Takes place after the main events of Friendship Like Phosphorus but before the second "epilogue", "After Ever After".
Sometimes Armonie wished that the world worked like fairytales, where after the main event was over and the "good guys" won everything was magically fine. A scene would cut to an epilogue where Katie's house was finished and they all had their happily ever after; everyone could move on with their lives as if nothing had happened.
But things had happened and life wasn't a fairytale; they needed to live with the consequences.
Mutt groaned deep in his chest and nudged his big head against her ribs. "I never liked the idea of burying someone," he told her privately over the comm implanted in her skull so that their comments wouldn't disturb Katie's mourning. "I don't know why; it just seemed odd to me."
Reaching over, she buried her fingers in his curly fur. "It does," she agreed just as silently. "But I like the idea of the memorials; the tombstones." With her other hand she tangled her fingers nervously in the silver chain around her neck.
Mutt nudged her with his large head again. "Maybe you should say something to Katie."
"The last time I tried to say something, I made her cry harder," Armonie pointed out, making a face. Prowl glanced at them, brow rising.
"Maybe you should say something," Prowl said, opening a private comm to her and Armonie made another face.
Mutt huffed. "He said the same thing, didn't he?"
Rolling her eyes, Armonie stepped away from Mutt's comfortable bulk and walked carefully to stand with the other women clustered in front of the white stone. Jordan leaned around Katie and Maggie to fix her with a flat stare. Don't say anything again, she mouthed.
"Jordan doesn't feel your sentiments," she informed Mutt and Prowl. Nonetheless, she flicked her wrist to open her subspace bracelet and pull out the small cube of incense she had tucked in there that morning.
Katie smiled weakly at her, her father's dog tags clutched tightly in one hand, the chain wrapped loosely around her wrist. She was looking much better, already beginning to gain back the weight she had lost during her captivity. Whether she was mentally stable was another question but it wasn't one that Armonie had any right to ask; neither she nor Mutt were fully recovered from the battle that had sealed their bond.
As if sensing her thoughts, Mutt crept up to her other side, nudging his large head under her hand. Absently she picked at the leash draped across his back. "Tim Thornton," he said. "He should be nearby."
Seeing that Katie and her flanking guards weren't ready to leave anytime soon, Armonie followed Mutt's lead down the rows of white tombstones. There was something eerie about how they spread out in all directions, tricking her eyes. She and Mutt were careful of where they stepped, neither of them liking the idea that they walked on dead people.
"Where are you going?" Jazz asked, pinging her over her comm. The Autobots had almost immediately warmed to the idea that they could speak to her without speaking out loud, much to Mutt's annoyance and Armonie's amusement. They liked to talk a lot behind their humans' backs, it seemed.
Mutt nudged her hip. "More that we miss the feeling," he corrected as if he had read her mind. Perhaps she had left her connection with him open, but that was hardly new. "It's not uncommon for us to speak like this to each other even...on our own planet."
Reaching down, Amelia dug her fingers under Mutt's neck and he groaned in bliss. "We're going to find the rest of the people buried in this cemetery."
"What other people?" Prowl wanted to know. Armonie could feel Mutt digging through the connection, an odd sensation that made her feel like ants crawled over her skull. He reported to her that Jazz, Saetta, and Prowl were included in the comm code, not unlike a group text.
"The other humans that died," she replied, following Mutt when he tugged her down a row. "Why are we so far from them?" she asked Mutt privately and he shrugged his massive shoulders.
From wherever he was, Saetta piped up, "I found Glenn Rodgers." The message was followed shortly by a "ping" that Mutt translated as an indication where he was; it was just over the hill to her left.
"We found Tim Thornton," Amelia replied, tugging unnecessarily on Mutt's leash. They paused for a moment to bow their heads in respect and place another cube of incense in front of his tombstone. Of the nine humans that had died at the Decepticon's base during the Autobot rogues' attack, only five or so were buried in California; the rest were sent to their home states or countries, including Colonel Tanser.
Mutt sent a "ping" to Saetta with the location of Thornton's grave before they headed to where the engineer waited. It felt nice to be out in the fall sunlight, though she still ached from her injuries. When she stumbled, Mutt shoved his big shoulders under her to catch her and they both paused to let Armonie catch her breath.
"Sorry," she told him privately. "Guess I'm not that up to speed just yet."
Her companion grunted. "Take it slow," he said, not unkindly. "We're not in a rush." He nudged his big head gently toward her prosthetic leg. "Are you in pain?"
"Yeah," Armonie admitted, scratching her fingers in his thick ruff. "But it's getting better."
Neither of them knew what to make of the strange phenomenon that resulted in their friends being healed of their injuries, nor what to make of the fact that Armonie had seemingly been looked over in this sense. Privately, Jordan had admitted that she knew that she had to have scores of bruises, cuts, bruised ribs, and pulled muscles but when she woke up the morning after the attack, she felt as if it had all been a bad dream. Not to mention that despite being hospitalized for a few days for malnutrition and dehydration, neither Maggie nor Katie had been as bad off as they would have sworn they were.
Regardless of her luck, ill or otherwise, it hadn't in fact taken long for Armonie to heal; not while she was under Saetta and Mutt's care. Sirena or Drago called every day to check up on her status and were seemingly satisfied with her healing. Only Mutt knew how concerned she was with her increased rate of healing. While it hadn't been as abrupt as the others', she had still healed a great deal faster than she should have.
It didn't mean that she wasn't still stiff and achy, especially where her prosthetics met skin.
"I'll massage them for you when we get back," Mutt told her and she scratched his neck again before moving forward again. It took them another minute to reach Saetta and she found the engineer frowning down at the tombstone in front of him.
"Why?" Prowl asked over the comms and Armonie nearly jumped, forgetting that her comm with them was still open. It was a mistake she hadn't made since the first week she had gotten her implants so she supposed she may have been due for it. "You're not related to them, are you?"
Mutt grumbled deep in his great chest, rolling his bright blue eyes at Armonie. "No," she replied. "But their families were only told that they were killed in action; I was there and I watched them die. It's only right that I offer my respects."
There was silence from Jazz and Prowl; Saetta offered her a weak smile as she approached. He let her wrap an arm around his waist in a one-armed hug and Mutt leaned against her side.
"He wasn't even thirty," Saetta told her out loud, gesturing to the dates engraved on the bright white stone. "I don't think he had any family."
Armonie knelt, hissing when her prosthetics rubbed more against the tender flesh around the stump of her leg. The fresh grass in front of the grave was clear of any adornment; no wreaths were propped against the plain white stone, nor were there any flowers in the little clay pot for that purpose.
Flicking her wrist, she pulled out the small cube of incense and set it down in front of the grave. Beside her, Mutt leaned his massive head on her flesh shoulder, tickling her ear with his whiskers. "I'm sorry you had to die," she murmured in Italian to the gravestone. "I'm sorry you're all alone here."
Mutt leaned close to the gravestone and murmured something in what Armonie assumed was Cybertronian. A sentence later, Saetta joined in and she guessed it was a prayer. She remained silent, wrapping her flesh arm under Mutt's neck to play with his thick ruff. Armonie listened intently as they prayed together, the odd rumbling and grunting and gear-grinding sounds of their native tongue.
Done, they both helped her to her feet and began walking back to where everyone had parked. At the crest of the hill, they could see that more people had joined their friends in front of Aldrin Keynes' grave.
"Katie's family," Jazz explained when they asked over the comms. "They were here for the funeral."
Armonie limped along toward them, feeling older and achier than she wanted to. "The funeral was a three days ago," Armonie protested silently. "Why are they here now?"
"They haven't been able to give a good answer," Prowl said. "The disabled girl wanted to come back."
Now Armonie understood why Jordan kicked Prowl so much. She rolled her eyes as they stopped to rest under a large oak tree at the base of the hill. The path curved around it with a little dirt-and-gravel rest area and a wrought-iron bench.
"Watch out," Saetta said abruptly, startling Armonie. A dog stood at the edge of the path, his tongue lolling out in a sign of good humor. His working harness bobbed on his back and seeing them he bounded over.
"Byzantine!" a voice snapped and the dog froze. "Bad; come here!" In the picture of canine sadness, the dog dipped his head and trotted back to the bench, partially obscured by the tree's low-hanging branches. "I'm sorry," the voice continued, yelling a little and Armonie and Mutt approached. "He's real friendly but the idiot doesn't seem to understand that not only should he stick with me but not all dogs are friendly."
As they cleared the low branches, they found a teenage girl sitting there, the dog sitting dejectedly at her feet. Its harness made a lot more sense when they saw that she held a long white cane and a pair of plain black sunglass perched on her head.
"Mutt's pretty friendly," Armonie assured her. "At least, he won't snap." Mutt glared up at her with a single blue eye and she winked down at him. "Mind if we join you?"
The girl tipped her head to the side, not quite looking at them; it made sense given the evidence indicating that she was blind. "Not at all." She patted the seat next to her and shuffled over so there was more room. "I think both of you could fit."
At Armonie's nod, Mutt trotted over to investigate her guide dog. "My leg's aching me," Armonie explained, sitting with a relieved sigh.
The girl hummed. "Izzy, be good," she warned when the dog started to rise. With a groan, the dog sighed and flopped back on her feet. "He's useless," she told Saetta and Armonie but there was only fondness in her voice. She snapped her fingers and the dog immediately threw himself into her lap as well as he was able to, flopping bonelessly on her legs. "Izzy!"
Armonie found herself laughing, massaging her leg near the interface for her prosthetic. "Is he new?"
Comically, the girl groaned. "No, and that's almost the worst of it." She scratched behind his ears and the dog outright groaned, trying to roll over to beg for belly scratches; he only succeeded in rolling off the girl's lap and getting dirt everywhere while he flailed on the ground. "We've been together almost a year and a half now."
"Her eyes," Saetta said in a private comm to her and Mutt.
Armonie glanced up at the girl and winced involuntarily. The area around the girl's eyes were roped with a web of nasty-looking scars, a few dripping down the sides of her cheekbones like she had been burned by scalding liquid; both the pupils and irises of her eyes were nearly the same shade of pale blue, almost completely blending in to the sclera of her eyes.
She looked closer at the girl. If her guess was right, she couldn't be much more than sixteen; fourteen at the youngest. The girl's hair was tied behind her head by a blue ribbon but already the brisk wind of the September afternoon had tugged strands free. Amelia could see, where her skirt hiked up, bumps and ridges along her legs like old scars a few shades lighter than her tan complexion.
As if sensing her stare, the girl turned toward her with a hook-lipped smile and Armonie wondered if the odd scars on her face impeded some of the muscles on that side. Her musings were interrupted as the girl held out a hand to shake. "My name is Erin," she said.
"Armonie - that's Mutt there, sniffing your dog's ass." The girl laughed, shaking the hand Armonie placed in hers with a surprisingly firm grip. Of course, Mutt was doing no such thing, glaring at Armonie at the mere suggestion, but the blind girl didn't need to know that. "My friend Saetta is over there trying to hide."
The girl turned her head in Saetta's general direction and Armonie was impressed. "She's creepy," Saetta said over the comms.
"Shush," Armonie replied. Out loud to the girl, she said, "Are you lost?"
Erin chuckled. "I'm here visiting my uncle," she said. "I know it's a terrible thing to say and an odd thing to complain about, but just when I had returned home after visiting - attempting to visit, I'm sorry - him, I get invited to his funeral."
"That's a terrible thing to say," Saetta said uneasily.
The girl shrugged. "I'm sure you've said some bad things in your own time, old-timer," she said cheerfully. "I was actually on the plane when his body was finally released; my sister and I had to jump back on the flight and fly right back down." The golden retriever at her feet groaned and jumped to his feet, hopping in place excitedly. Erin glanced down at him with another hook-lipped smile. "I guess that means that my aide is on her way; he does that because he thinks that I'll take the harness off him when she walks with me."
Sure enough another teenager approached the benches. She was clearly older than Erin but paused just beneath the branches as if unsure. "Make new friends, Erin?" her eyes were almost nervous as they flitted from Saetta to Armonie, to Mutt, and then back to Erin.
"I'm glad you finally returned," Erin told her instead of answering. "If you hadn't, I would've had to ask them to lead me back to Uncle Aldrin's grave and that would have just been awkward." Erin stood and at her sharp word and gesture, her silly dog stopped with a heavy sigh and leaned against her leg so she could grab his leash and harness. "Care to join us?" she asked Armonie. "Or are your prosthetics still bothering you?" With a quiet command to the dog, she walked toward the new teenager.
Armonie frowned at her, flicking her subspace bracelet into her palms; Mutt moved next to her, hackles rising. Erin's service dog whipped around, his own hackles rising. "I didn't say anything about prosthetics," Armonie said slowly, feeling rather than seeing Saetta's holoform sidle in behind her.
"My bad," Erin said airily, seemingly unbothered by the growling. She glanced toward the only other group visible in the cemetery. Katie and her family seemed to have moved on and were congregating near their cars. "Lucky guess. Nicole, is everyone getting ready to leave?"
The other teenager, clearly unsure, shuffled so her body was between Erin and the group still near the bench. "Yes," she said faintly.
Erin reached down to the raised fur along her guide dog's spine. "Come, Izzy," she said. "Time to go." The dog gave a full-body shake and immediately reverted to his happy self, bounding up and around the blind teen before wiggling into place at her side. "Hope your leg feels better, Mrs. Scordato," she called over her shoulder as they began walking.
The other teen, called Nicole by Erin, remained a moment longer, watching them warily before turning and walking after Erin.
"There's something very wrong with that girl," Armonie said over open comms, "throwing" the message through Mutt who looped in Prowl, Jazz, Bluestreak, and Saetta. "The girl, Erin."
A pause. "She's blind," Jazz said, sounding confused but he didn't protest more than that simple statement.
Armonie levered herself into a standing position. "I met her when we visited Katie," Prowl said. "She does seem odd...what happened?"
"Her eyes are all wrong," Saetta grunted. "Very, very wrong."
"She's blind," Jazz repeated. "Katie told me that she was in Mission City a few years ago during the attack - that's how she was blinded. She got a few other bad injuries - lots of road rash."
Armonie thought to the lumpy, ropy scars on the girl's legs and shivered. "What happened?" Prowl repeated patiently and she told them briefly.
"The dog, Byzantine...he's not quite right either." Mutt said, shaking himself. His fur still stood on end, making him look like a cartoonish ball of fluff. "For all she claims that he never follows her direction, all it took was a touch and a command - said only once - to get him to resume his duty toward her."
They watched the two girls walk down the path. Nicole walked beside Erin, out of the way of the sweep of the long white cane in her hands; Byzantine walked on Erin's side, his leash and harness held firmly in her hands. He was the picture of canine obedience: ears perked and twitched, eyes alert and head turning to look around. As if sensing their stare, Nicole paused and glanced back at them.
Erin turned as well, looking at them with surprising precision for a blind girl. She gave them another hook-lipped grin, tucked her sunglasses down over her pale, pale eyes, then turned away. Nicole glanced at her, then at the group under the tree, and followed.
"I'm fairly certain that at least one of them isn't human," Armonie said over the comms. Nodding at her companions, she stalked down the path.
"Don't engage them," Prowl warned. "We're still in public."
Mutt nudged his head into her side. "Don't engage at all, if possible," Jazz added dryly. "Not until we're sure they mean harm."
"Because identity theft is harmless," Mutt grumbled privately to Armonie.
They met up with the group just as it was beginning to disperse until the only ones that remained were Nicole, Erin, Byzantine, and a pair that looked to be their parents. Katie, oblivious to their discussion about her cousins, introduced them all; the woman was Lyra, her mother's sister, and the man was Tyler, her second husband. Erin was Lyra's daughter from "Uncle Bucky the drug smuggler" (this made Jordan and Prowl's brows rise in tandem) and Nicole was from Tyler's previous marriage; Byzantine was, of course, Erin's seeing-eye dog.
Armonie found that she couldn't bring herself to speak to them, something that evidently made Nicole uncomfortable; she edged closer to Erin, looking as if ready to take a blow for her step-sister. Erin seemed to notice it too and transferred her long cane into the hand that held Byzantine's leash and harness so she could gently touch Nicole's elbow. "I'm hungry," she announced to the group at large. "Nicole and Izzy and I are gonna get something to eat."
Her mother cocked her head to the side as if confused but after a beat smiled. "Okay, dear," she said amicably. "Don't forget we have dinner at Chief's...don't lose your appetite."
It looked for a moment that Nicole wanted to argue but after a quick glance at Erin she merely sighed and offered her arm. As they passed Armonie, Erin paused and looked at her with eerie accuracy. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Scordato," she said and Armonie realized with a jolt that it was the second time that day she had called her that…despite Armonie only giving her first name. "I hope your leg and shoulder feels better soon."
As they walked away, Nicole very clearly gave her a what did you do look that Erin returned with a hook-edged smirk. Byzantine walked beside his mistress, almost completely different than the happy, playful dog they had seen earlier.
Erin sat, regal as a queen on the folding metal chair, Izzy for once acting like a proper guide dog and remaining at her side. She felt bad, confining his boundless energy to her, but at the moment she needed to act normal, like someone that Katie and her roommate J didn't need to watch.
"What's wrong?" Nicole whispered, leaning over her shoulder to whisper almost directly in her ear. "Izzy's never been this well-behaved and you've never sat this still for so long."
Absently, Erin toyed with the cane folded neatly across her lap. "Nothing is wrong," she said slowly.
"Somehow I don't believe you," Nicole said dryly. "I don't like that emphasis."
Erin's lips hooked upward in a smirk. She had admitted to Nicole in a surprising bout of candidness, that the injured muscles in her face had felt strained. It had resulted in some very odd facial expressions from her throughout the course of the day, including that odd twist of her lips that was currently passing for a smile.
Seeing that she wasn't about to answer her not-quite-question, Nicole sighed. "Can I get you anything?"
"Something sugary," the girl said immediately. "Real sugar, not diet."
Nicole made a face and Erin laughed as if she could see it. "Watch out - you'll get diabetes."
"I would have just suggested a cavity," Erin replied. "But I suppose diabetes may also be an option." Shaking her head, Nicole nonetheless drifted away.
She didn't jump when someone else settled in the seat next to her. "I'm not sure we've met," the Rogue Autobot said quietly to her. "Katie calls me J."
"Hello," Erin replied, turning slightly toward him. Even though she was blind and she was aware that he knew, humans were more comfortable when she faced them, even partially. "I'm Erin...but I'm sure you could figure that out."
J had a warm laugh and she could see why Katie liked him. "Not many blind people here," he agreed. "And I've heard about you."
"I'm sure all of it is lies," Erin replied. "Or, at least, most of it."
The Rogue laughed again, tipping his head back so the beads in his braided hair clicked against each other and the back of the folding chair he sat in. "I like you," he said. "You have some bite." His teeth clicked in a mocking snap and Erin smiled.
"I tend to bite at air, though," Erin said. "It's hard to bite when you can't see; so you don't have anything to fear from me."
J chuckled again. "I feel like there's more to you than meets the eye, though," he said and Erin could feel the shift in their conversation.
"Not much more," she told him. "People just tend to...overlook me because of who I am."
"And who are you?" J asked.
Erin was only a little disappointed when their talk was interrupted by Nicole's return.