A/N -

Moving forward. And thank you swimfeared for letting me know the chapter didn't initially upload. You're the best! My apologies for any confusion.

Jack woke up to the sun entering his room and the beautiful aroma of eggs and bacon. A soft breeze wafted in and warmed his body, an instant relief compared to how he was feeling earlier.

Earlier. When was earlier?

Immediately after school right?

Turning his head he gazed at his night stand and noted the time. 9:28 AM

So it's... morning?

Not really feeling up to busting that particular mystery, he rolled out of bed and waddled downstairs. The closer he got to the kitchen, the harder his stomach growled. As he rounded the corner he smiled. His mom was sitting at the kitchen table, newspaper in one hand, a cup of coffee in the other. She didn't hear him come in until he was scraping some eggs onto a plate.

She gave him a warm smile. "Morning honey. Are you feeling better?"

With a fully loaded plate and a piece of toast hanging out his mouth he shrugged. "I feel fine." She gave him a loaded look, he smiled weakly. "Really mom, I'm fine. I must have eaten something that made me sick. No worries." Sitting down at the table he began to scarf down his breakfast, completely missing the agitated look of his mother.

"I most certainly will worry. You were in bad shape last night and almost gave me a heart attack! I think you're over stressed and should relax today. No base adventures tonight."

What! He tried to object. "But mom- "

"No 'buts', no snark. You need to recover and I refuse to go treat other patients if my own son is in need. Understand?"

Jack groaned but relented. Just how was he going to break it to the team. "Yes ma'am."

"Good. It's not a punishment Jack."

Really? I couldn't tell.

With a final sip of her drink June finished her breakfast before gathering her things. She was dressed in her normal scrubs and held various files in her hand. Jack moaned in embarrassment when she leant over and ruffled his hair. "I'm off to work and I'll be back late. One of the nurses is on leave and I'll be pulling a double-shift."

She planted a kiss on his head. "Remember what I said." She stressed. "Rest."

"I got it mom."

She gave him one last loving smile before grabbing her car keys and headed out the front. With that he finally allowed himself to loosen up. It was quiet, just him and a plate of bacon.

He tried to enjoy the peace of it all, but boredom was coming. Brace yourselves. But through it all he could only think of one question.

"Now what?"

~~~ At Base ~~~

Miko stopped what was quickly becoming a "historical" guitar solo, one worthy of the ages, to pull out her madly buzzing phone. Ratchet sighed in relief.

She scanned her notifications and opened the newest text message.

Please don't be the host parents. Please don't be the host parents. Please dont be- ...Jack?

"It's Jack."

Raf perked up from his computer. "Really, is he ok?"

Miko glanced over the message before reading the message aloud. "He said he won't be coming today but will make up for it on Sunday."

Raf sighed in disappointment. "He's not going to miss Optimus' party, is he?"

Miko rolled her eyes before typing up a quick reply and hitting 'send'. "How should I know, he keeps dumping us because he's sick."

"I think that's a liable excuse Miko."

"Not here it's not! I mean, how are we gonna have a rocking sleepover if he keeps sleeping at home." She whined. Raf smiled, pushing his glasses back up his nose. "It's not that bad Miko. Besides, he said he'll be here tomorrow. That means he'll make it for the best part!"

Miko huffed in annoyance before bringing her guitar back into position. She turned the volume to the max and raised her hand to strum the note. Ratchet mentally prepared himself for the tragic future that lay ahead.

Miko smirked. "Yeah he better." Her hand came down.

Boredom.

It was everything and everywhere at once. No amount of TV, videogames or Netflix would change that. Thanks to Youtube he even had an extra 2 hours of cat videos under his belt but nothing was working. Jack grumbled in irritation. Why was he so antsy, was he still sick?

NO. He thought harshly. He wouldn't allow it. Whatever broke his system down to the point that it messed with his pysche was unacceptable. He was still having trouble with what exactly transpired at his school. Was it some sort of a breakdown? He didn't want to think about it, but he did know one thing. Watching a small kitten paw curiously at the camera made him determined.

He had to get out of this house.

Despite his mother's wishes he freshened up and headed out. A walk wouldn't be bad for him, right? It was therapeutic, there were no bot or cons involved, miles away from base and it was helping him "relax". He was doing everything his mother asked and forbid at once.

Awesome.

After mentally going through the "Jack Promotion/Keep Mom Happy List" he looked for any loopholes in his plan that would cause issues later. When he couldn't immediately find any he locked the house and proceeded to walk to the center of town. From there he made for the North Regional library not too far away from his school. North Regional Library was a fairly large building only rivaled by the decent government office across the street but at least it wasn't a waste of space like the other. He smiled at that.

Approaching the large concrete steps that led to the double doors, Jack ascended a few before sitting down on one of the landings. It was cool from the shade but still nice to the touch.

As he gazed at the scene below him he couldn't help but notice that everything was so calm and serene. Groups of friends were messing around and a few parents scolded their children when they tried to play in the street. It was funny actually, how so much was happening that could mean life or death and the average person was none the wiser. Being surrounded by such blissful ignorance was, dare he say it, refreshing. Yes, he loved his new found friends and wouldn't trade a thing to change that. But it was distressing all the same. For god's sake, his mom could have died! If Arcee didn't come around and stop her from becoming spider chow, he couldn't fathom what state he would be in.

Arcee.

Gosh, he still didn't know how to take that. He has yet to try and address that issue and Jack knew that there were hundreds of calculated questions running around that helm of hers. Should he even bring it up? How could I possibly explain any of that to her, he thought. He wasn't even sure that what he saw was real. It could have been some weird side effect from being stressed, like his mother mentioned. Right?

Right.

Yeah, he was running for his life just the day before, he'll just knock it off as some weird form of PTS. No need to bring up trivial matters that didn't matter, especially when the bots were working so hard to keep his planet from falling into the wrong hands.

There was a prickly sensation and Jack realized his legs fell asleep. Just how long was he sitting here? Pulling out his phone he read the time. Not knowing when he actually got here he could only guess and say that he was lost in his thoughts for about two hours. He couldn't even focus that much during class, but there was a reason for that.

Deciding that now was as good as any to start heading back home, Jack stood up. Dusting his jeans off and trying to work some blood into his limbs. He started down the stairs.

Something bright flashed across his eyes and Jack had to catch himself before he toppled down two whole flights of stairs. He shook his head. What was that!

Blinking roughly he tried to gauge whether it would happen again. Frowning he grabbed tight to the nearest railing and slowly descended the stairs. He looked like an old man, he was sure of it and to make matters worse a group of girls started making their way up the very steps he was struggling with.

There were four of them, two he recognized from school. One was a short blonde that hung around Vince and his gang of idiots. She constantly sent snide remarks his way and he didn't have a single memory of her not whining. The other was none other than Ciara. Crap. He was huddled over, waddling and taking stairs one at a time. He could only imagine what he looked like.

A nasally voice interupted his thoughts. "Slow down there partner. Wouldn't want you to break a hip." The small posse started laughing, except Ciara who only smiled. "Hey Jack."

Woah, she talked to him first this time. And she remembered my name. Jack was ecstatic but something on the very edge of existence could care less. It drawled low.

Amazing.

Isn't it! This was great! Now. If only he could recover and smooth talk his way to victory.

The edges of his sight started fading in and out. Jack stood up straight before leaning on one leg with his hands in his pockets. Not the best deicision seeing as how he was unstable as it is, but he looked good. Well,... hoped was more like it. He tried to steel his nerves. Classic cool guy Jack, not weird teen having a moment. He tried to ignore the weird blanket trying to creep further into his line of sight but it was getting harder and harder to do. It was changing the world around him. Just like before.

He flicked his hair back. "Oh, Ciara, didn't see you there." He winced. It sounded lame even to him. One of the girls gave a muffled 'eew'.

Smooth.

"Are you ok? You look hurt."

His sight was wavering greatly, he tried to say something else. Something better.

One of the girls rolled her eyes before tugging Ciara up the stairs. "C'mon Ciara, we don't have time for this loser." She tried to protest but was ultimately huddled further and further away from him. Her figure started to distort and phase into something else, something... metallic? What? A wave of nausea hit him.

Jack wanted to throw up, right then and there but held back. He looked back up at Ciara and was thankful that she looked normal and clear. She waved at him. "I'll see you around." And with that she was gone.

Jack stared at the empty void and tried to reel himself back in. He should really get home. And with that he continued his desperate hobble. He made it down the street and around the corner when it hit him again. But this time he was prepared and saw it for what it was. White didn't just flash and blind him but instead everything seemed to brighten rapidly to the point of giving off the illusion that it was "flashing" by.

Why he was going through this was anybody's guess. He sure as hell didn't know.

Adjustments.

But for whatever that reason may be, it had to stop. It was driving him insane!

He was halfway home now. But it was taking him far longer than it should have. Weird shapes were appearing now. They seemed translucent but stood tall. It was when Jack was crossing a busy intersection did a weird dimness start taking over. It was as if someone was slowly turning off a light until it got darker and darker. It was here that those strange shapes started becoming clear. They were broken pieces of jagged metal strewn across a desolate landscape.

A desolate landscape in the middle of Jasper. He needed help, this wasn't right.

When his sight wasn't returning he started to panic. He was crossing a street and couldn't see! He quickly rushed blindly to the other side, hoping he wouldn't get hit.

There were mechs and femmes now. Mere flashes but still distinguishable.

What's happening to me? What is this?

Visions? No!

Memories.

Whose?

Not yours.

Jack tried to blink away the haze but nothing seemed to work. His eyes burned and his head was throbbing out of control. The memories were getting thicker, covering his true sight. He was losing grips on the real world, he couldn't see!

Oh god, I can't see!

*WHAM!*

Electricity zipped through his head and pain exploded across his face. He hit the ground. Slowly the physical illusion faded away to a more tolerable state before disappearing completely. Jack almost let out a laugh in victory. If all it takes to fix my life is to run into a wall every now and then, he would do so faithfully.

He heard shuffling, then the wall started to groan, "Bloody hell". Ok, maybe not a wall, but he'll shoot for one next time. "Are you serious pal?"

Well this wasn't good.

He quickly stood to his feet and tried to assist the girl on the ground. She swatted his hand away in frustration and did it herself. She was tall, like him which was a shocker. What was worse was that that meant her eyes were glaring hardcore into his. And boy was it intense. Jack shuffled nervously.

"I am so sorry. I didn't see where I was going."

"Didn't see? You were looking right at me!"

Jack rubbed his neck in embarrassment. "About that-?"

Her eyes narrowed, "Are you high?"

Jack spluttered. "What? No!" She didn't look convinced. "Look. I'm sorry I ran into you, but I really should be going."

"Whatever."

Jack wasted no time before turning and heading home. He was all too happy to put this entire situation behind him.

A/N -

Thank you all for your continued support. I've been having some issues with uploading, some of my break lines aren't showing up, yada yada. I'll just have to go back and fix a few things. Please leave a like and a review, they keep me motivated. Much love!