Chapter 1

I winced as Starscream looked at me again. Damn, I hated that man. His red eyes glared at me for a minute, and I felt like they were looking right into my soul. I didn't like it. It wasn't good. It brought back all my worst memories, and trust me – I'd had my fair share of bad experiences. My life was full of them. Finally he turned away and headed into another room. I didn't stick around. I was out of the door and running down the street the second the door shut behind him.
It wasn't long before I was forced to stop. I'd reached the forest. I'd taken a wrong turn in that stupid maze of Decepticon buildings, and now the forest was the only way I could go. I found myself backing away. I'd only been in there once, but it wasn't an experience I was in any rush to repeat. I'd promised myself I would never go in there again. I turned and started away, and that was when I heard the drums.
I don't know how many times I'd heard the drums. I don't even know if I'd ever really heard them at all, or if they'd always been a part of my imagination. Either way, hearing them now almost made me run back to Starscream. Almost.
I could hear him even over the drums. He'd found out I was gone. He was coming after me. Asking passers-by if they'd seen which way I'd gone. They wouldn't lie to him on my behalf. They were Decepticons, and I was a Rogue. Why would they do anything for me? Besides, they were clueless to the sort of things Starscream did to me when we were alone together. I couldn't go back to him. I found a small alleyway between two of the buildings and ran down it. It twisted and it turned and it led to a dead end. What the hell? There was nothing between the road I'd just been on and where I was now. Why was the alleyway even there? I looked around desperately, frantically searching for a way out that I might've missed. There was nothing. I could here noises echoing up the alley towards me. Starscream had come in after me. I tried to break through the wall. I was strong for a girl, or so I'm told. But even with desperation and fear lending me strength, that wall was laughing at me. Starscream was getting closer. He was alone, thankfully, so I still had some kind of chance. I found myself backed against the wall, listening to Starsctream's running footsteps getting closer, and my hopes of defeating him were dashed as I heard more Decepticons running down the alleyway after him. I thought I could hear something else as well, as if there was something – or someone – on the roof somewhere behind me. But I wasn't really paying attention to that. My hopes of even surviving this were disappearing rapidly. But then a thought then a thought I'd been pondering since I was 7 came back to haunt me. Maybe that was a good thing. Maybe my life just wasn't worth living anymore. Maybe it was best to give up. Stop fighting a never ending battle and just let go. It would be a lot easier that way. The voice of reason that always came in at that point and pointed out how pointless suicide is didn't come this time. Maybe because at that moment Starscream ran round the corner with three of his cronies. His friends skidded to a halt and watched and laughed as Starscream slammed into me, pinning me to the wall with his hand at my throat. My feet were about a metre off the ground. Suddenly his friends fell silent. For a moment I thought that was it. It was finally over. But then there was a loud bang and the world shook. Starscream swore and dropped me, spinning around to face something that had dropped out of the sky. I fell to the ground, coughing and clutching at my throat. I wasn't dead. I wasn't sure how I felt about that. Then I realised everything had gone silent again. I looked up. Starscream and the others were on the ground, unconscious or dead, I didn't want to know. There was someone else there. A man. He was watching me curiously. I felt my spark jump in its chamber as I looked up at him.
"You all right?" he asked, holding out holding out his hand to help me up.
I nodded and took his hand, letting him pull me to my feet. I couldn't see him very well, but I knew for sure that I had never heard his voice before. It was deep and slightly gruff, but there was something soothing about it as well. All I could see of him were his bright blue eyes. There was something comforting about him, like I felt safe with him.
Which was crazy since I'd only just met the guy.
Still, I hadn't felt safe in so long….there was something special about this man.
"You shouldn't have saved me." I said quietly. The part of my mind that was swooning at him must've been staring at me in shock for being so inconsiderate to him. Still, it was the truth.
He rolled his eyes, which I took as a good sign.
"You're welcome." He said sarcastically.
Well, at least he didn't get mad.
"What's your name?" he asked me, leading me back down the alley. I didn't hesitate. I just followed him.
"Clara." I replied. I know what you're thinking. Some stranger comes up to you and randomly starts asking you questions, you're supposed to run in the opposite direction. Looking back on it, I think I was mad. But it made perfect sense at the time. I guess I owed it to him to answer his questions, considering he'd just saved my life.
"I'm-" the stranger started to say something but was cut off when a girl ran up the alleyway towards us, yelling angrily at him. She was probably younger than me, though it's impossible to tell with Cybertronians, and she only came up to my waist.
"OPTIMUS PRIME!" she was yelling, "We're supposed to be spying on the Decepticons! You can't just go and randomly beat them up."
Okay, I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I was sure yelling about a mission to spy on the Decepticons, while in the middle of Decepticon territory, wasn't exactly the best idea in the world.
Optimus sighed.
"Arcee, stop shouting at me. You'll jeopardise the whole mission."
"Oh, I'll jeopardise the mission?" Arcee demanded. "Who's the one going round beating up Decepticons?"
"You're Autobots." I said warily, taking a step away from them, automatically raising my battle mask.
Like I said I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed. I'd only just realised I recognised Optimus' name. My half-sister was obsessed with the guy.
Arcee seemed to notice me for the first time. Her blue eyes widened.
"You brought a Decepticon with you?" she yelled, pulling a gun out and pointing it at me. I heard Optimus sigh again next to me.
"Clara's a Rogue, genius." He scolded.
Arcee didn't move. Clearly she didn't trust Rogues any more than she did Decepticons. Fair enough. It's not like I was in any hurry to-
"Stand down, you two." Optimus ordered. Arcee reluctantly did as she was told, and the authority in his voice shocked even me into obeying. Hey, since when did I follow orders? I never even did what my dad asked me to do!
So I was pretty much in a bad mood, and then, to make matters worse, that was when the drums started.
I don't know how long I stood there, frozen in fear, but next thing I knew was Optimus waving a hand in front of my face.
"Um, sorry, what?"
"Oh, wonderful." Arcee muttered, "Couldn't you find someone who isn't stupid?"
Optimus sighed and ignored her.
"Are you okay?" he asked me. I nodded timidly. "Just ignore Arcee. She doesn't like Rogues. You haven't done anything wrong."
Arcee glared at him.
"I'm gonna radio Sentinel." She stalked off angrily and Optimus led me back to the main road.
"Don't worry about her. She gets touchy if we're out of Autobot territory for too long. She had a mishap with a Rogue a few years back and she hasn't really got over it." Optimus thought for a minute. "Or she might just be doing it to get at me. Either way, just ignore her. She'll come round. Eventually.
"How did you know I'm a Rogue?" I asked him curiously.
"Your name." he said as we walked. "Your dad's in charge of the Rogues, right?"
I nodded and looked at the forest fearfully. Optimus glanced at it.
"You don't like the forest." It wasn't a question, more of a prompt. Like he was encouraging me to open up to him.
"It's not so much the forest as what's in there." I said quietly, "but the forest itself freaks me out as well." I admitted.
I guess I should explain. There's only one forest on Cybertron, but it's so big it stretches into all territories. Rogue, Autobot and Decepticon. It's very big and very dangerous.
Optimus was nodding understandingly.
"Have you ever been in there?" I asked him.
"No." Optimus was leading me away from the forest now. Towards the outskirts of the Decepticon territory. "I wanted to when I was young, but Sentinel never let me anywhere near it. I've been too busy since then, with the war."
I nodded, almost disappointed. I'd never met anyone else who'd gone in. Only Luke and Tessa, who had never came out. I didn't like being so isolated from everyone else.
"Trust me." I found myself saying bitterly, "You don't want to go in there."
He looked at me curiously and I got the feeling he wanted to say more, but at that moment Arcee trudged over.
"She's coming with us." She said bitterly.
"What?" I asked, shocked.
"Sentinel's orders." Arcee said angrily.
"Unfortunately, I think I know what this is about." I sighed.
Optimus looked at me sympathetically.
"I'm heading back to base." Arcee said, ignoring me completely and talking to Optimus. She turned and ran off and Optimus sighed.
"Arcee takes a long time getting over grudges." He muttered.
I looked at him curiously but thought better than asking. It wasn't any of my business.
"So what are you doing in Decepticon territory?" Optimus asked.
I could tell he was just trying to make conversation, but I really preferred walking in silence.
"Long story." I said quietly.
Optimus looked at me but the tone of my voice must've told him that the subject was closed. Or maybe he just gave me up as a lost cause. He wouldn't be the first one.
To be honest, I wasn't really willing to get into anything with Optimus Prime. I knew enough about him to be sure that would be a bad idea. He was Cybertron's heart throb. As far as I knew, he'd never actually loved anyone properly. He was a player. He'd had loads of girlfriends, and nearly all the girls on this planet were his fangirls. I was one of the few exceptions to that rule. I don't know why, but he just seemed really moody to me. I liked the thought of being someone who believed in reality rather than the fantasy that some girls had chosen. What would someone like Optimus Prime see in a lowly Rogue mechanic like me? I mean, aside from whom my father was, which was why most Cybertronians, such as Starscream, took any interest in me.
I'd heard a lot about Optimus, thanks to my half-sister, and the only thing about his social life that I actually liked was that he'd never actually kissed a girl. He'd never shown any outwardly signs of affection to anyone. That was something those girls had tricked themselves into thinking to make them feel better about themselves, or to be more popular with their friends.

Sad.