Persephone.

Summary: Now Sam is a Cybertronian, how will this affect his future? What will this mean for how his human friends, the Autobots, and the Decepticons view Sam?

Rating: M for safety.

Disclaimer: Transformers and all canon characters belong to Hasbro/Dreamworks and Paramount, and I make no claim that states otherwise. Sequel to the story "Betrayal."

A/N: Credit where it's due to reviewer Peya Luna of this site, not just requesting a sequel, but for telling me what loose ends and issues could and should be addressed. And I have just found this, two years after I began writing it, and had forgotten I had it.

Persephone.

Chapter One.

Sam awoke to the sound of whispered debate that was almost on the verge of argument.

"Changing his form is not something to be bandied about lightly, Bumblebee. Perhaps his current form freaks you out, but you'll get used to it. Additionally, not only should this be Sam's decision, but it's a bit difficult to work out how to work on a mech who could melt you just by flinching!"

"You're right, Ratchet, that I'll get used to it, but what about everyone else on Autobot New Cybertron?" Bumblebee replied. "It's not me so much that Sam needs to worry about, but somebody as jumpy as Cliffjumper, who might see him, make a wrong assumption, and shoot at him!"

Sam swung his legs off the recharge pallet he was lying on and stood. Luckily the Cybertronian vessels had been built to accommodate even over-large mechs like himself, and he carefully moved into the main part of the med bay, calling a hello to announce himself so as not to startle the medic or the scout.

"I'm sorry, but I woke up and couldn't help overhearing your conversation," he said "and I think Bumblebee does have a point. So, is there anything that you could do to change my form to make it less fearsome? And can you do anything about these vents, and the risk of melting people?"

"If we were still on Earth, I'd suggest scanning something large, like a Chinook helicopter or a large aeroplane. We could possibly try and build something Earthlike and flying for you to scan, but until then, the easiest option would be a new paintjob. As for your vents, we might be able to build a heat-resistant armour shell to go over them and dissipate the heat somewhere. Perhaps associated force-fields that you can close off for a time, if it becomes necessary."

"Is there anything you could do to make my face less fearsome?" Sam asked. "I could relocate your sensor fins to the back of your head, or replace them with a more modern sensor-crown, yes, and I could, over time, re-model your head so it's not so long, but there is one thing I can do now that will make quite a striking difference to your face, at least."

"There is?" Sam asked. "What's that?"

"Crouch down to where I can reach the back of your head and I'll do it," Ratchet said. "I'll change the colour-filters in your optics from red to blue. It's also something you should know how to do for yourself, so I'll give you that information too."

Sam crouched as instructed so that Ratchet could run a data lead into the back of his neck. Sam's vision briefly blanked, and then the knowledge of how to change the filters himself was in his processors. As Ratchet disconnected, Sam stood and looked in the nearest reflective surface, and saw that blue, as opposed to red optics, made a substantial difference, as Ratchet had suggested, if you looked at the face.

"Thanks, Ratch," he said. As he stood again, he felt a slight vibration run through the floor. "What was that?" he asked.

"Your vibration sensors are as sensitive as mine, we'll have to find out what other sensitivities you have, Sam," Ratchet remarked. "We're decelerating, and if, as I suspect, we're at the edge of the solar system containing Autobot New Cybertron, we're going to change our approach to head for the planet and then establish a geosynchronous orbit above our main landing area."

"You're going to land the Ark on the planet?" Sam asked. "Isn't it too big to escape the planet's gravity again when it's down?"

"No Sam, we'll go down in the transport vessels. Now that the Ark has transported its allotted quota of humans to their worlds, we only have the humans who requested to come to our world and who were accepted. They will be taken down first, a Cybertronian pilot will operate the transport ships. Once the humans are gone, the Cybertronians will follow, and the ship moved remotely to a different geosynchronous orbit. We hope to build a space docking structure for craft in the future, but that will be in the future."

"I guess we'll be building a lot of things from scratch," Sam said. "Will we be able to cope? What about the humans? Will they cope?"

"There have been temporary structures built, for both humans and Cybertronians. The planet we have chosen has a high metal content, but has some areas where organic life, in the form of plants, has been able to gain a foothold," Ratchet explained. "We managed to take some Earth dirt from various locations with us, and analysis shows that with few exceptions, most plant-bearing organic soil has a similar makeup, though with varying amounts of the elements depending on the planet. We have seeded several planets with Earth food plants, and the early results are encouraging. In fact the first harvests are probably being consumed by the humans on our world, although many of the tins and packets they brought with them will still be available."

A memory of his mother baking cakes and cookies sprang to mind, and Sam supposed she'd be willing to try baking bread. Although both his parents were now over a hundred years old, a combination of long-living genes and Ratchet's care had kept them pretty spry.

"What about Mikaela and my folks?" he fretted. "How will they react when they see me looking like this, blue optics or not?"

"They have been informed and warned as to your change, and the extent of it," Ratchet assured him. "They may be startled when they first see you in the flesh, or to be more accurate, in the metal, but as they know of your change, that should soon pass." Sam nodded at Ratchet, and decided that that was some small comfort at least.

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It took a further five days to reach Autobot New Cybertron, and a further day after that to achieve a geosynchronous orbit. It took yet another three weeks to move all the humans to the planet and get them sheltered and organised in the temporary shelters, and during that time Ratchet managed, (with some cunningly-placed force fields to deflect the heat from his vents,) to replace Sam's mobile chin and head sensors with a sensor-crown. He also succeeded in reducing the length of his face, and managed to make the claws on the ends of his fingers retractable. Bumblebee, for his part, had applied blue and white paint to Sam to make sure people would look twice, adding glyphs for 'friend' and 'non-hostile' to drive the point home. When the time came for them to depart from the Ark and go down to the planet, Sam had mixed feelings. How would Mikaela react to his new form, he wondered, and his parents, and his children, and Miles? He thought about all the possible reactions, both positive and negative, during the trip down to the surface of the world dubbed New Cybertron.

As the boarding ramp descended, Optimus moved down, flanked by Ironhide and Ratchet. The medic beckoned Sam to follow him, and as Sam moved into place, Bumblebee moved to walk beside him, reaching up to take one of Sam's large hands into his own. Jazz, re-animated by Sam when he first found out about his AllSpark powers, nimbly somersaulted to land on his other side and walk down with him, grabbing his other hand in a show of support.

Behind them came the big Seekers, Shadowwing and Freefall, who were only marginally smaller than he was, and First Aid and Jolt followed them. Behind them followed Skids and Mudflap, arguing with each other even as they descended the ramp. At the bottom of the ramp they stopped and looked over the assorted group of humans and 'bots that had come out to meet them.

Optimus moved first, to greet the Arcee triplets, one of whom was his own beloved Elita, with his AllSpark-in-Sam created Terra Prima. Yet another of the triplets was Ironhide's equally-beloved Chromia, who was accompanying their AllSpark-in-Sam created Gilt. Only the triplet head, Arcee herself, was single.

When Sam has asked, it transpired that the Arcee triplets were not triplets in the same way humans would be. They all had different sets of Creators, but a triplet was the grounder equivalent of a trine, bonded to each other, working as a team, but not a gestalt group.

As Ratchet moved forwards, a nudge from behind and the tugging of his hands from Bumblebee and Jazz made Sam realise he should move forwards too. He did so, allowing Bumblebee and Jazz to bring him forwards as they both used their other hands to grip his lower arms. When they pushed them inwards, he allowed them to guide his limbs until his arms were held in front of him, crossed at the wrists, at waist level. He threw a querying glance at Bumblebee, who commed 'That sign is a promise of non-aggression.' Sam nodded and kept the wrists crossed as the two smaller 'bots let his arms and hands go.

The quiet hubbub of voices that had been heard once the ramp had opened stopped as the crowd saw him. Then a worried murmur began, occasionally punctuated by the cry of one of the human children. He stood like that while Optimus announced vocally (and by com as well for the 'bots) what had happened and who Sam actually was, despite his changed appearance. The murmur subsided, and then Mikaela came forwards.

"Come on, Sam, your family need you." Encouraged by Mikaela, he moved down the ramp, those behind him following. He put his hands down and she hopped into them, years of doing the same with Bumblebee had kept her supple and fit. He raised her to his face.

"Come on, Sam, it's your Dad. He's had a fall, and he's in the hospital block." As Sam followed the direction of her pointing finger, she continued.

"They're not sure he's going to survive."