A/N: For those of you who are waiting for an update on Gumdrops Falling from a Cotton Candy Sky, it will happen soon, I promise. I will force myself to update on my next day off.

Anyways, this is an Optimus/Sam story since there are not enough of them and it has become my fav pairing. I do not have a beta, so forgive me for any mistakes. This will most likely be rated 'M' later on.

Summary: The matrix of leadership had brought Sam back, but at a cost; now Sam's and Optimus' destinies are more intertwined than ever before. Yeah, summary sucks, but I just can't summarize well.

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers, because if I did Sam would be with Optimus instead of Mikaela.

Intertwined

Chapter One: Heart

…It is, and always has been, your destiny. The words of the Primes echoed in Sam's head as he anxiously waited to see who would come out of the Egyptian city walls; the Fallen or Optimus Prime.

Optimus, the autobot whose fate had seemingly alway been intertwined with his, the one whom Sam was destined to give his life for, and he wouldn't have it any other way despite his desire to be normal. He was jolted out of his thoughts as Mikaela's warm hand grabbed his own and he looked back at her briefly before quickly looking back at where Optimus should be. The Prime walked out of the city just then, the extraneous parts given to him by Jetfire falling from his shoulders, and Sam couldn't help the sigh of relief that escaped him. He let Mikaela, his beautiful and stubborn girlfriend, wrap her arms around him now that he wasn't so worried about Optimus and he returned the embrace, his eyes leaving the Autobot leader and gazing at the various burns and cuts on his arms.

There was many and most seemed to have a grayish-silver sheen to them, which he decided, was just the light from the sun reflecting off sand and ash. Maybe even dust from the Matrix of Leadership since it had seemed smaller when it had reformed than the first time he had seen it. He didn't know, but seeing the wounds made him all that more aware of the pain they caused him and the burning in his veins that had been present since the Primes revived him. He ignored it all as he responded to Mikaela and showed her the love he felt she deserved after watching him die and after going through all of this with him. He turned to his parents as they came up and embraced them, happy to see them once again and promising that they could visit him in college whenever they wanted to. They deserved that.

He could see Simmons and Leo walking up in the corner of his eye and he waved at them before pulling Mikaela towards him and kissing her, enjoying the sensations of being alive. He wasn't sure if he truly loved her, hence the not wanting to say it until she did, but he didn't want to die again before he had the chance to tell someone that he loved them in more then just a platonic way. After all, a live without love is no life at all, and he didn't want to die for good without first truly living.

"You seem to be fine now, Samuel," The medic announced and Sam grinned as he rubbed the bandages on his arms, the pain killers already having kicked in.

"Don't see how this is fine, but I'll go with it," He responded and watched as the medic rolled his eyes before handing him some pain medication.

"I want you to take these every 4-6 hours when the pain calls for it. As for the fine bit, you died for about 6 minutes and now all you have is some burns and cuts, it's just weird." He paused and Sam fidgeted uncomfortably, wondering if he should tell the medic about the burning fire in his veins that wouldn't dull even with the medication. "Granted, I couldn't get any readings on your left arm through x-rays and I can't explain that, but you're healthy in every regard except for superficial wounds." He decided not to say anything since he really just wanted to leave the uncomfortable room and get above, to the top of the ship, so he could get fresh, non-sand-filled air in his lungs. He had been in here being tested on for the whole night and part of the morning and even though he was tired, he just wanted to see that everyone was alright, that Optimus was still alive (he couldn't help but worry that maybe he was only revived for a short time and will soon die again) as well as Bee, Ratchet, Ironhide, and all of the other bots.

"Can I go then?" He asked impatiently before jumping up and hurrying out of there when the medic started to nod yes. Soon enough he found himself standing at the front of the ship after having checked on the other Autobots. Bumblebee, Ratchet, Ironhide, Jolt, and Sideswipe as well as the Twins (Skids and Mudflap) were fine for the most part, nothing a few parts scavenged from the Decepticon remains wouldn't fix. Arcee was dead as well one other of her group, Flareup, but Chromia had survived, if her depression at her teammates deaths could be called surviving. He hated to lose any of his Autobot friends, but he was glad that it was only those two that were lost.

The familiar whirring of gears, clicking, and groaning metal alerted Sam of Optimus' presence. He had started to notice the noises when he had not been too distracted since amazingly enough they weren't that loud, but all of the bots made noise when they moved. Some even emitted other sounds like them talking to themselves with slight whistling noises or taking on the sounds of the animal their bots were reminiscent of. Megatron actually growled quite often when he was out for his brain, but he was probably just really angry at that moment.

"Thank you, Sam, for saving my life," Optimus said in his deep and soothing mechanical-like voice and Sam gave him a small smile as he looked back and up at him.

"You're welcome. Thank you for believing in me," he replied, remembering the meeting at the graveyard when Optimus had asked for his help, knowing that he would be able to. He briefly wondered if Optimus had known their destinies were intertwined or if he had just had faith in him, but it didn't really matter. He had believed in him nonetheless, giving up his own life to save him, which Sam had done in return.

"Our races, united by a history long forgotten, and a future we shall face together. I am Optimus Prime and I send this message so that our pasts will always be remembered; for in those memories, we live on." Optimus sent a message out to everyone, including any Autobots that might still have survived, and Sam couldn't help excitement he felt at knowing the Autobots would remain on Earth, and with him.

"Hey Sam, come play darts with us, we're using Galloway as a target!" Jumping up from where he had been dozing off, Sam looked around to find that he had been falling asleep while sitting inside Optimus' alt mode. They had been talking all afternoon via his radio and Sam guessed that maybe his exhaustion of not sleeping much for the past couple nights had finally caught up with him. That and it was just so comfortable in there.

"Uh, sorry about that Optimus, I guess I was more tired than I thought…" He trailed off, his face heating up in slight embarrassment. "I'll finish that conversation later, throwing sharp objects at Galloway's face sounds fun."

"Your race has the strangest past times…" Optimus said and Sam grinned, patting the side of the semi as he climbed out. "This is a form of releasing frustration, correct?"

"Optimus! They made a giant one for us! I'll show him to call you a pile of scrap metal…" Ironhide's remarks had the prime transforming within moments.

"Ironhide, you know we don't harm humans…" Optimus scolded lightly, well as light as a giant robot could scold, before he walked over to join his weapons expert. "He called me a pile of scrap metal…? I suppose this exercise is good for target practice, but no harm will befall him if he does show again."

"Ironhide, if you hit it ten times in a row with those damaged toys of yours then I won't strap you down in order to fix them." Ironhide grumbled at Ratchet's words, but he held still as the medic autobot began to work on him with his lasers. Jolt helped by using his electro whips, transferring some of the remaining energy in a nearby, nearly-dead decepticon's spark chamber, which was hanging outside of its body, and effectively killing it while using the energy to transfer the parts.

"I knew there had to be a use for keeping that one alive, now I don't regret not finishing him off earlier," Ironhide said as he flexed his new parts, testing out one of his cannons on the Galloway target. Sam ducked as debris flew everywhere when the rather large target exploded at the impact, a piece of Galloway's eye landing in a water container behind him and causing the floor to flood. "I like these new cannons."

"That was too much of an energy transfer, Jolt," Ratchet explained as he walked over to Ironhide, hitting him in the back of the head. "Put those away before you hurt someone; Sam was nearly impaled by Galloway's eye." Sam coughed to cover up his laugh, finding the sight of the two bickering both comforting and funny.

"Are you alright, Sam?" Optimus asked, kneeling to examine the human in order to make sure he was alright.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but I'm gonna go take some more pain medication." Sam replied, smiling at the genuine worry the autobot leader had for him. He walked away as Optimus nodded, pulling the bottle of pain pills out of his pocket and filling his canteen that Will had given him with water dripping from the hole in the container. He cold vaguely hear Ratchet telling Jolt to take the excess energy out of Ironhide before he blew up the whole ship, and Ironhide arguing that he wouldn't, before everything went to hell.

"No, don't do the transfer now; the water will conduct the electricity!" Ratchet shouted, but it was too late as the electricity crackled in the air, hitting the water and causing it to sizzle with its power. Sam barely had enough time to register that he was standing in the water before pain filled him. He could hear someone screaming as well as the shouting of the autobots, but all he could really focus on was the absolute pain he was in, the burning in his veins reaching an all-time high before it all condensed into his chest, making it feel as if his heart was exploding before he fell into a world of darkness.

A/N: Yes, you may hate me until the next part is out. Sorry, I just love to write cliffhangers, hate reading them though… Yes, I am sadistic.