…
Chapter One
…
Optimus didn't go into Jasper often. In fact, for the proximity, he had hardly ever ventured into the small town. For as much as he appreciated earth and its beauty, he had to admit that the arid sea of dust that was Jasper was not very appealing. He didn't understand why the humans would choose to make a settlement here. There were no streams, nor rivers or lakes to admire. All the vegetation here had been planted by man, and still there was little and none of them impressive. In the stance stood the outlines of buttes, many of which looked like the one the Autobot hanger was based in, but still they held their distance from the town and were unable to be respected.
The stress of recent events led the Prime with the feeling of needing a breath of fresh air, so to speak. He had, of course, just regained his memories. He was confused by this. He had given Jack the Vector Sigma Key in thought that he was going to perish, and that Jack could in turn learn from the Primes of old to help the Autobots end the war after he was gone. Finding himself to still be alive was a surprise, but he needed time to think about it. The weight of his near death hung over his head like a dark cloud. He had come close the well of all sparks many times now, but this had been the first time he had been willing to accept it. What scared him now was not how close he had been to death, but how willing he had been to fall into it. In a sense it was like he almost wanted it.
He knew he would never give up. Not on the war, not on the people he cared for, but he felt he had nearly done just that. Yes, his sacrifice to end Unicron had been a vital one, but he almost felt too ready for it. It was a hard decision on his part, but once he had done it, it was as if a weight had been lifted from shoulders.
Optimus absent mindedly drove into the quiet town, thinking about his own troubling thoughts. His body and mind beat, he turned softy with road and watched as people went about their day, not knowing the dangers that loomed over them constantly. He yearned for his old life back on Cybertron, the life he would never have again. His planet, dead, his friends all gone, he knew he would never again just be a simple clerk at the Iacon Hall of Records.
He kept driving. He realized that anyone could look in his cab and see there was no driver so he turned on his holo form. The hologram was like him in many ways just as all the Autobots holo forms mimicked themselves. It looked like him from his short brown hair and trimmed beard to his blue jeans, high boots and dark leather jacket.
He paused, pulling over and letting the hologram out. This human version of himself could venture away from him, but not too far. He could at least walk around for a little and enjoy the town from the perspective of a human, maybe that would take his mind off things for a bit.
People walked with a calm and relaxed manner in and out of the town shops. Jasper was by no means large, but it wasn't quite small either. Its population was fair at about sixteen thousand people. The high school, where Jack, Miko and Raf went to, only held around fifteen hundred students. It was the only high school in the town. Optimus had never used his holo form like this before. He knew the others did when they were picking up their charges, but he himself had never bothered. He supposed they wouldn't find it very worthy of his time if he did. He was only doing this now because he had send the others to scout different quadrants, knowing they would not drive by anywhere near himself and see that he was taking time off. He knew he shouldn't be doing this, he had important tasks at hand, yet, he felt that he needed a break. Or at least a moment to clear his thoughts.
A dog sniffed him as he walked past it and its owner, only to find that he had no sent and so the animal began to pull on its lead and bark at him with vigor and confusion. The owner tugged on its leash and away from him before profusely apologizing, claiming that it never usually acted like that. Optimus shook his head and stated that it was fine before going on his way. As he wandered down the block a bit, another person with a dog rounded the corner. Optimus paused, wanting to avoid another blunder. He took a quick turn into the store closest to him and shut the door, walking around to a large window to watch as the animal walked past.
"Afraid of dogs?" Someone asked from behind him.
He turned around and faced a woman who held in her arm a stack of books, arranged in size from large at the bottom to small at the top. She set the book down on the counter in front of her and grabbed the one on top.
"No," He said with hiatus. He wanted to leave again, to continue his absent strolling. "but they don't seem to like me." He continued to say anyways.
"Hmm." She hummed, taking the book in her hand and searching amongst the shelves on the wall, not looking at him. "You know," She said as she found the place she was looking for and reached up to place the book between two others. "they say dogs can sense a lot about a person."
"Like what?" Optimus inquired.
"Like if they are good or bad." She gave him a look. "Of course, I'm no judge of character myself, and you don't seem as bad as all their barking is about."
"Oh, you heard that?"
"The whole town heard that." She laughed. "What, are you carrying a steak in your pocket?"
Optimus didn't laugh at her joke like she did and she quieted down awkwardly. Giving a clearing cough from her throat, she continued to grab another book and find its place among the shelves. Optimus watched her for a moment before looking around at the rest of the store. It was obviously a book shop. There were a few people sitting at tables and reading while they sipped on their iced coffee or drank their cold tea. A couple customers still stood staring amongst the shelves in the back, looking for their perfect book. The shop was large, but its space was filled with books. The shop girl continued to return to the front desk for her books, placing them on various shelves. On the other side of the front room was another stand, though this one had a long counter top with assorted baked goods in a glass case and a barista behind it, waiting to make someone their order of drink.
He glanced back to the woman. She looked to be in her early thirties, not far off in the age scale from his own holo form. Her face was dotted with light freckles, and her hair was pinned up in a messily put together bun with little russet brown curls sticking out this way and that.
He found himself liking this place. It put him at a feeling of ease. Not like he could stay. He couldn't consume the food or drinks, nor could he pay for the books. He knew he needed to go, she wouldn't tolerate his loitering, yet the books drew him in. He had always had a yearning for knowledge his whole life, and this was a place just for that. He decided to fall into his wanting's and wander the store. The worst that could happen would be that the shop girl would potentially ask him to leave if he stayed to long without purchasing anything.
Optimus moved around the shelves, finding the history section. He grabbed the first book on the shelf and began to read it right there. He had made it about a quarter's way through before the girl rounded the shelves to meet him.
"I hope you realize you don't have to stand there all day. There are chairs you can sit in."
"My apologies." He coughed, closing the book and putting it back. "I seem to had gotten a bit lost in my readings."
"It's no trouble at all." She waved him off. "You can stand and read if you prefer that, I don't really care either way. You don't have to put the book back."
"I'm afraid I don't have any money on me. I feel like I would be robbing you if I stayed any longer." He excused himself with that and moved to leave.
"Look, I don't like to spread this around, but so long as you don't leave the shop with the book you don't have to pay for it." She bit her lip. "I mean, it's too bad for anyone reading the book to find that it's gone the next day because someone else bought it, but if you want you can stay and read all you like. You just seemed so into it, I'd hate to make you leave for not having a couple of dollars." She offered. Optimus blinked.
"Well, thank you very much." He nodded. The woman smiled before leaving the isle to go back to her work. Optimus hesitated for a moment. He'd already been there for a while, but instead of leaving just then he grabbed the book off the shelf again, found a table near the front to sit at, and finished the book. When he was done, he set it back on the shelf, thanked the woman, and left with no intentions of coming back.
…
Is anyone still in this fandom? I know it's been a few years since the show ended but I was just thinking about it again the other day and felt inspired to write a fanfiction. I think I'm going to keep this story's chapters short just so I don't feel stressed to fill them up all the time. I'll just let them have a natural feel to them, I don't want too much filler.
If you want a good feeling of the story, the official unofficial song of this story is "Home" by AlicebanD. Or well really the entire album is good.
Please tell me what you think of it so far, comments give me life when writing fanfics.
