I sat heavily on the charred rock and idly glanced at the rifle I held in my hands. I looked over the slight wear and the deep dent in its stock where I had smashed some Autobot in the face years before. I set down the weapon and sighed. Looking over the blasted landscape, I let my mind wander and I felt the weight of millennia of war sit heavily on my shoulders. Most of all, I felt a tug at my fuel pump when I thought about what had been, and what was now. . . .

Oh brother, where art thou, beyond this ruined expanse? I thought sadly, looking at the devastation. Little bro . . . how could you have been so blind? What had drawn you to the darkness?

I looked at my reflection in a jagged shard of metal that, inexplicably, had been blown off some surface but remained intact and smooth. The face that stared back at me was my own . . . and, with very little alternation, my brother’s.

Hound. . . .   Where did I go wrong? Why couldn’t I show you the danger of your path? And must I face you once again? Forced to fire on you to save the lives of others? I . . . I can’t Hound, I just can’t. . . .   You’re family . . . I can’t kill my own brother.

Why, Hound? Why are we in this war? We were happy once. There was nothing to worry about, no battles to take our friends, our lives, our sanity. This war did not have to be. Now we find ourselves on opposite sides of the firing line. I fell in amongst the Decepticons, simply because I could not stand to see what the Autobots did. But you, brother . . . why did you follow them? Why did you have to become the darker half of our equation?

I sighed again and hung my head. Alone, I heard soft steps, a Transformer, walking slowly . . . and coming up behind me. The rifle at my feet jumped off the ground and pointed straight into the face of the mech that had been approaching my unsuspecting back. Dirge went goggle-eyed and held up his hands in a sign of surrender.

"Scrag it, Dirge, don’t do that to me!" I snarled, then immediately wished I hadn’t. Dirge was a nice sort of fellow and a good friend, and I didn’t want to drive him away. I put the gun down on the ground and sighed. "Sorry about that, Dirge. I’m just a little on edge right now."

"Who isn’t?" Dirge asked. "We are at war, after all."

I sighed. "I know, but that still doesn’t keep me from thinking."

"As long as we function, we’re free to think," Dirge said sagely.

"And that’s the truth. I’ve just been doing a lot of heavy thinking lately."

Dirge nodded his bullet head and looked out at the tortured locale. "Hound again, right?"

I sighed. "You got it in one. Where did I go wrong? Why didn’t I get him out when I had the chance?"

Dirge frowned at me and shook his head. "Jackal, what have I said about blaming yourself?"

I gave him a ghost of a grin and nodded. "I know, I know. It’s not my fault. I just can’t help but feel responsible. He is my younger brother, after all."

"I know what you mean, but you can’t keep beating yourself up for his actions. He decided to take them, not you. You didn’t force him."

"I know. But still, I feel like there’s something I should have done, something to keep him out of the Autobots."

Dirge looked at me quizzically. "What could you have done?"

I stared at the ground helplessly. "I don’t know. I should have done something . . . anything!" I angrily grabbed a small rock and flung it as far as I could manage sitting down. ‘Small rocks’ weigh about 50 pounds to a Transformer. Dirge nodded appreciatively as he watched the geological projectile sail into the distance.

"I can understand that you’re angry, but don’t take it out on yourself." I heard a ‘thump’ from the rock landing some distance away, and an ominous cloud of dust rolled up from the impact point. "Or the landscape," he deadpanned.

"I just don’t know what to do anymore."

"Is he still your brother?" Dirge asked.

"What?"

"I said, is he still your brother?"

"That’s kind of a dumb question, Dirge."

"Humor me."

"Okay. He is my brother, I guess."

"And as long as you remember that, you’ll be fine."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Just remember. He is your brother. Once he becomes nothing but the enemy to you, both of you are lost."

"I . . . I guess you’re right. Hound is my brother . . . no matter the circumstances."

"Good. For once, I got through to you." Dirge gave me a warm smile and clapped me once on the back, then turned, transformed, and took off in a howl of jet engines. I stood and regarded the blood sun and the ravaged land before me. I watched the sky blur from deep red to black as the sun began to set. Looking into the shard of metal that had so preoccupied me earlier, I nodded to the face that reflected back at me.

"Oh brother, where art thou?" I asked the world in general as I transformed into my alt mode and started to drive away. As I left the battlefield, I could have sworn I heard someone say, ever so softly, "Here I am, brother. Here I am."