Beast Wars and all related characters belong to Hasbro and Mainframe. The story, its original contents and ideas, and any original characters belong to the author and cannot be used or reprinted without the author's permission.

Epilogue: Dragon by Dragon

By nightdragon0

It's been a long time since I made that decision.

However, I can definitely say that I've never regretted it. Sure, there are quite a few things I would want to change if I could wave a magic wand and do it, but this was my life, my story.

Back then, the others had reacted just as I'd expected them to. But I knew that if they were going back to Cybertron, I could never follow.

I had similar reasons to the ones Dinobot would've given. However, he was a warrior of honor…I was a cold-blooded backstabber. And in the eyes of the community, I would always be.

No amount of good I could possibly do would change that.

The Maximals had understood at least. I'd turned over all my weapons and equipment to them and later stood on a high cliff, roaring as their ship departed.

With any signs of technology removed from my old lair, I checked that the Ark was well sealed up and made sure Waspinator would be causing no more trouble (Actually, I thought the early humans would be taking care of him instead).

I ripped out my own transformation core, obviously necessary for my transformation abilities, and sealed up the wound. Then, I gathered the two dragon eggs, the ones I'd hidden throughout the third stage of the Beast Wars, and brought them with me as I departed, wandering and searching for a place I could begin my new life.

I flew far away from the grounds on which the Beast Wars had been fought. Across oceans and seas, I dare say continents too. Sometimes, I wonder if anything else went on after I left, or whatever became of Waspinator, but that's all in the past now.

From then on, I decided that I would no longer live as a Transformer, but as a creature of this world, as Black Dragon.

On another landmass, I made a new lair and marked out my territory. I started hunting to sustain myself, although never taking more than I needed.

Then, the eggs finally hatched, most appropriately into a male with night black scales and his sister, of a pure white scale color. That gave me a whole new set of problems involving raising and caring for 'my' young, as I thought of them, but I took the challenge as my penance.

After all the lives I've taken, it was time to give some back.

I passed many things on to the hatchlings; survival skills, my self developed hunting techniques and how to watch out for each other. Nothing Cybertronian in nature, but just plain beast like instincts.

I stopped using my voice too, communicating only through growls, snarls and body language.

There were ups and downs, good times with plentiful prey, bad events like droughts and floods. In spite of everything, I enjoyed life for once.

I wish Syndrea could've been around to share this joy with me, but over time, I began to feel that perhaps this had been my destiny all along.

As my children grew and had hatchlings of their own, I stood back and smiled inwardly.

Dragons could live thousands of years, but they mated once in a very long time. The eggs and young too, took a long time to develop.

And so, our small population flourished.

Being able to live much longer than any of the other dragons, I became their 'Great Elder'. I spent countless years watching over my race.

Then came the time modern humans began to appear, and were soon populating the planet. The dragons went into hiding, having vanished seemingly without a trace. I strongly believe that was around the time considered as Earth's 'middle ages'.

I cleaned up one of the three dragon hatchlings with my tongue before putting him back in the nest with the others.

Right now, I was watching over a young couple, ironically a black male and white female dragon. In the depths of the lair, I nuzzled their hatchlings to sleep and strode out to see the two frolicking happily amongst the forest.

I didn't know where I was on Earth's current map, but this place was far away from any human inhabited areas, and that was what mattered.

Suddenly, my senses picked up something. A lone human, approaching our location.

I hadn't moved much in years, but now my heart pounded as I snuck silently through the forest. I certainly didn't want to hurt the fellow, but at the same time I needed to monitor him.

One thing I could immediately see in him was that he meant no harm. With only a camera and his backpack, he carefully made his way through the forest, snapping pictures here and there. It was the look in his eyes that told me he was a good person.

However, I was still considering whether to let him see us or not.

As I pondered that thought, the explorer continued walking on. Eventually, he sat down to take a rest on a fallen tree stump. He was very close to the dragon couple now, who quickly took to hiding in the shadows of the forest.

I remained hidden nearby as I continued to watch.

He opened his backpack, pulled out a notepad and began writing. I couldn't make out much, however I did manage to see the date on his notepad.

It was 1984.

As much as that surprised me, I also saw a video camera on top of his bag.

I let off a soft chuckle. There was one piece of my destiny left, and now was the time to complete the puzzle.

I sounded a low pitched growl to signal the dragon couple. Not to attack, but just to come out…right into the sight of the human.

The explorer jumped up as the sounds of the trees rustling and gasped at what he saw. Even in his moment of excitement, he still managed to bring up his video camera and start filming the two dragons leaping from tree to tree.

The same video clip I'd showed Syndrea.

As swiftly as they'd appeared, the two dragons disappeared from his sight, leaving the human to shut off his video camera and stare around, shaking his head in awe.

I inched forward slightly as he turned around. For a moment, we made eye contact. I'm sure I didn't look as nice as I did all those years ago, but I guess I seemed like an overwhelming sight to him.

Then, like my children, I too sank back, away from the human and back to our lair.

That night, I once again checked the hatchlings were well protected, by the dragon couple snuggled up against each other.

I saw so much of Syndrea and myself in this pair.

Silently, I moved towards the cave's entrance and glanced up into the stars.

I wonder how long more I'll live? I'm getting really old, so to say. Hmmm…seems like only yesterday that I was so young and reckless.

One thing I knew for sure, when my time finally comes, I will be truly happy. So, I guess this is my story's end…no…stories have no end.

Stories go on…

Author's notes:

Wow, what can I say?

This was once of the first two fics I ever wrote, and now it's finally complete. It's taken me a pretty long time too. I've certainly had my fair share of ups and downs with this fic, but it's done.

I'd definitely like to extend my word of thanks you for reading, for your reviews and for all your support.

Thinking about it, reading Beast Wars fanfiction was what got me started on writing myself in the first place.

Nightfire and the Black Dragon Series will always be special to me, but it's now time for me to move on to other things.

Once again, thank you for taking this journey with me. However, it's now time for me to sign off.