To answer Guest's review: When I was thinking up this fanfiction, I pictured Arcee as the youngest. They appear to be triplets in the movie, but I'm not actually sure who is the oldest. In the fanfictions I have read, though, Arcee was also portrayed as the youngest.
Here's the next chapter (which I think will be one of my favorites once this fanfiction is done)! Hope you like it!
Work—and Orion
Ariel was true to her word, and after Arcee and Chromia were up, she explained how she was going into town tomorrow to look for work.
"I'm old enough now, and besides, we're living on scraps of energon and the generosity of others. I know you're both tired of it, and while I can't promise a grand home like before, at least I can promise a better home than this."
"Will we still see stars?" Arcee asked quietly.
"Of course! The stars are everywhere." Ariel slowly knelt down in front of Arcee and hugged her youngest sister. "Promise me you'll listen to Chromia and not worry about me. You know I'll always come back on time, and if I can't, I'll let you guys know the second I know."
"I promise," Arcee replied, hugging Ariel back. "I just don't want you to be alone."
"I'll be fine. You play with Chromia, and I'll be back before you know it!"
After hugging Arcee one last time, Ariel sat up and set one servo on Chromia's shoulder. "I'll be fine. You know that we can't stay here forever." Chromia nodded her helm and smiled slightly.
"I'll be fine looking after Arcee. We can't guarantee this junkyard will be here forever. We need a new home."
"I'll find one as soon as I've found a job. I promise we won't be here for the rest of our lives."
"Just go! The streets will be busy soon, and you need to start searching when there are less bots around!" Chromia pushed her sister onwards, and Ariel laughed while transforming, following a different road that would lead almost straight to Iacon.
It seemed that no matter the time of day, Iacon was a busy place! Shops were just starting to open up for the day, and couples browsed the streets together. Ariel figured it best to walk from there, so she transformed and stayed along the walkway—built for those who didn't have a road-based vehicle or just didn't want to drive.
After walking for a bit, Ariel stopped at the beautiful park in front of the Hall of Records. Small fountains of energon surrounded by benches took up most of the space, with a huge fountain depicting the faces of the original Thirteen Primes standing tall and proud in the middle. However, upon closer examination, you could see that the face of Megatronus, the demon Prime who had betrayed his brothers and killed his sister, was not as detailed and grand as that of Solus Prime's and Prima's.
Ariel sat on a bench close to the Thirteen's Fountain and slumped down, going into deep thought about her sisters. All that they had was in a war junkyard, and for all they knew they might be trespassing. Ariel hadn't mentioned that the last of the energon had ran out just the night before, so Arcee was probably whining for fuel.
"How am I gonna keep this family together?" she whispered to herself, burying her helm in her servos. She couldn't provide any background information or experience for a job, so the chances of finding one were very slim. "I'm gonna need a miracle," she groaned.
A crash from the Hall of Records startled her out of her thoughts, and she leaped to the back of the bench as an angry Seeker mech came storming through, not caring if he knocked bots over in his rage. "All I wanted was one little bit of information, and you fire me?" he screeched, whipping around to face an older mech that bore a distinct resemblance to one of the Primes, but Ariel couldn't put her finger on who.
"The location of the Matrix of Leadership, which I might add has been called a myth for some time, would be highly classified and not stored in someplace available to the public. You'll get over it, Starscream."
Starscream growled at the older mech and quickly transformed, jetting away with a loud roar of his engines and cursing to the sky.
The older mech sighed and shook his helm in frustration. "Now, where am I going to find someone to fill in his position in such a short amount of time?"
Seeing as Starscream was long-gone, Ariel crept onto the front of the bench, brushed herself off, then sat down again. The older mech's helm instantly whipped down to Ariel, and she sat up straight, locking optics with him.
"You!" he suddenly shouted gleefully.
"What?" Ariel asked frantically. Did he recognize her as one of the runaway sisters? It had happened so long ago that she doubted the search was still fresh news and out for everyone to see.
"I'm so sorry about that idiot—I'm afraid I never liked him much. But you—I can see you working perfectly alongside Orion!"
"Wait-you're just giving me a job? I don't have any paperwork or interviews!"
He quickly cut her off and replied, "I know a good match for one of my workers when I see one, and you seem in desperate need of a job—and perhaps a spouse."
"I only require the first one," she said quickly, holding up her servos in defense.
"Good enough for me! What is your designation?"
"Ariel."
"Beautiful. I am Alpha Trion. Please, follow me."
Alpha Trion led her up to the towering and magnificent Hall of Records, standing proud above the fountains. "You look like one of the Primes, and—" Ariel suddenly gasped in realization and clapped her servos over her mouth excitedly. "You're Alpha Trion Prime!"
"Yes. So?"
"I thought all the Primes were lost to the stars."
"I do not know the fates of the other Primes, except for Solus Prime. It was a very tragic tale—murdered at the hands of her own brother." Alpha Trion sighed and made his way up a small staircase, holding open a tall, silver door for Ariel.
"Moonracer will show you around." He gestured to a teal femme with bright optics and an energetic personality.
"I'm Moonracer! Wonderful to meet you," she said quickly, shaking Ariel's servo up and down twice before dragging her over to a single computer stand. "This is where you'll work. Alpha Trion will show you the basics later. For now, it's break!"
Ariel didn't get a good look at her work stand before Moonracer dragged her past another worker. "Hi, Orion!" Moonracer exclaimed without even glancing at him. He nodded his helm slightly but did not turn to look her in the eye.
Ariel turned her helm ever so slightly as Moonracer dragged her along, dropping her servo not long after they had passed Orion. Ariel stood for a moment, trying to get a good glimpse of the mysterious mech, but when his helm turned to face hers, she quickly joined the others.
As she joined, a few of the femmes scoffed, and the rest looked absolutely shocked, including Moonracer. "I-is something the matter?" Ariel asked, scanning each of the surprised faces.
"No, nothing. It's just that—" Moonracer moved into Ariel and whispered so quietly and quickly that Ariel barely caught each word, "No one's ever caught Orion's attention."
"What do you mean?" she whispered back.
"He turned to look at you, and he smiled a bit. No one's ever made him smile."
"Why does everybot care so much?"
"Because!" Moonracer leaned in once more and whispered, "Have you seen him? Any femme would die to be with him!"
"Not me. The rest of you can get on with your gossip, but not me!"
Moonracer sighed as Ariel trudged over to her workstand, tapping a few keys then banging her helm in frustration.
"I suppose we should all get back to work," Moonracer agreed. The group dispersed, a few femmes standing behind the oblivious Orion and giggling. When he turned around to frown at them, they instantly took off to their own separate stations.
Ariel continued tapping random buttons, trying to figure out how to work such a complicated computer. "Sire and Carrier never had anything this complicated!" she whisper-shouted to herself. When another set of buttons didn't work, she banged her fist against the console and groaned loudly. "Alpha Trion, could you please help me?" she asked out loud.
"Alpha Trion's not here. He told me to help you," a deep voice replied. Ariel glanced up from the console, only to find Orion standing beside her.
"You startled me!" she exclaimed, stepping back to let Orion work.
"These panels just got an upgrade. You're not the only one having trouble with them."
"What a relief," she sighed sarcastically. Orion didn't seem to mind her sarcasm—rather, he seemed amused as he tried to log in to the system.
"It seems you've completely reset the computer. It will take a while to get back on."
Ariel groaned, but she couldn't help smiling as Orion made his way back to the station. Moonracer was right—he was handsome, but she wouldn't get carried away. She had her sisters to worry about and a job that was going to change their lives.
Orion asked her after work if she wanted to hang out with him by the fountains, but she passed. Her excitement could not be contained! She had to purchase more energon and surprise her sisters! Orion seemed almost heartbroken, but she explained that she had to get home right away and run some errands before the crowds got too busy.
With energon fresh from the store, she transformed and drove the rest of the way home.
My computer seems to not be giving me too much trouble for now, so hopefully updates will come quickly!
Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it!
Signing off, theautobotprincess.