Aye yi yi have I had a day!
Well, this is a bit of a depressing chapter, but the next one's going to be a lot of fun~
Hope you enjoy!
"Hey, don't crowd around her. She needs some room to breathe."
"Skids, you heard what he said. Move back."
"Sorry, sorry, Boss."
"Is she waking up?"
"Yes, I think so. Would I have called you all in here if I didn't think it was of import?"
Blare felt her eyes slowly opening, but before that she had heard voices. She still heard them, all around her - were they talking about her? Who had found her? It didn't sound like anyone she knew. Not Megatron, or Starscream, or Barricade...
Her vision was blurry at best, but there were... shapes. Very big shapes, with straighter edges than humans. Shapes and colors, that was all she could see. But she could make out glowing blue, a very small bit of it, from every shape.
She blinked a few times, and coughed. Finally she could see! The first thing she saw was a group of Cybertronians gathered around her. They didn't look much like Megatron and the others - there was more variation of color among them. Yellow, green, red, blue, silver, it looked like only one of them was black.
She swallowed, as the yellow-greenish one bent over her, seeming to examine her. "U-Um, hello..."
"It's good that you're awake," it stated, letting her know it was male. In fact, it seemed like all of these were males. Great. "We were wondering how long you were going to be out, but you've only been unconscious for about nine hours. It could have been worse." He looked her right in the eyes, and that was when she realized it - the light, glowing blue. It was the color of their optics. "Do you know my name?" His voice was softer as he said this, less clinical.
She blinked up at him, looking, running her eyes over every inch of his armor. She couldn't remember... did she know him? Did she? "If I do know your name," she said slowly, carefully, "I don't remember it... or you."
"That's alright," he told her, but there was no hiding that slightly disappointed look on his face. "Can you tell me what your name is?"
She glanced at everyone else in the room, not looking at him. She wasn't sure who to focus on, but that bigger bot - silver, blue, red - looking at him seemed to calm her down a little. So she looked in that direction, but rather she looked past him at the wall. "I... everyone calls me Blare."
For a split second, it looked like everyone in the room had a hopeful air. Like there was a chance that she was someone they knew.
She fidgeted. "You know, because I'm loud, I mean? My friends gave me that name."
All the hope in the room immediately dissipated. "Your friends," the green-yellow doctor-like bot muttered. "Why not tell us what happened that they decided to call you that?"
"Uh, well, they needed something to call me. And my one friend, Barricade... I mean, they're like you guys. You know, aliens. And Barricade said I better try to find out my name, I was upset - because I shouldn't be screaming every night. That I was louder than his siren. Then my other friend, Starscream, he said that Barricade's siren was louder than anything, and Barricade said maybe that's what they should call me. Starscream thought he meant 'Siren', but..." She giggled, waving her hand. "Starscream's just an idiot sometimes. So they and Master agreed that was what to call me, because it's also a human name. I've never met anyone with that name, though."
"'Master'." The bot she'd been looking at/past before, the largest one, spoke up. His voice was powerful, but gentle at the same time. "And who is that?"
"His name is Megatron." At the name, she smiled happily. She missed him so much right now, but perhaps, when they realized she belonged to him, maybe they would try to get her back. "He's my family, my best friend. He calls me his little butterfly - he says I'm pretty but if he ever moved wrong he'd break me. I tell him I know he won't, but he still holds me like this." She held up her hand, one finger outstretched and curved.
"Why isn't he with you, then?" the black one grunted, looking irritated. He obviously didn't have a merry disposition, she could see that much. "If you're that special to him, I can't imagine him leaving you." A bit of sarcasm there? She didn't think that was necessary, but far be it from her to say anything.
"Oh, he didn't. That was my fault." She reached up with one hand and wrapped her fingers around the necklace. "We were moving... because another Decepticon had crashed and we had to welcome her."
"Nobody let you's ride wit 'em?" the green one asked, sounding surprised. "Aw man, dat ain't right."
"Master drives like a madman," she grinned. "I would have bumped everything and gotten hurt. And Barricade, he just doesn't like me riding in him because I always fall asleep. And I get airsick inside Starscream." She blew out a breath. "Anyway, I... was on the sidewalks. I'm slow, and I saw this store... and I felt like I saw it before. And I stood there, and looked at it. And by the time I knew that I actually stopped..." She felt tears trying to squeeze out of her eyes. "They were gone," she managed to choke out.
She managed not to burst out crying, but she threw an arm over her face. It really was all her fault - if she hadn't stopped at the store, she wouldn't have gotten lost. She would still be with them right now, greeting their new comrade.
"Blare." The soft, gruff voice of the doctor came to her. "Can you sit up?"
"N-No."
"Are you just saying that because you don't want to?"
"M-Maybe, I don't know. I don't know much of anything anymore."
"Alright. Well, before I can let you go be with the others-"
"I have to go back!" She shot up, grabbing her necklace and turning it over. "I know this seems cruel, but this is my collar! Look!" She pointed to the symbol, her hands shaking. "Master said if any others ever found me they'd know where to bring me! Take me back to him, please! This is how you know where I belong!"
"Blare." The large bot was by her side almost in an instant, and she wondered how he'd gotten there so fast if she hadn't seen him. "We don't know where he is, which direction he went in. There's nothing we can do until he comes looking for you. And even if there was something that could be done, we would not be willing to do it. You don't belong on that side of the war."
"Yes I do," she retorted tearfully. "I don't care if it's the wrong side to be on, he's the one who's taken care of me for the last three years of my life! I would have died if he hadn't found me, because I wouldn't have known where I was or who I am!"
"You still don't know who you are."
"Yes, I do. I may not know who I used to be, but I know who I am now. And who I am now belongs with Master."
"Regardless," the doctor spoke up, quickly filling the space between her and the other bot, "there's nothing we can do right now. You must stay here. Now, Blare. You're sure you don't know anyone's name? Can you put a name to anybody's face here?"
She scanned every Cybertronian in the room. The way they all looked at her, it was so... forlorn. Like they wanted her to know who they were, like they expected her to be able to name them, but they knew she couldn't. It was so... so human.
She looked back at the doctor, and shook her head slowly. "No... I-I'm sorry... but I don't know any of you."
The mood of the room seemed to just fall. Everyone cast their ghostly eyes down, not looking at her. The larger bot went so far as to turn stiffly and walk all the way to the other side of the room, not looking back.
"Is he alright?" she asked, looking after him.
"He's pissed off," the black bot scoffed. "He'll be fine. He's just being a big baby at the moment."
Blare sighed and laid back down slowly. "So I really have to stay here?"
"Not in this room, per se, because it's the medical wing. On the contrary, we want to do all we can to keep you out of this room. Now, my name is Ratchet, but that's all I'm telling you. And before I can give you free reign to go with the others, I'd like to do a quick oral test with you. I want you to close your eyes, and just relax. I'm going to start by saying a word or two, and then I just want you to say whatever comes to your mind. It can be a word, or a feeling, anything. Sound easy?"
"Yeah, easy." She closed her eyes and folded her hands over her stomach. "I'm ready."
"Alright... Cybertron."
She knitted her eyebrows together. "That's where you and Master are from."
"Very good. Now let's try... hmm... Mudflap."
"Eww," she muttered. "That sounds... kind of disgusting."
Sigh. "Skids."
"Um... like... tire tracks?"
Another sigh. "Alright, how about... Ironhide."
"Sounds scary. Like something out of a war movie."
She heard the black bot snort, and she thought perhaps that one might be Ironhide.
"Alright, alright, keep your cannons off. Calm down. Now, Blare... let's see... Jazz."
For some reason, when she heard that, she felt... sad. Like someone she knew was hurt. Was he talking about music, or was that somebody's name? "I just... feel sad. Maybe I listened to that kind of music, and it sounded sad? I... I'm not sure."
"Good, good... hmm... Sam."
"Boy Sam or girl Sam?"
Groan. "Okay, never mind that one... Sideswipe."
"That sounds like a name for a racecar."
Somebody snickered, and there was the sound metal nudging against metal. "She thinks I'm fast, Ironhide. You didn't get that kind of compliment."
"Put a plug in it, or you're gonna find my foot up your aft."
"Shut up, both of you," Ratchet snapped. "Alright... perhaps... Bumblebee."
There was a series of excited chirping sounds, and she giggled. "Uhmm... sounds really cute."
"Sweet little bumblebee!
I know what you want from me!
Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-la-la!
Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-la-la!"
"Turn. It. Off," Ratchet enunciated. The music stopped, and there was a chirp, although this one sounded like a child who had just gotten in trouble. "Alright, we're almost done... Optimus."
"Uhh..." She shook her head. It sounded so familiar. "I-I know... it's a name... it means... high quality or... or something, or... I..." She threw her arms around herself. Her whole body was suddenly getting warm, a tingling feeling was rushing through her. "Is - Is it hot in here?" All she got when she thought about that name, whenever she ran it through her mind and she was doing it constantly at the moment, all she was getting was confusion. Confusion and... something else she couldn't really identify.
"Alright. Alright, Blare. Calm down, it's alright. If it's bothering you, don't think about that name anymore. It's alright." A gentle finger on her shoulder, and she was reminded of Megatron's touch, how he used to just sweep a finger down the entire length of her body, from head to toe, as he commented how delicate she was. "One more, and you're free to go."
"Okay, okay... I'm... I'm ready for the last one."
"Alright. I'm going to spell this one, and you tell me if it means anything to you, the letters in this order." He began, very slowly, as if he were speaking to a young child. "B... L... A... I... R."
B. L. A. I. R. She wasn't sure how those letters were supposed to sound together. It seemed like it ought to be simple, but she'd never seen those letters in that order before. Was it a name? Was she supposed to know what it sounded like? "I... I don't know. That... doesn't mean anything to me."
Another sigh, much heavier this time. Like he was disappointed that she didn't know what it was. "Alright, then, I... I suppose you're free to go into the hangar. Up, up, now."
She opened her eyes and sat up, accepting the finger Ratchet gave her to help her stand. She was shaky, but good enough. He helped her steady herself until she was standing on her own, even if she was a little staggery. "Who am I going with?" she spoke up, suddenly feeling so very small in a room full of them. "I-I mean, obviously I want to get to know you all, but... who should I start with?"
Those two nearly identical bots, the green one and the red one, ran up to her, each grabbing one of her arms. "We call you's! We call you's first, Psycho!"
She grinned weakly, looking from one to the other. "Ps-Psycho? Is... Is that my name? Do you know?"
Their eyes widened, then they looked at each other. "Nah, nah," the red one spluttered, looking over to the other one as if asking him to continue.
"See, it was like - you's got here last night, we was all sleepin'," the green one stumbled over an explanation.
"Woke us all up," the red one added.
"Yeah yeah, and we's thought it was crazy, so we said we gonna call you Psycho!" the green one finished. "It's like, uh - like, uh - one o' them nicknamey things."
She smiled; she got a good feeling from these two, like they were troublemakers, but that they would really have her back if she ever needed it. "Thanks! That's nice. What can I call you guys?"
"Name's Mudflap," the red one answered.
"Skids," the green one continued.
"Everybody call us da twins! Nobody messes wit da twins!" they both shouted together, almost crushing her in some kind of weird hug. "Dat's right!"
"Okay, okay, well... I guess we're all going out there, huh? What do you guys wanna do?"
"We gonna hang out, duh!" they cried, dragging her out the door into the hangar.
OH MAN. I think Blare may be in a bit of trouble trying to control the twins!
What do you guys think is gonna happen next chapter? Will she talk to everyone? Or... everyone but Optimus? Or some other third option?
Review and I write EVEN FASTER! (You say impossible, I say CRAZEH!)
Thanks for reading!