Forever A Team: Transformers Animated

Chapter XVII

The very first thing that she could remember was pain. Immense, and overwhelming pain. It took away her every thought and every memory as she sat there. She didn't even bother to open her eyes afraid of what she would see, how her body would look. Just about all of her had ended up touching the iron, and yet she somehow was still alive.

"Julie." A voice spoke, it was familiar, and yet she couldn't remember where she had heard the voice. It was sweet and gentle, but at the same time she felt order and authority coming from it. "Julie, open your eyes." The voice ordered. She sat there and thought for a few seconds, before she sighed and opened her eyes, finding herself not where she had hoped. It was a void, one she hadn't seen in a long time. "Why am I here? I need to go back. I know my work was not done in that dimension." She cried as she looked up to find Prima looking down at her. "Please, I have to go back, I know my time isn't done. I didn't die did I?" She asked as she studied him.

"No, you haven't died, but you took severe risks." Prima replied as he looked down at her.

"Then, what kept me from..." She started to ask, just to find his hand raised to silence her.

"You already know that answer."

She sat there and thought for a second, before she felt it come to mind and click like what the humans called the 'flick of a light switch.' "You mean Optimus, he is why I am still here? Which one?"

As she looked up, she found Prima had stepped to the side to reveal a Prime standing in front of her. The one Prime she had grown to care for deeply, and yet he looked different all the same. "Optimus, I'm so sorry. You said I had a year, and yet I didn't come anywhere close." She cried as she looked away from him. She felt tears fill her eyes as she looked down at the ground, but as she did, she felt the invisible ground they all stood on shake, looking up to find Optimus kneeled over her. "This is neither your fault, nor theirs. I have sacrificed myself in order for you to return. I have spoken with Primus and he has forewarned me that many have been crying out to him for you to come back. From a human girl named Sari to my twin in your new world."

"Why did you sacrifice yourself for me? How could you sacrifice yourself if you're dead? You died back home." She cried as she looked up at him, only to feel something warm on her chest. She looked down to see a small blue light glowing where her heart should have been making her panic, as she realized what he had done. "You gave up your spark. Why would you do that for me?"

"You have earned it, in my eyes you are more than worth the aid you will need in the future. On the condition that you reveal the truth. In your own time, you will know when it is necessary, but you must be truthful in order for this and your future to succeed." Optimus commanded as his servo came and rested against her from behind while a digit came and forced her to not look away from him.

"How can I? You being dead probably have already had the opportunity to see all my pasts and my horrors. How am I to just turn and tell the truth, when all I want to do is run away? Optimus I killed people? And yet here I am being forced to protect all forms of life." Juile cried as she looked up at him.

"If Primus ordered you to protect all forms of life, he would not have told you that you would have to face threats on your own. He knows full well there may be some you may have to kill in the future, but you must face the truth of your past in order to overcome it and the future." Optimus told her as he looked down at her. "Why do you seem so different now? You don't seem like the same Optimus I used to know? You're so much wiser and yet here I am feeling as though I am merely a child. So afraid to face my fears and the truth." Optimus merely smiled as he sat there. He picked her up and lifted her up to be level with him as he stood up at his full height. He walked through the void, before she saw a light glowing, it wasn't entirely blinding, but it was bright all the same as she saw what looked like a well. As he approached it, she looked down and saw that the light filled up any sign of the bottom, making her feel like the well could be falling forever.