Oy,I've got a stomach ache, and don't feel good at all. I'd blame school food, but I don't eat that poison. Sorry it took so long to update, but I had to finish "Not who you think I am" before I showed you this chapter, anyway... Enjoy!
Shadows of them
Where art thou?
Once again, Red Alert returned in a great mood, even greater in fact than last time. But this time, there was a… uneasiness about him when he returned. He seemed conflicted about something, like he didn't know if returning was the right thing to do.
Fred decided to try to do something about it; call in someone with personal reminders. Billy. But he had to have help getting him to Autobot headquarters. Kobe and Bud.
"Alexis? Are they ready yet?"
"Yes Billy; I'll be over to drop them off as soon-"
"No. I'll be going down that way anyway Saturday. Can I pick them up then?"
"Yes. And I have the photos transferred to a data disk. Will you take those to show them as well?"
"Yes. Thank you Alexis."
Red Alert sat in his quarters staring at the ceiling, the past few weeks had been amazing, but he was conflicted; sure, she told him he had as long as he wanted to think about it, but every time he returned he felt more guilty about leaving them, especially now that, well, he wasn't going to think about it.
"I'm needed here." His voice echoed in his room, and he didn't believe himself for a moment. He sat up, looking onto the floor, "So much of my life was changed right here on earth… how can I just leave it behind? She said herself that to stay there is to stay for life… I can't let my friends down but… I can't ignore that she's alive… I searched for her for so long… and what about Ace and Cody? They need me even more than the Autobots do."
He fell back onto his recharge berth, he was quiet for a long time, then stood up, and moved over to a desk and grabbed a data-pad. He stared at the blank slate a moment, they began programming in a message: Optimus Prime, fellow Autobots; I'm sorry, but I have to do this…
Red Alert excited his quarters, ready to make a b-line for the exit. But he froze when he entered the control room. Billy was there, and he was putting a data-disk into the main computer, and some pictures popped up on the screen.
One was of himself with a pink femme, holding her around the waist, Hotshot beside him, Jetfire on her side, and Optimus behind them. Red Alert couldn't help but smile, he felt the memory flooding back to him, and it was like looking back on another lifetime.
Billy reached into his pockets, tossing two cell phones to his sons. "Here boys, Lazerbeak projects two and three, just for you."
The two little transformers turned into robot mode, each had small wings; Kobe's was blue, and Bud's was green. Bud grinned ear to ear, "Alright! I'm gonna call you Spelunk!"
Kobe smiled at his new friend, "How do you like Deep Water?" The little 'bot nodded and smiled, Red Alert felt a weight- was he doing the right thing?
"Red, do you remember this day?" Billy flipped the screen to a picture that he had taken when Red Alert and his, at the time, girlfriend Ariel Pax were humans.
Red Alert bit his lip and nodded, "What are you trying to accomplish?"
"Do you think Ariel would've wanted you to allow your friends to get hurt?"
"Do you think I'm going to fall for that? She would've wanted me to decide for myself, even she would never want me to follow blindly a cause she never even believed in- and I always questioned." There was a bitter tone in his voice, everyone in the room looked at him with wide eyes and optics, most with jaws dropped.
"What did you say Red?" Hotshot wanted to be sure his audios were working correctly.
Red Alert gave Hotshot a look he had never seen from him before, a look a pure hatred and distain, "I'm glad I'll never have to deal with you again." Red Alert hissed.
"Wha-what are you talking about?" Optimus looked as if the entire Autobot cause had been slapped in the face by one of the most trusted members.
"I'm leaving again, and this time I'm not coming back."
"What!" Kobe shouted.
"You heard me- I can't do this anymore, I'm not going to do this anymore, and you can't stop me." He headed for the door purposefully, all hesitation eradicated from his systems.
"You're abandoning us?" Bud whimpered; probably trying to get him to stay with pity.
"Yes, I no choice- I have to go. People there need me more than you lot ever will. But I do hope to see you there when the time is right. Goodbye."
"Did you drink some foul Energon or something?" Jetfire shouted, anger boiling in his systems, he stuck his face practically in Red Alert's "Destiny wouldn't want you to do such a thing! She loved you- and she loved the Autobot cause! She'd be disgraced!"
Red Alert lost his temper; he didn't storm off, or yell like would have been preferred. "Stop talking about her in past tense!"
He punched Jetfire right in the face, cracking his visor. Jetfire fell to his knees, holding his face and crying out, "Criky! What the hell? Ow… Red, why'd ya do that?" He groaned, meck fluid dripping down his face.
No one dared move; Red Alert wasn't a hostile being, and never having seen him attack a friend before not even Optimus knew what to do. Red Alert stormed away, a dead silence following his leave.
Hotshot finally spoke up, "Where's Red Alert? That couldn't have been him… it just couldn't have…"
After another short silence, Kobe moved over to help Jetfire with his optics, everyone was upset, but they had no idea what was going on, and doubted they ever would.
Red Alert entered the old base; she was waiting for him, her white armor gleaming and blue-green optics sparkling. She put her hands on her hips, a smile peeking on her lips, "How'd it go?" He held up his hand, cut and dripping meck fluid from the collision with Jetfire's visor, "Oh my Primus…" She grabbed his hand and examined it, pulling the glass out.
He looked to the floor, "Jetfire got in my face about leaving for good, and I lost my temper… I feel awful about it…"
"Reddy, don't beat yourself up, someday he'll understand, just wait and see. You ready to go?"
He nodded, "Yes I am, and I want you to take it easy okay? I'm also your medic again, so listen to me. And don't stress yourself or-"
She put a finger over his lip-components, shaking her head, "Same old Reddy huh?"
He nodded and nuzzled her head-crest, "And you're the same old Ariel Pax."
She smiled, "You're the only one who can get away with calling me that now, but you do understand it's Destiny Prime now, right?
"Of course I do love, now we should go Destiny."
Done, did you enjoy? RnR please, and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.