This chapter is dedicated to my boyfriend, Erik, whom is always there to support me and listen when no one else does. I Love You!
I don't own transformers just my OC's: Jen and Storm. I also don't own "Testify the Love" by: Wynonna Judd
Yal look up 'Touched by an Angel: Testify the Love' it is one of the most beautiful music videos I have ever seen! Makes me tear up every time :.)
Chapter 21: My Path
(SAPPHIRE's POV)
I heard toe nails on the floor and turned to see Storm with my head-set. Instead of carrying it in his jaws, it was wrapped around the outside of his muzzle. The very top of the head piece was right behind his nose. I took it from him gently and rubbed his head, "Thank you, Storm." I praised him.
I patched my head-set into the autobot's com-link system and even hacked it so that I heard the private conversations. I put it on my head and flipped it on; I was just in time to hear a conversation between Arcee and CliffJumper.
Cliff spoke, "So there I am on the lookout when out of nowhere these high beams light of my rear view, and then it hits me: I'm illegally parked." I had to cover my mouth piece and resist the urge to laugh. "Another parking ticket?" Arcee asked/commented dryly. Cliff replied, "Better: 'The Boot'!" Again I had to slap my hand over my mouth in order to keep in my laughter.
"Big metal tire clam, impossible to remove." Arcee clarified. "Bingo! So the local polis do their thing and I let them get all the way down the block, that's when I kick off my new shiny shoe and BANG!" Cliff continued. Arcee spoke, "New York's finest soil themselves."
CliffJumper replied, "You know me Arcee, you mess with CliffJumper-" "And you get the horns." Arcee finished for him. CliffJumper laughed, 'Ha ha ha'. "Not sure how that complies with autobot rule number one: 'Keep a low profile'. I rolled my eyes, leave it to Arcee, to pull a dad and be the party pooper.
CliffJumper clearly felt the same way as me because he replied, "What can I say, patrolling for energon out here in dullsville gets lonesome." He said flatly. "Almost makes me miss the decepticons." He continued. "Like Jasper, Nevada's a party? We're alone where ever we travel on this rock, Cliff." Arcee said sadly. I felt bad for her, she seemed so homesick.
"I'm getting a signal." Cliff said suddenly. I listened closely in anticipation. "Need back up?" Arcee asked. He replied, "Do I ever need back up?" My mind screamed: Knowing you, YES!
"I just found a whole lot of energon!" CliffJumper announced. Suddenly eerie sounds were heard in the back round, "Decepticon!" Cliff exclaimed. 'Ok, he needs back up!' I decided and started to lock onto his coward-nits. I set it up a few yards from his exact location. I flipped up my mike and turned to Storm.
"Feel like a little mission boy?" I asked. 'Ready when you are!' he replied enthusiastically. I nodded and flipped the switch. Before going through I spoke, "Ok Storm, stealth mode, shoot at anyone you don't recognize, and whatever you do, don't shoot the blue crystals!" Storm nodded in understand and we both turned invisible and ran through.
On the other side we stood behind a rock as the ground-bridge closed. Luckily, nobody seemed to notice it. We looked up and saw a ginormous ship. "Whhhhhoooooaaaa." I said aloud. A gun on the ship aimed at Cliff and fired, causing him to fly into the pit of energon.
A loud crash could be heard when he landed, Storm and I flinched. "Damn. That's gonna leave a mark." I said and Storm nodded in agreement. Cliff turned to face the ship and at least 10 cons came flying out. "Arcee about that back up." Cliff said and I rolled my eyes. Now he wants back up.
Cliff threatened the cons, "Fair warning boys I'll put a few dings in ya." He transformed and drove up the side of the pit. He transformed in midair and started attacking. I was about to give him a hand when I heard Arcee on the com: "Arcee to Optimus. The cons are back. Cliff might be neck deep in scrap." Optimus's is voice was heard on the line, "Understood. Ratchet do you have CliffJumper's coward-nits?"
"I'm locked on his signal Optimus, but our team is scattered across time zones." Ratchet replied. "Arcee, Bulkhead, BumbleBee, rondayvo back at base and prepare to ground bridge." Optimus ordered.
I charged forward to help Cliff and Storm followed my lead. I started shooting fireballs at the weak spots in their armor and Storm did the same with his lightning. We moved at hyper speed as we took out con after con together.
After dealing with a few more I noticed a bunch ganging up on CliffJumper. One hit him so hard that it knocked off his right horn. I turned to the gang and started taking them out, my rage fueling my flames. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Cliff slam on his back, but then he flipped and stood on his feet. I jumped into the pit and ran to stand beside him. Storm ran over and joined me on his other side.
"Are you all right?" I asked him. He looked in my direction. "Is that you kid?" he asked. "Of course it's me! Who else do you know that can shoot fire and turn invisible?!" I exclaimed. He chuckled; we were interrupted by the sounds of guns loading. "Let's do this." I said and Cliff nodded. He turned to the cons and spoke, "You want the horns, you got um." He got out his guns and started shooting at the cons.
Storm and I fired with him as we took out the cons. We took out almost all of them, but one of the little bastards accidentally fired and hit a piece of energon. "CliffJumper!" I scream as he was caught in the blast. Storm tackled me to the ground and covered my body with his own as the explosion passed over us.
Before the smoke cleared I jumped back to my feet and in a fit of rage, I mercilessly killed the remaining cons. Two of which had tried to take CliffJumper to the ship. I ran over to Cliff before the smoke could clear I put my hands on Cliff and tried to make him invisible with us. Storm came over and helped me so I wouldn't strain myself and we watched the ship as the smoke cleared.
I prayed to Primus that their sensors wouldn't detect us and after a few agonizing minutes, the ship turned in flew away. When I could no longer hear it I Storm and I made ourselves, and CliffJumper visible. I put my ear on Cliff's chest and listened for his spark, it was faint, but there.
I went to CliffJumper's head and shook it gently, "Cliff, Cliff, please wake up!" I begged him. His optics fluttered opened and he looked at me weakly. "Kid, are you alright? Where are the cons?" I smiled at him, "Don't worry Cliff, Storm and I took out the ones the explosion didn't kill and the ship left." I told him.
He smiled weakly, "You're a good warrior kid, good enough to take my place." He told me. I looked at him completely horrified, "What?! Replace you?! I don't need to replace you! You're still alive!" I shouted. He chuckled weakly, "As much as I hate to admit it kid, I'm not gonna walk away from this battle." He whispered.
"No! You have to! The team needs you! Arcee needs you! I need you…" I whispered the last sentence as tears started to fall from my eyes. "No kid, they need you. They can survive without me, but Optimus would be broken sparked if he lost you." He told me. I nodded, not wanting to argue anymore.
He coughed up some energon, "Can you grant this bot one last wish before he joins the AllSpark?" he asked me kindly. I looked deep into his optics and held some of his fingers between my hands. "Anything Uncle Cliff." I told him finally admitting how what I considered him.
He smiled brightly at me, "Well my niece, can you sing for me one last time?" he requested. I smiled, "I would be honored CliffJumper." I told him. I pulled out a guitar from thin air behind my back. (I better not hear anything about that in the reviews. Cliff's dying so cut me some slack!) I started to strum an upbeat tune, not wanting Cliff's final song to be sad or depressing.
("Testify the Love" by: Wynonna Judd)
All the colors of the rainbow.
All the voices of the wind.
Every dream that reaches out.
That reaches out to find the where love begins.
Every word of every story.
Every star in every sky.
Every corner of creation lives to testify.
Cliff smiled at my choice of song and I smiled back. Storm added in his note of the wild, whenever ever I held out a word. I smiled at Storm to thank him for adding even more beauty to the song. He nodded to me and I kept the song going.
For as long as I shall live, I will testify your love. From the mountains to the valleys.
I'll be the witness in the silences, when words are not enough.
With every breath that I take, I will give thanks to God above.
For as long as I shall live I will testify to loveeeeeeeeeeee.
From the rivers to the sea.
Every hand that reaches out.
Every hand that reaches out to offer peace.
Every simple act of mercy.
Every step to kingdom come.
All the hope in every hope in every heart, will speak what love has done.
For as long as I shall live, I will testify your love.
I'll be the witness in the silences, when words are not enough.
With every breath that I take, I will give thanks to God above.
For as long as I shall live, I will testifyyyy.
I will testify to loveeeeeeeeeeeeee
I watched as Cliffs eyes darkened and his hand went limp, my eyes filled with tears, but I kept singing. I will keep my promise and sing him one last song. I will honor his memory and sing his soul to the heavens were he could finally rest in peace.
I'll be the witness in the silences when words are not enough.
With every breath that I take, I will give thanks to God above.
For as long as I shall live, I will testify to love.
For as long as I shall live, I will testify to love I'll be the witness in the silences when words are not enough.
With every breath that I take, I will give thanks to God above.
For as long as I shall live, I will testify to love.
I put the guitar back behind me and it disappeared into thin air as it had appeared. I jumped when I heard a ground-bridge. Ratchet drove through, transformed, and landed on the ground. Followed by Bulkhead, Arcee, and BumbleBee. They all did some kind of formation and aimed their cannons in all directions.
Last but not least, Optimus drove through, transformed, and jumped so high that he landed in front of all of them. He had on his (Totally Bad Ass) battle mask and he aimed his cannon. He spotted me and Storm beside Cliff's lifeless body. "Jennifer?!" he called in surprise.
All the others stared at us as well and before anyone could do anything Arcee shouted, "You, MURDERER!" she screamed, transformed and drove straight at me at her top speed. She was too fast for me to move out of the way in time so I just shut my eyes and waited for the impact.
Arcee jumped and rammed her front tire into my body. The impact sent me flying into the wall behind me, every part of my body screamed in pain and everything went black as I fell back to the ground.
(Normal POV)
"Sapphire!" Storm howled and raced to her. He pressed his ear to her chest, but much to his horror he heard nothing. He shocked her gently with his tail in an attempt to restart her heart, but it didn't work. Storm sat down and pointed his head skyward.
He let out a long heart breaking note, filled with pain and loss. He turned back to Sapphire and lay down beside her, resting his head on her chest.
Arcee transformed and the others rushed over. Optimus rushed to his daughter's side, then others tried to follow, but Storm stood over her and snarled a warning. The held up their hands in a sign of surrender and turned to Arcee, whom was kneeling beside her dead partner.
Optimus knelt down beside his daughter and Storm move forward to stand in front of her so Optimus could see her. Once Storm had moved, Optimus saw she wasn't breathing. "Nooooooo!" he shouted skyward then his back slumped in defeat. "Optimus?" what's wrong with her?" Ratchet asked. "She has joined the AllSpark old friend." Optimus spoke quietly, his voice filled with pain and sorrow.
All eyes widened in shock then, turned angrily to Arcee. "Why did you attack Jen?!" BumbleBee shouted at her. She turned to him with cold eyes, "Because she killed Cliff!" she shouted back at him. 'That's a lie!' Storm snarled at her. All eyes widened when they understood his words clear as day.
Unfazed Arcee shouted at him, "What do mean that's a lie?!" Storm explained, 'We came here to help him when he requested back up. We fought decepticons with him, but one of those stupid cons shot a piece of energon. All of it exploded and CliffJumper was caught near the heart of the blast. Sapphire was so angry that she killed off the rest of the cons and before the dust cleared we turned him invisible so they wouldn't take him onto their ship. His final request was for Sapphire to sing for him one last time. And she did! That what she was doing right before you got here and killed her!'
It took everything Storm had not to attack the femme. 'Some good guys you are! You didn't even give her a chance to explain!' Storm growled at them. They all looked at Sapphire guiltily and Arcee looked ready to rip her own spark out in shame.
(SAPPHIRE's POV)
I woke with a start and looked around. I was surrounded by light, but I couldn't find its source. I looked down and realized I was floating. "Terrific, I'm dead aren't I?" I asked the empty space around me. I was surprised when a voice answered, "Yes and No daughter of Optimus Prime, the Last of the Primes."
I quickly spun around and saw what looked like an elderly red transformer. "Who are you and what do you mean?" I asked in confusion. He chuckled softly, "Unimportant Sapphire, now yes you have died, but I am going to send you back." He informed me. I crossed my arms, "Why would you do that?" I asked suspiciously.
He chuckled again, "For two reasons, One, Optimus would be lost without you in his life. And two, I have a mission for you…." He told me. I raised a brow, "And what would that mission be?" I asked.
He replied, "You are to be Optimus Prime's guard. You must not let him give up his spark because of his selflessness. You are to make sure he stays alive and advise him. He needs you." He said the last part gently. I nodded, "But how am I supposed to guard my guardian?" I asked worriedly.
"You are more than capable my dear, but just in case I will give you something to help you." He said and with that, my body was surrounded in a bright blue aura. It was so bright I had to close my eyes, but when I opened them I saw that I was back in my living world.
I realized that I was wearing a helmet and I looked down at myself. I saw that I had a full suite of body armor. It was mostly royal blue but at my thighs and upper arms, there were crimson flames. And it stayed red the rest of the way to my fingers and feet. The lines that made the flames were purple, just like the small transition on my colored streak. The most noticeable thing was the purple autobot symbol on my chest, but the strange thing was the two angel wings that came out of it on each side (also purple).
I looked up from my armor and saw everyone staring at me. My eyes grew hard when I remembered how I had died. I turned to Storm, "Did I seriously just get blamed then murdered because of a crime I didn't commit?" I asked him he nodded slowly, still surprised to see me alive.
Finally, I got sick off the stares, "Yes, People! I'm alive, sometimes people die for a few minutes and then come back alive for some strange reason!" I yelled in annoyance. I was suddenly scooped off the ground and I was too surprised to make a noise.
I was squeezed tightly against a familiar crimson chest. "Dad I know I died, but if you don't stop squeezing I'm gonna do so again and nobody survives dying twice!" I gasped out. Optimus abruptly stopped squeezing, but still held me tight, as if I would disappear if he let me go. "Thank you." I said between deep breaths.
Optimus brought me to his shoulder and for once I stood on it instead of sitting. I gripped his pipe to keep my balance and stared coldly out my helmets visor. Storm barked up at me and I leapt from dad's shoulder, using my flames to slow my decent. Storm tackled me and wagged his tail happily. I somehow got my helmet to transform onto the back of my armor and Storm immediately attacked my face with licks. "Ok, ok, Storm I'm happy to see you too." I said and I pushed him off. I stood up and brushed the dust/dirt of my armor.
I reached into Optimus's mind and saw the events of the past few minutes. I nodded my approval to Storm and had my helmet come over my face again. I used my super speed so that I was standing on the top edge of the pit. I crossed my arms as I thought about my conversation with the old transformer.
I looked at Optimus, then down at my insignia again, and I somehow knew what it stood for. It was the insignia of the guards of the Primes, the group above the elite guard.
So this is my destiny. A long hard path has led me to this moment, and will carry the responsibility I have been given with pride. I'm am and was always meant to be:
My Guardian's Guardian