Gentle hands touched along my shoulder, raising a hiss from me. Nothing broken or torn just sore. Sarah whispered a 'sorry' her under breath. The mother had woken me, partially found me in the bed of Ironhide's alt. mode. A hand traced along the crack in my horn and caused a shiver to rake my body. The touch felt weird.
Jazz had transformed before I woke, quietly observing with hints of worry dripping off of his frame. Both of his arms were crossed as he stood to the side, headlights on to illuminate us. It was dark when we had arrived, the sun settling earlier than usually as the trip took longer with our few detours. The kid was nowhere in sight, thankfully.
The woman in front of me sighed a breath of relief but her eyes caught the blood frozen to my wrappings. "Oh no. Let's get you inside. Do you need help?" She stood up and glanced over at Jazz, a silent question conversed between the two of them. Said bot nodded his head.
Exhaustion had yet to leave but my stubborn self refused to be weak. No matter the injury, I would always get up. Raised as a fighter, forever a fighter. I pulled my legs in to get up and attempted to push up. But the limbs wobbled under the weight and rejected the action.
A whine pierced the cold air after I accidently pulled at my left shoulder. The adrenaline and power that once rushed through my veins was long gone, leaving me to suffer.
Neither human nor bot left me though and helped me up. Jazz carefully grasped my uninjured arm and guided me to stand. My form towered over Sarah and matched Jazz's height, with the aid of Hide's bed. The human didn't even bat an eye at that fact.
Once off of the bed of Ironhide's alt. mode, he transformed. In his hand sat the backpack Ratchet gave me to change the now soaked wrappings. Hide trailed behind us as Jazz partially carried me over to the porch stairs. "Hey, wait, Ratchet already has supplies for her arms," he called out and stopped next to his friend.
Sarah listened and turned towards him, eyes glancing back at dirty coverings. Her brows furrowed. "Wait, those are old?" Hide nodded his head. "God, Azar. What have you been up to?" That last sentence sounded like she was talking to herself, quietly. She took the pack from him and dipped her head in thanks to them. "Thank you for the help and getting her here. I'll make sure she's taken care."
Then she led me into the house. With my added height, I was forced to lean down to watch for the already damaged horn. The downstairs lights were on, showing off the abode in all of its glory. Yet the kid wasn't in sight. Worry ate away at me, even in my still sleepy state. Is she okay? Did something happen? Gods, it's been over a month or two since I've seen her and I still worry.
"Come on, let's get you patched up and ready for bed. You look like you're about to collapse." We entered the kitchen where a fresh smell of food lingered. I took the seat at the dining room table that she offered to allow easier access to the wounds.
Everything felt slightly numb and I knew it was because of the cold. My body had been exposed to it for too long. A tremble shook my frame, the spikes on my back clicking against the wooden chair. I was cold… I was cold. Never have I ever thought that could happen in such weak temperatures.
Our eyes stared into each other, her gaze softened even more. She timidly unwrapped the cloth on my arms, sometimes having to tear it away from my arms. Every time, an apology fell from her lips. But luck was both of our sides, I could only feel the distant pain.
Another 'sorry' filtered into the air. A sigh passed my lips. The woman shouldn't feel the need to apologize for helping. I did what felt right and pressed the front of my horns against her forehead, drawing her attention to my face. "Pl-ease, d-d-don't apologize. I… I can't e-ven feel it, it." That only seemed to worry her even more.
A finger traced my chapped lips, stopping at the fangs attached to my lips. "You're lips are blue. I didn't realize you're really cold. That's not good. Come on, we need to warm up your body, slowly." Sarah forced me back to my feet and up the stairs into the hall bathroom.
She did all the work: turning on the water, pulling out three towels, making sure the temperature was cooler. "Are you comfortable if I stay and help and monitor you?" Her voice was quiet, gaze finding the room more interesting than me.
I smiled gently at her in hopes of calming her nervous self. "Yes, I'm fine with that. Nudity isn't something that bothers me." She breathed a sigh of relief.
"Okay… okay. Um, step-step under the water. It might feel cold but it's a safe way to warm you up." I listened to her orders and enjoyed the water rushing off of my frame. Sarah came to me, hands shaking as she held my left forearm in the spray of water.
Blood and dirt washed away and unstuck the wrappings. The mother had an easier time pulling the last bit off before turning the temperature up after five minutes. She look transfixed on the new scars now lining my arms, running the tips of her fingers down. "If you, if you don't mind me asking. What happened? Will never said anything about it."
A hum sounded from the back of my throat. "Our latest battle didn't go to plan. It was mean to be our last. We found Jasper's base, but it was empty. Or so we thought. They left behind a present for us… A bomb. It exploded but I was able to contain the blast. But bombs are hard to control due to their power and energy, per say, they give off."
Sarah carefully used some medical soap that Ratchet had packed to wash away the dried blood. Her eyes stayed focus on my arms but the nods and hums told me she was listening.
"I have limitations to my abilities. So when I took on the challenge, it was too much. Since I usually control with my arms, it severely burned them. I got fourth degree burns. Ratchet says I'm lucky to keep the limbs, they were that bad," I told the story of what happened.
As I ended, Sarah looked up at me, pity dancing in her eyes. "So, you risked yourself to keep everyone safe?" As much as people tried to make it seem like I was the hero, I knew I wasn't. Saving a few lives doesn't right the blood pooling around my legs.
I shrugged my shoulders, accidently forgetting about the pulled muscle, and hissed. "If that's what you think, then I guess. I'm just doing what I believe is right and that's keeping people safe." But she disagreed with me by shaking her head.
"Give yourself credit. By the sounds of it, you saved a lot of lives." I kept quiet though, not wanting to divulge in the conversation. Yeah, possibly I did but again, it doesn't right my many, many wrong doings.
Words died in our throats. The only main sound in the small bathroom was the shower. I shifted away from the heating water and finally started to feel the spike like pain in my limbs. It felt like thousands of needles were poking into my skin, everywhere which made it worse.
Sarah finished up cleaning my arms and motioned for me to lean down. Her soft, gentle hand rubbed away at some blood at my temple. The other followed the crack in my horn. "How, how are you feeling?"
Though, I took showers at the base, sneakily, this setting felt safer, better even. "Good. I can feel things again. How are you and Anna doing?" I threw back to have a casual conversation about them.
Her face morphed into a calm smile as she finished up with scrubbing away the blood. "Great. Anna is very excited to see you. But you guys got here late and she fell asleep." I cringed at the reminder of why were late. Hopefully no one important saw that or anyone said anything… hopefully. "School has been already closed for the next day so I don't have to use an excuse to her keep out."
School? Right, school, totally forgot kids have those. "Right, she has school…" I trailed off as a small memory of my brother and I going to the bus on a day like this popped up. One day, Jeremy, one day.
We quieted down afterwards as she worked on getting my body warmed up. It took some time but after forty-five minutes later, my body temperature was back to somewhat normal. Sarah graciously helped dry my wings with the three towels she took out.
It felt strange for a person to touch them. Her touch was soft, caring as she gently patted the towel in hand down my back. She freed a hand, getting sidetracked, and ran the finger tips on one of my spikes.
Instinctively, they rose; never have they been touched before. "Sorry, sorry," she apologized immediately afterwards and quickly returned to the job. I chuckled quietly and relaxed the muscles that controlled them.
"If you want to touch them, I don't mind. No one's touched them with your softness before," I stated and continued with drying the parts my hands could reach.
She hesitated in her movements before setting the towel off to the side and resumed where she cut herself off. It was a few moments of silence before she spoke up. "If you don't mind me asking: why the change in form?"
Ah, right. She hasn't seen this form before. "When we were going to attack the Jasper base, I shapeshifted into this form. It's my more… dangerous form, meant to, ehm, kill more easily. But since my wounds were too severe, I couldn't shift back without doing more damage." Her hands still for a second at the mention of killing.
Shame and guilt flooded me, my scales colors shifting to tell so. What else was new? A human scared that you kill their kind, or what used to be your kind. As much as my brain told me not to take it heart, I couldn't stop it.
They resumed and created a path down my spine until the base of my tail. Sarah was quiet as she went back to drying my wet scales.
How could I be so stupid?! "Are you scared of me? In this form?" I randomly said, shocking myself at my own words.
"What? No, why would I be? You may be larger now but no, I'm not scared of you. I could never be." My heart beat quicker in its spot due to her words. I turned around and forced her to pause her movements.
Our eyes met. Her neck craned up and mine down, an awkward position. "Is that… is that the truth?" Hope sparkled in my eyes. Her first statement, there wasn't a lie in it. She doesn't reek of fear nor did she lie but I needed that verbal confirmation, again.
A motherly smile graced her lips. Sarah stepped forward, hand resting on my cheek. "Yes, I promise you it is. I could never be afraid or scared of you. You saved my daughter and forever am I in debt for that." Her words didn't fully reassure me the way she probably thought they would.
'You saved my daughter'. Is that why? "If I didn't and randomly met you, you would be scared then." The hope died out. My shoulders deflating. I could care less about the pain throbbing in the one. It was all because of me saving Anna she's not scared.
Sarah realized her mistake due to my question. "Shit, Azar, that's not what I meant. If you didn't, I would probably be intimidated but not scared. I couldn't be, unless you showed you meant harm to me." 'Harm to me' really caught my attention. I shakily stepped back and shook my head.
"I would never! I wouldn't," I sputtered, fear crawling back in my throat. She chased after me and rested a reassuring hand on my bicep.
"Hey, it's okay. I know that. You're a good person who is selfless and caring." Her words froze me. There was no way for me to be 'good'. It was impossible. Once a murderer, forever a murderer. Sarah saw the defeat in my eyes and sighed.
Only a few seconds engulfed us before she began to quietly sing a lullaby. Sarah got back to drying my scales, the only sound was her singing. The noise helped ease my anxiety, long after she finished and led me back down stairs.
Not a sound creaked through the old house as we entered the kitchen. I plopped back down on the chair, more relaxed and tired than before. At that moment, all I wanted to do was curl up with Anna and pass out for a good few hours. That sounded nice, very nice.
Sarah was careful with how tight she wrapped up my arms. Her touch light and timid, so much better than Ratchet's. He sometimes forgets about my smaller, more fragile form compared to his kind. Or maybe… maybe Ratchet does it on purpose. That damn mech.
"There we go! All better," she stated as she finished up the last patch up on my head. It was only a small tear in my scales but Sarah argued about keeping it clean.
Creaks on the stairs caught my attention. The muscles in my back tensed as I stared intensively at the corner; the actually stairs couldn't be seen from this angle in the kitchen. Sarah froze as well, waiting for me to act.
A socked foot stepped down on the ground. Then appeared the body of Anna. The young girl rubbed tiredly at her eyes and shuffled in the kitchen, not paying much attention. "Momma, is Nighty home yet?" Named person visibly relaxed and laughed at her adorable daughter. She didn't speak up though and turned to me, giving me silent permission.
"Why don't you open your eyes and see for yourself?" I teased her. It took a moment for Anna to realize who was talking before rushing up to me. Her form leaped up into my lap and crashed into my chest before Sarah had a chance to stop her.
Pain throbbed in all of my wounds but I bit my tongue. "Nighty! I've missed you so, so, so, so much!" Her small arms wrapped around my neck. It was a bit of stretch, due to my larger form.
Tears formed in her eyes before they fell. Anna buried her face into the crook of my neck, wiping the droplets of water there. I wrapped my arms carefully around her tinier frame and held her close. It's alright kid, I'm right here.
Behind her, Sarah smiled happily, though disappoint did flash in her eyes. I knew why and returned the first gesture. The woman shook her head then got to cleaning up the medical supplies.
Finally, after two or so minutes, Anna pulled back, eyes red and puffy from crying. Sniffles emitted from her. "We really missed you." Her gaze flickered around the changes on my face compared to my other form. Confusion washed over her face. "You look different."
Anna poked at the extra teeth attached to my lips. "Whoa, what are these?" Her touch was a bit rough but didn't do anything damaging or painful when she pinched the edge of one. "Can you feel this?" But her attention was drawn away as she spotted to crack on my outer most horn. She furrowed her brows. "What happened? Why is it broken?"
"I helped some people earlier today, that's why we were late," I explained simply and carefully shifted her in my lap. "Might get yelled at by your dad though."
She gasped dramatically and furiously shook her head. "Never! I won't let him. He's a meanie butt if he does that." Her hands pushed my cheeks together as she stared intently into my eyes. Though, it wasn't very intimidating since she was much smaller than me.
"Well, I'll make sure he knows I have you on my side." The kid smiled toothily and wiggled excitedly in my lap.
"Momma, can she sleep with me? She's my big protector!" She questioned and turned her head to look up at Sarah. Said person had finished up cleaning and was observing from afar. Sarah gazed at me for a moment, silently asking me if I want to. To which I nodded my head.
"Sure, why not. I'll go get some extra blankets." With that, she went up stairs and left me with Anna. The kid was so excited when she got off of my lab, more like jumped, she nearly face planted into the hard wood floor.
When the kid held my hand, she finally noticed the bandages and whined at them. Not a word came from her through as she kissed both of my hands. We made our up to her room where Sarah was placing more blankets at the end of the bed. "Alright, you two, time for bed."
I settled first on the bed and waited for the kid to curl up to me. She did so, happily using my lower, free wing as a blanket. Sarah draped a real blanket on us before kissing both our heads. "Sleep good and don't let the bed bugs bite."