Disclaimer : I don't own Transformers or any of it's affiliates. I only own Eliana and Erika.
Author's Note : I want to apologize in advance for my long time since last updating. Unfortunately, that's not going to get any better any time soon. I know some of you have been anxiously waiting for the next chapter, but sadly real life has decided to dump a whole pile of steaming slag on me at once. :\ I'm dealing with family issues, health issues, and a death in the family, so my real life is hectic at best, at the moment.
That is not to say I won't be updating. I do NOT plan on giving up on this story. Especially not when I am so close to the ending. It's just...going to take a while for updates. So I am sorry. You've all been so incredibly patient and I wish I had better news.
I was going to make this strictly an A/N update, but since I had a chapter ready to go I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone, so hopefully this update won't be as disappointing/annoying to you.
Sorry again.
'Kitten.
(Normal POV)
He couldn't believe his luck.
Being ordered to assist Thundercracker with his repairs had seemed like a punishment, at first. Thundercracker wasn't really known for his patience, especially when in pain. Add to that the fact he was ordered in the opposite direction from quite possibly the only living sparkling, unable to watch over it and ensure it's safety, and it was safe to say today was not Barricade's day.
But then Thundercracker had started whining.
It started with 'troublesome Autobots' and 'Pit-spawned twin terrors', but quickly shifted to 'strange humans' and 'curious responses'. It went on and on, grinding on Barricade's waning sanity, until the only recourse left was to pin the damaged bot to the ground and demand the details of what happened from him.
Then, with processor spinning, Barricade abandoned the Seeker to his repairs and fled towards the nearby city, where the battle was already waging.
The human femme protected the sparkling?
He really didn't know why he was going to the battle. He was still damaged. His communications were fine, but only about half his weapons were functional. The Autobots would target him the moment he revealed himself, and Starscream would probably join them in the hunt, just because his being here was directly disobeying his orders.
And yet, the only thing on his processor was what Thundercracker had said.
The human femme had protected the sparkling.
Even at the cost of her own health.
It wasn't possible...was it?
Was it possible that maybe this human was capable of caring for a sparkling?
He'd been trying to process the information as he drove through the battlefield and past countless organic and Cybertronian corpses alike. He stared at body after body, suddenly feeling something other than the cold indifference he'd known for a megavorn. He passed the decimated remains of a young human sparkling and felt his spark clench in discomfort.
Humans were pathetic and weak, but a sparkling was still a sparkling, and the last place for a sparkling was a battlefield.
This was what their war had become.
He was lost in thought when a glimmer of light caught his attention. Focusing, he found his engine stalling when he caught sight of the familiar yellow and black form of the Autobot Scout. But it wasn't the Scout that caught and held his attention. It was the Allspark. Or, more specifically, the Allspark, and the seven young organics surrounding it.
Barricade couldn't help but perk up. This was his chance! He could finally... He could finally... He could...what? What would he do? Take the Allspark and give it to Megatron? Give it to Starscream? Continue the war? Or take it and run, and end up being chased by both Autobots and Decepticons? He could leave the Allspark and take the femme, but...somehow, he had a sneaking suspicion the results would be the same.
Transforming up, he crouched and hid behind a broken building, watching as two humans worked to hook the damaged Scout up to the 'tow truck', while the rest of the humans in the area argued over the Allspark and...
Wait, did she just say Primus?
He found himself suddenly tuning into the conversation between the fleshlings, struck by morbid curiosity, and quickly found himself unable to believe his audio receptors.
Primus had brought them here?
Primus wanted them to help the Autobots?
Primus had interferred on the behalf of the Autobots to help them?
Just like that, Barricade's optics landed on the femme from before. Maybe he was...wrong. Maybe humans could be capable of compassion. After all, if Primus had chosen them, there had to be a reason why.
And yet, his optics fell to the Allspark as femme after femme reached out and placed fleshy little hand after fleshy little hand on the faces of their planet's most revered treasure. A strange compulsion he couldn't explain hit him then, and before he could second guess what he was doing, he broke cover.
Even as he heard a shout and found himself dodging incoming shots from nearby Autobots, he raced towards the group, claw outstretched.
Whether he was reaching for the femme or the Allspark, he didn't really know.
Unfortunately, so focused on the Cube was he, he failed to notice the blur moving to intercept him.
(Eliana's POV)
It was...kind of unbelievable.
One minute we were in the middle of a battlefield and the next...we were nowhere on Earth. At least, if you judged the fact we were surrounded by trees and bushes that looked like they were made of metal and crystal. The trees had long, twisting trunks that looked like bands of metal wrapped around each other, winding upwards and outwards as trunk turned into branches. Each branch was covered with thousands upon thousands of elegantly curving crystal leaves that glittered every color of the rainbow under not one, but two moons.
How many moons did Cybertron have, again? Two? Three?
"Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore!"
Reaching out, I ran my fingers through a small grouping of leaves, listening to the musical wind chime sounds they gave off as they brushed against each other.
It was different, it was alien, but...it was beautiful!
"Really? What was your first clue? The glowing pond in front of us?"
Yeah, there was that, too.
Earth didn't have glowing ponds.
...I think...
Turning my head, I let my gaze drift out over the bright neon green fluid-filled hole before me. My eyes caught on the crystalline-looking lillies that floated on the surface of it, around the edges, and the multicolored lights that seemed to hover over some of them like alien fire flies.
"Or maybe its the giant metal and glass trees?"
It was like something out of a fantasy.
Or a dream.
Or...my dream...because I distinctly remembered dreaming of a place like this only what? A day or two ago?
"Are you sure that's glass? It kinda looks like crystal."
"There's a difference?"
"Yeah. When light shines through crystal at certain angles, it tends to give off rainbow hues. When it's struck, it gives off an almost musical ping compared to glass, and generally crystal tends to be heavier than glass."
"We're clearly not on Earth, and you're debating the differences between glass and crystal?"
Without any real thought, I found my fingers going back to the leaves of the strange tree behind me. I let my fingers run over them, feeling the weight and sturdiness of them and listening to the sound as it seemed to float through the otherwise silent area we all stood in. I found myself confused and half expecting the strange voice from my dream to speak up out of nowhere once again.
"We're in a fictional world filled with fictional characters. I think logic went bye-bye a long time ago."
Truer words had never been spoken.
"Speaking of, anyone know where we are?"
"Uh, duh! We're on Cybertron!"
Turning to the rest of the girls (and guy), I watched as everyone just sort of...milled around. Aimlessly.
Kathy and Tina were crouched near the edge of the glowing pond, quietly daring each other to stick a finger in. I watched, amused, as the two who were actually older than Erika and I slowly mentally regressed to a couple of five year olds, and began slapping each other's arms. At least until Kathy yelped and almost fell in, only for Tina to tackle her to the side to safety.
Then I let my eyes drift over to Erika, who was sitting on a giant metallic...rock pile. Or so I guessed it was meant to be. It really just looked like a giant lump of shapeless metal sitting on the ground. It had sharp looking edges, and then flat looking faces, and Erika had found a nice little niche between a couple of deadly looking spikes to sit quietly.
Zayda held what looked like a crystal flower between her hands, turning it this way and that and smiling ever so slightly.
And the two new guys? Angie? No, Angel. Angel and Alex. They were standing around, looking more lost than any of us. Angel, the red head of our impromptu little group with her long, wavy red hair, looked like she wanted nothing more than to wake up. In fact, she seemed to be pinching her arm, and I could totally sympathize with what she was going through. Alex, with his curly black hair, looked like he was in heaven!
He positively bounced in place as he pointed over all our heads. "See! There's two moons! Alpha One and Alpha Two!" He glanced around at all of us. "And then there's the pond, which is probably energon-"
Angel abruptly slapped a hand over her bouncy brother's mouth, frowning. "Okay, we get it! You're a little know-it-all who's spent way too much time in front of the television!" She held her hand in place a moment...before grimacing, yelping and pulling her hand away to stare at it in disgust and wipe it against her ripped skinny jeans. "That's disgusting! You little rat!" Raising a hand, she cuffed at the side of his head, only to net air as he expertly dodged her, laughing as he raced away to begin scaling a pile of giant metal 'boulders'. "Alex! Be careful!"
"So, basically, we're on Cybertron." Erika frowned and leaned forward, swinging her legs a little. "That doesn't explain why we're here."
'You are here to finally make your choice, once and for all.'
I had a sneaking suspicion there wasn't one of us who didn't jump about a foot in the air. Even the nerdgasming Alex ended up falling off his metal rock with a yelp, and landing flat on his ass!
I might have laughed if I wasn't currently trying to restart my damn heart!
"Make our..." I looked up at the countless stars overhead, trying to pin point just which one the voice was coming from...before realizing what I was doing, and shaking my head. "I thought that's why we were here to begin with. Because we all made a choice."
'You all made a wish, but as I have witnessed personally, there is a very big difference between a wish and a truly informed decision. I brought you all to Cybertron's past to see what our world used to look like. There was a time it was peaceful and beautiful.'
Even as the voice spoke, things around us seemed to shimmer and shift. Trees turned into towering buildings that made Earth's tallest skyscrapers look like puny little toothpicks in comparison. The pond remained mostly the same, but the ground it seemed to lose the look of 'wild undergrowth' and turn more into an almost 'manicured lawn' type thing, with crystal flowers lining the pond, and large floating lights seeming to gently float through the air around it.
At first, I found myself trying to figure out what was causing the lights. Were they like light up drones? Some type of gravity-defying technology? Pole-less street lamps? But as one flew around us, I got a nice, close look and realized-
"Holy crapzilla! Cybertron had giant fireflies!"
I raised an eyebrow and stared in disbelief at the only boy in our little group of 'chosen' Trans-fans. "I don't know about you, but I've seen fireflies, and they don't look like that!" I gestured to the giant beetle-like robot...ic...being, noting the green eyes, and the fact it looked more like a spotless ladybug than a firefly.
There was a loud whirl and I jerked, looking to the side and-
"BUMBLEBEE?!"
The not-so-little yellow scout jumped forward with a whistle, emerging from the giant trees, and held up a hand. One of the glowing not-ladybugs floated over to land on his hand, and he stared at it in wonder.
"Where the slag are w-"
If I was surprised to see Bumblebee stumbling out of the trees to join us, imagine the downright shock I felt when an all too familiar black and white mech followed him, one clawed hand reaching out as if to rip Bee's adorable little door wings off, only for him to stop cold mid-step. His optics widened and his jaw dropped...and it was a slightly funny expression on the otherwise terrifying mech.
And Alex snorted.
And Barricade turned to us, seemed to eye us all, opened his mouth, then made a strage inarticulate sound and-
CLANG!
-promptly passed out.
"Oh my God, you killed Barricade! You bastards!"
Laughter seemed to break out in the alien clearing. Well, from all us humans, anyways. Bumblebee looked more bemused. Wait, could a robot look bemused? Well, if one could, Bee looked it! He stared from the glowing bugbot in his hand to the fallen form of Barricade, to the seven of us. Then he glanced down at his legs.
And I realized he had legs.
"Okay! I'm lost!" Kat held up a hand, suddenly. "I get we're-" She gestured to all of us humans briefly. "-here to make a decision-I'm so in, by the way!-but why are Bee and 'Cade here?"
She's 'in'? That's one, I guess.
Wait, how is no one else questioning the fact that Bumblebee has his legs again?
...Oh. Right. Primus brought us here. He could probably turn Bumblebee into a pretty pink butterfly if he wanted...
'I have called upon one Autobot and one Decepticon to witness your decisions.'
"You want us to choose between going home and saving an entire alien race, and invited two members of said alien race to watch as we struggle with the decision?" I looked at Bumblebee, who was staring out over the glowing energon pond with a strange, sad look. Then I grimaced. "Wow, no pressure or anything."
'Cybertron's time has come and gone, but Earth's time is now. I have seen your 'movies'-'
I got a mental image of a giant Cybertronian Prime plopped down on a Prime-sized sofa, watching our Transformers movies...and facepalmed.
Hard!
'-I know that my children face the very real threat of extinction, but it is not only my children who are in danger. If the Autobots fail, Earth and humanity will be in grave danger. Not all Decepticons have been consumed by the darkness within their sparks, but there are those you need to fear. I have called upon you seven to aid me in protecting not only my children but Earth as a whole. Will you help me?'
Annnnnd slag just got real!
"But we're just kids!" Angel frowned off into the distance.
I felt like the world around me was spinning. Sure, I'd...sort of accepted the fact I was now in a fictional universe. Sure, I'd chosen to help the bots (if and when I could) while here. Even as I thought about it, my mind went straight back to the first time Jazz stood up, and riding on Optimus and Bee's shoulders, and looking into their optics, and my heart fluttered with absolute awe, but actually hearing the Cybertronian God asking me for help was...kind of flooring.
And judging by the way Kathy and Tina gaped, Zayda stumbled into a tree and Angel just sat down, I had a sneaking suspicion I wasn't the only one feeling it.
Erika shook her head, looked around at all of us, before looking at me with a scary determination. "I'm in!"
That's two... Wait, what?
"We're not Gods, Erika!" The words were out of my mouth, before I'd really processed the thought, and as soon as I had, I facepalmed. Again. Good Lord, I was doing that a lot! I brought my phone to life and Kat either healed or resurrected Sunstreaker. "Let me rephrase, we're seven human beings. What can we do against the entirety of the Decepticon army? Or the evil humans, for that matter?"
'You have knowledge. Knowledge can be great power.'
"With great power comes great responsibility."
Tearing my eyes from the stars, I glared at Erika. "Seriously? You think now's the time to be quoting Uncle Ben?"
She looked at me and shrugged. "It seemed appropriate."
"Appropriate." For a moment, all I could do was blink at her. Then, considering all we'd been through, I found myself shaking my head and laughing quietly. "You're not wrong."
The clearing fell silent with us humans exchanging looks, and Bumblebee glaring down at the unconscious Barricade. I looked over everything, before raising a hand to my chest, and catching myself as I realized I was reaching for a certain adorable baby bot.
Sunfire.
A sparkling I brought to life.
"We can stop Sentinel from ever betraying the bots or killing Ironhide! We can stop Cemetary Wind from killing Sideswipe and Ratchet!" Erika was on a roll.
Alex jerked forward and pointed at her with wide eyes. "Yes! And maybe if we stop the Space Bridge from being activated and bringing Cybertron to Earth, we can stop the government from ever turning their backs on the bots!"
"Now you're speaking my language, kid!" Erika grinned widely and turned to me. "What do you say, Ellie? Will you come with us? Please?"
"I... I just... I mean, we... We don't even know all the details! What about Sunfire? Is every phone I touch gonna turn into a walking, talking bitty bot? Or Kathy! What about you with Sunstreaker? Are you going to miraculously bring every dead bot back to life?"
"He wasn't dead!" Tina blurt out, before blushing and wincing as everyone turned to her. Raising a hand, she shoved some of her hair out of her face, before shrugging. "And I'm in! I mean, if Kat is, someone has to be there to make sure she doesn't do anything stupid."
If Kat's in, Tina's in? I'm not surprised. That makes three. It seems like Tina and Kat are like me and Erika, only with a blood relation on top of it all.
"Yeah. Because that's the reason-Hey!"
Tina paused and blinked. "Well, anything else stupid." Then she abruptly reached out and Gibbs slapped Kathy.
"OW!"
"That's for giving me a freaking heart attack, earlier!"
"What? When?" Kat rubbed at her head and glared at her cousin.
"What do you mean 'When?' When you fell off Optimus' shoulder, dumbass!"
"I didn't do it on purpose!"
"OKAY!" Everyone fell quiet and turned to Erika, who looked slightly embarrassed at her outburst. She cleared her throat and nodded. "Okay, so... Kat, Tina and me are in. Who else?" She turned to me. "Come on, Ellie. They need us!"
I frowned and looked up. "You never answered my question! What about those crazy incidents? Were those one time things?"
'Each of you has been given a power from the Allspark. Eliana Bennett, you have the ability to create sparklings.'
What was that sound?
Oh, that was just my jaw hitting the ground with all the force of a face-hungry Optimus Prime.
Really?
Me?
Sparklings?
Am I seriously a freakin' broodmare for Cybertronian sparklings?
'Kathleen Carter, you carry the power to heal the critically injured. Tina Carpenter, you can bring the offlined back to life, but only if they were not meant to offline in the first place. Angel, you will have the ability to predict the future, but only the future that is put into motion with the decisions of your fellow chosen humans, and Alex, you will hold the ability to move and manipulate metal with your mind-'
Alex's eyes went wide. "I get telekinesis?! Holy crap!"
There was a chuckle from the voice in the sky.
'If you choose to remain and assist my children, you will change your own movies and you will require a way to protect not only yourselves but them as well.'
"Dude! This is awesome! We get super powers!"
"I can bring the dead back to life." Tina looked faint, and Kat gripped her arm tightly as though to steady her.
"And I can heal badly hurt bots. I guess that clarifies what happened with Sunny."
"Wait, what about me?" Erika pouted and whined, looking up at the starry sky above.
'Have you not yet noticed?' Primus sounded oddly amused. 'You, alone, have the ability to understand all forms of Cybertronian as though it was your own native language.'
"The ability to bridge language gaps." I hummed quietly. "And to keep the Cybertronian race going, and to heal the wounded and bring the dead back to life, and predict our own futures. You really are trying to help us keep your race alive."
'Not just my race...'
"What about the second part of our wish? Eliana and I wished to be triple changers. What about that?"
'Unfortunately, to change your forms now, at such a critical time, would be unwise. Your systems would not have sufficient time to adapt to the changes during the battle, and you would all be vulnerable.'
"But...we're humans. Aren't we going to be vulnerable anyways?"
"Dude! Don't question the supreme Cybertronian!"
I snorted as Alex immediately started in on his sister, who still looked uncertain, before frowning and realizing that half of us still had yet to choose. To stay and be forever changed, and be able to create life, or leave and never know what will happen to my favorite bots... I wanted to sit down and take my sweet time to decide, and if it took forever, then so be it, but...time wasn't on our side. Who knew what was going on in the real world while we were all here?
I looked at Erika and saw her complete and total acceptance of all this, I thought about Sunfire, sleeping inside Ratchet, and Optimus Prime, who would suffer so much pain and loss, if we didn't change things. I looked at Bumblebee. Sweet little Bumblebee...who...was currently poking at Barricade with a glare.
And suddenly, I couldn't imagine my life anywhere else.
"I'm in." I shook my head, rolling my eyes at the way Erika just lit up at my announcement.
Erika, Kat, Tina and me.
Four.
"I'm in!"
Okay, five.
SMACK!
Orrrrrr not?
"Ow! Hey!"
"Like hell you are!"
I turned to the two youngest of our group, watching as they immediately descended into a typical sibling argument, which may have involved slightly more physical violence than I was expecting.
"But Angel...!"
"No 'but's, Mister! This isn't like that time you went joy riding in Aurthur's car, or stole ten bucks from mom's purse! This is life or death!"
"Exactly! We're in their world now! If the Autobots fail, everyone will be in danger! Including our families!"
Was I the only one who noticed how Zayda's eyes widened, and she abruptly stiffened?
"Except that if we say 'no', then Primus will send us back to our world, where there is no danger!"
"And we'll go back to being just a couple of high school dancers. Come on, Ange, you can't tell me you're not intrigued! We get super powers! We can save the Arcee triplets, and the minor twins! We can protect the bots!"
I had a sneaking suspicion I wasn't the only one to notice the way her eyes went to Bumblebee, who was now watching her. Was that a blush? Oh, Primus! I bit my lip, not sure whether to grin or grimace. I can sympathize, sweetie.
Angel looked around at all of us, as if looking for something, before looking between her brother and Bumblebee. Then, with a deep, tired sounding sigh, she sagged in on herself and shook her head. "I couldn't drag you away from all this if I knocked your aft out and carried you by your toes, could I?"
Alex grinned. "Nope!"
"Well, I guess it wouldn't be so bad being here..." She trailed off, wrapping her arms around herself before looking at all of us again. "And at least we're not the only ones. Okay! Fine! I'm... I'm in!"
Woot! Five and six!
My eyes widened with the realization this was all really happening. Six out of seven had chosen to stay and help the bots. Six of us would be granted super powers and tasked with protecting giant, alien beings.
And Barricade was snoozing through it all!
So much for having a witness from both factions! So far, Bee's the only one 'witnessing' anything!
Finally, we all turned to Zayda, who seemed to wilt beneath all our stares.
She opened her mouth, then shut it again. Her eyes went out to the energon pond, and the trees surrounding all of us, before she shook her head. "I have two little sisters, and two little brothers. They're autistic, you know? I've always looked after them. They... They were here. Sector Seven threatened them to get me to go with them." Her gaze hardened. "I don't know if it's really them, or just some alternate version of them, but... I can't just...abandon them!" She shook her head and groaned. "This whole thing makes my head hurt. Alternate realities, alternate us', alien beings, magical powers, but if I left-If I walked away and someone died who shouldn't have because I wasn't there to do my part, I'd never be able to live with myself. Soooo... I'll do it." She nodded and looked up at us all. "I'm in."
And that makes seven.
'So be it. The Guardians have been chosen.'
Suddenly, everything began to glow and a burning pain erupted on the inside of my left wrist. I opened my mouth, intending to...cry out, maybe? That was definitely top of the list, but before I could gather the oxygen to do so, everything went black.
But not before I heard a distinct, distant cry of 'You've gotta be slagging kidding me!'.
Oh, look, Barricade's awake!
Note : Thanks to adelphe24 for help with time measurements and the 'two moon's thing I mentioned briefly. Megavorn is roughly 83 million years, I believe.
Preview of Chapter 39 -
Reaching down, I grabbed the nearest thing that was small and light enough to be lifted with one hand. Hefting whatever it was, I lifted my arm and lobbed it as hard as I could at the dented and demented Cruiser-bot in front of me.
...And promptly froze and stared blankly as the poor little piece of brick bounced harmlessly off his hip armor and fell back to the ground...
"Well, that didn't go as planned."
End Preview
Written : April 2, 2016
Hope you like it.
Read and Review please.
Thank you.
'Kitten