So...not much to say except that this idea came to me when the family and I were driving home from spring break. Basic idea - frightened younglings + Aria = lullabies. That's the whole idea. Will be updated at random intervals whenever I find the drive to write more of these and, like all my Transformers fics, is related to my longer stories I Lost A World! and The Long Road Home. Just so you know.

First up is Arcee and Taylor Swift's 'Safe & Sound'. I recommend you go listen to it at least once, because after all, songs don't translate 100% into written form, but you know, that's totally up to you.

Enjoy!

...

Sing Me to Sleep

1 – Arcee's Lullaby – 1

It was late and the younglings were huddled together in the corridor. Outside and above them, they could all hear the dull thuds and distant booms of the enemy as Megatron tried to crack open the city like an egg, all so he could lay his hands on the last of the younglings.

There were seven of them, and they were all afraid. It was why they had left the warm security of their separate beds and clustered together out in the hall, because in all honesty they couldn't stand to be alone when they felt like this. It wasn't that they were unused to hearing the sounds of battle – sometimes they even tried to be brave when they heard it, try to pretend they were not afraid of anything – but right now they couldn't bring themselves to even try. It was too late in the lunar cycle to try and be brave. They were all scared and they all knew it. Might as well try to find some comfort in the fact that they were all scared of the same thing.

But even when they were all scared together they felt alone, horribly alone, and if it wasn't for their Jie Mei they would have given in to the urge to just sit there and cry ages ago.

Jie Mei's real name was Aria, but they never called her that if they could help it, and despite the fact that she was a completely different species, she was their older sister. She loved them all so much, and right then she wished there was something she could do to make them feel safe.

Another missile hit the roof far above them, shaking down vorns old dust that had probably been there since the building had been constructed, Aria thought.

"That was probably a Seeker," she thought to herself, her inner voice sounding small and far off even in her head.

Next to her, Arcee shivered and stared with wide optics up at the ceiling like the rest of them. She was the only femme out of the seven and seeing her so terrified broke Aria's heart over and over again. She felt the worst for Arcee because where the six mechlings only had one or two bonds, depending on if they had a brother or not along with their guardian, Arcee had four. Her two sisters, Elita-One and Chromia, Chromia's sparkmate Ironhide, and Elita's beloved, Optimus Prime.

"Well, I guess that technically makes it three and a half." Aria amended, but then sighed anyway, "Although it doesn't really matter since all three and a half of them are out in the melee," Aria thought grimly. "At least Skids and Mudflap, or Fastlane and Cloudraker," her eyes flicked to each set of bonded brothers huddled nearby, "still have each other here with them. Only one bond is out in that-" she tried to think of a suitable word for what was happening outside, but in the end was too tired, and so just shook her head instead.

Another shell hit the roof, closer this time, and all eight of them jumped slightly at the sudden boom.

Arcee whimpered and huddled deeper into the tumble of boys sitting around her.

Aria swallowed past the lump in her throat and scooted closer to the little pink femmeling. "Hey Mei Mei," she whispered to the little femmeling as soothingly as she could with her throat so tight, "it's okay Mei Mei, it's okay." Aria told her, running a gentle hand down her exposed cheek. The pink youngling was lying on her side, staring at her sister with big, watery optics. Wordlessly, she held out her small hands to Aria.

The human girl gave her a small smile, hoping it would give Arcee some kind of comfort. Not needing to ask what she meant, Aria scooted closer still until she was sitting up against the femmeling's pink frame.

"There Mei Mei," Aria whispered, "is that better?"

Another explosion detonated above their heads and Arcee tightened her grip around Aria, making her older sister gasp as she suddenly found it difficult to breathe with Arcee clutching at her.

"It's alright Mei Mei," Aria managed to gasp out, "they can't get us in here, remember?"

Arcee shifted her head so that she could pin her big blue optics on her Jie Mei, and then nodded slowly as if she was no longer completely sure of that. Either way though she still remembered to loosen her grip on Aria before she passed out from oxygen depravation.

"There ya go Mei Mei," Aria murmured to her as she remembered how to breathe, "I've got you."

Arcee didn't answer, just twisted around and put her head in Aria's lap, curling up on her side to do so. Aria was just glad she was still small enough to fit otherwise the feeling in her legs would have suffered for the next week.

"Sing." The femmeling squeaked.

Aria looked down at the sweet optics blinking up at her, somewhat surprised.

"But I can't sing Mei Mei." She told her, startled.

Another concussive blast shook the ceiling, making all of them, Aria included, flinch and whimper.

"Please." Arcee said again.

Aria looked around to see the other younglings watching her expectantly. She tried to hold back her disappointment, but the tiniest sigh of resignation still escaped. She hated singing. She wasn't good at it. From what Sera had used to say she sounded like a cat getting a bath with its tail caught in a moving fan. Not very encouraging.

"Why do they think I listen to classical music all the time? There aren't any words! And humming is a whole lot safer anyway."

But what with the bombs exploding overhead and the frightened look in the younglings' eyes, Aria just couldn't say no. Not to her younglings.

"Alright, alright," Aria murmured as she thought of a song. In the end she picked the first one she could remember half the words of off the top of her head.

"Stay awake, don't rest your head-" she stared to sing.

"No!" Arcee suddenly cut her off, "Sing my song!"

"Your song?" Aria asked in confusion. "Which song is your song?"

"You know," Arcee said as if it was supposed to be obvious, "my song. The one you gave me the last time everyone had to," more coolant tears pooling in her optics, "had to leave to fight da Septiconnies." She ended on a half-sparked mumble.

Aria looked up in thought just in time to get more shaken off dust in her eyes. She blinked quickly, making her eyes water to wash the dust out.

A soft touch at her back made her twist around in her seat to see Bumblebee watching her with wide optics. He whirred a worried question at her in the Cybertronian version of baby talk.

Aria quickly swiped at her eyes with the back of one hand and sniffed to keep her nose from running. "I'm fine 'Bee. It's alright." She told him too quickly.

He clicked uncertainly at her, but didn't take his small hand away from her shoulder, Aria noted with relief.

She took a deep breath, her eyes still stinging, but not from the dust. "Now, eh, what was I doing again?" She asked Arcee with a watery smile.

The only femmeling blinked up at her once. "Song." She told her decisively.

A smile flickered briefly on Aria's face. "Right," she said then quickly tried to remember any of the words.

"Da du dum da dum," she half mumbled, half hummed the first few bars of the chorus to herself to see if she could remember it. Then she shot Arcee a quick look to see if she'd changed her mind. She hadn't.

"Alright, alright," Aria mumbled again, "uh, 'Just close your eyes, the sun is going down, you'll be al-"

"No!" Arcee stopped her again, more insistently then before as she tugged at the hem of Aria's shirt, "the whole song!"

Aria sighed, but the half formed delighted smile still appeared on her face. "Demanding little femmeling aren't you?" She murmured to her as she ran a soothing hand across Arcee's forehead.

Arcee blinked at her again and squeaked.

Aria sighed again and tried to relax. "They don't care if I'm good or not. As long as it makes them feel better." The thought drifted through her mind as she tried to remember all the words to the Taylor Swift song Arcee seemed to have adopted. She already had the tune though, so fortunately the words came a bit easier then before. She remembered them all soon enough.

The human girl found a smile for her youngling sister. "'I remember tears streaming down your face when I said I'll never let you go'," she started singing for Arcee in a slightly off key voice. The younglings didn't seem to notice though. "'When all those shadows almost killed your light. I remember you said, 'Don't leave me here alone,' but all that's dead and gone and passed to-ni-i-ight'."

Aria quickly swallowed to try and keep her voice from cracking at the end of the next line, although it didn't work and the first word of the chorus came out as more of a breath.

"'Just close your eyes, the sun is going down. You'll be alright. No one can hurt you now. Come morning light, you and I'll be safe. And. Sah~ahound'."

She clumsily hummed the musical interlude between the chorus and the second verse, but Arcee had quieted down and most of the tears had faded from her optics.

"It's working," Aria thought with a heavy feeling of relief, so she decided to keep going.

"'Don't you dare look out your window, darling everything's on fire. The war outside our door keeps raging on. Hold on, to this, lul-la-by, even when the music's go~one',"

Aria's throat closed and she had to swallow hard to get the next, broken word out.

"Gone."

Arcee curled up closer to her Jie Mei and clung tighter to her only slightly bigger frame. Aria just continued to stroke the top of Arcee's small head, like her own mom had done when Aria was little. It had always made her feel better. Around her she felt the other younglings curl up closer to her back, seeking the same comfort from her.

Aria swallowed down her tears and kept going, wanting so badly to give them what they needed.

"'J-just close your eyes, the sun is going down. You'll-"

She literally couldn't speak for a moment. She covered her mouth with the back of the same hand she had used to wipe her eyes, faintly tasting the salt water as her vision started to blur around the edges. She felt herself falling apart, but she didn't dare do it in front of the younglings. Not now.

"Not now." She mentally chanted as she squeezed her eyes shut. "Not now. Not now. Not now."

Somehow she managed to pull herself together as the high pitched scream of missiles cutting through the air before they made contact with their target reached her ears through the thick architectures around them. She even somehow found the shattered pieces of a smile laying around somewhere for Arcee when she leaned over to be closer to her.

"'You'll be alright'," Aria whispered from where she leaned her head against Arcee's, not trusting her voice to go any louder than that. "'Come morning light, you and I'll be safe. And. Sound."

She hummed the nonsense sounds that made up most of the song as she ran a hand down Arcee's cheek, calming her. She probably hummed too many times but eventually she noticed Arcee's optics slowly shuttering as she managed to drift off into recharge.

"'Just close your eyes'," Aria mumbled one more time for good measure as she felt the mechlings drifting off too, "'you'll be alright. Come morning light, you and I'll be safe. And. Sound."

Her voice cracked near the end, but it didn't disturb the younglings out of their fitful recharge.

"Thank goodness for that." She thought as she swallowed past the lump in her throat.

Another explosion, this one stronger then before, rocked the ceiling. Aria's breath caught in her chest as she felt the floor tremble underneath her. She sat perfectly still, staring wide-eyed up at the dark ceiling as the tremors buzzed, then faded.

Mercifully the younglings only twitched, Arcee giving a small whine from where she was still resting in Aria's lap, before falling silent again.

Aria breathed out a shaky sigh of relief. "It's a miracle they can sleep at all." She murmured to herself.

She was no less amazed when, after all the explosions and wall shuddering tremors that nearly stopped her heart altogether, they still hadn't woken up when the battle finally ended.

She hardly noticed the quiet that descended afterwards. The aftershocks were still echoing in her ears. It wasn't until she heard the slightly panicked stomp of feet coming from down the hall that she even noticed the eerie silence outside.

Aria looked up just in time to see an alarmed Ironhide come into view from a cross hallway farther down. He came to a quick stop when he saw Aria and the younglings huddled halfway down the hallway.

"Prime," he murmured into his comm. unit, "I've found them."

Aria dimly noticed that the gruff mech was smoking slightly as he came towards them. She quickly cleaned her face, rubbing away the itchy salt her tears had left on her face. Arcee twitched and gave a small whine when Aria let go of her, but quieted again when Aria wrapped her arms around her again.

"Hush Mei Mei," she whispered, "sh…"

Ironhide crouched down in front of the huddled group, the bright light of his optics making Aria blink in the dark hallway.

"They alright?" He asked in his gruff voice.

Aria nodded, not trusting herself to speak quiet yet. She cleared her throat before saying, "Yeah, just scared." She told him.

Ironhide nodded slowly, giving the recharging younglings a concerned look some bots would be surprised to see on his face. He scrubbed at his faceplates with a low growl as Aria watched with tired eyes. A moment later he remembered to shake himself out of it.

"Hey, Arcee," the imposing black mech rumbled as he reached down and gently shook the pink femmeling.

Arcee twitched again, curling up in on herself automatically before opening her optics the slightest bit. She rolled over in Aria's lap and blinked up at Ironhide, not finding him even remotely scary, no matter what anyone else thought.

"Ionhide?" She mumbled up at him.

He grinned lopsidedly at the little bot. "Yep, now come on femmeling, let's get you back to bed."

Arcee just held her arms out to him, silently telling him that if she was going anywhere it was being carried by someone else.

Ironhide managed to chuckle at her, even after the fierce battle that had just taken place. "Spoiled femmeling." He mumbled, but reached down and scooped her up nonetheless.

Aria felt herself smile, even just a little, as the little femme burrowed close to the big mech's black armor with a little sleepy moan. Seeing the careful way the gruff mech held the little femmeling was beyond adorable. Even after such a nasty night, it still made Aria want to grin and giggle.

She bit her lip to keep from embarrassing Ironhide instead, although he saw her anyway.

"What?" The weapons specialist asked a little too loudly, dragging Arcee back from the brink of falling back into recharge.

"Ionhiiiide," she whined as she repositioned her head in the crook of Ironhide's neck, "you're too loud…"

"Uh, sorry kid." Ironhide told her, trying to look at her and failing since she was now right under his chin.

"Arcee!"

Aria felt Bumblebee jerk awake next to her as Chromia's shout echoed down the hall. The four of them looked down the hallway, Bumblebee and Arcee and bit blearily, as the silver and blue femme raced up the hall, Elita not far behind.

As soon as she saw them, Arcee reached out for the older femmes, Ironhide holding her out as soon as the blue femme was close enough.

Chromia swooped her tiny sister up and held her close, needing to know she was alright. As soon as she had, Aria heard a distressed, high pitched wail as all of Arcee's worry leaked out as crying.

Aria watched as the two older sisters enveloped Arcee between them, letting her cry herself out, Ironhide standing silently near Chromia's free side. The three adults waited there as one by one, the other guardians appeared to collect their respective charges.

Optimus was the last to appear, after he had seen to the aftereffects of the battle. Arcee had calmed down by then, sniffling and hiccupping every once in a while as Chromia rocked her lightly. The red and blue mech put a large, comforting hand on her head, nearly hiding it from sight, before carefully taking Bumblebee from Elita-One.

The yellow younglings chirped in sleepy indignation at being disturbed, but quieted as soon Optimus brought him close.

Below them, Aria managed to get her numb and tingling legs underneath her. She couldn't actually go anywhere yet as the blood suddenly rushed back into her lower limbs, but she was just happy she could still stand.

"Ow, owowowowow," she muttered as she slowly shook one leg then the other.

"Are you alright Ariah?" Optimus asked.

"Ow," Aria looked up at him, "yeah, ow, I'm fi-ow," she squeaked, "fine."

Optimus raised an optic ridge at her, but before he could say anything else, a little voice gave a small, indignant, "Hey!"

Aria looked up to see Arcee looking back at her from over Chromia's shoulder.

"What?" Aria asked.

Arcee frowned at her, pouting slightly before reaching an arm out to Aria. "Say goodnight Jie Mei!" She ordered imperiously.

Aria smiled at her. "As soon as I can feel my legs again Mei Mei," she mumbled before taking an experimental step forward. She just as quickly stopped.

"…owww…" she squeaked, her voice going up at the end. "I thinked I liked it better when I couldn't feel them." She muttered to herself.

Arcee waited.

Defeated by the femmeling's sheer trust that she would get her goodnight kiss, Aria held her breath and shook the rest of the tingles out of her legs without anymore pained squeakings.

"Alright Mei Mei," Aria said when Chromia leaned down so she could reach her youngest sister. Aria gave the femmeling a big hug and a loud kiss on the cheek before doing the same for Bumblebee.

"There we go." Aria said when she was done. "All ready for recharge-eep!" Aria yelped as small hands abruptly reached out and snagged her around the middle and held her close to her pink and white chassis.

Aria looked up as Arcee hugged her, somewhat surprised. Arcee was sweet, but when she got tired she didn't really like people touching her all that much.

"Thank you Jie Mei." Aria heard the femmeling whisper.

Aria's face softened into a smile as she twisted around in Arcee's grip to wrap her in a hug of her own. "Always Mei Mei." She whispered back before planting another loud kiss on Arcee's cheek, making her giggle.

"Luv you Mei Mei," she told her, "now night night, sleep tight."

Arcee giggled again, the adults chuckling at the pair above their heads. "Night night Jie Mei."

"Alright then Arcee, you've got your hugs and your kisses and now," Chromia said as she straightened up, adjusting her sister against her side, "it's time for bed."

Arcee was too tired even to argue and just rested her head against Chromia's silver shoulder guard.

Aria watched as Chromia, Elita, and Optimus took the younglings back towards their rooms. Ironhide hung back with her, but she didn't notice until she heard him chuckle over her head.

"I can't tell who's worse," he said to her, "you or the youngens."

Aria slanted a look up at him. She thought about reminding him that he was wrapped around the younglings' digits, especially Arcee's, just as much as she was so what did that make him? But decided against it.

Instead she smiled sweetly up at him, and held her arms up to him. "Pwease Ionhide?"

Ironhide looked down at her, blinking his optics at her questioningly, then vented what sounded like a deep suffering sigh. "So this is where Arcee gets it from." He mumbled, but reached down to pick up the small human anyway.

"There," he said as he put her on his shoulder, "just don't wiggle too much. I'm not catchin' you if ya fall."

"Fair 'nuff." Aria told him. And then before he could forbid it, Aria leaned into the gruff black mech's neck and gave a sleep sigh.

She could hear Ironhide's optics roll when he spoke, his deep voice making her chest buzz. "Yeesh, you're worse then Arcee."

Aria closed her eyes and laughed tiredly. "Just where did you think she got all those cute tricks anyway?" Aria asked him with a smile.

Ironhide just chuckled as he followed the other bots down the hall.