A/N: This is before the summary? Weird. However, this part below the note in italics is not of my doing. This fic is for Kangarooney's Continuation Contest! Kangarooney gets all the credit for the idea and I will do my best to extend it. :) Also, I changed the format a tiny bit.

Summary: We all have seen the fics about Bee running away as soon as he returned to Cybertron. But that's from the team's POV's. What about his own view? And why would he? Was it an instinct? A problem? Was he malfunctioning? Did it have to do with Prowl's deactivation? Was he just scared?

Pairings: Prowl/Bee

Disclaimer: I do not OWN.

Rating: T

Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Family, Possible hints of Romance

Warnings: Bumblebee is LONELY.

Bumblebee was probably the only one of them who was actually scared about what was happening.

What if he was different when he woke up? What if he didn't remember anything? What if, when he saw Bee, he just blamed him for everything? What if...?

So here he was. Hidden away. Off on some backwater planet. Far away where no bot could find him. His spark signature was no doubt gone, and they all probably thought him deactivated. But that was fine with him. Even though he didn't know when they were going to attempt it-or if they already had, and succeeded-, he was content to be far away from them.

His old team. They never liked him. So it made sense why he would leave them when they came back to Cybertron. Besides, Prowl was the only reason he ever really stayed with them. Prowl was like his older brother. The love of his life, and everything else. All mixed into one. He was the only bot Bee could really

love. But Bee couldn't have Prowl knowing how weak he was. Knowing that every time Prowl chased him, that Bee was doing it for attention. Bumblebee yearned for constant attention. It was his nature.

As one of the last mini-bots, no bot-except for his own kind- knew what they needed to thrive. Minibots needed attention. They never had had very high self-esteem. In fact, when one was the only minibot, that one 'bot would require more attention than if that minibot had others of his kind around him.

Bumblebee knew this, and he knew he needed attention. Even if it was bad attention. As long as he had it, he was happy. Prowl gave him attention. Maybe not intentionally, but he did. And it was good attention. Friendly, warm, comforting. Even if at times Prowl was mean, Bee knew why.

Which, in a way, all circled back to Bumblebee's current location.

When Prowl off-lined, Bumblebee had no reason to stay with the team. So he left them when they returned to Cybertron. First, he returned to Earth to be with Sari, because she was a good friend. But as she grew older, her time for him grew less and less. So eventually, he was just holding on to something

non-existent. She wasn't going to give him anything else. She had her own family and younglings to care for. Her time for adventuring and pranks was at an end. She had moved on. Bee had to as well.

So after that, he went off to explore tha galaxy, and then other galaxies. Maybe some other world would have beings which could- and would- give him love. All he ever found was space; cold, empty, dark space. No life. Except maybe those creatures that hated light. He actually spent some time with them. He shut off all his speech capabilities, and powered off his optics. Then he floated around space in one of their groups for a few decades. Evetually though, some other strange creature came along and ate his 'friends', so he had to flee, quick before he was also eaten up.

Finally, he ended up here. That small backwater planet where no bot would ever expect to find him. Sari was no doubt long gone, Prowl was either already brought back to 'life', or was on his way to reactivation.

Bumblebee was living in the past. Or hiding from the future. Yeah, that was more like it. He was hidden from everything. He was a solitary mini-bot. In a way, he had finally accepted that attention was too good for him. So solitude was all he was worth...

It was strange looking down on the planet he once called home. Large swirling wisps of white gracefully swept across sphere, revealing the blue and green expanse below. The oceans of Earth were an image Bumblebee could never forget. The swelling water and the sounds of it crashing against the shore in a rhythmic cacophony were soothing to the senses. He'd only been to the coastline once or twice with Sari, but he enjoyed and remembered every minute of it. He frowned as the thought passed through his processor.

Sari was still a sore subject for his wounded mentality. He felt that the girl abandoned him, left him to find solace alone, but he could never bring himself to loathe her. Their friendship had been special and one of the best he'd had in his whole life-stream. He was grateful for the memories he made with her, yet grew more depressed. He'd been gone for Primus knows how long. It meant that Sari would be gone too.

So what was his home? Home was a place to return to. Home was a place with a family waiting for you to return. It didn't matter how big it was, what mattered was that someone was there waiting for you. There was someone to care for you. There was someone you could care for.

The humans always said that home is where the heart is. If that was true, then why did he feel so alone? Why did he crave attention? Why couldn't he be proud of himself for once?

All those years alone had possibly done irreversible damage to his psyche. At some point, he retreated so far into his mind that not even a collapsing asteroid could rouse him. He'd been stuck for a while, a servo crushed under the weight of the cave-in. It was then that the true paranoia set in.

For some reason, the ordeal reminded Bumblebee of Prowl's death. The huge pede-falls of the Lugnut Supremes could be heard from at least two states away. Rocks clashing against rocks brought on the memory, leaving him in a trembling heap underneath the rubble. He couldn't remember what actually came out of his voice modulator that day, but he was sure it sounded delusional and scared.

The self-loathing side of him wanted to stay there, off-line where nobody would ever find him or know what had become of him. It assured him that nobody searched for him after his departure from Earth. It told him that nobody cared enough anymore. It knew that there was no point continuing such a miserable existence and it begged for rest.

The self-preservation part of him kicked into gear, forcing his frame into action. It made him clear away the rubble and dig his way out. It screamed at him, demanding survival. It won in the end, but the collapse claimed his servo.

It was his right servo that lost its motor functions. Now, it hung limply at his side, a dead weight. Bumblebee didn't know what to do with it as he lacked sufficient medical knowledge on repairing such damage or for performing an amputation. If there had been a medic with him, there was no doubt in his processor that said field medic would not hesitate to amputate. The procedure and results weren't that bad, you could just get another limb on Cybertron. But leaving it on the frame while it leaked a sufficient amount of energon was a terrible idea.

The large gash running from the shoulder joint to the wrist joint never properly healed. It was still there, serrated yellow metal standing on-edge around the slash. Bumblebee knew he picked up a virus or three from it. A shiver passed through his frame and he fought the urge to cough into open space. The last time he did, a few small beads of oil drifted away from his faceplate. That had caused a major epiphany: if he went untreated any longer, he would die.

The fear rushed into his processor before the submission set in. He didn't want to die. What would happen? Would he meet with Prowl? Would he still be alone? Would he be isolated for all eternity? He was going to die. He was already considered dead anyways, so why not make the rumor true?

His self-preservation had kicked in once again, directing him back towards the only planet that accepted him. There was a minuscule spark of hope that perhaps Sari was still alive. Rationality ruled out that hypothesis, as humans live a much shorter life than Cybertronians. Even so, he still believed in the irrational. Either way, he was returning to the small organic planet and nothing could change that decision. But there was one problem:

How the frag was he going to make it through the atmosphere in one piece?

Last time he went through the atmosphere, he was much closer to the Earth and had Ratchet's electromagnets to break his fall. Optimus was also there to cool down his overheated frame. This time, he had no backup and a worn-down pair of turbo-boosters. Those would just have to do; they were all he had left. His remaining stinger wouldn't do him much good, especially after it started acting up and exploding in his faceplate.

"Well, I can't put this off any longer," Bumblebee whispered to himself. Two panels on his back slid open, revealing the battered turbo-boosters. Pumping them, he drifted closer to Earth and soon felt its gravitational pull. He had made some quick calculations and, if they were correct (oh Primus, please be right), he would end up in or near Detroit.

As he gained speed, fear and excitement welled up in his processor. There was a fairly high chance that his boosters would fly off his body and that he would crash into the ground. He coughed and watched a few blue droplets fly out of his mouth. He was going to die anyway, so why not go out with a bang?

The heat was beginning to eat away at his frame to the point where he thought he could feel the pain in his dead arm. His whole frame was stressed at the sudden heating, armor beginning to crack under the strain. He waited a few more seconds before firing up his boosters. With their exhaust ports towards the ground, he activated them. As he predicted, it slowed his fall. However, he began ascending and had to stop them again. Great, he would have to pump them. He has factored that in before, but it still annoyed him to no end.

By the time he was halfway down, his back plating felt sore. It creaked in protest against the strain the boosters were putting on it. Bumblebee felt as though his entire backside would just fly off, leaving him with a deadly impact to the ground.

His luck began running out once he entered the inner atmosphere. The worst of the entry was over and now he could see the trees of a very familiar forest. He couldn't help smiling at the sight and let out a small triumphant laugh. He could see Detroit and wow, it had changed a lot. Little hovering vehicles were zooming around the city, flying from one place to the other. Sumdac Tower was still there and had remained untouched by the passage of time. Maybe it was a museum now...

Before he could finish his musings, Bumblebee heard a sputter and felt the boosters shaking. He was free falling within seconds. He was baffled, debating whether or not he should pray for survival or beg for death.

He screamed as he hit the ground, watching as clumps of grass flew by his optics. One of his turbo-boosters was ripped off of his back, energon immediately overflowing through the hole. His voice modulator shorted out soon afterwards due to years of disuse.

He could feel armor cracking and his windshield shattering. Once it was all over, he tried to get up only to be met by an onslaught of agony. There was no way he could get out of his newly created crater. He was going to be stuck down there until he off-lined. His morbid side chuckled a bit, stating that it wasn't going to be a long wait. At least he could see the clouds.

He remembered when Prowl would come out to the edge of the forest and just lay down on the grass. When asked, the ninja-bot would explain that he was cloud watching. Sari sometimes decided to join him, pointing to different white puffs while saying what she thought they looked like. To Prowl's surprise, Bumblebee would join in without the usual noise that would accompany him. At first, Prowl had been skeptical of the youngling's motives. Even if Sari wasn't there, he'd always wanted to participate.

Prowl did ask him about it, but the inquiry was met with a small shoulder shrug. The ninja-bot didn't believe that he would receive an answer, but he found Bumblebee alone one day. The youngling appeared stressed and uncomfortable. First of all, it was unusual to find Bee alone at any given time. He was always with someone else or inside the base annoying the Pit out of everyone. This in itself made Prowl curious. So when Prowl asked him what was wrong, the walls weakened. Bumblebee admitted that the whole Wasp thing was freaking him out and that the rest of the team didn't really understand except for Bulkhead. That day, Prowl had given him the attention he needed, the love of a big brother. Of course, they both agreed to never speak of the meeting again and hurried off to their normal routines.

Bumblebee chuckled as a small stream of energon flowed out of the corner of his mouth. He mumbled to himself about what the clouds looked like, deciding to die with a happy memory on his processor. The hum of hover vehicles didn't catch his attention until one of the drivers came sliding down the crater walls and looked him straight in the optics.

"That one looks like...Sari..." He heard a gasp and a cry as his systems finally put him in stasis. His last glance of the world around him was that of a shocked young woman.

A/N: That was fun. :) There's my set-up, now to finish it before I leave for camp on the last day of the contest. Yikes…I'm going to have to write fast.