I'm not sure what to make of this, if anything. It popped into my head earlier and I just wrote it down really quick before I forgot it. That's just sort of how my brain works. It will throw together scenes in no particular order and then erase them if I take too long to write them out.

So I don't know if this will ever be part of a story or not, but I thought it sounded kind of cool, so here it is.

"Arcee," Jack said gravely, "Get my mother to safety." The femme began to protest, but one look at Jack's eyes stopped her. "Partner, are you sure about this?" she whispered, torn. The boy smiled, but it did not reach his eyes. "Go now. Please, Arcee," he pleaded. Arcee nodded, and transformed. June crushed her son to her in a fierce embrace. "I am so proud of you!" she wept. Jack blinked back tears. "I love you, Mom," he whispered as June climbed onto the motorcycle.

As they disappeared into the groundbridge, Optimus frowned down at the young human. "Jackson, you must leave, immediately," he ordered. The boy shook his head. "I cannot." "If you stay, the Decepticons will kill you!" the Prime warned. Jack smiled grimly. "That's a sacrifice I am willing to make," he said. "But it is not a sacrifice I am willing to make!" Optimus's stern tone forced Jack to meet his gaze. "Jackson, I have lost my planet, I am going to lose my home, do not make me lose one of my family as well."

"It is because we are a family that I won't leave you to die alone!" the human argued back. Optimus was about to order the boy to run in no uncertain terms when he felt the Matrix begin to react. It shook within his frame in a very tangible pull towards the defiant figure standing opposite him. The boy took a deep breath. "Please, sir. I may never get another chance to do this." "To do what?" the perturbed Prime asked. As he watched in astonishment, Jack knelt before him.

In a tradition older than even the existence of the factions, one young human recited an ancient vow. "Where you go, I will go. Where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people and your Maker, my Maker. Where you die, I will die, and there shall I be buried." Optimus dared not interrupt the boy, so ancient and solemn were his words. Jackson continued, "I pledge my spark, my sword and my service to you alone, Optimus Prime, and here do I swear fealty before you."

The mighty Prime stood lost for words. "Jackson, you cannot-" he began. The boy's eyes hardened. "Would you deny me this?" he asked softly. Optimus heaved a sigh laden with sorrow and drew the Star Saber. With the utmost care, he touched the tip of the blade to Jackson's forehead. "So be it, Jackson, son of June," he intoned, "Be thou known by a new name, as befits thy station. Rise, Rodimus, servant of the Primes."

He took the boy in one massive hand and clutched him to his spark as the earth trembled. "Oh, my son," he whispered, "What have you brought upon yourself?" And then the great lasers of the enemy vessel poured out their wrath upon Outpost Omega, and all the world was fire and metal and ash.

When Smokescreen returned to the wreckage, he found a badly wounded Optimus curled protectively around the unconscious figure of Jack Darby. The boy, in turn, had positioned himself to guard the Prime's spark chamber from further damage. One of his hands had fallen against the Star Saber, lying forgotten on the ground.

It was glowing.