I AM SOOOOO SORRY!

IT'S BEEN WAY TOO LONG!

*gets on hands and knees to beg* Please forgive me!

I don't know what happened, one day, I just lost all motivation for this story… It didn't help that I wrote this story right after my trip to DC, which was the summer before my senior year of high school. I'm a junior in college now, so the memories are vague.

I did my best to wrap the story up, I'm sorry if the chapter is lackluster, but as I said, the memories are all but gone of the trip.

At the bottom, I'll explain more about what's been going on, but I am so sorry!

I combined the last two days into one chapter, so I don't lose my motivation again and just get it done.

I love you guys, especially if you've stuck with me this long!

Dream's Realm, Blondie-moyashi… I apologize to you two for taking so long!

Well, let's get to it!

Transformers © to Hasbro!

Darkstorm, Skybreak, and Emusa © to Dream's Realm!

Skye © to Blondie-moyashi!

Day 5 and 6

(Day 5)

"And I came around the corner and hit Miko in the back!"

"Then I came over and got Jack when he was trying to shoot at me."

Flareup's face broke into a smile as her sons told her about their time at Incredible Pizza the night before. "Sounds like you guys had fun."

"Did you and Sire have fun, Carrier?"

The femme nodded happily before looking at the others around the hotel breakfast table. "So, what are we doing today?"

"It's Sunday, so we're gonna take this day to just relax," Raf said with a smile. "We're going to church first; the church we'll be going to has five campuses in the area. The campuses are in movie theaters. They have live worship and the pastor preaches live at one of them while the other campuses have the sermon put up on the movie screen."

"That's kinda cool!"

Later, the group came out of the subway. They went into a large mall; Darkstorm cocked her head, "The church is here?"

"Remember, this church is held in the movie theater. They have one here; it's on the third floor."

They went upstairs, towards the movie theater. Soon, the found the church signs. The service was fun and it had an interesting dynamic, since it was in a movie theater.

The rest of the day was calm and quiet, with everyone hanging out in the mall. They ate lunch, went to a movie, and got ice cream.

When they returned to the hotel, Moonracer sighed. "I hate that we have to pack up to leave tomorrow."

"I wish we could stay here longer too," Elita smiled, cuddling Rodimus.

Optimus nodded, "Yes, but I believe Jack said that they saved the best for last."

"Yep," the boy nodded. "Before we go, the last thing we're going to do is visit Arlington."

"Oh man," Skye smiled, "That's going to be an amazing experience."

"I bet."

When they returned to the hotel, they packed in silence. It was a surreal feeling, packing up to leave after a week of amazing adventures. Even Knock Out and Emusa felt sorry to leave, thought they wouldn't tell the others this.

(Day 6)

The kids and younglings bounced around the hotel lobby as they waited for everyone to get down to the lobby.

"Come on!" Darksteel cried out, "Let's go slowpokes!"

"Miko's been rubbing off on those younglings," Skybreak sighed.

"That's not a good thing."

Miko elbowed the mech, "Oh, shut up!"

Lennox laughed, "Come on, guys, let's get to the subway."

The subway ride was just the same as the others, but at the stop they found themselves in a less populated area, and a blanket of reverence hung over everything.

"Uh, what is Arlington?" Knock Out voiced what everyone else was thinking.

"Arlington Cemetery," Fowler gave a small smile, "It's the largest military cemetery in the US, but we're really here to see the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier."

A cemetery? That didn't seem like a fun way to spend their final day, but the Cybertronians trusted their human friends.

As they entered the cemetery, the feeling of reverence became thick and peaceful. Even the younglings didn't run or speak loudly.

Small white tombstones dotted the landscape as far as the eye could see. The dates on the tombstones, dating back year and years. The number of graves staggered the imagination of the Cybertronians.

Dreadwing looked around, at some of the newer graves, where fresh flowers laid at the base. "This place has such history."

They came up a hill to where a small hill lay, terraced, with people sitting on the ledges. On the flat, concrete slab in front of the hill, sat a large tombstone, a small building, but everyone's eyes drew themselves to the soldier that paced on a mat in front of the tombstone. His steps never faltered, and he never averted his eyes. His movements were precise and it captivated all who watched.

Everyone could feel that this was a place where one was not supposed to speak in loud voices or even a regular voice. Fowler whispered. "This is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, dedicated to all those who died in battle and whose bodies were never identified or found. And we're just in time…"

"Time for what?"

Raf put a finger to his lips and pointed.

Two other soldiers stood to the side, one of them was inspecting the rifle the other held, they turned in perfect synchronization, their steps in time with the soldier marching in front of the tomb, who was walking their direction.

They reached the end of the mat at the same time, and as the soldier turned around, the others fell in step with him, with the other soldier holding the rifle next to the pacing soldier. They walked down to the end of the mat before they all took a step to the right. Now the new soldier stood on the mat, they all walked down to the other end again, but the commander and the soldier who had been on the mat kept walking, while the new soldier stopped and began the perfect march in front of the tomb.

"Whoa…" Ratchet gaped. All the others held similar expressions.

Slowly they moved away from the tomb, where they could speak normally. Darkstorm wiped a tear from her eye. "That was beautiful."

"Are they always doing that?"

"Yes, Bee," Lennox nodded. "They do it every day, all day and all night. The only time they stop marching is if the weather is too bad, then the soldier sits in that small building at the edge of the mat. Other than that, they march in front of that tomb, guarding it. It's the highest honor to become one of the guards of that tomb. I hope to have that position one day."

"That was the most inspiring thing I've see so far."

Optimus nodded. "Perhaps we should create our own tomb for the unknown soldiers."

"There are many things that we have seen that we should do on Cybertron," Predaking smiled.

Flareup nodded. "I agree." She smiled. "This was certainly saving the best thing for last."

Quietly, they walked around the rest of the cemetery, minds full of what they had experienced over the last few days. These thoughts only made it harder when the time came to leave.

"But I don't wanna go!" Skylynx whined as they grabbed their luggage from the hotel.

"None of us do."

Arcee smiled at Jack, "This was a great trip. Thank you for inviting us. It's been fun and a great learning experience for us all."

"Indeed."

"Well, maybe we can do something like it again sometime," Lennox loaded some of the luggage into a van. "We'll have to take you to some other places, maybe the Grand Canyon or something."

"Sounds great!"

The group rode in the van up to a hill where the spacebridge portal would open for them. Darkstorm looked over the city of Washington D.C. "What a blessing to come here. I will remember this trip..." She laid a hand over her spark. "Always…"

And each of them, in their sparks, felt the very same way.

Thank you all for your support, especially after all this time!

Thank you all those who followed this story:

Dream'sRealm, Femmeraptor220, Flareup4Ratchet, Nintendoman01, knightlychika, and tamersten

Thank you all those who favorited this story:

Dream'sRealm, Femmeraptor220, Flareup4Ratchet, Nintendoman01, and Savvy Orion childofcommander

Please review!

Isaiah 43:19

"For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! …"

Ok, to let you guys know what's been going on and why this has taken so long… well, I'm in college now and that is obviously something that takes up a ton of time.

I recently began a rewrite of my KH3 story, and that has taken a lot of my time.

I have also become a published author, so check out my website kristenverne . com if you want to check out my fantasy series "Sunsteel". I've also got a youtube channel, facebook page, and twitter, all under the name 'Kristen Verne'. I do some vlogs as well.

So yeah, this is what's been taking up my time.

Again, sorry for taking so long… I hope you enjoyed this story.

If you are a fan of my "Silver Star" story, I will be finishing it as well.

Love you guys!