I dedicate this update to GoldenEagle13. Your review gave me a kick in the pants!

So this was actually supposed to be a later chapter, but my muse kicked me upside the head and said, "Put this as the next update or I'll take a chainsaw to your 3DS." The chapter wasn't forced out of me, but I wanted it in later. I don't know if you guys have been paying attention to this or not, but up to the end of this chapter the story will have taken place over the course of two days and a night cycle. Movies that do this drive me nuts! Imagine how I feel writing it! Final note, the point of view shifts towards the end.

Chapter Six: Nightmare

As soon as the front door slid shut, it hit home to Sides and Sunny that they finally—finally—had a caretaker. They had a family with a sire and a home. The red and yellow younglings belonged somewhere. It wasn't on the streets or in an alley but with Hatchet.

The relief these facts caused was so great that it left the twins' knee-joints weak and their optics wet. Neither youngling realized that they were crying until large servos began wiping at their faceplates.

"Hey," Hatchet whispered, "no more tears, brightsparks. We're a family now, no need for crying."

The comforting words would have made Sides and Sunny bawl from the concern shown for them, but the gentle and warm embrace that the medic had them in turned into poking at their tanks and wiggling digits on their wires. The younglings were soon laughing and squirming to get out of Hatchet's hold.

As soon as the red youngling broke free, Sides joyfully asked, "Can we play?"

"Of course," Hatchet replied with a smile.

And play the new family did. Sides and Sunny rushed back to their room, grabbed their robowolf dolls, and charged back into the living room barking and growling like they were robowolves themselves.

"I smell a petro-rabbit," Sunny rumbled as well as a youngling his size could, moving the red robowolf like it was the thing that spoke.

"I see it too," Sides growled back through his doll. He was staring right at Hatchet, giving him the hint to act like said petro-rabbit. The medic quickly crouched down and pretended to be unaware of the twins' presence.

"Let's hunt it!" Sunny barked before leaping towards his new sire.

"Oh no, robowolves!" The red and white mech feigned fright before scurrying away. "Don't eat me!"

Thus, the younglings 'hunted' Hatchet as the larger mech fled from the pursuing robowolves. The chase was long and wound its path around the entire living room, nearly going into the kitchen before Sides and Sunny caught up to their prey.

"Gotcha!" they crowed as they latched themselves to the medic's arms. "Petro-rabbit for fuel today!"

Chuckling, Hatchet wrapped his arms around each youngling before drawing himself up to his full height. He looked at both Sides and Sunny with a grin before growling out, "Oh, but how can that be? The petro-rabbit you were chasing found his burrow under the couch. I'm a cyberbear! I defeat robowolves with hugs!"

The twins squealed as the red and white medic snuggled them close and tickled their faceplates with kisses.

"No fair," Sunny laughed.

"Hatchet," Sides giggled, pushing away from the white chest-plating.

A sudden rumbling interrupted further tomfoolery. Sunny felt his faceplates heat up in embarrassment over his noisy tanks. Why did he need to run low on fuel now when they were having fun?

"I suppose it is about time to fuel up," Hatchet said thoughtfully. "What about you, Sides? Do you need some Energon?"

"Yup!" Sides popped happily.

The red and white mech carried the younglings to the kitchen table before setting about filling up everyone a cube. Sides and Sunny were having their robowolf dolls fight each other on the table top while waiting for their Energon. It took a quick glance to the side for Sunny to see Hatchet adding some sort of powder to the liquid.

Fear jolted through the yellow youngling as he asked in a slightly accusing voice, "What is that?"

The medic looked over his shoulder to find a suspicious and nervous Sunstreaker glaring at the small cubes on the counter.

"Energon," he replied simply.

: What's up Sunny?: Sides asked over the Twin Tie.

: He put something in the Energon!: Sunny raved. : He's trying to poison us!:

Hatchet, confused by the younglings' negativity, picked the cube up and inspected it. "Is something wrong with the Energon? It looks the same as always."

"What did you put in it?" Sides asked. "Sunny saw you put something in it."

"Poison," the yellow youngling hissed and glowered at the medic.

"Now don't give me that look," Hatchet stated as he turned to fully face the twins. "I've been adding these supplements to your fuel since the very first cube you drank. You can't taste them, but they are there to help you break down the Energon more easily."

"Why?" Sunstreaker challenged as he eyed the cubes of Energon behind the red and white mech.

"I assume you didn't have regular refueling times while you lived in the alleyways," Hatchet replied. "If you had fueled as often as you have in the past day and a half without any of these supplements, you would not have been able to hold your fuel. They are not a poison but a digestive aid."

"Why d'ya have 'em?" Sideswipe asked when Ratchet placed the small cubes in the younglings' servos.

"The supplements?" Ratchet clarified as he sat down at the table. "I sometimes sparklingsit Smokescreen and Bluestreak, and I usually give them home checkups if they get sick. I have their creators add these supplements to their fuel so they didn't regurgitate Energon on me if they have a tank virus."

Sides snickered a little at the medic's explanation before looking at the cube in his servos. The Energon did look normal, and Hatchet hadn't lied to them so far. . . .

: Sunny, please?: the red youngling looked to his brother pleadingly.

Sunny glanced at Sides before focusing in on his cube. His resolve was wavering greatly, and he really wanted the Energon swishing around in front of him. Since the very first cube. Sunstreaker took a single intake before downing the contents of the cube. Sides was quick to join him. When the twins finished refueling, Hatchet carried them to the living room and set them on the couch.

"I have a call to make, but I want you two to stay here," the medic said. "I'm going to put on the vid-screen for you to watch something. Is there anything you would like to watch?"

"The fix-it channel!" Sunny hollered.

The younglings were completely focused on the vid-screen while a home-improvement program aired. They didn't question what their new sire was doing or who he was calling. The different balances pieces of furniture and paint color could give a room and a home was too important to think of anything else. When Hatchet did return, the rest of the day was spent watching video programs and playing around the apartment. It was only when Sideswipe and Sunstreaker had started dipping their helms repeatedly over evening Energon that Hatchet decided that it was time to set up a recharge-time for the younglings.

"Time for recharge," Hatchet announced hefting his sons into his arms. As he began to carry them to their room, the twins mumbled and curled a little closer to the warm chassis in front of them.

"Nu' t'r'd," Sides mumbled against white chest-plating. Sunstreaker hummed in agreement with his brother before nearly drifting off.

"Oh, yes you are," Hatchet countered quietly, amused that the twins were trying to fight off their recharge protocols like all younglings are wont to do. "We can play more tomorrow, but you two need to recharge now to have the energy to do so."

"Bu—," Sunny hadn't even begun his statement when the medic started humming an old lullaby, soft and sweet, into his and his brother's audios.

It was an old song that Ratchet's carrier would sing to the medic when he himself was a youngling, exhausted from a day of play but refusing to allow his recharge protocols take over. It was a simple but effective method that sent all younglings into deep recharge. He knew this by the way that Sideswipe and Sunstreaker slumped heavily in his arms.

"Recharge well, brightsparks," Hatchet smiled as he gently laid the younglings on the bottom bunk.

The twins were recharging within astroseconds, robowolf dolls secured in their tight embrace.

Darkness was everywhere and everything, restraining Sunstreaker with solid black. He couldn't move his arms or his legs and was spread eagle in the drift. He would have thought himself alone if not for the sound of soft weeping. Whipping his finned helm around to locate the source of the noise, Sunny saw the most beautiful femme in his entire life. Her paintjob was red on her peds and slowly graduated to the yellow on her helm. She had helm fins far more delicate-looking than his and was holding something small and gray in her arms. The beautiful femme was sobbing over it, tears splashing against the dull surface.

Sunny tried to get the femme's attention, tried to ask her what she was holding, tried to say anything, but his vocal processor was caught. The femme had turned only enough for the gray object to be seen. Sideswipe was offline in her arms.

No! Sideswipe! Sunstreaker wanted to scream, wanted to yell. Sides couldn't be offline; he just couldn't be! They promised that if one went so would the other. Neither youngling wanted to face the world alone. Sunny couldn't be alone!

"But you are alone," the femme said in a haunting, grieving voice. "Sunstreaker, you were supposed to watch out for each other, and you let Sideswipe die." The femme locked her navy optics with his icy blue. "Why? Why did you let them kill him? Why, Sunny? You can offline the same way for all I care!"

Suddenly, the blackness was replaced by brightness and bitter cold. Voices, loud and clinical, carried through the room with painful echoes staying behind. The shadows that restrained the yellow youngling were replaced by metal bands at every one of his moving joints. He was flat on his back and staring straight up at harsh white ceiling lights. He was in an operating room.

Fear froze Sunny's fuel lines. He was back with the doc-bots that hurt him and Sides. Sides. Where was Sides? He couldn't be offline, but the yellow youngling couldn't feel him through the Twin Tie! Don't let him be alone! A whimper escaped his lipplates.

"Subject 002 is online," a voice called out.

Suddenly, the table that the yellow youngling was strapped to shifted, bringing him from a horizontal position to a vertical one. Straight ahead were mechs, all shadowed over with no faces, holding laser scalpels and needles and other nasty things that Sunny couldn't name. One mech moved to his right and lifted a laser scalpel to his side. He was red and white and had red crosses on his shoulders.

Hatchet? Sunny thought. What's he doing? Where's his face?

"Begin the examination by opening his chest-plating," a mech in the back stated.

Sunny shrieked and tried to pull free of the bands as Hatchet held his helm flat against the table. The medic placed the laser scalpel at the base of Sunstreaker's neck and pushed it into the metal plating. The scalpel carved its way from his neck to directly above his tank and pain and pressure danced where the cut had been made.

Why? Sunny wanted to vocalize.

"Because I never wanted you," the faceless medic stated coldly. "You let your brother die. Who would want you after that, Sunny?"

Servos pulled the chest plates apart from the cut. Sunny wanted to scream from the pain, flail his body away from the doc-bots' touch, but he couldn't fight back, he couldn't scream, he couldn't move; he could only take the pain that was given to him. He was alone.

"Sunny? Sunny. Sunstreaker."

The yellow youngling's optics flew open as he screamed. Ratchet barely had time to remove his servo from the yellow chest before small denta started snapping at it. When Sideswipe had come into his room right as the red and white mech was settling into his berth and said that his brother was having a bad data flux, the grown mech had expected a very negative reaction upon waking up. He was not disappointed.

Sunstreaker flailed his limbs in the thermal blanket that ensnared them trying to break free, snarling and crying all at once. Sideswipe crawled up onto the berth, gently removed the troublesome blanket, and pulled the yellow youngling into a sitting position before backing up. Fearful blue optics flashed all around the dimly lit room blindly. Ratchet knew that Sunstreaker had to reorient himself to his surroundings before he could initiate anything with the youngling. Sideswipe was still by his brother's side anxiously waiting for acknowledgement either vocally or through the Twin Tie.

"Not alone, not alone," the yellow twin had started mumbling as tears ran tracks down his cheeks.

Ratchet decided that this was the time to act. He placed his servo squarely on Sunstreaker's back. The youngling flinched at the contact and swung his helm to stare at the medic. So much fear filled those blue glassy optics that Ratchet felt his spark shatter.

"Are you okay, brightspark?" Ratchet asked quietly. "Sides told me you were stuck in a bad data flux."

"Sides?" Sunstreaker whispered. He glanced around the room yet again searching for his brother. "Sides?"

"R-right here, Sunny," the red twin stuttered from beside his brother, waving his servo shyly.

"Sides," Sunstreaker whimpered before lunging forward and sobbing into red plating.

"S-Sunny?" Sideswipe choked. He wrapped his arms around yellow plating. "D-don't be scared. I'm not leaving."

"But you did!" Sunstreaker wailed. "You were offline, and the doc-bots hurt me, and I was alone!"

Soon both younglings were clinging to each other and bawling their optics out of coolant. Ratchet felt a tear or two slip down his own face before furiously shuttering his optics. He had to calm them. He had to be the one to let Sunstreaker know that he was safe now. He had to be their sire.

"It's okay, brightsparks," the medic cooed to them, wrapping a thermal blanket around the sobbing younglings. "Everything is alright. You're not alone, Sunstreaker. Sideswipe is here and I'm here."

"But-but you hate me," Sunny choked. "You said that you never wanted me."

"Shh," Ratchet whispered, wrapping his arms around both younglings. "It was a bad data flux. I could never hate you, Sunny. And how could I not want you? I'm your sire now, brightspark, and I'll always love you."

With every sentence Ratchet breathed to the younglings huddled in front of him, the more Sides and Sunny focused on his voice. The medic could tell that they heard him when the hiccupping and sniffling became more subdued. It was in that moment that he remembered what his carrier did for him every time he had a really bad night flux.

"I remember an old lullaby that my mama would sing when I had bad data fluxes," Ratchet told the younglings in his arms. "Would you like to hear it?" When Sideswipe and Sunstreaker nodded, the medic began to sing:

"Sleep my child and peace attend thee

All through the night.

Guardian angels Primus will send thee

All through the night.

Soft the drowsy hours are creeping;

Hill and dale in slumber sleeping.

I my loving watch am keeping

All through the night."

"Hatchet?" Sunstreaker's very small and hesitant voice called out.

"Shh, brightspark," Ratchet murmured into the twins' audios as he rocked their rattling frames close to his spark. "I'm right here. Let it out." He continued to sing:

"You, my child, o' spark of wonder

All through the night.

Dreams you dream can't break from thunder

All through the night.

Through your dreams you're gently healing.

Visions of delight revealing

Slumber time is so appealing

All through the night."

Ratchet cradled Sideswipe and Sunstreaker gently and let them cry into his neck cables. He wiped his thumbs over their wet cheeks lovingly. Slowly their hiccups began to even out and they leaned against his chest-plating.

"Sleep my child and peace attend thee

All through the night.

Guardian angels Primus will send thee

All through the night.

Soft the drowsy hours are creeping;

Hill and dale in slumber sleeping.

I my loving watch am keeping

All through the night."

As Ratchet finished the lullaby, he watched the twins slowly drift into recharge once more. He settled them on the bottom bunk and tucked them in gently. A small servo latched onto his when he tried to move away to grab the robowolf dolls piled on the floor.

"Hatchet?" Sunny mumbled. "Don't go."

"Recharge, Sunstreaker," the medic breathed and rubbed his servo over a helm fin. "I won't leave you."

"Never had a sire before," the yellow youngling confided. "Glad that it's you."

Well if that doesn't make me want to cry, Ratchet thought before thickly saying, "I'm glad too. Now recharge, I'm watching over you."

And there you fine people go. What do you think? How can I improve? And what was that call Ratchet made all about? The song is called 'All Through the Night' and this particular version is sung by Tina Malia. I can't tell you how many lullabies I went through trying to find the perfect one for this story. Also, yes Ratchet calls his carrier Mama. Don't judge.