The Bug, the spider, and regret (Book 1)

Chapter Nine

Bumblebee felt at peace. He wasn't in anymore pain, and no one seemed to hate him for being alive. He walked alone in some strange place; there was no ground no sky, just emptiness. Time did not seem to matter here, for there was no sense of it passing; there was no sense of anything. The world he was in, suddenly shook. He felt himself fall, he hit the ground that had mysteriously appeared, and Bee looked around confused. He noticed a figure walking towards him; it was a blue figure with a hint of pink.

"Arcee?" he said, his voice full of disbelief. His friend smiled as she approached, Bumblebee realized his voice was fixed, the scout was thrilled.

"It's nice to hear your normal voice, Bee." Arcee said, she held out her hand and he took it. "Come with me."

"Always." Bee said, and they walked hand in hand down the endless path. He didn't know how long they walked with one another, before their surroundings changed.

The world started to color itself, and he was suddenly filled with pain. Bumblebee doubled over, as the pain of guilt, fear, anger, sadness, and regret, crashed down on him all at once. Something tugged at his spark chamber, he realized everything was coming back, how was he waking up, he was dead.

"Rachet." He said in his voice, more feeling's hit him and he fell to his knees, Arcee knelt next to him and set her hand on his shoulder.

Bumblebee felt his systems kick in; he tried to fight it, but it was useless. 'I'm not going to leave without a fight.' He thought.

"Let go." Arcee whispered he looked up at her as the world around him crumbled.

"Never." He said as the pain increased "I can't leave you here, you'll be alone." Arcee kissed his forehead.

"Don't worry about me." She set her hand on his cheek and stared into his bright blue eyes, he watched in pain as the world around them started to disappear, and she began to fade away. Arcee leaned in to kiss him, but they never connected, she was only a centimeter away before she completely disappeared.

"Arcee," he said sadly, as his world turned black.

Optimus watched the shard glow, it melted onto Arcee's wound and disappeared, he watched as her color returned and the wound mended. Rachet walked over and began scanning for anything that might go wrong. Optimus walked over to Bumblebee and kept an eye on him to see if he would ever come back online.

Bumblebee fought the feeling of coming back online, he knew Arcee wouldn't be there, and he knew Jack would still wish he had died. As he fought, a word crept into his head, 'coward.' He stopped struggling and dwelt on the word for a moment, he came to the conclusion that he was being a coward for not coming back and facing whatever had happened. He slowly relaxed and stopped fighting his system, no matter what happened, or was yet to come; he would never act like a coward.

Optimus heard Rachet grumble about something, he turned to look at the medic; Rachet was still scanning Arcee for any life sign. The Prime heard whirling as the scout came back online, he turned to see Bumblebee's eyes open and noticed that they looked confused.

"Welcome back." Optimus said, Bumblebee looked at his chest with confusion, the leader explained everything.

"It was noble of you to try and save Arcee when we had lost all hope. I'm sure she will be truly grateful when you tell her." Bumblebee's eyes widened, he jumped up and walked over to Arcee and Rachet. The Medic was still a little angry with the bot, he wanted to bop him, but resisted when he noticed how worried the scout was when he saw his friend. Arcee's wound mended completely, and the shard had disappeared, but she didn't come back online. They stood there for an hour scanning for any life signs, but there wasn't one, Rachet sighed in frustration and sorrow.

"We have done everything we can, it time we let go." Optimus said sadly, Rachet nodded slowly and left the room. Optimus followed but stopped at the door, he turned back to see Bumblebee still standing there. The leader looked away sadly and left the room, he had to get ready to bury another time mate.

Bumblebee just stared at his comrade; he didn't want to give up, he refused to give up, but what else could he do? He stood there for twenty minutes before he decided he should say goodbye. He leaned down until he was an inch away, and kissed her. She was cold, it made I'm sad to know he would never see her smiling face again, he didn't want to let go, but he had to. He slowly backed away, sighed and walked away; he got to the door when he heard a voice.

"Bee..." the voice said weakly, he spun around to see Arcee still lying on the table, but her beautiful blue eyes were looking at him. Bumblebee rushed to her side, he looked into her eyes and smiled, she smiled weakly back at him. The scout carefully picked her up and carried her out of the room, he was so happy she was alright.

Bulkhead was trying to comfort an extremely upset Raf, the others had come out with a sad look, but when Bumblebee didn't follow, Raf had gotten upset and wanted to go find him. The wrecker heard someone walking down the hall; he turned to see Bumblebee carrying Arcee in his arms, Bulkhead cheered. Rachet looked surprised but smiled, Optimus was happy that his team was back together.

Bee carefully set her down so Rachet could make sure everything was alright, Arcee sat on the medical bed and gripped the edge for support, and she was still a little dizzy. Jack ran over and set his hand on her shin, he smiled up at her, Bee walked away to give them time alone. Bulkhead hugged the little scout until he couldn't breathe, then set him down and hit him in the back, causing him to stumble. Bumblebee playfully punched him in the arm; Raf ran over and hugged Bee's foot. Bumblebee bent down and picked up the boy, he set him on his shoulder and walked to the top of the base.

Little Later

Bumblebee sat on the top of the base with Raf on his shoulder, they looked over the desert plain, and watched the sun start to set.

"We should go for a drive," Raf said happily, Bumblebee chuckled, he stared at the horizon and thought about what had happened that day, and how it had effected the others.

"We will just not today." Bee said, they heard someone walk up behind them, Bee turned to see Arcee.

"Raf, Bulkhead is taking you and the others home." She said, Bumblebee set him down and the boy ran down the stairs. Arcee walked over to Bumblebee and sat next to him; she turned and looked at him.

"Bee, did you kiss me?" she asked, Bumblebee turned away, he didn't know how to answer, or if he should.

"I-I...no." he mumbled, looking at her.

"Oh thank goodness." Arcee laughed, Bee was surprised and hurt, but turned away so she didn't see.

"That was pretty crazy wasn't it?" she asked, Bee looked at her what was she talking about?

"Do you remember what had happened when we died?" Bee asked she looked at him confused.

"No, should I?"

"No I guess not." They sat in silence for a while before she spoke again.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" Arcee said looking at the sunset, Bumblebee looked at the beautiful sky, and he started to get up but froze in a crouched position when he noticed the sun had painted her skin. Arcee eyes were closed and she was smiling as she felt the heat of the sun, her skin was glowing with the sun's rays, and she looks marvelous. He thought about her question, leaned over kissed her (even though she didn't seem to like the idea earlier) on the cheek then whispered.

"Not as beautiful as you." Then got up and walked away.

Arcee heard his words and felt the kiss, it had stunned her for a moment, and it almost felt like it didn't happen. Then she realized she hadn't imagined it, she opened her eyes then turned around, but he was already gone.

"Bumblebee," She whispered, she stood up and started to walk back to the stairs when she heard an engine roaring angrily away. Arcee ran back to the edge to see Bumblebee driving away, he disappeared into the setting sun. Arcee touched the spot Bumblebee had kissed, and she realized that maybe, just maybe, she felt the same.