Author Notes: So, I'm suffering from writers block on Autobot Halloween, so I thought I'd pick up on a long dormant project. A prequel, explaining more in depth how Arcee and Jack fell for each other. My series is set four years after the end of Season 3 (Predacon's rising hadn't come out so it's not included in this universe, plus while I enjoyed it, I hated how the kids were never even mentioned) This prequel will fill the emotional gap of fours years when the bots were on Cybertron, before they returned in Stargazing and Shore leave. It will focus on how Arcee and Jack cannot cope without each other, and how they realize their feelings...are love! Awww. Hopefully this will answer any questions you have, and be emotional, sweet and epic. It will also focus...on an important Villain, and how he came to be a major part in my series.
Oh, and that Chapter I uploaded to The Thin Line IS meant to be there, it was a chapter I forgot to add focusing on Blackout and Grindor. Chapter 9 I believe. Anyways, Enjoy guys! I love you all! - Dave
...
"The Omega Lock...it worked. Even after Bee fell into it...after he climbed out with steely determination, and rammed that sabre through Megatron's chest. After it was pointed at Earth, a life giving machine turned weapon. But after all that, it worked...it restored Cybertron.
Megatron was desperate to save his world, but his means of doing so were unjust and evil...Every Villain is a hero in their own eyes. And yeah, while I'm happy about the revival of their home...I'm also worried. I'm scared...I'm heartbroken. Because now our friends, our family...they're gonna go home, I know it. They're going to leave us.
I guess...I guess I've always known they were going to leave but...I just never thought we'd finally see the day. Well here it is...the day that our Cybertronian family left us..."
-Jack Darby (After Omega Lock event)
Jack stood impatient, tapping his fingers against the cold metal of the hand rail. He gazed out at the green swirling vortex. Were they going to make it? Would Arcee be alright? He cared for her; no doubt after all they'd been through. She was dear to him, and he could never explain how dear she truly was.
He had a burning hot thought searing through his cerebrum, melting away the flesh of his brain. What if they were going to go home? What is Arcee was going to leave? What if his partner, his best friend in all his life...left him?
Jack shook his head, his brain like an Etch A Sketch, dissolving and wiping away the though from his mind. Miko cheered, arms up and Raf chuckled with glee as all the Bots re-emerged, each intact. It had been hours since they took the Omega lock to Cybertron.
The children were bridged back off the Nemesis to the Autobot Base while the Autobots tended to restore their home. While they got to witness the blue hue glow as Cybertron came back to life, it was safer for them to go home and to be honest it didn't feel right being there. It was like turning up uninvited to a funeral. It wasn't there place. After watching the Predaking fly off into Cybertron's glowing sky, Optimus ordered a bridge to Earth for the children, which they departed through.
Jack came back to the present, stood smiling as he peered around Bulkhead and Bumblebee seeing Arcee return through the bridge, huffing relief from his lungs.
"Good...she's okay...thank god" He whispered as he hunched over. He was only away from her for a couple of hours as they surveyed Cybertron and checked for any more Decepticons, but he still worried about her. He always had. Several times during their time on Earth, whenever she was injured, he'd stay by her side while she recuperated, sleeping through the night and waiting through the days till she'd stir. She had no idea what she meant to him.
Jack ran his hands through his hair as he watched Miko and Raf descend down the ladder, running straight to their guardians. He smiled and felt a shove on his shoulder. Arcee's slender finger prodded his arm as she rested her wrists on the handrail and her head upon her crossed arms.
"You okay Partner?" she asked him.
"Hmm? Oh yeah! Yeah! We did it, well you guys did it" Jack chuckled, rubbing his neck.
"No Jack, you helped immensely. We...I couldn't have done it without you. Thank you" she smiled.
"No problem" was all he had to say. He snarled at himself for that.
No problem? Come on Jack she's not just your Guardian she's your best friend! You can do better than that. Come on, say something really heart felt! Be a man!
"Arcee, I-"
"Autobots! Fall in" Optimus beckoned the bots over into a group. She gave Jack a questioning smile before walking away, as if she was wondering what he was going to vocalize.
Jack nodded back, and as soon as she turned he slapped his forehead with self loathing. "Stupid!" He whispered harshly under his breath. Arcee stood next to Bumblebee and Bulkhead.
"So...this is it, isn't it? We're leaving aren't we" Bulkhead huffed.
"I am afraid so. We need to work on restoring our home and welcoming back returning Autobots" Optimus explained with a sigh. The three bots lowered their heads, thinking about their human companions. They would have to do the hardest thing they'd ever done. Say goodbye.
"Whoa...I...I don't know what to say" Bumblebee scoffed. "And you'd think I'd want to be constantly talking now I got my voice back" He nervously chuckled.
"I...I can't...Say goodbye" Arcee whispered to herself. She'd never admit it but Jack was the closest she'd ever been to someone, even closer than she was to Cliff.
"Optimus...can we at least have till the morning...I...I want to say goodbye properly" Arcee stammered. Bulk and Bee nodded in agreement.
"Of course. We will leave late tomorrow morning. Go, get them home and rest. We have a big day tomorrow. I have some details I need to go over with Special Agent Fowler. I will see you all in the morning. Dismissed" Optimus said as they filed out slowly, staggered by the news they knew deep down was impending.
"Hey Bulk, what was all that about?" Miko asked. Bulk sighed with a tremble and transformed.
"Get in Miko"
"Oh can I play Slash Monkey!" She cheered.
"Sure, but...We...we have something we need to talk about Miko" He said, voice heavy with emotion.
"Oh...okay" She shrugged, totally unawares as she climbed in. The door shut and Bulk followed Bumblebee out as the black with yellow stripes muscle car with Raf aboard drove out of the base.
It was strange but even though they had restored they're home, it never once occurred to them that they'd leave. Only Jack, the oldest knew what was pending, though he kept pushing the rising thought back, hoping it wasn't true.
Silence resumed as Jack made for the ladder. Optimus and Ratchet were talking with Agent Fowler, but Jack couldn't overhear. He looked up the slender yet curvy physique of Arcee, hands on hips.
"C...Come on Partner. L-let's get you home" She just about managed to say, eyes slammed shut and tight. She transformed and Jack swung his leg over, adding his helmet over his long black hair. No sooner than he had his grip on her handle bars did she speed off out of the base.
"Whoa, Arcee...Are you okay?" Jack asked her with a raised eyebrow distorted by the tinted visor.
"Yeah...just...just fine" she sighed with a shudder in her tone. The sun has fallen below the horizon and the amber eruption of multiple soft colors hued and swirled in the clear sky, night taking hold very quickly. Arcee took a look in her wing mirror at that beautiful sky she'd grown to love so much.
When she first arrived on Earth, she'd hated the planet, only seeing it in angered grey. But as she got to know Jack and the planet, the colors slowly started to return. It was a sight she always woke early to watch rise, and then sit aloft the base and watch set. The vibrant aura of color and the wobbling sun vanished as the stars began to glimmer, rotating over the night sky: Gorgeous.
"Jack..." She started. By her tone, Jack gulped. Was his fear realized? He should have known it would happen sooner or later. "Partner...we...I'm...Primus this is hard"
"I know Arcee...I know" He trembled. "You're gonna go home aren't you?" He said as he could feel a watery pressure well under his eyes, every tight blink pushing them down his cheeks, like watery boulders tumbling down a skin cliff side.
"Y-yes...we have to" She struggled to say. Jack sighed heavily and his head dropped forward, shoulders sagging. She was going to leave, and he couldn't stop her...he didn't want to take her home from her, not after everything they'd lost, but she was his best friend, the closest person in his life.
...
The rest of the journey was silent and emotional as night-time swirled over them. Stars shimmered over the rocky cliffs as they entered Jasper and the moon's lunar glow simply illuminated the place in a soft while glow of satin light. Night was in full swing, the moon high above them. Jack simply sat on his Partner and stared blankly at the passing blur of the town. He sighed, his face feeling crusty and rough as dry tears stained his cheeks. His eyes were red and puffy and every few minutes he'd sniff, the only sound he could muster.
Arcee was also this emotionally damaged. She couldn't cry her Energon tears in this form but damn it all, she was trying hard not to wail out. Even a warrior like her had emotional bonds and none as strong as her bond with Jack. He was her best friend, her partner. Every time she saw him, watched him, studied him, his features, she would get a warm sensation humming in her spark. But every time she would ignore it, and look away or swallow her pride.
They rolled up to the front of the Darby house. After Darkmount, Jasper had been rebuilt incredibly quickly, though only half of Jasper was destroyed by Darkmount, and Jack's house was luckily unscathed by the blast. Had it been any nearer the epicenter it would have no doubt fallen to the blast. June was at the Hospital working overtime to help the wounded and Fowler.
Jack stepped off of Arcee and silently, mindlessly reached down and unlocked the garage door with a click, his eyes still staring into space and his mind miles away. As if by instinct he lifted the garage door and Arcee wheeled inside silently too, a stray sigh coming from her voice box. He stared forwards still, helmet still over his head. He stepped inside and dropped the door behind his body. a slam later and she slowly, emotionally transformed.
She sat up with glassy blue optics shimmering. She let a fake smile graze her face as she looked at him.
"At least we have till tomorrow morning" she sniffed with a shrug.
"Oh yeah! Yeah! I should be ecstatic! We've got..." He looked at his watched with a violent tug on his sleeve. "...Six hours, plenty of time to spend with my best friend before she leaves forever!" He shouted, removing his helmet and throwing it in the corner, hands immediately running through his hair.
"Do you think this is easy for me Jack? You are the only person I've ever gotten this close too!" She challenged him. He scoffed.
"So all that, "we're partners" what? All of that was scrap was it?" He asked after a sarcastic hand gesture of quotation marks, crossing his arms tight with red eyes puffed.
"That's not fair! Of course you're my partner Jack! I care about you a lot" she said from her knelt position. Jack's argument fell when he saw her beautiful optics full of despair. He hated seeing her upset, he couldn't stand it. A sigh left his lips and he dropped his arms in a heap.
"We...we've only got a few hours left together. Let's...let's not fight. I'm sorry"
She smiled. "Me...Me too Jack"
"I'm going to go and have a shower...I'll err...I'll be back in a minute okay?" He managed to muster as he walked past her. She grabbed his arm and held him still.
"Please don't hate me Jack" She pleaded with a lip tremble and wobble of her glassy tearing eyes. He couldn't.
"I could never hate you Arcee...you're all I've got" He squeaked, his tone quaking as he made for the door, leaving Arcee knelt on the concrete with her thoughts.