Chapter Text
[Somewhere over the Atlantic, 16:00]
It was a quiet evening on the Nemesis, perhaps too quiet. The only sounds that filled the ship were the rain beating against the metal that coated the ship, the news reports playing on screens all across the ship and the quiet chatter the ship's residents exchanged in reaction to the broadcast.
Nollaig was one of the many watching the broadcast. Even though she was sitting in the comfort of her own quarters, she didn't feel comfortable like she usually did. Something must be in the air.
She sat motionless, with a servo placed gently upon her lower abdomen. The room was quiet until Nollaig felt a pair of servos grab onto her shoulder plates, followed by a voice greeting her.
"Primus!" Nollaig yelped, turning around slightly to see her sparkmate standing there. "Knockout! You scared the scrap outta me!"
"Do you need your audio processors checked?" Knockout asks, raising an optic ridge. "As graceful as I am, I'm not silent moving around"
"Well, I was watching this broadcast!" Nollaig defended herself. "I can only focus on one thing at once."
"Alright, alright." Knockout waved his hand. "Foxtrot is in recharge?"
"Yes, yes he is. Kodiak still seems to be wide awake." She says, patting her abdomen with a servo. "I swear, he's nocturnal."
Knockout smirked, squatting and kissing at where his unborn sparkling was. "That would make sense."
Nollaig sighed and relaxed a bit. "Is there something you wanted to tell me?"
Knockout nodded and stood. "Empress is having a meeting. She expects both of us there."
Nollaig nods slowly before getting up. "When do we need to get there?"
"If we leave now we should get there on time." Knockout says, helping his pregnant sparkmate to her feet. "Do you want to take Foxtrot somewhere so he's not alone?"
"No. He'll be fine," Nollaig says, heading to the door with him. "He sleeps like a rock. You know that."
[Fifteen Minutes Later]
The two sparkmates had gotten to the meeting room with a few minutes to spare, sitting next to Breakdown and his sparkmate, Ravenshadow.
Nollaig scanned over the room and the screens, leaning back in the chair a bit and tapping the clean white table impatiently.
"I have a bad feeling about this." She muttered under her breath.
"I'm sure it's going to be fine," Ravenshadow assured her friend. "Besides, we both know that stress isn't good for pregnancy."
Nollaig nods slowly, keeping her eyes on Empress, the sparkmate of Megatron. "I just want to know what's going on."
"What's going on?" Empress turned to face the Decepticons in the room. "We have finally found a plan to take us to victory!"
"Clarify what this plan is, Empress." One of the generals in the room says. "I assume that's why you summoned us."
"It will be a long and hard process," Empress says, sitting down. "It will also be a dangerous one. There is an island on this rock that seems to be a good home."
"You mean to tell us that going to be living on some lousy island?" Knockout questions with a groan. "And then what? We will be so relaxed that the Autobots will just drop dead?"
"If you would let me finish, Knockout, this island is only for the carriers and their young offspring," Empress replied, causing everyone in the room to panic, ask questions and chatter amongst themselves.
"Quiet!" Empress hissed loudly, causing the room to fall silent. "I can assure each of you that Megatron and I are just as unhappy as all of you are! But this needs to be done to guarantee the survival of the Decepticons if this goes unfavorably."
"What if the Autobots find us?" Ravenshadow asks, crossing her arms. "Many of our best warriors are either mechs or femmes who aren't carriers, we can all be killed!"
"That's why we are going to be disguised," Empress replies. "Anyone who works in our science wing knows of the shape-shifting chip. In fact, Knockout played a strong role in developing it."
"Yes, I did." Knockout acknowledged with pride before frowning. "However, I never thought it would be used for something like this..."
"What is this shapeshifting chip?'" The seeker femme to Empress's right asks, long wings folding down to allow her to lean back in her chair.
"Well, they are chips that could be manufactured that would allow Cybertronians to change into another species and back as they please once the chip is installed into our arms." He says. "Such as humans."
"You want many of our people to become insects?!" The femme hissed. "You will bring disgrace to the Decepticon name!"
"As I said, Starfighter, I hate the idea of this as much as you do, if not more," Empress replied. "Just be glad that you don't have any sparklings as I do."
"What about our sparkmates?" Nollaig asks, looking to Knockout briefly. "Will we be away for long? Or are we all going to have to go without seeing the ones we love for years?"
"I don't know," Empress admitted. "I plan to figure something out. But for now, I want you all to pick human names for yourselves and your offspring. We will need to learn insect culture in order to blend in with the rest of the species."
"When will we separate?" Starfighter asks, looking up to Empress.
"If all goes as planned, we will separate in the period of time of what humans call two weeks," Empress replies, a cringe pulling at her faceplates when she mentioned the humans and their words.
[20 Hours later, inside of the Carina Nebula, aboard of the ABS Lifebringer]
Bluefire was walking back to her quarters when a few younger bots approached her, all asking questions about a recent plan she announced.
She finally stopped and sighed quietly. "Listen, one of our outstanding spies brought one of these chips back to us, and it is easy to reproduce and will work wonderfully to hide those of us included in this plan on earth. We still have plenty of time before we act on this plan, plenty of time to say any goodbyes and plenty of time for me to answer all of these questions, now isn't that time."
The others understood that she didn't want to be bothered and left her alone to continue the trip to her quarters.
Once Bluefire returned to one of the few places she had privacy, she sighed and relief and looked to the screen that was playing the speech she made just a few klicks ago.
"Carrier! You're on the screen again!" Bluefire's oldest daughter, Zodiac announced once she sensed her carrier had returned.
"Oh, I am?" Bluefire asked, glad to see her young protoforms after dealing with the public. "Were they good while I was gone, Silverviper?"
The sparklingsitter nodded, holding a sparkling. "Yep, good as always. Op-"
"Oh yea, Sire is here!" Aerostream, the oldest of Bluefire's younglings announced suddenly.
Silverviper chuckled quietly, nodding. "Yep, he is. He's waiting for you in the study."
Bluefire nodded in acknowledgment and taking one last glance at her younglings, who she knew wouldn't even remember ever even being Cybertronian before heading to the study hastily.
She saw her sparkmate the moment the door opened and she took a few steps into the room before the door closed behind her. "Optimus. I didn't expect you to be here, it's been so long... I missed you."
Upon hearing his sparkmate's entrance, he turned to look at her, smiling gently. "I missed you too, Bluefire."
"I assume that you're here because of the plan?" She asks him, going to stand next to the window with him, looking up at Optimus rather than the stars.
"Yes, I wanted to be here when you announced it to the rest of the Autobots." He answered, wrapping his arm around her backstrut.
"You felt my stress, didn't you?" She asks, reaching up to cup his helm.
"Yes, but I also sensed something else," Optimus says, looking down at her and cupping her helm too. "Are you sparked?"
"Yes, yes I am," Bluefire says, looking down and back up at Prime. "I wanted to wait for you to come back so I could tell you to your faceplates."
"There was no need to tell me," Optimus says, getting down so he was at helm level with where her sparkling chamber was. "I felt it in my spark when their sparks came online."
Bluefire nodded, keeping a servo on the back of his helm. "So I don't need to tell you that they're triplets?"
"No," Optimus says softly, kissing her belly. "Are they mechs or femmes?"
"Two of them are mechs, the other is a little femme," Bluefire answers, smiling down at her sparkmate. "I'm not going to lie, but I feel bad about having a big family. As much as I would like to have many sparklings to raise, especially your sparklings, I know that they're going to fight over your spot."
"There is no need to worry," Optimus assured his conjux as he stood and put his hands on her shoulder plates. "I know that you will raise them to treat each other justly."
"I almost forgot that I am going to have to do this on my own..." Bluefire frowned, looking out the window. "I don't know how I'll do this without you by my side."
"You were able to command this ship with little help from me," Optimus says, leaning his helm against hers. "I know you will continue to do what is right for the Autobots."
"I'll have to try." She says softly, closing her optics. "I think the Decepticons know where this ship is."
"Which is why you decided that you should leave with half of the Autobots," Optimus says. "I knew you wouldn't make a decision like this without good reason."
She nods softly. "I feel guilty. I'm taking the cowardly route. I'm leaving half of us here to fight everyone's battle so that we can live peacefully while they perform the troublesome task of preventing the Decepticons from finding us."
"Don't feel guilty. You're saving the lives of all of our young and their carriers. Without them, the Autobots would go extinct."
"I know..." She muttered. "I wish there was another way..."
"Believe me, Sweet Bluefire, I wish there was too." He says, thinking for a moment before speaking. "But this is the only good option we have."
"I only have one request of you," Bluefire says, getting closer to Optimus, as close as she could be. "I want you to fight. And fight hard. For me, for us..."
"But?" Prime asks, sensing that her statement wasn't complete.
"But I don't want you to fight if fighting means we'll never see each other again. Even if it's only once more." Bluefiresays, her optics meeting his.
"Bluefire, we will meet again, I swear on my life that I will do everything in my power to make that happen," Optimus says, wrapping his servo around the back of his sparkmate's helm and pulling her into a deep kiss.
[6 Years Later, USA]
"Listen, he's coming! I swear!" Sanity heard her mother say from the other room, grabbing her attention away from the tv show she was watching.
"No, I haven't heard anything, and I haven't seen anything!" She yelled into the phone. "I can feel it!"
The woman's child got up to turn the tv off as she listened closely, waiting to hear more panicked yelling.
The mother didn't say much more, only a few spaced out "mm hm"s and "okay"s.
It wasn't long before the phone was hung up and Sanity's mother rushed into the room with her daughter, getting on her knees so that the two were temporarily closer in height.
"Okay, S-Sani, listen to me. I need you to listen real close, alright?" Her mother sputtered, gripping her child's shoulders firmly, but not intently.
Sani nods quickly. "Mama? What's happening?"
The mother took a deep breath, closing her eyes. "Daddy's coming, sweetie. A-And I know you don't know much about him, but I know you know daddy is a bad... M-Man."
"Are you gonna make him go away?" Sanity asks, face turning paler than her mother's.
"I won't, but someone who can is coming. But he isn't going to be here in time for that so I need you to run." She answered. "You remember that old, empty cabin that we see in the woods when we go on walks? I want you to go there and stay there."
"What about you?" Sanity asked in a breathy whisper.
"Don't worry about that. I'll meet you there when this is all over." She replied, freezing for a moment. "Or someone will tell you it's safe but don't worry. Everything is going to be fine."
"I don't want to leave you!" Sanity argued.
Her mother pulled her into a tight hug, tearing up. "I love you, Sani. I named you Sanity because you are my Sanity. Never forget that. But now it's time to go."
"I said I don't want to!" Sanity cried, her mother pushing her away.
"And I said GO!" Her mother yelled. "RUN!"
Sanity stared at her mother with wide eyes, eyeing the panicky woman up and down before bolting off.
She ran across her arms and past the tree line before stopping, climbing up a short tree.
She sat on a branch and waited, panting and trying to see her house over the hill in front of her, waiting for her mother.
Everything was silent with the exception of the songs birds sang until the loud sound of a jet sounded overhead and stopped, followed by a loud thud.
Sanity froze, eyes wide. She couldn't see much, but she saw the top of a head over a hill.
She started to climb down the tree, slowly. She walked to the top of the hill, eyes widening at the scene below.
She had gotten to the top of the hill to see a monster from her nightmares standing on her now destroyed house with the most important person in her world in the large metal claws. She didn't have enough time to yell out for her mother before she got to see the woman who she loved get stabbed through the chest with a claw.
She stood frozen, mouth open for a scream that did not go free. The moment this monster looked up at her and growled deep, she decided to listen to her mother's last instructions given to her.
She bolted through the forest, ignoring the path and running through thin branches, bushes, and cobwebs. She didn't really know where she was going, she just let her legs carry her until they stopped.
She stared ahead, realizing that the cabin where she was supposed to wait for her now deceased mother filled her range of sight.
She turned around and looked, making sure there was no one dangerous around before entering the cabin.
She sat in a corner and held her legs, starting to rock herself after letting out a loud wail that was responded to by no one.
The rocking and wailing carried on until she felt the ground shake every few seconds.
"Come out here, young insect!" A deep, imitating voice called. "I promise I won't hurt you!"
She put her hands over her mouth and struggled not to tip over into hyperventilation. She lifted her head up to the nearby window, only to see that thing that killed her mother looking behind a tree.
She quickly leaned back against the wall, away from the window and kept as silent as a child her age could be, waiting.
A long few minutes passed before she could no longer feel or hear the thuds of heavy footsteps. She let out a sigh in relief when something heavy and hard flew into the side of the old cabin, knocking it down on top of her.
She screamed and slammed her eyes shut, expecting for her story to end here only to find that it still carried on for now, but she was faced with a new problem.
A problem so problematic that she ignored another deep voice call "Megatron!" Which led to a short conversation and a deli between the two bots.
Sanity wasn't hurt badly, but she was trapped in a tiny space that could collapse and kill her any minute.
Being a small child who had no idea of what to do in a situation where she was trapped under a collapsed house, she started to push against the rubble.
She pushed with all the night she had, but nothing budged at all. So she did the only thing left to do: she curled into a ball and sobbed, praying that the fighting would stop and she would get out of this situation somehow.
Eventually, all became quiet. Sanity listened for a sound, but there was none until a different pair of metal hands grabbed the majority of the degree and pulled it off.
The child held her hand up when the sun blinded her with the sudden presence of bright light and squired to see the new, different bot that towered above her.
Optimus scanned over her with his optics, getting down on one knee so the girl didn't have to look up so high to see him.
"Are you hurt?" He asks the child below him.
"Aren't you gonna hurt me?" The girl asked with a whimper. "The other one already hurt my mommy..."
"No." Optimus answers shortly, thinking for a short moment before proceeding. "I am an Autobot from the planet Cybertron, I want to protect the earth. The one who hurt your mother was Megatron, a Decepticon who wants to destroy it."
The girl nods slowly, thinking for a moment. "I have no home. Megatron destroyed it..."
Optimus could feel the distance between him and where his family lived now human lives, knowing that his spark would guide him there. "I know a place where you can stay, little one."