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Word count: 2315-ish
Warning: There might be some OOC-ness...
Disclaimer: I Don't Own Transformers
Many thanks to my Beta Khalthar.
Chapter 9
~x~
~Cassie~
~x~
Cassie was sitting at the kitchen table concentrating on her homework when the front door opened up and her Aunt and Uncle pranced through the entrance laughing and flirting like a pair of hormone driven horny teens until they realized they had an audience.
"Cassie? What are you -Ron stop!- What are you doing home?" the woman asked taking in the girl's shiner and the fresh bruises that dotted her arms. "What happened?"
Cassie had been prepared for Judy's grilling and in reply, she simply held up the note that the school had sent home with her. Judy ripped it from her hand with enough force to give her a paper cut. Cassie winced and went back to focusing on her science homework, while her aunt read the paper.
"They suspended you for self-defense."
"Yep."
"What about the ones that did this to you?"
"I don't know. But considering that they were mostly jocks and cheerleaders, I wouldn't put it past the school to give them ISS instead." Cassie glanced up from the homework. "After all they wouldn't want to lose their precious football games or student morale."
"Ron keys." Judy said quickly.
"Now Judy..." Ron pleaded reasonably.
"Ron give me your keys." Judy snapped firmly while starting to glare.
"Only if you promise me you won't take your bat with you." Ron said as he bore the weight of his wife's glare. He gingerly held out his key and she was marching back out the door. Ron and Cassie both sighed as they heard her screech out of the drive. Ron glanced over at his niece who had promptly gone back to her homework and focused on it with diligence. "So kid you take your meds today?"
"Yep."
"Hm..." The man said as he thought of something to say to the girl as he sat down across from her. "So um... despite the fact that you've gone two full days without it, how's school going for you?"
"... Dismal. It isn't meant to be a pleasurable experience Uncle Ron." The girl said as she shut the textbook and setting it aside for her history book. "You can't tell me that you liked high school."
"You got me there." he chuckled.
Cassie smiled at him before saying, "Thank you Uncle Ron."
"What for?"
"Not yelling at me for working out on your grass. Sam and Bee both told me that you freak out every time they walk across the lawn. So I figured I should say thank you for being so lenient on me."
Ron grinned. "Yeah well after the garden was trashed earlier this year I've worked hard to get my baby back up to par... Not that I want you walking across it all the time..."
"I understand and thank you." she said as she returned to her homework...
Several minutes passed before Ron pushed his chair out and stood. "Well I'm off to work on my garden."
"Good luck with that."
"You're more than welcome to help."
Cassie smirked. "Yeah well, I am honor bound to tell you that I inherited my father's black thumb."
"Right..." Ron called back with a laugh. His laugh cut off as he turned back to the girl. "Cassie who's corvette is that?"
~x~
~Later that afternoon~
~Sideswipe~
~x~
Sideswipe was growling lowly. He couldn't shake the weird feeling of someone sitting on him, drawing lazy circles over his hood... It was driving him nuts as it took every bit of his self control to keep from shuddering under the strange feeling. This damned feeling had started last night and it was still being persistent... He ground his holoform's teeth tightly as he glared at his altmode trying to decipher what on earth had him so on edge...
"You okay there twitchy?"
"Bee... I think something's wrong with my sensors..." Sideswipe said not switching his gaze from his altmode.
"Hm... Let me guess... you feel like someone's touching you, despite the fact that your scans are coming up negative and you can clearly see that there is nothing happening."
Sideswipe blinked at Bee. "How did you know that?"
Bee shrugged. "It's happened to me a few times... I mentioned it to Ratchet but he couldn't find anything in his diagnostics check that he did on me. Though Cassie drew a rather interesting picture during one of the times it happened." Bee sent Sideswipe a file of the image.
Sideswipe examined the image... "Who are the two fleshies?"
"Well the femme is Crescent according to Cassie... But she still hasn't told me who the guy is... Other than the fact that she claims he's a ghost."
"There's no such things as ghosts."
Bee caught Sideswipe's gaze. "I wouldn't be too sure about that. I'm starting to believe that what the girl says might just be true..."
"I think you've been watching too many movies." Sideswipe said before shuddering at the sensation of nails running across his hood. "Argh slaggit all I am going nuts..."
Bee smirked at the frontliner's cringe. "You know you could always just ask Crescent to leave you alone." Bee said as he walked towards the house. "I'm sure she'd listen if you were nice about it."
"Go frag off." Sideswipe growled as he dismissed his holoform.
~x~
~Cassie~
~x~
Cassie sighed as she stretched her neck, the vertebrae cracking loudly as she rotated her head. She glanced back down at her sketchbook where a certain corvette graced the page. She had yet to draw her devious twin who had yet to sit still on the vehicle. The specter was currently digging her nails into the seals of the windshield, giggling maniacally... The corvette's aura was irritated and on edge... It actually had Cassie nervous to be sitting there doodling the thing. She gently closed her book before stretching out her legs and walking over.
Crescent was snickering while Jazz merely shook his head at the younger spirit as Cassie came to a stop beside him. "Ah think she's lost it."
"It wouldn't be the first time Crescent's flipped." Cassie grumbled under her breath as she glanced around the yard to make sure that the coast was clear. "Crescent stop fondling the damned corvette already."
Crescent paused in her teasing to blink at her sister. "But this is fun."
Cassie narrowed her eyes. Get down now.
"Do I have too?"
Yes now get the hell down before I go get the salt.
"You always ruin my fun..." Crescent pouted as she slid off of the car.
"I don't see how screwing with the corvette's aura gives you such joy... What the hell are you grinning about Methuselah?"
Jazz sputtered completely flabbergasted at the nickname. "Methuselah?! I'm not that fragging old!"
"Could have fooled me. Now come on you two or I'm going to watch FMA by myself." Cassie grinned as she spun around and marched back into the house. The two spirits following behind her, Crescent chuckling at the Methuselah comment, while Jazz sulked.
~x~
~Sideswipe~
~x~
If Sideswipe had been in his bi-pedal mode he was sure his optics would have been wide. The feeling was gone... but only after Cassie had come to scold 'Crescent' for fondling him... Bee was shaking with laughter, chortling the words 'fondling the corvette.' over the commlink.
:Shut up already. It wasn't that funny.:
:Aw... disappointed from not getting the 'Happy Ending?':
Sideswipe paused to google the term. :Number one: Ew. Two: If Ratchet had heard you say that he'd wrench my helm in...:
Bee snickered. :I can't help that the majority of my corruption has been at yours and Sunstreaker's servos...:
:Yeah I guess.: Sideswipe cut the commlink. He glowered at the yellow and black vehicle before activating his holoform and flipping the Camaro the finger as he made his way into the house. He made his way up the stairs to the girl's room and stood there thinking of what to say.
The door swung open and the room's occupant ran smack dab into his chest. "Ow..." She complained as bounced back a step rubbing her nose. "Have you heard of knocking?" she glared. "Or were you spying on me?"
Sideswipe glared at her for a second before turning his head away. "Look, I think we may have gotten off on the wrong foot."
"You think?" Cassie raised a brow.
"I... I just wanted to apologize for being such an aft yesterday. And I thought maybe we could sit down and talk."
~x~
~Cassie~
~x~
"..." Cassie raised a brow as she stared him over. She turned her head back into the room. Should I listen to him?
Crescent didn't look away from the laptop when she replied, "Hey he apologized so I'm cool with him... for now. Though if he calls you stupid again I won't hesitate seeing if I can use my white noise trick on his speakers."
"When the heck did he call me stupid?" Cassie asked before she turned back to Scott as she crossed her arms, looking expectantly at him for answer.
"Um... I'm not going to ask about how you know about that."
"Crescent." she grinned.
"Crescent." Scott's eye twitched.
"Yep." Cassie said as she took a seat on her bed. "I take it that you don't believe in ghosts."
"Well... no. Not really."
"And to thin' of all teh pranks usin' ghosts he and Sunny pulled on the guys back home... Ya'd thin' he'd believe in them..." Jazz commented from his position on the bed.
Cassie frowned. "Surely you believe in the afterlife. Heaven? Hell?"
"Who doesn't?" Scott shrugged.
"Surely there must be some grey area? Purgatory? Limbo? Oblivion? Why is it so impossible to believe that there might be some souls still tethered to this plane of existence? Whether it be because of anguish, rage, lost love, or familiar bonds, there are some spirits that are tethered to this world... Just because you don't see them doesn't mean they don't exist." Cassie cocked her head to the side. "If you want to join everyone else and just say that I am nuts then fine so be it. I don't plan on forcing you to believe in Crescent's non-corporeal existence."
Scott said nothing as he took a seat on the floor beside the bed a contemplative look written on his face. "Tell me about her." he said finally after a while.
Cassie blinked at him. "She is my twin sister... we were almost identical twins... but her hair was a honey blonde and her eyes a paler grey... She was always mischievous, getting both me and her into all sorts of ruckus when we were kids, between the pranks and her fondness for getting into things she shouldn't have. She loved gymnastics and learned it form our mom, where I learned aikido and karate from our father."
"So... How did she die?"
"Excuse me." Crescent said quietly as she walked out of the room.
~X~
~Crescent~
~x~
Crescent was standing in the yard, eyes closed, fists clenched tightly.
"Crescent are ya okay?"
"No."
"Is it 'cause you don' wanna hear abou' it?"
"I can't deal with that look on her face... the pain I caused her..." Crescent whispered sadly. "It was supposed to be a happy occasion... When our father took that job in the DPD, we had to move there... and well, it was definitely a change for all of us... It took its toll on Cassie and him the most."
"Why?"
"Me and my mother died during the move." When Jazz said nothing she continued on. "My father was eager to get to the new house and had decided to drive the night through. Unfortunately it was foggy early that morning and we were T-boned by a SUV driving seventy right into a tree line. My father was knocked unconscious, our mother died on impact, leaving Cassie and me... She was forced to watch me bleed out crushed in the metal of our car... The paramedics ripped her out of my grasp as I died... "
"A new life stained by sorrow and it just broke our father. It's why he decided to take the mechanics position. He was constantly fretting over Cassie, especially once she realized that I was still with her. Psychological problems they called it. Schizophrenia... bi-polar disease... It took her forever to convince him she was fine and that was only by ignoring me when she was around him. She was depressed from having to lie to him about me. It's why he fought tooth and nail to get his boss to allow him to homeschool her while he was working in the garage. So he could keep an eye on her."
Jazz put an arm over her shoulder. "Ah'm sorry ta hear tha'."
Crescent shrugged. "It is what it is. I just can't stand the fact that I am the main reason she's been so miserable these past few years and If I could have I would have went on, if only to spare her the pain of being ridiculed."
"But Crescent. If you had passed on then wha' would have Cassie done about losin' you? She would probably be worse off then she is now..." Jazz said reasonably.
"I guess..."
"Don' doubt it girl. She needs ya just as much as ya need her." Jazz said as he hugged her. "Ah know you regret all of the slag tha' she's gone through. But all of the trials tha' she's gone through has made her a stronger person."