Hello everyone! I'm back! Bet ya didn't expect me to pop out the sequel so soon, right? Well, the plot bunny for this story has been nipping at me for quite some time so I finally decided to start on it even though my main focus right now is to finish War Within a Spark. Don't worry, I won't stop updating that, but updates will be slow due to my job and other things.

The title of this story, Darkest Before the Dawn, was inspired by my former HS marching band's 2011 show, which was entitled the aforementioned title. I would have named it after the last show I marched in but it wouldn't have worked. And the title just seemed to fit with the theme of the sequel.

There will be lots of twists and turns in this story, lots of revelations, betrayals and that sort of thing. It might have a slightly lighter tone than the previous story but it will get a bit darker as we progress.

To be fair, I am unsure if I will continue posting here on FFN, due to the recent 'Purge'. If things get worse, I will set up shop somewhere else and if that happens, I will inform everyone of where you can find my work.

Thanks a lot to everyone who reviewed Reason to Live, it meant a lot to me *gives all of you a giant hug* I hope you will continue to stick with me as we go into this story as well.

Mercedes Wolfcry, my awesome story twin and RP buddy, is the one who usually gives me a kick to help me along and I love her dearly. Thank you dear, for helping me along when things got tough 3

Anyway, long authors note is long!

Summary: A year has passed since the birth of the sparklings and things have finally settled down. Things are not as they seem however as nightmares plague Aquafire and force her to continue sessions with Smokescreen. When the past suddenly meets the present, bonds and trust will be tested and pushed to the absolute limit. Can love truly overcome all obstacles? SunnyxOCxSides OCxOC JazzxProwl and many other pairings. Rated T but may go up.

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers, it belongs to HasTak. I claim only Aquafire, her trine, Skyblitz, Wildfire, Wildsky, Sunrunner, Bolt, Flame Racer and some others.

Reviews and criticism are welcomed, but please keep it friendly and helpful. I would like to know what I can improve on.

"I can't believe it's been a year already!" Spike exclaimed, laughing as he, Carly and his father Sparkplug watched the twin Seekerlings Sunrunner and Wildsky play with their new toys along with little Rave Dancer. The little femme had recently celebrated her spark day and was happy to be playing with the twins as they celebrated their spark day.

The three sparklings had grown quite a bit in only a year. They'd already progressed from crawling to tottering around on their own though they all still preferred crawling, as it was still much faster than walking.

"Seems like only yesterday that they were sparked," Ratchet agreed. "It won't be long before they start learning to talk."

"Seems a little early though," Sparkplug commented. "I know Spike didn't start talking until he was about two and a half."

"Some babies pick up speech a bit earlier though," Carly added in with a cheerful smile.

"Cybertronian young can either learn how to talk on their own or they are upgraded with speech programs," The three humans looked up at the CMO. "I think it would be best if these three learn to talk on their own, it would be much more…exciting for us all."

"I can't wait until they say their first words," Carly giggled softly.

"Primus forbid it be a curse word," Ratchet shook his helm with a sigh. The three humans laughed at this, silently agreeing with him.

On the other side of the room, Aquafire was peacefully resting against Sideswipe, optics closed as she tried to catch up on her sleep. Without the older twins constantly with her at night, it was up to her to care for the sparklings, which often meant she got very little recharge. Thankfully though, now that the Seekerlings had turned one, the frontliners would be moving back into her quarters with her. They'd earned the privilege after all.

"Babe, you gotta see this," Sideswipe nudged his lover softly, prompting her to online her optics. The Seeker turned her tired optics towards the three sparklings and smiled softly as she watched them work together to build a little tower out of the blocks Wheeljack and Sparkplug had made for them. They got it as high as they could go and started chirping and clicking to one another in their own little sparkling language as they tried to figure out how to finish the tower without knocking it over.

Wildsky motioned and whistled frantically, waving his arms as he tried to instruct the other two sparklings. He carefully shoved his brother down and climbed onto his back, motioning for Rave to get on his back. The little femme grabbed as many blocks as she could and did so, wobbling a little as she reached up to place them on their tower. Sunrunner squeaked and warbled, upset that he was the one who had to be on the bottom.

"So much like Sunny," Aquafire murmured.

The sparklings succeeded in getting a few more blocks on before they became unbalanced. The tower swayed and all three let out little cries of protest as Rave desperately tried to stabilize it. One wrong move knocked one of the blocks out of place, causing the tower to topple. Sunrunner lost his balance as well and sent the other two to the ground.

A few chuckles and 'awws' were heard around the room as Jazz moved to check on them.

"S'okay," He cooed softly as the three sparklings hiccupped and rubbed their optics, trying not to cry. "Yer not hurt." He kissed his daughters helm and chuckled when she pointed to her elbow and knees, asking him to kiss the boo-boos there as well. Sunrunner and Wildsky whined and asked for the same attention from their favorite uncle. Jazz laughed and did the same for the Seekerlings, smiling when they all started giggling and smiling.

The little party continued on until late into the evening when the sparklings all started to become sleepy.

"Primus, it feels good to be back here with you," Sideswipe hummed happily as he wrapped his arms around Aquafire. The femme purred as she curled into the red frontliners embrace and snuggled against him, smiling even more when she felt Sunstreaker slip into the berth behind her.

"If the twins wake up, they are your responsibility," She told them rather bluntly.

"Alright," She smiled at their response. With a few uttered words, the femme fell into a well-deserved recharge, at ease now that she had her lovers with her once again.

The twins watched over her quietly, just enjoying being with her for the first full night since they started courting her.

"Hopefully we won't have to wait much longer," Sunstreaker whispered, voicing his brothers' thoughts.

"Yeah," Sideswipe nodded, kissing The Seekers helm lovingly. "With the twins being a year old and all, we should be able to push forward." Sunstreaker nodded in agreement and relaxed behind his lover, smiling faintly as he slowly relaxed into the familiar position. They fell silent as they allowed their frames to calm and relax, slowly following their intended into a light recharge, keeping their sensors open just in case the Seekerling twins woke and required their attention.

-X-X-X-

Aquafire awoke feeling well rested and relaxed, something she hadn't felt in quite some time. She expected to find the twins still curled around her and frowned when she found that they were in fact missing from the berth. Sitting up, she scanned the room until she found the door to the twins' room cracked open. She heard the soft sounds of the sparklings babbling and slowly got out of the berth, creeping towards the nursery. She peeked inside and a soft smile touched her lip components.

The Terror Twins were sitting in two of the three rocking chairs in the nursery, each holding one of the little twins as they fed them.

"Sorry, did we wake you?" Sideswipe brought the femme out of her reverie when he finally noticed her in the doorway.

"No," She shook her helm and stepped inside.

"We didn't want to bother you so we came in here to feed them," Sunstreaker murmured as Wildsky finally finished and squirmed in his arms. He held the sparkling up against his shoulder and rubbed his back carefully, grimacing when the Seekerling let out a little belch and giggled. He'd had a few bad experiences with burping the twins in the past, much to his own horror and everyone else's amusement.

"Thank you," Aquafire kissed them both and smiled as she watched both of her lovers interact with the sparklings. The little twins absolutely adored their Sires and were always a little spark-broken when the elder twins had to leave for patrol in the middle of playtime.

Even though the war was "over" most still believed that one day the Decepticons would go back on their word and try to destroy them, thus the need for continued patrols.

"Did you sleep well?" Sideswipe asked as he allowed Sunrunner to wrap his tiny arms around his neck and nuzzle against him, purring happily.

"Yes," The femme smiled softly. "Best recharge I've gotten in quite a while."

"Now that we're allowed to stay here in your quarters again, you'll be able to catch up on your lost recharge. Primus knows you need it." Sunstreaker took a jab at her with a grin, earning a glare from the Seeker that promised pain and humiliation. "I love you too."

"Watch it or you'll be sleeping in here with the sparklings tonight," She warned with a grin. Oh it felt nice to be able to joke around with them so early in the morning again.

"Babe, you need your paint redone," Sideswipe made a face at her, much to Sunrunner's amusement.

"I agree," Sunstreaker scowled, smiling only when Wildsky patted his cheeks and squeaked.

"We can deal with my paint job after we've gotten the twins settled for the day and we've gotten some energon for ourselves." Aquafire relented with a small smile, knowing that they would have persisted until she'd given in. And even if that failed, they would have used the sparklings to convince her.

She still had a small grudge against them for teaching the Seekerlings how to use the 'puppy eyes' on her.

The trio finally got up and headed out to the rec room, greeting their fellow Autobots as the base slowly started waking up.

"Aquafire! Is it our turn to sparkling sit?" Skywarp bounded towards her with a wide smile, optics alight with joy as he looked at the Seekerling twins.

"Yes," She sighed softly. Skywarp let out a delighted squeal and waited for the Terror Twins to hand him one of the sparklings. Sunrunner squeaked and reached for the purple and black Seeker, making grabby hands at him as he smiled. Skywarp was one of the twins' favorite mechs on the base aside from Jazz. They absolutely loved the games he played with them, though Aquafire disliked how he always spoiled them with energon treats.

Sideswipe reluctantly handed Sunrunner over to Skywarp and watched as his twin passed Wildsky to Thundercracker.

"Where's Starscream?" Sunstreaker rumbled out, a hint of hostility behind his words. It was no secret that they completely loathed the screechy Seeker being in any sort of contact with the sparklings and surprisingly, it didn't seem to bother his trine mates one bit.

"With Megatron," Thundercracker shrugged, twitching his wings to distract Wildsky. This put the trio at ease as the two older Seekers left with the sparklings.

"Hopefully they'll be gone for the remainder of the day," Sideswipe rumbled as they got their morning ration.

"Agreed," Sunny and Aquafire nodded as they moved to sit down. They enjoyed a small conversation together before Aquafire decided to head outside and stretch her wings, something she rarely got to do.

"Go for it," The twins grinned at her. Aquafire grinned and took off running, jumping into the air as she transformed and ignited her thrusters, soaring higher into the open sky.

As she flew, a sense of loneliness filled her spark. It always confused her since she was far from lonely. She had everything she could ask for…

Except for her trine.

'This is for you.' She climbed higher and higher before she flipped and did a nosedive towards the ground, cork screwing along the way. It had been her trines favorite aerial trick and the thought of it made her spark throb.

The femme pulled up at the last minute and soared over her lovers, nearly knocking them over with how close she'd flown. They shouted and laughed, cheering her on.

She forced the memories down and smiled to herself. She would move on towards the future, live her life and be happy… as she knew they would have wanted her to.

It was always darkest before the dawn…