The Flaming Dawn

by Zaru

New Summary: Time has passed. A government team is now working with the Autobots. The past comes to present and a relationship is tested. And Decepticons are ready to make their way back to earth only to realize their sparks are pulsating for none other, than humans.

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers. I do own Zaru Kiys. I own Club Kunoichi. Leiana Lopez belongs to Ninjalala. Rose Connelly belongs to BlackwingRose. Jade Rivers belongs to Icarian Angel Wings. Kia Hawkins belongs to weapon13white fang. Piper Somoon belongs to BlackHealer222. Erin Timmons belongs to Strawberrytop007. Bethany King belongs to Mrs. Optimus Prime. I own characters with small/very minor roles as well. Songs sang/mentioned belong to their writers/singers/creators.

A/n:

Chapter 13

Zaru's house...

A jackhammer was working her brain rather well. She knew because the pain of it was just too much to bear. It pounded and pounded, her skull ready to crack open from the intensity of it.

Kia opened her eyes, only to shut them again as the bright illumination of the lights in the dining room surrounded her. Ah, damn. I am never getting drunk again.

Feeling around, her body hobbled across the floor as she slowly, but unsteadily made her way from under the table. Her stomach churned, nausea on the uprise.

This isn't really good...

Her whole body felt wobbly, but heavy. It was the feeling she had all the time whenever she drank too much and passed out. Reaching her arm out too far, the raven-haired beauty groaned as she feel face first to the tiled floor.

"Oh this really sucks ass." Her voice mumbled against the tile.

It was no use. She couldn't move. The hangover was too much for her now. Barely able to move, she had gotten herself to turn over before opening her eyes again staring up at the ceiling.

"Damn, I hate her..." The words trailed off as she thought of her hatred toward Zaru.

"Mmm."

The moaning sound moved Kia to alertness, but it also made her head hurt more. The slightest sound easily made her want to shot anything that made any type of noise.

"Shut up, whoever is moaning." The light was still too bright for her to open her eyes. What I wouldn't give for aspirin right now.

Leiana unfurled herself from the buffet table she lay upon and stretched far. She pushed herself up on her elbows, hearing crunching sounds, and looked around while rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Oh man. I fell asleep." Looking down, she noticed what she was lying upon. "Shit. I slept on the food."The latina swung her legs over the buffet edge and sat up. Crumbs of chips, pretzels and other junk food lay strewn everywhere around her. "This is really not where I intended to sleep last night."

She cracked her neck hoping for some tension release after sleeping on such a hard surface.

"Shut up over there! You're being too loud, dammit!" Leiana recognized the voice as their new team member Kia Hawkins.

"Pfft. It's only loud when you drink yourself to the point of passing out, Kia. That's your fucking fault. Not mine." She grabbed a handful of the crumbed food and threw it to where Kia's upper body was poking out from under the dining room table.

"Ouch! Bitch!" Her own voice was even too loud for her. "This is cockamamie bullshit you know!"

Smirking, Leiana jumped down from the buffet onto the food and crunched loudly, stomping along the way. "Is that loud enough for ya, Kia?"

"I'm gonna kill you when I get over this hangover!" She ground her teeth so hard, it hurt her head even worse.

"What is all that noise?" Maggie mewled as she tossed and turned, trying to get comfortable in the recliner she lay in.

"Your friend here has a hangover." The dark-skinned woman grinned at the concept. "She doesn't like it when I make noise."

Maggie sighed heavily as she sat up, hair in disarray. "You were the worse for drinking last night, Kia. And I hope this hangover teaches you a lesson." Maggie pushed down the recliners foot rest back into the chair. "Not that you even learn any kind of lesson anyways." She murmured to herself as she stood to stretch out her body.

Kia shook her head and unshielded her eyes. "You got something to say, Mags? Spit it out!"

"All right then!" Hands on her hips, the Australian sized up her friend as she stood over her. "You barely drink, Kia, but when you do, it's harsh. You start shit with the wrong people. You are overly rude to others who are your friends and your quick wit and sense of humor are pfffffffffffffffft!" Crossing her arms, she asked, "Must I continue?"

"Pssh. Not like you're gonna stop anyways." Taking a deep breath, she used the table above her as leverage and stood up on spaghetti legs. "Damn, I hate waking up in someplace strange." Adjusting to the light she stated, "This is one fugly house." Her head throbbed. "Mags, go get me some aspirin."

"I don't think so. Get it yourself."

"Uh, Zaru doesn't like other people she don't know or like going through her things. I'll go get it." Leiana patted Maggie on the shoulder before wandering out of the room and up the stairs.

The blonde glared at the raven-haired army official.

"What?"

"I think it's about time you started to patch things up with Zaru."

"Ugh. Not this again, Maggie. It's always the same old thing with you. I'm not going to like her. I'm not going to speak with her unless necessary either."

"Do we have to put you two in a room together with no escape so you can duke it out with each other?"

"You do that and there will be a dead body when you return. And I'd rather not become a murderer."

Maggie just sighed. There is nothing that will change her attitude toward Zaru. Unless something big happened to put them together. "Fine. You wanna go the rest of your time here with that attitude toward somebody you barely know? Go ahead. I'm not going to stop you." She turned to walk away before slowing down at the arch entrance to the kitchen. "But just remember, Kia: If a situation arises where you are in danger and she is the only one who can save you, do you think she would?"

Her words were branded hot through the throbbing pain of Kia's mind.

Mikaela's house...

She was bored out of her mind. There was nothing really to do. Early yesterday morning, she had seen Sam off with his parents, with him giving her hearty permission to take care of Bumblebee for him. She was the only one he could trust to take care of his best friend and guardian. There was no one else who he could trust that much with him. Mikaela smirked as she went through several pieces of junk mail sent to her father's mechanic shop. It was the same everyday. Coupons, spam, work-at-home. All those were pieces of crap to her. She wanted something special. A letter from Sam would be nice once in awhile. Email. A phone call. Those were the only ways the couple would continue their long-distance relationship.

Her heart broke when she thought of not having her boyfriend near. It was lonely. She fisted her hand and rested her chin on it.

"I should have gone to Rose's birthday party tonight. At least I would have had fun then."

But she really couldn't. The poor girl had to work in the shop repairing cars all day. And afterward, she was exhausted, taking a long sleep in a nice, warm and cozy bed.The young woman yawned and decided to head back to bed. She would talk to Sam via chat tomorrow night and there they would talk about everything she knew of.

Sakauchi's House

"And, well, that's pretty much all I can tell you at this point."

Zaru was flabbergasted. The man that she knew as her father worked for the government? How could he not tell her about this? All the words her mother and grandfather fed her over the years were mostly lies. Even her grandfather had confirmed Arc's story. And he never backed up him before. So it must be true about what her father was telling her.

"B-But how come you didn't tell me about this before? Why keep this from me for so long? If I had known those years ago, I wouldn't have acted the way I have been toward you, daddy." Her eyes shimmered with oncoming tears and Rose leaned over, patting her friend's clasped hands. "I can't believe that mom would talk so...so... I can't even think of the right word for it."

"Perhaps 'heartless' would be the right word, mate. After all, with what you told me about your mother and things about your father, well, I would say they were heartless." She smiled warmly as she glanced over at Sakauchi. "Do you not agree, Grandpa Sakauchi?"

The old man nodded. "I certainly do agree with you there, my dear. Jessica spoke of him more cruely than I ever did. And I'm her father." He let out a quick chuckle. "I guess I cannot apologize enough for those words I ever spoke of you in the past, Arc. It was wrong and I hope you will forgive me in the future."

Arc nodded and shook back his shaggy brown hair. "You got it old man." His blue eyes melded with Zaru's. "Do you think you can forgive me for never being able to be there for you?" He reached over and pulled her hands into his big ones.

Warm. They felt so warm and strong. Come to realize it, she never was able to really get the feel of his touch when he held her hands in his. So much had been missed over the years with him and it impacted her heavily.

"Yeah, dad. I forgive you." The tears fell and she launched herself at him, enveloping him in a loving embrace.

Arc was shocked at his daughter's quick reaction, and smiled, holding his daughter tightly against him. He felt there was going to be a new beginning for them both and plenty of years to catch up on.

Rose smiled. It was a beautiful sight, a relationship between father and daughter finally opened, allowing them the chance to begin anew, whereas before this tender moment, the relationship between them was rather rocky and untraveled. It was bringing tears to her own eyes and she wiped at them, smearing her mascara. Oh bloody hell! Next time I'm using waterproof.

In another part of Tranquility...

Dammit! I hate this!

The short black-haired teen was frustrated. It was nearly two in the morning and she had yet to fall asleep. The headaches she had been getting for awhile now were wearing her down. Her sleep routine turned into work time since the headaches wouldn't go away and made her have trouble gaining the sleep she needed.

It was tiresome at that point. And her only problem with not being able to sleep besides the migraines, was she had to wake up at six in the morning to watch her twin cousins for her aunt who had to be at work by seven o'clock. In just four hours, she would have to get out of bed groggy, shower and get dressed and head over only praying that they were asleep. The twins were terrors and kept her at bay most of the time. Lucky for her, she had her headphones and player to keep her occupied as Disney movies kept them occupied most of the time.

Piper Somoon couldn't stand the silence surrounding her anymore. Frustratingly, she grabbed a heavily-bound book on her night stand and plopped it down on her lap. I should get some reading done at least.

Over the summer, the sophomore history teacher had given all the students a heavy-duty work packet to do over the summer. It included titles of books they were to read and answer the questions given on the worksheets as well as week to week textbook work that had to be done and handed in to their junior year history teacher on the first day of school. Even though Piper had a love of history, the homework was too much for her. Although her intelligence ran high, she never wanted to share it with anybody else. The 16-year-old received the highest grades of A's and B's in school just to satisfy her mother mostly. But she did want to work hard and be able to get out of school as soon as possible. That much she wanted.

She rubbed her temples and sighed. It was going to be another sleepless night, she was sure of that.

Erin and Jade's Residence...

Erin was wide awake unlike Jade who was sleeping peacefully away in her bed next door to her friend's.Being almost two in the morning, it was rather unusual for her to be like that. Her strawberry blonde hair was fanned out on the pillow as she lay on her facing the ceiling. The 18-year-old just couldn't sleep. There was nothing wrong with her. At least not health wise. She was doing so well for herself. She had a job, friends, place to live AND going to college very soon.

College...

That was a word Erin thought she would never say in a positive way in her life. In fact, there were a lot of things she used to think were negative.

Erin had grown up, her mother gone most of the time since she was a fashion designer. Always went to school, being the quiet and shy girl to her classmates. Usually baggy clothes were worn by her because of the self-consciousness she felt around others. With having to keep her grades up, there was rarely any time for friends. And the only friend she really had was Jade who always visited during the summer months since she was ten years old. That was how she knew Jade. Erin had always admired Jade's aunt who took risks. Made things to her advantage. But when she had died and Jade let her know, the girl broke down into tears and stayed in her room for days, her mother not even noticing her daughter's absence around the day.

Now, she 18. She had her whole life a head of her. A new one. She had an awesome job which she was thankful for because of Jade's boss. All of her co-workers were her friends and life was good. Living so far away made her homesick sometimes. But she always choked it up and went through with it. Life was hard. And making choices in your life was one of the hardest things to do.

Smiling, Erin thanked the world around her for the life she was able to live. Without friends like Jade, who made sure things were as comfortable as possible for her, there would be no great life for her.

Outside of Zaru's Residence...

The two women made their way up the sidewalk and turned onto the pathway to Zaru's house. It had become colder than before and the jackets they were didn't allow heat to stay. Teeth chattering, Rose ran up to the front door and waited for Zaru to unlock it.

The green-haired woman turned to see her spark mate's alt mode in the garage still in recharge. She smiled and dug through her pockets for the house keys.

"Come on, love, it's freezing out here!" Her arms folded tightly across her chest.

"Nah. You go on in. I'm gonna hang out here with Mirage for a bit."

Rose blinked. "It's bloody freezing out here!"

"It's called 'garage door', Rose." Smirking, she threw the keys to her friend before heading across the grass damp from the oncoming morning dew.

"You are really crazy, mate." Jingling the keys, she found the right one before entering the house and shutting it tightly to keep the chill from coming in.

The garage connected to the house had two garages, each with their own individual areas. Sunstreaker was in the one closest to the house, as deep inside as possible to keep away from the chill of the night and Mirage was parked diagonal inside as though he was too tired to even move it right. Smiling, the woman made her way inside Mirage's area and pressed two buttons. Both garage doors closed slowly, but surely allowing the place to become filled with warmth. Tip-toeing across the way, she opened the passenger side door and gently placed herself inside before closing the door fully behind her. The silence within the vehicle was shattered by static coming from the radio.

Zaru smirked as she caressed the middle console.

"Why are you out here? It is late in the evening. You should be in recharge right now."Mirage's deep voice sounded through the radio.

"Eh, well, I wouldn't be able to sleep after that party. Plus, I went to go see Jii-san with Rose."

"And?"

"My father was there."

Mirage mentally nodded to himself. So she decided to go see her grandfather and yet her father was there as well. Since he could not sense any discomfort or stress from his spark mate, something great must have transpired between the two.

"So, what happened?"

A smile appeared. "We had a nice talk and we're going to be in each other's lives more often than nought."

A male figure, made up of several pixels, appeared in the driver's seat next to Zaru. He smirked as he reached out a hand, caressing her cheek with the backs of his fingers.

"I'm glad things have worked out well between you and your father."

Her eyes closed as she reached up, covering his hand with hers. "Yeah. I'm glad, too, Mirage."

"So, what do you plan on doing now that things will be okay?" He asked.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Go on with life as usual. But this time, I have my father there for me, too." The black-haired holoform leaned over and chastely pressed his lips to hers. "Maybe things will get better for you from now on as well."

Nodding, she answered, "Yeah. I think they will." And collided her lips against his.

Little did they and anybody else know, that very soon, their lives will all collide together as the presence of evil makes its claim on Earth once more.

TBC...

A/n: That... bites. I hope you are not all disappointed with chapter 13. It took me awhile to actually work on it. I did want to make it longer, but that would be pushing things too close to the edge for me. Please remember to read and review. Thank you very much.

Sweet Pervy Mechs,

Zaru