, but there wasn't really a way to ease her paranoia about some crazy bot climbing down in the darkness without their knowledge—her imagination was a strange place. They were doing their best, though.

Five kliks passed of pure silence as they climbed, something Eclipse had never been a fan of. The exception was the fact they were so focused on not falling back down and possibly breaking something. Or worse, having to start all over again.

She stopped, looking up to see if they were anywhere near the top despite her lack of light—definitely not also the fact she was suspicious of a creeper in the dark. But a grumpy mech below interrupted her before she could.

"Would you stop doing that?" Bee grumbled from below.

"Stop doing what?"

"Stopping. You do it every few nano-kliks. We aren't going to get there any faster if you keep stopping."

Eclipse rolled her optics as she continued to climb, "Well excuse me, I don't want to accidently hit my helm on the room because I didn't look up—" As if on cue, she felt her helm jolt as she hit the ceiling roughly.

"Ow!" The femme yelped as she wavered, one of her pedes slipping off. Luckily, Bumblebee reached his arm up, pushing her back toward the bar so she could both stabilize herself and recover from the sudden helm trauma.

Once she was, now rubbing her aching helm, he burst out laughing.

She glared down at him, her faceplate only being able to be somewhat depicted in the darkness. She was more of a silhouette, but he could feel her anger as she huffed, "It's not funny."

He kept laughing anyway, "It's kind of funny."

Eclipse lifted her pede from the bar, hitting the top of his helm with it. It resulted in his vocalizer glitching with a sharp yelp as he stopped laughing, quickly moving his servo to rub the place she had hit him.

Eclipse smirked, "Who's laughing now?"

"Just get us out of here."

For once, she did as she was told and dragged her servos on the ceiling until it hit a small handle. She opened the top latch of the roof, swinging it open.

Instantly, a blinding light hit them like a thousand knives causing them both to yelp, shielding their optics so fast you would've thought they caught one of their superiors getting an oil bath out there.

She rapidly blinked, forcing herself to adjust to the sudden brightness of moonlight and for her optics to focus as she pulled herself to the surface with a slight stumble.

Eclipse felt as if she had her vision taken from her, leaving herself to stumble around and see nothing but big, blurry splotches. The only thing she did know is that her pedes met rough ground.

Bumblebee followed after her, tripping as he reached the surface, just as blind.

Slowly, her optics adjusted and she began to make out her surroundings. The blobs of color began to clear, and they made out the destroyed city around them. Their necks craned around to see everything.

A few skyscrapers, the only ones left standing, were damaged and falling apart. Still, in much better shape than the majority who had tumbled to the ground a long time ago, adding to the debris scattered everywhere. The street was broken and cracked, as if the gods themselves ripped up the floor in a fit of rage. Not even the art all over every wall and building around them was spared, creating a sea of colors amongst the rubbles.

Red filled her vision, the blazing heat of fire burning structures from the inside out. Gunfire and explosions echoed deafeningly in her helm so loud it made her want to cover her audio-receptors, but she didn't.

A low hum drew her helm to tilt up, catch the sight of a line of seekers flying overhead, almost masking the sound of the yelling.

The sky faded back to its starry self; the buildings crumbled as they were before.

She shook her helm before following after Bee.

They didn't utter a glyphs, even as they began to walk. The air was much too heavy. The duo just wandered in a state of disbelief at the sight around them.

A few streets down was a field, at least what was once one. It horrified them to see every inch of the land layered in a blanket of blue dust. The only thing that remained of the crystals they once were, now only a graveyard of blue.

The art, the crystals... That was all it took for them to realize where they were.

"Crystal City." Bumblebee murmured, so in shock he hadn't noticed the way she stiffened.

They walked away from the remains of the crystals treasured by the city before it fell and back down the street, a little hesitation with her every step.

There were in awe.

War did this.

This city, once full of life and art, was taken down by the cruelty of war. It was so unfair, and there was nothing she could do to turn the clock back. The thought of it made her spark ache.

Nostalgia was a powerful thing. Or rather, it was the memory you felt you were reliving that held the tip of a knife to your spark.

They turned onto another street, her optics scanning the street as she had done to the others.

They walked a straight line, only the two of them in the entire city. Strangely, she still felt a sense of urgency, prompting her to pick up her pace.

Her processors reacted before she did, snapping her helm over her shoulder-plate.

Her optics met blood-red ones staring at her menacingly. His cannon was raised in her direction, but she couldn't move out of the way or defend herself. All she could focus on was what was at his pedes.

A femme laid there on the street, a gaping hole in the armor of her chassis so deep you could see through to the other side. She could do nothing but watch her optics fade from a green to a lifeless grey.

She wanted to scream. She could feel it rising up in her vocal synth. The small one echoed like a ghost whispering into her audio-receptors hauntingly, a sound nothing short of absolute terror and agony.

"Eclipse."

Her helm snapped back around as she swallowed her scream, finding a concerned Bumblebee beside her.

"You okay?" He asked softly. The mech hadn't realized she stopped for a moment, but he wasn't expecting to see her standing there like a mortified statue.

She glanced behind her back again, only to find that the scene had disappeared. It was nothing but an empty alleyway.

"I'm fine." The femme dismissed.

He searched her optics for a real answer, something nagging at him, strangling him as it shouted that she was lying. It was more than obvious, but she clearly didn't want to talk about it. So, he wasn't going to push it. For now, he'd let it go.

Eclipse nudged her helm to the side, leading him down the street, "Let's just go the other way." It wasn't like he had much of a choice in the matter since she dragged him behind her as she sped walk away from the street they were on. She only let go of his arm when they were far away from it.

Bumblebee opened his intake to say something but quickly stopped, holding her shoulder-plate so she stayed at his side. She tilted her helm at his strange behavior.

He said nothing as he looked around in a rather paranoid way.

Why he was acting so strange was a mystery. The more she looked around, the more nothing she found. What was he—

A deep rumble sounded from behind them, a soft noise that got gradually louder by the nano-klik.

Eclipse and Bee slowly turned around, greeted by the sight of five silver cars in the distance growing closer. All of which faced the two.

There was no doubt about who they were.

"How in the pits did Decepticons find us again?" She murmured.

He didn't reply.

They stood still, waiting for someone to make the first move. It was a stare-down, one the duo refused to lose. They were outnumbered and Bee still believed he was her protector so they were kind of backed into a corner, if she had to describe it as anything.

The moment they had been waiting for. Someone else struck first.

A gunshot rang out, but Bumblebee was quicker. He threw a servo on her back as he shoved them both to the floor. The shot blasted a hole in the already destroyed wall beside them.

Her spark pounded in chassis, optics wide. Where had that come from?

Bumblebee transformed his servo to a cannon, shooting at the Decepticon who had snuck up beside them. He had to have been the one Bee caught on to since the others were so far.

His shot was unbelievably lucky, that or Bee was a pretty good shot, happening to land dead-center of the bot's chassis. He crumpled to his knees before falling to the ground limp, offlined.

Bee shot up onto his pedes, picking her up with him. He turned his helm to meet her gaze, both their optics wide. The sudden fight unfolding had caught them both off guard, but they were determined all the same.

"Run."

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EDITED ✔︎
{ 6333 words }