Come Back to Me
by Zaru
New Summary: A few years have passed. Things have changed for the humans and the Autobots have decided to make a visit back to Earth. Possibly for good.
Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers. I do own Zaru Kiys. I own Club Kunoichi. Leiana Lopez belongs to Ninjalala/Artist's Inquisition. Rose Connelly belongs to Bells of Eden/Blackwing Rose. Jade Rivers belongs to Icarian Angel Wings. Kia Hawkins belongs to weapon13white fang. Piper Somoon belongs to BlackHealer222. Erin Timmons/Everett belongs to Strawberrytop007. Bethany King belongs to Mrs. Optimus Prime. I own characters with small/very minor roles as well. Songs sang/mentioned belong to their writers/singers/creators.
A/n: WOW! The prologue is finally out! Yippee! Enjoy!
Prologue
"No…" Is what Leiana and the humans whispered.
"Why, Optimus? Why do you suddenly decide to do this!" Zaru cried out from her seat on Mirage's foot. How she wanted to hold onto her spark mate for dear life at this point. "It's not fair!"
Optimus just sighed heavily. "Zaru, I am sorry. But this is a decision that has been made for a long time now. Once the leader of the Decepticons was captured or destroyed, we would make our way back to Cybertron soon after."
Beth shook her head. "Why didn't you say anything until now?" Tears cascaded down her paled cheeks. "Didn't you know how heartbroken we'd all be?"
"Optimus, we cannot just leave. Our spark mates are here on Earth." Mirage stated while picking up his own gently in his hands. "And it's not like we can just bring them to Cybertron either."
"I'm very sorry, Mirage. But it is the way it has to be."
That was only part of what she remembered from three years ago after the Autobots were finally able to capture Starscream. And after more arguments from the spark mates and Autobots alike, the Prime leader ended the discussion by simply leaving the room they currently occupied. It was his way of basically saying 'I'm sorry, but we're leaving.'
Zaru Kiys sat staring at the screen of her laptop before it blacked out into sleep mode. Her auburn hair was very disheveled, several strands of hair covering her blue eyes. She reached up, shoving the hair behind her ears and rubbing her weary eyes, dark circles appearing underneath due to lack of sleep. It was mostly due to the club work she'd been keeping herself busy with for the past few years ever since their friends left Earth for Cybertron.
She could not believe it had been three years since she last saw her own spark mate. Of course she'd never forget him. Mirage was on her mind at least part of the day when she wasn't too busy. Even though she probably should move on with her life and find somebody to be with, she just couldn't do it. It would mean she was cheating on him. And that was something she frowned upon. The poor woman was doomed to spend the rest of her life alone just knowing she had a lover out there just for her, but could never be with him anymore.
Zaru rubbed her eyes once again and pounded on the laptop mouse pad which awakened it from sleep mode. The screen was filled up with a bunch of numbers and words that blurred in her vision.
"This is ridiculous." She muttered, saved whatever work she had done and slammed the lid of the computer down.
The 27-year-old rested her chin on her hands, eyeing her office. It was still a little strange to her, being in this new building. Even though it was almost three years since it was rebuilt, nothing was the same. A half-circle tan desk with matching tan furniture and shelves surrounded the small office space. The decorations were different as well, except for the pictures hanging on the walls and a few on her desk. The surrounding frames told a story over the years of friendship and a love that was everlasting, but could never be near.
A small smile appeared on her face as she picked up a picture of her and a holoform image of Mirage. They were both smiling while sitting on the hood of his alt mode, his arms around her shoulders while she leaned back against him. It was one of the only pictures she had left of him aside from the one of his lone alt mode hanging with a bunch of the others on a wall opposite her desk.
'We'll be back one day, Zaru. I promise you!' That was one of the last things Mirage said before he stepped onto the space bridge Skyfire and Wheeljack invented and headed up at warp speed to their home planet.
Letting out a breath she didn't realize she was holding, Zaru stood up and walked around the office. She had to ease her mind somehow and think of other things currently going on. Especially twin girls she had taken under her wing and adopted shortly after the transformers left.
Smiling a little, she didn't notice the door of her office opening revealing two teens who mirror imaged each other.
"Hey, mom." One of them called to her, waving a little as she stepped further into the room. "How's work going?"
Zaru turned startled by the sudden call. "Oh, Aery. Please don't scare me like that! I wasn't paying attention to the door!"
She laughed a little, struggling a little with the strap of her black messenger bag hanging from her shoulder. "Sorry. But you gotta be alert when you're alone in a building like this." Aery smiled.
"Yeah. Well, Rose was here awhile ago, but she had to leave to run an errand for me."
"Will Aunt Rose be back? She's supposed to take us shopping for new school stuff." Maddie asked.
Their adopted mother raised an eyebrow. "I already took you guys shopping for school stuff two weeks ago and school is already in session since last week. Why do you need more?"
"Because you promised to take us to buy more outfits, but because you were so busy, Aunt Rose said she would take your place."
"Really? I don't recall ever promising you that." Her arms folded across her chest with a grin on her face. "Or did you ask me when I was too busy and just said yes to everything you said?"
Maddie shrugged her shoulders. "It's always the best time to ask you for something you would usually say no about."
Zaru couldn't help but smile at those two. They were two simple joys in her life, filling a void that she thought would never be filled ever again. Ever since she and her father took them away from their mentally abusive foster family, she loved them. At first, it was only giving them a good home until they would be able to find another to be fostered in, but it took a short amount of time for her to realize how much happiness they brought her. And so, she fought for several months with Child Protection Services on being able to adopt the two girls. Since she was not married, they didn't want to hand over children who would not have a male role model, but as soon as her father stepped in saying he would take the role, it was judged that she was able to have legal custody and adopt the twin girls right away. Aery and Maddie had their last names erased and changed to Kiys to finalize the bond between them.
"All right, Maddie. As soon as Rose gets back, I guess she can take you guys out."
"Oh, mom, you're the best!" Aery ran up to hug her, but was stopped as soon as she opened her arms.
"But…" Zaru held up her hand. "You are not to ever go over my head again, do you hear me?"
"Yes, mom." The girls answered at the same time.
"Good. Now, do you girls want something to eat? I'm sure you have lots to tell me about school and have a lot of homework to do."
"Yeah. I have a history paper to work on." Aery opened her bag and pulled out a piece of paper. "These are all the things I need to include and what I would need to make a presentation for it."
Zaru gladly accepted it and looked it over. "Well, I have most of these things at the house you can use. But we'll go shopping for the other stuff. In the meantime, you can hook up your laptop downstairs and do some internet research. Unfortunately, I had to change the wireless network password for the club so I'll have to type it in there for you." She handed her daughter back the paper. "And what about you, Maddie? What big thing do you have to work on?"
"I have a stupid paper to do for history, too, but it's not as complicated as hers. And it's not due until next Friday, so I think I'll work on my math instead right now." Maddie pulled a big math book out of her bag. "The teacher gave us two lessons for homework tonight. Can you believe him? I really hate him."
"Even though you enjoy math, you hate all the homework he gives."
"Yeah, well, working on two different things each time kind of muddles up the one brain cell I have working for me right now." She mumbled jokingly.
"Damn, you girls really can be a handful when it comes to schoolwork." The auburn-haired woman pulled her hair back and tied a band, releasing it into a ponytail. "Come on. Let's see what we can get done for now."
An hour later, the back door of the club opened revealing a mature-looking gothic woman wearing a black top with a fishnet shirt and a short plaid skirt with heavy looking combat boots. Her dark red hair hung loosely around her with a few black clips holding some of the hair behind her ears.
"'Ello, my loves." She waved gleefully at the small group of girls at the bar area currently working in silence.
"Aunt Rose!" Aery grinned and jumped from blue bar stool, running to her with joy. "Ah, I missed you!"
Rose's eyes softened as she embraced the young blonde back. "I missed you, too, Aery."
"Geez. It's only been a few days since you've seen her." Zaru slightly shouted from behind the bar.
"Well, it feels like a long time, mom! You know how much I love Aunt Rose!"
That was true. Aery had become attached to Rose since they first met. She found her fascinating with the British accent and her style of dress. Every time she'd stop by or see her, it was always with a hug attached. The two became so close, they often went out together to movies or go to the local amusement park. Rose was the one who even got Aery interested in the history museum which took up a lot of Aery's free time.
"Aery, you can let your aunt go now. I think she would like you to stop mauling her for a moment at least."
Huffing, she reluctantly let go, and went back to her work at the bar.
Rose Connelly shook her head and moved to sit at the other end of the counter area hoping to speak to Zaru without the girls hearing.
"So, how are you feeling today, love?" She asked setting a hand on her friend's.
"If you're wondering if I was thinking of him, I was earlier. At least until the girls came into my office talking about shopping. Again."
She grinned nervously. "Well, I did say I would take them, but only if I had your permission. I know you don't like it when they do something without you knowing."
The club owner pulled two glasses from the rack above the bar. "Nah. I don't mind it. As long as it's you, it's okay." A bottle of daiquiri was taken from under the bar. "You want?" She waved the bottle while smiling.
"Of course."
As she poured the two glasses, she couldn't help but think back to the times when Mirage would be sitting across from her with a big grin on his face as she worked. He was always watching her intently doing her job, thinking she was great at what she did. A vision of his holoform appeared in Rose's place.
"You really do enjoy your job, don't you, Zaru?" The vision asked her.
Her eyes shimmered with water. "Yeah, I do." She whispered and stopped halfway in pouring Rose's glass.
She couldn't help but wonder what her friend was saying, but saw the tears ready to come. "Zaru?"
A tear fell and she slammed the bottle down on the counter. "Rose, why did he leave me? Why did they abandon us?"
"Oh, love." Rose moved quickly from her seat and moved behind the counter, pulling her best friend close, her own tears ready to shed. "I don't know why they left."
"I want him back with me, Rose. I want Mirage here with me." She whispered as she held tight to Rose.
"Yeah. I wish Ratchet were back here as well, Zaru."
Wheeljack sat in the empty Security Room all by his lonesome. He was very bored doing nothing but staring at a monitor for the better part of the day and realized he was in much need of recharge. But what was a few more minutes checking for any other Decepticon activity? He could sleep during the night when it was peaceful. After all, Optimus had left the entire base in his care as well as the humans they promised to protect. Especially the spark mates who were not at ease once they retreated back to their home planet.
He had been easily swayed by the idea of living on Earth without any of his comrades with him. Wheeljack was able to work in silence without the interruption of the twins Sideswipe and Sunstreaker at every moment that was crucial for an experiment. But with years going by, he missed them little by little, wondering if he would get that interruption at least once more so he could smack their heads together for fun and welcome them back with open arms.
His blue optics closed, realizing he was in much need of a recharge before he began his patrol around Tranquility and checking on a few of the humans he watched over.
Standing up from the chair he occupied, he stretched, metal scraping against metal and circuits ready to die down for the night.
"Ah! That's much better. Time for recharge." The lights on the sides of his head flashed with each word he spoke and pressed a few buttons for an automatic link to him from the computer if any Decepticon activity happened.
Only a moment before he headed through the hissing double doors that led out of the room, a message came on the screen, alerting him quickly. Running back to the computer, looked up, only to see several Cybertronian symbols appearing on the screen.
"What? Are they serious?" He pressed a button and it opened a video call, dots appearing and disappearing on the screen waiting to connect with whomever sent him the message.
Next thing he knows, the face of Optimus Prime appeared on the screen. "Wheeljack, my friend, how are you?"
How happy he was to hear from his commander. "Optimus, I am all right, sir. Are things well on Cybertron?"
Optimus sighed. "We are still trying to rebuild our home, but it is taking a very long time to do that."
"What of Starscream and Shockwave? Have they been judged yet?" Wheeljack had always wondered if the two Decepticons were imprisoned or if his leader would try to rehabilitate them. Perhaps even reprogram them for good.
The Prime leader let out a laugh. "Wheeljack, I finally get a hold of you and you worry about Starscream?"
"My apologies, sir, but I am just curious as to how everything is going."
"That's understandable, Wheeljack, old friend. But there is a reason I am contacting you right now and I wish you will keep it between us for the time being."
"Oh? What secret do you wish to give me, Optimus?"
"We, along with Starscream and Shockwave, will be returning to the planet in four Earth days."
Wheeljack, to say the least, was stunned.
TBC…
A/n: And that's a wrap for the prologue to the story. It seems a little quick for a beginning, doesn't it? LOL. But it's okay. Things will be spread out a little better from here on out, so I do hope you enjoyed the prologue of the new story.
Sweet Pervy Mechs,
Zaru