The halls were tall and wide. Chromia and Dion's steps echoed across the walls. There weren't any guards as they moved through the mansion. They were all probably closer around the family.
"If the guards are guarding the families closely, then there is no way we're getting anywhere near close enough to see anything." Dion complained.
Chromia looked up then smiled. "Not if we just go waltzing right in front of them in plain sight."
Chromia and Dion had found their way through the vents to look in on the two families.
They saw the family of the house and the unfamiliar Prax family Ariel had spoken about.
The Praxes were there with their family head. A burly mech with red paint and strong blur optics. His spark mate sat next to him, a petite and gentle looking femme with blue and purple colouring. Their daughter sat between them. The femme was sitting down, but Chromia couldn't help but get the feeling that she was rather tall. Her chassis and helm were violet, and her limbs were a deep maroon.
The family of the house they were in sat across from them. The head was a mech with a stubborn look in his optics and white paint job. His spark mate had a gold and blue paint job. Their daughter, Ariel, sat between them. She was various shades of pink, she very short and her helm was decorated with various gems and jewels.
"You hear what they're talking about?" Dion asked. Chromia shook her head as the two heads of houses stood and shook hands.
"It will be a pleasure doing business with you Sir Taske." Ariel's father spoke up.
"The pleasure is all mine." Taske replied.
"Say goodbye Ariel." Her mother whispered.
Ariel stood and nodded. "I sincerely thank you for your visit Prax family. And it was nice meeting you Dominia Prax."
Dominia Prax, the daughter of the Praxes nodded and said goodbye as well. Then the Prax family left.
"May I please go to my room?" Ariel asked.
"Yes sweetspark." Her mother replied. "I'll call a guard to escort you."
Ariel smiled and turned to leave towards her room, a guard following suit.
Chromia turned to Dion, gesturing to him to start heading back.
"I think I'll be fine from here. Thank you." Ariel told the guard as they reached the hall in which her room was located.
"Lady Ariel are you sure?" The guard asked.
"Uh huh. Don't worry, if I trip over my pedes and fall you'll be the first one I call." Ariel assured.
Ariel walked down the hall and the guard turned around. When she was at her door and couldn't hear the guard anymore, Ariel called out. "I know you're here. I sensed you guys down in the mess hall."
Ariel heard the nearby vent shake and her two friends land smoothly on the floor.
"Hey Ariel!" Chromia exclaimed as she hugged her friend.
"How's it been Ariel?" Dion asked.
"Boring! Especially since you guys left!" Ariel replied as she opened her door. "Wait. There's someone in my room."
"Uh, yeah. See that's kinda why we're here. There's this mech...here come on in." Chromia said.
Orion had been sitting upside down on the bed for the past few minutes while Chromia and Dion had left. He really did hope that what they said looked like the tool he showed them, was indeed the tool he was looking for.
He had closed his optics and had almost fallen into recharge when someone stood over him and said, "Hello."
Orion's optics shot open. Standing over him was a femme. At first, he thought that he had joined with the Allspark, because there was no way the femme standing over him was alive if she was who he thought she was.
Her pink frame sparkled in the light pouring in from her window. Her beautiful blue optics out shined even the most exquisite jewels decorating her helm. Her smile was so gentle and kind.
She looked exactly like...her.
"Hello." She spoke again. Orion tried to get up too fast and hit his forehead with hers.
"Ow!" They exclaimed in unison.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry I am so sorry!" Orion exclaimed.
"No it's alright. I didn't realize I was so close." She replied while rubbing her forehead. "I'm Ariel. What's your name?"
"Um, I'm, uh, Op-Orion! Orion Pax! Orion Pax is my name, yup, my name. Ain't that a name. My, name." Orion stammered.
Ariel nodded slowly. Orion couldn't help but notice Chromia was using her tonfa blades to carve something into a stone plate from the tunnel they had gone through to get into the mansion.
"Chromia and Dion told me that you needed something from my family's vault." Ariel continued.
"Uh yeah!" Orion replied. He took out the tracker and activated the hologram generator. Ariel didn't seem to take notice. "It's this."
Ariel moved her helm to one side in confusion. Then she turned to Chromia and Dion. "You didn't tell him about me before you came here."
Dion and Chromia shrugged. "Guess it just, slipped our minds. We've known you and gotten used to it after so long that we just forgot."
"What? What am I missing here?" Orion demanded.
Ariel sighed. "I was born with an extremely rare malfunction in my optical sensory systems. I'm blind."
Orion's jaw remained open. "Oh. Well, uh...huh?"
"Yup. I can't see my own two hands in front of my face." Ariel replied cheerfully.
"But then how do you move around like you can see?" Orion wondered.
"I don't know how and why, but I'm very sensitive. Physically! Years ago I discovered that I have heightened hearing and feeling. I learned to use that to "see"." Ariel explained.
Orion looked closer at Ariel. Now that he really looked, her optics were fixated on the ground, half closed. She hadn't looked him in the optics once since she entered the room. Still, they were beautifully blind optics.
"Do your parents know?" Orion asked.
"No. They still believe that I'm a fragile little blind girl who needs help with everything. I do my best to tolerate it." Ariel replied.
Before Orion could ask anything else, Chromia handed Ariel the stone plate she was carving into. It bore the rough sketch of the tool they were looking for.
Ariel ran her servo over it carefully. "This thing? Really?"
"Yeah. Can you get it?" Chromia asked.
Ariel thought for a moment. Then nodded. "It won't be easy though. I might take a while, so you guys better stay here."
Ariel walked to her door. "I mean it!"
"So that's Ariel." Orion spoke wishfully.
"Yeah, she's nice." Dion replied.
"Hey. You two never finished telling me how you met her." Orion said.
"Oh yeah. Well, like we said, we used to only steal from those who we believed we could take on..." Chromia began.
Chromia and Dion were hiding in the shadows of a dark alleyway. They were waiting for the little femme they had seen earlier to walk by. From what they had seen earlier, she was blind. That would make taking her down even easier.
"Here she comes. Ready Chromia?" Dion asked.
Chromia smiled and giggled. "Ready.''
As Ariel passed by the alley she was hit in the back of the head. She fell to the ground and someone grabbed her wrist.
"Who are you?" She demanded.
"Give us everything you got! All of it!" Dion ordered.
"Give you everything I've got? If that's what you want." Ariel replied.
"What—" Dion began before Ariel punched him.
"Hey! Don't hit my brother!" Chromia shouted as she charged at Ariel.
Ariel heard her loud footsteps and moved out of the way. Then just Chromia passed by her arm Ariel hit her back hard and Chromia fell to the ground. Dion rubbed his jaw and growled. Then he ran over to Ariel, his fist raised. Dion punched at Ariel but she dodged it and caught his arm. Then she swiped her foot against his leg and he dropped. Chromia and Dion were both groaning in pain.
"Hmm. Sensei would have commented on your bad forms and weak attacks, but I won't." Ariel whispered to herself.
Chromia began to get up. Ariel stood next to her.
"Hey. Hey. Don't hurt us. We'll get away, promise." Chromia pleaded.
"What did you guys want from me anyways?" Ariel asked.
"Whatever. Credits. The gems on your helm. Anything that we could trade or sell for Energon...wait. What do you care anyway? Upper class brat!" Dion spat.
Ariel shook her helm. "I have Energon. Back at my parents house. I'll give you some if you promise not steal from anyone else."
Dion crossed his arms. "We can't promise that."
Ariel held her servo out. "I think I can convince you."
"She snuck us into her house for the first time afterwards. She also taught us to fight the way we do. And she also gave us these awesome weapons!" Chromia concluded. "She's our closest friend. Despite everything."
Orion nodded. "Good for you guys."
"Thanks. Y'know, I think that's why we're helping you. You're kinda sorta not really in our position that we were in. We can relate." Dion explained.
Orion gave them a small smile. Then the door of the room flew open. Ariel came running in with the tool in her servos.
"Ariel!" Chromia exclaimed. "What's wrong?"
"Heh. Nothing. I gave a guard the slip that's all. Don't worry about it." Ariel replied. "Here's your thing."
Ariel handed Orion the cube tool. He held it gently.
"One down." He sighed.
I'm so sorry! I miscalculated the content of this chapter! The NEXT one will start the adventure I swear!
Please comment and review!