Strange Creatures : Tears
A/N: Thank you for the reviews and suggestions. Keep on leaving them! I have another idea for an Ironhide and Annabelle fic, but I'll tell you about it later. Read and Review!
I
Ironhide could only watch in what he labeled as "morbid fascination" at the growing child. It was a noisy, pink raison of flesh that sprouted legs, arms, toes, and useable vocal chords. Humans were so peculiar.
He also witnessed Will Lennox loose his mind when his daughter said the words "Mommy" and "Da-Da" in a close time interval. The Captain kissed his wife and kid, then proceeded to parade around the house holding Annabelle as if she were his only light in the darkness. Humans still struck the weapon specialist as strange and unstable.
"'Hide!"
Ironhide snapped out of his thoughts at a chirpy cry near him.
"'Hide!"
The Autobot shifted his optic sensors downward to the girl herself, Annabelle. Ironhide had been sitting in the amber waves of wheat, accompanying William Lennox and his offspring on an afternoon walk. Now "it" was talking to him. Will heard the commotion and walked over.
"What was that, Annabelle?"
The little girl with butterscotch hair looked up at her father, eyes wide. She whipped out her finger, pointing at Ironhide. The Autobot quickly leaned backward, his hands raising. He was prepared for some unknown power to come from the little girl. Maybe even an ambush.
Instead, she just spoke in her cheery voice.
"'Hide!" The child leaned forward and touched Ironhide's large metal palm. "'Hide!"
Captain Lennox watched as his daughter fell silent, still touching the black robot.
"I can't believe it."
Ironhide, who had been silent, spoke up, worried about the child's metal health. Maybe he should contact Ratchet.
"What is wrong?"
Annabelle gazed up at her father, leaning against the Autobot's huge hand. Captain Lennox watched the frowning weapon specialist. He could hear the whirs and clicks of his brain picking apart his daughter's actions.
"She learned your name, Ironhide."
Annabelle closed her eyes, her pink lips curled.
"'Hide..."
As soon as she said that, something rushed inside of Ironhide. It was like scorching hot magma had shot through his veins. It hurt, stung, but not enough to make him shout. Instead, he quickly withdrew his hand. Will raised his eyebrows.
"Is something wrong?"
Ironhide didn't answer. He couldn't answer. He had no idea what had just occurred, and not knowing was enough to scare the weapon specialist.
"Ratchet just contacted me." Ironhide had never lied before. "I have to go."
Taking a step back, the Autobot transformed into the black truck. He zoomed out of the field and onto the road. He located Ratchet, and found himself pulling into a human medical facility. It was called a "hospital".
He stopped in front of Ratchet, who was disguised as an ambulance. The black truck revved its engine. Ratchet's headlights turned on, glaring into the tinted windows of the truck. Ironhide led the way to a deserted beach.
II
Ironhide transformed, Ratchet followed suit.
"What do you want, Ironhide? I was working."
The weapon specialist almost snapped at Ratchet for the tone of his voice, but quickly squashed the urge. He had more important things to take care of.
"Something malfunctioned in my inner mainframe." The medic tilted his head to the side. Even in battle, Ironhide was too stubborn for medical attention. Once, half of his leg had been gone, and his left shoulder had popped out of his socket. It took a cold hard order from Optimus to get Ironhide to cooperate. "Fix it."
Ratchet almost sighed.
"Fine. Open up." The weapon specialist allowed his chest plates to fold and move away, revealing his Spark and inner circuitry. "Did anything provoke this malfunction?"
Ironhide frowned, calling up his memory.
"No." Ratchet's hands had transformed into small medical equipment. Tweezers, needles, screw drivers, and wrenches. So far, nothing was wrong with the weapon specialist's circuitry. "All that happened was the young Lennox child was garbling the English language as usual... but..."
Ratchet looked up, ready to operate at anytime.
"But what?"
"She... she learned how to say my name."
There was a blinding flash of pure white light. Ratchet was knocked back, his first instinct was to block his face, but her realized that Ironhide could be in trouble. Shaking, the Autobot medic brought down his hands.
Ironhide had stumbled backwards, falling into the ocean. The light shimmered on the water, and Ratchet felt his own Spark begin to react to the magnificence of Ironhide's.
"What is it? What's happening?"
As much as Ironhide was an Autobot of war, even Ratchet could hear the hum of fear in his voice.
"I can not fix that."
Fear turned into rage as Ironhide leaped out of the water, his hands wrappingaround Ratchet's neck.
"What do you mean 'you can't fix it'?" Water fell off of the Autobot. "You're Ratchet! You can fix anything!"
The glow from Ironhide's Spark dimmed, his chest plates moving back up to cover it.
"Ironhide, there is nothing wrong with you." Rachet's neck was released. "It was your Spark reacting to Lennox's little girl."
If the weapon specialist's mouth could have gone dry, it would have.
"Impossible."
Ratchet might have laughed if it was another Autobot.
"I'm afraid not."
He transformed back into an ambulance, driving off into the night. Ironhide grumbled, embarrassed for getting frightened over nothing. But why... why would my Spark react to the child?
The weapon specialist saw that the sand had turned to glass where he had Ratchet had been standing. It had a diameter of about twenty feet. Shit.
III
Will, Sarah, and Annabelle were all sitting on the back porch of their house. Sarah was twisting a lock of blonde hair around her finger, looking down the driveway anxiously. Captain Lennox's hands were on his knees, clutching the fabric of his pants tightly.
Annabelle, however, was a different story.
Her eyes, one blue and one brown, were leaking fat tears. Her lower lip trembled, he arm wiping her nose periodically. The child's cheeks were red, giving them the appearance of raw skin. In the darkness, with only the moon to light their way, Annabelle's eyes were the only thing that could be seen. Those glowing and shimmering eyes, searching for a lost companion.
That was when a cloud of dust caught the Lennox's eyes. A black truck was zooming towards them. It screeched to a stop, gravel and rocks getting kicked up.
Annabelle was the only one who didn't hesitate. Even as Ironhide began transforming, his body clicking and groaning, the little girl was not intimidated.
She was hugging his leg before anyone could say or do anything. Sobbing and hiccuping, her tiny arms shook as she wheezed. Sarah and Will rushed out, trying to pry their daughter off of the confused Autobot. The Lennox child would not have it.
"No!" The first word of power that every two-year-old harnesses. "No! No! No!" She continued to cry as Ironhide found himself helpless by being clung to by the snippet of flesh. A few eons ago, he would have merely flicked the pest off of him. But now... "No... no..."
He got another rush from his Spark, this one heavy and thick. Aware that the mother and father's eyes were on him, Ironhide crouched down. Using the precision he had seen Ratchet harness, he tapped the little one lightly on her head. Gently.
She hiccuped again, wiping her nose. Ironhide continued petting her, tense, praying that she wouldn't burst out crying and screaming. He saw her shimmering eyes in the dark, his optic sensors seeing lubricants leaking out of them. She touched his finger, gripping it with both of her tiny hands.
"No." At first, Ironhide thought she meant that she wanted him to stop touching her as he had seen her mother and father do in the past. But she wouldn't get him move his finger away. "No."
She was ordering him to never leave again. Her stony eyes, which she had inherited from her father, would have made any human shiver. Annabelle let out a soft hiccup, tightening her grip on his finger, eyes flashing.
"No, 'Hide. No."
Sarah and Will could only look on as the giant Autobot was being scolded by their two-year-old daughter. At how the weapon specialist's entire body was tense, still being held onto by the toddler.
That was when subconsciously, Ironhide and Will came to a startling realization.
Will saw Ironhide always being there for his dear Annabelle. Even when Will passes away, Ironhide would always be there, never leaving her side.
Ironhide saw the pain in Annabelle's eyes. Pain that he had inadvertently caused. Though he would not admit it out loud, that night Ironhide vowed to never make Annabelle cry.
Not if she would look at him with her eyes looking miserably at him.
IV
When Sarah and Annabelle were asleep, Will crept out of the house into the chilly night breeze. He saw Ironhide off in the distance, sitting down with his back leaning against a tree. The Captain jogged up to him, his breath coming out in clouds of fog.
"Ironhide?"
He saw the blue eyes of the Autobot brighten slightly, and Will wondered silently if the weapon specialist had been watching the house... or more specifically, Annabelle's room.
"Captain Lennox, your heart rate is increasing. Is something wrong?"
The army Captain shook his head.
"No. And I've told you to call me Will." They were both silent for a bit, the stars twinkling above them. "Anna missed you a lot."
Another long silence emerged, the sounds of Ironhide's optic sensors adjusting on Will's face.
"Why?"
Will frowned a bit, trying to put together the right words. It was difficult to explain emotions to Autobots... especially Ironhide.
"You've always been here... and Sarah and I started to get worried when you didn't come back right away. It was obvious that you were lying about Ratchet." Ironhide was about to object, but Will cut him off. "I'm a solider, Ironhide. Just like you. I've seen a lot... so I can tell when someone is lying to me."
The weapon specialist looked out to the stars, then to the Lennox house.
"Why do humans cry? I do not understand it."
Will sat down next to the big Autobot, patting his cold metal siding.
"We cry because... we are hurt. On the outside or the inside. Maybe even both."
"Annabelle was not bleeding. There were no wounds on her body and her vital signs were normal."
The Captain almost chuckled. Almost.
"She was worried about you. For a child, time is never ending. She had no idea if you were going to come back or not, so she worried about you."
A strange electronic hiss issued from the Autobot. Will looked up to see that Ironhide had closed his eyes, his head leaning back in the branches of the tree.
"You are too complicated."
His gruff and annoyed voice startled the solider.
"What do you mean? I'm not complicated!"
Before the Captain could get fussy, Ironhide clarified his statement.
"I meant humans."
The silence lasted for five minutes.
"Oh." Will yawned, getting up and stretching his legs. He patted Ironhide again. "Ironhide?"
"Hm?"
"Next time you run off like that, you might want to tell Sarah or me that you plan on coming back." The solider ran his fingers through his short hair, another puff of fog coming from his parted lips. "Annabelle never stopped crying the whole time. I don't want that to happen again, okay?"
A soft wind blew, and electric blue eyes opened.
"Understood."
V
A/N: Please review! Sorry that it might have been a bit short, but whatever. I'm glad that you guys liked it, so tell me if I need to work on anything else. Was Ironhide OOC (I hope not)? How about the Lennox family? Tell me if you liked this chapter or hated it. Peace out!
-mia