I'm feeling a lot better now. Your regularly scheduled chapters should be coming out on time now. Thank you for your patience and kind words!
The sky darkened to pitch black, not a star or the moon in the sky. Sides and Sunstreaker's headlights were the only thing to be seen through the limited visibility. Even the two of them were having a hard time driving in this weather and darkness.
With this extra given time, I thought over the things that occurred. Mia double crossed me. She was almost a sister to me. When Zayden rescued me, it was an extremely difficult time to adjust back into a 'normal' life. I never met Mia beforehand. She was there for me, understood that I needed someone and Zayden couldn't always be at my side. The man had a secret team to run and couldn't keep an eye on me.
Mia promised me to keep my location secret to protect both me and Aztec. It had worked, putting distance between us. The attacks on smaller Aztec bases had decreased seventy or so percent once Jasper realized I was no longer working with Zayden. So until Jasper is defeated, I had to keep space between all of us.
My chest twisted painfully. I wanted nothing more to fly straight to Bend and hide under Zayden's covers like a little kid. Fate isn't that kind. If Jasper catches wind on me being back with Aztec even though I wasn't, all Hell would break loose.
At least now Jasper knew more than well that I was working alongside with the military and aliens. It would definitely cause conflict since they have ties with the government. Aztec as well; that's how they keep from getting caught. Either a good thing will come out of it or something terrible. Knowing my past history with things like that, it's going to be the latter.
A sigh left my lips. Why was the world cruel to me from such a young age? Couldn't a daughter hide from evil with her father protecting her? Was it so bad? I dipped down lower with the trees now at my sides and felt the tail ends of the aura both twins gave off. It felt nice and calming, ebbing my worries away; for the time being.
It didn't take long to get back. No welcome party stood at the second entrance. Neither of the twins must have reported the run-in with Jacob and other Aztec soldiers. A little strange.
Sides and Sunstreaker transformed once they got close to their side of the base. I landed on a nearby street lamp and shook to get rid of any particles. Worse of it was the snow melting in my hair and freezing the strands together.
The two skated over to me, quivering slightly from the frost hanging on their frames. Sunstreaker definitely was his grumpy self due to cold and snow. "I don't know why you have such a vengeance against winter. It's the best time of the year if you ask me," I teased him and swirled the snow around from touching him.
His twin seemed perfectly fine with it landing on him and looked like he enjoyed it. The golden mech scoffed and crossed his arms. "It's cold, wet, and gets between the plating of my armor. I don't know why you like it so much. Humans can't survive in extreme temperature's like this," he argued and shivered to make a point.
Did they keep forgetting about the main thing here? It was kind of understandable with Earth being covered with humans but come on. "Remember, not fully human here, nor fully dragon. I'm just stuck in the middle with a little of other animal D-Annabelle!" I spotted said child waddling through the half foot of snow with thick winter gear on.
I immediately hopped off of the lamp post and glided swiftly over to her. Anna stopped in her tracks at the call of her name and turned to me. Her face morphed into excitement and joy. I scooped the kid off of the ground carefully and rocketed high above everyone else.
Anna instinctively wrapped her arms the best she could around me and squealed like a pig. Once at a reasonable height, I hovered and loosened my hold so she could lean back. The kid didn't move an inch and one of her hand's fingers dug in my neck. "Hey, Anna it's okay. I'm not going to drop you."
The kid hesitantly reclined and stared partially in fear at me. Then her gaze glance down to the height we were at. Anna scrambled to get an overly tight grasp on some part of me again. I laughed at her actions and gently patted her back. "Anna, I told you, I'm not going to drop you. If you want, I can put you down," I offered.
Her hands squeezed harder for a few moments until she put trust into me and returned to her second position. A bright smile adorn my face as I nuzzled her cold cheek with my warm one. "You're okay," she breathed after some silence. I tilted my head, a little confused on what she meant by that.
"Eppie told me you got crushed under a building. He said you were fine but I didn't believe him and since I was stuck in Daddy's room, I couldn't leave to see if he was telling the truth. Daddy did the same thing with Hidey when he got really hurt but he was lying. Hidey wasn't fine," she cried, hot tears rolling down her cheeks.
Oh kid. It hurt to see her crying and hugged her close to me, allowing for my heat to wrap around the both of us. "Kid, I'm tougher than you think. That building barely left a mark. Though I will say, it did take a lot out of me, energy wise. But see, I'm fine," I assured her of my safety.
She softened up her crying and wiped away a few tears. I cleaned up the stray drops she let run before returning her to the ground. Yet, the kid had no intention of letting me go and held on tighter as I attempted to pull her off.
William and a couple of colleagues stood off to the side. The former was the first to approach us. "Welcome back, even though I didn't know you left." His voice hardened as if he was scolding a child.
It didn't affect me. All I did was shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly. "Can't get mad at me. I was with the twins but we did run into a problem, kind of."
The captain rolled his eyes. "Of course you three did. I swear anywhere those two go, trouble arises," he mumbled to himself then turned his full attention to me. "What happened?"
What did he mean by that? I dangerously narrowed my eyes at him, silently warning him to watch his mouth. "A friend of mine in Aztec found me while we were out doing our excursion. They tried to 'capture' me but as you can see, failed to do so. There's nothing bad about Aztec but I just thought that I would warn you they're in the area."
At this time, the twins made their approach but let the conversation to continue between William and I.
"So are they going to come knocking down our door and demand you back?" Anna whimpered quietly and hugged me tighter, refusing to let me go.
"I wouldn't put it past Zayden to do that but you should be most worried about Jasper doing that. I am a highly powerful escaped experiment they want back." I casually moved Anna to my hip and slipped my arm under her so she could sit comfortably.
To everyone around me, I seemed so relaxed about Jasper coming to find me but internally, fear caused my heart to race. Three or four years on the run with no end in sight. A tiring and losing battle for me and Aztec.
William's face lightly paled at the reminder. Well, he did see me this morning and heard what I said. He cleared his throat and grabbed his daughter by her armpits. "Right, ehm, that makes sense. Um that reminds me, I want to talk with you tomorrow if you're free." Sounded reasonable. I nodded my head to accept the invite. "Well, it was nice talking with you. I'll make sure to pass the info along to Boss Bot and Prowl." He tugged on the leech stuck to me. Anna still had no intentions of letting go. "Come on, Belle. It's time for dinner."
His statement didn't aid him and caused her grip to coil more. Anna muttered a 'no' when William moved his hands to her side. "I'll give you to the count of three. If you don't let go by then, I'll turn into the tickle monster." A childish expression washed over his face.
Anna instantly dropped onto her feet and tried to run away. Her father had the upper hand with his longer legs and easily scooped the kid up. Longing pang deep in my heart at the sight but I swallowed it. "See ya later," I bid the humans good bye and flew off, the twins following me.
I landed on a street lamp on the far side of the base and breathed deeply to calm myself. My hands trembled as I stared down at them then curled them into a fist. Really world? Shoving that right in my face? Gods, it stung painfully. It was part of one of the many injuries my powers couldn't touch to heal.
A gentle touch to my thigh slightly brought me back from my mind. I half-hearted gazed down at the red twin and emotionlessly stared. "What?" All of my emotions were shoved to the back of my mind, making me sound so dead.
His brows furrowed with pity growing in his blue orbs. Disgusting. "What's wrong?" Even his voice was gentle as if he was talking to a scared animal.
"Nothing you need to worry yourself about." My gaze flickered to the other side of the base where Ratchet's Med. Bay sat. "I'm going to go to sleep. I'll talk with you two later. And please don't try to press this matter."
My wings lifted me off of the lamp post. Sides reached out to catch my tail and stop me but was a second too late. I moved my tail out of reach, bid them a good bye, and headed towards the Med. Bay, in hoping of catching some Z's.
Sides rolled forward to chase after me but Sunstreaker came to my rescue and stopped him. "Let her. She already had a tough day and doesn't need us bugging her at all goons of the cycle." The red mech sighed in defeat and watched me fly away. I felt the sign of guilt rise in the back of my throat, making it hard to swallow.
This is what I always to do to protect myself and others. Even knowing my name puts them in danger. At this point, the twins are knocking on death's door by having that connection with me. Jasper just needs to answer and all Hell will break loose… Ha, as if I'll let those scumbags touch Sides and Sunstreaker. I have already grew too attach to them so suck it Jasper.
And that's a bad thing. Deep down inside of my heart, I want someone to love me, to be there for me, to hold me when I break down. But fate is cruel to me. She always seems like she's on her period when dealing with me.
That thought got a chuckle out of me as I approached Ratchet's Med. Bay. Said medic seemed to be home but had the only door closed to preserve heat. I awkwardly latched onto the side of the hangar right outside of my platform. The bot on the inside turned around when he heard the window opening. He smiled when he saw me but it washed away once he noticed the tears.
Ratchet quickly moved over and scooped me into his grasp once I was inside. I didn't let any of my emotions out though, I had cried enough today and felt empty. He held me at eye level, his gaze observe for any injuries. Of course he came up empty handed as the small cuts were hidden from sight. "Is there anything you need or want?"
I make a grabbing motion twice towards his chest, needing to hear the hum; it pacifies me. It took him a couple of moments to realize what I wanted and followed through. The metal bars and headlights weren't the most comfortable but I was seeking for the hum.
The noise ebbed away many of my fears and helped calm my racing heart. Yet, for the life of me, sleep wouldn't come to me.
That didn't bother Ratchet too much as he returned to his original position and sat in a chair. With his free hand, he picked up a tablet and let silence take over. The only time the silence was broken was from Ratchet occasionally tapping the screen.
Sleep never scooped me up in its grasp. Ratchet though, dosed off some time probably close to midnight with the tablet resting on his thigh. Luckily for me, the hand he was holding me seemed to be unmovable, keeping me close to the humming.
After an unknown amount of time passed, I leaped off of his hand and landed on the table in front of him. My body didn't really need the sleep; my mind on the other hand was exhausted. And I still couldn't believe Jacob dare use Zayden as a guilt trip!
The two of us did get along pretty well when I was there. We kind of had to. Jacob was almost always around Zayden as his second in command. Sometimes he acted like a body guard and that got really annoying quickly. Even Dad would get agitated by how Jacob behaved, especially when I was rescued. Anytime I was nearby my own father, Jacob would but himself between us two.
Zayden got so pissed off one time, he threw him out without another thought. Throughout the short years I was there, we got along better. Jacob seemed to really care about me the last couple of months I stayed at Aztec.
Oh great, here I go thinking about that again. Those memories and thoughts made my heart ache to be back home surrounded by my family, or what's left of it.
I leaped into the air and flew over to my platform. The blankets were neatly folded and smelled of lavender, and I didn't move them.
Now on edge from who last touched my blankets, I landed on the rafters and attempt to sleep. It had been almost four days without any rest and it's definitely catching up.
Before the sun had time to pass the horizon, Ratchet awoke from his strange position. How could anyone sleep in a chair? It looked more than uncomfortable, especially if there's no head rest which his chair didn't.
The mech first checked his left hand for me. Not there. When he came up empty handed, he peered behind him towards the platform. Still not there. His gaze scanned over the tables as he stood up for a better way of trying to find me. "Azar? Are you in here?" he called out, seeming slightly worried. I decided to come out and hung upside down by my tail.
"Over here," I hollered calmly. Ratchet spun around and marched over to me, a stern look in his eyes.
He didn't waste any pointing a firm finger up at me. "Get down, please." His voice was hardened with a soft edge to it. I lifted a brow at him and shrugged before complying. My body easily twisted with the help of the prehensile tail attached to me. The two extra appendages swiftly caught the air under them and held me chest level with Ratchet. "And that's why I don't like you being up there."
"Well, someone touched my blankets and now they smell… nice but that's beside the point. I don't know who so I didn't want to be near them," I changed the subject and landed to stretch my cramped limbs.
"I had a friend of mine wash them for you. I thought you would like lavender. Does the smell bother you?" He walked over to the platform and picked up one of the blankets, having to stand on his tippy toes to grab it.
The cold stone that sits in my chest swelled with a hint of heat from his kindness. A small smile graced my lips. "Oh thank you. And no, the smell doesn't bother me, I actually like it." He gazed down at me with a smirk.
"I'm glad."