*Hangs head in shame* Okay so I will admit that I am late with this chapter... I had a small teeny tiny writer's block. *Points to the smoldering remains of said writer's block.* Khalthar helped me break free finally!
Anyways I guess that I do owe you guys a new chapter... This chapter is only half beta'd since I added a little more to what did get checked over, I will update the chapter when I get the fully beta'd chapter, but I just couldn't wait to post this because my muse has been going at it for the better part of the last day laughing maniacally... In fact I think I'm more scared of her right now than the taxman... XD
Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers
Many thanks to my beta Khalthar for helping me out!
The rest of the thankyous have been relocated to the end of the chapter seeing as the list has become massive and takes up almost a page by itself.. But don't fear I still love all of you!
Word count: ~2687
Chapter 13: Fireside Conversations.
~x~
~Sideswipe~
~x~
"You can glare all you want Ratchet I'm not handing over my marshmallows." Cassie said as she tightened her grip on the bag of sweets as she bore the full force of the medic's glare.
"Those things are horrible for your system." Ratchet growled as he made to reach for the bag once more before glaring at Sideswipe. "Why would you even allow her to bring that wretched slag?"
"It was one of the compromises that she demanded in order for me to get her to come..." Sides said as he ducked one of the wrenches that Ratchet had pulled from his subspace. He smirked at Ratchet who pulled out another one and taunted him with it.
"Yeah well if you didn't drive like someone shoved a rocket engine up your tailpipe I'd be more keen on taking a ride from you. As I have told you before, I prefer to arrive at my intended destination alive. You may be one of the most superb drivers on this rock but you still have to take into account that there are other idiots driving on the streets."
Sideswipe was torn between pride, and being insulted from her brief scolding. The girl was still insulting his driving yet she did make it point that it wasn't him per se that she was insulting. As it was Ratchet was watching the brunette glare at the frontliner's holoform with a mildly amused smile on his lips. That was before she turned to face him as he reached again for the bag while her attention was divided.
"Look here doc. I'm going by the YOLO method and if you try to take my goodies away once more I swear that I am going to find a tire-iron and beat you with it."
Ratchet's eyes narrowed. "YOLO?"
"You Only Live Once." Cassie said before opening the bag. "Its meaning is to live life to the fullest, and besides a little sugar isn't going to completely throw my diet out of whack anyway. It's not like I'm a carnivore like Samuel."
"It's not my fault you don't like meat." Sam quipped.
"As I've said, it's my choice to be a vegetarian. I prefer my food not to have eyes... Save for potatoes of course."
"... Potatoes have optics?" Bee blinked at Cassie.
~x~
~Cassie~
~x~
The food bickering went on for a little while but as she sat there listening to both the bots as well as Crescent and Jazz talk a previously stated question popped into her head as Crescent jokingly called Jazz Methuselah.
"So what's it like to live for millions of years?" the question was out of her lips before she could stop herself.
Sam choked on his marshmallow at her question blinking over to look at the mixed expressions of the holoforms. Out of all of them, Ratchet, Sideswipe, and Bee looked the most sour over her innocuous inquiry.
"I'm not that old." Bee grumbled.
"What he said. Though, If I'm not mistaken the Hatchet is over ten million of your 'years'." Sideswipe smirked and instantly regretted it as a wrench whacked his holoform in the forehead.
"Keep it up and I'll make your next physical hurt." Ratchet glowered at him.
"I hurt now." Sides whined as he rubbed his head.
"It's no differen' than how you live out your lives." Jazz shrugged.
Optimus smiled gently before repeating the same. "Other than the war, our lives are no different than yours. We lived our lives, had families, and worked..."
"... I see..." Cassie said quietly, not voicing her thoughts. I bet we are nothing but a blink of the optic for them... a blip in time that they'll barely even notice...
"Like how we see the life of an insect... Short and fleeting." Crescent said quietly as Jazz blinked over at them.
"It's not like they'd forget abou' ya if tha's wha' ya are worried abou'."
"It'd still be like remembering that one unforgettable summer vacation way back when. Short and brief but memorable. Barely the blink of an eye for them."
"One thing I'd like to know is why Jazz is still here and not in the Well." Ironhide's dark blue eyes studied her in calculative manner. Jazz shifted as she glanced at him briefly looking for his approval to tell the truth. He shook his head no.
"Ah'd prefer them not to know why I didn't go to the Well."
"He doesn't know why he was kicked out of Heaven. Only that he's stuck here." Cassie said dismissively in an attempt to avoid the topic. "So um... Am I right to guess that's your guys' version of Heaven?"
"That would be correct." Optimus answered her question as she blinked at him. "The Well of Sparks is both the birthplace and the final resting place for our kind."
Sam blinked owlishly as if the thought of the Autobots having a religion was new to him... Maybe it was; Lord knew that Sam was bright at times but absolutely clueless at others... "So then your version of Hell would be..?" He asked.
"The Pit. Sam I already told this to you before... What did you do, ignore me?" Bee frowned at his charge.
Sam smiled weakly. "Not completely... I remember that Primus is your deity... And the Allspark was his gift to your people to create new life. Annnd the rest kind of slipped my mind..."
"Sam you're hopeless you know that?" Cassie said as she plunged her stick into the fire. "It's no wonder you suck at math."
"Gee you don't have to be such a critic."
Cassie glared. "I wouldn't have to be if you wouldn't slack off."
"What? Who said anything about slacking?"
"I have it on a pair of reliable resources that you've spent the better half of the week dicking around on Call of Duty when you haven't been with Kae."
Sam sputtered as several of the bots chuckled softly at the flabbergasted teen. "You've been spying on me?"
Cassie grinned. "Not directly."
Sam made more sputtering sounds as he tried to come up with a retort.
"Cassie your stick's on fire." Mikaela pointed at the slowly creeping flames.
Cassie tossed the stick into the embers. "I should have brought the watermelon." she sighed. "How many does this make?" She asked as she snatched up a new stick and plopped a new marshmallow on it.
"Five." Crescent replied before going back to her plotting with Jazz.
"While we are on the topic of Jazz, that picture you drew of him. How is it that he appears human to you." Jazz even raised a brow at Bee's question.
Sideswipe frowned. "That is a very good question. Especially since most of these guys didn't have the upgrade until I made planetfall."
"Actually I did find the remains rudimentary version of a holoform projector inside of Jazz as I repairing his frame." Ratchet pointed out. "I didn't think much of it at the time and I ignored it for the most part."
"It was not completely functional seeing as it was Wheeljack's prototype." Jazz commented.
"He said it was Wheeljack's original prototype." Cassie relayed the message. "And that it didn't work right."
"Makes sense but it still doesn't answer my question." Bee pointed out.
Cassie sighed. "I'm not really sure how my mind perceives his spirit. Heck Crescent says that half the time he just looks like a massive sphere of pure energy to her. You know kind of like a ghost ball but the size of a person." Did I get that right?
"Yep."
"Ghostball?" Sideswipe blinked at the term.
"Google it." Cassie sighed.
Jazz blinked. "Is that really how you see meh?"
"Yep."
The bots were staring at her. "What Crescent sees is his spark." Ratchet said as she blinked at the term.
"Okay... I think I'm gonna have to start a translation dictionary to keep up with all the new terms... Tell me do you guys have curse words?"
Both Bee and Sideswipe snickered at the question.
"... how could we not? If you'd like I can teach you s-" Sideswipe was cut of by yet another wrench to the head.
Bee snickered even more. "Cassie if you really want to learn some Cybertronian curses just hang out around Ratchet for a day and you'll learn them all." Bee ducked the wrench that was aimed at him. Both Optimus and Ironhide chuckled while Ratchet glared at them all.
"Cassandra, seeing as tomorrow is the end of your school week, Sam will be coming out to our base of operations along with Bee and Mikaela. I would like it if you and Sideswipe would accompany them this weekend. Unfortunately due to having to inform you of our presence, you will be required by your human government to sign your self into secrecy and silence."
"Oh joy." Cassie said sourly. "Just how I wanted to spend my weekend. Buried under paperwork."
"And that's different from any other weekend how? Just because you won't have your nose in a text book you actually get bent outta shape?"
Cassie narrowed her eyes at Crescent as she retorted, I like being ahead while I can be.
"Yeah well if they would have tested you like they should have you'd be in the same grade as Sammyboy."
I haven't even begun to worry about college yet. Being where I am gives me a chance to decide what I want to do with my life.
"Egghead." Crescent stuck out her tongue.
Cassie shook her head as she chose to ignore Crescent. Her gaze caught sight of Ratchet staring at her intently. "What did I say about staring?"
Ratchet chuckled a little. "Forgive me Cassie. I was waiting for you to finish speaking with Crescent so I didn't interrupt you."
"Um... thanks? But how did you know-?"
"Who do you think had to deal with Sideswipe and his brother the most? Primus knows that he and his brother are reckless to a T. I've picked up a thing or two about twinbonds... Granted I do not know nearly as much as Sideswipe himself, but enough to know when they are talking to one another. Anyways, I would like to have a longer in depth discussion about your ability this weekend and to perhaps discredit your past doctors for you to your aunt and uncle."
Cassie blinked up at Ratchet. "Couldn't you just outright tell them that I'm not suffering from schizophrenia?"
"I would if we hadn't been forced to tell Sam's parents the same patronizing lie we originally told you." Ratchet gave Sam a glare.
"So Aunt Judy and Uncle Ron don't know? Sam what the hell?" Cassie brandished her stick tipped with a flaming marshmallow on it.
Sam eyed the burning treat nervously. "Easy with that marshmallow Cassie."
"You realize that Aunt Judy is gonna go full out Cooper Matriarch on your ass with Excalibur right?"
"Excalibur?" Sideswipe asked in confusion.
"Her bat." Sam, Cassie, Mikaela, and Bee said simultaneously in a tone of dread.
~x~
~Sam~
~x~
Tonight had actually gone better than Sam could have hoped for... Minus the fact that he was still getting used to the idea of his cousin being able to see ghosts... but when comparing that to the fact that his best friend was an alien that just happened to take the form of his car... yeah... He decided that he could just roll with it...
Optimus, Ratchet, and Ironhide had left to head back to the base a while ago, leaving the five of them to sit and idly chat. Most of it revolving around pranks that Sideswipe had pulled on Ratchet and Ironhide. Mikaela was curled up on his lap sleeping.
"So you two were like the kings of pranks then..." Cassie yawned as she tried to keep her eyes open.
"You bet. It's the easiest way to wind down... not much else to do while fighting in a war." Sideswipe said with a smile.
"... What did you do before the war?" she mumbled.
Sideswipe stiffened as he blinked over at her. "I... I used to brew and sell my own special blend of high grade." he said after several minutes. "It's kind of like your alcohol..." Sideswipe said before a tense silence fell between them. Sam noted the saddened look in Sideswipe's usually bright eyes. He sighed and rubbed at his eyes. He should probably warn her about staying away from touching sensitive topics... Though he was surprised that Jazz hadn't already warned her not to ask...
Sam gazed over at Cassie, she was leaning against Bee's holoform, eyes closed... she had finally drifted off. Sam sighed as he poked his own koala who blinked up at him wearily.
"As much as I'd like to make this a camp out we should probably get going." he said with a yawn. "We still have school tomorrow. I don't want to get reamed out for 'slaking off'."
"Yeah I guess." Mikaela mumbled as she sat up and stretched.
"I'll take the first patrol. Take Cassie home with you guys." Sideswipe told Bee as he watched the blond holoform scoop her up. Bee smirked and Sides' eyes narrowed for a second before he sighed and walked over to Sam.
"You know Sam I'm surprised that you haven't gotten even with Cassie for your... new makeover..." the red haired holoform slung an arm around his shoulders and gave him a noogie.
A flare of anger ran through him before he smirked. "Oh trust me, I will get even with her."
"Oh really? Care to make a bet on that?" Sideswipe grinned.
~x~
~Sideswipe~
~x~
Sideswipe sat in his holoform staring up at the stars above his spark aching for that vital piece of himself, the other half of his soul. His blue eyes searching the ever burning lights with nothing but a short prayer for a sign… a hint of a whisper... anything.
But as usual his prayers went unanswered, and no sign of Sunny would be given to him this night... the twilight grey of the approaching dawn was creeping over the horizon already signaling the start of the new day to come.
A hand caressed the side of his altmode drawing his attention over as Cassie hopped up onto his hood beside him. "It should be illegal to look so forlorn." she said quietly.
"Shouldn't you be in bed recharging?" He eyed her pajamas.
Cassie said nothing as she stared up at the stars. After a while she sighed before turning her gaze to meet his blue glare. Sideswipe blinked at the pale almost white grey eyes. "I only came to down to tell you thank you. I know that you probably aren't the happiest one in the world to be stuck with me and my twin, but Jazz told me the seriousness of being a Guardian."
"Yeah well someone's gotta look out for you."
"Yeah... Because I can only do so much for Cassie..."
Sideswipe narrowed his gaze at the femme before checking his chronometer it was 5:05.
"Crescent?" Sideswipe hissed before she grinned.
"Who else?" she said as she pulled her knees up and resting her arms on them. "I know I'm just going to piss her off by doing this, but I figured she deserved at least one night where she isn't waking from my nightmares..."
"How are you doing this?"
The girl smiled sadly as she said, "Trade secret. Albeit it's not a well kept one but I'm sure you can use your awesome netsurfing capabilities to figure it out..." the girl slid off of him and slowly made her way towards the house.
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Q: Should I eventually throw in some romance and with who? Even if I did it'll probably be a while... But still let me know what you think!