Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The three sparklings whimpered, hugging their mother tightly as they hid from the Decepticons. Their city and home, Kaon started to be attacked by the Decepticons a few hours ago and a lot of Cybertronians have died. Their mother, who was pregnant with two sparklings, was trying to reassure her sons that everything will be alright. "It's okay. It's okay." The middle and youngest son were trembling in fear as explosions were heard in the distance, burying their helms against her. The oldest was hugging his mom and shaking as gunshots were heard, followed by screams.

Their mother, however remained calm and kept comforting her sons. What her sons didn't know was that their mom had a problem with her spark and that she might not make it much longer. She was dying, and well aware of that but wanted her unborn sparklings to survive before she passed away. "Mommy? I'm scared!" The oldest son said still shaking. "It's okay kids..." She then passed out.

The three sparklings looked at their mother in terror. "MOMMY!!!" They said in unison the middle and youngest sparklings both started sobbing as the oldest tried to wake her up, "Mommy!!! Please wake up!!!" Their mother didn't wake up as the oldest started crying as well. They then heard an explosion closer to them as the three of them clung on to each other, trembling violently. They were terrified and cried as some more gunshots were heard in the distance.

Meanwhile, a green and yellow femme was shooting Decepticons protecting the cirizens of Kaon along with others of her faction, the Autobots. When the Decepticons called a retreat, the femme decided to find any surviors. After a few hours she was about to give up when all of the sudden she heard, "MOMMY!!!" The voice sounded very young. She also heard, "SOMEONE HELP US! PLEASE!!!" She ran to the source and saw three sparklings trying to wake the femme that they are with up. The femme ran up to them saying, "Hey little ones... What's wrong?" The sparklings stopped crying and looked at the femme sniffiling.

"W-Who are you?" The oldest sparklings said trembling. "My name's Nova little one... I'm an Autobot." "A-Autobot?" The younger sparkling said as Nova nodded, "There is nothing to fear little ones. I was one of the ones that helped protect your home... What are your names?" The oldest sparkling said, "S-Silverbolt. And these are my brothers Skydive and Slingshot." "What happened to your mommy?" "W-We don't know." Slingshot said still sniffiling. "S-She passed out. And our siblings are in there!" Skydive said crying.

That last statement made Nova's optics widen in shock as she commed someone. "Optimus? This is Nova. I have three sparklings with me and their mother. But the mother passed out." "Okay anything else I need to know?" "The mother is pregnant with two sparklings." Silence on the other end before Optimus said, "Okay. I'll tell Ratchet to get the med bay ready and get a groundbridge open for you." "Thank you Optimus. Nova out." The sparklings looked at Nova in confusion. "W-What's going to happen to our Mommy? Silverbolt asked. Nova knelt down to the sparklings' level and said "We will do everything we can to save her." A groundbridge opened up with Ratchet running over to pick up the unconscious femme. Nova picked up Slingshot and Skydive and went inside the groundbridge, with Silverbolt hugging her leg and walking alongside her.

Chapter Text

Once they got through the groundbridge, Ratchet called Nova over, "Nova! Need your help!" Nova nodded and put the two trembling sparklings she was holding down while Silverbolt let go of her leg as he held Skydive and Slingshot close as they continued crying. Nova looked at the sparklings in sympathy then at Ironhide and Inferno saying, "Can you watch these little ones while I'm helping Ratchet please?" Both mechs nodded as Nova ran into the med bay where she saw the unconscious femme and Ratchet. "How is she Ratch?"

Ratchet sighed heavily and told her, "She's fine enough to allow the two sparklings to live in her womb." "I sense a but coming Ratchet." "But, she'll die after they are delivered" Nova was shocked and saddened by that fact. "So she's dying." "I'm afraid so... that's why we need to get the sparklings out now if they are going to live." Nova nodded when all of the sudden the femme slowly woke up, her optics weak. "Are you okay Ma'am?" The femme weakly nodded. "My sons... Where..." "They're here ma'am and okay. What's your name ma'am?" Nova asked in which the femme replied, "S-Skyfall..." Ratchet then walked up to her, "Are you aware that you're dying Skyfall?" Skyfall sadly nodded.

"Okay we need to get your sparklings out of your womb now Skyfall okay?" Skyfall nodded, "Understood." She said. After a few hours the two sparklings were delivered. They were both white sparklings. Nova was holding the sparklings and told Skyfall, "They're here Ma'am and both boys!" "L-Let me see them..." Nova nodded and gave the sparklings to Skyfall, who weakly smiled at her two sleeping boys. She looked at both Ratchet and Nova saying, "Thank...you..." She then passed away as Nova sadly took the two white sparklings from Skyfall's arms. She looked at the two sparklings then at Ratchet, "They're so small... Why?"

"That's because they were born a bit early. But they are healthy nonetheless." Ratchet said sadly as he unhooked Skyfall from the machine that kept her online. The two newborn sparklings then opened their optics and looked around their new surroundings. They both then looked up at Nova and smiled, hugging her arms sweetly. Both Nova and Ratchet smiled at the sight.

"Hey little ones... Welcome to the world..." Nova said smiling sadly at the offline frame of their mother. One of the newborn sparklings started playing with Nova's digits making her giggle at him. The other one was still hugging her arm sweetly. "They seem to like you Nova." Ratchet said smiling at the little ones. Nova nodded and then got an idea. "I can be their caretaker Ratch. Along with Silverbolt, Skydive, and Slingshot. I can technically be their mother." Ratchet nodded at that idea as well as Optimus who was just walking in to check on them. "That is a great idea Nova. Are these the new sparklings?" Both Nova and Ratchet nodded. "What are their names?" Ratchet looked at Nova who said, "Air Raid and Fireflight..."

Chapter Text

Nova sighed heavily as she held onto Air Raid and Fireflight. It has only been a few days since their mother died, and so far, their older siblings have been a bit too hard to handle. Slingshot would have frequent nightmares about losing his brothers, coming into Nova's room and asking if he could sleep with her. Not that Nova minded at all, she knew that he needed some comfort, and seeing his little brothers actually made him feel better.

Skydive has been a bit more distant than he was when the Autobots first took them in, usually staying in his room and reading a lot. It actually worried her, especially since she knew that sparklings needed to have a bit more interaction with other kids. So she would sometimes bring her own son, Avianscope, who was the same age as Skydive, over to play with the flier. "Oooo! Can I read that with you?" Avianscope giggles as Skydive smiled widely and nodded, putting the book down for both of them to read together. It warmed Nova's spark to see the two of them getting along so well.

The only sparkling she was extremely worried about was Silverbolt, who became a bit more destructive after finding out what happened to their mom. He would even try to bite the Autobots, which would usually get him in trouble with Nova or Optimus. "You aren't my parents!" He yelled at them before storming off and slamming the door to his room. This was the most recent incident that occurred. He hit Avianscope after the latter accidentally spilled something on him, which as a result, made Air Raid and Fireflight both start crying. And as punishment, Optimus ended up taking his game away from him, which was what made Silverbolt snap.

Nova grew concerned for the oldest sibling, so she gave Air Raid and Fireflight, who were both asleep at this point, with Fireflight having one of his fingers in his mouth as he slept, and went to talk to him. "Go away." A muffled voice was heard on the other side. Opening the door, Nova saw Silverbolt lying on his bed, curled up into a ball and sniffling. It hurt her to see such a young sparkling so upset as she sat down next to him, putting her hand on his wing in attempt to stroke it, only for Silverbolt to smack her hand out of the way. "It's not fair..." Silverbolt said after a couple of minutes, his voice starting to crack a bit. "I know it's not...but your mom would've wanted what was best for you." Nova replied as gently as she could, trying not to raise her voice at him. "Yeah, right..."Silverbolt scoffed, trying to scoot away from the older femme, but for some reason, he didn't feel like moving.

"Look...I know it's hard kiddo, I really do. But sometimes, things don't go the way we want. I'm sure your mother didn't plan on leaving you and your siblings behind...it was just..." Nova heard Silverbolt whimpering, and she knew that he understood what happened to his mom...smiling sadly at him, she gently let him sit on her lap as he hugged her tightly, tears slowly coming down his little face. "I'm...I'm sorry for hitting Avianscope, ma'am..." Silverbolt muttered sadly, which is when Optimus walked in.

Nova looked at her sparkmate in confusion, as if to say
'Where are the kids?' Optimus chuckles a bit and kissed Nova as he sat down next to her. "Don't worry, Avianscope is looking after them." Nova smirks and playfully shoves Optimus off the bed, making Silverbolt giggle a bit. The sparkling then yawned and slowly fell asleep in Nova's arms. Looking at Optimus, she pointed to the door, basically kicking her sparkmate out of the room. "So...are we good?" Optimus winks at Nova, which resulted in her throwing a pillow at him while chuckling softly. "I'll...sleep on the couch." Of course, Optimus knew that his wife was just messing around, but he didn't want her to know that he knew it was a joke.