chiv-id: =v=;;; What the hell am I doing? I have so much crap piled on top of crap, unfinished stories piled on top unfinished stories, I should just freaking stop writing altogether. However, Transformers just won't let my writing dieeeeeeeeeee! I mean, the Transformers Prime series is SICK. Animation-wise, the robots look AMAZING, though the human characters do need a little work. And unfortunately, I'm one of the many people who rather dislike Miko...I mean, that girl causes too much trouble and nothing bad happens to her. There is some karmic law where you do something bad and it'll bite you in the ass later...anyway, so this is going to follow the story pretty closely, but it's going to have a few twists in it, such as the adding of a new character and sub plot! Hope you guys like her!

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers at all. All the concepts in here are theirs except for my OCs...and there's quite a few OCs.

A Fated Exchange

Prologue: The Time Before

Cybertronian Data Log: [Earth Time] December 31, 1899 11:58 PM

"Holly, love, the washboard's been left out again by Marie," a woman's voice echoed from a warm fire-lit house located in a slowly decaying colonial town called Bareview within the New York lines, "Fetch it like a good girl for your mother." It was only a few minutes from the centennial fireworks display that was going to go off in the middle of the square and a small disappointed sigh was heard before a young red-haired girl left the home.

"And bring in the rest of the wash, would you? Fireworks tend to get the things dirty all over again," the girl gave a small proper frown at her mother's nagging words before stumbling down the steps of the porch to grab the basin, clothes, washboard, and all. It was heavy due to the water still left in it, but she could handle it as she spread her legs apart to compensate for the weight, inching towards the front door to bring it in.

"Don't try to force it in the front door, Holly," her mother warned, coming to stand in the red-head's way, "Go around the back and dump the water out properly, lest you'd like another flogging by your father." Holly drew her eyebrows together in a pinched manner, making an upset expression before huffing and determinedly shifting her direction around the back of the house. Her mother went back inside as the girl had to now walk the entire perimeter, taking breaks along the way.

"Why couldn't Marie have just done it herself…?" she muttered as she grunted from the weight, having to empty the water in a special bucket for reuse later, "Such a baby she-!" Suddenly, as the hands on her family's grandfather clock struck midnight, marking the centennial, a large blue-white circular explosion not unlike a firework caught her attention, causing her to look up. However, the strange thing about this particular "firework" was that it occurred much earlier than the others had…and something had fallen out of it, coming straight for the woods just behind her house. The normal fireworks that started going off covered up the loud crash that only Holly clearly heard as the rest of her family went to the porch to watch and set off their own measly centennial pyrotechnics.

"…What was that?" she asked softly, dropping the basin to run off towards where she'd seen the strange thing land. Holly hitched her gray wool skirt as she climbed over moss-covered logs, passed puddles of much and grime, determined to figure out what that mysterious and curious object was. She hoped desperately that it was a fallen star, so that she could ask for a wish like getting new friends.

"Just you wait, Mama, wishing ain't just for dreamin'," Holly determinedly spoke, running as fast as she could. And when she reached the middle of the forest, a ways from her home, she was breathing hard with effort. She put her hands on her knees and bowed her head to catch her breath when she noticed how quiet the area was…not even a cricket. Her senses became over-sensitive as she felt fear, remembering how just the other day a boy from her school was reportedly eaten by a wolf (though it was completely made-up). Suddenly, a twig cracking and a small whirring sound that she'd never heard before came due north from her, the girl spinning on her heel to look at it and falling down after she had her skirt accidentally caught on a fallen log.

"Uhh…ummfff…hello? Hello?" she called out frantically, hoping that it was a person who had made those noises. Holly started tearing up, no answer to be heard from whatever was out there, and she struggled to free herself from the log when she heard the odd whirring noise, followed by what seemed like an inhuman groan. She tugged harder on her skirt and it ripped, allowing Holly her freedom as she bolted from her previous place, rushing towards a tree and hiding behind it. The red-head youngster took a small breather before she peeked around her cover, green eyes blinking as she saw a remarkably large crater, a humanoid figure of sorts rising from the middle of it.

"...What…is that?" she moved closer to it, darting between trees and sparse bush to reach the unmoving thing. Another whirring sound coupled with a purple flash startled Holly, making her almost had it not been for another groan that emanated from the figure.

"…H-Hello? You…you need some help in there?" she asked, hoping her voice reached the strange creature so that she didn't have to move closer. At first, it didn't seem to respond to her words, and when she was about to go fetch her parents to help her investigate it, the alien wreck moved. She watched as it weakly reached an arm (at least, it looked like an arm) out of the ground underneath it, clawing at the ground while pulling itself from the crash site. Slowly, but surely, it made its way towards Holly, the girl all the while just watching with baited breath and a hammering heart.

"God, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, please don't let it kill me," she whispered to herself as she suddenly spun to have her back to the tree, praying as she saw that the mobile alien thing was getting larger and larger by the second, "I'll never talk bad about Marie ever again and I'll do everything Mama asks without back-sassin' and-!" She covered her mouth as she almost gasped loudly, the heavy scraping sounds of the moving wreck stopping near her in a grinding halt. Holly continued to quietly stay there, waiting to see if it was going to attack her before she took her hands from her mouth and glanced behind her slowly, getting an eyeful of a gigantic white eye that glowed at her. She screamed in terror before she started running as fast as she could away from it, hoping to put as much distance between herself and the thing when she heard something much more disturbing…words.

"Help…" it called out, in a strange weak feminine voice, "Please…" Holly skidded to a stop, her torn skirt whipping around her legs at her abrupt break in speed. She wrestled with herself over whether to look back or not, unable to ignore the pleading tone in the humanoid's voice. Eventually, she did turn around and by that time, the thing had its eye closed, making her feel more at ease.

"…Hello?" she tentatively called, just in case it decided to scare her out of her mind by jumping up suddenly, but it didn't. The girl cautiously made her way back and observed the decidedly benign or at least unresponsive alien being, crouching to get a good look. The thing was covered in what looked like metal, as shiny as an expensive gun kept by the rich folks, and it was pure white, too. However, from crashing into the woods, it was scratched, dented, and smeared with dirt and muck, Holly reaching out a finger to swipe away some of it. She could see that it had a head, like a human, and two arms with two legs, a torso, and even a face on that human-like head.

"What…are you, lady?" she murmured, deciding that the figure looked feminine at least, with a wide chest, narrow middle, and fanned-out hips. While it had been quite terrifying before, now that she had a good look at the severely injured female alien, Holly wasn't quite so scared of it. She started to wipe away parts of the grime and slime from the female's face before she heard that same whirring sound and backed away quickly, two glowing white eyes opening to stare at Holly.

"…Wha…what is…?" there was a slight cough in the humanoid's voice, clearly showing that she was in pain, "Where…am I?" Holly came back towards the figure and sat in front of her, the rest of the alien being completely immobilized except for the face.

"Why, you're in Bareview, New York, lady," the red-head answered with a definite nod, drawing her knees together.

"Bare…view," the creature let the word come out in segments, as if having a hard time saying it.

"Uh-huh," Holly slowly scooched closer to her new alien guest, "And I'm Holly. Holly Lavender, like the flower, but I don't smell like it."

"Laven…der," the female being repeated after the girl. Holly was quickly becoming entertained with her new acquaintance and the way she said words.

"And I'm a human being," the youngling jerked a thumb towards herself before putting her hands around her knees again, "What's your name? And where're you from? Do you know what ya are?" The questions seemingly caused the humanoid pain and Holly made a worried look, but the alien brushed it off and answered.

"I…cannot remember my name…or my origin…or even what I am," she pushed out, groaning in pain as her torso expanded and shrunk, much like a human breathing.

"Are you hurt? There's something…coming out of you…and your head's got a funny-looking stick coming out of your head," Holly first pointed to the female's torso where a gash laid, oozing blue glowing liquid, then at the head where, indeed, a metal pole protruded from the back of it. The female being panted as she moved a hand agonizingly slow to press on the wound before moving her other hand to grasp the pole, pulling on it gently.

"Hey, don't touch that," the red-head chastised, getting up and touching the arm that was reaching for the pole, "That looks pretty serious." Holly grabbed her skirt and ripped it some more, running over and pressing the torn cloth to the humanoid's wound. While the girl worked on her torso, the strange alien female grabbed the pole with both hands, ignoring Holly, and wrenched it hard from her metal skull, breathing more easily after it was done, putting a hand over the gaping hole before looking back at Holly.

"…Human…Holly…thank you," she spoke, the girl nodding in return after she helped staunch the wound.

"You're welcome…umm…I don't know what to call you, lady," Holly gave a distressed look before looking back at the fireworks that they could see from their location, giving her an idea, "Why don't I call you…Centennia? Like centennial, since you came on the centennial? At least, until you get your real name back." The metal being was taken aback at first before thinking and nodding, smiling softly at Holly.

"I…am Centennia. Of Bareview, New York," the humanoid figure said with confidence, finding solace in an identity, though temporary, "Who befriended the human, Holly Lavender…like the flower, but not like the smell." Holly giggled at Centennia's words before helping clean off the grime, trying to help the alien at least look a little better.

"You talk funny…I like you," the little girl laughed, moving away from Centennia towards her house, "And you think we're…really friends?"

"…Only if you wish it, Holly Lavender," Centennia responded decidedly, though there was an expectant sad look in her glowing white eyes.

"...I wanted to find a fallen star…so I could wish up friends…" the red-head smiled and came close to Centennia's face, touching it softly, "'Course we're friends!" And with that, the birth of a companionship began between the Lavender family and that of a strange unknown alien being called Centennia…a companionship that would one day be tested as the war that she had escaped from on Cybertron would soon make its way to Earth…between the Autobots and the Decepticons.

chiv-id: Yaaaaaaaayyyy new story! God, I really need to finish my other stories...FFFFFFFFFFFFF

(KARMIC GOD INSERT HERE)

chiv-id: Anywho, I hope you guys enjoyed the prologue and I'll be sure to check in with another chapter soon!