Okay, OriginalElementa and others like her are right, we've had too long without anything from Aria or Nathanial. I think when I'm done here I'm going to have to rearrange these last few chapters. But until then everything's in a nice place for you guys to finish the story. Thank you to L.M.L., OriginalElementa, Autobot-Bre-Lightblast, and Bee4ever for reviewing! I really loved hearing from you guys!
One more thing! The next chapter goes up this Friday. Okay? After that there'll be a nice little epilogue and then we'll be done! XD I'm so excited. And kinda tired...man! Who knew a two and half year story could really take it out of you huh? :3
To L.M.L.: Yeah I know! Knock Out is my favorite Prime Decepticon too. He's just so...persnickety. That and he sounds exactly like Timmy Turner's dad from Fairly Oddparents. It cracks me up! ;3 I'm glad you liked Trypticon's appearance too. That was a fun idea to entertain.
And whether or not your dislike of Carly is important, it is shared. I liked Mikaela much better. Too bad Megan Fox had to go and get her expelled... Now the con-kicking, MIT-student, future ambassador to Earth Carly from G1, she I liked. I'm definitely going to include her later on. She was totally awesome and if Movie Carly was supposed to be modeled after her then they failed almost entirely. If you haven't seen her and don't mind watching a cartoon that was made in the 80's, then I highly recommend watching the G1 episode "The Immobilizer" if you can find it. It's Season 2 Episode 6.
Thanks so much for your nice review and I hope you (and everybody else) enjoy the next chapter! :)
...
The Long Road Home
49 – Faint and Far Away – 49
The Ark looked very out of place on Effie's surface the morning of her departure. She was a thing of beauty to be sure – all viewports and rounded curves with gentle slopes of observation bubbles to provide the best view of the universe as it passed by – but she was an out of place beauty, like an albatross in a corn field.
The rotund mech Cosmos stood well back from her girth, not just to stay away from the bustle of the Autobots loading and checking in with the little organic femme as they boarded, but also to get a better view of the exploration vessel. It had been a long time since he'd been this close to such a prime example of Cybertron's golden age. And given what he'd heard from the newcomers, he wasn't sure if he'd ever get the chance again.
Aware that this might be the last time he would ever be close to a ship of her class, Cosmos stared up at the Ark and felt the smallest stirrings of some unknown feeling rise up in his spark. She made him feel...something. Something important, he knew, something buried deep down in his spark. And the longer he looked, the more he felt it. But he couldn't identify the feeling. It was nebulous, evaporating as soon as he got close to naming it. Maybe if he got closer, he thought, maybe then he could pinpoint just what exactly was-
"Don't even think about it."
The short mech turned sharply at the familiar voice, faceplates heating in embarrassment.
But it was only Streamline standing behind him, arms crossed low over her chassis as she watched him with white-blue optics.
Cosmos blinked at her. "What are you talking about?" He tried to play innocent.
From the look Streamline gave him, she wasn't buying it. "I know you." She murmured as she stepped forward to join him. "You're not the sedentary bot most others take you for. You want adventure and excitement just like the rest of them. If you didn't, you wouldn't be all the way out here."
Cosmos didn't say anything, just looked down at his broad, flat digits as he pressed them together. She was right of course, he loved discovering new things, things no bot had ever seen before, but he was so lousy with other bots that he'd never gathered up the courage to volunteer for the exploratory missions he'd always dreamed of going on. So he'd come out here instead.
Streamline didn't push for an answer and remained silent as she tilted her head up to admire the Ark looming above them like Cosmos had a moment ago. "I'm sure you'll get out there eventually Cosmos." She told him. "And I'm sure you'll do fine. I think you'd do well with those...Autobots. But," and here she turned to face him, a crooked smile on her faceplates that wasn't entirely humor, "if you think you can invite these strangers into our ecosystem and then ditch me, you've got another thing coming."
Cosmos drew back from the femme as she jabbed his chest for emphasis but couldn't think of anything to say to her. In the end he decided it was probably best if he didn't say anything at all.
Streamline straightened up and gave the Ark one last look. Then she sighed and turned away. "Anyway, I just came to say thank you," she told him, "for letting these bots stay on Organic Central. You know how I can be with others."
Cosmos nodded. Her display in the meeting that first orbit had been mild compared to others she'd had with bots at HQ that had tried to tell her how to run her experiments. "It's alright." He told her, waving away her thanks. He hadn't done it for her exactly. "What are you doing out here at this hour anyway?" He asked to try and shift the focus away from him.
Streamline was already walking away and answered him over her shoulder with a slight frown. "That femmeling of mine has disappeared again and I have the sneaking suspicion that wherever she is, that Bluestreak character is with her."
Cosmos blinked at the distrusting look on his colleague's faceplates. "You think he'll try something?" He asked. He hadn't gotten that impression from the young mech when he'd met him.
Streamline's frown deepened. "No," she admitted, "but I know Glyph too well to think she won't."
Cosmos resisted the urge to smile as Streamline walked away to go find her charge before she caused an uproar. Yep, that sounded like their Glyph. Curiosity always getting her into trouble. And with Bluestreak leaving with the most of the other Autobots on the Ark, this would be her last chance to get him into trouble for some time...
Cosmos shook his head from side to side. Like he was one to talk about getting himself into trouble Cosmos thought as he turned back to the Ark. But Streamline was right. He had loose ends to finish up here before he thought of starting another adventure. And leaving Streamline with this mess of bots wouldn't be fair...and would probably end in a massacre worthy of the headlines given all the disparate personalities now running the show.
Cosmos sighed as he turned away. "Not today." He thought as he returned to searching for the Prime. "I won't be leaving with them today."
But one day...one day soon he would. And he had no doubt he would get his chance to do great things when that day finally came.
...
In the end they had found four other ships along the space bridge's projected path in the allotted orn. The Autobot Axalon as well as the three missing neutral ships. However in all that time none of the search parties had found any sign of the Heaven's Carriage or the Lost Light.
"And between the two of them I'm worried more about Dove than Hot Rod." Aria thought as she stood at the base of the Ark's entrance ramp, checking off names of personnel as they came on board, prepared for the long journey ahead of them. "At least Roddy has that annoying habit of turning the universe inside out to suit his own needs. He and his crew will be fine. But Dove..."
Aria frowned and tried to shunt her worry away as Brawn and Hound pushed the last of the energon supplies up the Ark's ramp for storage.
"Well if there's one good thing about this place," Aria thought as she checked their names off the roster and made a note for Prowl about the energon, "it's that they've got more energon than they can consume in a lifetime, even with the sudden boom in population. We'll be set for a good long while now, especially if we really did lose the Decepticons back there."
Aria scowled at that. No, she realized, they hadn't seen the last of the Nemesis. No matter what Percy said about space bridge travel and how many millions of miles Megatron was behind them, they hadn't seen the last of him.
"Not by a long shot."
Aria was shaken out of her dark musings by a tall shadow falling over her. She blinked against the sudden shade and looked up, smiling when she realized who it was.
"It took me a sec to recognize you with that thing on." She told him. "I guess it'll take some getting used to."
Optimus reached up automatically and ran a hand over the battle mask covering his lower face. "You're not the only one." He admitted, then indicated the data pad in her hand.
"Where are we?" He asked, solemnity returning.
Aria bit her lip in thought as she consulted her datapad. "Blaster got in touch with the Protectobots on the Xantium and redirected them to the dark mini-hub Streamline told us about. They should reach it in a little less than half an orn. Monsoon said they'll report in once they know the extent of the damage."
"And the Axalon? Can it still fly?" Optimus asked.
Aria frowned as she swiped a finger across the screen to reach a new page. The Axalon had been the most damaged out of the ships to come to Organic Central and had arrived only a few hours ago.
"Not yet," she told him, "they landed early this morning with two heavily damaged engines and one that was nothing short of shredded, according to Cosmos. Apparently he does maintenance on more than just satellites. Ratchet and the neutral medibots should be finishing their scans of the crew pretty soon. We have all of our supplies on the Ark so I think we're just waiting on him now."
Optimus nodded slowly but didn't speak. Aria watched him, trying to find some kind of clue as to what he was thinking, but with that mask on it was almost impossible.
She came down the Ark's ramp to stand closer to him. "You okay Optimus?" She asked him in a low voice so they wouldn't be overheard by the various bots still heading into the ship.
Optimus blinked, attention returning from wherever it had been. "Yes," he told her in a low voice, "or as close as can be expected."
It was as close to admission that he was not okay Aria had heard from him in years.
"And you?" He asked, giving Aria a concerned look.
Aria fidgeted just a little as she fought her instinctive answer, but it squirmed its way out anyway. "Today sucks." She whispered, a habit she'd developed when the younglings had been small and been learning their 'bad words'.
Optimus raised an optic ridge at her. It had been awhile since he had heard her use any of her own race's swear words. Usually she saved them for special occasions of misery...
"Did something else happen with Nathanial?" He asked. It was the only thing he could think of that might elicit this kind of purely human reaction.
Aria groaned and hid her face behind the data pad. "Primus OP!" She grumbled behind the slab of circuits and plastic coverings. "I can't even think about any of that right now!"
Optimus frowned and bent closer, wondering if he'd missed the latest scene or two in the growing organic drama. "Why?"
Aria sighed behind her data pad and then shoved it under one arm, exposing her very red face. She shoved her overlong bangs back from her face with one hand and stared at the Ark's ramp with a frown. "Because I'll cry, alright? I just know if I start into that whole big mess my tear ducts will crack open like rusted pipes."
"Okay," Optimus tried to reassure her, knowing how much she hated crying, "okay, just forget I said anything." He told her.
Aria nodded, embarrassed by what she suspected was her overreaction. "Thanks," she mumbled, adjusting her hold on the data pad so she wouldn't drop it again, "it's just-"
Optimus raised an optic ridge. "Complicated?" He hazarded a guess.
A corner of Aria's mouth twitched up. "As cliché as it sounds," she mumbled, "yeah."
Optimus nodded to show he understood. Aria thought he was one of the few that really could.
"Well if you change your mind," he spread his hands away from his sides, leaving the rest of his sentence unsaid.
Aria still understood. She nodded, feeling only somewhat better. It had been awhile since they'd had a conversation that didn't have anything to do with Decepticons.
Optimus nodded and straightened up. Before he could say anything else though a much younger voice spoke up behind him.
"Ah jeez Prime, are you making our sister cry? What happened to that embargo on bad news for awhile? It was the one good thing I liked about listening to Prowl go on for hours about how life would look for the next few orns."
Optimus wasn't surprised to see the two young fliers standing behind him each holding a small storage bin filled with energon and what passed for personal belongings. Aria however...
"Fastlane! Cloud!" She cried and managed to grin when she saw them, but the shadow underneath wasn't very well hidden. "You two come to see us off?"
Optimus grinned behind his battle mask, glad Aria couldn't see. The brothers just shared a look before turning back to their organic sister.
"See you off?" Fastlane asked. "No, not really. Although I guess we will be there when you leave so I guess we'll sorta-"
Cloudraker cut him off with a well placed elbow in the side. "Mute it Fastlane, Prime obviously hasn't told her yet."
Aria's eyes narrowed in suspicion. She wasn't sure just how much more bad news she could handle. "Tell me what?" She asked slowly.
Fastlane beat Optimus to the punch. "We're coming with you genius!" He told her with a wide grin. "Sheesh, and here I was kinda hoping that you were crying cause Prime told you and you were so happy." He rolled his optics.
Cloudraker huffed through his vents. "More like she was upset to hear she'd have to babysit you for the next age and a half."
"Hey!" Fastlane squawked indignantly and turned an incriminating digit on his brother. "Take that back! I'm her favorite and you know it!"
"Favorite?!" Cloudraker yelled back. "Yeah right, you're like, tenth on the list if you're lucky."
"Tenth?! There's only seven of us!"
"I know."
Aria and Optimus ignored the Seekers as they continued to argue. Aria looked up at Optimus, stunned.
Optimus chuckled. Even with the mask, Aria could tell his faceplates had softened. "Smokerunner and Cloudcover requested that I transfer them to the Ark for the duration of our search for the AllSpark. I think they felt easier knowing the three of you would be together." He explained.
It took Aria a moment to process this before the relief poured over her and some of the tension that had been pressing down on her shoulders the last few orbits lifted.
"Thanks OP." She murmured.
Optimus smiled at her, and then remembered she couldn't see it, so he quickly offlined and onlined one optic in his own version of the human gesture.
Aria laughed at his improvised wink but her attention was quickly caught as Fastlane started shouting over his brother, demanding Aria make Cloudraker apologize, for what Optimus hadn't heard.
"Apologize?! You're the one that called me a bolts for brains!" Cloudraker shouted back, gesturing wildly with his arms.
"Oh yeah? Well who brought up the scraplet incident, huh? It sure wasn't me!"
Cloudraker stared open mouthed. "Yes it was! I haven't said anything about those stupid scraplets! That one's all you genius."
Optimus tuned out the Seekers as Aria waded into the middle of their bickering, most of the mechs that had lined up behind them to board the Ark booing as she broke up the party. One mech was quiet though where he stood to one side of the line, waiting for the Prime to notice him.
Optimus frowned, and leaving Aria to deal with Fastlane and Cloudraker, he went and joined the green and yellow mech standing just beyond the Autobot flagship's boarding ramp. The last thing he heard from the trio was Fastlane's boisterous voice.
"You kiddin'?" He could hear the young mech's wide grin as he picked Aria up and deposited her on his broad shoulder so she could finish checking in the bots that had gathered behind him without craning her neck. "You, me, Cloud, and Bee all on the same ship exploring the universe in search of an ancient relic that could save the world? This is gonna be awesome!"
"Well," he dimly heard Aria say, "when you put it that way..."
The rest of their words faded into the background when he reached the other mech. "Has something come up Cosmos?" Prime asked as he joined him.
The shy maintenance mech stared at him a moment and Optimus had to remind himself that Cosmos was one of those bots that liked to be sure of what he said before he actually said it.
"Teletraan picked up a signal." He finally said, holding out the data pad he'd brought with him. Optimus frowned down at the screen, trying to understand what he was looking at.
"It's faint," Cosmos kept speaking as Optimus inspected the signal blinking in its far away location on the map, "and father out than anything I've ever seen, but it's definitely Cybertronian in origin."
Optimus' head came up at that. "The Cube?" He asked, trying to keep his hope in check and failing.
Cosmos blinked as he triple and quadruple checked scans he'd already double checked an hour ago when he'd first seen the signal Teletraan had found. "I believe so."
Optimus looked down at the screen again, optics growing bright and spark pounding in his chest. Those coordinates though- Optimus didn't even have a word for how much distance was between them and the signal.
"How did it get that far from Cybertron?" He asked Cosmos. "It only had a few orbital cycles head start on us. It shouldn't have made it that far."
Cosmos blinked again. "You said the AllSpark reactivated the space bridge you used to get here when it passed by. Maybe it did the same with the others."
Optimus looked down at the short mech. "Others?"
Cosmos nodded, no longer surprised by all the things these Autobots didn't know about their own history. Even the Prime.
"There's a whole net of space bridges out there, built during the golden age and left to rust when it ended. If the AllSpark really can reactivate them just by being in close proximity, then it's within reason that it was able to jump from one bridge to another as it flew. It must have finally reached the edge of the net and is now freefalling through space. That's why Teletraan didn't pick up the signal before now."
"And," Prime asked slowly, "the reason it lost the signal so quickly?"
Cosmos couldn't think of why he looked so worried. Did he think the Cube was so easily destroyed? "Even Teletraan can't detect all of space." He told Optimus Prime. "I would reason that when the Cube reached the end of the space bridge web, it reached the end of Teletraan's reach as well. You'll have to get close to the AllSpark now to pick up its signal again."
He shrugged, knowing how impossible that sounded. Even with the Cube's last known location, trying to find it now was like trying to find a hungry scraplet in a junk yard.
Optimus must have been thinking the same thing because Cosmos heard him sigh and then murmur, "Still, it's better than searching blind..."
He fell quiet as he stared at the signal blinking on the data pad's screen. Cosmos followed suit, not feeling any pressure to fill the silence.
Eventually the Prime nodded to himself. "We will need these coordinates-"
Cosmos actually cut off the Prime he was so nervous. "I've already sent them to Prowl. He should be downloading them into the Ark's navigation computer by now."
Optimus nodded, not upset about the interruption. "Thank you Cosmos," he said, meeting the shorter mech's optics, "for all of your help as well. If you ever decide to leave Organic Central, remember there's a place on the Ark for you."
From the outside Cosmos looked the same as he always did, but inside his spark just about popped right out of his chest with excitement. A place on the Prime's ship! For him! It was almost too much to believe.
Cosmos almost asked right then and there to go with them before he remembered his promise to Streamline. Fortunately his mask prevented the Prime from seeing him standing there with his mouth hanging wide open.
He closed it and settled his eagerly pulsing spark as best he could before answering in his peculiar voice. "Thank you Prime. I'll keep that in mind."
Optimus' comm. line pinged before he could say anything else to the little bot, and not wanting to just stand there awkwardly, Cosmos moved away as the Prime answered the line.
"Yes Prowl." Optimus answered as Cosmos moved away without another word.
"We've finished our final checks." Prowl's voice was small but clear across the line. "Ratchet has checked in and all of our supplies are loaded. The only one we're waiting on now is you."
Optimus nodded without realizing it. "Alright. I'm on my way." He said before closing the line. He spared a moment to look up at the Ark's rounded curves and various observation bubbles before turning and heading towards the boarding ramp.
"Finally," he thought, "it's time to start our long journey home."
...
She found him in one of the Ark's observation rooms, standing at the base of a long, wide window overlooking the passing stars. The Ark and its contingent of Autobots – cybertronic and organic – had left the neutrals on Organic Central a few hours ago, following the brief blip of AllSpark energy Cosmos and Streamline's long range sensor net had picked up not long before. They'd lost the signal quickly, however the brief contact had shown the AllSpark several million lightyears away and traveling in the direction of just another lost and lonely corner of the galaxy. Percy hadn't found anything of interest about the location in the Ark's substantial computer records, but one thing was for sure; they had a long road ahead of them.
Aria crossed her arms over her chest as her anxiety spiked. It was that long journey that worried her. Or more specifically, what was she going to do about herself and the Ark's only other organic inhabitant during the intervening lightyears.
Nathanial sighed in front of the window, startling Aria and making her jump at the sound as it echoed through the tall room. Her eyes darted back to him as he rested his hands flat upon the bottom of the sill and leaned his weight on them, head hanging down and shoulders hunching slightly. He looked tired.
Aria watched Nathanial's back another long minute, indecisive about what to do. "I should go." She finally told herself. "Peg was his partner for years. I should go."
But she couldn't make her feet obey her. Instead of turning around, they took her farther into the observation room, until she was standing just behind him.
She stood there, fingers twisting in front of her with the weight of her awkwardness, unsure of what to do. Should she say something? But what was there to say? 'I'm sorry' just seemed so...small. A drop in the bucket and unhelpful besides.
She raised a hand to touch his shoulder, offer some kind of comfort no matter how small, but lost her nerve before she actually touched him.
Aria drew her hand back, wrapping her arms around herself and looking away. She knew that he knew she was there, but it felt like there was an empty space surrounding him like a shield that, if not meant for everyone, still did a good job at keeping her out. This was the first time they'd even been in the same room together for more than a few minutes since they'd found Organic Central.
It wasn't that she had been avoiding him – well, not that much if she was being honest with herself – and Aria didn't think he'd been avoiding her either per say. It was just that...well what was she supposed to say? 'Sorry you just lost one of your closest friends saving me even though our relationship might have gone up in smoke like a nuclear wasteland'? That wasn't a condolence as much as it was a reminder that he had made the wrong choice.
Aria cringed at the thought. She took it back! She hadn't meant that! She never thought Nat regretted saving her. She didn't.
She gnawed at her lip and held herself tighter. She didn't...
She finally couldn't stand it anymore, shield or no shield, intruding or not, she let her head fall forward, arms still wrapped around herself to try and keep warm in the cold room.
Aria felt Nathanial tense when her forehead dropped against the middle of his back, right between his shoulder blades. She waited what felt like a long time, but he didn't tell her to get off.
They were silent for long minutes, each aware of the other but unable to bring themselves to acknowledge them; each alone despite their close proximity. Stars passed them in white speed lines beyond the window as the Ark's damaged enginesmoved just under the speed of light.
"I miss her too." Aria finally said in a small voice.
Nathanial went perfectly still and Aria feared she'd overstepped. A thread of anger burned that fear out of her rather quickly. Peg had been her friend too. Maybe not as long as she and Nat had been friends, and maybe not as close either, but that didn't matter. Aria felt her death too. It was another hole to add to the empty space under her ribcage.
Nathanial shrugged stiffly, the movement making Aria rise her head. She held herself tighter and squeezed her eyes shut. She'd been right before; he didn't want her here. She should have just left-
Nathanial turned around before Aria could berate herself any further. Aria stared at him as he carefully gripped her arms just above her elbows. He didn't meet her gaze, but Aria saw that his face was pale and there were dark circles under his eyes. He hadn't gotten a decent night's sleep since they'd gone through the bridge.
Aria felt her heart go out to him. She wanted to just wrap her arms around him and hold him tight, but something held her back. Something always held her back. Her head was so muddled with grief and fear and anxiety that she couldn't even tell you what that something was anymore.
He tugged at her arms lightly still looking at the floor as his own head swam with uncertain emotion. Aria felt her arms loosen around her own body and in slow, hesitant motion they came together. Aria wrapped her arms up and around his back, her head turned so that she was looking away with her cheek was pressed against his shoulder. She felt him hold tight to her, his fingers twisting the fabric of her shirt at her lower back as he shook. On the edge of her spark Aria could still feel the empty space where Nathanial's tether line with Peg had been.
Aria closed her eyes, gathered tears spilling down her face as the motion dislodged them from the corner of her eyes. She could distantly feel Nat's shorn off end of the tether now through the stone set in the back of his neck. This was the first time she'd been close enough to him to feel his broken end of the line.
They stood there for a long time, neither speaking as they held each other too tight. And beneath the shadows of the passing stars, they grieved all they had lost.
