Sam sighed as he looked at the sky just starting to light up with a new day. He didn't know if he could do this. Be something… so much to the Autobots, to the humans. He was barely out of high school and they wanted him to do all this, be all this?

"You're lost?"

"Huh? Who's there?"

"You doubt yourself. Why?"

"I'm just a normal guy. I'm nothing special!"

"But you are. Can't you tell?"

"I'm not special! I'm just Sam!"

"But that is precisely why you're special!"

"Huh?"

"We will show you."

The world seemed to shift under his feet and he found himself flying through a vortex.

"Wha?"

"The others are like you. See?"

He watched as worlds span by and faces appeared in front of him.

A man's pale face hidden behind black hair and red cloth, red eyes pained and tired. Emotions shuttered behind the glowing blue eyes of a man wielding a giant sword.

"I don't know if I can do this…"

A boy ran, messy black hair whipped around as a dragon flew overhead, green eyes alight as he shouted something and flash came from the end of a stick in his hand.

"I'm so tired of fighting..."

Gold eyes of a hawk watched as four other animals ran through a mob of aliens, slashing and fighting their way free and a different blue alien ran with them. His gaze watched the bear closer than the others.

"of loosing those I care about…"

A blonde haired boy looked up at a giant machine, worry etched on features that were too young to carry the weight of experience.

"but…"

A dark skinned teen flew by on a disk that glowed with electricity, blasting at a shadow that seemed to pull in everything around it.

"I have to try…"

A red haired woman's hair bled white as she threw her hand at some sort of monster. A small blonde woman rushed past, axe swinging and taking heads from the monsters five times her size. A one-eyed man shooting anything that threatened those behind him.

"because if I don't…"

"Do you see?"

A pair of bright blue optics watched as the boy, so much smaller than him, picked up the Cube and ran, knowing that one way or the other today the fight would end.

"who will?"

"Do you understand yet?"

Dozens of pairs of eyes flashed by, red, green, brown, violet, colors never dreamed of in the human spectrum. Hundreds of lives, powerful, weak, small ,large, fighting against impossible odds.

"I think.."

Sam marveled at the lives shown to him, wars fought and won, people he'd never know but knew intimately because of one thing. Slowly the tension faded from his shoulders, a smile working across his face.

"Yes!"

"I finally understand..."

A wave of contentment and satisfaction rolled over him like and embrace and he knew he'd gotten it right.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Ratchet, keep an eye on the comms, I'm going to check on Sam."

"Sir?"

"He's been quiet lately, I'm a bit concerned."

"Yes, Sir."

Nodding to the scout and medic he headed out towards the hill where the small figure of the crouched human could be seen watching the horizon.

"Sam."

"Hey Optimus."

"Are you well?"

Sam turned to his huge friend, surprising him with a serene smile. It was the most relaxed and content anyone had seen him in months.

"Yup. Just doing some heavy thinking and I finally realized something."

"Oh? What is that?"

"Now you understand."

The human stood, brushing off his pants as he faced the mech, eye to optic.

"No matter what happens or how odd or far off the norm I am…"

Optimus stood straighter, a bit wary of what his human friend might say.

"I'm not alone."

The mech's shoulders relaxed and he treated Sam to a serene smile.

"And you never will be."

AN: For those curious the characters featured from other worlds were Vincent and Cloud from FFVII; Harry Potter; Tobias of the Animorphs; Quatre from Gundam Wing; Static from Static Shock; Willow, Buffy and Xander from Buffy the Vampire Slayer; and Optimus during the fight in Mission City.

Thank you for reading.