I did not edit these!
Okay, so I cut this scene, as it was kind of pulling the chapter for topic, and it was connecting somethings from my other stories, that I'm not sure if I want to connect to or not.
"The son of a glitch did it," Cheetor heard Optimus say.
"There's no doubting that," Rhinox spoke.
The catbot, was only half invested in the emergency meeting that was now being held in the command center. The other half was a confused buzzing mess of emotions, grief, sorrow, anger, and longing. Chicory, or whoever was the femme whom has taken on her likeness, was being kept in the med-bay safely sedated. Cheetor wanted nothing more to be at her berth side but he needed to be here. With ever happened in this mission meeting would decide the femme's fate.
"How?" Cheetor croaked.
"Honestly, I have no idea," Rhinox groaned, "Transfusing an organic with a protoform, in general is unheard of. Doing it, and it being successful is even more so. Nothing in maximal history, science, or religious text, told of anything like this."
"'The white flame ingulfed her figure. But death never claimed her. Flesh now forged in gold metal glittering. And she flew to battle on angelic wings'," Dinobot spoke up from his spot at the table where he was brooding.
"Er. Wat?" Rattrap asked.
"It's a line from an old vosian balled," Dinobot snarled, "Due to the situation I will spare you the details. But the basic premise was of an earthling sky warrior earning seeker wings after she saved a young winglord, from his wounds."
"Wait, wait, you's said it was vosian. Aren't yous from Tarn?" Rattrap quirked an optic ridge.
"I am from Tarn, but some of my ancestors were originally seekers from Vos. And they were particularly attached to this legend, some of my more eccentric uncles even claimed that the warrior in the story was their great grandmother."
"Wait, wait are you's sayin that ya got earth blood, Chapporface?"
"No, vermin I'm not. While my great great grandmother was the conjunx to a vosian winglord, that didn't mean she was originally from earth. If anything, it was a story made up by the winglord to comfort their young sparklings after she was assassinated."
"All I'm sayin is dat if ya h've earth blood, it would explain your weird obsession wit Shakespeare."
"Earning seeker wings?" Optimus pondered, "Does that mean she was given cybertronian body?"
"That's how most interpret the story, yes," Dinobot answered.
"All myths usually have some kind of basis in truth," Rhinox said.
Okay, this is basically, an alternate ending, a What if, if you will. What if chicory didn't go with the maximals back to cybertron, and stayed on prehistoric earth.
Alternative epilogue: A Daughter of Gaia
"You's sure ya don't want me to come wit ya, spots?"
"No, thanks Rattrap," Cheetor said, with a sighed, "In need to do this one my own."
Rattrap nodded, "Ok, kid. I'll be back in an hour to get ya," the technorganic ratformer turned around, and went back through the bridge that brought them here.
Cheetor watched his friend leave through the swirling mass of folded space, before turning back to the scene in front of him. The human archeological dig site, and the number of human eyes staring at the supreme commander of cybertron. Cheetor didn't bother to smile at them, as he didn't think it would make any of them relax. In all honesty, his fangs would probably freak them out.
Slipping through the site, the technorganic cat's paws made little sound. His optics looked round the area. Scientists both fully fledged and students, were standing around him. Some in tapped off excavation holes, while others were under neath tents, however Cheetor did really pay the people much mind. It was the place that had been turned into the dig site that was occupying his thoughts.
It was different then he remembered. The forest was gone, but the valley it had rested in still remained. It seemed like only yesterday that he was playing with Chak and Una, but in reality, it had been millions of years, and they we're long gone. The thought made him sad, but he quickly tried to cover it up, but reminding himself of all the fun they had gotten to have, playing tag and them tackling him, while Chircory…
He lowered his helm, audio sensors flattening. A vision of a young femme, dressed in furs of sand gold and midnight black, with bewitching wild optics, danced into his mind, and he felt his own optics mist. He couldn't think about her right now. Time to get to work.
Yesterday, Cheetor had been informed that some earth archeologists discovered something inside of one of the number of caves in the area. Something beyond the realm of normal, something that appeared cybertronian. After hearing of the location where the dig site was, the supreme commander decided that he needed to investigate it himself.
He arrived at cave front, and the expedition supervisor came up to greet him. The supervisor was a human male, most likely nearly a mid-life crisis if the 70s themed outfit and large afro he was rocking was anything to go by.
"Supreme commander Cheetor," The supervisor greeted, "It's an honor sir!"
"Good to be here," Cheetor said in return, "What do your people find?"
"Terry over there was the one who saw it first. We were just going through the back of the cave, as it looked like it had been sealed up in a way, and that's where we found it."
"And what is it?"
"W-well, if I'm being honest, I'd say it's a body, and it's not a fossil. We think it might be some sort of early burial chamber, but we're not sure as," he huffed a nervus laugh, "as we didn't think that your kind had been on our planet this early on in our history."
Cheetor looked towards the cave, he felt his spark studder as the faintest sweet flowery scent drifted into his nose on a sudden gentle, wild breeze. The scent triggered memories, that fluttered back in flashes. It couldn't be…
"To be honest, we're kind of worried. We didn't really expect to get the attention of the supreme commander of…"
"Did you clear the cave out?" Cheetor cut the supervisor off.
"Uhm, yes sir we did. Me and my men were warned about the dangers of possible energon exposer. Should we be concerned?"
Cheetor glanced at the man, before his optics turned back to the cave, "I'm not sure yet. I'll check it out, but don't let anyone inside just incase."
"Yes sir," the supervisor said, while Cheetor started towards the cave.
The thick stone walls of the cave should have blocked out the sun light and made the atmosphere feel heavy and tight. However, any sort of darkness that should be inside was banished by the flickering, buzzing white lights the humans had set up. Though, Cheetor was grateful they were present.
Without them he would have never noticed the paintings. They were smudgy, faded and the colors were muted without the discovery of colored dyes, but Cheetor could understand them. He knew who they were. The ones closer to the mouth, were of everyone. A picture of Dinobot with the stone ax, Optimus in his optimal form, himself playing with the children, pit, even Waspinator got a piece. But the further he went into the cave the paintings shifted, soon they only featured one maximal.
Chicory.
He stopped in front of one of the paintings, and tried not to cry. It was of her and the children; a larger figure painted in dirty yellow, and tar black, and two smaller figures at her sides. His spark felt like it was shattering. This was her life. This was the life she had lived, after they left.
Cheetor tried, he tried so hard to convince her to come with him back home. That day was still vivid in his mind. He had run out to her territory to bring her back to the ship. To bring her back home to their happily ever after. To build a new live with her. But that didn't happen…She didn't come with him. He had pleaded with her, but she couldn't leave. Eventually, she ran away from him, disappearing into the savanna, with tears in her optics.
He hadn't gone after her. Angry that she didn't want come, angry that she didn't want to stay with him, he just returned to the others and left. He didn't even try to talk to her again. It was far too late when he finally understood why she couldn't leave, and regret hung around his neck like a noose ever since. He'd wished that he had gone looking for her about a million times.
He fought tears as he continued through the cave. Judging by the paintings, she didn't live a terrible life after he left. She watched over her mother till the elder cheetah ran out of time, and then she had come to live with the humans. She acted as their protector, teacher, and friend. She became their guardian. Over the generations, the humans had grown to see her as some kind of deity in a way. The paints depicted the actions she did in their favor; saving them from wild animals, natural disasters, and, if he understood one of the paintings correctly, welcoming infants.
Eventually, he came to the final painting. It was of her lying down, a poorly drawn limb hanging limp, with small figures standing around her with their heads lowered. Cheetor knew what part of her story this painting was trying to tell. The end. This was how it ended. The humans found her lying dead one morning. Most likely from energon depletion, even with a diet of prey which would prolong her time left, her spark would eventually sputter out.
He turned to the last part of the cave, the sealed off chamber, now unearthed. Carefully he pranced into her tomb. And the trickle of tears began. Laying in the back of the room, on the dusty cold stone floor, surrounded by bones turned fossils, was her. It was her. Chicory. The femme he had loved, and then abandoned.
She laid there. Dead. Her frame no longer bright and vibrant, only dead cold and grey. Some of her fur had been ripped out and a few more scuffs had been added to her armor; marks of battles long gone. Her optics, now empty and black.
Cheetor walked towards her, and swapped over to robot mode. He picked her up in his arms, and pressed his forehead against her's. Her body was limp and cold; lifeless for a long time. Tears slipped from his optics and on to her blank beautiful faceplate as he started to sob. He had been too late, for a long time he'd had been too late. He'd had rattrap scene earth for her life signal once everything had been sorted out on cybertron, but it wasn't there.
He kept telling himself that she must have been some where else. That she had been part of the great war, and was living somewhere in the galaxy. That one day she had gone looking for him. But… those were only shields he had built to protect himself. Lies he had told himself.
As the tear began to slowly run dry, did the questions of what comes next, came to mind. Did he take her body back to cybertron to be cremated? No, he couldn't do that. He couldn't sperate her from the world she loved. He had tried to once and he'd lost her. He'd have a grave built here on earth for her.
He cupped her cheek, "I'm sorry I'm late, 'Cory."
