hello all! i have just completed my first year of college and am now on summer break, so i will have lots and lots of time to write some stories and one shots! i have a few ideas in mind, which i hope you all you will love, so stay tuned and enjoy this heartwrenching one shot :')

-transformersdaily

"Tell me where the Autobot base is, scout!" Bumblebee was thrown against a wall roughly, a thin line of energon coming out of his mouth. He groaned softly as he felt a foot come to rest on his chassis, digging into his circuits. He looked up and saw Starscream placing all his weight on top of the young scout, a evil malicious smile spreading across his face.

The mission wasn't supposed to go this way. He was supposed to scout the area for any Decepticon activity, not get captured by Megatron's forces and interrogated. He had been stabbed, shot at, kicked, punched, and thrown and still refused to give the location of his base. If only someone would show up, blazing fire at the Decepticons, but he didn't have any hope of anyone coming for him.

"I can do this all day, Bumblebee. Tell us where your base is!" Starscream yelled as Bumblebee groaned and looked at him with his baby blue optics. He wouldn't tell them, even if it costed him his spark.

"I'm not telling you scrap.…" he gasped out as the Decepticon commander transformed his arm into a sword and plunged it into Bumblebee's shoulder, watching in pleasure as the scout grunted in pain, falling onto his back.

"Optimus has trained you well, scout." A deep, dark voice said as the yellow mech looked up and saw Megatron approach him. Starscream lifted his foot off of the scout's chest and watched as Megatron grabbed him by the throat, lifting him into the air. Bumblebee weakly clawed at the dark lord's hands, eyeing him. "I ask this one lat time; where is the base?!" Megatron's evil voice echoed through the valley of Tyger Pax. Bumblebee lifted his head slightly, looking at Megatron, into his dark, crimson optics.

"Frag off, M-Megatron. I'm not sayin' scrap!" Bumblebee said with a strained voice as Megatron tightened his hold on his neck, squeezing harder. The scout made choking noises, and the Decepticon leader roughly slammed him onto the ground, pulling out a sword.

"Let's make sure you never talk again," Megatron growled as he stuck the tip of his sword into Bumblebee's neck, picking out his voice box. The yellow mech tried yelling out, but all that came out was nothing. Megatron chuckled darkly as he grabbed the voice box and threw it onto the ground, smashing it to bits. He looked at Bumblebee one last time before tapping him with a weapon, causing him to fall into unconsciousness.

Bumblebee's world turned dark as the scout lost consciousness, his metal body going limp. Megatron lifted his unconscious body up and threw him down a hill, watching in pleasure. Dark pleasure. The evil bot watched as Bumblebee rolled down the hill, hitting his head on a giant rock, and soon came to a stop. His yellow paint job was destroyed, black and brown covering the yellowness of his body.

"Decepticons, retreat!" Megatron bellowed through the air as troops began to load the Nemesis, and soon enough took off, leaving Bumblebee beaten and alone.

xXx

"Bumblebee, Bumblebee report in!" Ironhide yelled into his comm link as he stood on a small hill, next to Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, and Prowl, looking over the destruction that was Tyger Pax.

"God, this place looks like shit." Sunstreaker grumbled as he pulled out a pair of binoculars, searching for their missing scout.

"It's not like Bee to not respond to us. He always checks in with us." Sideswipe said, facing Prowl and Ironhide. "Something's wrong."

"Bumblebee, report!" Ironhide tried once more, but was only met with silence. Sunstreaker searched the ruins with his binoculars as Prowl looked around, confused on what to do.

"Check the energon readings. If he's here, then we'll be able to track his energy signature." Prowl said as Ironhide pulled out a holopad, rapidly typing on the pad.

"Holy, Primus," Sunstreaker gasped as he stared at a section of the ruined city, zooming in on the hill where he saw a familiar mech. "Are my optics glitching or is that Bee?!" His voice shook with fear as Ironhide snatched the binoculars out of the yellow twin's servos, holding it up to his optics. He zoomed in as Sunstreaker looked at his twin, his gun already in hand.

"It's Bumblebee!" Ironhide yelled as he threw the binoculars to the ground, sliding down the hill. Prowl and the twins soon followed the red mech, running towards the hill where they saw Bumblebee, a puddle of mech fluid surrounding his shoulder.

"Bee!" Sideswipe slid over to the unconscious scout, eyeing all of his injuries. "We need to get him back to base!" Prowl kneeled beside Bumblebee, pressing his hand against the wound on his shoulder.

"We need emergency evacuation now! We have a mech down, I repeat we have a mech down in need of medical attention!" Sunstreaker yelled into his comm link as he stood there, unsure of what to do.

"W-What do we do?" Sideswipe asked with a shaky voice as Prowl assessed Bumblebee for any other injuries.

"Bumblebee, can you hear me?" Prowl said loud, hovering down over the injured Autobot.

"Ratchet better be on his way, who knows how long he's been like this...or how much mech fluid he's lost." Ironhide said as he picked up the unconscious scout, hauling him over his shoulder. "We have to find shelter. If Megatron did this, which is the likelihood, he'll have his troops scout for more Autobots." Bumblebee laid limp against Ironhide's shoulders as the weapons specialist carefully held him.

"Or maybe our troops are coming now," Sunstreaker said as he pointed up, seeing a ship landing just over the hill.

"Come on, we gotta get outta here! 'Cons are pilin' in over that hill!" They all looked and saw Jazz come out of the ship, urging them along. Ironhide ran carefully, trying his best to not jostle Bumblebee. Sunstreaker, Prowl and Sideswipe ran into the ship and helped Ironhide place Bumblebee onto a berth.

"How'd he end up like this?" Jazz asked as Sunstreaker looked over Bumblebee, hoping he would wake up.

"We don't know. We were supposed to be looking for an energon mine, and Bumblebee went ahead to scout the area. But when he didn't check in for a few cycles, we started to get worried." Sideswipe said as Jazz looked at the scout, his own spark churning.

"How do you think Optimus is gonna react?" Sunstreaker asked quietly from Bumblebee's side as Ironhide deeply sighed, sinking into the chair beside Jazz.

"I don't even know..." Ironhide said as he glanced at the unconscious Autobot. "He rescued him when was just a sparkling, he practically raised Bumblebee."

"Bumblebee is a tough bugger. He'll pull through." Prowl said as he stood behind Jazz's chair, watching as the ship flew in the direction of the base. "Radio Ratchet, have him waiting in the hanger with a berth." Jazz grabbed the radio off the dash of the ship and held it to his mouth.

"Jazz to base, Jazz to base, does anyone copy?" He waited a moment before someone responded back.

"Ratchet to Jazz, what's your status?" Ratchet replied as Ironhide released a breath he didn't know he was holding in.

"Ratchet! Thank Primus . . . I need you to meet me in the hanger with a berth, we have an injured scout!" Jazz yelled frantically into the radio.

"Copy that. How far are you out?" Jazz looked out of the window, seeing the base a few miles ahead.

"I'd say maybe a few klicks." Sunstreaker looked down at Bumblebee, noticing his worn down paint job.

"Megatron really beat you to nothin', Bee." he whispered as Jazz piloted the ship to land in the hanger of the Autobot base, seeing Ratchet with a berth and his med bag.

"Help me with him, will ya?" Ironhide grumbled as he slid his hands under Bumblebee's arms, watching as Prowl grabbed his legs. Tye yellow mech's head lolled against Ironhide's chassis, moving side to side as the two mechs carefully carried Bumblebee out of the ship and gently placed him on the berth.

"Has he gained any consciousness since you found him?" Ratchet asked as he hurriedly moved Bumblebee out of the hanger, heading to the med bay.

"No, he's been out the whole time. But he's still alive," Prowl said as Ratchet moved him into the med room, looking at the four mechs.

"I need to have my complete focus on Bumblebee, so get your afts outta here! I'll comm you when I'm done treating him." The medic said as he closed the door of the bay.

"I need a recharge," Ironhide grumbled out as he looked to the mechs. "So, who's tellin' Optimus?" he asked as he folded his arms. Sunstreaker looked at his twin, and then to Prowl.

"How does one tell him?" Sideswipe said as he sunk to the floor, watching as Sunstreaker and Prowl sat next to him. Ironhide grumbled before walking down the hall, to his recharging quarters. "Hey, Optimus! Bumblebee, who's like your son, was beaten to nothing by Megatron and is merely hanging onto his spark by a loose thread, how's your day going?" The red bot said with a sarcastic tone as Prowl sighed. As on cue, large footsteps were heard as the three mechs turned their heads, seeing Optimus Prime himself, walk down the halls.

"Optimus!" Prowl stood up immediately, watching as Optimus eyed him curiously.

"How was the mission? Did you receive any Decepticon intel?" The commander asked as Prowl looked at the twins. "Is everything okay?" Sunstreaker sighed heavily as Sideswipe shook his head.

"Bumblebee was captured by Megatron when he was scouting the area and. . . he's, uh-"

"He wasn't looking too good when we found him." Prowl finished as Optimus widened his optics, looking at the door of the med bay. "Ratchet said he would let us know the second he finished patching him up."

"What about Tyger Pax? Any luck there?" Optimus asked, completely changing the subject. Sideswipe looked at his brother, noticing the change in Optimus' posture.

"It was completely destroyed. No survivors anywhere." Sunstreaker said as the red and blue mech deeply sighed, looking at the mechs.

"There's no way that Bumblebee won't pull through. He's the toughest and bravest scout we have," Prowl said encouragingly, placing a hand on Optimus' shoulder.

"It only looked like surface wounds. Ratchet'll fix him up and he'll be back on his feet in no time."

xXx

The battle for consciousness consumed Bumblebee as the young mech struggled to open his optics. His vision blurred as he opened his optics fully, lifting his heavy head to see the silhouette of two mechs.

"His shoulder and abdomen were leaking energon and mech fluid pretty heavily, but I managed to control the flow and patch it up." He heard quiet voices as he rested back down. "But that's not the worst part."

"What is?" Bumblebee lifted his hand to his neck and sadly looked at the ceiling, recalling what had happened a few joors earlier.

He wanted it to all be a dream. A bad, bad dream.

But it wasn't. It was reality. A horrible reality.

"His voice box. It . . . it's gone. From the scans that I took, it was ripped out of his throat." Bumblebee shot up, staticky sounds emitting from his mouth as he felt a white hot pain course throughout his entire body.

Optimus and Ratchet jerked their heads over to the medical berth, seeing their young scout roll into a ball. "Bumblebee!" Ratchet hurriedly ran over to the yellow bot, gently easing him back into a laying position. "Easy, kid. Easy." Optimus slowly walked over to the berth, placing his hand upon Bumblebee's shoulder, comfortingly rubbing his fingers over his shoulder plate.

"Prowl, double trouble, he's conscious." Ratchet said into his comm link as he turned to Bumblebee, a serious expression written on this faceplate. The door of the med bay burst open, and soon three mechs piled into the room, surrounding Bumblebee's berth.

"Is he okay?"

"How bad are the injuries?"

"Tell us, doc!"

"Is Bee gonna be a scout again?"

"Will he play Cube again?!"

"Ratchet! We need answers!"

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker went back and forth with questions as Ratchet glared at them, praying to Primus that it would soon end. Bumblebee looked up at the twins, then to Prowl, softly blinking his optics.

"Will you two please shut up? Primus, you twins'll tear out our audio receptors!" Optimus stood up, looking over the scout's vitals. He glanced down at Bumblebee, seeing his baby blue optics fill with fear and sadness.

"Bumblebee will be fine, his injuries should heal in a few cycles. One particular injury however won't heal." Ratchet said as Sunstreaker furrowed his optics.

"What do you mean?" Prowl asked, crossing arms as Sideswipe glanced at the scout, noticing he curled back into a ball. Ratchet pulled out one of his med scanners and scanned Bumblebee, a blue hologram appearing above his neck.

"His voice box. It's gone." Ratchet said, bot sugar coating the hard, cold truth. "From the scans I took, something, or someone stabbed him in the throat, and took it out." Sunstreaker grimaced as Optimus deeply sighed, looking down at Bumblebee.

"He doesn't have a voice?" Sideswipe asked, his twin hitting him hard against his head. "Ow! What was that for?"

"Are you stupid? Of course he doesn't have a voice! For Primus' sake, his voice box was taken out!" Sunstreaker snapped at his brother as Ratchet rolled his optics.

"Will you two shut up!" Ratchet snapped as Bumblebee looked up at the scans that were in front of him, seeing the x-ray of his neck. He lifted his hand to his throat, a small staticky whimper escaping his lips.

"So, is he still gonna be a scout?" Sideswipe asked as Sunstreaker glared at him.

"Sides, there's a time and place to ask questions. This is not the time!"

"He'll be in the med bay for a couple of cycles. I need to monitor his wounds that are still healing." Ratchet said as Optimus nodded, looking down. "Bumblebee needs to rest physically and mentally." Ratchet said as Prowl jerked his head to the door, mentioning for the twins to leave.

"We'll be back in a few joors, Bee." Sunstreaker said as Bumblebee turned around on the berth, hiding his face into his pillow. Optimus looked at him with remorse and sympathy, watching as the younger bot tried hiding his face from his surrogate father.

"It'll be okay, Bumblebee. We'll figure something out." Optimus said as he placed his hand on his shoulder. Bumblebee frowned and shrugged his hand off, refusing to look at his leader.

'Easy for you to say,' The yellow Autobot thought, trying to turn further away from Optimus, but only resulted in a pain shooting through his shoulder. A small whimper escaped his mouth, a staticky one, as Ratchet came up to him, injecting a pain reliever into his body.

"Rest now, Bumblebee. I'll be here when you wake up." Ratchet said gently as Bumblebee closed his optics, forcefully slipping into a recharge. "He'll be okay." Ratchet comforted his friend, placing a hand on Optimus' shoulder.

xXx

"It won't be so bad, Bee. At least you won't have to answer to Magnus' boring ass commands." Sideswipe said as he walked into the rec room alongside Bumblebee, who walked slow and steady. "Easy," Sunstreaker said gently as he helped Bumblebee sit on one of the many couches placed in the room. "Hey, maybe let's watch some old Cube games from Cybertron, y'know before this fraggin' war started."

Bumblebee looked at his friend as the door to the room opened, Sideswipe and Wheeljack piling into the room. The yellow mech looked back and glanced at his fellow comrades, seeing them quietly talk amongst themselves.

"Hey, Bee, how ya feelin'?" Wheeljack asked as he roughly patted Bumblebee's shoulder, the young mech releasing a static whimper from his vocal processor. "Sorry." Bumblebee glared at the inventor as he tenderly held his shoulder.

"What're you guys watching?" Sunstreaker stood up from the hologram and faced his twin, giving him a playful slap on the head.

"Just some old Cube games from Cybertron. Y'know, the old Cybertron." Sunstreaker said as he sat on the couch beside Bumblebee, playing the game show on the hologram. "Just bringing light to a dark time. A little way of bringing up Bee's spark."

Bumblebee glanced at Sunstreaker, a small smile forming. "Speaking of bring up his spark, I have a small offering for you, Bee." Wheeljack said as he pulled a chair beside Bumblebee, presenting him with a small voice box.

The yellow mech's optics widened as he looked at the small box in Wheeljack's hands, hopefulness swarming into his blue optics.

"Woah! Where'd you find a voice box?" Sunstreaker asked as Bumblebee carefully took the box out of Wheeljack's hands.

"I didn't find it, I made it." Wheeljack said proudly, placing his hands on his hips. "Now, it won't actually give him a voice, the science is far too complicated. Instead, I created a voice module that'll allow him to talk, but without a voice." Wheeljack said as Bumblebee studied the voice box in his hands, eyeing it carefully.

"So talking, but not talking." Sunstreaker said slowly as Wheeljack nodded. "How does that make sense?"

"He can talk, just not vocally. Instead of words, clicks, like how sparklings talk." The inventor said as Bumblebee frowned, a look of confusion swarming his face. "I know it sounds weird and confusing, but trust me it'll make a lot more sense when you get it in your system."

Bumblebee looked up as Sideswipe grabbed the voice box, closely inspecting it. "What if he doesn't like it?" Sideswipe looked over at his twin before smacking him in the arm.

"Sunny, is there something wrong with your processor?" Sideswipe said as he pushed his brother off the couch.

"What'd say, Bee? Wanna give it a shot?" Wheeljack said as Bumblebee perked his head up, nodding. "Atta boy! Let's get you talkin' again." Wheeljack walked out of the rec room, Bumblebee, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker following in suite.

"Have you done this before?" Sunstreaker asked as they all walked into Wheeljack's lab, Bumblebee sitting on the metal berth that sat in the middle. "Why not have Ratchet do it? I mean he is our medical officer."

"Because he's in the middle of a surgery procedure. I'd hate to be the one who interrupted him." Wheeljack said as he grabbed a set of tools, grabbing the voice box from Bumblebee's hand. "Lay on down, Bee. Let's see what we're working with." Wheeljack muttered as he hovered over Bumblebee's vocal processor. He grabbed a tool and carefully pried his circuitry open, seeing the spot where his old voice box sat.

"I can't watch." Sunstreaker whispered as he hid behind Sideswipe, the red twin watched in fascination as Wheeljack steadily and carefully moved around Bumblebee's circuits, the young mech whimpering.

"This'll only hurt a tint bit," Wheeljack whispered as he carefully placed the voice box in Bumblebee's throat, locking it into place. "Just have to tidy up some circuits," Bumblebee closed his optics, hopefulness swarming into his mind.

'What if it didn't work? What if I can't be a scout again? What would Optimus do with me? What value would I bring to the Autobots? I'll be as useful as a sparkling, like I was when Optimus found me,' Bumblebee thought negatively, considering all the things that would happen of this didn't work.

"Alrighty, Bee. Let's hear it." Bumblebee cautiously sat up and looked at Wheeljack. "It's worth a shot." He moved his mouth plate for a few astroseconds before deeply sighing.

"Here it goes!" Sideswipe said energetically as he held onto Sunstreaker's arm, waiting for Bumblebee to belt something out.

Click, click, click. Click-click, click-click.

"Thank Primus! It works! It actually works!" Wheeljack yelled happily as he ran over to Bumblebee, engulfing him in a large hug. "Megatron can go frag off, cause I'm a genius!" Bumblebee happily clicked as he wrapped his arms around Wheeljack.

"And that's a win for the Bee!" Sunstreaker yelled as he hopped on his twin, raising his hands in the air. Sideswipe yelled happily, loud, happy voices filling the room.

"What's going on in here?" Sideswipe looked at the door and saw Optimus with a concerned look on his face.

"Bee has an alternative for talking!" Sunstreaker yelled happily as Bumblebee ran from Wheeljack to Optimus, clicking happily.

"A few lessons on what exactly he's saying and this ol' bot will be good to go out in the field again. Or at least until Ratchet gives hik the clear." Wheeljack said as Optimus placed his hand on Bumblebee's shoulder, giving him a proud smile.

"Let's hear it, tell me about something. Anything." Optimus said as Bumblebee smiled, straightening up. A wave of clicks escaped his mouth as Optimus watched with a smile, seeing happiness expand on Bumblebee's face.

"How will we be able to understand him?" Optimus asked as Sunstreaker patted Bumblebee on the shoulder lightly.

"I can adjust it to make it more understandable for you, since he's more bonded with you than anyone on base. You'll be able to get a clear understanding of what Bee's trying to say, but as far as scouting missions, I'd say he had a better chance if just doing one click for all clear, two clicks for busy, and three clicks for danger. Or whatever Bee wants." Wheeljack said as Optimus nodded, hearing a large amount of clicks emerge from Bumblebee's mouth.

"See, I told you it'd all be okay." The commander said as Bumblebee looked at him, before charging at him with his arms spread open. He hugged his surrogate father and nestled his face near Optimus' spark. The red and blue mech smiled and hugged him gently.

"If I'm being completely honest, no femme or mech could ever replace Bee's position as scout. You've been the best since you were a youngling, and you'll still be the best with a replacement voice box." Sunstreaker said as Bumblebee smiled, looking around the room before emitting a series of clicks. Wheeljack chuckled as the young bot smiled at him.

"You're most welcome, Bee. Anything for the bravest scout the Autobots ever had."