DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING BUT MY CHARACTERS. ANY AUTOBOTS OR DECEPTICONS AREN'T MINE (trust me, I wish!).

CHAPTER ONE: THE DREAM

Dreams. They're strange things. So many places to go and so little time to do it in... This was where the madness began. In my dreams. See, I had this strange, strange glitch in me that made my imagination run away with me at times. The most famous time for this to happen was after watching a tv show or a movie. Currently, my mind was taking me into my own twisted fantasy world of Transformers.

It started normally enough. There were the Autobots, Megatron, Sentinel Prime, and Soundwave... Dark of the Moon was my favorite movie by far. Still, my dreams placed me in the second one, Revenge of the Fallen. I was standing in my own personal living ship, my own Rioki like the ship from Tenchi Muyo. It was just as black as Rioko's Rioki and had much the same characteristics, though it was more like Kenoki than Rioki in personality. I was watching Soundwave attatch himself to the satillite. Personally, I was waiting to see if he'd notice me, though I knew he would. After a second, I turned and guided Rioki into the atmosphere of the earth, heading for the one person I'd been going to for advice and guidance for quite some time. Optimus was well known for his patience with me. Part of me suspected that he was like the voice of my father when I didn't want to listen to him. They thought so much alike, after all.

With little to no hesitation, I followed Optimus as he took the roads back to the base after foiling another Decepticon plan. After a while, he pulled off onto a country road, the other bots not following him... and I made my move. I followed him then had Rioki transport me down inside the cab of his truck. Then Rioki shifted back into her cabbit form and climbed in through the window, settling down on my lap.

"Back again?" he asked. I nodded getting comfortable in the passenger seat. "Talk to me."

I never hesitated to follow that request/order. Wordlessly, I slid down my shirt neck so he could see the hole in my back, still bleeding freely.

"Mom got me," I told him. Now, the first time he'd seen one of my injuries, he'd slammed on his brakes and nearly had an accident. Now, though, he was used to this.

"What did you do to anger her?"

I frowned.

"That's the part I don't get," I answered. "I don't remember doing ANYTHING to upset her... All I did was come home afterschool and start on my chores. I didn't say anything to anyone and didn't do anything else! Next thing I know, I'm doging half of our kitchen knives."

Optimus sighed.

"You never told your father, did you?"

I shifted uncomfortably.

"How can I?" I whispered. "We've been over this, Op. I can't tell him. It would tear him apart, having to choose between Mom and I. I can never do that to him..."

Optimus sighed heavily.

"Things will only get worse," he warned soflty. I nodded, pulling my legs up and hugging them to me.

"I know," I answered. "But unlike in your world, I have no other options. If this was my world, I could just disappear without a trace. You know how things are in mine. I run away and end up in worse shape than I was before! Kinda defeats the purpose, don't you agree?"

He merely sighed again and parked on the side of the road, his holoform appearing and wrapping me in his arms, holding me softly. Desperately, I clung to him, childish as the action was. I NEEDED this comfort right now.

"If you were in this world, I'd come for you myself," he told me, surprising me.

"No you wouldn't," I objected. "You'd be too busy and you wouldn't know I even existed! This whole thing, this conversation, your world- it's-"

"Just a dream," he chorused with me. "I know. So you've told me several times, young one. And what do I keep telling you about that? If this is just a dream, wouldn't I be telling you what you want to hear? Or distracting you from your problems?"

I refused to answer, like always. It was just a dream. A dream of an alternate reality, but a dream nonetheless, no matter how badly I wished it were true. All I really wanted was someone to care, even if it was only as a friend or a father-figure. Those would make me happy, seeing as to how no one back home cared, minus my Dad. Optimus played this part in my dream. He cared about me, wanted what was best for me. He listened, talked, even occassionally joked with me.

I knew that my happiness with his limited affections would soon fade as I began to reveal my true desire; companionship. I also just knew that Optimus would NEVER feel like that for me, a human, thus my dreams never imagined it. It would be so... wrong in their world that my mind couldn't even picture a human/cybertronian pairing.

"Kira, what are you thinking about?" Optimus asked suddenly, interrupting my thoughts. I sighed.

"Everything and nothing," I answered heavily. "It's sad, really... I have to dream up someone to actually have someone there that cares, besides my Dad..."

I shook my head, laying it on my knees as a few tears escaped.

"Is it truly so selfish to want just ONE person to care?" I whispered, the built-up hurt and anguish seeping into my voice. Optimus merely hugged me tighter to him. I knew it was foolish, but a huge part of me hoped against all hope that he was right, wished he was right. If he were real, it would make everything so much easier...

"Be patient, Kira," he whispered to me. "I WILL find you."

Mentally I scoffed at the idea. It was impossible. But... some part of me, a large part of me, wished he would, wished he could.

"Please, Optimus," I whispered. "Primus, please save me from this hell..."