AN: Oh my! I am beyond sorry for the delayed update! So sorry! I have been out of town and without internet for nearly two weeks and two days after I returned it was Thanksgiving and family get togethers and a birthday party, and craziness. So I apologize and will do my damnedest to not let this much time pass between updates again. That being said, enjoy a slightly longer than usual post. Mostly due to the insane amount of dialogue witch takes place. Some questions will be answered, some not so much, and some more will pop up. ^^ Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Oops, forgot one of these last time. Ahem, I own nothing but the plot, Andi and Axle…so there!
Chapter 4: Rude Awakenings
"Stop!" Andi shot up into a sitting position with a shout, her breathing heavy. The images of Cybertron faded away and she found herself in the base's med bay, resting on one of the human sized hospital beds. The panic and fear which had gripped her in her dream clung to her in waking and when a human hand grabbed her shoulder to steady her she yelped in surprise and swung her arm out to defend herself.
"Whoa!" Her arm was caught mid-swing by Will and held gently. "Hey there, calm down. You're alright."
The familiar voice drew Andi completely out of the dream and calmed her all at once. "Will?" She turned to her right and found the Major standing next to her bed.
"Yeah, kid. You alright?" He released her arm and waited until she relaxed back on the bed before sitting himself.
"I'm fine." She took a moment to take stock of her location and physical health. Fine might not have been the proper word to use. She had a splitting headache and her back ached fiercely. Not the nicest way to wake up, but on the other hand at least she was alive. "What time is it? How long was I out?"
"You've been out for hours. It's almost 8 O'clock."
"At night? Oh jeez. I've got to get home." She started to push herself up off the bed, attempting to stand. She wavered slightly, the room spinning from her sudden movements. Will grabbed her arms and steadied her as well as preventing her from standing completely.
"Whoa! Hold on there, kiddo. You're not going anywhere until Ratchet and First Aid give the ok."
"I feel fine! Just a little sore and dizzy."
"All the more reason for them to check you out. You could have a concussion or worse."
"Please, Will, I really just want to go home and get to bed." And take a couple dozen pain killers.
"As soon as they say it's alright. Stop being so stubborn!" He chided her exasperatedly.
Andi sighed in resignation. "Fine." She settled back in bed once again.
"Good." Lennox rearranged her covers and then turned away. "Stay put. I'll go let them know you're up." A thought occurred to her then and Andi stopped him before he got too far.
"Will?"
"Hmm?" He paused and turned back to her.
"Could you ask Axle to come here? I remember hearing him before I passed out."
He chuckled. "Yeah, no problem. He's been driving Ironhide crazy worrying about you. Prowl finally decided that he needed to work on his meditation technique. They've been at it for hours but Axle keeps fidgeting."
Andi grinned at the idea. "He's such a worrywart. Thanks, Will."
Lennox entered Control and headed toward the training mats where the Autobots were congregating with several of his men. After stopping and letting Ratchet and First Aid know Andi was awake he had made his way out of the med lab to find Andi's partner. The young bot was still where he left him, mirroring Prowl's cross legged position attempting to meditate with his commander. It wasn't working. One of Axle's knees was bouncing and Will could have sworn he saw Prowl's eyebrow twitch in annoyance.
Bobby noticed his arrival before anyone else. "Yo, man! How's it going?"
The sudden shout pulled Axle's attention to him and he was on his feet headed toward Will in a matter of seconds.
"Is it Andrea? Is she awake? Is she alright?"
It took everything he had not to laugh at the poor bot. Axle was only worried about the girl. Though the thought that Axle was ten times more worried than anyone else popped into his mind briefly. Something to ponder at a later time.
"Yes, Axle. Andi's awake and lucid. Ratchet and First Aid are checking her over now. Go ahead, she asked for you." That was all that Axle needed to hear and he was off like a shot.
Prowl picked himself up off the mat with a sigh. "Thank Primus."
"You were worried?" Will asked the usually stoic bot.
"Of course I was concerned for young Andrea's health. But mostly I was concerned that I would need to knock him unconscious to get him to stop moving." He turned to take a seat next to Ironhide and Optimus who rumbled with laughter.
"How are you feeling, Andi?" Ratchet asked as he immediately set to work scanning her and checking her vitals.
"I've been better. A little dizzy and my back hurts something fierce. Mostly I'm just tired. I'd kill for a good night's sleep right about now."
"Now, now, my dear. There is no need to resort to violence," First Aid chided as he came up on her other side.
She couldn't help but giggle. "I didn't mean literally. Don't worry First Aid, I'm the last person here you need to worry about resorting to violence." She flinched away when Ratchet shown a bright light in her eyes without warning. "Ouch! Jeez Ratchet! Warn a girl won't you?"
"Hold still and don't blink. I need to make sure you do not have a concussion."
Andi obeyed. When Ratchet told you to do something in his doctor's voice, you did it. "So what happened anyway? I mean I remember what happened, Jazz waking up and everything but…Oh my god! I forgot! Jazz! Is he ok? How is he? Were there any side effects?"
"Calm down, Andrea. Jazz is fine. The transfer worked. He's in a regen cycle right now, regaining his strength. He'll be up and about by tomorrow." First Aid reassured her.
"Oh thank god!," She sighed in relief. "That's great! But again, what happened? Why wouldn't the Shard power down? It didn't react that way during any of our previous tests."
"We think that it was in part caused by the connection with another living spark. Once the connection to Jazz's spark was made it began drawing the power it needed to revive Jazz from the Shard. Which in turn caused the Shard to produce more power than it had previously in any of our tests. The control unit was unable to handle that level of power and it caused a short in the power controls. Once we disengaged the wires from Jazz's spark casing the excess energy needed somewhere to go and that just so happened to be through the unit and in turn through you." Ratchet explained as he finished up his examination.
"Damn. So it was a fluke? The Shard didn't decide to go haywire on us for some other reason?"
"As far as we can tell," Ratchet replied.
"Immediately following your rather abrupt meeting with the wall, the Shard powered down and returned to its dormant state." First Aid continued as he handed Ratchet a data tablet Andi recognized as one he stored the health files of everyone on base, bot and human alike.
"Huh. So it was all a bad case of me being in the wrong place at the wrong time?"
"Apparently." Ratchet mumbled as he scanned the information in the tablet and compared it to his newest set of data.
"Well that's…anti-climactic." She was more put out than anything. All that drama over a freak accident? Then again, it didn't explain that completely too vivid dream she just experienced. Ratchet seemed to be finished with his tests and Andi went to ask him the prognosis. "So…"
"Andrea!" Axle appeared and knelt next to her bed in a highly flustered whirlwind. Raising one hand he very carefully used a finger to smooth her messy hair behind her ear, gently caressing her check he did so. "Are you alright, Andrea? I was worried."
Feeling the fear and concern rolling off of him in waves, Andi smiled softly and turned her face to nuzzle his hand in comfort. "I'm ok, Axle. I'm sorry for scaring you. It was certainly not my intention." She took his hand in both of hers and held it so it rested on her lap. "You're just in time to hear the prognosis." She turned to Ratchet. "Well, Doc? What's the damage?"
"You were lucky. Minor concussion and some bad bruising on your back. No broken bones and no cranial hemorrhaging."
"Only a minor concussion? Lennox said I was unconscious for hours."
"I do not believe it was an impact to your head that caused you to faint, but the shock to your body from the Shards energy. Preliminary analysis shows no negative effects from the energy, but I would like to perform several more detailed tests to be sure."
Andi groaned. "There's no way that these tests can wait until tomorrow can they? I'd really love to be able to go home and get some more sleep. I'm beat."
Ratchet hesitated, "Well…"
"Please Ratchet? I promise to contact you if I feel any worse. I just want to go home and get some sleep in my own bed."
"Andi, maybe it would be best to stay here for the night," Axle interrupted. "That way Ratchet and First Aid will be nearby if you need them."
"C'mon, Axe. These beds are horrible. I won't be getting any sleep here. My nice comfy bed is calling. Please Ratchet? Pretty please?"
The older mech moaned in frustration and finally caved. "Fine! You may return home to rest. But you will return first thing in the morning for some further tests and if you feel any worse you are to return immediately. Understood?"
Andi grinned. "Great!" She went to stand then, taking her time to avoid another dizzy spell. "C'mon Axle. Let's get out of here." The young bot supported Andi as she stood before reluctantly transforming and opening his driver's side door for her to enter. She thanked the two medic bots and waved goodbye before taking her seat and soon the duo were on their way home.
It was nearing 10 o'clock by the time Andi and Axle pulled into the driveway of her parent's house. Most of the lights were off in the house so Andi knew her parents must have settled in for the night. Axle entered the garage and waited for the garage door to shut completely before he opened his driver's door for Andi to exit. She did slowly, wincing in pain as her back tweaked in protest to the movement.
"I'm gonna go shower and then crash. I'll see you in the morning, Axle." She turned to take the stairs up to her room, but paused when Axle called to her.
"I'm here if you need me, Andi."
She smiled softly at him. "I know, Axe. You always are. Thank you."
"No need for thanks. I am here because I want to be. Get some rest. You've had a long day."
"You can say that again. Goodnight, big guy."
"Goodnight, Andrea."
Following a nice hot shower, Andi pulled on her black boy short undies and tank top, popped a couple of pain pills, and collapsed into her infinitely-more-comfortable-than-the-base's bed. She was asleep within seconds of her head touching the pillow.
She knew the moment she opened her eyes that she was dreaming. How did she know this? She was currently floating in space. Literally hovering high above a grouping of twelve planets.
"Not again," she grumbled in annoyance.
She studies the planets below her for a moment and determines quickly that she does not recognize any of them from her science classes. So, another galaxy then. She thought as she continued to study the scene below. Nothing seemed to be happening.
Alright, so what's the point of this? Seems a waste to show me a whole whopping bunch of nothing. She was beyond annoyed that she was being deprived of her restful slumber.
Her answer came in the form of the planet directly below her exploding violently without warning. She cried out in surprise and instinctively covered her head with her arms for protection. That explosion was followed nearly immediately by the destruction of a second planet. Andi curled in on herself waiting for the onslaught of debris that never came. Realizing she was unharmed, Andi slowly unfurled herself and gazed around at the destruction and the remaining planets. What in heaven and hell could have decimated those planets so quickly?
Again she did not have to wait long for the answer. From behind one of the larger planets a figure appeared. It was missive; as big if not bigger than the surrounding planets. And it was metallic. A transformer, she realized in horror. Unicron. A voice, the same she heard in her first dream of Cybertron, whispered in her ear.
The scene below her continued to play out at increasing speeds as she was once again bombarded with an influx of information about the being before her. Bringer of Chaos. She watched transfixed as Unicron proceeded to destroy all of the remaining planets before her and then continued on to the next galaxy and then the next. Destroying everything he encountered until there was nothing. No planets, no moons, no asteroids, no stars. Just blank nothingness. Andi was alone then with the terrifying figure before her. She felt a tear slide down her cheek at the helplessness she felt at that moment and wiped it away. Despite knowing what was to come, she could not fight the emotion leaking through.
Time continued moving at an accelerated rate, and Andi watched as Unicron went into a deep sleep during which the universe slowly began to reform itself from the ashes around him. Before long the new universe was formed and Unicron woke once again and went straight to work destroying what was rebuilt. But this time, the universe fought back and in order to protect itself, created a guardian to fight Unicron on its behalf. Primus. The name rang through Andi's mind like a sweet chorus of bells. Lord of Light and Order. The knowledge that she had just witnessed the birth of the Cybertronians' god caused her to be overwhelmed once again with emotion and several tears slipped past her guard.
She continued to watch as the two god-like beings fought in a seemingly endless battle. Neither being seemed able to grasp the upper hand. The fighting continued for some time moving from the physical plane to the astral plane and back again. Only this time, when the two gods reappeared, they appeared in the form of two metallic asteroids. There the two beings remained as they were for some time until Unicron was able to first change his asteroid to a metallic planet and then later a new robotic form. Primus followed suit and formed a planet for himself.
Cybertron.
But instead of taking robotic form as Unicron did, Primus made the choice to create new life to assist in defending the universe against Unicron. It was then that Andi was witness to the creation of the first Transformers, defenders of the universe. The sight was breath taking and humbling all at once.
It was in that moment that Andi felt the pull of wakefulness begin to take her. But this time, she didn't want to go. She wanted to see more! She struggled to hold onto the information and images she was seeing. But the pull was too strong and soon the world went black.
"No!" The strangled cry left her lips as Andi once again found herself shooting up in bed. Muffling a sob in her hands she struggled to even out her breathing. She took in gasping breathes as she focused on keeping the noise level down. She didn't want to wake Axle. She waited several minutes, but still her breathing was slow to calm and her mind would not stop racing with the images and influx of information she had just been subjected to. She looked to her bedside lamp and groaned at the time. 2:07 A.M. She had only been asleep for several hours, not nearly long enough. There was no way she would be getting back to sleep anytime soon. She was beyond wired. Her mind wouldn't shut up and when she looked down at her clenched fists, she could literally see them trembling.
That's it! This wasn't going to work. She needed to talk to Ratchet. There was no way she could handle any more of these flashbacks. They were too much. She should have never left the base to begin with. Without bothering to stop and dress, Andi wrapped herself in the blanket from her bed and made her way barefoot down into the lower level of the garage.
"Andi, what's wrong? Are you alright?" Axle was awake and waiting, as if he knew she was coming. Of course, she wouldn't put it past him to have been awake and monitoring her breathing and heart rate while she slept.
"I'm ok, Axle. Really. I'm just…I need…No. No, that's not true. I need to talk to Ratchet. Now. Can you take me there please?"
There was a pause then and Andi knew that Axle was debating with himself whether he should press her for information or not. She hoped he wouldn't. She didn't know how to explain what was happening. Hell she didn't even understand it herself. Finally he seemed to come to a decision and without another word opened his passenger side door for her. She climbed in and made herself comfortable, snuggling into the seat wrapped in her favorite blanket, her feet curled under her. Axle closed his door for her and buckled her seat belt keeping it loose enough that she would still be comfortable but safe. Noticing her shivering he started his heaters for her before he made his way out of the garage and into the night.
"Thank you," she whispered and then settled in for the ride.
AN: Dun, Dun, Dun. Just what is going on with Andi? The world may never know. Hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you thought. Your comments make me write faster. ^_-