Part 3 of the rewrite! Yes, it is going to get veeerryyy different than the original fic really soon! Just don't kill me! XD! The next few are coming at a slower pace because I'm starting from scratch on them pretty much! Anyways I DO NOT OWN TRANSFORMERS! Also I really need a beta to help me go back and edit the last 30 odd chapters before the rewrite! I want to rewrite some scenes from before chapter 32 as well, just because I realized how they interface wouldn't work the same way that I wrote it! So if anyone is interested, you don't have to touch the sex scenes if you don't want to! Just help me edit everything else! I can handle the M rated content! PM me and let me know!
(Clare's POV)
After managing to pry Sides off of me the three of us made our way into the building where Sam, and the others were all sitting patiently waiting for us. My cousin looked down with a blush when I sat down with the twins' holoforms beside me, Mikeala grinning at us madly, Leo looked like he was pouting, and Simmons was shaking his head.
I rolled my eyes at each of them. "Ok enough about the whole weird vibes just because you saw us having sex. It's nothing that you all haven't done before. So get on with this big break through! The sooner we figure out where we're going, the sooner we can save Optimus."
Sam shook it off, before looking at Leo. "Ok Leo you remember astronomy class page 47?"
Leo frowned. "No. No I was only in college for two days. Remember that?" He asked sarcastically.
Sam shot to his feet, and gestured for us all to follow him hurriedly. "Just get up! Up! Up! Follow me!"
"What's got you so worked up kid?" Simmons muttered.
We all followed Sam outside onto a connected balcony where we could all clearly see the slowly rising sun. "Ok you see those three stars?" Sam pointed at three bright specks on the horizon. "Do you see how the last one touches the horizon? Well that's Orion's belt, but it's also called the Three Kings. It was named that after the three Egyptian Kings who built the pyramids of Giza to reflect those stars. So it's like an arrow staring us straight in the face." He explained hastily.
Realization started to dawn on me. "So those are the Three Kings."
"Right!" Sam pointed at me.
"They all point due East towards Jordan and the mountains of Petra." Simmons explained.
"So that's where we have to go next." I muttered excitedly. Yes! We had an idea! Somewhere in mind to go to next! I'd bet my aft that we had figured it all out too! "So what are we waiting for? Let's go!"
We should be arriving at our destination soon, after a long, grueling drive that had stretched on for a few hours, in which we were all quiet for the most part. I wish that I could focus on resting like everyone else, but my spark chamber was hurting again, and it felt like my spark was burning the edges of the case housing it. I was trying my best not to let Sides know, since I was riding in him right now.
But as the kliks ticked by, it was getting harder to bite down the pained whimpers that kept threatening to escape me every time we hit a bump or something. When it happened my spark fragging hurt like a motherslagging glitch!
Luckily he hadn't noticed anything because I was doing my best to feign recharge so as not to worry him, since I knew that as soon as he realized something was wrong, Sunny would realize it too. Then there would be a massive freaking issue made because of it, and the last thing that I wanted to do was have everyone stop for me.
We had little time to get where we were going, and we had to get to where we were going as fast as we could. So I would just endure it until we got there. Soon enough the pain would fade away like it always did, I was sure of it… I just had to breathe through it until then.
That was my plan at least, but when Sides hit a large bump that sent me jostling around in my seat, I lost the thin hold that I had on the control I'd been able to maintain over my cries so far, and a loud, pained yelp escaped me before I could even think to stop it. My hands shot up to cover my chest, fisting at the fabric covering it as I doubled over and bit my lip to keep from crying out again.
Almost immediately a hand was on my shoulder, then Sides' holoform face was leaning down into my peripheral vision, a look of concern clearly visible on his handsome features. "Sweetspark? What's wrong?"
I shook my head, unable to speak now that my spark was maliciously beating at my spark casing, almost like it was trying to claw its' way out and get free. Like a caged animal or something… except it was my own life essence that had turned on me…
Sunny's voice came through Sides' speaker, while said bot gently rubbed my back in an effort to comfort me. "What's wrong with you? Is your spark hurting again?"
I released another shuddering breath as Sides pushed me to sit up against his seat carefully. "Let me see sweetspark." He carefully pulled my shirt up over my head, making sure that it didn't touch my chest and then he tossed it aside somewhere. A bright glow was immediately cast onto the inside of his cab from the glowing marks running up the side of my body, staining the ceiling a bright translucent blue.
He seemed to ignore it in favor of running his hands over the expanse of my chest, not in a perverted manner, which was a first, but just to see if he could find whatever was causing me so much pain. "Can you get rid of this thing for me Clare? It's kind of in the way." He fingered at the bra I'd formed, more out of habit than anything, in contempt.
I quickly dispersed it, exposing my naked chest to him and he resumed looking it over unhindered this time. My head was pressed back against the seat, chests heaving with each labored pant that escaped me. I wasn't paying any attention to what he was doing really, and that was why it was so surprising when his hand caught on something that has me arching with a startled cry of pain, body twisting away from him before the thought had even registered… I had no idea what he had just done, but it fragging hurt hella bad. "Please don't touch me there." I panted out in agony.
"Ok I won't touch it sweetspark, but I do need you to change back to bot form for me ok? I need to look at something."
I quickly dispersed the rest of my clothes, allowing my skin to matter shift into the armor plating that covered me in my bot form. My mech quickly leaned forward to look my chassis over, after adjusting the seat so that I was laying down comfortably.
He took one look at my chassis, and for some reason that had him cursing loudly in the otherwise silent cab. "How the pit...? There's no fragging way that..."
I followed his gaze down, jolting in surprise when I noticed that my chassis was ballooning outward. My spark was clearly visible through the small crease between plates, that must be what was causing the sensation of something trying to rip me apart from the inside… "Sides? What's wrong with me?" I murmured weakly.
His eyes shot up to my optics.
"SIDES! WHAT THE FRAG IS WRONG WITH HER?!" Sunny bellowed through the comm channel.
"Her spark is pushing against her spark casing." Sides muttered worriedly. "It's bending her chassis outward to try and accommodate it."
"WHAT?!" Came from multiple voices including the dumb twins.
"But her spark shouldn't be doing that! It's the right size for her frame!" Sunny argued.
"Not anymore." Sides muttered. "We have to do something quickly otherwise..." His voice trailed off as he started quivering nervously, or was it fearfully? "Otherwise her spark will destroy her spark casing."
"Ok can someone tell me what is going on?" Sam's voice came through the speakers next. "All I can hear is all of you yelling about something! What's happening?"
Sunny started talking next, ignoring Sam completely. "Well then we need to stop and do something! One of us can sparkmerge with her and it should help siphon out some of her excess spark energy."
"That's only a temporary fix Sunny." Sides explained as he helped me move so that I was more comfortable in his seat. "Sweetspark I think that you should stay like this until we can get you some help. At least like this some spark energy is escaping from you, if you stay in your human form your skin is not only agitating your spark chamber, but it's preventing energy from escaping."
"Ok." I whimpered.
"We're gonna do something ok? Just try and relax for now. When we stop Sunny or I will sparkmerge with you to lessen the strain."
"Ok."
He laid down beside me on the seat and pulled me in against his chest, cradling me close and letting me use his bicep as a pillow. "Everything will be ok sweetspark. Ratchet and the others are on their way to the drop point so as soon as we're done finding the Matrix we'll meet up with them."
"CAN SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON?!" Sam yelled through the speakers again.
"How close are we?" Sides asked instead of answering him.
"Nearly there, we're pulling up in front of the mountain range now." Bee answered.
It took us a few kliks to reach our destination, and when we did Sides gently laid me out on his seat before his holoform dispersed as he transformed so that he was in his bipedal form. The dry, arid aid of the desert instantly buffeted me as I lay there in Sides' servo panting, chassis looking more like a balloon than anything else.
The hot, blazing sun was bearing down on me, further overheating my frame uncomfortably. At least until Sunny suddenly leaned over me, blocking the harsh rays with his bulk and casting a nice cool shadow over me. He reached out to touch my chassis, only to stop and hover over it like he was too afraid to actually risk it at all. "Primus baby… What's happening to you…?"
I whimpered when another sharp pulse of pain surged through my spark casing, a groan echoing from both me and the plates that were suddenly being bent outward even more as wisps of spark energy starting arcing into the air just outside of the crease where my chassis was supposed to close.
"Slag it all to the pit!" Sunny cursed and snatched me from Sides, bringing me in close to his frame protectively as it seemed to curl around me as he sat down on his aft. He quickly cupped me in both servos and slid his chest plates back so that his large, sapphire colored spark was exposed as Sides moved to stand between us and the rest of the group to protect us. "Open your chest plates for me ok baby? I'm gonna make you feel better."
I nodded and slid my own chest plates back, exposing my much smaller, light blue spark, only it wasn't quite as small as it was supposed to be anymore… If anything it seemed like it was substantially bigger than before, much too big for my casing to house…
"Ok baby I need you to let your energy flow into me. Don't hold it back. I'm not going to exchange energy with you, I'm only going to accept yours ok? This should ease your discomfort for a while." Sunny explained quietly.
I nodded dumbly as he moved me towards him, not really knowing what to expect, and I was completely surprised when my spark literally lifted out of my frame but I was still left conscious. I was able to see his own spark lift free of his casing and drift towards mine as well, where the two quickly merged together in a shower of sparks.
The sensation was… similar to cable syncing. It created a thrumming sensation within me, and I could feel him on the edge of my awareness through the pulsating waves of the merge. It felt like energy was literally being sapped out of me, some escaping into the air around us, only to disperse with little explosions of spark energy that crackled around us.
My mech suddenly groaned loudly, hunching over me and drawing my attention back to him as his frame started sparking violently, optics blazing white as his jaw clenched to keep himself from being too vocal… It struck me at that moment that we were technically interfacing, or having sex in a way, with quite a few onlookers around us, and only Sides frame being strategically placed between us and them was preventing what we were doing from becoming a living peep show…
My thoughts drifted back to what was happening quickly when Sunny suddenly shuddered violently, moaning as his spark seemed to suddenly start sapping at my spark energy much faster than before. His frame started sparking, softly at first but, but then the showers lighting off across his plating erupted into a literal lightning storm going off over every inch of him. He moaned, hunching over me as his overload surged through his frame and sapped one last, massive wave of energy from me…
And just like that the pain that had been enveloping me was temporarily abated as my spark was released from the merge and drifted back into my chassis, leaving me feeling much like a puddle of gelatin laying limp in his servo.
Afterwards my chest plates slid closed, and this time they were laying flat like they were supposed to. A collective sigh went through my twins, and Bee, when they saw this.
Sam and the other humans however, had no fragging clue what was going on. The former was still standing near Bee's peds yelling up at us, demanding to know what the heck was going on, and as usual the twins were ignoring him. Bee couldn't answer him, and the other twins were stupid enough for everything they said to be questionable.
"HELLO?! CAN SOMEONE ANSWER ME?!"
Sides turned to blink down at him. "Oh sorry forgot you were there for a moment."
Sam scowled at him. "What's wrong with my cousin? I've been asking for over ten minutes now!"
"Well Sam if you have to know Clare's spark has become too large for her spark casing to house. This is often times fatal, unless a medic can build a new spark casing or frame. So we need to get the Matrix and get her to Ratchet as soon as possible." Sides informed him bluntly.
"Why would that happen though? It's never been an issue before!" Sam argued, eyes locked on me worriedly, as was Mikeala, and even Leo and Simmons. "You know what? Explain on the way then so we can get her some help faster!" He demanded, before he turned and started leading us into the mountain range.
Well by that I meant everybot else had to walk, I was being carried by Sunny who refused to let me down. I was tired enough at the moment that I didn't care enough to argue with it, so instead I dozed in and out of recharge for several kliks. Or maybe it was breems, because the next thing I registered hearing was Simmons muttering something.
"It's got to be around here somewhere."
I looked up at the same time that Sam froze at the front of the group, staring up at a giant palace built into the side of a mountain. It was absolutely massive, with a door easily four times larger than any of the bots here, and I somehow doubted that any primitive humans would've needed such a large entryway… So we had to be in the right place.
The entire heavy atmosphere around the group seemed to lighten considerably once we spotted that structure, all of them making their way towards it in a fast sprint. Mudflap shoved Skids raced ahead of the group, the former shoving the latter over just outside the door, before climbing over him. I sighed tiredly as Sunny carried me in, with everyone else trailing along after us.
When we got inside, it was one large room with no more doorways leading anywhere else. But even so, Sam walked over to the far wall and started inspecting it. "It's here somewhere guys."
Leo threw his arms out and scowled at Sam angrily. "Yeah? Why? Because grandpa Blackbird, the guy who doesn't even know what planet he's on says so?"
"Well in his defense this is the biggest doorway I've ever seen in my entire life." Simmons commented, while eyeing the massive doorway.
"Oh! Well that's great! Let me do a quick search." Leo made show of spinning around as if looking for something. "Hmmm nope nothing!"
In Leo's defense the place was empty, and according to Simmons archaeologists had been here before, and this caused the two quickly started arguing about it. "Sometimes that's how it goes kid! You get to the end of the rainbow and there's no pot of gold! It's just a fact of life." Simmons sighed…
"I'm not gonna listen to you! You live with your mother!" Leo snapped.
Sam suddenly jumped up from where he was sitting. "It's not over. There has to be something here! Otherwise, why would we have been given all these clues?"
Mudflap turned towards him. "Why are we still listening to you? You lil punk ass! What have you ever done for us except ding my rim?!"
"Killed Megatron! How 'bout dat?" Skids defended Sam.
Mudflap got into Skids' face. "Well, they didn't get the job done cuz he back now!"
"You scared?" Skids challenged.
"Scared? Scared of yo'r ugly face!" Mudflap shoved him.
"Ugly? We're twins you stupid genius!" Skids shoved Mudflap back and the two got up in each other's faces again.
I sat up, using Sunny's thumb to steady myself as my optics roved around the cavernous room we were in. Sam was right, and we had to be missing something important that was present here, otherwise why the frag would we have been given the clues that led to us finding it? We just had to find the clues that were present here…
I turned up to look at my mechfriend. "Put me down Sunny."
He eyed Skids and Mudflap warily. "I don't think that's a good idea."
"Just do it, or I'll jump down."
He sighed, before bending down to sit me on the floor. "Fine but be careful."
I waved him off and started looking at the various glyphs that were lining the walls, most of which were ancient Egyptian, but nothing Cybertronian in nature was present in the arrays. At least not that I could find…
Something suddenly crashed into the floor right behind me, startling me so much that I whipped around and nearly got bowled over by Skids and Mudflap who had decided to start brawling right there in the middle of the floor. One of their peds lashed out catching me in the side and smacking me into another wall, ripping a pained cry from my vocalizer when my back slammed into it with enough force to crack the stone slab.
"CLARE!" Multiple different voices yelled, but the sounds were quickly drowned out by the furious roaring of my twins' engines, directly preceding Sunny picking both up and slamming them face first into one another, then he carried them to the doorway and tossed them up into the air, before punting them like a football.
"WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING YOU STUPID FRAGGING HALF BITS! YOU JUST HURT MY INTENDED!" He roared at the top of his vocalizer, before he made to go after them.
Only for him to stop short and whip around when I forced myself onto my servos and knees, craning my helm back and shaking it to clear the daze my processor was in, and in doing so my optics skimmed over Sides who was kneeling in front of me, then Sam and the others, before they landed on something carved into the wall that I'd been knocked into. I gasped, the sound drawing his attention before he could take more than a step or two towards the idiots.
He doubled back around and came over to kneel besides his twin. "Baby are you okay?"
I nodded, ignoring the pain in my side from where I'd been struck, and lifting a servo to point at the scratches carved into the wall. "More of the chicken scratches!"
He briefly glanced at them, then he looked back at me and his optics drifted down to my side. "You're hurt… those fragging idiots!"
My optics drifted down briefly to take in the dent in my side, but then they moved back up to the markings after I dismissed it. It wasn't nearly as important right now… Deciphering what these symbols meant was far more important. "It says, "Our bretheren has truly turned against us, leaving the original Thirteen without one of their kin. We have fought him for millennia over the Matrix, which he stole for a time and ascended once more to a form that threatened to destroy all the known Universe. I cannot keep track of how many battles we have waged against him, or how many lives were lost in the process, but what I do know is that after a long, arduous bout of conflicts we were finally able to weaken him enough to reclaim the Matrix from him. But he will not relent in his search for it, and we cannot remain as we are forever as it causes our Creator to weaken further with each passing moment. For that reason, Prima has taken our situation into consideration, and decided that we must sacrifice ourselves to seal the Matrix away from him so that he cannot find it. It is the last option that is left to us, and we go to our final rest with the hopes that those who could be saved all those millennia ago, including the one we helped care for... little Ierenadrelana... will live on, like the immortal beings they are, and bring true life back to all... Those who see this message... if you are a chosen one, then when the time comes you will know what to do... hopefully - Solus Prime."
When I turned back to the group they were doing that staring thing that they'd become prone to whenever I read these strange symbols. "Well I guess Solus left this etching behind then…" I muttered awkwardly.
Sunny, Sides, and Bee all exchanged a confused look with each other, then Sides turned back to me. "Um, sweetspark… I know that we already kind of knew that the Matrix, and the Thirteen were kind of tied to these etchings, but are you sure that Solus Prime actually left that? I mean… there's never been any symbols left in Cybertron's history that were like these… and definitely not from the Thirteen…"
"Well the other symbols mentioned a closely guarded secret that the Thirteen didn't want to be revealed… so I guess them using an unknown language would be a good way of hiding that secret. What's really weird is that I can actually read it… I wonder who Ierenadrelana is? She mentioned that he or she was an immortal being… Wouldn't that be cool? I bet that whoever that is, is still wandering around somewhere right?"
Sides shrugged. "I guess…? But how does that help us now? All we have to go on now is that etching, and an empty, one roomed sandstone palace to go on. I mean, where do we go from here? That etching didn't really tell us anything new, other than what was left of the Thirteen sacrificed themselves to seal the Matrix away."
"Well… maybe there's something else here that will give us a clue? Let me look and see if I can find some more markings." With that I turned my back to them and felt at the relatively smooth sandstone walls of the palace, every once in a while my digits would dip into one of the Egyptian symbols carved into the wall. I moved away from where they were all standing, towards the wall that Sam was looking over the first time.
"Maybe there's nothing else here baby… I mean I don't see anything…" Sunny muttered as he literally shadowed my every move as I moved across the wall.
"Let's just look ok? There could be something we're missing." I skimmed over a seemingly plain part of the wall, servo brushing aside some dust or sand that had accumulated there, and as it was brushed aside my optics zeroed in on some more of the etchings. "Bingo! I found more!"
Everyone gathered around as I continued cleaning the dust and sand off of it, until it was fully revealed. "What does it say?" Sam asked as he knelt down beside me.
"It says, "That which you seek lies behind this doorway. Only the two chosen ones may enter, if the one reading this is you Sionuvalusian, know that our time was short and we did what we could. If you come into possession of the Matrix deliver it to Ierenadrelana. It is she who is meant to bare its' power, not The Fallen. When you find her look after her, the two of you will find strength in one another. For the chosen to enter you must repeat the words arishin algeic."
Well shit… looks like there's another one… but that didn't help us get in…
I turned and stared at the group dejectedly. "Well… unless one of us just happens to be one of the chosen ones… we ain't getting' in there. Have any of you ever been called Sionuvalusian, or Ierenadrelana in your lifetimes?"
They all shook their heads, or helms in the bot's cases.
"Shit! Well it's not like if one of us says the words, arishin algeic, that door-!" My voice cut off when the marks on my arm suddenly started glowing, and an ominous groaning sound started up from behind me. When I whipped around the two large stone slabs that made up the door were sliding back to reveal a massive corridor encompassed in darkness.
Dead silence fell over the room after the slabs fell back the rest of the way with a loud bang.
I turned to look at the others over my shoulder, and surprise! They were all fragging staring at me! "Oh wow… it must be our lucky day! The dead Primes have had mercy on us and… um… opened the door for us! Wow that's great! I'm sure that in some special cases they'll open the door for anybot right?" I laughed nervously…
Sides blinked, before leaning down into my face. "So… I guess we've narrowed your real designation down to two possible choices… So are you Sionuvalusian? Or Ierenadrelana? Those are weird designations by the way, but they're kinda pretty still…"
I pointed up at him. "I. AM. CLARE! The door must've opened because I'm connected to the Allspark somehow, and the Matrix was made by the same person! That's the only reason the door opened! Now shut up and let's get in there already!" With that I spun and stomped into the dark corridor without waiting to see if any of them were following me or not. The loud ped steps of the bots started up an astrosecond later, and the soft pattering of the human footsteps followed right behind it.
A soft glow was visible ahead, like a soft white glow similar to the moonlight illuminating the night sky… We made our way towards it, stepping into a massive cavern, the walls of which were coated in tiny white crystals that were the cause of the faint glow.
But I found my focus being taken from them after only an astrosecond, because my optics drifted around the walls of the cavern, taking in eleven stone like forms standing against the walls, like statues.
"Those don't look Cybertronian…" Sam whispered in awe…
I had to agree with him… The beings pressed against the walls of the cavern were not of a size that was unbelievable for a Cybertronian to be, but their features were distinctly draconic in nature. They all varied in sizes and shapes, some being quite a bit taller, and those had large protruding horns on the top of their helms, while some had what looks like thicker, curved horns jutting out of the back of their helms. Each and every one of them had a large set of wings jutting out of their shoulders, one or two having a second set on their lower backs, and all of them were spread out along the walls of the cavern, backs pressed against it.
I stared up at the second tallest one in awe, him being one of the ones with the horns protruding from the top of his helm. He was standing, staring at the doorway like a silent sentinel, with a massive sword resting in his servos, the tip stabbed into the ground.
And in front of him was the twelfth statue kneeling on the ground, this one had long horns that curved back along her helm, the under, before the points jutted forward again. Her dead, lifeless optics were staring towards the doorway as well, a scowl on what was definitely a feminine face. In one servo she had a massive hammer resting against her right shoulder, and her other was cradling what must be the Matrix against her lower abdomen, her wings spread up towards the ceiling and casting a shadow around her.
She looked… familiar to me… as did the rest of them… But for whatever reason that was, I couldn't seem to recall it. There was just this vague sense of familiarity when I looked at their faces… I had to shake the feeling off so that I could turn back to the one cradling the Matrix, just as my cousin came to a stop in front of her.
"The Matrix." Sam muttered in awe as he stepped forward to touch it.
I felt real hope swelling up in my spark for the first time since Optimus died…
And then... Sam touched the Matrix… and it literally exploded into a cloud of shimmering dust in his hand…
I don't even remember consciously doing it, but I fell to my knees with a loud crash, everything in me going numb while I stared, trembling, at the pile of shiny dust that once made it up. What now? How were we supposed to bring Optimus back now? Did it even matter that this supposedly thwarted whatever master plan The Fallen had up his sleeve? No… because he could still defeat us all without Optimus here to defeat him…
"No. This isn't happening." Sam whispered in disbelief.
Simmons shook his head dejectedly. "Thousands of years turned to dust." He sighed.
"This wasn't supposed to happen." Sam bowed his head, hands frantically grabbing at the pile of dust left behind.
Bee came and knelt behind him, whirring sadly as he touched his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. It didn't seem like Sam was paying him the least bit of attention right now though. Everybot else seemed to be of the same opinion as well, all staring in complete and utter dejection at the remains of what had once given us hope…
Something nudged my back. "Baby? Are you okay?" Sunny asked me, carefully, while gently trailing his digit up and down my backstrut.
Something about his question caused a surge of anger to course through me with so much intensity that I shot to my peds and threw my arms up in the air, as if to beseech the statue figures around us. "WELL NOW WHAT?! WHERE'S THE NEXT FREAKING CLUE YOU JERKS?! YOU COULDN'T HAVE BROUGHT US ALL HALFWAY ACROSS THE PLANET FOR NO REASON RIGHT?! HOW ABOUT A FUCKING SIGN?!"
"Clare that's not helping anything sweetspark…"
I whipped around and growled at him, with tears pooling in my optics. "What is helping Sides?! WHAT?! Now what the frag are we supposed to do?! What?! Where's the fucking silver lining that's supposed to give us some sense of hope? Because I'll tell you something! I don't see anything!"
Neither of them responded to that, or maybe it was more accurate to say that they didn't know what to say… Something about that just left me feeling even more dejected than I did before…
Leaving me to slump against the ground despondently. "What now…?"
"We'll figure something out baby… there just has to be something we're missing right now…"
"Like what?" I murmured brokenly. Never had I ever felt so broken and lost before… I'd always been able to cling to some sort of hope, in any situation really… But the last few days had taken their toll on me.
Sunny pulled me up against his chassis and held me there when I finally lost control and let the tears slowly trickle down my cheeks. He didn't say anything, just held me and purred to soothe me.
"Sometimes what is not there is still obtainable."
I jolted up when a distinctly masculine voice lilted through my helm, not as deep as Optimus or even Sunny, but similar in timber to Hot Rod. "What the frag was that?!"
My twins blinked down at me. "What was what?"
"I heard somebot talking!"
"Nobot was talking baby."
I started frantically panning my gaze around the chamber, looking for wherever that voice had originated from. "Yes there was! Somebot said, "Sometimes what is not there is still obtainable!" How could you not hear that?!"
I couldn't see anybot that wasn't already with us when we came in! There was absolutely nothing!
"I am unfortunately the smallest one here." The voice muttered.
I looked over at the smallest statue, the one of a mech with what appeared to be two sets of wings that were more insectoid in nature than the others. Optics that were previously devoid of color, were now glowing a bright green. "Ok that statue's optics are glowing…"
Sunny and Sides shot to their peds and backed away apprehensively, as the humans scrambled behind Bee who took a defensive stance in front of them. "What the frag is happening?!"
"Relax…" The voice echoed, this time the sound seemed to encompass the entire room, and everyone could hear it. "I am unable to move, and even if I could I have no desire to harm any of you. I am merely speaking to you now telepathically, because Ieren was in distress."
"Who are you talking about? There's nobot here with that name." I pointed out.
"Yes there is."
"No there isn't." I argued back.
"You did open the door, did you not? Only two beings have the ability to do that. One of them is Ieren, and the other is Sion, and Sion is currently… otherwise indisposed."
"Ok… my name is Clare, not Ieren or whatever you just called me. I think you're confused from being dead for so long, because your perception of the real world is lacking."
A new voice suddenly cut in, a feminine one that had us all whipping around to the kneeling form of Solus Prime, who's once lifeless optics were now glowing gold. "I think it is you that has your perception clouded Ierena. Even after being dead for all these millennia I doubt that we would forget you, especially after you entered the world and immediately jumped off your Sire's back, nearly scaring him half to death." She giggled.
"Solus… Micronous… Stop chattering incessantly with her and give her the push she needs." Another, much deeper voice sighed tiredly. Our attention was drawn up to the statue holding the sword, who's optics were now glowing a bright blue, like lightning.
"Sides… Sunny… something weird is happening…" I whispered.
"We know…" They muttered back, while the three started something of an argument in front of us.
"Oh shush Prima! We are allowed to talk to her!"
"Yes, but we only have so much time to speak to her."
"Prima I would come over there and slap you senseless, then kiss you afterwards, but I don't have the dexterity at the moment! You sound like Vector again, and he's a pain in everybot's aft!"
Micronous sighed tiredly. "These two argue over everything… Everything! How they are mated I will never understand! And I'm a mind element!"
"Oh shut up Micronous!" Another, even deeper voice snapped irritably, drawing attention up to the largest of the group, who's optics were now glowing a dark, icy blue. "For the love of our Creator, will somebot just give her the next piece of information?!"
"Of course Liege Maximo! Your Highness!" Solus quipped sarcastically. "What were we supposed to be telling her again?"
"Now I know that you're just acting the part of a fool Solus!"
"Takes one to know one Liege!"
Was this really happening right now? Were the remaining Twelve of the original Primes really arguing like siblings fighting over the last steak at the dinner table? "Can somebot just focus please?! We need something to go on here! Stop arguing!" I snapped.
The arguing instantly cut off, leaving dead silence in its' wake. "Ah, apologies Ierena. There is little to do beside bicker and converse when you're dead. We sometimes lose ourselves…"
"It's ok… and can you please stop calling me Ierena? My name is Clare! No one has ever called me that before."
She sighed. "That is not surprising, seeing as those who know about you are few and far between unfortunately. But I should warn you that The Fallen does know of your existence as well. That is why you must make haste and take the Matrix to Optimus before it is too late."
"How are we supposed to take a pile of dust to him? It's just a pile of glitter at this point!" I thrust an arm out at the pile she was cradling with her petrified servo.
"Just because it is as it is now, does not mean that it is meant to stay that way." Prima responded cryptically.
"What does that even mean?!"
"You will understand what to do when the time is right Ieren."
"Which should be soon… very soon Ierena. No matter how much I dislike the idea of you actually going through that, but it must be done." Solus muttered.
"What? I have no idea what you're talking about."
"You will in time. Now our time is up, and we must go… Until we next meet Ierenadrelana."
With that the voices finally faded, as their glowing optics once again went dark. We were all left staring around at the statues in awe. "Ok… I don't think… that I can think right now… We just spoke to a bunch of alien robots that have been dead for thousands upon thousands of years…" Simmons muttered in awe.
I was in absolute awe as well, on top of being confused as pit with the fact that the Twelve kept calling me Ierena, or Ieren, or Ierenadrealana… and they seemed familiar with me for some reason. Their words about making haste rang in my helm, forcing me to shove the weirdness of the situation aside. "It is strange, but we have to hurry remember? We have to get the Matrix to Optimus as soon as possible!"
That seemed to snap everyone back into motion, Sam hurriedly kneeling by the pedestal. "Right! We've just gotta find something to carry the dust in!"
I scurried down onto the floor, ignoring a mild swell of pain in my spark chamber, and approached him as an idea occurred to me. "Use your sock. We can put it in that and tie the top so none gets out."
"Good idea Clare!" He quickly pulled his right shoe off, and they yanked his sock off.
"How are we supposed to put that back the way it was though?" Mikeala asked. "It's just specks of dust…"
Sam scooped it all up in handfuls and dumped it into his sock. "It'll work Mikeala."
"How can you be sure?"
"Because we did just talk to the remaining Twelve of the original Thirteen Primes." I pointed out calmly. "If they say there's a way to make this work, then we have no choice but to believe them. This will work… when the time is right we'll know what to do."
She didn't look convinced, but the sudden and unmistakable sound of jets flying overhead echoed through the dark corridor behind us, rebounding off of the cavern walls loud enough to make us all jump.
Simmons turned and ran back through the corridor, with Leo trailing along on his heels. This left Bee, the twins, Mikeala, and I standing around Sam, who was still kneeling in front of Solus' petrified remains. "This will work Mikeala… The Primes said it would, and if we all just have faith I'm sure that whatever plan they've set for us will come to fruition. We'll all make it through this." I murmured, before I turned to make my way down the corridor.
Before I'd made it more than a few steps her voice stop me in my tracks. "How can you be so sure?"
I turned to look at her one more time. "Because the Primes said so, and I trust them."
With that I made my way out of the chamber, with the twins trailing along after me into the bright sunlight beating down on the winding desert sands. We could clearly see Simmons and Leo on a dune in the distance, waving their arms in the air even though the jets were quite a ways off and thus, most likely unable to see them.
"You still doing ok sweetspark? No pain in your chassis or anything?" Sides asked before we drew close enough for them to hear anything being said.
I wisely opted not to mention the dull pain beginning to rear up in my spark chamber, instead just nodding in response to his question. "Yeah I'm fine… We have a goal in mind still, and that makes me feel better. Though I'm still not sure what to make of the Twelve calling me Ierena, or why they're calling me that at all… But I guess I can live with being the brunt of a mistaken identity."
We stopped a ways from Simmons and Leo, Sam, Mikeala, and Bee quickly making their way out of the sandstone palace that was the last resting place of some of the greatest figures in Cybertronian History. "Maybe it's not mistaken identity? Maybe that's your real designation? I mean, none of us have any idea where you came from. They could've served as your Guardians maybe, but then again that still leaves a lot of questions about who your real creators are. Maybe one of your creators was a successor of theirs?" Sunny mused aloud.
"I don't know…" I muttered quietly, more to myself than anything. Thinking about where I came from was the last thing that I wanted to contemplate at the moment… I wasn't sure what answers would come with uncovering my shrouded origins… Did I even want to know?
Luckily for me Sam and the others made their way over at that moment. "The drop point is that way." Simmons pointed across the horizon, where the jets had disappeared over the winding dunes that made up the desert.
"Then let's get going!" Sam snapped impatiently.
I nodded, before turning to the twins who knelt down in front of me. "You two will have to fight, so I'll ride with Bee and the others ok? That way you don't have to worry about me."
"We'll still worry about you." Sunny muttered.
I rolled my optics at him. "I'll be fine with Bee, and this way you won't have to be concerned about me getting hurt if I'm with you."
Both exchanged a look, before turning back to me, Sides scooping me up from the ground to cradle me against his chassis. "You better stay safe then." He warned me seriously.
Sunny nodded. "That's right. If something happens to you, we'll never forgive you."
I smiled as reassuringly as I could, but the words of Solus and Prima were still ringing loud in my audios. "I'll try my best to stay safe ok?"
Sunny huffed, before yanking me away from Sides, and pulling me into a kiss. "You better because we have to bond when we get back."
Sides quickly snatched me back from him and kissed me too. "That goes double from me."
They took me over to Bee's alt after we separated. "Keep her safe Bee." Sunny demanded.
Bee chirped an affirmative as I got into his back seat. "We'll be ok Sunny. You two just take care of yourselves ok?"
He snorted. "Baby who do you think you're talking to?"
I smirked. "My egotistical mechfriend that cannot be bested."
Now it was his turn to smirk at me. "Oh yeah you know it. I'll show you just how skilled I am when we return to base." He growled suggestively. Leo and Simmons gave us all a weird look, the former gagging slightly.
"Oh shut up Leo."
"That's them! I see the flare!" Sam shouted as we drove towards the drop point, roughly an hour after we'd all piled into Bee's alt mode and started our trek to the battlefield. The first sign that we were getting close were the jets streaking through the sky overhead, and the flares Lennox and his men were lighting off on the horizon.
"That's it over there!" Simmons yelled. "See it?"
Yes, yes we did see it. Pretty sure that Sam pointed that out already.
All of a sudden something slammed into the road right in front of us. Was that a fragging missile?! Everyone screamed as Bee swerved to avoid it, Mikeala falling against my side while screaming, as Leo sat there in his seat with his lips quivering.
The line of bots pulled down into a construction area when he finally lost it. "OH PLEASE! OH PLEASE GOD! I DON'T WANNA DIE!" He sobbed uncontrollably.
"Leo stop! Leo stop freaking out!" Mikeala yelled at him. "You're not helping anything!"
"Someone shut that guy up!" Simmons yelled.
Leo continued crying. "JUST LET ME LIVE! JUST LET ME LIVE! PLEASE!"
"LEO SHUT UP!" Sam and I yelled together.
He wouldn't stop so Simmons whipped around in his seat with a taser in hand. "ALRIGHT THAT'S IT!" He jabbed it into Leo's neck and tased the shit out of him!
"OW! OW! OW! OW!" Leo screeched before falling limp against his seat, leaving us all in relative silence! Thank the fragging Primes for that!
"I can't take that guy anymore!" Simmons growled.
"Yeah well thanks for shutting him up." I thanked him. Primus! Here we were with missiles being fired at us, whipping up sand and all kinds of debris, with us all facing possible death, and Leo wants to fly into a hysterical screaming fest?! WHAT THE FRAG?!
When some of the dust cleared I could see Sides skating alongside Bee's right. What the frag was he doing?
When a con swept in low using a jet as an alt mode I got my answer. I don't know who it was, but Sides leapt onto the back with a war cry. "JET JUDO!" He yanked causing the con to lift up suddenly from where he had been trying to transform and block our path.
They went flying high spinning in a death roll. "Oh Primus… that is so hot…" I sighed wistfully. Sue me because it was hot seeing my mechfriend riding on the back of a seeker thousands of feet in the air, delivering a can of whoop aft all over him.
Mikeala, Sam, and Simmons looked at me weirdly.
"What?! It is! Tell me you would not be turned on if Sam did that Mikeala?!"
She rolled her eyes at me. "You are so weird."
Sunny rushed past our other side as another seeker swept in low, swerving when whoever it was fired a missile at him, then transforming mid swerve to leap onto his back. "Eat slag Thundercracker!"
"Don't even say anything." Sam muttered when I felt my optics bugging out again.
Another shot was fired near us causing us all to cry out in surprise. "Hide in the dust! Hide in the dust!" Simmons demanded.
We swerved around another sand dune before sliding to a stop. Bee opened his doors and we all quickly got out and gathered around him.
"Ok we gotta split up! Bumblebee you're the decoy. You lead the Decepticons away from us while I go to Optimus." Sam explained quickly.
"I'll help draw their fire with huey and dewey over there." Simmons pointed at the dumb twins. "You get to those soldiers. I hope that dust works kid."
Sam stared at him for another moment before tugging Mikeala and I to follow him. Apparently we were going to leave Leo with Simmons then. Oh well not a heavy loss now was it?
We heard this strange noise while we were running towards where the flare from earlier had come from. I couldn't describe it really, but I knew that it was from a Cybertronian. If I had to guess, I'd say that the seeker who was getting his aft kicked was calling for help. That was probably not a good thing…
I tried to use my short range comm, figuring that I was close enough to the other bots now but it wouldn't work. Shit! That meant that the sound had to be some sort of EMP burst! Ok so maybe it wasn't so bad! It was just an EMP burst not a call for reinforce-!
Ok I spoke too soon... As soon as we made our way into the small town it was like cons were raining down from the fucking sky like rain drops. We ran through the buildings to avoid them, dipping into a small house that Mikeala had found.
Sam motioned with his hand for us to get down so we crouched down against this weird star shaped window. I quickly drew my rifle from subspace and held it tightly in my shaking servos.
Sam crouched down in front of us. "Ok once it's clear we run for Optimus as fast as we can ok?"
"Ok."
"What if it doesn't work Sam?" Mikeala asked instead of agreeing with the plan.
Sam stared at her for a moment. "It's will work."
"But what if it doesn't?" She insisted.
I turned away when he took her face in his hands. "It's gonna work. It will work. The Primes said so right?"
A loud cybertronian voice spoke above us. My helm snapped up when I heard it, rifle being held up so that my sight was trained on the ceiling where the noise had originated from. A loud bang suddenly echoed from somewhere close by, startling Mikeala enough that she jolted.
I moved a little closer to her, taking in her glassy, tear filled eyes. If we had time to waste, I would try comforting her, but as it was somebot was outside looking for us and we had to be quiet. They hadn't found us yet, then again I knew that it wouldn't last. I also realized that if it came down to it I was the only sort of defense for Sam and Mikeala. Real comforting when I was tiny, inexperienced, and poorly armed.
Sam poked a hole on the wall so that he could look outside. He pulled back after a moment, making a shushing motion with his hand before he went back to looking into his hole. Only he jerked back as soon as he did that, holding something small in his hand and it was making a loud buzzing sound.
Upon closer inspection it looked to be a little insecticon, like a fly or something. I stiffened and grabbed it from him, quickly taking its' tiny helm between my fingers and ripping it off so that it couldn't give out position away.
However, astroseconds after I did that the roof of the shack we were in was pulled off by Starscream of all bots. His clawed servo shot into the room, knocking parts of the building down in showers of debris that rained down on us, and scaring the ever loving scrap out of me when it immediately brought back up memories of the last time I'd been on the receiving end of it.
Even so, I raised my rifle and fired at his face several times. "GO SAM! GO!" I yelled as I backed up out of the ruined structure without waiting to see if any of my shots hit, because he'd at least been sufficiently distracted enough for us to get out of the small shack we'd been taking refuge in.
We turned and took off running as soon as we were free of the building, through a plethora of cons who were all ambling around the buildings looking for us. Most hadn't noticed us yet, and we took the chance to run the chance to run between two buildings, and up a pathway onto a rooftop, as a yellow con finally took notice of us and came racing over. He closed in on us, mace in servo, and swung it at us with enough force to take out the pathway behind us. The building crumbled, caving in on itself as I quickly turned and fired at his face causing him to roar in anger when one of my shots shattered his right optic.
It distracted him for long enough for us to leap onto another roof, an explosion from somewhere behind us propelled us forward with enough force to send us shooting over the opposite roof, and send us tumbling off the building and into an alleyway below.
I quickly recovered, standing and tugging Sam and Mikeala up after me, and we took off running again through several more buildings without looking back to see if anybot was following us. We made it to a larger structure and ducked into it to catch our breath, well for them to.
"We still got a half mile. I don't think the soldiers know we're here yet." Sam panted as he leaned against a column.
I nodded, my spark starting to pulsate as the mild wave of pain started building up into a much stronger surge. I forced myself to ignore it. "Yeah. I'll cover you guys from behind ok? Just keep moving and I'll do my best to keep the cons off you."
Both of them stared at me, Sam stepping forward to place a hand on my cheek. "Clare please don't get yourself killed ok?"
"I'm not going to try to Sam, but I'm an Autobot now. It's my job to protect you and make sure that you get to Optimus." My optics drifted down to the Autobot symbol sitting proudly on my right breast plate. Looking at it filled me with determination. I would not fail Optimus. He had given me this symbol himself, had accepted me into his ranks. If I had to die to save him, I would. I just hoped that the twins would forgive me if it came to that.
Nodding to myself, I looked up with blazing optics. "Let's go!"
They ran out first me following close behind, firing off round after round to distract the cons that spotted us and gave chase. Not for the first time I found myself wishing that this rifle packed more of a punch, or that I was bigger because it seemed like nothing I was doing was having much effect outside of distracting them.
That had to be good enough, and it was at least distracting them long enough for us to dip between buildings and escape from their sight. We must have repeated this a dozen times, in just as many minutes. It felt like we were rats trapped in one of those mazes.
At least it felt like this, until I heard two familiar voices yelling for us. "SAM! CLARE!"
I whipped around instantly upon hearing my Aunt and Uncle yelling for us, catching sight of them running towards us, but before they could reach us a red con with a drill attached to his abdomen came flying over the building to land between us. He struck the ground with enough force to send us all flying in opposite directions.
When I came up from where I had been knocked over I saw him pointing a gun at both Aunt Judy and Uncle Ron.
Sam threw himself up from the ground. "Wait!"
"No Sam! Just run! Run!" Uncle Ron yelled.
"Dad just be quiet!" Sam yelled back. "Wait! You wanted this right?" He held up his sock filled with the Matrix dust.
Sam no! I was about to get up when I heard somebot whistling at me. Turning around, my optics landed on Bee peeking out between two buildings, his optics meeting mine before he gestured at both the red mech, then at a small feline bot that I hadn't seen before. He was asking me to distract them. Ok I could do that.
Forcing myself to my peds, ignoring the sudden pounding in my chassis, I raised my rifle while the con was distracted and fired at him.
He jerked back allowing Bee to leap at him from the top of another building. I watched them fight for a moment before the cat bot charged me at such a speed that he was literally just a blur!
He slammed into me knocking my rifle from my servos, and sending us rolling over the sand as I slid my spikes out of my gauntlets and grabbed into his back plating. I could hear Sam yelling at me, along with everyone else while we grappled. But I had to focus on the con currently pinning me down.
His claws were digging into my plating, jaws locked around my neck. Only one of my servos finding purchase between his jaws saved me from having my neck torn open, my other servo was digging deep into his own back ripping at plating, wires, cables, anything that I could find purchase on.
This was less like a fight and more like a savage brawl. Both of us were hissing savagely, optics narrowed, battle systems running on high. Ripping wires out of each other, sending cables flying, spilling energon on the ground. We just ripped at each other, and while I would've preferred to have done it differently but he had me pinned down, and there was little that I could do to shake him off.
His tail was whipping me in the face, a wicked looking ion cannon attached to the end, that I had to keep maneuvering around to keep him from shooting me in the helm. I wildly searched for something to grab onto, preferably a spinal relay that I could rip out! When I finally found one I dug my claws in and ripped at it as much as I could!
He arched up with a pained yowl, claws raking across my supersensitive chassis, ripping a startled yell of pain from me. In response, I rolled my body upward dislodging him from me, allowing me to scramble up from the sand and lunge at him, digging both of my claw tipped servos, and blades into his back gripping at his entire spinal relay.
With a mighty roar I yanked with all my strength ripping it out completely. The bot below me fell dead with a pained yowl, leaving me panting over him with his spinal relay dangling from my servos.
All of me was just numb with the realization that I had killed again. Even when Bee came over after killing his own opponent it took me a moment to acknowledge him. He looked at me sympathetically, whether it was because of my physical or emotional state I didn't know.
I forced myself to stand. We had to get to Optimus. That was more important than my pain, physical or emotional.
No sooner had I stood Aunt Judy was trying to hug me. I had to push her back gently because of the energon on my frame. "It's not safe for you to get this stuff on you Aunt Judy."
"We thought that you were going to die!" She started sobbing.
"I'm ok." I looked at Bee, then at both of them. Sam met my optics as well nodding to what I was thinking. We had to get them out of here.
"Bee take my parents somewhere safe."
"NO!" Uncle Ron replied vehemently.
"Dad you have to!"
Uncle Ron gripped Sam's shoulders and shook him.
"NO! We're not discussing this! You're my son and Clare is my niece!"
"Dad!"
"NO! We'll all go together! We're going together!" Uncle Ron repeated.
"Uncle Ron you two have to go." I told him quietly. "It's not safe here."
Sam pushed them towards Bee who had changed to alt mode. "Get in the car ok? Bee is gonna get you to safety. You don't stop. You don't hide. You run ok? Do you hear what I'm saying? I'll find you when it's safe!"
"No!"
"Dad! You have to let us go! You have to!" Sam pleaded desperately.
"Ron?" Aunt Judy came forward. "Ron you have to let them both go."
Uncle Ron looked between both of us for a moment. "YOU COME BACK! YOU HEAR ME? BOTH OF YOU BETTER COME BACK!"
"We will dad."
We ushered them over to Bee where they piled in, Sam stopping in front of Mikeala. "Go with my parents."
"I'm not gonna go with them!" She argued.
I almost expected him to try arguing with her but he didn't do that. Instead he just turned and pulled us along, and we just kept running without looking back. Past the firefights going on around us. Explosions ringing out near us making my audios ring. We just kept going, never looking back, even when several helicopters were shot down around us we kept going without acknowledging it.
Once we got closer the three of us ducked down against a building. They needed to catch their breath, and I could sense familiar EM fields somewhere nearby.
"We've got to find Sam and Clare!" A familiar voice called out from nearby. Arcee!
"ARCEE! IRONHIDE! CHROMIA!" I yelled as soon as I saw her, Chromia, Flareup, and Ironhide come racing around a corner. "OVER HERE!"
They zipped in our direction. "Clare are you three ok?" Arcee asked.
"Yeah. Yeah we're all ok." It was only a partial lie really since they didn't know about my spark chamber problem.
"Slag Clare you look like pit."
I snorted. "Thanks Chromia." I snarked, to which she just smirked in amusement despite the situation.
"Follow us to the pillars ok? We'll take you to Optimus." Arcee told us. She turned around and was shot straight in the midsection, spraying internal cabling and showers of energon all over the sand as her frame crashed to the ground.
I lunged over the wall and knelt beside her, bringing my servos to her chassis to start healing the damage. "ARCEE! Stay with me ok?!"
Her optics were dull as they regarded me. "I-ll try."
"Ok good! Keep those aftholes away from us!" I yelled at Ironhide while I worked. Flareup, Chromia, and him moved to intercept them to give me time to work. Even so, I worked faster than I ever had before, my panic fueling my power. I ignored the pain in my spark chamber that grew rapidly worse for some reason the longer I did this.
Her plating pieced itself back together in astroseconds, and then her optics brightened back to their normal sky blue color. She quickly sat back up, rubbing at the now healed plating of her chassis that looked no different than it had before she'd been shot. "Thank you Clare."
"No problem. We gotta go though, ok? Please don't get shot again!"
"I won't." She promised me. "Now go!" With that she turned and threw herself back into the fight.
"Ok Sam let's go!"
"Ok!" We started back in the direction we needed to go! It couldn't be much farther now! We had to be close!
"Clare!"
We closed in, catching sight of Sides and Sunny fighting a group of cons ahead of us. The former had yelled for me, wide, fearful optics staring at something behind us. I heard peds pounding against the sand behind us, and I knew right away that it wasn't from somebot friendly. I didn't want to know who, but I turned to look anyways.
It was Megatron chasing after us, the twins, and Ratchet immediately switched their attention and started shooting at him to try pushing him away from us, but with so much going on around them most of their shots either strayed off course, or just grazed him. None were effective enough to faze him much though.
I turned back ahead, focusing solely on trying to get to Optimus instead of worrying about the hulking mech chasing us down. My optics landed on Lennox and Epps crouching down in the remains of a destroyed building. "Clare! Sam!" The former yelled when he saw us, and we quickly sped up and ducked down next to them. "You better have a good reason for us to be here!"
Sam ignored him. "Where's Optimus?"
"He's right over there! Across the courtyard!" Lennox pointed at where Optimus' body was laying a ways away, covered by a tarp.
"I gotta get to him right away!"
Lennox shook his head in the negative. "Not with an airstrike coming!"
Sam wasn't having it. "I HAVE TO GET TO HIM RIGHT NOW!"
"What the hell is that?" Epps yelled when something shot over our heads.
Lennox looked up, and gestured for us to get back further against the wall. "Back! Back! Back!"
We scrambled out of the way as a bot shot down and transformed right in front of the wall where we had been standing, firing a massive cannon into the line of tanks opposite of us. The shot almost grazing the top of the wall we were ducking again, barely missing us as well.
There was another loud crash near us. "BEHOLD THE ETERNAL GLORY OF JETFIRE!" I peeked out over the wall, catching sight of Jetfire rushing towards another con. "NOW I'LL SHOW YOU HOW WE BROUGHT THE PAIN IN MY DAY!" He proceeded to beat the con to death with his cane of all things.
But another con suddenly shot up from the sand before he could move, and tore through his middle out of nowhere. Jetfire grabbed it and ripped it in half, before he fell face first onto the sand below. "I'm getting' too old for this scrap." He muttered.
Lennox turned towards us. "We're gonna make a break for Boss Bot on my command ok? You stay with me ok? Stay on my ass!"
"I hope these F-16's got good aim." Epps muttered.
"Yeah?" Lennox asked distractedly. "Why do you say that?"
"I told them to hit the orange smoke." Epps explained.
We all froze when orange smoke billowed over us. "You mean that orange smoke?" I asked dryly.
"It wasn't my best toss ok?" Epps muttered as he shared a look with Lennox.
"RUN!" They both shouted out of nowhere. All of us took off like the devil was on our heels running as fast as we could towards Optimus.
I saw my Opi and Dad fighting some cons nearby as missiles started raining down from the sky. Explosions started going off all over the place, blowing sand and debris around us. Cons were going down left and right, Autobots dodged out of the way of the blasts. I turned around and saw Ironhide running after us, with Megatron running almost parallel to him, but his attention was not on the bulky black bot at all, no it was locked on us.
Mikeala, Epps, and Lennox kept running straight while Sam and I veered off when the blast hit, making a break for Optimus, running side by side.
Everything seemed to slow down the moment I looked back again to see what was happening, Megatron bursting from the dust with his cannon aimed at Sam. I saw the weapon charging up to fire, saw him aim it and release.
And I just reacted too fast to even really comprehend it, spinning my entire frame around and placing myself directly in the line of fire to take the shot instead. The force of it tearing through my chassis sent me flying through the air with an agonized scream, peds flying over my helm as I felt my back slam into the ground.
"CLARE!" Sam and Mikeala screamed.
"CLARE!" That was Opi... and Dad.
Sam raced over to me, falling onto his knees beside me. I regarded him lazily as he cried, feeling too weak to move really. But I'd gotten him to Optimus, and that had me smiling around the energon pooling in my mouth. "I... toldju... I'd... ge' you... to him."
"Why did you do that Clare?! You're so stupid!"
My vision started blurring, chassis popping open to expel the heat and spark energy building up inside in an attempt to be released. It hurt… I thought that dying wasn't supposed to hurt…? But agony pulsed through me with every surge of spark energy that escaped me, and it was all I could do not to scream as the sound of yelling started up all around me. Ped steps pounded closer, the yelling becoming louder…
The bots that were closest rushed over to where we were, multiple forms falling beside me. Voices were yelling, servos pulling at my chassis to try and stabilize me. It wouldn't work. I knew that I was dying…
If I had to die though... I had to at least prove that the Twelve's faith in me was not misplaced. I had to make sure that Optimus came back to life, so that somebot could be here to fight against The Fallen and stop him…
Somehow… I just instinctively knew what I had to do…
The small amount of Allspark energy that I could utilize normally wouldn't be enough to reassimilate the Matrix… but the brunt of it escaping me as I died would… All of it rushing out of my frame in one last burst, brimming with energy… would be enough…
I somehow managed to muster up enough strength to raise my arm and grasp the sock Sam was squeezing the life out of, grasping it as I felt the energy within me immediately shift as if in response to what was contained within, or maybe as a result of my intentions…
Energy started pooling along the surface of my frame, racing along my overheated plating like and arcing into the air, before culminating around the servo I had desperately clutched between my digits. It encompassed it, disintegrating the sock that was housing the glittering dust of the Matrix, which billowed out like it was hit with a magnetic charge. The particles spreading out and circling my servo like a vortex, piece after piece coming together like a puzzle, until the Matrix itself was fully formed in my palm…
I smiled, despite feeling death literally creeping up on me… It was like I was going numb, and I couldn't feel my body anymore, outside of the coldness creeping throughout my frame. Tears welled up in my optics as I stared up at Sam, who was now sobbing uncontrollably. "Get… it… to… Optimus…"
My servo fell, one last burst of energy escaping my chassis as everything around me went dark, and a very deep voice seemed to cradle me as the life faded from my completely.
"Come now young one. This is not true death, it is simply you transcending from one form and into another. It is time to return to your true body."
I wasn't able to respond, because the silence and darkness of death overcame me at last…
(Sunny's POV)
Nothing had ever terrified me so much in my entire life as watching Clare, the femme I had chosen as my spark mate, go flying through the air after taking a shot from Megatron's cannon.
Nothing had ever sent so much agony through me, besides thoughts of losing Sides. But it wasn't Sides laying on the ground with a gaping hole through his chassis. It was Clare. Small, sweet, brave... stupid Clare. What the frag had possessed her to do that?!
Another wave of agony hit me from Sides when he realized what had happened, as soon as I felt it, it was like this was all real. I knew that it was, but some part of me was trying to convince myself that it was a bad vid file. Something that I desperately wanted to believe wasn't real!
But when I saw the fleshy kneel next to her and start yelling at her, I realized it wasn't a bad vid file. It was real. Upon that realization both Sides and I rushed towards her, as did Ratchet, Jazz, Prowl, and even Ironhide.
She didn't look up when I fell to my knees beside her, next to Sides and Jazz who did the same. Energon was dripping down from her lips, her smiling lips. She was dying! Why the pit was she smiling when she was dying?!
I couldn't talk. Any words died as soon as I thought about uttering them.
I could only watch Ratchet working on her in a desperate attempt to save her, and it didn't seem to be working. Spark energy was literally seeping into the air around her…
Sides was begging her to stay. Tears were falling from his optics.
Clare didn't look at any of us, instead she raised her left servo and grabbed at the cloth sack that Sam was holding. At first none of us knew what she was doing, until tendrils of spark energy started to flow into the cloth covering.
The energy encompassed her servo, swirling around the sock holding the remains of the Matrix until it dispersed completely. The particles of the Matrix being left suspended in the air where the energy seeping out of her slowly pieced them back together piece by piece.
Ratchet started yelling at her. "Stop that right now! All you're doing is weakening yourself!" His servos were trying to steady her still.
She didn't even acknowledge him.
"Sweetspark please stop..." Sides begged her.
She still kept pumping her energy into the Matrix, refusing to acknowledge any of us. It didn't even register to me that it was working, that she was fixing the Matrix. All I could focus on was the way her optics started dimming more and more.
And then I heard her utter words so soft that I barely heard them.
"Get… it… to… Optimus…" Her optics flashed, glowing a bright purple color that was so foreign in normally sapphire blue optics. Then her servo dropped like a pile of scrap, one last burst of energy exploding from her chassis and staining the sky a myriad of colors. Blue, purple, gold, pink, and black, but the last color seemed to encompass all the others, leaving only small flashes of the colors to appear through the forming cloud, before it suddenly disappeared in thin air.
Tears welled up in my own optics as I desperately held her lifeless frame in my servos... My optics drifted down to the gaping hole where her life essence had seeped out of her, landing on a small four pointed crystal laying against one side of her spark casing, each point being made up of the colors her spark had flashed when she died, and the center was a dull black. Was that… what was causing her so much pain?
The thought fell to the back of my processor when her frame suddenly started disintegrating in my grasp, like sand slipping through my digits. Like it wasn't enough that she was dead, now her frame was turning to dust… and I couldn't do anything to stop it…
I just held her, desperately grasping at her, even as her frame slipped the rest of the way through my digits, leaving the gem that had been in her spark casing to suddenly flash as black smoke encompassed it, then it raised up out of my servo like it was caught on the wind, and drifted up into the clouds before I could even think to touch it…
It was all I could focus on, not anything else… Not the squishy pulling himself together and rushing towards Optimus to fulfill Clare's last request… or Sides crying next to me, alongside Jazz and Prowl…
I just stared at the clouds where the gem had disappeared… feeling like the last part of her had just… left us...
Tears welled up in my optics when that realization finally hit home…
Clare was gone…
Dead…
We hadn't been able to protect her…
Hadn't been there for her…
She'd sacrificed herself for the squishy… and to save Optimus…
It felt like… my world was ending…
I just sat there… not acknowledging anything around me…
Not even when a loud groan sounded, like metal being bent out of shape against its' will sounded from behind me.
Not even when the sound grew gradually louder, and the ground suddenly shook…
I didn't even look up when several sharp gasps rang out, from the bots gathered around, and even from the humans… Even Ratchet and Ironhide were staring at whatever had caused the commotion in a twisted assortment of awe… and disbelief…
Even the gunfire going on around us had ceased…
Then… a hesitant voice penetrated the buzzing in my audios…
"Optimus… what in the name of Primus happened to you?!" Ratchet stammered…
Then Optimus' much deeper baritone answered back. "Ratchet… what am I?"
R&R! Another cliffhanger ending! Next chapter is going to be interesting to say the least! I hope what I came up with makes it all worthwhile! ;D