A/N: a brief pause from Decepticon Discovered for me. I do appreciate all the reviewers, and all the people who faved it. It makes me want to keep going when I get good reivews like that.
This is a pretty self explanitory story if you read long are no pairings except for a hint of Optimus/Elita-one. Please, tell me if you guys like.
OH! Zaxlions, Te'Eere and any attributes/ links to Zaxlions are MY OWN CHARECTER(s)! DO NOT STEAL!
If you think this is too close to another story you have read, let me know! I do not like to have my story said as a cast off of anothers work, and I will fix it. But, be nice about it!! Thanks! Please R&R!
::Message:: Comlink/message
: WORD : - file in OP's memory banks.
There was a disturbance in the yawing emptiness of space. A bright spot of heat was moving closer and closer through the silent stars towards a planet. It was a brown planet, with only the slightest hint of blue and green left, but it had once been the only habituated planet, with a population of over 45 billion. It was only a shadow of its former glory. The comet traveled faster and faster towards it, plunging through the cold vacuum of space into the fiery atmosphere.
The comet broke through the shredded edge of gaseous upper layer of the dying planet. The fire of the heating material turned the comet bright red, burning a hole through the dense fog that was the constant on the planet's surface now. There was never any rain or snow. It was always a cloud of fog, and in certain areas, it was very toxic to the organic creatures that tried to make a living there.
The comet made contact with the cracked pavement, burrowing into the earth. Above the newly formed crater, a lone figure watched the swirl of fog from the impact. She smiled, flicking her long dirty blonde hair over her shoulder as the energy from the crash cleared the fog away just long enough for her to truly see the meteor. She turned to the building roof she was on, making quick time to the stairs. She ran down them, letting the fog swallow up her form. She only had a short amount of time before the being was fully aware and walking around. She had seen this coming. She was prepared.
As she ran across the street, the cars around her shuddered, honking their horns or flicking their lights on and off. One of them even roared to life, the engine coughing after not being used for so long. As she passed, the ancient rusty forms lost all of their energy, dying down and flaking rust shaving off the energy died away. She reached the crater, peering through the fog as the red hot metal cooled slowly, unfolding just as slow. She tapped her hand on the earth, and a flash of light arched from her to the nearest billboard. It flashed to life, and then the advertisement died off as the energy returned to the girl. The city was once again quiet, and the animals that now occupied it returned to their foraging.
The being fully extracted itself, standing tall over her head. She moved quickly, trying to get his attention.
"This is not what I expected." The being said, scanning around for life. The girl laughed, drawing his attention to her. She waved, moving fast to a different area.
"Follow me." She said, and she moved slower, looking behind her to see if the being was following her. The steady, heavy footfalls from behind her alerted her that he was still there. With each step, a small bit of the nearest building fell, gathering in the street. The crumbled pavement curled away from under the immense pressure under the weight of the being, causing the already abused pavement to completely give away. Many times the being's steady footfalls stuttered as the pavement gave way. She pulled up to a smaller building, motioning for the being to stay there. She ran into the building, moving up onto the roof. The being shifted its weight, metal grinding against metal as it watched her run towards itself. She placed a hand on an old TV screen, and the being moved back slightly as it burst into life. There had been no energy in the screen before the girl had touched it. It was a large enough screen that he could see it clearly. The girl watched him, a soft smile on her face.
"You are probably wondering what happened here." She said, and the being nodded. She closed her eyes, taking her hand off of the screen for a second. The screen stuttered, and turned black. She waved a hand, and the fog cleared from the whole abandoned city, showing the destruction. She opened her eyes, settling her hand again onto the TV screen. It burst back into life, showing a slightly grainy picture.
"It is not what you think, Optimus Prime. There was no war here, no Decepticon activity. This…destruction….is our own doing." She said, and the being jerked, scanning the girl quickly. She had known his name. His processor tried to make sense of it, but there was no logical explanation. As far as he remembered, he did not know this creature. She was not of any alien race he knew of, and she was not a hologram from one of his own people. He concentrated on the girl as she moved, laughing at the look on his face.
"I am not a Homo Sapein, no. I have been in this galaxy far longer than this planet has been in existence." The girl said, her eyes flashing sliver for a brief second. She looked behind Optimus as the fog started settling over the quiet city. The sun was starting to set, which caused her to fidget. She knew about the horrors of earth after dark. The new being in front of her didn't. She cleared her throat as she concentrated on the patient metal being before her.
"You have best to listen and watch, Optimus Prime. I have a lot to tell you, and not much time. They will be out soon." She said, looking around as the screen's grainy picture sharpened, showing the Earth from space. It was thriving, and the date at the bottom of the screen was 90 years in the past, according to earth time. The being looked closer, scanning the old screen. The power for the TV was coming from the girl.
"The humans never meant to kill the planet. It just happened. They were becoming more and more dependent on the oil that we took, the resources we thought would last forever. It was not meant to be." She said, and the screen flashed through pictures of the resources that she talked about. There was no sound included with the photos, but Optimus could guess that they were very loud. The silent city behind him seemed to gather in the darkness, turning it into an object of evil. Optimus flinched as she also showed him pictures of the extraction process. It reminded him of the way they had killed his own planet.
"Soon, they were unable to mine for anything. The food resources everything depended on withered away. There was no food, no way for them to get medical treatment before the plague." She said, and there were pictures flashing, showing the dying crops, the dead. This time, sound was included. The sounds of the dying people and animals echoed through the dead city, reverberating off the decrepit buildings, magnifying the sounds until it was deafening. Optimus flinched, his engine quieting. The girl looked from him to the sky. Even with the fog, it was possible to tell time. She was taking too long.
"Almost everyone died. The few that survived were destroyed by grief, turning most of the survivors into savages. Thousands of years of evolution, down the drain in just two months." She said, and the TV screen hiccupped, the blackness interrupting the picture. She took her trembling hand off of it, and the power died.
"You know about me, but I must say, I do not know anything about you." Optimus said, his optics zeroing in on her face. She laughed, symbols flashing across her exposed skin as she shuddered.
"There is a good reason for that." She said, and she stood up, her form changing, expanding. A pair of wings stretched out, blocking the already feeble light as her small 5'2" height lengthened to 10'10". She smiled, showing elongated fangs and her face hand symbols shifting and changing, her hair constantly changing color, as well as her eyes, flickering form blue, to green, to red, to brown, to silver, to purple, to white, to black, constant.
"You are the leader of the Autobots, a faction of the Cybertronians. You also destroyed your planet, but in war." She said, her wings folding neatly along her back. Her symbols slowed to a pulse, changing regulated. Neither her size nor her form shifted, though. Optimus shifted his weight again, uncomfortable by the amount of information this being had on him and his fellows. He again checked his memory banks, but no new information came up in the second search that he had not seen before.
"What you see now around you is only one possibility of the future. Things can change. Maybe not now, but things can be changed. Neither the past nor the present is set in stone, Prime." She said, and she set a hand on the screen again. Optimus moved closer, peering through the thick fog to the bright screen. Inside, there was himself fighting along his arch enemy, Megatron. They were fighting over Earth. This earth was not the destroyed husk he was on now, but the powerful planet he had hoped to find. A new start for the Cybertronians.
The screen flickered. Here he was, standing on Cybertron, his home planet. It was thriving, almost as if it was back in the golden age. But the date at the bottom of the screen was the current date in earth time. He glanced at the girl, and then back at the screen as it flickered again.
This time, there was the sight of him, and most of the Autobots, offline and being scrapped by Decepticons.
It flickered again, showing a different universe, where the Decepticons and the Autobots were teamed up against a enemy.
It flickered, showing the thriving world of Earth, with the Cybertronians hiding amongst the humans.
It flickered faster and faster, showing different possibilities, until Optimus could only tell that the pictures were changing.
The girl took her hand away, and the last picture fizzled out, but the image was ingrained into his optics. There was the girl, looking sadly at the dead and destroyed planet of Cybertron as it crashed into Earth, destroying everything and everyone. Optimus turned his gaze on the silent girl, looking up despite his tall height. She wiped at a tear, looking at it quietly. She sighed, and the fog again shifted away, showing a setting sun over the silent city skyline. She looked at is thoughtfully, then she looked at Optimus.
"What are you?" he asked, shifting closer to her to scan her again in this new form. She smiled, leaping lightly off of the building to land besides the Autobot leader.
"I can see the past, present, and the future. I know the questions you want to ask, the answers to question you never get answered. I know death, and I know life. I am neither here nor there, neither awake nor asleep. I am not important, but I am at the same time." She said, and she closed her eyes, sighing heavily. Optimus shifted his weight for a third time, the creak of metal causing the girl to jerk. The building she had been standing on shuddered as Optimus accidentally bumped into it with his hip. It swayed on it foundation as the girl stood still. She opened her eyes, locking onto Optimus' own gaze. She fluffed out her wings, the slight breeze tickling across the feathers. She shook them, tucking them behind her back self-consciously as she felt Optimus' gaze.
"Our planet died before your planet was even thought of. We were attacked by disease, by no fault of our own. There is very little chance you know of us, Optimus Prime, because there are only two of us left. I am one of the last of the Zaxlions." She said, and with that, she shrank down to the size and form the Optimus had first seen her as.
"My name is Te'Eere, and I want you to know that you are not alone." She said, and she pointed behind him at the comet that streaked through the foggy sky. It was then that Optimus took note of the set sun. Te'Eere gasped, moving quickly into the shadows.
"They are here." She said, and a light gathered overhead, spilling into the nooks and crannies, lighting up the street. A gathered crowd of humanoids were there, growling in the sudden brightness. Te'Eere moved forward, her steps sending sparks of lightning through the ground. Optimus noticed that there was always a symbol that flickered across her skin when she shifted form, or used energy. He filed it away under the new file in his processor marked: ZAXLION:
The humanoids skittered uneasily away from her, ducking behind the rusting hulks of old cars to escape the light. She snarled back at the few brave ones that stayed within sight.
"I claim this one as my own." She said, and there was one male that stood up, leaning over her with teeth bared. She regarded him coolly, her light's glow intensifying.
"On what right?" he ground out, his voice thick with disuse. She laughed, stepping back towards Optimus' leg. Optimus stood still, aware that he was the one being fought over. She sighed, and one of the ancient hulks nearest to the male roared t life, inching closer and closer to him. He beat on the hood, and she growled, whipping her hand around so fast only Optimus comprehended what she did.
The flutter of cut paper brought the man's attention on the air ahead of him, and he saw the slight wind had brought old newspapers, probably from the old newspaper printer that was behind them. One of the sheets was ripped in half around where his head would have been.
The car shuddered, its engine revving with anger as the male moved forward aggressively. Optimus wondered what would happen if she touched him, for she had an odd way with technology.
"I saw him first. I will use my gifts against you." She said, and another car, in slightly better condition than the first roared to life, herding het humanoids between Optimus, itself and the other car.
"I think that you should back away with whatever dignity you have left, griever." She said, and the male backed off, his teeth bared still but his head bowed respectfully. A different challenger stepped up, a female this time.
"I claim him." She said, and Te'Eere's eyes narrowed, focusing on the new griever. She stalked forward, the cars moving with her.
"On. What. Right?" she said, and the female flinched, but only slightly. She waved to her buddies behind her, and they moved forward, flinching under the constant light.
"I hope you have an alt form picked out, Optimus." She said under her breath, and Optimus quickly looked, picking the first car that he saw that would fit his stats. He chose one just as she touched his leg. He felt a slight static charge, like she was electrifying him. His scans went haywire, and he suddenly felt himself on his tires, with Te'Eere in front of him, leaning on his hood. He settled on his tires, curious. She sighed, brushing off her shirt as the light overhead flashed, scattering the female griever's horde to the rest of the gutted city.
"Its over. He's mine." Te'Eere said, and the female spat in her direction before she took off also. Te'Eere sighed, blowing her hair out of her face as she moved away from the truck she leant against. Optimus stayed in alt form, moving forward. The other cars moved forward also, until Te'Eere stroked their rusty hoods. They fell silent after that, their engines dying slowly. Te'Eere let one tear fall on the slightly newer of the cars, hanging her head.
"It's gotten worse, Optimus. These cars…they used to purr." She said, and she stroked the newer car, a fierce energy in her eyes turning them a brilliant shade of silver. She paused before taking her hand off the hood, the rust gathering beneath her wet hand, turning the normally pale skin a deep rusty red. She let it drop, the rusty red dripping off of the palm of her hand. It dripped slowly as she looked around at the city, the quiet echoing through the skeletal remains of the tall skyscrapers.
"You should get back, Optimus." She said to him, and he moved forward, scooting the chunks of pavement with his foot. She made him pause, holding up a hand. She smiled, placing a hand on his foot. Optimus gasped, muttering something in his native language as a connection was made between Cybertronian and Zaxlion.
:: You will only remember this because I allow you to. It is a gift from the other one who knows about the burdens you bear, Orion Pax.:: Te'Eere said, and Optimus looked down at the girl in wonder. She held a finger up to her lips; a sign for quiet. He complied, letting the questions die in his processor. He felt her upload a file, one marked: CONFIDENTIAL: .She smiled at him, patting his foot and breaking the connection.
With that, the sky fell down on him, and he closed his optics, bracing for the end. He called out to Te'Eere, trying to block most of the debris, but he couldn't find her before the strain of holding up the world got to him, and he fell offline.
"Prime! Can you hear me?!" said a distant and slightly familiar voice, and Optimus onlined his optics slowly, aware that there was a battle going on. He looked form Ratchet to Prowl, hiding his confusion. He had been so sure that he was going to join Elita-One in the Well of Allsparks…
"Prime! Primus frag it, stay with me!" Ratchet said, and it was a little clearer, for this time it didn't ring in his optics as much as it had before. He shook his head, feeling heavy and slow.
"We need to get you out of here, sir." Prowl said, and he leant down, pulling his commander to his feet. Optimus could faintly hear the distant yells of his soldiers and Decepticons, but then again, he was off balance and disoriented. He let his second in command and Chief Medical Officer drag him from the battle field, taking him to their flimsy headquarters. He recognized the bots he passed, but most of them seemed to be covered in a fog. He shuttered his optics, trying to clear the debris.
"Prime, you're going to have to tell me what happened. I only saw you get hit by a slight blaster shot. It hit your shoulder, nothing for you to go down over. What the frag happened to you? You glitch or something?!" Ratchet said, waving a wrench over his head. Optimus shook his head, frustrated at how disoriented he still felt and how slow his reactions were.
"I do not think Prowl will understand this, but there is a alien out there who pulled me away from battle." Optimus said, the words slurring together. Frag this slow processing!
"What kind of alien? We were standing right next to you, and you didn't go anywhere!" Ratchet said, tweaking something inside of Optimus's large chassis. Optimus's left arm twitched, sending Ratchet's wrench flying. Prowl ducked as it flew over his head, hitting the door behind him. There was a screech of metal and a nice dent left in the door.
"A new species. Almost extinct. It was a --------." He said, his voice switching to some alien language. Ratchet and Prowl looked at each other before they looked at their leader, stretched out on the bed like a sparkling.
"Sure Prime. A…what? We didn't quite get that last part." Ratchet asked, glancing between Prowl and the Prime.
"A -------. There are only two of them left. He said, but he sighed, realizing how idiotic he sounded. He hoped that they let it drop. They wouldn't know. They hadn't been there when the female Zaxlion protected him-Te'Eere- from the grievers.
"Sure Prime. Well, you were hit harder than I thought, so I got to put you out to fix it. Stupid slagger." He said, and with that, the sky fell on Optimus again as Ratchet worked on his body.
It was okay that they wouldn't know. It was a secret, something Optimus had gotten very used to holding. What was one more?
He let the matter drop as he fell into the welcoming darkness.