Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers or any of the characters in this amazing franchise. All rights go to Hasbro & Paramount Pictures, and whoever else I'm forgetting to name.

However, I do own the plot and any OCs that find their way into this.

Anyway onto the Author's Note.

YAY! I finally got the guts to try and post something. So here it is, the first of many chapters in the series of this thing that's been floating around in my head for waaaaaaayyyy to long! I'm learning as I go here so please I would LOVE to know what you think, but be gentle. I love writing more than anything else, and I want to learn as much as I can. Criticism is welcome, but lets make it relevant and kind if at all possible, please and thank you.

This story is about Bumblebee, from his sparkling years to . . . however far he gets in life. It will focus mainly on him and those closest to him. The characters may seem more movies-verse than anything else because that's what I know the most about and have the most access to. Though there are so many amazing characters that got left out of the films that just have to have their stories told as well, so don't fret, they're here too. I'm trying to keep everybody "in character" and all that, but at the same time I'm writing this the way I see them and after all it's my story . . . so I get to play around. That's what makes it fun! Right?

Well enough of that.

The tale starts right here, right now! So grab a few cookies, your favorite pillow, a love for Transformers, sit back , and enjoy!

Chapter 1

In silent horror Optimus Prime trudged though the remains of what was once the majestic and powerful city of Altihex. The great empire had been one of the last strong holds surviving this late in the war, but now it was nothing more than a pile of smoldering ruble. Blown to bits by the anger and greed of one lost mech.

Optimus and his four mech team had been here for breems searching for survivors, but each knew there would be none. Megatron himself had led this slaughter. Once again there would be nothing left. No hope for any bot to cling too. It was what his dark older brother was planning for the universe, Optimus knew that. Megatron wanted to wipe light, joy, and hope from the processors and memory banks of all those that stood against him, and he'd pretty much achieved it when he whipped out the Sectors.

A shudder ran though the powerful Autobot leader at the memory of what had become of the Youngling Sectors not long ago. The Sectors where the younglings no matter family, rank, side, or region were moved for safety when the war broke out. It had been an unspoken agreement between both sides of this costly war that the safe haven would be left out of the fighting. Younglings were the future of both sides no matter Decepticon or Autobot, but Megatron had other plans it seemed. He had struck an Autobot base creating a distraction while his merciless second-in-command Starscream and that Pit spawned sparkless Shockwave leveled the Sectors in less than a breem. Offlineing every innocent young life and loyal caretaker that had called the places home. The devastation had been finished before the calls for help even reached the com-links of any of the commanders. Hotrod had been the first to answer the call, with his small battalion, but it hadn't been in time. He arrived just soon enough to watch the last pillar crumble and hear the last youngling's desperate cry for help. There was nothing he could have done. Nothing any of them could have done, and yet all three commanders felt it was their fault.

Though none of them blamed themselves as much as Optimus did.

The memoires still haunted his processor ever time he closed his optics. Oh the horrors he had witnessed. The pain he had felt from the terrorized and dying sparks that still haunted the area when he had arrived. His family's gift had never felt more like a curse to him than it did that orn. The gift that made him a Prime. The gift that was allowing his brother to destroy everything. That orn he had never hated it more.

Well, other than now.

He had thrown up the walls around his spark when they arrived here, but it hadn't been enough. The pain, the agony, the utter emptiness attacked his bright burning spark. His gift of being able to read the sparks of others was nothing but a hindrance to him now. His ability that was meant to make him a better leader made him want to curl up among the ruble and cry.

If he had been any lesser of a mech he probably would have.

He couldn't though. He had to be strong. If not for himself than for his loyal, closest friends that trudged on behind him knowing the very thing he did. There was nothing here for them to find.

A tired sigh left the strong, hulking, brute of a bot to Optimus's right making the commander cast a glance over his red and blue armored shoulder to his lifelong friend.

"There is nothing left, Optimus." Ironhide breathed out running a tried hand over his broad black painted chest. "We might as well return to base."

"Hate to agree with the pessimism," Jazz appeared to his commander's left his silver armor glittering in the reflecting moon light. "But Hide is right. There's no one left."

Optimus turned his bright blue optics away from his two friends to watch the tall yellow and red medic that was crouched in the ruble running skilled fingers over the lifeless frame of a mech among the carnage.

"Ratchet?" Optimus walked to the older medic's side as his raised warily from the ground.

"They are right, Optimus." The sad dark blue optics of his friend tore at the walls around his spark making the commander wish even more that he could change all this. Some how give all of them some type of hope. "There is no more good we can do here. It's time to head back."

Shaking his head sadly the Autobot commander turned away staring out over the ruble trying to patch his crumbling wall. He felt like a coward for hiding behind it, but he knew no other way to keep himself from going glitchy at any moment.

"Alright." He whispered taking a deep breath letting it fuel his tired frame. "Let's roll—"

A sudden squeak, small and almost unnoticeable to any that hadn't truly wanted to hear it, cut the great Prime off making him whirl to his left his optics narrowing as they searched for the maker of that familiar let haunting sound. He couldn't believe his audio processors, and for just a moment was absolutely positive he really had gone glitchy.

Then it came again.

The unmistakable cry of a sparkling.

"Was that . . . ." Jazz's utterly shocked voice hardly made it into Optimus's processor. The commander was too busy dropping the walls around his spark reaching out to the dead air around him, searching for any signs of life, and what he found hit him so hard he nearly ended up on his aft. A brilliant, burning, pure warmth raced into his spark as if it was reaching out, calling for help.

It's brilliant light slammed into Optimus like nothing ever had.

Ironhide reacted faster than his fellow mechs, catching his stumbling commander before he hit the ground. Silently he watched Optimus push himself back to his feet, with a slight shove of help from the weapons specialist, looking out around him frantically.

Hide knew that look as well as Ratchet or Jazz.

He just didn't understand why it was there. The last time that utter shock and confusion had passed over Optimus's faceplate had been when Megatron broke their siblingbond almost offlineing both mechs in the process. That had been the orn Megatron murdered Sentinel Prime and defected from the Elite Guard. The orn Optimus had lost his brother, creator, and faith in one fell swoop. The orn Hide, Jazz, and Ratchet had to be there to pick up the pieces.

Now the three mechs stood in shock when another quiet squeak rose up from the ruble around them and Optimus looked this way and that in panic.

"There it was again!" Jazz pointed out walking forward only to have Ironhide cuff him over the back of the head.

"We can hear it you slaggin' fool! Now mute it!" The big black mech growled before his attention was taken as Optimus began shifting though the wreckage. "Prime?" He questioned his friend.

"The chances that it really is what we think it is—" Optimus cut Ratchet off by tossing a cold, dark glare his way. The medic along with the other two muted it pretty quick after that. It had been a long time since they'd seen that look too.

"Search." Was all their commander said before he went back to his quest.

Jazz cast the other two mechs a glance before shrugging and going off in search of the squeaking he knew couldn't be what they thought it was. After all, the sparkling and younglings were gone. Weren't they?

"Ratchet," Hide whispered. "We both know there is no youngling here."

"Have a little faith, my friend." The medic managed to somehow conjure up a smile.

"You think a youngling—which there are no more of because all of them are offline—survived this massacre and is hiding in this mess?" Ironhide snorted making sure to keep his voice low enough that Optimus couldn't hear him.

"Stranger things have happened!" Jazz called from where he was shifting though some crumbled metal letting both mechs know that Optimus probably could and did hear them. With caution the two bots turned to find Optimus glaring at them just as they feared he might be. Letting out a sigh Ratchet went to search leaving Ironhide to wonder over to his best friend to help him look.

Ironhide didn't think they were going to find anything.

Primus knew that no youngling could survive all this. He just hoped Optimus would be ready for that hard truth. He had been blaming himself for pretty much everything lately no matter how much Ironhide, Ratchet, and Jazz argued with him. It was just that big, kind, spark of his trying to fix everything. He wouldn't take it well if they didn't find the nonexistent sparkling. Then again, Ironhide figured if they did find some poor little one that didn't survive this mess none of them were going to take it well.

Especially Prime.

The group searched for what seemed like a vorn with no luck. The squeaking of before had gone completely silent leaving them frustrated and worried. No matter how much the other three didn't want to admit it, the notion that there might be some helpless sparkling or youngling here had entered their processors and the thought that now something might have happened to it or that they might not find it had them all on edge. They'd searched every inch of the ruble finding more and more offline bots, but not the slightest hint of anything online. Ratchet had done a scan of the area once again and came up empty. Optimus was still searching around him for that burning warmth that had hit him before crying out for help, but now it had vanished as if it had never even been there in the first place.

The Autobot commander felt like tearing his circuits out in frustration as he came up empty handed, again, from a pile of scattered glass and metal. The heavy sigh that left his chest as he pushed himself back to his feet brought Ironhide to his side again.

"Nothing?" Optimus questioned.

Ironhide shook his head sadly. "I don't think there is anything here."

Optimus knew his friend was just trying to be frank, but he had let to tell the three what he had felt. He knew they were aware their leader had sensed something, they knew him that well, but they weren't sure what. Subconsciously running a hand over the chestplates that covered his powerful spark the Autobot commander locked optics with his close friend.

"I felt something, Hide." He admitted. Ironhide's optic ridges raised before he nodded for his commander to continue. "I'm not sure what it was, but it needed help. I'm not leaving here until I find it."

"There might not be anything to find, Prime." Ironhide replied quietly.

"I know that." Optimus nodded taking on his leader's voice. The tone he conjured up when he needed to be clear to himself more so than others.

"By now Magnus and Rod are going to be wondering what is keeping us. Not to mention how glitchy Prowl is going to be because we're late." Ironhide pointed out.

Optimus was well aware of that too. He had been waiting for his comm. link to ring out any moment with the annoyed voices of his other friends, and fellow heads of the Autobot army that served just under him, asking where his pit slaggin' aft was. There were reports to go over, battle plans to draw up, causalities to be listed, intelligence to analyze, and a war to be won. Optimus knew it was foolhardy to be wondering around a desolate battlefield looking for what probably wasn't even there and yet he couldn't take himself away. He couldn't leave knowing what had called to him was still out there.

This was not the way a commander should be acting.

He was scolding himself ever nano-kilk that he should have better control over his emotions. It was just after all that had happened over the last few vorns he desperately wanted to find some type of hope. If not for himself than for his loyal followers. All of them were starting to question what they were fighting for now that the Sectors were gone and all the younglings along with them. They could all use a little hope at the moment.

While Optimus was busy being lost in his inner self Ironhide had started searching through another pile of ruble close by in what at the time he called boredom, but what one orn he would call the greatest decision of his life. Pulling back a heavy wall of rock from a large pillar that had created a sort of hidden cave beneath it he found something that made his mouth drop open as he began seriously questioning his processors.

Curled up in a terrified little quivering ball of yellow metal was the tiniest thing the weathered weapons specialist had ever seen. That wasn't really what shocked him though. What hit him in the spark like a sucker punch from some Decepticon scum was the absolutely terrified baby blue optics that brimmed with blue tears as they stared up at him like he was from the Pit itself. Ironhide's hardened spark crumbled into a million little pieces at the sight of it.

"Oh Primus, little one." Ironhide breathed out affectively getting the attention of his fellow mechs. "How in the universe did you end up here?"

The tiny creature squeaked in fright at the sight of the towering mech. Curling tighter in on himself he reveled something that made Ironhide's spark nearly stop. The poor little thing was injured. His right side held a nasty gash that was now stained bright blue by the amount of energon he was losing.

"Ratchet!" The cry for help left Ironhide before he fully even realized what he was doing as he scooped up the tiny thing against weak protest and pulled him up to his chest. The red and yellow medic was at Hide's side in a klick. For a moment the seasoned medic was shocked stiff by the fact that Ironhide really was holding not only a youngling, but a sparkling. An absolutely tiny sparkling at that. He couldn't be older than maybe a couple of vorns or more. The equivalent of an earth infant of a year and a half.

Ratchet shook off his momentary shock switching into fixit mode. Snatching the shivering form from the frantic mech beside him he ran several scans quickly discovering how bad the little thing was injured than went to swiftly patching up the worst of gash to stop the struggling sparkling from offlineing of energon lost even if he wouldn't stop trying to squirm away from him.

By that point Jazz and Optimus were leaning over Ratchet's shoulders watching the struggling creature in awe as the medic finished his temporary fix before letting the whining thing curl into a tight ball as he gazed up at them in absolute terror.

For a long moment all four mechs silently stared down at the quivering form in Ratchet's out stretched hand as tiny baby blue optics stared back at them. Not a single bot dared make a sound until Jazz softly whispered.

"I didn't think there was going to be anything."

"Me either." Ratchet tilted his head at the quivering form before glancing back at his commander who was staring awe struck at the sparkling. "What now, Optimus?"

Reaching forward the commander lightly plucked the sparkling from where he shivered pulling the most wonderful thing he swore to Primus he'd ever seen up into his own grasp. Curling him close to where the Autobot commander's magnificent spark burned with restored hope and reached for this sparkling in ways he'd never thought possible. As the shaking form stilled his terrified movements and relaxed against the pounding he felt against his own spark that in some way seemed safe and familiar Optimus answered.

"We take him back."

And there you have it! The first chapter of Right Where You Belong!

Is anybody else as happy as I am!?

Okay, maybe it's just me, but if you are I'd love to hear what you have to say. So please review and let me know what you think. I promise there is more to come, but you guys are going to have to let me know you like it for me to post more. :)

It gets better from here as the story grows. After all, this is the first chapter and it's meant to open the story. I'd still love to know what you think and suggestions/reviews are welcomed and appreciated.

Thanks!

-Jay