Uhhhhhgggg...I am so sleeeeepyyyyy...

But Wow...I just posted a new story from Germany! :D So COOL! *smiles wider then a smiley face can show* And it continues to break records by the fact that unlike my other TF stuff, this is actually based in Transformers Animated (of TF Ani as I like to call it) rather then the movieverse.

But eh...just so you know...it's not completely separate from all my other TF stories, but you'll have to find out how on your own. I'm not going to spoil the surprise. ;) *laughs mischievously*

Right. So...I actually don't think I have anything else to say, except I hope I pulled off the characters right. And this first part of the quote below pretty much sums up how I felt when they killed off poor Prowl! T.T Just so you know...

And on that happy note...I hope you enjoy this!

Tschus!

(PS: That means bye in German! Nifty right? X3)

(PPS: Puggle Bluestreak says hi! ]:3 - HI!)

Me - *shakes head* silly Bluestreak... ;)

...

The Inbetween

...

Death is natural and necessary, but not just. It is a random force of nature; survival is equally accidental. Each loss is an occasion to remember that survival is a gift.

Harriet McBryde Johnson

...

For some reason, Prowl had always thought that the Well of AllSparks would be…brighter somehow.

Where he was now wasn't bright, but it wasn't dark either. It was…gray. Everything about it was gray, metaphorically as well as literally. It was neither hot nor cold, dry nor wet, here nor there. It was just gray.

Prowl went on walking through the grayness, half formed mists swirling away from him as he walked. He tried not to look down because there was no ground beneath his feet as far as he could discern. The mist swirled away to reveal…nothing as far as his optics could see. It was like walking in air, not quite unlike using his rocket boosters, although walking through this strange place did require more leg effort.

There were no landmarks, no differentiation in the surrounding sea of gray to let Prowl know he was walking in a straight line. As far as his senses could tell, he wasn't even moving at all. There was no push and pull of gravity as he moved his feet, no sense of air moving around him as he pressed forward. He was just there, perhaps moving forward, perhaps not. But he had no better ideas on what he was supposed to do now that he was here (wherever here was) so he just kept going, waiting for something else to happen.

This aimless movement gave his processor a lot of time to think. Along with everything else around him, his thoughts were neither happy nor sad. They were just thoughts that happened to be in his head at that moment.

If he felt anything at all it was a mild form of surprise. This was not what Prowl had expected from death.

Oh he knew he was dead, he had no doubt concerning that. He remembered those last few kliks perfectly; not in the rushed, half panicked way some might think though. He remembered the hard feel of the concrete beneath him as he sat, pulling essence of AllSpark out of the Earth's nooks and crannies. He remembered feeling the presence of his friend Jazz sitting nearby from the periphery of his senses.

And then he remembered the cold realization that the piece of AllSpark they had recovered wasn't going to be enough to stop the remaining Starscream Supreme. They needed something more, some other bit of spark to fill in the remaining pieces…

It had been the most logical thing to do, Prowl thought to himself as he continued to pass through the shroud of gray.

"There just wasn't enough AllSpark in the city. It dispersed across the entire Earth after all. It was amazing there was even that much left in Detroit at all. And without that last bit of power, all those organics would have been extinguished…"

And Prowl wouldn't let that happen, not when there was still something he could do to prevent it.

There had been a little fear in him at first, but it hadn't lasted long. A solid wave of calm quickly chased it away. Prowl had had no regrets as he let his spark merge with the piece of re-gathered AllSpark, and none had followed him here into this strange, half formed existence.

What had followed him it seemed was a growing sense of uncertainty. Wasn't someone supposed to meet him or something? Maybe show him where the Matrix and its eternal peace was? Had he missed a sign or a path or, or a tollbooth…?

Beginning to doubt that he was even in the Matrix at all, Prowl called out, "Hello?"

His voice did not echo. It did not fall short. It was just swallowed up into the gray.

"Hello?" He tried again, a bit of irritation seeping into his voice without his permission.

"You're going to start sounding like Bumblebee if you're not careful," the ninja bot told himself.

Again his voice was absorbed into the mist. Not sure what else to do, Prowl stood there a moment, looking uncertainly through the half formed landscape as if he could somehow discern something about this place if he stared at it long enough.

And then, strangely enough, a voice-

"Hello?"

It was a small voice, not because it sounded afraid or unsure, but because, Prowl reasoned, it came from someone much smaller than himself. Like him, it did not sound frightened or saddened by its surroundings. It sounded as neutral as the rest of the world the Autobot now found himself in.

Prowl turned in the direction of the call, or at least, he thought it was the right direction. He waited to see if maybe he had only imagined the little voice.

After an indeterminate amount of time, a figure solidified out of the mist near Prowl's feet, as if it had just come into being according to whatever half thought-of deity ruled here.

"I was right," Prowl thought vaguely as he looked down at his new companion, "she is rather small."

It was a human. Female, obviously, with brown hair and blue eyes. Prowl noticed she wasn't wearing human clothes though, but rather flexible metallic fabrics, much like the ones he had seen sold on Cybertron. And if the too large, crooked stitches were anything to go by, they were hand sewn too by someone with less experience then the job had required.

But she had a kind demeanor about her and – from what Prowl had learned of humans – a face that was usually given over to smiling, so he figured she would make decent company in this dreary gray-scape.

"Hello." Prowl said to the human.

The girl blinked up at him, running through her own estimation of Prowl as she looked at him.

"Hi there," she eventually said back. Prowl took it to mean he had passed her own evaluation as well, and they could continue on together.

They didn't speak again for some time. There wasn't much to say really. They both knew the other was dead. They both had no idea where they were because, honestly, if they had they would have made a bee line to the nearest exit. The grey sea wasn't bad, but according to its half formed nature, it wasn't good either. Leaving was what it was made for, Prowl thought with some irony.

"So how'd you die?"

Prowl looked down at the girl again. "You're not much for introductions are you?" He asked. Apparently his mouth had suffered no injury from offlining.

The girl just shrugged, but didn't retract her question. What was the point after all? Dying tended to make people immune to awkward questions it seemed.

Prowl saw no problem with answering her. "I gave my spark to keep a twenty story Starscream machine from detonating in downtown Detroit." He told her straightforwardly. "And you?" Prowl asked in return, mildly curious.

The girl nodded vaguely, absorbing this new information before answering him. "I was shot through the heart saving my little brother." She told him.

It was Prowl's turn to nod. "Ah." He said.

They stood there, each looking out at the mist, fairly comfortable in each other's presence.

"So why do you suppose we're here?" The girl eventually asked.

Prowl looked around again for good measure. "I'm not sure." He told her. "Do you suppose this is some way station for the Well of AllSparks?" He asked her.

She blinked at him, but Prowl didn't think it was because she was confused by his Cybertronian reference. "I don't know." She answered back. "But even if it is, why are we here? Why can't we just find the pearly gates and go inside?"

Prowl only had a vague idea of what she meant, but he wasn't sure if it was because he had never really concerned himself with Earthly ideas of the afterlife or because this place was making his mind hazy to match its foggy consistency.

"Perhaps…" he said slowly, "we must pay for our transgressions in life?"

The girl's eyes widened slightly in fear. "So what? Dying for people we care about and are never going to get to see again wasn't traumatic enough?" She asked incredulously, but then quickly snapped her mouth shut. Prowl could see that some things were sinking in for her – that she had died. That she would never see the brother she had died saving ever again – and for a moment the cyber ninja thought the human would cry.

Usually he would have stiffened up at the idea. There were many things he found fascinating about organic life, however this 'crying' stressed him out. It was hard for him to wrap his processor around the idea that sometimes leaking didn't mean some internal organ failure.

That and he didn't like how leaking females made him feel. It made him feel…guilty. Although Primus only knew why.

But now, he just placed a gentle servo on her shoulder, nearly covering her back as well.

"I'm sure your brother is fine." He murmured to her.

The girl stared at the ground (if there was one) a moment longer, blinking rapidly. Then she nodded, and sniffed loudly before the gray's calmness enveloped her once again.

When she had gotten her inward emotions under control again, she gestured at the grayness in front of them. "Shall we keep going?" She asked. It was all they could do until something else happened or someone appeared to guide them along a better course of action.

Prowl nodded.

They walked on, keeping together despite their different paces. For a long stretch they walked in silence. There wasn't anything to say.

"What's your name?" The girl eventually asked.

"Prowl." Prowl told her. In the back of his processor he wondered briefly why he hadn't thought to ask this earlier, but then he mentally shrugged. It hadn't been important until now.

The girl nodded slightly as they walked, looking ahead at the swirling middle ground. "I used to have a friend named Prowl. Back before," she stumbled, "well, you know."

Prowl nodded. In this place that didn't seem so strange to him.

"And your name?" Prowl prompted the human a moment later.

The girl looked up at him again, blinking blue eyes as he dragged her out of her thoughts.

"Aria," she told him, "Aria Johnson."

Prowl gave the girl a small smile, which she returned. He liked that name.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Aria Johnson."

Aria smiled, transforming her somewhat anxious features into a young woman's pretty face.

"You too Prowl." She told him.

...

"Do you suppose this is some trick?" Aria asked some time later. They had not stopped walking since there was nowhere to stop.

Prowl looked over at Aria. "How do you mean?" He asked her.

Aria shrugged one shoulder. "Well, do you think this is even real? Could someone have tricked us into only thinking we died to trap us here?" She proposed.

Prowl thought about this. "Why would someone do that?" He asked her. "What would be the purpose?"

Aria shrugged. "I dunno. I was just thinking out loud."

Prowl nodded. "Ah."

A moment later-

"Do you really believe it is a trick?" Prowl asked. "Do you really think you're still alive?"

Aria sighed, shoulders slumping somewhat dejectedly. "No." She answered. "I know I died. You don't just make something like that up. Even my subconscious isn't that weird."

Prowl was silent. He had thought something along those same lines. He remembered offlining. He remembered in perfect detail. It was just too vivid a memory to be false.

They walked on.

...

"Perhaps this is somewhere in between our previous life and the next one." Prowl suggested some time later. He was unsure how long it had been since they had started walking, but it at once felt like forever and no time at all.

"I really must stop trying to compare things in this no-man's land." Prowl told himself. "It isn't worth the processor ache."

"You mean like Purgatory?" The girl asked, taking this new idea in stride.

It took Prowl a moment to remember what this human word meant. "Yes. Of a sort. Only its purpose is not to punish us for Earthly sins." Prowl thought briefly, "Or if it is, it is a very strange form of punishment." He added.

Aria nodded as she bit at her lower lip. "Yeah, I don't feel very punished either." She told him. Obviously she had given this some thought herself.

They fell silent briefly, the mist swirling about their ankles. Or rather, about Aria's knees and Prowl's ankles.

"If we're not here to be punished," Aria said slowly a moment later as if she was still mulling over the thought in her head, "then what is this place's purpose?"

Silence.

"I'm not sure." Prowl answered.

They walked on.

...

"So what were you in life Prowl?" Aria asked some indeterminate stretch of time later.

Prowl was somewhat surprised by this question. "What does it matter?" He asked the human walking next to him. "We are cut off from that world now. What does it matter what we were when we were living?"

Aria shrugged. "Well we're still here aren't we? Maybe not as we were, but we still exist, still remember our lives. Maybe we remember them for a reason." She pointed out.

Prowl conceded that she had a point. Or at least, it was just as valid a question as his had been.

"I wasn't much of anything at first." He told her. "I was just going through life on cruise control. Not doing much of anything and certainly none of it carried much importance." He admitted.

Next to him, Aria nodded slowly. She knew how that was as well. It was like the unwritten definition of being a high school student.

"And then the war with the Decepticons started and things got infinitely more complicated."

Aria nodded again, raising her eyebrows in a look that clearly said, "You can say that again." If Prowl had still been alive, he would have felt surprised.

But nothing seemed to surprise him here. Maybe the gray just leeched the emotion out of everything, Prowl pondered.

"So did you become some big war hero or something?" Aria asked, a slight grin pulling at the corner of her mouth.

Death seemed to have washed Prowl of his usual guilt on this subject as well.

"No," he told her simply, "I ran from my draft."

Aria managed to look a little surprised through death's apathy. "Really?" She asked.

Prowl nodded. "Yes. I felt like it wasn't my war. Why should I fight and possibly die for something that had nothing to do with me?" He told her, remembering how he had felt in those early days. Although now they seemed so far away, not just in time, but in person. It felt strange to even remember that that had used to be him.

"Huh." Was all Aria could say at first. "So did you get caught?"

Prowl nodded. "Yes. I thought they were going to send me to the stockade. But Master Yoketron spoke up for me and took me into his dojo to train as a Cyber Ninja."

Aria abruptly laughed. She tried to hold it in after the first initial blast, but it was hopeless, even when she clapped a hand over her mouth to muffle her laughter.

Prowl stopped walking and stared at her. "What?" He asked. "What are you laughing at?"

Aria had to bite her lip to keep the giggles in. "Cyber Ninja? Really? You're just making stuff now aren't you?"

There must have been some faint trace of life left in Prowl, because he felt slightly indignant at that. "No, I am not making this up." He told her stiffly. "And Master Yoketron was one of the greatest cyber ninja masters of the age, perhaps the very last one. Kindly refrain from mocking him and his art." Prowl said stiffly.

The human girl instantly held her hands up. "Whoa! I didn't mean all that. It's just that the words were funny. Back where I was born I would have expected them to come from, I dunno, a TV show or something. I didn't mean to make fun of your master. Obviously he was important to you." Aria said quickly, and then for added measure she quickly added, "I'm sorry," at the end.

Prowl pinned her with a narrow opticked look a moment longer, but then continued walking again without a word.

Silently, Aria followed him. She didn't speak as they once again made their way through the silver-gray mist. The way she saw it, if he didn't want to talk to her right now, then she wouldn't intrude. She could be patient, no matter what some of her friends thought.

She blinked. Make that used to think.

Eventually, Prowl asked, "And you Aria? What kind of person were you before your untimely death?"

Aria looked up at the tall black and gold robot walking next to her. His words were still a little stiff and he wasn't looking at her, but it seemed she had been mostly forgiven. She hadn't meant to laugh at him, honest.

Aria shrugged, returning her mind to Prowl's question. "Just a freakishly old 18 year old living with alien robots. Nothing too abstract." She told him.

Before dying Prowl would have wondered if she was trying to be ironic. Now all he said was, "You sound like someone I used to know."

Aria nodded. "Yeah, you too. Well, except for the whole ninja thing. My Prowl is so un-ninja. Although come to think of it he does prefer throwing stars to other weapons…"

Aria stopped walking, hand on her chin as she thought this over. Prowl made it a few steps ahead before realizing she had stopped. He paused as well and watched the little human over his shoulder. She was taller then Sari, and older, with fairer skin and longer hair. And her eyes were a deep, human blue, not the bright blue of an Autobot. Prowl rather thought she was a strangely normal-looking specimen of human life.

But oddly enough he found he couldn't help but like her.

"Are you coming Aria?" Prowl asked a little while later.

Aria blinked and looked up at him in surprise as if she had just remembered he was there with her. "Huh? Oh, right, yeah sorry." She said before jogging to catch up with him.

"Aria?" Prowl said some time later when they had been walking again for a little. "Why were you so surprised to hear I tried to avoid the draft?"

Aria thought for a minute. "Well, I guess because Prowl – my Prowl that is – would never do that. He's all into rules and order and stuff like that. And then he's so law-abiding too. He used to be a cop down in Kaon from what I heard, so there's that too."

Prowl looked down at the little human. "I can turn into a police motorcycle." He told her, thinking the coincidence rather strange.

Aria met his optics. "Neat." She said.

Prowl thought a little on Aria's answer. "But despite that similarity," he said slowly a second later, "I am not your Prowl Aria. In fact, I don't believe you and I have ever even met, at least," Prowl added, trying to remember every human encounter he had had since arriving on Earth, "not so far as I can remember. So your Prowl cannot possibly be me."

Aria thought on this, then looked up and smiled at him.

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

They walked on.

...

"So if you're not my Prowl," Aria spoke up again after what felt like a reasonably short amount of time had passed, "then who are you?"

Prowl blinked automatically, thinking about the philosophic nature of the question. "I am me." He said eventually. "Nothing more, nothing less."

Aria rolled her eyes. "Well obviously." She said, some sarcasm entering her voice, giving Prowl the impression that she had been fairly prolific with it when she had been alive. "But what I meant was, I knew a Prowl when I was alive, and he wasn't you. But somehow, you both have the same name, along with the same analytical thinking." Even though she had only been around him for a short time Prowl's logical thinking had been made very apparent to Aria. "Don't you think that's kind of strange?"

"Hmm…" Prowl hummed thoughtfully. It was somewhat strange. Why hadn't he realized that before? How common was the name Prowl after all? Especially concerning humans like Aria.

"It is rather coincidental." Prowl conceded.

Aria's mouth pulled down at the corner. "I don't believe in coincidences." She said plainly.

"No," Prowl agreed with her, "neither do I."

"Then what do you suppose it means?" Aria asked.

Prowl thought hard, but could not find a reasonable answer.

"I'm not sure." He eventually confessed.

Aria looked somewhat disappointed. "Oh." She said sadly.

They walked on.

...

"Maybe it has something to do with this place." Aria said a moment later.

"How so?" Prowl wondered.

"Well," Aria said, trying to find some examples that didn't sound too comic-book-like. "Maybe this place makes duplicates of people. That would explain why there are suddenly two Prowls."

But Prowl shook his head. "Yes, but not why you know one Prowl but not me."

Aria grinned somewhat cheekily. "Unless you aren't the original Prowl, like mine."

Prowl frowned at her, somewhat indignant. "How do you know I'm not the original Prowl? I could be the original Prowl!"

Aria laced her hands behind her back and shook her head. "No, my Prowl's definitely the original Prowl."

The apparently un-original Prowl was left with no room to argue.

They walked on.

...

"I could too be the original Prowl." Prowl grumbled some time later.

Aria grinned, but didn't let the mech see. "No, you don't act old enough." She told him.

Prowl humphed softly. Aria smiled.

They walked on.

...

"I don't suppose you knew a bot named Jazz do you?" Aria eventually asked.

Prowl was drawn out of his inward huff at not being allowed to even be considered as the original Prowl. "Yes. He trained under Master Yoketron as well, but that was before me. He is a good friend of mine."

"Huh." Aria said.

Prowl thought about what this response could mean. "I take it you knew a Jazz as well."

Aria nodded.

"Sporty alt mode? 'Totally digs' Earth slang? Somewhat outrageous music choices?" Prowl pressed.

Aria's frown deepened. "That sounds like Jazz."

"Fully trained cyber ninja? Prefers laser nunchako? Member of the Elite Guard?" Prowl went on, just to be sure.

A crease had appeared between Aria's eyebrows, they were so close together. "That…does not sound like Jazz."

"So it appears that there are other…duplicates out there." Prowl said, his voice carrying the tone of someone thinking out loud.

"It's not just you then…" Aria murmured.

A thoughtful silence descended upon them as they both tried to decipher what this could mean.

Aria suddenly blinked. "Wait, what's a nunchako?"

Prowl sighed.

"So much for thoughtful atmosphere…" he thought.

They walked on.

...

"Optimus Prime?"

"Check."

"Bumblebee?"

"Check."

"Ratchet?"

"Check."

"Bulkhead?"

Aria frowned. "No, don't know any Bulkhead."

Prowl made an internal note. "It appears Bulkhead is one of the few bots that has not been duplicated. Fascinating." He said.

What he thought was, "lucky you…"

Aria shrugged. "It could be I just never met him though. He could still exist in copy." She pointed out.

Prowl suddenly froze, one foot hanging in mid air.

"Multiple…Bulkheads…" he mumbled.

His processor nearly crashed right then and there.

Aria just put a hand over her mouth and politely giggled at him.

They walked on, albeit, after a long pause where Prowl remembered how to walk without shaking himself into pieces.

...

"He's ORANGE?"

Prowl stopped in mid stride again, but was too busy staring at Aria to notice. "Yes…" he slowly answered. "Why? What color is your Ironhide?"

Aria's mouth opened and closed soundlessly a moment, as if she was trying to remember how to form words. "He's black." She stressed.

"Ah," Prowl said, "so what's wrong with Ironhide being orange?"

"Orange isn't scary! Orange is irritating!" Aria told him, her human processor obviously still trying to make sense of this new piece of information.

Prowl chose not to even try and find an answer to that.

They walked on.

...

"So let me see if I've got this straight," Aria said once they had run out of names to suggest to each other, "almost everyone we know, heard about, or learned of in Cybertronian history class has a double. One that you know," she pointed up at Prowl, "and one that I know." She pointed at herself.

"So it would seem." Prowl said when she didn't go on right away.

"But not me."

Prowl slid the human girl a look. He couldn't tell if she sounded upset, worried, or just plain peeved.

"And apparently not your friend Sari either."

Prowl opened his mouth to suggest a possible reason why, but quickly snapped it shut when he saw the look on Aria's face. He didn't think it wise to disturb her right then.

"You don't think," Aria said slowly a moment later once her face had cleared slightly, "that I…could be Sari. A messed up copy or, or an alternate dimension her or…something like that. Do you?" She looked up at Prowl. Unlike before the ninja bot could definitely tell she was a little worried.

"It's…possible." Prowl said slowly. "I suppose. At least it would explain why there's only one of each of you."

Aria withdrew on herself. Apparently she didn't like being the same as an overly adventurous, highly sheltered, eight year old technological genius.

"But then, you don't exactly remind me of Sari," Prowl put in quickly, although it was true enough. From what little he knew of her, Aria was obviously calmer than Sari and not nearly as loud when excited… "Perhaps I just never met you, and you never met Sari. You did say you were born in the human year 1989. Sari was born sometime after the turn of the 22nd century, a good 140 years after you."

Aria slanted the thin mech a look. "Math person." She grumbled.

Prowl blinked at her. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

Aria refused to say anything else on the matter.

"Anyway," Prowl said, returning to the point, "it is highly doubtful that you and Sari Sumdac are the same person." He finished with a slight nod as if that solved everything.

Aria glanced up at him but didn't turn away from the path (relatively speaking) in front of her. "Are you through yet Professor?"

Prowl sighed in frustration. And he had thought Bumblebee and Bulkhead had been bad. "Yes Aria, I'm through."

"Good," the human grumbled, "it's not enough that I'm dead already, I have to be tortured with math too?"

Prowl vented a much put upon sigh.

They walked on.

...

"I've been thinking," Prowl started to say a short time later.

"Yes, I've noticed you do that rather often." Aria interjected smoothly.

Prowl ignored her. "And I believe you may be right."

"Well naturally." Aria answered. "Now tell me what I'm right about this time?" It was more of a question then a command.

Prowl resisted the urge to roll his optics at the human. "What you said earlier-" he started to say.

"You think I might be a reprint of Sari Sumdac?" Aria asked, very nearly sounding insulted at the idea.

Prowl shot her a glare. "Would you let me finish a thought?" He asked her sharply.

Some of Aria's tension slid away and she looked the tiniest bit sheepish. "Oh, sorry. Please continue." She gestured for him to go on.

"What you said earlier," Prowl said again, "about alternate dimensions. I think you may have accidentally hit on the truth. Or something near it at least."

Aria blinked, looking confused, but curious. "How so?" She asked.

"Well," Prowl began his argument with thoughtful optics, "we both recall dying, correct?"

"You already know it's true." Aria told him.

"So we can both remember the end of our physical existence then, yes? Prowl continued.

Aria's eyes narrowed in thought. "I…guess so." She admitted.

"Yet we are still here."

"Wherever 'here' is, yes." Aria agreed.

"So if we have been cut off from our home realities – through death, which most would consider an end to their original reality, life – and yet we obviously still exist in some way, shape, or form-"

"Our original forms thank goodness. I don't look good in tentacles." Aria mumbled as she looked gratefully at her fingers.

"-then it is entirely possible that we are now trespassing through some aforenow unknown dimension, outside of our original worlds."

Aria thought about this.

"You really think that's what happened?" She eventually asked. "You really think this," she waved an arm at the surrounding mist of half formed gray-scape, "is another dimension?"

Prowl shrugged. "It's entirely possible, so why not?"

Aria looked around again. "Huh," she somewhat huffed, "classic sci-fi fails yet again. Go figure."

There was a moment of silence as both bot and human took some time to take in this new thought.

"So what do you suppose we're here for then?" Aria soon asked.

Prowl looked over at her. "What do you mean?" He asked, not understanding the question.

"Well," Aria said, "why are we here? I mean," she spread her arms out to take in themselves along with the gray-scape, "do you think this is normal for alternate dimensions or what?" She half asked, half sarcastically pointed out.

"Perhaps all creatures must pass through this once they have left their home dimension." Prowl hypothesized as he looked around at their surroundings. "Perhaps this is death." He suggested, going farther.

Aria looked around as well. "Now that," she said distinctly, "is a scary thought. I'm going to be bored for the rest of my afterlife."

"You sound like Bumblebee," Prowl grumbled slightly.

Aria looked over at the mech. "He a friend of yours?"

"I suppose you could call him that." Prowl admitted somewhat grudgingly. Apparently even death wasn't strong enough to convince him that Bumblebee at times wasn't the most annoying force in two worlds. "Why?"

"Bumblebee's my brother's name." Aria said as if it was no big deal. "That's all."

It was probably just death talking, but that didn't seem so strange to either of them.

"Well if this is death," Aria went on a moment later after some thought, "then where's everybody else? Shouldn't there be lots of people here?"

"Perhaps it was meant to be a solitary experience." That sounded like Heaven to Prowl at any rate.

Aria shot him a look. "You wanna rethink that theory their, companion?" She asked flatly.

Prowl looked at the human. "Alright, so it's not without its holes…" he trailed off. "Perhaps they're just all…somewhere else?" He guessed.

"Ah," Aria said, smacking a fist into her other palm as if this suddenly made perfect sense to her, "what you mean is we're lost!"

Prowl frowned at the human. "We are not lost." He said, somewhat indignantly.

"Oh yeah?" Aria shot back. "Then where are we ninja bot?"

"Simple." Prowl said as he wondered how she fit all that sarcasm into such a little frame. "We are right here."

Aria leveled a flat gaze at him.

"You," she finally said, "are unhelpful."

Even the overpowering calm of death couldn't keep Prowl from feeling a little agitated. "Well I don't see you coming up with any better theories." He snapped back.

Aria crossed her arms over her chest and frowned up at Prowl. "Easy. We got sucked through a wormhole the moment we died and ended up here instead of Heaven or the Well of AllSparks. It turns out our whole lives have been virtual reality and we're only now just realizing it. We did die, but for some unknown reason, we've been sent to this limbo land instead of real Heaven. There, there's three theories right there. Each just as good as yours, if not better."

Prowl felt his left optic start to twitch. "Those are terrible theories."

"Yeah, well," Aria said, refusing to look at him as she re-settled her crossed arms, "so was yours."

Prowl narrowed his optics at her until they were barely more then slits. "Now who's being unhelpful?" He asked.

Aria opened her mouth, no doubt to give him some snarky comeback, but halfway through, her features froze in a look of wide eyed terror.

Concern entered Prowl's faceplates. "Aria?"

A pained squeak escaped Aria's still open mouth.

"Aria?" Prowl asked again, kneeling down to be on eye level with the human, placing a careful servo on her shoulder. "Aria's what's wrong?"

A sudden flash of light, too brilliant to look at, suddenly exploded from the human, sending Prowl flying backwards into the grayscape. He barely caught sight of the small, yellow figure that appeared by the equally small human before the swirls of half formed mist obscured his view of them.

Aria screamed, but quickly fell silent.

"Aria!" Prowl yelled as he found his feet again and rushed back towards the little human.

He found her on her knees where he had left her, hands pressing down tight against the left side of her chest, where her heart would be. Well, where it would have been if she was still alive.

But strangely enough, what remained of the yellow light had settled into the human's chest. Prowl could see the light of it coming through her fingers.

When she looked up at him he could plainly see the terror on her face.

"What was that?" She asked, her voice higher then before.

Prowl quickly ran through all the possibilities he could think of that might explain what had just happened, but none of them could.

"I don't know." He conceded.

Aria couldn't speak for a moment, and sat there panting instead. Prowl knelt in front of her again, not sure what else to do.

"It hurts." Aria squeaked out.

Prowl took in her shaking shoulders and the white that had spread across her hands from where she was holding them too tight against her chest. "I know." He told her.

Another flash of light appeared, making Aria shriek and curl forward on herself. Prowl noticed that the light congealing under her fingers was the same brilliant blue-white as before, but the second figure that appeared behind Aria's shaking frame was blue and gray, not yellow like the first.

Prowl felt his optics widen as he realized that the figure was a young bot, colored blue and gray and staring at Aria with avid concern.

"Please Jie Mei," he whispered, "don't go."

Prowl didn't think Aria heard until she half mumbled, "Bluestreak?"

But the figure of the young bot faded, leaving the glow beneath Aria's fingers a little brighter then before.

The two remaining were silent a long, shocked, moment.

Aria finally looked up at Prowl. "W-what's happening to me?" She asked, her voice watered down, but still high pitched with fear.

Prowl could only shake his head, mouth slightly open. "I, I'm not sure."

Aria gasped as another jolt of pain shot through her chest, almost like her heart was spastically trying to beat again. "Th-those were two of my brothers. Bluestreak and Bumblebee." She said, needing to say something in order to distract herself.

Prowl nodded, recognizing her need for distraction. "You're Bumblebee is a lot smaller then mine. I didn't even know that was possible."

Aria half smiled at the bot, grateful for the effort. Then another wave of spastic beating wiped it off her face.

Two more figures appeared – fully grown bots this time, one a camouflaged green color and the other with large fins on either side of his head – before Prowl realized just what the glow steadily gathering into Aria's body really was.

"It's Spark," Prowl mumbled, shocked.

Aria didn't have the strength to look up at him, though she tried anyway. "What?"

Prowl leaned down farther to the ground so he could meet her eyes without Aria straining herself further. "The glow," he told her quickly, "it's pieces of Spark. Their sparks." He clarified, pointing at another figure – this one a blue and silver femme – as she appeared behind the girl.

Prowl could only stare in awe as the image of the femme gave off the same blue-white light as the others had.

"They're giving you your life back." He mumbled.

Aria just watched as the glow under her fingers brightened yet again. She felt tears roll slowly down her face as she clamped her fingers tighter over the spot where Megatron's blast had cut through her body.

"Thanks guys…" she whispered.

It took another two figures appearing and adding their glow to the girl – a broad, imposing mech with black armor and another femme, this one clad in pink – before Aria realized something herself.

"Maybe that's why we're here." She abruptly said through the increasing pain. "We're dead, but not really. We died, but not forever. We're just stuck here in the inbetween for a little while. Does that make any sense?" She asked, speaking too quickly.

Prowl wasn't sure. How could one be dead, but not really? It all made no sense to him. He had died. What point would there be in going back? What useful purpose could reversing the logical flow of existence even serve?

"I don't know." Prowl admitted for the third time. "And besides," he added with a slight grin to put Aria at ease, "your harebrained theory only works if I go back too. And I highly doubt someone is going to give up their spark so I can live. Not after I sacrificed myself so heroically after all." He added, ending purposely on a particularly narcissistic note to try and cheer the girl up after the idea that he probably wouldn't be joining her back on the other side.

And that was fine. He had made his choice after all, knowing full well what it meant. Now he would live with his consequences.

…er, so to speak anyway…

But Aria just smiled through her pain up at the bot crouched in front of her, suddenly looking wise beyond her years.

"I wouldn't be too sure of that Prowler." She gasped out.

Then before Prowl could answer her (or protest at his new nickname) another flash of light appeared, consuming Aria in a glow that was fiercer then the others.

Prowl immediately saw why. The figure that appeared behind Aria now was at once familiar and strange, but not strange enough that Prowl didn't recognize the cantankerous face of Ratchet, even if he was neon yellow for some strange reason.

"Oh no you don't!" Ratchet said, his words echoing as if they were coming across an immense distance and space. "You're not leaving us like this Aria Rhapsody Johnson! I'm not through with you yet!"

The glow of Ratchet's spark was brighter then the others, matching his determined attitude Prowl thought. It enveloped Aria, making her outlines blur into nothingness.

"See ya ninja bot." Aria murmured as her form began to fade away in the blinding brightness of the light that was obscuring her.

Almost in a panic, Prowl reached for her. But his servo went right through her. He couldn't touch her. He could only watch as the final piece of spark settled into Aria's body, the different pieces becoming something new, something that belonged solely to Aria.

Aria opened her mouth to scream as the fire of life abruptly invaded her cold body, but all that came out was a relieved gasp, like an old ache had suddenly gone away, leaving her free to really move for the first time in her life.

She didn't know it, but the look on her face was nothing short of bliss, of knowing exactly where she was meant to go.

Prowl wanted that, he realized. And trapped here in this land of gray he wondered, how could he not?

Prowl suddenly found himself looking through that immense distance he had heard Aria's Ratchet speak through.

A typical medical bay stood below him, giving him a bird's eye view of the space. From his vantage point, the room appeared small, well used, and at the moment fairly occupied. Directly below him sat an average berth, but the figure on it was much too small to fill it.

It was Aria, Prowl realized, or at least, Aria's body. She was bruised and battered and there was far too much blood staining the makeshift blanket someone had covered her with. Her skin was too pale, her body too still, and Prowl knew beyond a doubt that the girl was dead.

"So much for her theory," he said sadly.

But then with a spine bending gasp for air, she wasn't.

Prowl watched in amazement as the girl started breathing again, desperately at first, but it soon mellowed out into something resembling the normal rhythmic pattern of the living.

A crowd abruptly appeared around the berth, encircling the little human. When he remembered to take his optics off of the now living human, Prowl saw that they were the eight bots he had seen in the grayscape, plus one or two more that looked startlingly familiar.

"Aria?" A mech taller then the others gathered there by a head at least and painted a familiar red and blue asked. Prowl was almost surprised to hear the amount of concern in his voice, but honestly he was more surprised by how deep it was. Prime had always cared about the little organics.

"Did it work?" The bot next to him asked. He was painted silver, so Prowl didn't recognize him until he heard the familiar accent. Apparently no matter what dimension you went to, Jazz would always have an affinity for Earth slang.

"Ratchet, what's going on?"

Prowl looked over at this newest bot, and froze.

"Things have officially become weird." The bot told himself.

It was him. Or at least, the bot reminded him of him.

"No, no," Prowl told himself, staying extraordinarily calm, even for him, "that's definitely me. I suppose…"

The bot standing opposite Jazz was largely black and white, although he had a red chevron on his helm. Prowl also noticed that Aria's Prowl had the Cybertronian symbol for the Kaon police force painted on his doorwings.

"Alternate me has doorwings." Prowl mumbled. "Who knew?"

Almost as if he knew he was talking about…himself, Aria's Prowl turned toward ninja-Prowl. His blue optics – not covered by a visor – glanced around quickly, as if he had thought someone had said his name, but then quickly turned back to Aria's slowly breathing form.

"Different dimension." Prowl said. "This is definitely a different dimension. Either that or offlining cracked my processor."

Both seemed equally plausible, so Prowl decided to go with Aria's theory that he and she came from different worlds. He found it less unnerving. Uh, somehow…

Aria's Ratchet ignored them all. "That's my girl." The old medic murmured almost lovingly to the little human before he unceremoniously booted everyone else out of the immediate area.

Prowl had hardly taken his optics off of Aria and the semi-familiar faces gathered around, but now he noticed that the window through space was growing dark around the edges, shrinking once more into the grayness. He only had a few kliks left before it closed completely.

"Bye Aria," Prowl murmured, wanting to say this before the window separated them, "Glad to see one of us was right about this place."

The window had shrunk to the size of his fist by now, and the image beyond was now smoky and hazy as wisps of gray passed in front of it. But they still weren't enough to conceal Aria's face.

The last thing Prowl saw before the window closed was the dark, human blue of Aria's eyes as she opened them just the tiniest bit. Her mouth moved, quirking up at the corner in a weak grin. Prowl couldn't hear what she said, but the movement of her mouth was familiar enough, even if the words were slurred.

"Later ninja-bot…" Aria mumbled.

That was the last he saw of her. The window had closed.

For an indeterminable amount of time, Prowl stood there. The grayscape had once again become indistinguishable, unmarked by anything but mist.

And then, with a sad shake of his head, a bittersweet smile pulling at his mouth, Prowl turned away from the spot of Aria's window.

The mech walked on, alone.

...

The unexpected bitter sweetness of Aria's sudden goodbye refused to leave Prowl as he started to walk through the grayscale, once again by himself, so he let it wash over him. He knew, instinctively it seemed, that Aria wouldn't remember him once she was properly awake and back on her feet. The most she would have was a faint sense of uplifting sorrow – much like what he felt now Prowl liked to think – the vaguest idea that she had met a good friend, and then quickly had to leave him.

And maybe it was supposed to be like this, Prowl thought. Perhaps this was the right way of things. Maybe other worlds, other dimensions, weren't supposed to be entwined like that. Maybe they could only stand touching for short periods of time at the outside.

Prowl didn't know. And something told him he never would. The universe was a strange thing, vast and complex, and quite beyond any one creature's capability to understand it.

It was all very strange Prowl felt, how suddenly he had come to care about the little human. After all, why should they even care about each other at all? They'd only known each other a short time. Perhaps it was just this place, or the circumstances, but somehow, they had become friends.

"It's a shame she won't remember me." Prowl said to himself, having no one else to talk to now. "At least then maybe she could have found a way to contact me since I've suddenly got all this time to myself now. Maybe through dreams? That sounds far fetched even here," he mumbled as another whorl of silver mist wrapped around his ankles. "An email then? Or a call? A postcard even-"

He was cut off by a sudden strange light blooming into existence before him. It was bright and abrupt and he had no time to think about what it might be. Before he could properly realize what was happening to him, it shot towards him, wrapping him in its grip. It was surprisingly strong for an unfathomable ball of light.

It was bright and Prowl was fairly certain that Aria would have said it was pretty.

He found it a menace to his peace of processor.

Prowl turned to run, to put some distance between him and the…thing so he could have room to attack, but the light was too fast.

It snared his ankles, dropping him to the ground. He tried to get a grip on something, but all there was was that fraggin' mist. There was nothing to grab, much less to keep the light from sucking him up.

Prowl swore. An unusual occurrence to say the least, but then death seemed to be all about strange occurrences and breaking his expectations, so Prowl didn't feel too bad about it. Although in the back of his processor he knew his friends would have been staring slack jawed at him if they had been around to hear him.

"Slaggit, leave me alone!" Prowl yelled at the light as it dragged him closer, despite his thrashing, "I knew that I wasn't coming back already! Staying dead is fine by me!" He tried to explain his self sacrifice to the light, but it didn't seem to care.

Prowl swore again and increased his struggles, but he only seemed to slide backward faster. Pretty soon he felt his lower limbs being pulled into the warm center of the light itself. He only managed to get off one more shout before it encompassed him entirely.

"Why are you doing this to meeeeee?" He yelled, his voice echoing inside the light's incorporeal body.

Maybe it was his imagination, but it felt like the light smacked him upside the head and told him to shut it. Didn't he know a gift when it was given to him or not?

Prowl didn't have time to tell the light where it could put this gift before the harsh, vibrant, feel of life suddenly slammed into him, knocking him flat on his back.

Suddenly tired out by all his struggling, Prowl lay there, systems running ragged trying to keep up with him.

It took him a moment to realize he was staring up at a bland, white ceiling.

It took him another moment to realize that a large part of the ceiling was obscured by six anxious faces.

"Sh! Sh! I think he's coming round!" One of the faces loudly shushed the others, even though none of them were being nearly as noisy as he was.

The red blob reached up and smacked the loud yellow one upside the back of the head. "Hush!" The cranky voice ordered him. "If he's got any sense left in him he'll turn around and run after hearing you here."

"Will you two shut yer mouths already-" one of the other blobs started to say before a thin voice interrupted her.

"It's…a distinct…possibility."

The six faces froze, and then as one turned to face him. He counted almost half a cycle before they each broke into wide, jubilant smiles.

"Prowl!" Bumblebee and Sari yelled together, the smaller human throwing up her arms to wrap them around Prowl's neck in a hug.

"You're back! You're really back!" The technorganic cried as tears of joy started to streak down her face.

Prowl's optics finally found the strength to focus on the faces above him, making the red blob consolidate into the familiar form of Ratchet. The cranky medic gave him a crooked grin, showing his relief.

"Good to see you made it back kid. For awhile there I thought you were lost to us." He admitted as he carefully shook Prowl's shoulder by way of hello.

"A little while?" Bulkhead asked in his loud way. "You call a week and a half a little while?" He yelled in disbelief now.

"A week and a ha-" Prowl started to ask, confused as his processor seemed to finally catch up to his surroundings. This wasn't Ratchet's med bay on Earth. "What happened? Where am I?"

Jazz couldn't hold back any longer. "Dude!" He all but yelled, making Prowl flinched. His audios were unused to sound it seemed. "You were dead! Like a-hundred-percent-offline-doornail kinda dead. We took your body back to Cybertron to bury ya and then all of a sudden Pzzt!" He made a noise that Prowl couldn't help but think of as the bot equivalent of a raspberry. "The AllSpark shard just spit ya out all ofa sudden! Like a bad bit of energon!"

Prowl slanted the other cyber-ninja a look as he managed to get himself halfway to a sitting position. "Thanks Jazz." He muttered as he held his head. It hurt like Pit and he suddenly had the nagging feeling he was forgetting something, like a memory was starting to just slip away from him. "Thanks a lot."

Jazz just grinned and slapped Prowl on the shoulder, nearly sending him to the floor.

Ratchet and Prime were quick to steady him on the other side. "Easy there Prowl. You've been sorta, er, comatose the past eight days. It'll take awhile for your body to get used to being used again." Ratchet said, his medical mind already trying to come to terms with his friend's downright miraculous resurrection.

"Yeah but at least he's here." Optimus Prime said, his relief and amazement echoing through his voice like it usually did. He smiled as he clapped Prowl on the shoulder, albeit much softer then Jazz had. "It's good to have you back Prowl." He said.

Prowl looked around at the faces of his friends, all of them glad to see him again. And he was glad to see them too. He had come a long way from the bot he had been when they had first woken up on Earth, keeping apart and not relying on anybody but himself.

He was glad he had changed. He was glad he didn't have to do this so alone now. Although he'd be lying if he said he had thought they'd miss him this much. Or how glad he was to see them again.

"That's a lot of gladness," Prowl thought wryly to himself, "death seems to have shortened your vocabulary."

"So what was it like in there?" Bulkhead suddenly asked into the silence. "Being dead and all?"

Prowl blinked at the odd question. Before he could try and find an answer for the green bot, Ratchet humphed.

"Don't be absurd Bulkhead. He was dead. There's nothing to remember when yer dead." The old medic said decisively.

"But what about the Well of AllSparks?" The green giant asked, clicking his large finger-claws together self-consciously. "He could have seen that right?"

Prowl looked up to see everybody staring at him.

"This may sound strange," he said haltingly, "but I do think I remember…meeting someone."

"Primus?" Jazz asked.

But Prowl shook his head. "No…" he said slowly, trying to think. He had been so sure that something had happened to him inbetween being dead and alive again. Something important. Why was it suddenly so hard to remember it?

"No," Prowl said again as he thought, "I think it was…a girl."

Bumblebee immediately laughed. "Wow, figures. Prowl had to go all the way to the afterlife to find himself a date. Nice Prowler."

Prowler…that sounded oddly familiar. The feeling of forgetting something, or somebody, important resonated deeper in Prowl's chassis. It was like a crystal clear dream was suddenly slipping away from him, evaporating from his subconscious.

But thinking harder only made the feeling worse and no memories floated to the surface of his time in the afterlife, so he just slanted Bumblebee a glare.

"I don't know why I even missed you." He grumbled.

Bumblebee was too darn happy to feel even the tiniest bit remorseful at Prowl's jibe. "I think the point is you missed me. And who wouldn't?" He smirked and pointed his thumbs at his bright yellow chassis. And then he did a somewhat surprising thing.

"Ah who am I kidding? I missed you too buddy!" Bumblebee said, voice cracking slightly as he abruptly hugged Prowl.

Bulkhead must have taken this as an open invitation because he very nearly lifted Prowl, Bumblebee, and Sari up off the berth as he wrapped his massive arms around all three of them in a hug.

Prowl froze as they descended on him. "Okay…" he said slowly when they didn't let go, "it was cute when Sari did it but…could you hug-vultures get off of me?" He yelled.

They all laughed at him of course, but let him go all the same. Although Sari stayed on the bed next to him, beaming up at him.

"We can't help it Prowl. We missed you." She told him. "Even Bumblebee here, believe it or not." She jerked a thumb at the yellow bot now behind her.

Despite his earlier display, the yellow bot just shrugged off Sari's words. "Well who else am I going to beat in the races without you? You're the only one that even has a sporting chance!"

Prowl allowed himself a smirk. "If I remember correctly I won those last three races." He said smugly.

Bumblebee automatically scowled at the other bot, frame stiffening indignantly. "Oh yeah? Well name the time and place pal. You're going down!" He challenged him.

Ratchet immediately stepped between the two. "Heck no!" He told them sternly. "The only thing you two'll be doing is listenin' to me! Yer getting some rest," he jabbed a short finger at Prowl, "and yer gettin' out of here so that I can do my job!" He turned on Bumblebee, then when it looked like the younger bot was going to argue, the medic smirked dangerously, "unless you want me to put you on the examination table." He threatened.

Bumblebee did a fair impersonation of a fish panicking, and then he amscrayed it outta there.

"Later guys!" He shouted before disappearing out the door. Then surprisingly he stuck his head back through the open portal, suddenly serious. "Oh and Prowl, if you die again, I'm going to cut down your stupid tree! Yeah, you heard me! So don't do it again!"

And then he was gone, off to cause only Primus knew what kind of mischief.

Next to him, Jazz just chuckled. "You'd never know it but little dude was totally railroaded when we told him you'd offlined. 'Not Prowl' he kept sayin', 'not after all that ninja-BS he kept shovin' down our throats'. He was pretty POed that you'd gone and bit the big one."

"It hit us all pretty hard." Bulkhead admitted. "We just never thought you could…you know."

"Die." Sari finished for him.

The others were silent, showing their agreement.

"Well that's a rather silly thing to think." Prowl told them. "I'm just as mortal as the rest of you. But hopefully I won't be dying again anytime soon." He added.

"Not if we can help it." Prime added.

"Yeah, either that, or we'll all be with Bee in going after that tree." Sari said somewhat sourly.

Prowl frowned at her. "Leave my tree out of this." He told her.

Jazz just chuckled at them. "Wow. Looks like if that tree wants to stand a chance you'd better stick around Prowler."

There it was again. That word. Who had called him Prowler first? Not Bumblebee…someone had said it before that. But who?

Ratchet had gone about shooing most of the others out of the med bay while Prowl lost himself in thought again. Prime however, managed to stay behind when Ratchet got distracted by Sari's arguing.

"I don't know if this is what you're thinking about," the large mech said slowly, snapping Prowl out of his thoughts, "but maybe, maybe you've just got more to do. Maybe that's why the AllSpark sent you back."

Prowl stared at the other bot for a minute, thinking on this. "Perhaps…" he conceded. "Although I'm not sure if I should be relieved by that thought."

Prime laughed slightly at that, but didn't argue his point further. "Well either way about it, I'm glad you made it back Prowl. It just wouldn't have been the same without you around." He told him before turning to leave.

Prowl smiled a little and nodded, accepting the welcome home implied in that statement.

Suddenly the med bay was quiet. Even Ratchet had gone, chasing after Bumblebee, who had apparently reappeared to nettle the old medic some.

With a quiet, grateful sigh, Prowl leaned back against the bed frame and shuttered his optics. He was suddenly very tired. His friends were loud and at times overly obnoxious and they had just left him feeling drained with only a few minutes visit.

But it sure was good to be back.

Slight epilogue to come...when I can find the time to write it... n_n;

Feel free to press the shiny new, slightly distracting, review button for me please! Oh, and pray that our art show goes well! We're opening on Sunday! D: Gasp! So little time left to prepare! EEK! *INWARD PANICKING!*