Summary: Relationship between Depth Charge and a young human child he found when he landed on a planet in the aftermath of one of X's massacres. Songfic/Oneshot

Ok, I was just sitting around reading summaries of Beast Wars episodes when I remembered Depth Charge. So, I went ahead and started reading fanfics about him and this specific one called "Transformation" caught my attention. Depth Charge is my favourite BW character and I always wished that he would actually have a friend to depend on so cue this song popping into my head and thus, this fanfic was born. I really hope that I didn't make DC too OOC :/ Also, I changed the lyrics a bit to suit the fic. Please review! All that aside, Enjoy! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own the song "Do you you wanna build a snowman" or Transformers: Beast Wars.

(cue opening instrumental)

A young girl's head peeks out from under the huge desk she hides, or rather, lives under. Scanning the room to make sure it empty, she scrambles out from her hiding place a runs towards the window. White fluffy snow falls from the sky. The girl watches in awe, her face pressed against the glass. Eyes widening she flees back under the desk, diving behind the curtain that serves as a door between the desk and the outside world.

Depth Charge entered his office, sighing and grumbling with irritation. Yet another failed attempt at trying to convince the Council to destroy that damn X. The Maximal High Council had refused to destroy Protoform X, instead choosing to charge Primal with dumping him on an uninhabited world despite his extremely strong objections. He knew Primal was going to blow it sooner or later like he always did. Huffing, Depth Charge sank into his chair and rolled to his desk. Grabbing a datapad of the stack that had been sitting on his desk for the past few weeks, he turned it on and started reading it. Primus, he hated paperwork.

He had gotten halfway through the report he was reading when he felt a movement from under the desk. Silently gritting his denta, he forced himself to focus on his work. This was not the time to play.

The young girl stuck her head out from behind the curtain, outing her head in Depth Charge's lap. Her dark brown eyes shining up at her self-appointed guardian. A twinge of sadness filled her as she realized her friend was ignoring her once again. He had been working so hard and sleeping so late. His nightmares had also come back; she often caught him whimpering in his sleep when they slept in their shared quarters. She wished he would lighten up and have some fun once in a while. Glancing at the reflection of the falling snow on the cabinet door behind him, she looked up at him again and started singing.

Do you wanna build a snowman?

Depth Charge winced internally. It's not that the five-year-old's singing was horrible. On the contrary, it was beautiful but he had been trying to her since X had been captured, hoping that he would be able to distance himself from her so that he wouldn't feel to bad when the day came that he had to leave her on Cybertron so that she would not be put in harm's way when he was tracking down X. However, her voice was near impossible to ignore much less resist. It took all of Depth Charge's willpower to keep his gaze locked on the datapad.

Come on lets go and play

I never see you anymore

Come out the door

It's like you've gone away.

We used to be best buddies,

And now we're not.

I wish you would tell me why

Do you wanna build a snowman?

The girl leaned closer to her friend.

It doesn't have to be a snowman

She sang, pleading and hopeful.

"I'm busy, Asha."

The girl wilted.

Okay, bye…

With that, she retreated back under the desk.

*eight years later*

A teenage Asha skipped down the corridor of the motel Depth Charge and her were staying in for a few days while they waited for his Starhopper to finish being repaired. Asha had stowed away on his ship, refusing to part with her only friend. Depth Charge hadn't realized she was with him until it was waaay too late. It was winter on the planet and there was quite a large amount of snow even though it had just started snowing a few hours ago. Entering their room, Asha skipped to their shared quarters and opened the door just enough to peek her head inside the room where Depth Charge lay, on the berth, scanning through yet another one of the random datapads he had brought with him. Where the pit did he get those from anyway? Shaking her head, she ignored the disturbing suggestions her teenage mind provided her with and sang to him softly.

Do you wanna build a snowman

Or fly up in the snowing sky

I think some company is overdue

I've started talking to the pictures on the walls

It gets a little lonely

Playing by myself

Just watching those snowflakes fall

(Orchestral)

By the time Depth Charge had finally started having a proper conversation with Asha, she was already and adult. Feeling guilty, he dragged her out of recharge at 5am in the morning so that they would be able to spend a full day at the beach. Asha was not a morning person, but she woke up when she saw the dawn. They had the best day they ever had in their entire lives. After watching the sun set, the pair headed back to the motel to clean up and get a good rest before their departure from the planet the next day.

While they were walking back, they caught sight of a commotion. Before they could do anything, there was an explosion. The two friends were thrown into a building from the sheer force of the explosion. Groaning, Depth Charge rose to his pedes, trying to ignore the loud ringing in his audials. Looking around for Asha, he felt fear creep into his tanks when he saw her prone form lying a few meters away from him. Stumbling towards her, he dropped to his knees, turned her over… picked her up and started running as fast as he could to the nearest hospital he could find.

Dear Primus, please let her live, he thought. Asha had been impaled throughthe stomach with a metal pole, but she wasn't bleeding. Depth Charge was smart enough to realize that any injuries she had were internal. Everything went by in a blur. Depth Charge found himself waiting a nurse or medic to call him, outside a ward after he had handed over Asha for surgery. When the finally exited the ward, he leapt to his pedes, hoping, praying that his only remaining friend would be alright. However, with each word, the medic said, he felt his spark grow colder and colder. The medic put a comforting servo on his shoulder but he barely noticed it.

The techno organic woman the Maximals had discovered had proven to be quite an asset to the war. They had been winning the battles waged by the Predacons ever since she came. Not only was she a skilled warrior, but she was also a good engineer, a fact which Rhinox thanked Primus for as he watched her work through the kinks of the connection between the Maximal and Autobot technology with surprising ease. However, Asha had an unhealthy habit of forgetting to take a break, often spending a whole day on her work if she was not monitored. Rhinox decided to give her five more minutes before he shooed her out of base to take a break and smell the flowers, making sure to watch the time closely while conversing with Optimus Primal.

"Speaking of which, where's Depth Charge? We haven't seen or heard from him for a few weeks now," Primal said. Asha's ears pricked at the mention of her friend's name.

"Depth Charge?" she asked curiously, carefully masking her surprise. The Maximals hadn't mentioned him before and she also hadn't revealed the fact that they were friends.

"Oh, that's right. We didn't tell you about him. I have to apologize, it was a bit hectic around here as you know, and Depth Charge, while not purely a free agent, doesn't exactly help us out very much," said Primal, giving her an apologetic smile. It had honestly slipped his mind that he had forgotten to tell her of the rogue Maximal.

Frowning, he said, "Even if he doesn't make contact with us often, it's been quite some time since he reported in. I was thinking of looking for him if he doesn't show up soon."

"It's okay, I'm certain he'll turn up sooner or later," replied Asha, smiling at her leader reassuringly. Stretching, she announced that she was going to take a break for a short while, asking Rhinox to take over. After being shooed out of the base by Rhinox, she took off, running as fast as she could as she traced Depth Charge's spark signature. Her search led her to a small cave by the sea. A boulder sealed its entrance.

"Depth Charge?" Asha called out to her friend, knocking lightly on the boulder. Pressing her head against the boulder, she sang.

Please I know you're in there

People are asking where you've been

Asha remembered when she had first been discharged, how the medic had told her about how guilty Depth Charge had looked when he heard about her injuries and that she had been turned into a techno organic to save her life.

They say "have courage", and I'm trying to

I'm right out here for you,

Just let me in

She had forgiven him for neglecting her all those years ago. She just wished he would forgive himself for what had happened that day.

We only have each other

It's just you and me

What are we gonna do

She slid down the boulder to sit on the sand, leaning against the hard rock. As she looked up to the sky, she saw small snowflakes drifting down from the sky. She keened softly, tears flowing from her eyes, remembering the phrase she had said every year when it had snowed.

Do you want to build a snowman?

Her voice cracked as she sang. Kneeling, she turned around and pressed her head to the boulder, as she nearly whispered out the last line pleadingly.

It doesn't have to be a snowman

Her shoulders shook as she cried softly. On the other side of the boulder, Depth Charge sat with his back to it, leaning against it as he offlined his optics, tears flowing freely from them, assured that no one was around to see him cry.

Neither moved for a long time.