This chapter is brought to you by: Inspiration. When it hits, it hits.
From here on out, everything you ever thought you knew about WE is either going to be confirmed, or changed so drastically that you might get whiplash from reading it. I'm excited. Are you? *evil grin*
Litahatchee- Awww, I'm glad you liked it, Lita. It's been a long time coming, hasn't it? You were one of the people I was most looking forward to hearing your reaction from. As twisted as this sounds, if I could make you cry with the writing, then I did my job right. C:
Transformersfreak01- Wow, I knocked you speechless, huh?
Flameshield- Nightbeat was a sad sacrifice, but not in vain. There's a purpose to the madness, my dear, even the deletion of everything Elita One knew of Bumblebee.
FunkyFish1991- Yeah, yeah, yeah, well, you're finally getting your wish- the Loki is landing this chapter. XP As for Elita- there is so much in store for her. There is a method to the madness, I say~
Jason M. Lee- Ah, there's a reason for erasing Bumblebee, and the answer will come in its own time. :)
Balrog Roike- I'm flattered that you liked Nightbeat's character so much that you were offended by his death. He was a very fun character to writer for~ His, sadly, is not the only death to come. The Cybertronians are still fighting a war, after all.
Kittisbat- Heaven is what you make of it, so wherever Nightbeat is, whether it be in the Matrix, or as part of the clockwork, he's in heaven. And on to that prediction of yours… *whistle* That has got to be the most zany yet, and yet I kinda like it. I had to laugh at how 'out there' it was, but definitely entertaining. Hopefully what actually happens in the story won't be boring compared to your own imagination. XD
Tears of Twisted Angels- Psi really does feel like my own character, since I've given him a name rather than just the title The Fallen, and I've inserted him into his own mythology for WE. He's such a pleasure to write! :) I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter.^^
Independent C- Ah, my friend, I delight in plot twists! The best ones are the ones readers never see coming! :D And it is my ultimate delight to hear that you think Shockwave and my version of the Fallen are creepy sons of bitches. Don't worry, they're all going to get what they deserve in the end. *evil grin*
Bluebird Soaring- lol~ Speechless is what I seem to have made a lot of people. ^^; I'm glad you liked this chapter, though. It was such a delight to finally give Elita some happiness in the end.
Nitefyre- Optimus knows she's alive, but where she is, for that matter, remains a mystery. The Fallen remains cloaked, and he's virtually undetectable when he wants to be. But, rest assured, love will prevail [eventually]!
Lady Tecuma- Awwww, thanks so much. I'm surprised by how well everything flowed, but I'm happy as hell that you liked it! :)
Phoenix13- Elita One is back in a big way, my dear! :D It's only a matter of time before she and Optimus are together again.
Theshadowcat- *sigh* He was a necessary sacrifice in the grand scheme of things. R.I.P Nightbeat.
CuteKitten- Happy endings are great, my dear, but sometime they don't always work out in reality. We'll just have to see how everything plays out here…
He03- Oh yes, you're certainly catching on to the game, aren't you? Everyone and everything has a place and reason in The Grand Scheme of Things, and everything is slowly but surely falling into place. Now it's only a matter of time until the grand finale (for this part of the journey) to come about.
Chloo- Always such high praise, my friend~ Have I ever mentioned how much I look forward to your reviews? ;P It took everything I had to write that chapter, so to hear that you gained so much from it means a lot. I haven't watched Donny Darko yet, but I've heard it's an interesting movie. Now I want to watch it to hear the music~
Special credits to artists and friends alike who have inspired me, grown to be close friends, or otherwise are just plain awesome: Violetlight, Litahatchee, Bunnylass, Lecidre, SylentNyte and FunkyFish1991.
As We Come Together
In Which the Loki Lands
One moment, he was sitting on the cold western side of great sloping mountain, and the next, he was a thousand miles away in a place he thought he would never be again.
He was with Elita One.
It was if he had been standing in a very dark room for such a long time and suddenly a very bright doorway opened up. He was nearly blinded by the brilliance of it. A joy that was not his own suddenly flooded into his spark, knocking him back, dazzling him with a strength that was beyond anything he had ever experienced before. The ragged, gapping bond Optimus Prime shared with Elita One was suddenly energized, brought to life. A joy too great for Elita to contain spilled over into her mate and filled him to the point of overflow. And as a moth was to a flame, Optimus was drawn to the elation, sending his spark out into the astral plains to reach and grasp and embrace the life he felt flaring after so long of their connection hanging dead.
Elita One!
Even to think her name as he touched her spark sent a balm through him.
Elita One!
He felt her spark stutter in surprise as she felt him embracing her. A moment hung suspended as she processed the shock of feeling him so close. As if she could not believe him real. Even he himself was still in utter shock to find his sparkmate so close. So close. The moment passed, and with it, Elita threw everything she had at him.
Optimus Prime!
The tidal wave was fierce, fulfilling. Elita's very essence seemed to become palpable.
Oh Primus, Optimus Prime!
As if she had been sitting next to him, he heard her twinkling laughter. Carried on the breeze, her joyful laughter and crying drifted like spirits about him. She became the music of human-made wind chimes singing in the breeze. Her presence became so strong that Optimus dared to reach out, trying to grasp her astral presence with his physical hand. His spark soared and sang, reaching out as well. While his hand met nothing but the cold air, his spark tangled in a glowing energy that was all Elita One. She was near-physical in the way she touched, grasped, and wrapped herself around him in ways that spoke volumes of never letting go. Optimus was the complete reciprocation of the joy, grasping, embracing, and dragging Elita deeper into himself. They tangled, soared, pulsed.
How is this possible? Optimus thought, laughing in awe as he revelled in all that was Elita. So close. She felt so close. If he shuttered his optics, he could see her in his mind's optic in perfect minute detail. She was beauty incarnate. She was an avatar.
Elita could give no answer to his question, either because she knew of none to give, or because the answer was too grand to give with emotions alone. All she replied with was an astral laughter that tickled Optimus's spark, making everything from the bottom of his feet to the tips of his fingers tingle. She was laughing out of joy and relief; crying and laughing at the same time. Each note was ghostly in his audios, teetering on that wild precipice between their physical reality and the intangible bond that stretched infinitely between them.
Underlying it all, Optimus sensed not only joy but sadness as well. He was not one to forget in the joys of their reunion that Elita was still missing. She was still suffering somewhere. He took her gently into the deepest embrace his spark could offer, brought her as deep into himself as he dared, offering what strength he had left to her.
Where are you, love? Tell me where you are… I'll find you, I swear.
Elita's astral grasp tightened as she felt Optimus's desperate enquiries. He could feel her twisting for answers to give him, but she had none. She had no clue where she was. All Optimus gained was the impression of a very dark place. Dark, cold, and terrible. Even with the merest touch of the place, he felt sickened inside. When he tried to pry further into her suffering, a frightened wall was thrown up.
Please don't, Optimus, she begged, tugging him away from those terrible thoughts. She didn't want to show him her sufferings. She didn't want to hurt him, nor burden him with the terror of discovering what she was going through without any idea of where she was. Enjoy this moment. It's all we have.
She was so desperate. Her astral fingers clutched to his spark, desperate, begging him not to ruin what little joy she had. While everything in Optimus told him he should do everything in his power to find Elita, his spark was hers, and because of that, he could not resist her. With her love, her life, so close to his own, he could do very little other than be filled and lost within joy.
"Optimus?" A nervous voice called from next to him, very close, to the left but lower than his audio. It was familiar in so many ways. "Optimus, are you alright?"
Who ever was calling to him was breaking the spell. He could already feel Elita withdrawing, being pulled back to whatever pit she resided in.
"You're scaring me," called the familiar voice. Young, and by the pitch, it was a minibot. A flash of bright yellow resounded in Optimus's memory banks.
Elita! Elita One, don't go! Please don't leave me!
They shared no words, nor even a passing sense, but both knew of the reality of the matter. Elita had no choice but to return from whence she came. Whatever power had allowed her to cross the distance between them had waned, wavering. She slipped farther away, no matter how hard they tried to hold on to each other. He listened with an aching spark as the astral breeze which had carried his love's laughter grew softer, more distant.
"I'll find you, I swear!" Optimus promised, hoping to Primus that Elita heard.
The spell that held him to the lingering essence of Elita was shattered when a hesitant hand came to rest upon his upper arm. His optics came back into focus, and Optimus briefly wondered when he had turned them off. Swinging his gaze to the left, a bright yellow figure sat next to him, wide optics bright and nervous as he stared up at Optimus.
"Find who, sir?" Bumblebee wondered softly, obviously frightened. Under the light of Earth's full moon, the little scout looked smaller than he usually did, more fragile as his doorwings drew back. His optics looked as full as the moon, but brighter still as they regarded Optimus in deep concern.
"Elita One," Optimus replied automatically, not surprised that he had taken that oath aloud. Elita's designation fell from his mouthplates as sweet pleasure and deep sorrow.
Bumblebee reacted to the named instantly, jerking back his hand as if he hand been burned. "Were you having another attack?" he asked worriedly, two astroseconds away from calling out to Ratchet for help.
"No, nothing like an attack," Optimus assured. Even as he spoke, his spark did not burn in hollow raging pain as it usually did. There was an odd balm. He was haunted by the need to find her, but no longer did agony rage in him. It felt as if Elita had found a way to linger, and he himself felt stretched as if a part of him was elsewhere. No matter how long it had been since he had felt this way, Optimus could not deny that this was the odd and comforting feeling that had been with him always when Elita was near, when they had been together on Cybertron.
In spite of Optimus's reassurance, Bumblebee looked far from calmed. He kept staring, optics tracking every movement of Optimus's large frame as if he could find the one wrong move that would reveal what had truly happened. When nothing came to him, he finally lowered his gaze.
"What happened, sir… if it wasn't an attack?" the scout enquired, oddly formal.
He remembered the last time he had come upon Optimus after an attack, recalling the haunted look in his leader's optics and the odd conversation that followed. This time there had been no writhing. No piteous silent screaming. Instead, Prime had simply gone rigid, hands moving to his chest, and his faceplate had taken on a myriad of emotions too numerous and unfathomable to comprehend. Part of Bumblebee's formality came from the lingering fright that Optimus really had just suffered through a fresh attack, but a larger part came from the unrelenting chasm awning between the Prime and his fellow Autobots. Whatever Ironhide had said to him a few orns prior had broken Optimus out of his self-induced isolation, but that made it no less comfortable to be around him. At Ratchet's behest, Bumblebee had stayed with Optimus on the cold mountainside while the others continued to search for an appropriate landing spot for the Loki, as they had been doing for the last couple of nights.
Tonight, it seemed, Bumblebee was sitting next to a whole new Optimus Prime. No, not a new mech. A very familiar old one. There was a spark behind Prime's optics that had been left behind on Cybertron the orn the Ark had launched. Such warm, deep optics, alive and sparkling as they stared down at Bumblebee; the optics of the true Optimus Prime, alive one more after so long, as if something had energized him, resurrected him, from the inside out.
"I do not know what it was, Bumblebee, but I know without a doubt that it was not an attack," Optimus answered honestly, shaking his great head. A whoosh of warm air rushed out all his vents like he was easing a heavy weight from his shoulders. The night was obscured briefly by clouds of steam that curled around him, dissipating into the night amongst the stars and cold moon. "I simply felt her- I felt Elita One. As if she were so close I could touch her…" Beyond reason, his optics were drawn to the vast expanse of the velvet-black sky. A ripple seemed to cross the stars, like a stone tossed into a pond. He blinked, and the oddity was gone. Bumblebee had not noticed at all, his attention firmly riveted on his leader.
"Are you sure you don't want me to call Ratchet, or Ironhide?" he pressed, canting his head. "They could help you understand whatever happened…" A long silence stretched between them as Optimus continued to stare fixedly at the sky, long enough for Bumblebee to glance up, see nothing, and then return a confused stare to Optimus. "Sir?"
Optimus gave himself a brief shake. When he glanced back down to Bumblebee, he smiled grandly, freely, and reached out a kind hand to cup the young scout's faceplate.
"O-Optimus?" Bumblebee stuttered. The gesture was familiar from his youth, when he would spend evenings perched on the Prime's desk as a youngling working away at downloads. Optimus would often indulge in fond affections for him, but he hadn't done so in a long tiem. With his great head bowed, Optimus came to rest his forehead against the scout's, breathing steamy columns of warm air over him.
"I do not believe I need to understand just yet," he said, transformed into a figure that made Bumblebee's spark swell with familiarity and love. "I am content with simply accepting that what I just experienced was Elita One. She is out there, somewhere, and she will be found."
Bumblebee nodded determinedly, holding absolute faith in Optimus Prime as his leader to have the ability to find where Elita was.
Heartened by the little scout's unwavering confidence in him, Optimus's optics warmed further, taking on a deep azure glow. "It is time I shed my unfair grudge against my own mechs," he intoned, pulling his faceplate away. A sorry smile was offered to Bumblebee, supplementing him for the numerous bots and humans he had cold-shouldered over the past few orns. "I hope you can still find it in your spark to forgive me for my behaviour."
Whatever concern Bumblebee harboured for his leader dropped in that moment, replaced by an excited joy that spilled onto his faceplate like the sun lighting up the sky. "There's nothing to forgive, Optimus," he said warmly, every word sincere, straight from the spark. "You care for Elita One more than anyone else in the universe. Everyone knows that. We'd all be incredibly stupid to think this wouldn't affect you." He didn't think about what he was about to do, he just allowed his frame to move, easing up, arms out, wrapping them around the Prime's shoulders in a hug that was loving, joyous, and innocent. "I'm happy that you're back, though."
"As am I," Optimus replied, setting aside his mantle as Prime in order to indulge in the innocent, warm comfort Bumblebee was offering. The only real thing to have changed about the little scout over the vorns was his height, for his spark was just as kind as it had been the orn it was created. Optimus brushed the side of his faceplate to the top of Bumblebee's horned head, holding him as a Creator would hold their Creation.
Trapped within the loop of Optimus's long arms, Bumblebee chirped lightly, and then sighed so that billows of steam floated around them. "I promise I'll help you find her. I don't care how long it takes, or what we have to do, I'll help you." He was quiet for a moment, tightening his arms as if to hold on to the moment, reluctant to let go of this break from reality. He was a little youngling again, terrified of the explosions rocking Iacon's outer defences and seeking comfort in Optimus's strong arms, his comforting presence. "I love her as much as I love-"
You
But Bumblebee didn't dare say that.
"-all the Autobots."
Even if the word was never said, Optimus heard it. He loved Bumblebee just as much, if not, though there were so many things that prevented him from saying so. There would be an orn in the future when he could tell the minibot how deep his love for him spanned, tell him how close their sparks really were, but tonight would not be the night for that.
"That's very big of you, Bumblebee," Optimus said slowly, warmly.
"I really mean it," the scout insisted, his arms tightening fractionally. "I'll do anything I can to get her back." If it meant having Optimus back to himself, letting him live without pain, then Bumblebee truly would pour everything he had into finding Elita One.
"I believe you," Prime assured him quietly. They sat unmoving for a long while, silence except for their sparkbeats and the occasion sigh that stirred the stiff, brittle grass around them. Optimus dared only to move one hand away, bringing it up to trace the back of Bumblebee's smooth head in long, calming strokes, in a similar way to what he would have done when Bumble had been a youngling. Neither had a mind for time as the night passed by, but if either had checked their chronometers, they would have seen that two hours had passed since Optimus had first been roused by Elita's spark. She had yet to return as strongly as she first had, and the curious ripple to the sky was not to repeat, so finally Optimus let his optics fall and his arms withdraw.
"Shall we return to the Lennox homestead?" he asked, watching Bumblebee back away from the embrace. The scout's foot caught on a patch of slick, frosted grass, and he slipped a couple feet down the steep incline. Luckily, he was caught by a doorwing before falling too far and taking out half the mountainside with him.
"I- uh, yeah… let's get back," he twittered, steadying himself on his feet and watching as Optimus moved to stand in one fluid gesture of grace.
They eased down the slope carefully, gripping the steady trunks of ancient trees and sloughing through thin layers of snow and the shed debris of the forest that carpeted the ground. Everything about their presence was acutely alien compared to the silence of the organic land; they were loud as servos hissed, hydraulics whined, and the trees they used for better balance groaned with the weight they rested on them. The ground crackled dryly, while startled animals scurried for cover. Moonlight filtering through the treetops dappled the frosted earth, while the unnatural flash of their headlights glared straight ahead. They reached level ground together without incident, finding a barely-there path in the undergrowth, transforming, and making their way south along it.
Will's land was a world unto itself, hidden away by the twists and turns of the mountains of northern California, isolated on all side for miles from the nearest human settlement. Cupped in the palms of many surrounding mountains, the land Will's ancestors cultivated was oddly fertile in spite of the often cooler temperatures. Within the first few moments of the Autobots' arrival on the human's land, it became obvious to the Cybertronians the love their alien host had for his farmland and the solitude it granted him. Even for mechanical beings such as the Autobots, they had to admit to the lonely beauty the land held.
Optimus and Bumblebee's alt modes sat lower to the ground than their bipedal ones, making the two Cybertronians feel oddly small as austere mountains stretched up on either side. The landscape gave the feeling of standing in an ancient crack in the earth, the icy wind whistling through like a whisper of the past, making the gorge feel even more hollow than it already was.
Passing barren fields that would lay in slumber until Spring, they rolled into the open yard where the Lennox homestead sat dark and silent. They failed to note the pair of eyes that flashed in the kitchen window as they rolled into sight. Had they have extended their sensors to the house, they would have noted the panicked presence now crouched beneath the ledge of the sink, hand over mouth to prevent any noise from seeping out. Grass crunched beneath tires as the two Autobots rounded the main barn Will had granted them for their stay. Farm animals, aside from a number of chickens and a few horses, had not been present on the farm for a few decades, leaving several barns gutted and vacant for the Autobots' use, though they were warned not to be too rowdy lest the rotted wood give out and come crashing down on their heads. On the far side, Jazz had been unpacked from Optimus's trailer, laid out on a berth of wooden crates and plywood.
Coming to rest comfortably near the back of the large barn, Optimus sank down on his wheels and prepared to wait for the dawn. He knew if he engaged his recharge subroutines, the only thing his mind would see would be reel after reel of Elita. He longed for that to happen, but knew if he let it, he might not want to online again.
"I just contacted Ratchet and the others," Bumblebee announced, coming to rest in his alt mode next to Optimus's side. "They'll be back by dawn."
"I see. Thank you," Optimus said. The barn creaked around them as they sat in silence. Optimus had no doubt the little scout was texting furiously with Sam and the others to see how they were doing. Reluctant to tear the minibot away from his friends, Optimus posed his next question carefully. "Are you… looking forward to seeing Arcee again?"
Everything about Bumblebee stilled. After a fashion, he replied cautiously. "Of course I am, more than anything."
The sincerity in the scout's words appeared to put Optimus at further ease, endearingly reminiscent of himself and Elita One.
While the Cybertronians had been fortunate enough to have spent the last six months of their time on Earth on a base surrounded by humans who were in the know about them, the experience had spoiled them somewhat. Mimicry and camouflage were still their expertise, but they no longer had the luxury of assuming their bipedal modes at leisure with Sarah Lennox in the vicinity.
Regardless of Ironhide's daily arguments with Will over informing Sarah of their presence, Will remained adamant that he was waiting for the right time. He was not going to ruin his family's Christmas because the weapons specialist didn't like turning on his holo-emitters. As the human had put it, he'd tell his mate about them in the Spring, when it was warm enough to sleep in the barns after she kicked him out of the house. When it suited him, Ratchet would occasionally insert himself into the argument, taking a pseudo-high ground by iterating the importance of honesty with one's mate; the longer Will was untruthful, the more likely Sarah was going to be extremely offended by his secrecy. Though the medic didn't say his true intentions, he was just as annoyed of using holograms as Ironhide was. Optimus was blessedly neutral on the subject, while Bumblebee and Wheeljack were having so much fun pretending to be human that it couldn't possibly be healthy.
True to Bumblebee's announcement a few hours prior, Ratchet, Ironhide, and Wheeljack came back just after dawn crept over the peaks. They looked utterly bushwhacked, their stances tired and sunken on their wheels, but neutral-faced holograms sat in their driver's seats betraying nothing.
Optimus rumbled a warm greeting as they came into the shelter of the barn, surprising the three Autobots with his newfound amiability. After the initial surprise, they whole-sparkedly embraced the return of Optimus Prime. They were quick to be informed of the reasons of the Prime's sudden lift in mood. Although confused by it, and Ratchet found it somewhat worrisome, they were altogether happy that Optimus had been granted this small reprieve from sparkache. He deserved as much.
Even better news; a possible landing site had been found to the north by northeast. It was a hidden niche in the mountainous region beyond the boundaries of Will's land, but not by far. It was large enough to fit a moderately-sized ship such as the Loki, and secluded enough to make discovery by civilians negligible. Ratchet had stumbled upon the place by complete accident, but after allowing Ironhide and Wheeljack to inspect the place, the three of them had concluded that it was unlikely they were going to find anywhere better.
"All that's left is to show Will our chosen site," Ratchet said. "I'm sure he would be interested to see where we have chosen to land the ship."
"He's been a real help ta us, so it's the least we could do," Wheeljack intoned merrily.
Optimus bobbed his front end in a nodding fashion. "Yes, I feel he would appreciate the inclusion after all of his assistance in this matter." A brief check of local time revealed that it was roughly 10 o'clock in the morning on the day of December 24th. Ten in the morning was generally a good time to call on Will- not too early as to bother any morning rituals he and his mate had together, nor too late to make it seem as if they were negligent of their alien hosts. "We can go greet him for the morning and inform him of the good news."
It wasn't necessary for them to park closer to the house for their holo-emitters to work, but it was intensely reassuring to have their alt modes within their line of sight after they transferred partial consciousness to their holograms. The closer to the house they got, the more obvious it became that there was a distinct disturbance going on inside. As one, they focused their audios to hear the loud exchange.
"-don't, Will! Just don't! I don't want to hear it!"
"Sarah, please, just listen to me! It was the middle of the night; your eyes could have been playing tricks on you-."
"I know what I saw!"
Will sighed expansively, jigging Annabelle in his arms to prevent her from picking up on her mother's near-hysterical mood. He looked to Sarah pleadingly. "You could have just been dreaming it."
Sarah flapped a hand in the air as if to slap away the petty explanation. "I was not dreaming! I was not hallucinating! My eyes weren't playing tricks on me! I came downstairs last night to get a glass of water and I saw that big truck and the yellow car driving around the yard without their drivers! I'm not crazy, Will! I saw it!"
The Cybertronians froze in their tire tracks.
"Sarah, sweetheart, you know I love you, but there has got to be a reasonable explanation-."
"Bullshit, Will! I call bullshit!" A loud bang followed; a frying pan had been tossed into the sink harder than necessary. "I've known you long enough to know when you're lying!"
Will's cringe was practically audible.
"She's going to break him," Ironhide grumbled.
"I give him a few more minutes," Ratchet countered.
"I haven't been lying to you…" Not the most confident statement he had ever made, but Sarah breathing fire was enough to make any man a little nervous. And it was true, he tried to justify for himself. He hadn't really lied to her; the Autobot's were his friends and they were simply looking over the land. He had just conveniently forgotten to mention they weren't human.
"You sure as hell haven't been telling the truth," Sarah growled accusingly, eyes flashing ire. "You're the one you brought them here. You tell me what's going on. They sure don't look military, they don't act like military; you say they're friends of yours, but other than that Ian Hyde guy, you've never mentioned them once, ever!" Her eyes narrowed, lips pale as she pressed them together in a thin line. "They've been weird since the day they got here."
"Weird how?" Will asked. Guilt was practically dripping from his voice now.
"Weird like the way they act, the way they talk! God, there's just something strange about them, I can't put my finger on it!" More loud clattering as Sarah tossed other dirty breakfast dishes into the sink. Annabelle sounded as if she were getting fussy. "They're always outside, even sleeping in a drafty old barn in the middle of winter, and yet they never seem to find it cold! They never want to come inside, and when they do come in, they act like they can't wait to get back outside with their precious cars. They never eat, they never drink, they never look like their tired. You're always out in the woods with them looking for god only knows what! I'm not stupid, Will! I know something is happening! Just tell me! I can take it!"
"Please, can't we talk about this another time? It's Christmas Eve…" He sounded like he was begging now.
"Exactly! It's Christmas, and yet you bring five complete strangers here, to our home, when I haven't even gotten to see you in months! I don't get it! If you just tell me the truth…."
From where the Autobots were positioned, they could see Sarah Lennox crossing the kitchen to where Will was standing by the table. She touched his face with a shaking hand, searching his eyes.
"I'll understand, I swear. If you'll just be honest with me, I won't even care if you brought home some kind of military experiments, or aliens or something."
"Oh, she's good," Wheeljack said, clearly impressed.
"It's not that simple…" Will sighed.
His admission was the last straw on the female's patience. She spun around and marched away, heading for the backdoor to get some much needed fresh air. All it took was three hasty steps outside before her eyes shot up and caught sight of the five waiting vehicles sitting only a few short yards away. They were all driverless, though the feeling of being stared at was strong enough to make her skin crawl. She stopped breathing altogether, unable to take her eyes off the eclectic collection. Her movements were jerky as she backed away towards the backdoor still standing ajar. Tumbling in, she threw the door closed, spinning around, only to find her kitchen far more crowded now than it had been when she left.
Around the table, the men Sarah knew as Owen, Ian, and Richard sat neutrally with her husband, though Will had dropped his head and was slowly shaking it back and forth. Jack merrily leaned against the back of Richard's chair, smiling broadly. Benjamin, undeniably the cutest member of the quintet, leaned with his back against the table, watching Sarah anxiously.
"Oh my god," she gasped, groping for a hard surface to steady herself on. How did they get in the house so fast?
"Sarah Lennox," Owen began, watching her with disturbingly intense eyes, "I believe there are a few long-overdue explanations owed to you."
Yes, the man Sarah knew as Owen had always had a very deep voice, but now it was different, more intense, and metallic??? She made a whimpering noise, losing balance. Her fall caused everyone at the table to grimace. Without thinking, Will shoved Annabelle into the nearest set of arms, being Ratchet's, and rushed to his wife's side.
"Honey, it's okay. It's okay," he reassured, helping her up as she floundered numbly. Her pale yellow housecoat sagged open in the minor struggle, but thankfully she was fully dressed underneath in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. She wrapped her fist in Will's shirt to keep her upright, her hand shaking even as she held him.
"Who-? What are you?" she squeaked, staring wild-eyed from Optimus's hologram to Ratchet's, who was eyeing Annabelle as if trying to determine exactly what to do with her. Annabelle was unconcerned with her current keeper, flapping her arms with a burbled squawk of laughter. A wet Cheerio was stuck to her forehead.
"We're aliens," Wheeljack intoned happily, sticking out a finger to tickle Annabelle beneath her chin. "Well, technically, those vehicles you see out there are the aliens. What you see here are just extensions."
Every drop of blood in Sarah's face drained out, her vision taking on a tunnel-like quality. Aliens? Honest to god aliens? She wavered on her feet, pale grey-blue eyes darting to Annabelle. Her precious little baby was currently being bounced in the arms of an alien extension? That did not sit well with her at all.
Ratchet sighed, scanning the poor, dumbstruck woman. "Watch out, Will. She's going to faint."
"Oh, crap!" He caught her before she hit the floor. Because of the awkward catch, he was forced to juggle Sarah's weight before managing to guide her limp body safely to the hardwood floor. Once sure she was out of harm's way, he glared at the collection of holograms as if everything were their fault. Justifiably, it was. "That could have gone so much better."
"My apologies, Will- this was certainly not what we intended when we came here. I take full responsibly, of course," Optimus said, shaking his head.
That did little to sooth the human. In fact, he looked a little more aggitated. "How'd she even see you guys without your holograms? You've been so good with them for the last week!"
Optimus looked to Bumblebee, whose head was bowed and he was scuffing his foot against the floor. The Prime supplied the answer for the captain once more. "Bumblebee and I drove into the yard last night without our holograms. We weren't paying attention. If we had, we would have caught Sarah's presence on sensors..."
Brushing a stray lock of hair away from his wife's face, Will dropped his glare, rolling his shoulders in a loose shrug. "What's done is done, I guess," he sighed. "Just an accident... it's not like you were aiming to traumatize her." he even dared to chuckle a little. "Can't change it, even if I wish it could have been handled better. No point in hiding anymore."
Ironhide rolled his eyes. "Thank Primus." His hologram immediately dissipated.
Ignoring the weapons specialist's usual gruffness, Will kept his gaze Optimus's hologram. "Any particular reason for this mid-morning rousing, other than to give Sarah the scare of her life?"
"Indeed..." Prime still managed to pull off a pretty good guilty look as a human. "An appropriate landing site has been found, and we were hoping to invite you along to scout it out with us today. If everything is found in order, the Loki can be cleared for landing as soon as night falls."
Will ran a quick hand through his hair. "Wow, so soon?"
"Why wait?" Wheeljack shrugged nonchalantly.
"Some of us are eager to have the ship on the ground," Ratchet intoned, inclining his head towards Ironhide's alt mode where he sat rumbling outside.
"Ah, yeah, Ironhide and his mate…" Will chuckled ruefully.
"Are you going to come along with us?" Bumblebee asked, canting his blond head.
Will's eyebrows rose, looking at a loss. It was Christmas Eve day, which, traditionally for followers of the Christian religion, was a significant day, as was the actual day of the 25th. He had duties to his family to see to before he could flounce off into the mountains to celebrate with his alien comrades. On the other hand, Optimus and the others were his really good alien comrades/friends. But with Sarah currently out cold on the kitchen floor like she was…
Recognizing the dilemma he had inadvertently placed on Will's shoulders, Optimus sought to ease the burden. "You do not have to come with us today. With your mate now informed of us-," he inclined his head towards Sarah's unconscious form, "-it will be much easier to bring the new arrivals here without worrying about maintaining a human guise. You will undoubtedly meet them soon."
Will thought of Jazz's frame laid out on wooden crates like a mockery of a human funeral. The others coming would want to see their fallen comrade. He knew that the transformers had different practices with their dead, but he seriously got the impression that there was someone on the Loki whom everyone knew would want to see Jazz especially.
"Yeah… I'll meet the new Autobots when you bring them. For now, I'm going to stay with Sarah. I'll explain everything to her when she comes to." He quirked them a half-smile, jerking his chin in the direction of the kitchen window. "You guys better get going, though. It looks like Ironhide's about to start tearing up my lawn." The huge Topkick rumbled by ominously, his engine growling so deeply it made the windows rattle.
"If you wish, someone could stay behind for now to assist with anything," Optimus offered.
"I'll stay," Bumblebee volunteered, smiling sweetly. "It's the least I can do, considering I was one of the bots Sarah caught without a hologram."
"Don't you have a friend coming in on that ship?" Will wondered.
"I'll find my way to the landing site tonight," Bumblebee assured kindly. "Now is just the time to make sure it is an appropriate place. I'm fine with missing that formality."
"We'll be on our way, then," Optimus said, dissipating. Wheeljack followed suit, and Ratchet went seconds after, sparing a moment to plunk Annabelle into her highchair and scoot a few Cheerios closer to her chubby fists. Bumblebee's hologram trotted to the window to watch his fellow Autobots drive away. As soon as they were out of sight, the scout drove closer to the house, parking right underneath the kitchen window, and then a bright smile lit up his too-cute, almost inhumanly perfect face.
"Optimus looked to be in a better mood now," Will commented, preparing to drag his wife to the living room couch.
"Oh yes, he's in a much better mood, isn't he?" Bumblebee said happily.
"You too, come to think of it," Will noted curiously, smiling in return of Bumblebee's sparkling smile.
"When he is happy, I am happy." He paused to consider something, and then said, "I think what you call a 'Christmas miracle' happened for him." No matter how curious a statement he just made, the scout did not elaborate further. He simply walked over and plucked Sarah from Will's arms as if she weighed nothing, taking her into the living room to lay her out on the couch. In an act of indulgence, he smoothed away her hair as he'd seen Will do, and then wondered if he was going to have to care for Arcee in a similar way when she arrived.
"HELLOOOOOOOOO!"
"Hello…Hello…Hello… Hello…"
"HOW ARE Y-?!
"WHEELJACK, SHUT UP!"
"Shut up…Shut up… Shut up… Shut up…"
Ratchet glared flatly while Wheeljack broke into a fit of laughter as the echoes died away.
"It's not that funny," the medic grumped.
"Not funny to you, maybe." The engineer's fins flashed brightly in time to his laughter. Their chosen landing site had been approved and night had set, and now they were enjoying some downtime before the Loki hit the atmosphere. Wheeljack's laughter only stopped when a huge semi-solid ball of cold white stuff launched into the side of his head. After a moment of squealing and wild flailing, he managed to wipe away most of the snow. It was his turn to glare at the guilty party.
Ratchet grinned, shaking snow from his hands. "See? Now that's funny."
Wheeljack opened his mouthplates to retort that no, it wasn't funny, but as he took an astrosecond to think about it, yeah, it was kind of funny. And, if it was enough to get his old friend grinning and acting less like a sourpuss and more like the good old mech Wheeljack knew was in there deep down, then tossing snowballs was fine by him. Of course, that didn't mean he couldn't retaliate.
Ratchet caught the engineer's creeping grin, his own vanishing quickly. "You wouldn't."
"Humans gotta saying, Ratch'- all's fair in love and war." Quick as he would have been on the battlefield, Wheeljack dove for the snow, shaped it, and launched his attack.
Battle training kicked in immediately, having Ratchet dodge to the side. He swiped the ground for more snow, launching one snowy projectile after the other. Wheeljack dove for cover in the trees, hoping the thick boughs of the evergreens would be enough to shield his bulk. Unfortunately, his hiding spot made manoeuvring difficult, and the ground around his feet was scarce of snow.
"Aw, slag," he groaned, stretching up high to see Ratchet waiting for him a few paces away, confidently tossing a single snowball. "Truce?" he called hopefully.
"No way. You asked for it," Ratchet snorted, lobbing his snowball at the flash of light he saw peek through the dark trees. He knew he hit something when he heard Wheeljack yelp, which only made Ratchet laugh. The whole situation was ridiculously immature, especially for bots of their advanced positions, and yet the release of tension it granted… It felt almost as if they were younglings again back at the Straxis Youth Sector. It had been eons since Ratchet had had the opportunity to feel so young or alive; Wheeljack was definitely rubbing off on him.
Optimus watched with bemused interest as he sat on a rocky outcropping that jutted from the sloping mountainside, thankfully far enough away from the tussle to be spared the indignity of getting a snowball to the faceplate. He wondered if it was his own improved mood that was causing this suddenly uplift in mentality amongst his mechs. It was a nice thought, but he couldn't deny that the idea of more of their kind would be landing on Earth soon wasn't enough to lighten even the grumpiest of them.
And speaking of the grumpiest of them all…
"Ironhide, come, sit with me before you wear a trench in the ground," Prime called, waving to the dark shadow pacing the far end of the mountain-formed basin.
The weapons specialist's snort echoed off the high rock walls. He gave a wave of dismissal and then returned to pacing the perimeter, pausing every so often to comb the low cloud ceiling for any sign of the Loki's belly breaking through. As he turned into a deeper shadow, a flash of electric-blue light rolled off him. When he raised a hand to touch the steaming metal of his chest, another lash of blue lightning arced into the air. He was anxious, excited, to see his mate again.
Accepting the dismissal, Optimus watched his old friend for a breem longer, feeling no jealousy as he regarded him. Ironhide would have Chromia in his arms in only a very short time, and that was cause for celebration. Optimus was happy for him, more so now than ever before. He was happy for Ironhide in an unburdened way that made him feel light-sparked and free. Elita had done that for him- he had been given a taste of his own sparkmate, and she lingered with him stronger than what he felt in a long time, and in that he found his freedom to be happy for his fellow Autobots. And he knew that sometime soon it would be he who was welcoming Elita One into his arms. Touching the very tips of his fingers to his own chest, Optimus dared to smile at the faintest spark of blue that licked from the seam in his chest to his hand.
A brief break in the cloud cover shed silver light over the deep basin they gathered in. It was nearly time for the Loki to make planet fall. Excitement and nervousness were starting to thread the air. No one mentioned it, but they all felt it; the building palpable energy that thickened with every passing moment, with every sparkbeat. It was a given how Ironhide and Chromia were going to react to each other; there were going to be fireworks, and possible forest fires, involved. And one would have to be utterly stupid to think there was going to be anything less than a volatile reaction between Ratchet and the twins. But how would Bumblebee and Arcee hold up when they came faceplate-to-faceplate? What of Prowl when he discovers the fate of Jazz? What of the damages of war upon the new arrivals' psyches? Would there be scars that not even the tentative attempts of alien psychology could touch? Heal? There were so many variables, so many things that could go terribly, horribly wrong…
A battle cry split the air as Wheeljack launched from the trees, taking Ratchet to the ground with a resounding crash. While they began to wrestle in earnest, it was far from a battlefield-worthy fight. It was more like what one would see between siblings, and youngling siblings at that. They flailed, flapped, and laughed as they simultaneously tried to push each other off while dragging them back in for more.
"This is highly undignified!" Ratchet yelled, trying to crawl away.
"Says the mech who threw the first snowball!" Wheeljack grabbed a foot and yanked him back. Grooves appeared in the frozen ground where Ratchet tried to dig his fingers in. "Might as well get it outta yer system now, Ratch', 'cause as soon as Sunny and Sides arrive, you know you ain't havin' no more fun."
Not far to the left, two tall evergreens bowed as Bumblebee shimmied through. Having been guided by the rather obvious prints his fellow Autobots left behind, he found their hideaway easily. And if that wasn't enough, he could have followed the all the racket back to its source; the scout had heard Wheeljack's shouts all the way from Will's house. Stopping dead at the sight of Wheeljack straddling Ratchet's back and shovelling handfuls of snow into the medic's faceplate, Bumblebee stared as if he had suddenly wandered into an alternate universe. For their part, neither wrestling mech paid the yellow bot much mind. Spotting Optimus well away from the fray, Bumblebee quickly made his way over.
"I would say it was the thin air that was getting to them, but I doubt you would believe me," Optimus said in place of a greeting.
"There's so many strange things on this planet, I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case," Bumblebee laughed, scrambling up over loose rock to sit beside the Prime. "Although, one has to wonder if Wheeljack's craziness isn't contagious."
"That's a distinct possibly," Optimus chuckled, casting a wry glance to his CMO and head engineer, both of whom were forced to call a truce when they discovered they had used up all the snow in their near vicinity. Ratchet was holding up his surgical saws to keep Wheeljack at bay, and Wheeljack was brandishing an energon saw from his forearm. There was no threat in their stances. However, Ratchet did look distinctly peeved as his tried to wipe smears of dirt off his faceplate.
"Is the Loki landing soon?" Bumblebee wondered, breaking the Prime from his appraisal of his mechs.
"They'll be in position soon," Optimus replied. "They'll alert us when they're ready."
"Ah, good." Bumblebee looked to be a pure bundle of ill-contained nervousness, shifting and glancing about. His optics were overly bright, and his doorwings twitched with every small movement he made.
"What of the Lennox family?" Optimus enquired, hoping to distract the scout for a short while.
Predictably, Bumblebee's optics flashed with the question, his faceplate perking up. "Oh, Sarah came back online shortly after you left. It took a while to explain everything, but I think she took the news relatively well," he informed. "I had to transform for her a few times before she believed what she was seeing." He paused, suddenly looking a little sheepish. "Annabelle kept laughing at me while I did it- I think she thinks I'm some giant toy."
Prime shook his head amusedly. "The human sparkling never ceases to amaze me," he intoned absently. "Such a frail little life, and yet she does not fear something so inherently dangerous to her. Much braver than even many adults of her kind."
Having never met another sparkling or youngling of his own kind, Bumblebee had no basis of comparision except from his own experiences. "It's kind of hard to tell, but maybe she knows that I won't hurt her. There are many documents on the internet indicating that human sparklings are very perceptive."
Optimus placed a fond hand atop Bumblebee's hand, smoothing the metal. "Perhaps that is it." There was no kinder spark in the universe than Bumblebee's. "Tell me, Sarah hasn't barred Will from the house, has she?"
"Not that I know of, but I did get the distinct feeling that she was waiting for me to leave so that she could talk Will," the scout informed with a definite double entendre on talk. "But, thankfully, she received our plight rather well. Now that she knows why we are here and who's coming soon, she's invited us to stay as long as we need to."
"That's very kind of her," Optimus intoned, inclining his head. "We may have to take up that offer."
As Bumblebee began to ask how long they intended to stay, a bright white-blue flash lit the night, followed closely by a gravelled shout.
"Prime!" Ironhide barked, Optimus's title echoing amidst a stampede of footsteps as the heavy-set mech started for them. "They're coming!"
On cue, Optimus accepted a static-laden transmission, Chromia's voice ringing through-
"We're in position, Optimus. Breaking the atmosphere- now."