Yay, two chapters within a week!
There's a lot of fighting between Aira and Madeline, and it's based off how I would assume sisters sometimes fight. I'm an only child, so I have no idea, heh.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OCs.
Well, enjoy!
-Pastel
Bond that can't Bee Broken
Chapter 2: Equally Scared
June 11, 2018
A little earlier that day, Madeline had pulled the car out of the barn and into the gravel. She was eager to get the car washed, yet desperately wanted to sit in the house and forget about the chore altogether. The car had probably been sitting out in the sun for at least an hour while Madeline was busy sitting on the couch, debating with herself about what good would come out of washing the car.
Somehow during the night, the car managed to get dirty in more ways than one. Well, the barn of course wasn't the cleanest of places, but Madeline didn't understand how it got that dirty.
Finally forcing herself to get up, she changed into a yellow short-sleeved shirt and jean shorts, proceeding to walk outside with arms full of cleaning supplies from the house. She loosened her grip on them and watched them fall into the grass. Turning on her heel, she walked to the side of the barn and turned on the hose.
Madeline wanted to get her car clean, but also wanted to get it over with. Cleaning cars was always a chore.
Spraying the car with the cold water, Madeline turned at the sound of the screen door to the house opening and closing. She turned. "Aira?"
"I hate you." Aira hissed with narrowed eyes.
Woah, aggressive. Madeline assumed she was referring when Rebecca paid almost no attention to her. That was...two days ago? Last time Madeline checked, she hadn't talked to her since then.
Madeline weighed her options, nodding as she squatted down to grab a sponge from the soap bucket she prepared earlier. "Somewhat understandable."
Aira frowned at her sister's unwillingness to take the situation seriously. Apparently Aira had really wanted to chat with Rebecca. "I can't believe you; you ruined everything!"
Madeline looked over her shoulder, scrubbing at the tires. "Did I now? Well I can't help the fact my best friend wanted to talk to me instead of you." She replied calmly, knowing very well she was testing the boundaries. But really, Aira was a seventeen year old girl, acting like a toddler arguing over a dropped lollipop.
Aira's hands balled into fists. "Oh, you...you're so..." Her voice was breathy.
Madeline stood, wringing out the sponge over the hood of the car. "So...what? Say it, I dare you." Madeline challenged, knowing full well she could take Aira out in a heartbeat.
"...I hate you."
Madeline rolled her eyes. "Then why are you here?" She asked, scrubbing the sponge harder in a particular spot.
"To hang out with you." Aira said, her tone sounding less angry.
Madeline gave her a confused look. "But you just said-"
"I know what I said." Aira said quickly, cutting her off. "I'm hanging out with you because I'm forced to love you. Plus, none of my friends are free today."
Madeline touched her chest, creating a wet hand print on her shirt. "I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me." She said, fake admiration in her voice.
"Don't get used to it."
Madeline laughed. "Alright, brat. If you want to hang out, you have to help."
"What do I do?"
"Grab a sponge and start cleanin' him up. What else?" Madeline ordered, emphasizing her words by wringing out the sponge again, but this time on top of the roof.
"Him?" Aira questioned, leaning down to grab a sponge from the cold water in the bucket.
"I'm being imaginative. Ya know, men call their boats women." Madeline reasoned without looking at her sister. She moved to the back windows.
"...alright." Aira said slowly, heading over to the headlights. After a moment of tough scrubbing, Aira made a noise of disappointment at her work. "Who knew a car could get this dirty." She mumbled to no one in particular.
Madeline popped up from behind the car. "At least it's not as dirty as your room." She teased, cleaning the back license plate.
Aira shot up from her stiff crouch. "You haven't been in my room in like, a year!" She quickly defended herself, pointing accusingly at Madeline.
"I don't have to be in your room to know it's dirty, I can smell it from here!" Madeline exaggerated, directing her statement to the window to Aira's room.
Just like that, the radio from the car that was quietly playing switched stations and played a song that related to their argument. "My girl don't want me 'cause of my dirty laundry-"
Aira looked offended and confused. "What?"
The song continued to play.
While Aira looked a little pissed, Madeline was struggling to breathe from laughing too hard. I'm easily amused, she realized. "Even the car agrees, Aira."
"That doesn't even make sense. You're losing your mind." Aira growled. How the car even managed to play music while being off was strange, but that didn't seem to be the topic of their conversation right now. Also since it's happened before, it didn't phase them as much.
"No, Aira, I'm right. Clean your damn room." Madeline said as she walked towards the front of the car, speaking in her best I-am-your-older-sister-and-I-am-superior voice.
Instead of shooting back a rude remark, Aira practically dove for the discarded hose in the grass and sprayed the cold water in Madeline's direction.
Madeline automatically dropped behind the car, shielding her face. Once the spray stopped, Madeline stayed crouched but glared at her reflection in the hubcap of the front, left tire. "Asshole, now I'm going to have to change."
"When have you ever washed a car and didn't get wet?" Aira asked with skepticism, tossing the hose back into the grass. She took a moment to glare at the radio, which was still quietly playing.
Madeline stood once she was sure the coast was clear. "When you're not helping me. I'm skillful in this area."
Aira gave a nod of fake agreement. "Bet."
Madeline didn't bother replying, and just continued cleaning the car. Neither sibling would admit it, but their arms were slowly starting to get tired. What even happened to this car? It might as well have gone through dirt hell and back.
Aira, who had gone back into a crouch to clean the bottom of the passenger door, stood and raised her arms above her head in a stretch. "Ah, why didn't you just take the car to the car wash downtown?"
"They raised their prices." Madeline grumbled.
Aira let out a short, forced laugh. "Is that why you're being such a bitch?"
Madeline looked up at her sister who was directly across from her, the hood being the only thing separating them. Aira opened her mouth to say her famous "what?" phrase, but Madeline jumped forward and used her hands to help her momentum to slide across the slippery hood.
Using the momentum, she body slammed Aira and tackled her into the grass.
Madeline had never heard Aira scream that high before.
After fighting, bickering or not even speaking to each other at all, their father had had enough of it.
Their dad almost blew a gasket when Aira said something snarky to Madeline that she couldn't even remember, but reacted by grabbing the back of her head and slamming her forehead on the table.
Both were sent to the room, and when they came out, it didn't end there.
He called the whole thing childish, and practically demanded they get out of the house and do something together to make up and forget about whatever shit they were fighting about. The sisters fought tooth and nail about that too, and their dad looked about ready to bang his head against a wall. Though, they stubbornly agreed to go see a horror movie together at a drive-in theater.
They didn't even check to see what they were going to watch, they just...went.
In the end, the sisters almost forgot why they were fighting in the first place.
Yay, sisterhood.
After driving around in circles forever, they found what seemed like the best place to see the screen; Madeline turned the key and pulled it out of the ignition.
"So. Popcorn?"
The line was aggravatingly long, and the smell of salty butter was almost overwhelming. Two kids behind the sisters were chatting pretty loudly about how excited they were to see the movie. Wait, children? After standing around and noticing how many people were actually at the drive-in theater, Madeline and Aira soon realized they came to see a movie that literally just came out.
"What's this movie about again?" Aira whispered, and Madeline gave an ashamed shrug.
Once they obtained the desired junk food, they quickly exited the scene and retreated to the Camaro. When they were settled, it didn't take long for the movie start.
It started out just as a horror movie would, everything seemed perfectly fine. And about ten minutes into the movie, Madeline grew tired of twisting and turning in the leather seat. "Screw this, I'm sitting on the hood." She whispered, opening the car door.
"No! You'll dent it!" Aira hissed after taking a sip of coke.
"What're you trying to say?" Madeline asked, leaning down to look at Aira.
Aira gave a forced grin. "Nothing."
She smiled back. "Good." Madeline shut the door and slid on top of the hood with the bag of popcorn, back resting against the windshield.
Not even a minute after she got comfortable, Aira noticed she took the only bag of popcorn and hastily opened the door. Instead of asking for it back, Aira mumbled a request. "Can I sit with you?"
"Sure. But get popcorn anywhere and I will literally end you."
Aira ignored the threat like it was nothing and sat next to Madeline, who sat the bag of popcorn between them. They remained quiet and in that position for almost the entire movie. Every once in a while, something gross looking would appear, and the sisters' would see whoever could say "that's you" first.
They were starting to get along again.
Until a jump scare came up.
Aira had taken the bag of popcorn for herself when the movie was about halfway through and Madeline claimed she was done, when a particularly loud monster-thing jumped at the screen. Madeline herself jumped in her place, and a scream erupted from Aira as well as a few others around them.
And popcorn erupted from the bag.
It took Madeline all the willpower she had to refrain from screaming and calling Aira any sort of insult right then and there. It was hard enough just to keep herself from shoving Aira off the hood.
When the girls got home, Madeline chased Aira around in the large open space they had for about ten minutes.
June 14, 2018
"Madeline?"
"What's up?"
"My parents are mad at me again. Want to go get smoothies around one?"
"Again? What did you do?"
"I may or may not have microwaved a Capri Sun but that's not important."
"Rebecca!"
"It was frozen and a hoe was thirsty."
"Whatever you say. One work for you?"
"Yep! See you then."
"Bye, freak."
Madeline spent her time awaiting Rebecca's arrival in the barn, organizing her dad's tools since her father spent most of his time complaining about them being everywhere.
Yeah, he swore he'd do it sometime soon, but Madeline was getting tired of his bitching.
Aira was off doing who knows what, leaving Madeline alone while her father was at work. Madeline found it strange that she could hate Aira to the ends of the Earth, but as soon as she's gone, she felt as if she was missing something.
She had to constantly blow dust off of things and search for who knows how long for the right compartment the tools went in. Luckily, Madeline was fairly familiar with the barn and where things were. Really, she believed that she was in the barn more than her father was. Though, there were some things that she put in the back of her dad's truck for him to put away on his own.
A small radio on her dad's work bench was on and playing music as Madeline worked, sometimes getting her to quietly sing along with the words. And if a certain song played, she'd move around the barn in a happier manner.
An hour later, Madeline was practically done. Besides the small row of tools that laid in the grooves of the bed of the white truck, Madeline pretty much put away every stray tool. She'd have to warn her dad about the tools in the back, though. She knew all too well that he'd get in and drive away with them still in the back.
Sighing, Madeline turned the radio off and walked towards the large wooden doors, eager to get a glass of water to rid the feeling of dust in her throat.
She grabbed the wooden door to open it, and almost had one foot out the door before her Camaro's radio went off, producing nothing but static. Raising an eyebrow slightly, she retraced her steps and reached for the driver door handle, opening the car and promptly shutting the radio off like it was nothing.
Hm.
Once she shut the door, a car part from under the vehicle fell and hit the ground with a clunk. Madeline looked down at the ground between her shoes, sending a sympathetic look towards the car part. "Ooh, you're just fallin' apart, aren't you?" She murmured, but had the tone of voice as if a mother was speaking to her injured child.
Leaving the car's side, Madeline went hunting for a flashlight and some tools. Returning to the yellow car, she let herself fall to the ground, reaching forward and under the car to pick up the fallen part. Huh. This didn't look like anything Madeline was familiar with.
No matter. She'd fix it.
Laying on her back, she shoved herself under the car and gripped it to turn herself so she was a parallel with its length. She clicked the flashlight on. And almost immediately spotted where the car part fell from. Well, that makes it easier.
After putting it back in place, she wiggled it a bit just to be sure it was secure. Although it looked fine, Madeline grimaced slightly. She probably should've just waited until her dad came back to help. Oh, well. Madeline used her flashlight to look for anymore potential problems, but what she came across wasn't exactly a problem. Her flashlight highlighted something that looked like a face; just...mechanical?
Her eyebrows automatically knitted together. Madeline worked on a lot of cars in her time, but she's never seen anything like this. Observing it only just a moment longer, what looked like the eyes of the face lit up with bright, baby blue lights.
Madeline's mouth opened in a silent gasp, her hand holding the flashlight flying away from the face and hitting the ground, probably breaking the flashlight in the process; as it flickered and went out. Her entire body tensed; she wasn't expecting this at all.
Suddenly, the car above her folded into itself. Madeline watched with wide eyes and a frightened expression as her Camaro slowly, but surely, stood up. The robot looked around for a moment just by moving its head a fraction to the left and to the right with what Madeline guessed to be confusion, before it looked down. It's optics seemed to widen in surprise, as if it hadn't known Madeline was there in the first place.
The robot reacted as if it was scared of her, and it caused Madeline to react the same way. She shoved herself by her hands and feet away from the robot as quickly as she could, random yet breathless noises that implied that she was scared spilling from her mouth. The robot just backed away from her as well.
Madeline's breathing was haggard. What the hell, what the hell, what the hell.
She was practically a quarter away from the wooden doors when her attempt to escape slowed, despite her mind telling her to run out of the barn and never look back. She watched closely as the robot backed up behind her dad's truck and crouched, looking as if it wanted to make itself smaller and less intimidating towards Madeline.
As if it didn't want to be rejected after breaking a Volkswagen beetle and shattering however many cars' windows just so Madeline would take it home.
Madeline slowly pushed herself up into a crouched position, her eyes never leaving the robot's balled figure, as if she was afraid it would disappear if she looked away.
A million thoughts ran through Madeline's head.
All those times the radio switched for no reason. The time the car door hit Jacob. All the times she carelessly sat herself on the hood. All the times she hit her head on top of the steering wheel because of bad drivers. Oh my god, literally ten minutes ago I was dancing in front of this thing. Madeline was suddenly very glad she was one of those people who kept their cars clean.
The air was thick with tension.
They sat in the most awkward silence Madeline had ever felt while she desperately tried to read it's expression. It's waiting for me to react. She stood slowly, making sure to make no sudden movements. She approached slowly, noting that the bot's attention seemed purposely directed elsewhere, towards something on the ground to it's left.
When her proximity came to a certain distance, the robot's head snapped towards her. Madeline's hands instantly raised in surrender. Fuck, what am I doing?
"I won't hurt you." She reassured quickly, but it's face didn't change from the scared expression. A few inhales and exhales later, Madeline continued slowly. "...who are you?" She asked quietly.
Madeline got no verbal response, but received an unsure look. Well, it's a start.
She could understand why the robot was now so nervous and hesitant. It's like wearing a mask: nobody knows you're doing it. But when you reveal yourself, the perspective of whatever you did becomes different.
"Can you speak?" Madeline went on cautiously.
The reply was a very small and short nod, but it seemed strained, as if it wasn't sure if the answer was correct or not.
"Where did you come from?" Madeline felt horrible for asking the robot so many questions at once, but she couldn't help herself. To be completely honest, it looked like it needed a hug. "...why are you here?"
The radio switched on and quietly played multiple snippets from different stations. "Message from Starfleet- / throughout the inanimate vastness of space / angels will rain down like visitors from Heaven-"
Madeline's eyes widened, before she blinked like an owl. Well, that wasn't difficult to understand. Her arms began to lower fraction by fraction, the distant ache slowly beginning to form.
"You speak through your radio." She confirmed for herself, but it almost sounded like a question. "Visitors from Heaven? So you're...an alien of some sort?" She tried to understand; everyone always called them robotic aliens, but Madeline didn't want to assume. Her life was probably on the line.
The robot just held still, as if it knew Madeline wasn't finished with whatever she was saying. "Vastness of space...you came from a different planet then? Wait...message from Starfleet? You must be here for a reason then, right? You were told to come here?"
The robot slowly nodded, but wasn't very confident about whether it answered all Madeline's questions correctly or not.
"Rocket / explosion / unable to leave-" The robot continued.
Madeline squinted at the floor. Unable to leave? So...I was right? They never left?
Oh, she was so confused. Madeline had her fair share of knowledge about Transformers, but now that she was speaking to one, she might as well have known nothing at all. Did they come to take care of something?
Wanting to gain the trust of this robot, Madeline raised her hands to their original position and walked a few steps closer. The robot straightened in an effort to back up just a bit more, but couldn't because of a large workbench, and it appeared that the last thing it wanted to do was to break something.
"It's okay, it's alright." Madeline soothed. "I know you're scared."
Really, she didn't know if this thing was scared of her, or scared of hurting her. Either way, the whole 'skittish thing' won't work if the robot decided to stay. "I won't hurt you. I promise." Madeline felt only a small bit of confidence, considering her heart was almost pounding out of her chest.
She assumed this bot was an Autobot, seeing as it wasn't currently trying to kill her.
What Madeline really wanted to know, was why it was so scared.
From the beginning Madeline was never around many loud or rough people, and she never allowed anyone to really do anything such as roughhousing around the Camaro. Well, there were her fights with Aira inside and outside of the car, that might have been part of it.
She herself, however, never really did anything exciting around it, except for maybe intense karaoke when she was alone in the barn like earlier.
So, what did this Autobot experience to make it act like this? Madeline made a mental note to ask about it later, if the robot ended up staying. The only thing Madeline could come up with, that made sense, was that humans in the past did something to it. Or maybe a Decepticon fatally wounded it.
While trying to sort her thoughts, Madeline hadn't realized the robot had fixated it's attention on her widespread hands, and leaned closer. It wasn't until the Autobot rested it's head against her hands, them being placed on it's cheeks, that she was jolted back to reality. It's eyes were closed, and actually looked relaxed since the first time Madeline has seen it. Madeline felt a small smile tug at her lips.
It was like this robot was touch-deprived.
Which was strange in a sense, but Madeline couldn't help but realize how human the robot really was.
"What's your name?" She asked quietly, it's bright blue eyes reappearing. She anticipated the robot's answer, when a noise outside the barn caught both of their attentions.
The sound was a car pulling up to the house.
The Autobot stood, moving into a slight defensive stance. Madeline stumbled backwards, once again feeling inferior when seeing it's full height. "Hey, hey." She called, successfully grabbing it's attention. "It's alright, don't worry. It's just my friend, Rebecca." Madeline almost missed the quick flash of relief and recognition across its face. "She won't hurt you either. Stay here." She ordered, before turning on her heel and sprinting out of the barn.
Rebecca was walking towards the barn as Madeline raced out, almost causing them to collide. "Woah, where are you going off in such a hurry?"
Madeline grinned. "Just excited to see you, that's all."
"Uh-huh. Well, I never got to drink that Capri Sun so let's get movin'." Rebecca said, mirroring Madeline's grin as she walked closer to the barn.
"We're not taking your car?" Madeline said quickly, Rebecca completely missing her slightly panicked voice.
"Are you kidding? My mom's Ford Escape that I had to nag her into letting me borrow or your Camaro? I'll take the Camaro."
"Hey! Wait-" Madeline reached out in an attempt to grab Rebecca's sleeve, but Rebecca already slipped through the doors. Practically hurtling herself back into the barn, the pressure sitting on her shoulders immediately dissipated when she saw the scene.
The Camaro sat there like nothing ever happened.
Rebecca was already in front of the car, running her hand over the hood. "Damn. I still can't believe you got this at Bobby's dealership, of all places."
Madeline grimaced slightly and shrugged. She didn't know if it made the Autobot uncomfortable when people touched it. In fact, Madeline was scared to touch it altogether, even though she just did. "I know. I still can't either."
"How much did you say it was?"
"Four thousand."
"That's a double score right there." Rebecca said, pointing at the car with a fascinated expression.
"Mhm," Madeline hummed, smiling at her friend. "And once you stop staring at my...car, we can go get those smoothies you desperately wanted."
"Sounds like a plan. Can I drive?"
"In your dreams."
June 15, 2018
"Hey, what're you doing still working?" Rebecca asked with playful seriousness.
Madeline looked up from the tea she was making. "Huh?"
Rebecca rolled her eyes. "Silly, it's your break time. You're about five minutes into it, too."
"Ah, that's not bad." Madeline said, promptly returning to the drink.
"Want me to finish it?"
"Nah, I'm almost done." Madeline replied, topping the drink off with the requested whipped cream. Reaching over to grab the top, she pushed it on top of the cup, then leaned over the counter to give it to the waiting customer. The customer smiled and thanked Madeline before walking out.
Turning, Madeline made her way from out behind the counter and headed towards the table employees normally used for their break, since customers rarely sat there. Sitting, Madeline pulled out her phone to occupy herself. She had about twenty minutes left of her break. Believing this was the perfect time to go over things that happened yesterday, Madeline placed her phone on the wooden table and rested her chin on her hand.
Okay.
It was really bothering Madeline that such an old robot, probably much older than one million years, was so hesitant about a human, which was probably more than ten times smaller than itself. And being as it never left, it should have been comfortable with anything it's experienced, right?
Oh hell.
She wanted the robot to leave. Not in a bad way; she wanted it to be free. The poor thing shouldn't be hiding out in her father's barn. Though, Madeline assumed that the Autobot was very capable of leaving at any time, as the barn doors don't have a lock- which Madeline thought was completely irresponsible despite the fact she had the ability to get one, yet never did.
But, the Autobot must be staying for a reason, right?
The only logical reason Madeline could come up with, was that it was in hiding. If that was case, does that mean the robot entrusted Madeline with its care?
No. An alien robot can take care of itself.
"Madeline."
Maybe something was hunting the robot, or Madeline had something it wanted. She'd have to ask it, once it became more comfortable with Madeline's presence.
She had to give it some credit though, it was a good actor. After their meeting, it acted just as it had before, and Rebecca had no suspicions about it.
"Madeline."
Though, after the girls returned home, Madeline immediately left the car alone, wanting to give it space.
"Madeline!"
"What! What?" Madeline looked up and saw Rebecca's grinning face.
"Are you alright? You were staring at the table as if it killed Aira."
"Yeah, I'm good." Madeline said, mirroring Rebecca's wide grin. "Just thinking about some stuff I could do later."
"Understandable. You want anything?"
"Vanilla latte."
"You got it." With that, Rebecca walked away.
Madeline inwardly groaned and covered her face with her hands. Trying to get her thoughts in check again, Madeline didn't notice a man walk up to her and discretely slide a small piece of paper near her arm.
She did notice the feeling of the paper poking her arm, though.
She squinted at the paper that laid face down, before looking up and seeing a man in a coat and large hat retreating quickly out of the café. What a cliché. Seeing as she couldn't chase after him, Madeline picked up the piece of paper. It had a series of numbers and five words:
Keep Hidden. Do Not Lose. 2244867
Well, that's not ominous.
The number wasn't long enough to be a phone number, so at least it wasn't some random guy trying to hook up. Madeline sighed. What the hell is this note, and what is she getting herself into?
Rebecca returned, setting the latte down carefully. She cocked her head. "You look like you just threw up. Are you really feeling okay?"
Madeline smiled. "I promise, Rebecca. I'm fine."
"If you say so. Besties gotta look out for each other." Rebecca reminded, pointing at Madeline.
"I love you." Madeline said, laughing.
"Ass, you better love me." Again, Rebecca walked away, striking up a conversation with another employee.
Once again, Madeline sighed.
Something told her she was going to be involved with the government soon.
Woo, and that's all for this chapter.
Y'all see what I did when Madeline met Bee? I can't tell you how excited I am for the movie, aah.
Stay tuned!
I apologize for any mistakes~
- Pastel
