I have never loved a Monday like yesterday before. 'Why?' You man ask. Well, I got the most amazing, exciting news of forever and all time.
I get to go on my school's study abroad in GERMANY!
GERMANY!
I've just always wanted to go, that and we stay there for like a month and at the end all the students get their art work put up in a show! A real art show! And in Europe! I'm so excited I can't even make a smiley face that shows how much!
XD Oh, but I'm so excited! Eep! But that's not til the end of May, so for more present excitement, here is the next chapter of The Long Road Home . It's not as long, and it maaay raise more questions than answer them...but you'll love it! Especially next week when things make more sense...*looks around sheepishly*
A quick but heart felt thanks to all those that faved and alerted my story. And special thanks go to poiseninja, Mercades Wolfcry, Vivian Hale, Topkicker 26, annebellelennox, cascadenight, MaGiCal MoOn (I'm afraid I can't pm you, so insert my amazing thanks here, and I'm really glad you liked my oneshots too!), Plagueblood (I can't pm you either, but THANK YOU! n_n I like it when I get to be someone's favorite. And I really want to write a short story about Ratchet and turtles now...*maniacal laughter*), DeathByLackOfMusic, Birgitte LP (You are so awesome!), and Alalaya2 for reviewing! You guys rock!
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The Long Road Home
2 – So Totally Not What I Meant – 2
"FINALLY!"
Aria's ecstatic shout rang through the Hall of Records, making mechs well on the other side of the building look up from what they were doing. The one standing next to her however, just turned the volume back up on his auditory systems.
"Somehow I thought you'd be happy about this." Wheeljack said once he could hear again. Living so long with Aria had taught him that when organics got excited, they also tended to get louder.
"What is it?" Aria nearly yelled up at the inventor, although she hardly noticed. Finally, she was going to get to do something, even if she didn't know what it was yet. "What does he want me to do?"
Wheeljack shrugged. "Prime didn't tell me, but he wants you to meet him down in the second sub-level-"
He had hardly gotten the words out before Aria shot off down the hall shouting, "Thanks 'Jack!" over her shoulder.
Nearby, Cliffjumper shouted after the girl, "Do you even know where the sub-levels are?"
But Aria just turned around, still running, and waved at the two mechs.
Wheeljack waved after her slightly, but by then she was already gone.
Cliffjumper just crossed his arms and shook his head at the little human. Then he looked over at Wheeljack. "Organics, huh?"
Wheeljack only nodded before heading back to scour his lab for anything that might be made over into a power conduit for the damaged shield generator.
Aria found Optimus right where Wheeljack said he'd be. Prowl and Ironhide were with him and they were talking quietly to themselves as she joined them.
"Well I still don't like it," Ironhide was growling slightly as she got closer.
But Aria didn't bother listening. "Hey guys," she said cheerily as she stopped near their feet, "what's up?"
Optimus and Prowl shared a look that on any other orbit Aria would have deciphered as 'well here goes nuthin'. Ironhide just shifted his weight to one foot and glared at the other two as if to say, "Well go on. This was your idea."
"We," Prowl said with uncharacteristic slowness, "want you to question somebody."
That gave Aria pause for a second. "Really?" She asked, caught off guard. "Me? Are you sure this isn't just another misunderstanding?" She asked, hope falling slightly at the thought. She was almost as tired of misunderstandings as she was of feeling useless.
There it was again; that look she should have recognized. "No," Prowl said, "you're the best one for this job Aria. Of that we're certain. However I will be telling you what to say," he said as he handed her a headset Wheeljack had mini-sized just for her.
Aria took it and settled it around her head. "Alright," she said, not really questioning her friends' strange behavior, "just point me in the right direction then."
Prowl spun her around to face the door they were standing in front of. And then, curiously enough, he and Optimus both got out of the door's line of sight.
"I still think this is a bad idea." Ironhide rumbled. Prowl just frowned at him and yanked the black armored mech away from the door.
Aria nodded once, determination rising as she ignored them. "I wonder why they want me to talk to this mech?" She asked herself as she keyed open the door. "Well, I guess there's just a first time for everyth-"
She froze as the door slid open.
On the other side of the room, hands clasped behind his back as he turned from staring thoughtfully at the back wall, was that man.
Aria stared at him in horror, her mind threatening to glitch on the spot.
The man's face turned red the instant he realized who she was, but that didn't stop him from clearing his throat and saying a polite, "Good morning Lady Sparkfinder."
Aria managed a strangled gurgle that somehow expressed both her mortification and her fury all at once, before she slapped the controls to the door, making it zoom shut.
From inside the supposedly sound proof room, the man heard a very loud, if not very muffled, "What in the Pit Optimus?"
On the other side of the door, Aria was trying very hard not to throw anything. She felt the heat from the spark melded to the remains of her original heart burn hot in response to her sudden emotion. Emotions that didn't belong to her greeted her almost instantly, as if someone had tied strings around her heart and was pulling at them from the other end, making the unseen moorings around her spark-heart vibrate just under her skin. She resisted the urge to itch.
Ratchet's was first, his startled question appearing as abruptly as he did in real life, asking silently if she had been hurt. 'Bee was close behind the gruff old medic, although his thought was a little more worried then questioning, offering his sister comfort as he wondered what was wrong. Farther off was Hound, his 'voice' weaker because of the physical distance between them, but still understandable. Even Wheeljack must have felt her sudden rise in blood pressure because he managed to pull some of his attention away from his frantic searching and asked her if she was alright too.
Ironhide's emotion felt the strongest because he was standing right across from her on the other side of the hallway. He just felt fragged off, but that was directed more at Prowl and Optimus for not giving her fair warning. Of course if they had told her that the man had been let out of Ratchet's care and was standing not ten feet away, she would have refused, point blank, no way no how, to even be on the same floor as him. But come to think of ti, that was probably why they hadn't told her anything.
Aria felt even more embarrassed now (if that was even possible) then comforted by the mechs' silent questions. She didn't really like broadcasting her mood swings to everyone, especially not the eight mechs and femmes that had tied their lives to hers. They had done it to save her, because they loved her, but now she was more afraid that it would just prove to be a distraction. That her presence would only get them killed.
"At least Bluestreak and the girls aren't close enough to feel me." She told herself, but it was little comfort because it worked both ways. They couldn't feel much from her and she could hardly feel anything of them on the other end of the strings that held them together.
With a curt reply that she was fine, Aria shoved them all away. Then she looked up and glared at the two guilty parties standing in front of her. To say that Aria was steamed as she started pacing in front of them would have been like saying the heart of a star was only a little warm.
"I told you this was a bad idea." Ironhide muttered to Prowl. Prowl slanted him a look to mute it.
"What the heck was that?" Aria growled angrily, giving Prowl and Optimus each a glare. "When I said I wanted to help you guys out this is not what I meant!" Aria stopped her pacing long enough to hiss up at her old friend Optimus Prime and fling an accusing finger at the door next to her.
Optimus resisted the urge to sigh. He had expected this after all, but it just couldn't be helped. "Just go in and talk to him. Find out why he's here and what he wants. If he's working with Megatron or if he just ended up here on accident like you did." He pressed, hoping she wouldn't put up too much of a fight. He didn't have the time to argue with her.
Aria paced another line, her blue eyes flickering toward the door in a mix of fury and something that looked almost like fear.
Optimus could hardly believe that. He had seen Aria face down everything from drones to Decepticons without so much as a flinch. Surely she wasn't afraid of just one man – one of her own species even – that had seen her without the flimsy plating she called clothes.
"Well why can't one of you do it?" She asked turning back to him, nearly whining, "Prowl is going to be telling me what questions to ask anyway. Why doesn't he just ask the guy himself?"
Optimus frowned at Aria's continued resistance. She had always been stubborn, but still, this was bordering on just plain contrary. He knew there was something else going on here, motivating her reluctance, but he didn't bother asking about what it was. There were too many other things demanding his attention as it was. Aria could look after herself anyway.
"We're not sure if he can understand us for one thing," he told her, treating her as he would any other of his bots, "and besides, we're not sure how he will react to our presence. Even you were afraid when you saw me for the first time." He pointed out, remembering that day very well.
Aria rolled her eyes and crossed her arms stubbornly over her chest. "Yeah, for like two minutes. And even then I was more afraid of being crushed by that stuff on your shelf then you."
Despite the thousand and one things needing his attention at that instant, Optimus managed a crooked smile at his small friend. "Well you have always been special Ariah." He told her, hoping to embarrass her just a little.
It worked. She blushed and looked down at the floor.
He managed a wry chuckle before she shook herself out of it. "But seeing as you're a good five times bigger then anything he's even imagined and you could easily break him without even trying I suppose I can see your point. Somehow I wouldn't be surprised if he started freaking out."
Then she remembered she was still angry and pointed up at him, "But that doesn't mean I have to talk with him! I mean, what else are your holoforms for?" She demanded.
Optimus felt the humor leave him as he looked down at Aria. "Besides the obvious culture customs we are unaware of, you yourself have pointed out that our holoforms wouldn't pass for a real human."
"That leaves you to speak with him." Prowl said, not exactly sounding happy with the idea.
Aria wasn't all that pleased with it either.
But eventually Aria caved anyway. "Alright fine," she hissed at him, stomping her foot again, "but if he says anything about what he saw I'm going to slap him." She told them, pointing up at him again.
"I have no doubt," Optimus thought, but wisely kept the thought to himself. He had never seen Aria blow a circuit before, but he had the feeling that if he pushed her even the tiniest amount he would get to see it first hand. "Completely understandable," he said instead, knowing how she felt about others seeing her bare, even if he didn't understand it.
"I'll do more then hit him if he tries anything on you." Ironhide muttered, flexing his cannons threateningly.
Much to Optimus' relief, Aria grinned wryly at that. "Well I suppose that makes this a little easier."
Then with another unhappy glare at Prowl and a slightly less unhappy one at Optimus, she opened the door again and went inside.
The man looked up when she entered of course, no doubt wondering if she had some kind of mental issue.
He wasn't though. Instead he was wondering if she was going to leave again. After a few minutes of heated silence, he realized she wasn't. Instead, she glared over at him as she cautiously entered the room and stood, arms crossed, in front of him. There was no screaming, shouting, or crying, as he half expected, just her cold, furious, glaring.
Not sure what else to do, he stared back at her, meeting the burning blue eyes of this strange woman the disembodied voice that had held him at gunpoint had called Sparkfinder.
Finally years of manners and good breeding reasserted themselves and he inclined his head to her. "Good day kind lady," he greeted her again.
She looked like she wanted to bite his head off more then ever, but she didn't say anything either for or against his speaking.
So he tried again. "I am Nathanial Hawthorne, partner of Equines Peggy Sue, Rider in the Council's Calvary. I do pray you will forgive my boldness, but may I inquire of your name?"
The lady gave a brief gust of darkly humored laughter when he spoke of his boldness in asking her name and Nathanial felt his face flush. He knew why she was angry with him.
Knowing there was no easy way to go about this, Nathanial resigned himself and smartly bowed, bending at the waist with his hands clasped properly at the small of his back. "I only ask so that I may express my deepest, most earnest apologies to you, Lady Sparkfinder. I don't know what I was thinking. But if I had known you were," he stuttered slightly over the thought, "bathing, I would have of course respected your privacy."
Still the woman was silent. She hadn't moved since walking into the room, and right now Nathanial didn't dare to. So he remained standing, bent over, and stared at the floor, hoping she'd at least say something soon so he could straighten up.
"Do you always talk like that?"
Nathanial looked up. The woman still hadn't moved, but she was watching him now with more curiosity in her gaze then outright fury. He was making headway it seemed.
"Like what?" He asked, standing up again.
The woman cocked her head at him, slowly, as if she was sizing him up. Inside his chest, Nathanial felt his heart bang hard against his ribs twice before settling some. There was no question in his mind that she was a beautiful woman, but she was a very different creature from the ladies that had previously formed a standard in his life. None of them would have dared to glare at him so, even if he had accidentally caught them in the bath. No, they would have stared at the ground, hands clasped nervously in front of their long skirts, while their mothers either subtly berated him or tried not to gloat that their plan had gone so well.
"Like you've just come out of a Jane Austen book." She told him straightly, still fixing him with one eye over the other.
He also had no idea what she was talking about.
Nathanial tried to hide his confusion, but had very little success. "I'm sorry," he said, old, dust covered lessons on manners suddenly appearing in the forefront of his mind, "I fear I misheard you. Who is this Miss Austen?" He asked the woman.
Nathanial was watching his questioner closely now, trying to puzzle out her intentions (he was very interested to know if she was the kind of woman that slapped those that insulted her or not), so he caught the slight furrowing of her eyebrows as she tilted her head to face him full on, her curiosity once again overriding her anger.
"Where are you from?" She finally asked him slowly, as if she had needed to wait for someone else to finish telling her the question.
It was somewhat of an odd question since there was only one place he could be from, but then Nathanial realized she must have meant his birth city, not his country.
"My family has lived in Tripura for the past seven generations, however my herd grazes," he caught himself slipping into rider-talk and quickly shook himself, "that is to say, is stationed near Koror, close to the Effervescent Woods."
The confusion appeared thicker on the woman's fair face. "Yeah, you're going to have to be more general than that. Think larger scale." She told him as she leaned against the wall behind her.
"I'm…sorry?" Was all Nathanial could think to say. Tripura was the nation's capitol city. How much larger could he get?
"You know, think bigger," the woman told him, "like where are Tripura and Koror and these Evanescence Woods?" She asked.
"It's Effervescent," he corrected automatically, "and I admit that I don't understand the nature of your question. There is only one island."
The woman rolled her eyes. "Humor me then. Pretend I'm your grade school history teacher if it helps. Just where are you from?" She asked again, sounding a bit irritated now.
Nathanial cocked his head at her, but answered her anyway, realizing he was in no position to hold answers back. "Tripura is the capitol of Atala." He told her, giving her a worried look. She must be a very confused young lady not to have heard of these places.
She twitched her fingers at him in a 'come on' gesture. "Well that's a start. Now where's Atala?"
Now Nathanial didn't bother hiding his uncertainty. "On the…Lemuria?" He answered, only now wondering if this was some kind of joke.
But the woman wasn't looking like this was some kind of amusement. She just continued to watch him with those clear cut blue eyes of hers. "What's a Lemuria?" She asked.
"The…floating island?" He tried again.
The woman blinked at him. Then she cocked her head as if she was listening to something.
"Alright, so which planet is that on?" She asked coolly.
Nathanial stared at her. No wonder she was so different; she was mad. Plainly, utterly mad.
"What planet?" He asked incredulously. "Alright that is enough! I don't know who you are or what you want but where in the name of God am I?" Nathanial spun in a sharp circle, manners be hanged. He didn't like this. Something was off about this whole thing. And where was Peg? She wasn't hurt, he knew that. But he couldn't feel her at the other end of their tether like he normally could either. It was disturbing. The dust devils had been searching for something to cut Rider from mount ever since their war had begun. If this woman was in league with the dust devils and that was why he couldn't find Peg, then he, along with all of Atala, was in very serious trouble.
The woman had the gall to smile at him, although the action did not reach her eyes. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." She told him in a low voice, clearly enjoying his being lost in the dark.
Nathanial gave the woman a glare of his own. He would not let her get the best of him. Beautiful or not she was still his interrogator. He must keep his head. Then he could find Peg, get out of here, and reclaim the cargo before searching for the herd.
He stayed silent as he regained his self control, his eyes never leaving the woman's. "And what about you?" He asked once he trusted himself enough to speak. "Where are you from Miss?"
She raised her eyebrows at him as she took a step around the table. "Oh it's Miss now? What happened to lady, Mr. Hawthorne?" She asked, clearly toying with him.
He thought of saying that there were no longer any ladies left in the room as he matched her step, circling her as she was him however unintentionally, but dismissed the thought as too uncouth. He was still a gentleman, no matter how often he had tried to tell his mother he wasn't, and gentlemen of Tripura did not insult ladies, even ones that worked with demons.
"I was just asking to see if I knew of your city, or even your family. My mother in particular has lots of connections. If there's a family anywhere from Tripura to the Jungles of Sangir that has had their daughter kidnapped by dust devils I'm sure she's heard of her." He said, praying hard that that was all it was; kidnapping, and not volunteer work. She couldn't be working with those demons willingly? Could she?
Nathanial was suddenly very glad he had left the cargo back in the cave. It could not be allowed to fall into the dust devils' possession. And with all the rubble and ruin out there he would be very surprised if she ever found it.
But instead or looking relieved, or even furious at the allusion that she had been taken against her will, the woman only looked confused.
"San-greer?" She tried to say. "Dust devils? What the heck are you talking about?" She asked, no hint of guile or deception in her voice.
Nathanial took a step around the table, the lady forgetting to match him this time. He narrowed his eyes at her as he tried to discern any trickery in her innocent confusion, but he couldn't find any.
"You've really never heard of any of these places?" He asked, taking another step as he watched her intently for any tells of lying.
"No," she answered promptly, crossing her arms over her chest again as she frowned at him, "should I have?"
"Well there is only one island." He said again.
She nodded once, slowly, as she eyed him. "You ever hear of a place called Texas?" She asked.
Nathanial shook his head. "No, should I have?" He returned her words to her, giving her a somewhat cheeky smile.
Aria shrugged. "Well it is pretty distinctive. What about New York?" She asked.
Nathanial shook his head.
She blinked at him, as if she had suspected something, but was still shocked to realize she had been right. "America?" She tried. "Europe? Asia?"
But Nathanial just shook his head.
Her eyes narrowed. "What about Megatron?" She asked darkly. "Ever heard of him?"
Personally, Nathanial thought it sounded like she was just making stuff up now. "I can honestly say no, I haven't."
The woman leaned back as she shifted her weight on her back foot. "Huh," she muttered, appraising him again with her eyes.
Nathanial did the same. But he still had trouble believing that a woman only an inch or so shorter then him, with her slender build and slight muscle would be working with the dust devils. They preferred their spies to be…less noticeable then a pretty young woman.
"But since that was a very shallow analysis…" Nathanial thought."And what about the dust devils? Or their Karkadanns even? Have you heard of them?" He asked suspiciously.
She shrugged again. "Unless you mean those mini-twisters on the side of the road then I don't know what you're talking about. I've never even heard of a Karkadann." She told him.
"Then I'm not sure what to believe," he admitted, "it seems the obvious answer keeps shifting from damsel in distress to lunatic to the absurd possibility that you are telling the truth."
The woman blinked a bit at him and cocked her head. "Thanks, I think." She mumbled. "Well at least he didn't end on lunatic." Aria thought to herself.
"However I cannot bring myself to trust your words alone Miss Sparkfinder, at least as far as the dust devils are concerned. They are far too cunning for that." Nathanial said taking one calculated step forward. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to prove that you're not in cahoots with them."
She raised that eyebrow at him again. "'Cahoots'?" She asked. "Seriously?"
He ignored her. "Will you comply?" He asked her formally.
She shrugged. "Well, I have no idea who you're talking about so sure, I guess. What do I have to do to prove my innocence?" She asked with a slight smile and a roll of her eyes to show how ridiculous she thought this all was.
Nathanial stepped forward once more, closing the gap between them before carefully taking her hand. She was warm, which was always a good sign when checking for the demons.
"Dust devil is a very literal name," he told her, feeling the need to explain himself as he inspected her somewhat rough hand. "They are made entirely of dust and are not alive so," he trailed off as he picked one of her fingers for testing. Then he drew his field knife, planning to prick her once to see whether blood or dust appeared through the skin.
Two things suddenly happened at once.
The first, and slightly less surprising thing, was that the woman gasped and quickly punched him square on the chin with her other hand.
The second was that the wall behind her was suddenly blown inward, knocking Nathanial backwards, and something huge and black came blazing forward, the familiar blue fires of charged weapons joining him.
From his new spot on the floor, Nathanial had a very good view of the creature that had just burst through the entire wall. It was taller then his mother's townhouse and night black except for its two burning blue eyes and the weapons that were aimed with alarming precision at Nathanial's small body. It was also beyond enraged with him, which didn't seem to bode well for his future health.
It was also startlingly, mind blowingly familiar.
"Dear God," Nathanial breathed with all the respect for God a single man is capable of, "you're a Cybertronian."
