space girl | bumblebee

xvii.

That night, Sam had approached both Bumblebee and Onyxia to formally apologise. The once-Prime was sitting in the palm of her partner's bipedal mode, discussing next moves quietly with him to avoid worrying any of the others around the two. He let out frequent whirs and whines as he listened to her words and suggestions, supporting each and every one.

Except for the one where she sacrifices her life for her father by giving him her own spark.

"Bee, Onyx, I understand if you both hate me," Sam spoke solemnly, with a hint of guilt. It made Onyxia frown deeply. Surely he hadn't blamed himself for the whole thing? Then again though, she blamed herself for it because her father was protecting her. They were both experiencing that pain and misery that came with survivor's guilt. 

"Hey, Sam, it's alright. I could never blame you, nor hate you," Onyxia spoke softly. "My father died with honour and that honour came from protecting you and me."

"I just...I messed up, I'm sorry."

"Young fella," Bumblebee's radio began, "you and Onyxia are the people I care most about in life. If there's anything--anything at all--that you both need, I won't be far away."

Onyxia's eyes watered once more at her partner's words, although that time she forced them not to escape her eyes. She was far too tired, both emotionally and physically, to cry once more.

"He's dead because of me," Sam mumbled. "He came here to protect me and he's dead. And you wouldn't have lost your actual body, Onyxia, if it weren't for me." She shook her head slowly.

"There's some things that you just can't change," Bumblebee spoke. "So, his sacrifice for us would not have been in vain. Hallelujah!"

"I'm gonna make it right. I'm going to turn myself in."

Bumblebee swiftly transformed into his altmode, safely doing so to avoid hurting Onyxia. "We...We've got to stick together."

As Sam walked towards the Autobot, Mikaela spoke up.

"You're not going to do that."

"Yes, I am," the boy stubbornly replied, eliciting a response from Bumblebee as he nudged himself into the back of Sam.

"Everything we worked for will be wiped out in one day." Suddenly, Sam looked at Mudflap and Skids.

"You two."

"Huh?" the twins spoke in sync, both turning to look at the boy that had referred to them out of the blue.

"Hey, you know the glyphs?" Sam made a motion to his head. "These? The symbols that have been rattling around in my head?" He pointed to a glyph that he had drawn on his arm for no reason that was clear to Onyxia. She swiftly got out of Bumblebee and walked to the boy, causing him to show her too.

"I recognise this language..." Onyxia muttered, almost cynically as she realised that this was a language her father had taught her when she was a sparkling. She was ashamed to admit that she had left her history behind when she hadn't seen her family for the first ten thousand years on Earth.

"That's old school, yo. That's, like..." Skids spoke.

"Cybertronian," both he and Onyxia said in sync.

"That's some serious stuff, right there," Mudflap remarked.

"They gotta mean something, like a message or like a map," Sam continued. "Like a map to an Energon source. Can you read this?" While not directed at her, Onyxia attempted to read the single Cybertronian letter on his arm.

"Read? No. We don't really do much reading. Not so much," Mudflap answered awkwardly.

"It's the letter F," Onyxia spoke, looking into Sam's wide eyes.

"You can read it?" 

"N-No, I can't, Sam," she stuttered, suddenly quite flustered at the attention that she was getting. "While...my father had taught me this ancient language, I have since pushed most of it to the back of my mind. I understand very little, if any. It is not in Decepticon or Autobot dialect, so it must be the language of the Primes. I'm so sorry. I'm the last Prime and I can't even read the language of my kind." She was ashamed, more than she wanted to admit.

"No, Onyxia, don't feel bad," Sam said sternly, grabbing her shoulders. "Knowing what kind of language this is is still a great help, thank you."

"Thank you, Sam."

"Now, we know what language this is, but we need to find someone that can read it," Sam announced.

"Aw, look who came sashaying back," Skids remarked.

"Hair growing like a Chia pet. Look at him," Mudflap added, bringing a smile to Onyxia's face for just a moment before her eyes landed on Leo.

"I had a bit of a mild panic attack earlier, right?" Leo defended himself, but not a single soul in his presence cared nor believed him.

"That's 'cause you're a pussy," Mudflap said as-a-matter-of-factly. Skids chuckled and gave his brother a fistbump. 

"Look, I think I'm allowed that considering what I've been through. I heard you have a problem. I think I know someone who can help," Leo explained, eliciting a scoff from Onyxia. She found it hilarious that the boy thought he could help.

"Who?" Sam asked bluntly, not believing the boy either.

"Robo-Warrior."

Onyxia cackled, "Please, kid. Don't make me laugh."

Leo wasn't kidding.

"Some guy he's constantly at war with," Sam sighed, scratching the back of his head as he considered the idea. "What do you think, Onyx?"

Onyxia looked like a dear in headlights, "Huh?"

"You're the Prime, Onyxia. What's the plan?" Mudflap clarified for her.

"Oh. Well, we have nothing to lose. I'm at a standstill in terms of the glyphs and can't help, so we might as well listen to the kid..." She felt uneasy at the fact that she was actually leading the Autobots, no matter how small of a group they were. Her father would've been able to give immediate help unlike her, and while she would've taken that as another thing to be ashamed of, she remembered the faith Optimus had in humanity. He wasn't perfect and if the Autobots couldn't help him, he trusted the humans to do so. Although, she had no idea if he would trust Leo.

Come on, Onyxia! No leader is the same, and I am not my father--no matter how much I wish I was, Onyxia scolded herself mentally. If I'm going to honour him, I can start by keeping the alliance between the humans and Autobots strong no matter how much the government officials want to change that. That's what my father would want.

"Let's go see this Robo-Warrior guy," Onyxia said with a shrug.