Hey, everybody. It's me.

I'll get to the point; I can't keep working on this story. I'm so sorry it has to end this way, but it's been giving me grief for a long time now and I need to get over my sense of obligation and do what's right for me. I know there are people who've been looking forward to it, but I think forcing myself to keep going would be an injustice to them, to me, and to the story itself.

Still, I've got some ideas as to how the story would have gone had I continued. I'll give you a rundown as concession.

The next chapter or two would have revolved around Johnny and Bulkhead getting to know each other before Johnny moves in. It would have started out with Johnny at the youth sector, hanging out with a friend of his – a Cybertronian youth named Riptide. A problem child, Riptide's been in and out of foster homes for a long time now, and he's developed a wary and cynical view of people who claim to care about him. He warns Johnny not to put too much stock into what Smokescreen says, because he'll get rid of Johnny as soon as his imperfections become too much.

Bulkhead and Johnny go to watch lobbing, and neither one's quite comfortable with the other. Eventually, Johnny excuses himself to hide out in the bathroom and calls Josh, telling him what Riptide said and admitting that he's scared of letting Smokescreen and Bulkhead down – the latter doubly so, since he didn't get a say in having a foster kid around. Josh tells Johnny about how Josh himself was as a kid, and assures him that he doesn't need to be perfect as long as he tries to get along with them, and advises him to talk to Smokescreen about that if he's really worried (Johnny falls sick a while later, and it comes out then; he blurts it out while delirious with a fever).

Johnny moves in with Smokescreen and Bulkhead, and a short while later his old house burns down. Johnny's parents return in response to this, and Johnny finally gets an opportunity to call them out on how they've treated him over the years – which Smokescreen and the others join in on. Johnny's parents give him the apology he's been waiting for – admitting that while they do love him, neither was willing to give up on their careers – and promise to try and repair their relationship with him. Johnny agrees, although he makes it clear he intends to keep staying with Smokescreen and Bulkhead. While they're around, Johnny's mother visits Ultra Magnus and informs him of an investigation into a string of disappearances around Iacon – all of them human.

Without warning, Johnny and his parents are attacked by Sixshot, a Decepticon mercenary who manages to put Smokescreen and both of Johnny's parents in critical condition before being taken down. An interrogation reveals little, although Sixshot mentions the 'acolytes' before being taken away. Johnny, Josh, and Bluestreak all go on a trip to get out of the hospital, during which Johnny learns about Bluestreak and Prowl's abusive parents and how they fought to keep Smokescreen out of that same environment. A call comes back in; Smokescreen's recovered, but Johnny's parents are fading fast, and by the time they return it's too late to say goodbye.

At the funeral, Johnny's comforted by all of his friends and some of his parents' coworkers, including the governor that his mother worked for. When he, Smokescreen, and Bulkhead are alone, Johnny confesses that he feels "doomed to be miserable." Bulkhead rebuffs this, informing Johnny that his parents asked him and Smokescreen to take care of their son before they died, and they both fully intend to.

The story becomes a little more episodic from there as Johnny spends the next year with Smokescreen and Bulkhead, although the continuing disappearances are still brought up. Several character arcs begin:

Smokescreen, Bluestreak, and Prowl's grandfather Cable returns home from Earth on disability discharge, moving into a home far from any of his grandchildren. Johnny's intimidated by him at first (he's a lot like Magnus was when we first met him), but they establish a rapport, although Cable still refuses to let his grandchildren assist him, even with his injury. He eventually reveals to Johnny that he doesn't think he's good for much else besides combat, and having to ask for help makes him feel weak. Johnny and his family assure him otherwise, and he agrees to let Prowl and Bluestreak take him in.

Bastille (Johnny's teacher) drops by every now and then, triggering a hostile reaction from Bulkhead each time. He turns out to be Bulkhead's little brother from when they were both street kids. Bastille turned out to be very smart and talented, and he was taken in by a research facility to improve his mind further. Even so, he never stopped trying to help Bulkhead, even as the latter became a Bot of labor. When the war broke out, Bastille sided with the Decepticons, something Bulkhead has never forgiven him for, even though in the present day Bastille hopes to make amends. Bulkhead eventually agrees to give him a chance, but makes it clear he isn't forgiven.

Johnny joins Bulkhead's Mini Wreckers class at the latter's insistence and meets Allison Leddon, a serious young woman who protects him from a bully. As the two grow closer, Johnny learns that Allison has a complex home life; her stepfather is the ex-Wrecker Leadfoot, and she's never gotten along well with him. Furthermore, her biological father has begun sending her messages and genuinely trying to get to know her better. Johnny promises to be her solace, come what may, and they start to date.

And lastly, perhaps the biggest one: Bulkhead and Smokescreen begin a relationship. It begins when Smokescreen confesses to being a virgin and fearing the idea of interfacing (hence why his relationships never last. He ends them first.) Bulkhead offers to help him practice – being a Wrecker, he's used to playing it fast and loose with interfacing. Smokescreen's disturbed, but Bulkhead sets up guidelines for him and promises to make sure he's safe at all times. It goes well, and after a while Smokescreen goes out with another Bot, but realizes he's only interested in Bulkhead now.

Bulkhead's alarmed by this, and we get a look into his backstory with Breakdown: they were former Wreckers, and the two of them were very close (they never dated, but there was a spark between them). When Breakdown deserted the Autobots, Bulkhead viewed it as a second deep cut (the first being Bastille) and he isn't sure how to react to Smokescreen's confession. This time, however, Smokescreen assures him that he'll feel safe, and they agree to take it slow for a while.

Sprinkled throughout these longer arcs are smaller, individual chapters such as Miko meeting Johnny, Johnny meeting the Wreckers at Maccadam's, Josh and Johnny hanging out, Johnny and Riptide playing some songs he wrote, and Josh and Lila meeting up again (and her gently telling Josh she isn't interested in a relationship, although they stay friends).

On Johnny's 17th birthday, he breaks down and admits to Smokescreen and Bulkhead that he's terrified that they'll forget him one day, long after he's gone (a fear he'd previously voiced to a few others). They assure him otherwise, and Johnny asks to be adopted.

In the climax of the story, Sixshot busts out of prison and kidnaps Johnny again, along with a number of other humans, taking them to the 'acolytes.' They turn out to be the Acolytes of Unicron, a cult worshipping the Lord of Chaos by slaughtering humans with "darkness in their souls" in hopes of becoming one with their master. (They view humans as being closest to Unicron due to Earth being his body, although they don't know about that – they aren't entirely sane, wouldn't you know.)

Mortilus, the head priest of the Acolytes, turns out to be the governor Johnny's mother worked for – he had her killed to cover up his alter ego and had Johnny kidnapped a second time because the time he spent with Smokescreen and his friends was "diluting" his inner darkness. Sixshot also turns out to have a son, Quickswitch, who the Acolytes had been keeping hostage to ensure his cooperation. Sixshot is mortally wounded, but unbeknownst to anybody manages to send the Autobots his coordinates – the coordinates of the Acolytes.

Johnny and the humans are marked with a ceremonial knife dipped in a lethal toxin, and quickly they begin to die. Johnny, however, holds out far longer than the others – though partly empowered by a dying vision of his parents – and the Autobots arrive with an antidote given to them by Sixshot. The Acolytes are killed and/or apprehended, and Johnny receives the antidote whilst on the brink of death, sending him into a coma.

A month passes. Johnny is still comatose, despite frequent visits from his friends and family, and Smokescreen is on the verge of despair. In Johnny's coma dream, he's in his old home with his mother and father (who may or may not be real, it's ambiguous). They show him a vision of his future – performing in a stadium before a cheering crowd – and tell him not to give up on life or family the way they did. After a little prodding, Johnny agrees, and he walks out the front door, waking up at last.

In the epilogue, Johnny's graduating alongside Josh, performing one of his songs as part of the ceremony. Everybody is well – Sixshot is alive and his son and Johnny are friends, Riptide found a home at last, Johnny and Allison are still happily together, Bastille and Bulkhead are on the mend, and Bulkhead and Smokescreen have become bondmates. After the ceremony, Johnny speaks with Bulkhead and Smokescreen, thanking them for all they've done for him. Smokescreen asks if he's gotten his happy ending yet, and Johnny says no – because he isn't the same Johnny as he was when Smokescreen made that promise. That Johnny got his happy ending, but the present Johnny's story has just begun. Still, he admits, he can't imagine having an ending much happier than the one he's having now.

So that's about it. Honestly surprised at how much I got out of it. Hopefully you guys enjoy what you see. Maybe you could use it in your own stories.

I really didn't want to give up on this; I'd been planning it for almost a year, and I wanted good things to come of it. And to be fair, some good has – it's given me the strength to accept my dream of becoming a published writer. Hopefully you'll see me in a bookstore someday. I already have a bunch of ideas I want to write up for real, and I was actually hoping I could work on those and this simultaneously. After several months of soul-searching, however, I think this would be the end result anyway. Holding out would just be trying to breathe life back into a corpse.

Maybe I could come back to this someday – and that's a very hard maybe – but I don't want to be somebody who can only operate in other people's worlds anymore. I want to create my own worlds, worlds that other people would happily lose themselves in. Ever since I was a kid I've never had a really strong dream like that, but now I do. And I want to chase it with everything I have.

This one's for all of you. Thank you all for sticking with me for this short journey. I wouldn't have kept going as long as I did if you hadn't been by my side.