Destinies (Transformers Prime)

=8=

A few days went by and they completely forgot about the incident. Arcee had explained everything to Optimus, and how it effected her. He and Ratchet helped her get through the trauma. The two decided the relic needed to be off limits from now on.

They went on a few missions but lost what they needed to obtain each time. They were starting to get irritated with each other, but Optimus always set things straight. He started to go out on his own to find energon mines. They felt a little bad about snapping at each other.

Smokescreen would wander to the relic room unnoticed and try to get the one that tampered with time. But Ratchet or Optimus were always there studying it. He wondered if they were ever going to leave the relic alone. One day they managed to get a hold of an energon mine and actually got a good amount. When they were finished gathering it Smokescreen huffed and leaned against the wall.

"I wish they would just leave the relic alone, just for a few seconds." He mumbled and folded his arms.

"Why so you can snag it?" Wheeljack asked as he raised an optic ridge. The rookie glared and looked away.

"Didn't you listen to what they said after Arcee got back?" Bulkhead asked as he frowned deeply. "She's still having some troubles,  even if she doesn't say." He mumbled and looked at her from across the room.

The wrecker had noticed she would occasionally and absentmindedly set a servo on her midsection. As if trying to feel something. He had put the pieces together but never said anything to her.

"Just leave the relic alone and listen to Optimus. Besides you wouldn't want him to be disappointed in you." Bulkhead said seriously and went back to work. Bumblebee watched the rookie then helped the others. The other young bot just stood there then looked at Wheeljack.

"Hey I may not like to follow rules, but I'm not going against Optimus with this." He said seriously. "I like how life is for the most part and don't want to change it." He muttered and walked off.

Smokescreen huffed and folded his arms as he leaned against the wall. What was wrong with them? A little while ago they all wanted to change something. He sighed forcefully and finished helping them.

A while later they went to get the children from school. Jack waved at the others then got on his motorcycle. He had noticed how quiet Arcee had been since her trip back in time. He hadn't said anything about it, but his concern was growing. He thought for a long time about what to say while they drove back. She seemed to simply be doing a routine and not really there. Jack frowned deeply and turned the bike to drive out to the desert and away from everything else.

"Where are you going?" She asked quietly suddenly snapping out of her daze. "We need to get to the base..." she muttered.

"Why? So you can mope around?" He asked as he furrowed his brow. "You need a break from things." He said seriously.

~

Back at the base, the others has arrived and seemed confused that Arcee and the teen weren't there. Ratchet frowned deeply and shook his helm as he walked over.

"Where's Arcee and Jack?" He asked and furrowed his optic ridges.

"I don't know. They just took off." Miko shrugged and folded her arms.

"What? They can't just take off like that." He muttered and went to the computer as he thought. He located them and narrowed his optics.

"By the AllSpark, what are they doing way out there?" He mumbled. "I'll have to contact them and see what's going on." He said more to himself as he typed. Optimus set a servo on his arm to stop him. The medic looked at him with confusion and the leader slowly shook his helm.

"Leave them be for now old friend." He said gently. "I trust Jackson is simply looking out for the well being of his friend." He said seriously and a ghost of a smile appeared on his lip plates. Ratchet didn't say anything and looked back at the screen. Wondering what they were doing.

~

Jack remained quiet as he drove out to the desert. He stopped under an outcropping of rocks and got off. He stood there and folded his arms as he watched her intently.

She just stayed in her alternate mode and seemed lost in her own thoughts. After a few minutes she transformed into her biped mode, and sat with her back struts against the rock wall. Jack didn't say anything and sat by her. They were quiet for a long time, just sitting there. She closed her optics and sighed forcefully, then fell silent again. Jack never said anything and simply watched the horizon.

"I changed the past..." she whispered quietly and he looked at her. He didn't dare say anything to her yet. "I stopped Cliffjumper from dying... but at a cost. We never met any of you kids... I never realized how much you did for us." She muttered and fell silent for a moment.

"Bulkhead and Wheeljack ended up... joining the AllSpark... Bulk because of the scraplets and toxic energon... Wheeljack died from the Insecticon... seeking revenge..." she rasped as she stared blankly at nothing in particular.

"Miko..." Jack muttered as he realized why Wheeljack didn't make it back. He shook his head slowly as he realized they did mean something to them.

"Optimus never got his memories back... because you weren't there..." she said seriously and looked at him.

"Me?" He asked quietly and furrowed his brow in confusion. His eyes widened suddenly as he realized what she meant. "Victor Sigma." He whispered and she nodded slowly.

"You can imagine what happened after... we tried to rescue him... but they all ended up dead... I wasn't meant to be the leader..." she rasped quietly. He kept silent as he thought and fiddled with his fingers. They didn't say anything to each other for a long time as they stared at the horizon.

"I'm glad we met..." was all she said and he looked at her. The teen stared at the Cybertronian for a moment then looked at the horizon again.

"I didn't realize we meant so much to autonomous robotic organisms." He said as he smiled a little. "Especially since we are merely insects to them." He muttered and thought for a moment.

"Not insects." She whispered and slowly looked at him. "But merely friends and allies." She said seriously. He smiled a little more and looked back across the desert. The two fell silent as they simply sat there and thought.