Prime: Whatever It Takes

Pain

"You are weak."

Megatron pushes Optimus off the end of his sword, letting him fall to the ground.

"You are weak. For a human girl."

Emilia's eyes burn with hot tears. She watches Optimus fall in slow motion, his head landing only feet away from her. She was so close. But he hadn't been able to see her. He was looking for her. Because she hadn't left, like she was told. And now he was dead.

"Optimus!" She screams, but everything seems to be muffled. Her ears are ringing. Tears are falling and her throat tightens. There's yelling behind her. Ironhide. But she only thought of Optimus.

Emilia moves for him, her hands reaching out to touch him. His metal is cold, no longer warm and humming with life. "Please don't be gone," she whispered as she shakes her head. "Come on, I need you."

"Emilia!"

"I need you to come back. I need you here with me, I can't lose you, please."

"Someone go grab her! Bee, get her out of here!"

Arms wrap around the small girl, lifting her from her feet as they start to carry her away. It's Sam, and he's yelling for Leo to open the car door. Emilia is yelling and pushing at her brother, but it's no use. She's put in the driver seat, and Sam runs to the other side to get in. Bumblebee kicks up dirt as he drives away, the other Autobots fending off the two Decepticons before following suit.

"Em..." Sam attempts to speak with his sister once in the road, but she shakes her head. Her injured hand moves to wipe her tear, but replaces it with blood. Her bottom lip quivers and she looks down. She lets out a small cry before she hits the dashboard and yells.

"Goddammit!"

~~~~~~~~~~

"Oh, my little spark."

"What does that mean?"

"Our sparks are similar to what you humans may call a heart. The human heart is what keeps a being living, and when I think of living and thriving, I think of you."

"Oh, Optimus."

"Your face is turning red. Are you well?"

"I'm perfect."

Emilia sits up quickly, looking around her. The Twins are to her left, transformed in their robot form. Underneath her, Bumblebee's hood hums lightly to keep her warm. Her right arm had been bandages up, the white gauze wrapped from her wrist to just below her elbow.

"Hey, little one's awake," Skids says, motioning over. At that, both Sam and Leo pop their heads up.

"Hey, Em," Sam says gently. He looks at his sister, seeing her all puffy-eyed and pink in the face. "How uh... how are you feeling?"

She looks over at him, and her face alone says enough. "How do you think I'm feeling?" Her words are like venom. A silence falls over them, but Leo can't seem to stop fidgeting.

"Bad timing, guys, I know," he says. "But look, I know what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna go to the authorities and tell them the truth. Like, I had nothing to do with this, so I'm not an accomplice."

"Hey!" Emilia snaps at him. "You wanted this, right? The 'real deal'? Well this is it! Wake the hell up! You're in the middle of it! You want to run? Be my guest! I'm definitely not stopping you, so go!"

Leo looks down, nodding a little. "Look, I... I understand, Alright? You're hurting."

"You understand, do you?" She tilts her head to the side, glaring daggers. "I was there. You weren't. I watched Optimus call out to me, okay? He was looking for me in the middle of fighting Megatron and two other Decepticons! And then I watched him get killed. He fell down right in front of me, I couldn't do anything. But I was still there. I didn't run like he told me to. I stayed to make sure he was safe. And it got him killed. So you say you understand? Really?"

"Emilia," Sam shakes his head. "We all lost Optimus, we know there is no one-"

"I loved him!" She cried, sitting up a bit more. Under her, Bumblebee shutters slightly. The Twins look at each other and the boys in front of her look confused. "And he died before I could tell him!"

Again, a silence hit them like a brick. The blonde shakes her head, sliding off the front of Bee's hood and standing.

"Bee, if you hate me, I understand. I would hate me too."

His radio whirs quickly. "Princess... you're one of the most important people... in my life." He switches through stations. "If you need anything... tell me."

"I don't know what I need," Emilia shakes her head, hugging herself tightly. "I... I do, but... what I need is dead."

"What you need," Sam says. "Is to make this right. Make sure that Optimus didn't die in vein. He, and all of us, know that you're incredibly smart. You're the key to this. He saw it, Lennox saw it, even the Decepticons see it. Win this war. For him."

The girl pauses, biting her bottom lip as she thinks for a moment. Optimus thought she could do this. She had to.

"Twins," she looks up at them. "Do you know the symbols?"

"What symbols?" Mudflap asks as he steps forward. He and Skids watch as Emilia starts to trace them in the dirt with her foot.

"These? These symbols that have been in my head, do you recognize them? Megatron wanted them."

"Oh, that's old school," Skids shakes his head. "That's Cybertronian."

"That's some serious stuff right there," his brother agrees.

"Well, It has to mean something, like a message or... or a map, right? Oh, a map to that Energon source! Megatron talked about it, when he was fighting. Can you read this?"

"Read?" Mudflap shakes his head. "No, we uh... we don't do much reading."

Emilia grits her teeth and shakes her head, her hand moving to wipe a tear that fell from her eye. "Right. Of course you don't."

"Hey, hey," Leo moves over quickly. "Let's not uh... lets not cry, okay? I might have a solution, we are not giving up yet. I know a guy."

"Who?"

"Robo-Warrior."