So… yeah. Sorry I'm a tinsy bit late. I don't really like the ending, not going to lie, but it's time for this story to end, and it's time for us to get to the whole reason I started this story in the first place. I hope you all enjoy the ending of All Beginnings! Please read my a/n at the end! And please review and tell me what you think!
"Alise? We're done."
Alise opened her eyes slowly, as if not believing the man in front of her. Feeling sweat lining her forehead and a painful tingling vibration throughout her body, she dared herself to slowly look towards her legs. To her relief, the man speaking to her, Ratchet, did not lie. Her legs were wrapped with white gazes, a slight red tint to them, the finishing bow on her own personal package of pain.
Ratchet had not been working on her for even 10 minutes, but to her, it felt like an hour. She couldn't decide whether the medic's picking of shrapnel out of her leg and then putting peroxide in the wounds, or him trying to tightly wrap her compound fractured arm hurt more, but they were both inhumanely painful. For the most part she was able keep from letting out ungodly screams, however, there were times when it became too much to keep quiet. Agony was flooding her brain, and she forgot that she was trying to keep quiet to spare her friends, and herself, from hearing her scream. Fortunately, Epps was able to make her feel a little human at her worst moments by telling her how they were able to eject Galloway from their plane with a parachute in order to get there. Through her shaking and misery, she was able to give him a breathy chuckle at that.
Her weary head dropped to the sand, pieces of the ground beneath her sticking to her moist skin.
"Woo-who," she muttered weakly, not really knowing what else to do.
Next to her, Bee and Epps let out shaky sighs, also relieved that the ordeal was over. They hated to see the girl in pain, and at least now she'd have the chance to heal and caught her breath. She was literally resurrected and then operated on.
The soldier chuckled at her, giving her a reassuring smile.
"I promise, Lise," Epps said. "When we get back, we'll get you a nice cast, any color you want. And then, we'll all sign it and write you cute messages like, 'Get well soon,' 'Get some rest,' and 'Stop walking into battle zones.' Sound good?"
Alise looked up at him weakly, and gave him a small smile. She was so tired, but she knew the battle was far from over.
"I want it purple," she said in a daze. The soldier simply answered her request with a smirk.
"I don't believe that will be necessary," Ratchet cut in then, as pulled another needle out of his bag. Without another word, he quickly met her skin with it and injected the contents into her leg, causing her to scowl at another puncture to her body. It was nothing compared to the last ten minutes she had been experiencing, but it was still unwanted and uncomfortable.
"I'm done bein' a pin cushion, Ratch," the girl hissed when she felt the prick. The medic finished and looked up at her.
"It's a modified medication," the holoform replied. "I altered it to speed up the human biological healing process. Your wounds should begin to clot within a few minutes, and some of the pain should begin to subside soon. I had to clean your wounds before I administered it, or your skin would have started to heal around the debris, causing more problems for later on."
"Will it be okay to move her?" Bumblebee then asked his friend. It was the first time he spoke since Ratchet had finished. The medic nodded.
"In a few minutes. I want her arm to rest for a short time to let the medication reach it. Her arm should be able to heal in a little over a month also, sooner than for most humans. Depending on how her body reacts, she may only need a sling."
However, Epps's radio suddenly began to crackle, a male voice filling the speakers.
"Epps, come in," Lennox said through the static. The soldier quickly grabbed the talkie and pressed the button, speaking into it.
"Epps here," he answered. It was a moment before they heard an answer.
"Epps..." Lennox paused for a moment, his voice sounding as if it didn't want to know the answer. "Is she... Alise...?"
Epps chuckled before speaking once more, knowing what his friend and comrade was trying to say.
"Oh no," he replied mirthfully. "We can't get rid of her that easy." Taking his finger off the button, Epps held the radio next to Alise. "Say hi to Will." He pressed the button.
"I feel like shit," she replied monotonically into the device held in front of her. A raging laugh was heard out of the speaker.
"Oh man, Lise," Lennox told her, barely able to get his words out. "Do you like doing this to us?"
"Give me that," Alise huffed pathetically, waving her arm limply in Epps direction. He grabbed her flailing hand and gave her the talkie with his other. She slowly brought the device to her ear and pressed the button. "I just had shrapnel picked from my leg and my broken arm wrapped. How much do you think I enjoyed that you little-"
Epps then grabbed the walkie from her hand, cutting off her statement.
"Is Sam okay?" the soldier asked his friend. As the words left his mouth, he saw Alise's eyes widened from the ground.
"Sam?" she questioned worriedly. "Sam? What happened?" She looked up at Bee for answers, but she could tell from his eyes he didn't have one.
"Amazingly, yeah, he's okay," Lennox responded, relief event in his voice. "We thought we lost him, too. He basically did the same thing Lise did, got caught in the missile strike. But all of a sudden he woke up, and he had the Matrix in his hand!"
Bee and Alise both looked up at the talkie, looks of disbelief on their faces.
"That's impossible," Alise stated, as Epps in front of her gave her a questioning look. "It turned to dust in front of me, it can't just… turn back!"
"Well, it looks like it has," Epps stated simply. He turned back to the talkie. "Where are you, Lennox, we'll meet you."
"We're heading back to Optimus," Lennox answered. "We'll be there in two."
"So will we. See you there." Epps put down the talkie and looked at the group. "Looks like we have to move."
As gingerly and quickly as they could, the three men got Alise to her feet, Epps lifting her onto Bee's back so he could bring her back to the Camaro. The door opened for them as they arrived, and Bee sat her in the back seat with her sitting upright, and as soon as she was settled, the holoform disappeared, Epps moving into the seat beside her.
The two Autobots began to speedily drive towards the site of Optimus's body, and surprisingly, they weren't met with any Decepticons along the way. It was a calm in the storm, and they couldn't be more thankful for it.
They quickly were on the scene, arriving only seconds before Lennox, Sam, Mikaela, and the rest of the soldiers did, Lennox giving them a wave. Bee pulled up alongside of him, opening the door for Epps and Alise. The Master Sergeant quickly jumped out of the back seat and turned around to carefully help the injured girl out, him holding out his hand to her. Alise grabbed it and slowly made her way out of the Camaro, Lennox also lending out his arm for support.
When she finally exited the Camaro, she looked up at Lennox, who shook his head at her.
"Damn, Lise, you certainly know how to stop some hearts," he said with a smirk, but his eyes were solemn.
Alise gave him a humorless chuckle. "Yeah, including my own."
Epps next to them rolled his eyes, and the three stepped away from Bee, who began to transform next to them. The three humans then looked over to the form of the fallen Optimus Prime, and they watched as Sam began to climb up on his leveled form. The sight was solemn, seeing the proud leader defeated. But now they had hope.
"When did he get the Matrix back?" Alise asked Lennox. He shook his head, without an answer.
"No damn idea," the soldier told her. "When we were bringing him back, it just… appeared in his hand, some freaky shit. Hell of a surprise."
As Sam climbed the Prime's body in front of them she shook her head. "Nothing surprises me anymore."
Sam was then on Optimus's body, standing over the area of his chest where his Spark was, as soldiers and civilians, both human and Cybertronian, stood and watched, waiting patiently but nervously. Was this going to work?
Holding the Matrix tightly in both of his hands, and crying out, Sam pierced the Matrix into Prime's Spark, a glow erupting from the center of his chest and quickly spreading to the rest of his metallic body.
Then the Prime's eyes opened.
His body began to move, gears turning and moving throughout his torso, as he started to cough up sand. Sam's eyes grew large, almost not believing that his plan actually worked, and he quickly jumped off out the Autobot as his began to sit up. A groan was heard among the ears of all those present as he moved, as he moved to rest on his knee.
No one could do anything but stare. Optimus was alive.
Alise couldn't breathe. She was afraid that if she made the slightest movement the allusion that was before her would disappear. She began to wonder how hard she hit her head, or if she was still unconscious and dreaming. But when she saw that her expression was only mimicking that of the soldiers' beside her, she realized that she wasn't dreaming, and that this was really happening.
Optimus, still kneeling, then looked to Sam, who was the closest to him.
"Boy," he boomed at the human, his voice seemingly deeper than usual. "You returned for me."
"A living Prime!" Jetfire, who was standing behind some ruins at the time. He began to laugh merrily. "I don't believe it!"
Everyone else began to share excited smiles. Lennox, Epps, and Alise all shared a laugh that was between a sigh of disbelief, and relief. Ironhide, who was standing off to the side with Ratchet, laughed once himself, and the medic next to him dropped his rigid pose, exhaustion overtaking him. Above Alise, Bee gave some sound of relief also, and the human soldiers sprinkled between the feet of the Autobots all began to find hope in their eyes, finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.
However, they didn't have long to celebrate.
Suddenly, there was a shockwave through the air, and the NEST team looked up to see something flying towards them… only for it to disappear. Then, before they had time to think, it reappeared in front of them, and to their horror, it was the Fallen.
He appeared next to Optimus, causing the bot, still weak from his recent revival, and others around them, to fall to the ground. This included Alise, Lennox, and Epps, who fell in a pile on top of each other, causing pain from Alise injuries to shoot sharply throughout her body. The Fallen then disappeared and reappeared in a clump of human soldiers, taking a few of them out before any of the bots were able to react. Doing this once more, his appeared on top of Optimus.
"My… Matrix!" he hissed at Optimus, and he took the relic from the Prime, disappearing one last time, and staying away for good.
Everyone slowly started to react, including Optimus, which worried the crowd. Alise, who had fallen on top of Lennox and Epps, gritted her teeth, her sore body not appreciating another blow to the ground. You'd think two burly soldiers would make better cushions, she thought offhandedly to herself as the three began to get up, but she was taken from her thoughts when she heard Sam yelling, "Get up! Get up! Get up! Get up!" to Optimus. The Prime groaned. It was a lot to ask of him. He was literally just resurrected.
"Get up, Prime!" Ironhide shouted to him, an anxious edge in his voice that Alise had never heard him use before.
"He's turning on the machine!" Sam continued to shout. "You got to stop him! Get up! Optimus!"
The soldiers saw in the distance that the Fallen was now at the top of the pyramid, and they knew was that meant: the end of their world.
Lennox and Epps quickly began to move into action. Lennox began to shout, "Move! Move!" to the soldiers around them, organizing his men, as Epps grabbed his walkie and began to shout commands into it, "Enemy target, top of pyramid. Engage! Engage! Engage!" Sam and Mikaela began to make their way over to Alise, and the three stood together, this being the first time since they split up some time ago. They didn't even have time for a happy reunion; they were just all thankful they were alive for the time being.
All around them, soldiers were running rampant, and they could see in the distance that tanks were beginning to be fired at the top of the pyramid, trying to hit the Decepticons; however, the Fallen simply raised his arms, and all the weapons and machines being used against him began to fly through the air in his direction. When they were all about halfway up the pyramid, he lowered his arms, and all the tanks, missiles, and even helicopters that he had captured dropped down, becoming ash on the side of the pyramid.
The three humans watched this in horror, their attention only taken away from the mess when Jetfire began to speak behind them.
"All my Decepticon life, I never did a thing worth doing until now," he voiced solemnly. It was then that Alise noticed something about the way he was moving and clutching his stomach; he was injured, badly. He was probably hit by the Fallen, she thought to herself. "Optimus, take my parts and you will have a power you've never known. Fulfill…" To their shock, he tore out his Spark, and fell to the ground, "your destiny." The life then left Jetfire's optics, and leaving the three humans dumbfounded, not knowing how to respond to his bravery.
Unlike them, however, the Autobots sprang into action, not about to let the bot's sacrifice go to waste. Ratchet ran over to the remains of the former Decepticon, and so did Jolt, knowing he'd be of some use.
"Jolt!" the medic yelled. "Electrify! Transplant those afterburners!"
Jolt did as he was told, and Optimus crawled over to them as the parts and armor which were once Jetfire's began to attach to the Prime, his strength returning to him with every added part. When there was nothing left of the former con, Jolt and Ratchet stopped their work, and Optimus stood up straight before them, once again the proud Prime they knew. Jetfire's former parts were now Optimus's, rusting metal clashing with red and blue flames.
"Let's roll," their leader told them, and with his new wings from Jetfire, he flew off, towards the pyramid.
The soldiers and Autobots who had remained behind followed in the direction that Optimus flew, running towards the warzone to be of use. Alone, the three humans could do nothing more except watch it all unfold.
Optimus flew to the top of the pyramid and flew into the Fallen and the machine, shutting down the immediate danger to the sun. The three humans' had smiles on their faces for about two seconds before they realized that the battle was now heading in their direction. Sam quickly grabbed hold of Alise and Mikaela, and the three ran away from where the battle of Optimus and the cons were taking place, hiding behind a home that had gone to ruins. They were able to see bits and pieces of the battle, cringing when they saw Optimus take a hit, but not much else. They battle continued for a few minutes, and they heard metallic screams in the distance, making them squirm. But when they saw Megatron and Starscream fall away, and they could no longer hear the sounds of a crashing metal, they believed Optimus to be the victor… and they were right.
The soldiers began to journey back to the site where Optimus was resurrected, slowly making their way over to the sand dunes they had speedily ran through only minutes before. The men were all exhausted, and they needed to treat their injured and call in support to help clean up the mess.
Ron and Judy, who had appeared out of nowhere to Alise, came out of the safe house Bee had brought them to, and it was explained to Alise how they were under Decepticon capture and brought here. Alise asked them about a hundred times if they were alright, but every time they just repeated that they would be fine. In turn, they did the same, seeing all the injuries she had sustained. She answered the same.
Sam, Mikaela, and the elder Witwickys were off to the side of Alise talking, about what, Alise didn't really know. She wasn't really paying attention. Instead, she was looking for the sight of a familiar yellow bot in the crowd of soldiers and Autobots; they needed to talk. The Decepticons knew about them, and that was only going to cause trouble for them. However, she couldn't see him anywhere. Instead, all she saw was smoke and debris in the distance, and the sun setting on the sands of Egypt.
"So much for staying together," a voice remarked dryly behind her, making her jump slightly. But she recognized it, and quickly turned around to see who she was looking for.
Bee's holoform was standing behind her, an exhausted and weary smile on his face. He was covered in bruises and cuts, reflexing the damage that the bipedal had suffered, including a large black eye and a long cut running down the side of his neck. However, we was standing straight and proud; they had won this battle, and he was apart of it.
She laughed humorlessly. "I think we've both seen better days."
Bee then gave her a half smirk, his way of agreeing with her without saying anything.
Alise let out a tired sigh and walked towards him, Bee meeting her halfway. He wrapped his arms around Alise, careful of her injured arm, she did the same, wrapping her good arm around his torso and burying her face in his shoulder. She was utterly exhausted, and felt as though she would collapse at any moment. She had done a lot of running, dying, and injuring herself that day.
"Are you okay?" he mumbled into her ear. She hesitated for a moment before nodding into his shoulder. She looked up at him.
"Yeah, I am," she told him. However, she wasn't exactly fine, neither of them were. And she needed him to know why. She bit her lip before continuing. "But Bee… They know… about us."
He paused for a moment, uncertain of her words.
"They?" he finally asked, his eyes trying to piece together what she was saying. Alise looked up at him with large, sad eyes.
"The… the Decepticons," she whispered unwillingly, afraid of the look she would receive in response.
Bee's face fell, his expression becoming unreadable. If it was possible for the Holoforms to pale, it happened. His eyes became unfocused, and though he was looking right at her, Alise knew that it wasn't her he was seeing. He seemed to be set in stone, and it frightened her. He stayed like this for a few moments, and she could only imagine what was going through his head.
"Bee-," she said gently, but he cut her off, suddenly turning his attention back towards her.
"How?" was his simple reply, his voice almost lifeless. She sighed.
"I got held up in a corner with Scorponok,"she began, and continued even when she saw his expression turn murderous. "First off, he talks so that's new. And after reminding me that Starscream wants my skin on his wall, he saw my necklace, and the Autobots symbol on the back, and he kinda… put two and two together."
Bee ran one of his hands through his hair. His head was starting to hurt from the stress. Are the Holoforms even able to get headaches? he wondered to himself. He didn't know, and at the moment, didn't care.
He thought this was all over for him, the worrying, the fear of a Decepticon that coming and taking a human he loved away. He was always on guard with Sam, and he thought he'd finally have a chance to relax and put that all behind him.
But he was now realizing his problems had just begun. They were in trouble. He was confused and stressed, and wasn't exactly sure what was going to happen. But he knew one thing was certain.
He wasn't going down without a fight.
Suddenly he stepped closer to Alise and drew her into his arms, holding her close and surprising her a bit. He placed a single kiss on her forehead.
"We'll be okay," he said in a low voice, barely above a whisper. "We'll be fine, we'll be okay." It seemed as though he was trying to convince himself as well as her.
She nodded into his shoulder.
"I know."
And that is the end of All Beginnings folks! Thank you for sticking with me for so long! I hope you all enjoyed the ride!
Also, I'll be posting a short excerpt of the sequel to All Beginnings tonight, which includes the kidnapping arc, so look out for that on my profile!
I hope to see you all soon!
~Mel