Wahoo! Thanks for the reviews last chapter guys, I was just TICKLED to get them.
I must be crazy updating this fast...
Now the REAL story begins. Sorry about the beginning fluff-ish-ness with Megs and Blare/Blair. I figure when he has something to tell her, he leads into it by manipulating her human emotions and doing something sappy. *shrug*
But then it gets good! Next chapter might be better, I think. Why? NOT TELLING! SECRET!
Hope you guys enjoy!
She sat quietly by the sidelines, hands folded in her lap like a good pet, as Megatron always told her she was. Not speaking, just watching.
She wished she could say something, though. Starscream and Barricade were virtually tearing each other apart, and she didn't like it. They were both her friends, her family, and she hated rubbing off the dirt and scratches from their armor after they'd had spars. At the same time though, it made her feel closer to them. After all, few humans got as close to these Cybertronians as she did; especially these ones. They were so different, so careful about who they trusted.
She was glad they trusted her.
"Master," she said lowly. She kept her eyes down, hardly ever daring to look into his. "How long has it been?"
He grunted. "Since what, my little butterfly?"
"Since... you found me."
"Hmm. Not long. Three Earth years, if my math's correct."
"It always is, Master."
"That never works, you know."
"Yeah, I know." She smiled slightly, reaching up to fiddle with the drawstring on her shirt. "I always have to try."
"I know you do. You humans are so contradicting that way. Starscream, Barricade!" he suddenly barked. "I'm taking my leave for a few minutes! Try not to kill each other if I'm not watching!" Then, out of nowhere, his clawed hand was in front of her face. "Come with me."
She nodded, and eagerly climbed up onto his palm as she always did. She sat with her legs crossed Indian-style, and held onto one of his fingers. He'd always told her to, he didn't want her falling off. Humans were fragile, he said. She didn't remember much, but at least she remembered that she was human.
"Close... Close your eyes."
"Why?"
"Just close them. I'm your master, you don't need a reason," he muttered. "I'll tell you good and well when you can open again."
"Okay." She shut her eyes throwing her free arm across them. "Where are we going, Master?"
"You don't need to know."
"Uh-huh." She kept her eyes closed and her arm around Megatron's finger. Oh. She could have fallen asleep here again, as she had several times before. She'd also fallen asleep inside Barricade's alternate mode a few times. (After that last one, though, he refused to carry her again. And Starscream she usually got sick inside of. Stupid military-style planes. And just planes in general.)
After a moment of walking, Megatron moved his hand, causing her to jump. She felt wind on her face, and then the warm radiation of some light. "You may open your eyes."
She did as he told her, and realized they were outside. That was why she'd felt the wind, and the warmth on her cheeks was the sun. "Why are we out here? Not that I mind, it's been a while since I've been outside."
"Because, I..." He growled, then reached up onto the high roof, into a small box-like area that was in the design. "Here." He dangled a chain in front of her, and on the end of it was a small pendant. It looked like something you'd see in a science book - a flat sphere, with small rods jutting out from all around the edge, each one with a tiny ball at the end. "Just put it on."
She carefully took it, and just looked at it for a minute. "What is it?" She traced a finger over the sphere, feeling the small grooves on it. She slipped it on, the small wire matting a part of her hair down.
"It serves two purposes." He lifted her hair up with one finger, freeing it. "It will be your collar, my Blare. It is emblazoned with my insignia on the other side, so that if ever you are lost from me, it will be known where you are to be returned." He tilted her chin up with that same finger. "But, I do not plan to lose you."
She smiled. She did love him so, he was so good to her; he didn't want to lose her. "Oh, thank you. What's its other purpose?"
He blew out a breath, and as usual it sounded a bit... growling. It always did when he spoke, but she'd gotten used to it. She knew he never meant much harm with his words. "You... have been with me a while, my loud little butterfly. And I have always taken care of you, have I not?"
"Of course you have. You're my family." She rubbed her cheek against the warm, familiar metal of his finger. "You've given me everything I need."
"And yet, your memory has still not returned to you." A gentle stroke of his finger over her hair, down her shoulder. "There is guilt in it for me, my fragile little butterfly... that I have not managed to help you remember anything."
"That's not your fault, Master," she insisted, patting his finger. "I just haven't run into anything that jogs my memory yet."
"Yes, but it's been three years." He sighed. "I would have thought something might come back to you." He stared down at her, his red eyes running over her skin and tinting her a much darker shade of pink. "You still don't even know your human age, do you?"
"I-I must be at least twenty, by now," she tried. "I may have already been twenty when you found me! And it doesn't matter, anyway, you know. I can live without my memory if it means staying with you, because you've taken good care of me."
"I suppose it is a gift, then... for these years you've spent without knowing your human birth date. You fleshlings, you celebrate that, don't you? Another year closer to death." He snorted lightly, shaking his head. "Foolish, but important to you for some reason. Happy birthday then, congratulations for surviving three years with the Decepticons."
She grinned. "You always know, Master, you always know just how to say something to make me smile." She hugged his claw tightly. "Thank you. I really do love it. But what, um..." She held it up. "What's the pendant? Is it just a random design you knew I'd like?"
"It is the symbol for all of Cybertron." At this, he sounded slightly sad. He always did when he talked about Cybertron. He'd never told her why, aside from the fact that it was almost impossible for him to return there. "If others of the race find you and see the insignia, they will know where you belong and they will not keep you. Climb up here, my butterfly, hold on."
She wrapped herself around his finger, and he held it up, as a human might do if a real butterfly were perched on their finger. Gentle, but free, knowing it might fly away at any second but trusting that it will stay with you. Eventually she regained her balance, once he stopped moving, and crouched as she always did, knees bent and arms outstretched to keep her bearing so she wouldn't fall.
"What do you see out there, pet?" he asked, directing her attention past their fort.
"I see the sun. The sky." She brought her hands down, pressing on his finger and lying down on her stomach. Her legs dangled over each side, and she curled her arms around; not out of fear that she'd fall, but just to be closer to him. She was suddenly very tired and wondered why he was asking her this. He'd never bothered with these silly sentiments before. "Trees. Grass. Dirt." She sounded bored, and to be truthful she was bored. Whenever she came outside, this was what she looked at. She'd been staring at these things for almost three years whenever she wanted some air. "A lot of nothing, really."
"We will be traveling that way, via the streets. I sensed a new Decepticon coming through Earth's atmosphere, and they've landed approximately 36 miles from here. We must pick up our comrade, and then find a new base."
"Oh. Do you know who it is?"
"No, not yet. But it's a femme, which should be a pleasant surprise."
"Have you told Starscream and Barricade? They didn't seem very prepared to travel. They're too busy busting each other's teeth out."
"I'll have to knock their heads together again - they can't remember anything." He looked down at her, and his eyes were hard. "But I can trust you not to forget, can't I, little butterfly?"
"Of course! I'd never let you down, Master." She clung to his finger, pressing her forehead against the metal. "You're always so warm. Like a blanket."
He scoffed, and all at once the moment had been gone. Moments like this, where he showed a tender side towards her and only her, were rare... fleeting. Because they were fleeting, they were precious. They were always gone too soon, with no clear prediction of when there'd be another.
"Pesky human," he mumbled, forcing her back into his palm. "You know how easily I could crush you, don't you?"
"Yes. But I also know you never would." She played with the necklace, crossing her legs again.
Criss-cross applesauce, you little insect, Starscream used to taunt her, playing with her and thumping her on the back multiple times. He said if she couldn't keep them crossed, Megatron would be displeased with her and think she was indecent, and then he'd have no use for her. She quickly learned the proper way to sit.
"Master..." she began as he walked back inside. "Where in the universe is Cybertron? Is it far from here? Could you see it in the sky, at night, when it's really dark?"
A huff. As if he were annoyed with her. He got annoyed easily, especially by humans and especially those who asked too many questions. "It's millions of lightyears away from this planet, butterfly. You wouldn't be able to see it even if you had a pathetic human telescope."
"Which direction is it?"
"It doesn't matter." He placed her down where they'd been watching Starscream and Barricade spar, and sat next to her. "You're not going to see it. Why do you even want to try if you're not going to see it?"
She shrugged, playing with the necklace again. This little trinket was her favorite thing in the world, it would stay so, because it was a present from her master, a sign that he actually, truly cared about her. "I don't know. I'm human, remember? We're not always logical."
"Try to make a bit more sense, yes, my little Blare?"
"Of course, Master. I'm very sorry."
A claw through her blonde hair, as he always did when pleased with her. "That's alright. After all, you are only human."
They left when it was dark. It was easier not to get spotted that way, to blend in and look normal, because they were all dark-colored. Megatron had advised Blare when she went clothes shopping, to get all black clothing: black tank tops, black t-shirts and sweaters, dark-washed jeans rather than the lighter denim, and onyx boots.
Cleaning them after the spar hadn't been so bad. She always liked cleaning off Barricade's lights, when he was in his alternate mode. It was what she'd been named for, because those lights, that siren, they thought her voice matched that volume. It was always a little special for her to be so close to the thing that had named her.
She had to walk, and she had to walk fast. She could barely keep up with them all. She had somewhat wanted to ride with Megatron, but he'd said the way he drove, she'd end up with a bunch of bruises. And Barricade wouldn't let her ride with him anymore, on account of the few times she'd fallen asleep inside him and left an imprint on the seats. (He didn't like her falling asleep in him anyway, even if there hadn't been a human-shaped dent in the backseat.) And Starscream... well... he'd offered, at least, but she had to remind him about her airsickness, lest he wanted her to be cleaning out vomit from his interior. (She'd told him that first time was an accident, she didn't think she'd ever ridden in a plane before, but he still was unwilling to let her ride with him.)
It was convenient for them to travel under cover of night, patrolling the streets (or in Starscream's case, the air) mostly hidden. And for her, all she had to do was jog alongside them, on the sidewalks. The only thing she had to do was make sure she kept up. They knew she couldn't go so fast, so none of them were really concerned if she was a few feet behind, because they knew she was still following them. She was just a human; humans were slow.
She was trying to be a bit slower tonight, more cautious. It was so dark... even with the streetlights on. They weren't everywhere, and sometimes things bled into each other, creating this blurred black hole she had to struggle to get past. She didn't dare call out to any of the others; people might think she was crazy, talking to cars and chasing them down the street!
There weren't many other people though. Most of them - not that there were a lot - were coming out of this little store on the side of the street. She had been running, but when she saw the store she slowed down a little. It seemed like she'd seen it before somewhere. Had she ever been in this part of town? No, she couldn't have... rarely did she come here, and even then Barricade just drove her to the secondhand clothing shop on the other block - maybe sometimes to a fast food place, if they'd been out a while. He'd never taken her here, to this store. This store looked far more wholesome than anywhere he'd ever take her.
She felt someone bump her, and she almost lost her balance. She managed to catch herself shortly before she hit the ground, clinging to one of the poles that held up the store's awning. "S-Sorry about that," she muttered before the other person could even say anything.
The other person turned out to just be a little kid, who blinked up at her with curious wide eyes. But then the kid's mother came out of the store and grabbed his hand. "How many times have I told you," she scolded, "to not run out of the store without me?" She looked up at Blare. "Sorry," she said quickly, before scurrying off with her son.
Blare stared after them a moment, trying to remember her own family... the ones she had been with before Megatron had found her. She tried to recall any flash of their faces, any bit of their voices. All she got were colors. Glowing blue. The most obnoxious, lovable yellow with just a hint of black. Cherry red and lime green, the exact shades of popsicles, and those two colors just belonged together. Family wasn't color, was it? Then why was she only getting color when she tried to remember who her family was?
Her head hurt, and she slapped a hand up to stop the pain. "O-Ow..."
She looked up at the store. The neon sign was faded, but her mind put a different kind of brightness to it, like she'd seen it a very long time ago. Like she was remembering something she didn't... quite... remember. She had seen it before, but where? Had it been that first month with them, when she'd driven through town with Barricade, when they'd rode around for hours deciding on clothes and getting lunch and just annoying each other?
She couldn't remember. She couldn't remember anything about this store, or about her family, or about anything else.
"I'm really a mess," she sighed, leaning against the building. She stayed there for a minute, eyes closed, relaxing and taking a break, then her eyes snapped wide open, in reaction to her fear.
Where were Megatron and Starscream and Barricade?
"Oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God," she gasped as she ran, not even sure which direction they'd gone in. Her chest burned with the cold air she was gulping in, but she couldn't stop. She'd looked up into the sky, but if Starscream was there, he was a dot on the invisible horizon. Her boots pounded against the sidewalk as she ran, not concerned with catching her breath but concerned with catching up.
She didn't know how long she'd run, or how fast she'd been running. But she knew she couldn't catch up to them. They were way too fast, and they probably hadn't even noticed she was gone. They probably just thought she was still running ten feet behind them, trying to keep up with their superior Cybertronian speed.
She took one more gasp of air, and for some reason this one really stung her chest, a sharp pain in her lungs. She coughed, then staggered toward a nearby building, trying to keep from falling. But it didn't work.
She saw a gray curtain drape across her vision, and she tried to shake her head to clear it away. It worked, but the foggy veil had been replaced now, by stabbing black spots dancing on her eyes. Blinking didn't help. The black dots slowly formed into a screen that she could barely see through.
After a ten-second struggle she managed to sit down on the pavement, but she already felt herself slipping away. Against her will, she collapsed over herself and fell into darkness, subconsciously shielding her head from further attack with her arm.
BUM BUM BUMMMMMM.
OK, let me explain the "butterfly" thing. I needed something for him to call her other than "my Blare". And since he usually refers to most humans as insects, I thought a butterfly would suit her because he thinks of her as an insect too - just a prettier one, and more fragile. So yeah.
Next chapter will hopefully be a bit more exciting!
Oh yeah, and... CLIFFHANGER! HAHAHA!
I feel so evil.
Megatron: So I HAVE been getting to you.
Me: *glare* *shove*
Review, guys! I love hearing what you think... what I should change, what you like, suggestions as to a few plot ideas. Sometimes I incorporate them, sometimes I don't. Just depends.
Thanks for reading! ^^