When All Lights Go Out I (TFP)

Chapter 84

Optimus opened his com link to base, as it seemed none of the autobots could see them. "Arcee, did the children and sparkling make it safely back to base?" His expression had worry in his optics at this time, as he began to feel genuinely worried at this point.

"Negative. You don't see them?"

"No sign." Ratchet himself was also getting concerned, as the safety of the children and Azura were their first priority.

Miko was not understanding this as she walked right up to Bulkhead. "What?! No sign?! Okay, seriously, Bulk?" Just asked finished speaking, Bulkhead took a step forward. "Woah!! AHHH!" She screamed as when he stepped forward, Bulkhead's foot went straight through Miko like she was a ghost.

Miko backed over to Jack who placed his hands on Miko's shoulders, as he too was alarmed by what just happened. "He went right through you. We're not alive!"

Rafael stepped closer to Jack nervously as he was getting scared. "I don't want to be a ghost!"

Just as Jack was about to respond, he turned when they heard Azura speak. "Who...who are you?" Jack widened his eyes as Azura's optics had turned white, the crystal on her chassis was glowing blue, with faint colors of green and purple, and it seemed the energon veins around her crystal have enlarged and were pulsating. Her optics were also quivering and she seemed to be disoriented. "Where am I?"

"Uh oh, this has affected her more than us." Jack walked over to the sparkling, making her whimper and try to back away. "Hey, hey, it's okay, Azura. It's just me, Jack Darby." Azura frowned and tilts her head, looking at him with confusion. "We are trying to figure out what has happened. We are confused too."

From Azura's perspective, her vision has completely blurred, she felt lightheaded, disoriented and she didn't recognize the humans. "What did you do?"

"We did nothing." Jack placed his hand on Azura's shoulder, and the sparkling frowned at him. "It is okay, we are not going to hurt you. We can't hurt you. You're stronger than us."

Azura blinked, and Jack could see she was having a hard time understanding what he was saying to her. "But...what did you do. You...you said you did nothing...but you say I'm stronger...so you fear me..."

Jack shook his head. "Not at all, we don't fear you at all."

"Jack, I know that Azura needs a bit of help, but the autobots are walking towards Skyquake's gravesite." Jack looked at Miko with a frown and the girl shrugged. "Just in case you wanted to know."

Jack looked back at Azura, not wanting to leave, until he realized something. "Wait a minute, we can still touch each other." Jack looked back at Miko and Raf in confusion. "I wonder why that's possible."

"Uh, well if we are ghosts, only ghosts can touch ghosts." Miko shrugged as she wasn't sure if she was correct, and Jack stood up to follow the autobots closer to Skyquake. "Though I hope Azura will be alright. This strange transition has affected her the most."

Jack looked back at Azura and nodded in agreement. "I know. She doesn't know who we are. And that's kind of scaring me. I hope that she has not forgotten Optimus."

"Ratchet..." The kids look at Optimus when he spoke, and Azura looked in his direction as she heard Optimus's voice, but she was still struggling to see. She groaned as she tried to stand and follow the humans. "Could Azura and the children have been transported onto the Nemesis instead? I would hate to think what would happen if they are on the warship."

"Not likely." Ratchet didn't sound a hundred percent confident though, as that could still be a possibility. "If Starscream didn't arrive at our base, the most likely explanation is a dislocation. The children and sparkling could simply have been bridged to an unintended destination. I just hope that they are still together, as being separated would be bad, and we could struggle to locate them if they have ended up scattered."