Achelois focused on writing the report the general had asked her write up. After Ratchet hadn't come back, she had thrown her life into her work. Just like she had once made racing her life, working at Unit E became her life. And she was especially good at it, after being part of it for five years now. A loud alarm rang through the base, startling Achelois. Standing up, she raced from her office to the main room, where she met Jack, Miko, Raf, and Dahlia. 

Dahlia was looking much than she had five years ago, having mostly gotten over Optimus, though Achelois knew she would never love anyone else. Fidgeting with the ring on her left ring finger, she waited as Raf figured out what was going on. He had grown up a lot. He was close to Jack's height now, and his glasses were now black. His hair hadn't changed much. He had become the tech guy of the group.

Jack definitely hadn't change much from sixteen to twenty-one. He was responsible, just like his father who he didn't talk about much, but whenever he did, it was full of love, and longing to see him again. He had a short beard and side burns, which actually suited his longer face.

Miko was the one who had changed the most. She was twenty years old now, and she had cut her hair into a more boyish style. She had multiple ear piercings and Achelois knew she had other piercings that she wasn't allowed to wear to work.  She was still the energetic ball of fun she was before, just more grown up. She didn't rush into situations like she used to.

Achelois herself was somewhat different too. She used to have long, dark brown hair, but now it was much shorter. It only reached her chin. She still wore the ring that Ratchet had given her. It made her feel connected to him even though he wasn't there.

"Got it!" Raf exclaimed. "There was a strange energy surge just outside of Crown City. From what I understand of the Cybertronian tech that was left behind, it appears to be an energon surge. Someone has either uncovered a lot of energon, or there's been a space bridge in the area."

Achelois' eyes widened as she glanced Dahlia. "Open the ground bridge", she ordered. "I'm going to investigate."

With that, she made sure she had her all her gear with her, including the energon blasters Raf had managed to construct. They didn't require much energon and were pretty easy to uphold. Only the humans who knew the Cybertronians knew about the energon blasters. They didn't want them to get into military hands because the blasters were not for use against humans. 

A ground bridge opened and Achelois hopped on her bike, placing her red helmet on her head. She started the engine of the motorcycle and quickly sped through. However, she was surprised when Dahlia followed through in one of the jeeps they owned. She smiled softly before looking at the surroundings. They were in a forest before hearing some strange noises like gears grinding, and tires squealing. Sharing a glance with Dahlia, Achelois was quick to follow the noise. Soon she came across this red car. She scanned it with a scanner Raf had given her. It was an energon scanner. She knew Dahlia was looking at her with a questioning look so she just nodded signalling that the red car was in fact a Cybertronian. 

Achelois took off her helmet, and got off her bike. After putting the scanner away, she called out to the Cybertronian.

"Transform and put your servos up", she called. "State your faction, and your designation!"

The car had stopped in place before transforming, a shocked looked on the bots face. Achelois groaned inwardly. He looked like a rebel.

"How do you know Cybertronian terminology?" he asked. Achelois rolled her eyes.

"Answer my questions, and I'll answers yours."

The bot was quick to respond. "I'm an Autobot. And my designation is Sideswipe."

"Well, Sideswipe, I'm going to need you to come with me. When the Autobots where on Earth, they were robots in disguise. That's how I know Cybertronian terminology. I was friends with the Autobots", Achelois said.

Suddenly there were several voices and then two more bots came through the trees and underbrush. Both Achelois and Dahlia recognized one of them.

"Bumblebee?" Dahlia asked in shock. 

"Dahlia?" Bumblebee responded when he saw her, equally shocked. He looked around and saw Achelois who was staring at him with a hardened look on her face.

"Good to see you again, soldier", Achelois said, trying not to break down from seeing one of her friends that happened to remind her of Ratchet. Bumblebee had to do a double take.

"Faria?" he exclaimed in surprise. "But you've... you're much different now."

Achelois laughs, but there was no humor in it. "That's what happens when the one you love leaves you right after proposing."

Bee's eyes widen before softening. "Oh... I'm so sorry, Faria."

Achelois shook her head. "I've stopped going by that name. I'm only responding to Achelois now."

"You don't even respond to Lois anymore?" Bee asked. A stab of pain shot through Achelois heart.

"Only one person ever called me that, and you know that. So no, I don't respond to it."

"Uh, sir?" the white and blue Autobot asks. "How do you know these humans?"

Bumblebee smiles as he turns to the white and blue Autobot. "When I was first here on Earth, we became friends with a few humans. The one with the short brown hair is Achelois and the other is Dahlia."

Achelois waved nonchalantly, moving her hand away from her energon blaster which it had been resting on out of habit. The others started talking about other stuff but she got distracted by playing with her ring, catching the attention of Sideswipe, who immediately recognized it as part of someone's spark. 

"Why do you have a piece of someone's spark on your digit?" Sideswipe asks, bringing everyone's attention to it.

Achelois looked down, sighing. "I... it's a long story... let's just say it's from someone I loved. He took our two traditions, and combined them into one."

"You loved a cybertronian?", the white and blue Autobot asked in shock. Achelois looked down to the ground and gently held herself together. She felt as if she might fall apart any moment from talking about all this emotional stuff. After taking several deep breathes, she managed to put her hard walls back up. 

"Yes, I loved a Cybertronian. But he is gone now, and so I have no reason to talk about him anymore."

"Yet you still wear the ring he gave you", Bumblebee pointed out. Achelois glared at him. 

"I wear it because it lets me feel closer to him even though he's probably forgotten all about me."

"At least you got more time with your lover", Dahlia finally snapped. Achelois shot her head over and saw Dahlia fighting back tears. "Optimus left before we got anywhere with our relationship."

"Opti-" the blue and white Autobot started. "You mean, the Optimus Prime? The one who gave his life to allow for more life to be created on Cybertron?"

"Wha?" Dahlia's eyes were filled with shock. "What?" Her eyes clouded over and she stared at the sky, which was cloudy.

"I'm sorry, Dahlia", Bee whispered. "I forgot you didn't know. Optimus is no longer with us. Well, actually I'm not sure on that. I keep seeing him every now and then. In fact, he's the reason I'm back on Earth. So he may come back. We saw him just a few minutes ago, actually, after we defeated a con named Underbite. Well, he helped defeat him."

Dahlia stares in confusion. Bumblebee laughs nervously. "Come back to our base, and I can explain more thoroughly there..."

Dahlia nods, and Achelois knew she needed to follow them. She didn't know why, she just knew that it could possibly lead to her finding her happiness once again.