Chapter Three: The Meeting
Fiorla: Elita One, sorry about shortening the last chapter, but Aria will meet Optimus in this chapter! I promise!
Berry: Is the meeting of Optimus and Aria going to take up the whole chapter?
Fiorla: NO WAY!!! Berry, there are more events happening in this chapter.
Berry: Like what?
Fiorla: I'm not telling. Why don't you just read it?
Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers. I only own Aria and the plot.
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"Whoa…"
Aria gaped, mouth dropped, mind stunned, at the door before her. Wheeljack still had her in the safety of his palm, much to his relief, after the almost impossible journey to reach Optimus's office. Almost all the robots that crossed their path saw Aria, and when they did, questions seemed to spill from their mouths in a never-ending waterfall. Wheeljack literally had to push off the curious Autobots, telling them that he could answer their questions later.
"Ah, here we are." Wheeljack raised a finger and pressed a red button positioned on the wall next to the door's right, and spoke into it, saying, "Optimus, this is Wheeljack. I've got Aria with me, can I bring her in?"
He took his hand off of the button, waiting for a response. It didn't take long for the deep, gentle voice of Optimus Prime to answer, "Yes, bring her in Wheeljack."
Aria gulped, trying to be rid of the lump that had been forming in her throat. This is it, she would have to see the leader again, and she didn't know if she could take the pressure this time. Wheeljack saw her shivering again, and gently began to rub her back with his thumb, attempting to relax her. Aria, feeling his touch, glanced up at his face and tried her best to smile. She nodded, signaling she was ready to enter, even though she knew she was far from that point.
The door slid open with a hiss, revealing a darkened room, only the light that came off of the large screen in front of the room allowed her to survey the new area. A shadow that reflected the colors of red and blue came from the immense figure that stood before an organized desk that glimmered in the dark. Upon hearing Wheeljack's footsteps entering his office, the figure turned half way to face his guests. Deep blue optics glowed, effecting the darkness around them with a blue tint, and a silver helmet covering most of his face could easily be seen, making him seem more mysterious to Aria, and more intimidating in a way.
"Thank you, Wheeljack. You may place her on my desk. I'll return her to the medical sector once I'm done." Wheeljack complied with Optimus's request, and gently set his hand on the red desk, waiting for Aria to climb off.
Aria quickly stepped off of Wheeljack's hand, but stayed as close to it as she possibly could. The presence of Optimus was…confusing. One part of her brain got the message as a 'demanding respect', while the other half was getting the words, 'peace maker'. Somehow, this robot before her was both at the same time. 'Well, that is what I thought from before, right?'
Wheeljack took his leave, glancing back at Aria as the door closed. She watched him go with a downed spirit, feeling like the time when she was in preschool on her first day and she was watching her father drive away in the car, leaving her all alone with the class. It was unbearable, but she eventually discovered how fun it was when her father wasn't around. Somehow, she doubted she would feel like that in this position.
"I'm sorry, about how our war has affected you." Aria turned to the massive figure of Optimus Prime, and a moment of silence came over the both of them.
"What do you mean?" Aria cocked her head in a confused gesture, not really understanding what Optimus was talking about.
"Our war has only brought you and your…family nothing but pain and suffering…and I suspect fear." The leader slowly walked closer to the desk, and took a seat in a chair before the massive desk.
Aria waited for him to continue, watching those optics with a feeling that could only spell nervousness. When he didn't respond as she had anticipated, she looked down at her hands and whispered, "But you didn't do anything…"
"Yes, we did." Optimus didn't even flinch when the Aria's head shot up, eyes showing suspicion. "…I guess it would be best if I explained what we've been doing here on Earth, and who we are. You might want to get comfortable, it's a long story."
Aria slowly kneeled down onto her knees and continues to look at his masked face, the blue glow reflecting off her own eyes and giving them a glint. The leader took a deep breath, before beginning the tale to be told.
"In a galaxy millions of light years away, in a time before Earth even existed, our home planet of Cybertron lived in a Golden Age, free of violence and grief. Our planet thrived in culture and technology, and soon became the home to many creatures, not only Transformers. But those days were short lived, as the Decepticon Leader, Megatron betrayed the Council, and sought out total domination of Cybertron. And once he was done with our planet, he would continue to the far reaches of the galaxy, and not stop until all was his. The only obstacle standing in his way was those who resisted, the Autobots. For years we fought without any way to end the war, sucking our planet clean of Energon…"
"Energon?" Aria interrupted, the word suddenly sounded familiar to her ears.
"Energon is what we Transformers use for energy, much like your 'food'." Optimus gazed down at her, not surprised at the interruption.
"Oh…" Aria glanced down, thinking why on Earth that word would be recognizable to her vocabulary. She doubted she had ever heard it before…
"Now then, where was I? Oh yes…"
"Once we discovered the shortage of Energon, both Autobots and Decepticons sought out another planet, one that was rich with resources and energy we could convert to a more suitable form, otherwise Energon. The Autobots discovered a young planet, that was barley over one million old, but the planet was brimmed with resources and energy. So naturally, we made our voyage through space to that signal. Unfortunately, we were followed by Megatron and his evil Decepticons, and engaged in battle. However, we shot each other's ship down, and they both crash-landed on your planet, Earth. Our bodies went into stasis because of the dire situation we were in, and we stayed lodged inside a volcano until four million years later, when humans were the most intelligent creature on Earth. Since then we have defended Earth from the Decepticons and their evil purposes, and protecting humanity from their madness. That brings us to when you took the generator from Megatron, and ran off with it clutched in your arms."
Aria didn't say anything; overly dazed at the story she had just heard. These robots had been through war, despair, and grief, and they lived to tell the tale! She would never admit this, but she was very impressed by them. 'I could never do that, not even in my dreams! I would love to be friends with them…' she clutched her stomach that suddenly felt a bit sick at the thought. '…If it weren't for my fear I would've done that by now…'
"Though I can see you're in a state of shock, I must ask, are you truly afraid of our race?" Optimus asked with only a touch of sadness, directed at her or himself she couldn't tell, and sympathy could be seen in his optics as the glow slightly dimmed.
"…Yes…though I don't want to be…I just am…" Aria whispered, shoulders trembling under the enormous robots gaze. Tears threatened to fall down her cheeks, but she didn't need to hold them back…she had shed all of her tears by now.
Optimus leaned back, giving Aria more space, pushing away his bulky presence. He would've held her and tried to comfort her, but he knew that would only frighten her more. He never felt so helpless before; it tore at his spark to see her eyes as tears nearly fell down her cheeks. But they didn't.
Feeling her pain, he declared, "That's enough for now. I still have more questions, but I will ask them later. As for you…" he slowly brought his hand down and placed it near her. "I told Wheeljack I'd take you back to the medical sector."
Aria stared at the hand with wide eyes, as if she were looking at lion that had just sang happy birthday to her. She slowly walked over to the hand, and climbed on, looking around astonished at how small her body was compared to his HAND. 'Man, he's got a HUGE hand, and I mean H.U.G.E. HUGE. I feel like an ant in a bowl with him!'
With that, Optimus exited the room, with a very stunned human girl in his hand. And this time, none of the robots crowded around them as they made their way back to the medical sector.
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Back in the social center, the Autobots were still conversing over the human child, having only recently seeing her in person made them more anxious to meet her and ask questions. Wheeljack had said himself that once she was open, he'd bring her out so that they could see her. But since she was meeting Optimus, it was highly doubtful that the curious robots would even get a glance at her.
In a smaller section of the room, were the furniture could've fit a large human, three minicons discussed their own issues concerning more then the girl. A yellow, green, and white minicon with scratched but completely unscathed armor took a sip of energon before sighing, completely bored out of his processors.
"Nothing has happened over the days, no action, no missions, no Decepticon attacks! If something doesn't happen soon, I swear…" the robot grumbled to himself.
The red and charcoal black minicon with small horns and car roof for a chest groaned as the yellow and green minicon began a fit of complaining. "Would you shut it, Brawn? We're all really quite tired of your complaining. Besides, if your bored, lets discuss about what's goin' on around the base…"
He was interrupted by the yellow and green minicon, known as Brawn. "NO! I refuse to talk about that thing they call a human! I hardly see any reason why we even have her here!"
"Oh great, now you're starting to sound like Sunstreaker." The red bot shook his head and gulped down his energon cube. "What has that wax-lover done to you?"
"HEY!!! I HEARD THAT CLIFFJUMPER!!!"
All the minicon's cringed as the familiar voice of Sunstreaker carried over to them from the opposite corner. "Uh oh…"
Luckily, the golden Lamborghini ignored them after informing them not to continue that conversation, and was quickly distracted by his, oh so wonderful, brother. Cliffjumper almost fell back on his seat, but Brawn made no move, continuing to complain. "Slag…I was hoping a fight would start up…"
"Brawn."
"What?"
"Shut down or shut it." Cliffjumper growled, agitated at how close he was to being pummeled, and Brawn saying he wanted it to happen! Sure, he knew he could take on Sunstreaker no problem. But when that demon was mad…it blows a gasket just thinking about it.
That's when he noticed how quiet the other side of the table had been, and glanced at the dandelion yellow and ebony black minicon with tiny horns coming from his helmet like head. The robot's eyes were dimmed, and he hadn't even touched his cube of energon.
"Hey, Bumblebee…you okay?" Cliffjumper asked, concerned for his friend.
"Hm?" Bumblebee's optics suddenly lit up, his rich blue glow peeked at Cliffjumper, then his drink, and slightly chuckled, in a non-humorous way. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking…"
"About the girl?" Cliffjumper finished for him, knowing the answer.
Bumblebee nodded. "I just…feel so guilty for the way she is…I swear, I didn't see the street in front of me, since I found the plans for the theft on the generator, I had to get back to headquarters. Now because of my clumsiness…two humans are dead…" He bowed his head in grief. If he were a human, he would be sobbing at this moment, but being a robot, he doesn't show that much emotion.
Cliffjumper's shoulder's sagged, feeling Bumblebee's sadness. Murderer was a terrible weight to carry, and murdering parents is even worse, leaving the child homeless and unprotected in the cruel world. He could only imagine what pain his friend was in. Surprisingly, Brawn remained quiet during this whole conversation, listening to Bumblebee.
Suddenly, footsteps of a large being came echoing through the social center, and every bot glanced at the entrance to where the sound was coming from, curious as to who was coming. Bumblebee stared as a shadow began to come over the wall in a very familiar shape anyone could recognize, and quickly stood from his seat. All of them gasped when their leader, Optimus Prime himself, walked into the room, and in his hand,,, was Aria, sitting in the middle of his palm for safety. Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, and Brawn all watched in awe as Aria's brilliant blue eyes surveyed her constantly changing surrounding, and spotted the smaller, but not less intimidating minicons in the corner of the room. Her gaze traveled from Brawn, to Cliffjumper, and last…Bumblebee.
As their eye's met, Bumblebee looked away, feeling ashamed at himself. How could he meet the gaze of the one whose parents he killed? He just couldn't bring himself to look into her 'Primus Eyes'. Aria, on the other hand, cocked her head as the little yellow robot averted eye contact, confused as to why he did it. She watched the slumped figure of Bumblebee until Optimus eventually paced out of the social center, leaving a stunned crowd in his wake.
"…Amazing…" Cliffjumper mumbled to himself. He had heard of the girl, but never seen her in real life. Her eyes were just as everyone described them as, as blue as Primus's eyes themselves.
"What's so amazing? She's just an ordinary human with weird eyes and strange powers, nothing else!" Brawn exclaimed, clearly confused why Cliffjumper and Bumblebee were making such a big deal out of a little human.
"Brawn, don't you get it? Humans may have blue eyes sometimes, but her eyes are more…well, blue in a way. They have more of a glimmer then other humans, and didn't she look at us? I can't believe she looked at us!" Cliffjumper raised his arms in a very excited way, but saw Bumblebee's small, slumped frame kneeling over the table.
"…Did you see her stare at me?" the small yellow robot asked in a quiet voice.
"Bumblebee, she seems to be doing okay without her parents. I mean, she didn't cry or anything." Cliffjumper placed a hand on his friends shoulder in an effort to comfort him.
"You weren't there when the crash happened! You didn't see the terror in her face, you didn't hear her scream, or see her run away from everyone!" Bumblebee pushed away the hand, and stood up, backing away, very distressed. "After I found out that I killed her parents, I went searching for her in the city, but I couldn't find her anywhere. Then I saw a girl wearing torn clothes walking down a dark alleyway and called out to her, driving down the street. She stared in horror at me, and ran away…" Bumblebee looked down at his hands, and shut down his optics, feeling completely lost in the darkness in him.
Suddenly, he thought he heard something in his head. He shook his head to clear it, but the voice kept repeating itself, as if knowing he wasn't listening. 'Why are you sad?'
The voice sounded like a child, innocent and curious, Bumblebee could almost see an image of the child speaking, but it quickly faded away…as did the voice along with it, before it said, 'Why are you unhappy?'. Bumblebee stood as still as a statue, wondering if what just happened. Was his processor playing with him, or that voice was real…
"Bumblebee?"
The sound of Cliffjumper talking to him brought him out of his thoughts, and he wondered, "Did you just hear someone say something?"
"No, why? Are you okay?" Brawn answered for him, curious as to why the yellow bug was acting so strange.
"Yes, I'm fine." Bumblebee said, but inside, he wasn't so sure. He was wondering about the voice he just heard inside his head. Who was that voice? Why did no one else hear it?
And did he just see Aria?
End of Chapter Three
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Fiorla: I'm very impressed with how this chapter came out. Aria meets the very guilty murderer of her parents, Bumblebee, but she doesn't know it. Is she the only one who can cure his aching spark? Or will Bumblebee fall deeper into the void of darkness?
Berry: NOOOO!!! Why must you torture Bumblebee? He's so cute, and nice, and he's like sunshine to everyone! WHY FIORLA?!
Fiorla: Why? Can't tell, it would ruin the story. But I assure you, this will be the worst state he'll be in this fic, I promise I'll go easy on him from now on!
Zoris: Who was that voice?
Miku: Is Aria really a psychic?
Berry: Or is she something more important?
Fiorla: Find out on the next chapter of "Rain in the Middle of Nowhere"!
Fiorla: If you want to read another of my stories, I've just added a new one on, It's called, "In a Child's Eye", and I would be very grateful if you would read it! Till next time!