Eli

…

Eli approached Aria. "Why are you screaming like that, are you trying to get everyone in my neighborhood killed?"

"You—you live here? I thought you were still in D.C."

"I was until I started university here last week. The better question is what are you doing here and why do you look like shit?"

Some mixture between a laugh and a sob escaped her lips. Of all the people to run into, it was him.

"I missed you too," she said and gave him a hug.

He stiffened for a moment, then gave her a pat on the back. When he stepped back, he gave her an expectant look.

"I, uh, came to help find a friend of mine."

Eli raised an eyebrow. "You sound unsure. Are you trying to find that guy you were hung up on? John, was it?"

Aria bit her lip and wiped her eyes before more tears could fall. "No," her voice was weak, "he's…not in the picture anymore."

"What did you break up or something? What a loss, he was quite the sight to behold. Almost wet myself when we shook hands."

She couldn't answer.

"Damn, it feels like it's been forever since I've seen you. I guess since your house blew up. Must have sucked to watch it be destroyed like that."

For some reason between his tone and phrasing, the statement didn't feel at all sincere. Not that sincerity was his thing.

"Yeah, old pipes I guess."

"Must have been a real wake up call, I bet."

"Yeah." Eli's coping mechanism of whatever type of humor was getting under her skin. "Hey, let's go back to the river. I think the military is around there and they can get you out of here."

"Oh really? What about your friend?"

She nodded for him to follow her. "We already found her and…you're my friend too." She tried to speak lightly to a degree of success.

"Awe, Aria, no need to get sentimental." Eli moved closer and put a supportive arm around her as they walked.

Her leg immediately felt better when she put some of her weight on him. "I'm just saying."

They walked a little further before Eli spoke again. "Who were you yelling at anyway? You sounded deranged."

"Just someone I thought was here…but maybe I should just leave it. What's done is done and nothing I do would make a difference… Not anymore."

Maybe she could just help Eli. Optimus would surely be after Sentinel and the Perceptor…it didn't care about her. Why would it even show itself to a lowly human like her? It accomplished its goal.

"So you have a vendetta with someone in the city? It's not one of those robots, is it?"

"They're not robots."

"Okay, aliens, whatever."

Whatever? Did Eli take anything seriously? "They've destroyed this city, don't you care? They could come out of anywhere and kill us."

"But they haven't. Killed a few people on the street when they first arrived, but that's the last I saw of them."

She stopped mid step and looked at him. "You're serious."

"What, going to call me a psychopath now?"

She released him so she could better see his face. "Are you?"

He was…smiling?

"I like watching others squirm, does that count?"

She took another step away from him. Her leg trembled. "I…don't know."

"What about causing others pain?" His smile grew.

She shook her head. "You're not being funny anymore."

"What happened to your resolve? A few minutes ago you were begging to have your life taken and now you look like some lost little girl," he said the last part in a mock baby voice.

Aria let out a sob. "I don't know what to do. I don't know what to feel. I just…I just want to see him again."

Eli made a face like he saw something repulsive. "You really are disgusting."

She crumpled to the ground. "Why him? What did he do?"

"Oh, you're still going on about him." Eli wiped the hand that was previously holding her with on his clean shirt. "I guess if you want to know what he did to deserve it, I suppose would be choosing to spend his energy on you."

He was right. But hearing it out loud…

All she could see was how he had looked at her.

She couldn't breathe. She couldn't talk. Tears wouldn't stop pouring from her eyes.

"I mean think of it this way," Eli's voice was louder as if he was intentionally talking over the sound of her sobs. "All that time he spent doing useless things with you, he could have been to track down the real enemy."

The real enemy. The Perceptor.

"You know." She looked up at him. "You work for them."

Eli's eyebrows raised. "Me? Work for them? You're kidding, right?"

No. There was no way. The things he'd said. He knew about Ironhide. About everything.

Aria shuffled away from him and got back to her feet. She pulled out the bow and it transformed in her hand.

Eli looked more amused. "Oh really?"

"Tell me where the Perceptor is!"

All he did was cross his arms. "You really are so naïve it's embarrassing."

She drew back an arrow and pointed it at him. "TELL ME!"

His clothes began to shift. His voice went hollow. "I am the Perceptor."

His skin was swallowed by a layer of dark metal. His face peeled back, dark eyes turning brilliant red. Before her stood a Decepticon unlike any other.

She fired the arrow. Eli dodged so quickly that he was a metallic blur. She grabbed another arrow. It fumbled in her hand as she glanced down to make sure it was a regular one. Eli was too close to dare use the last of the exploding ones.

Eli stood there until she could take aim again. What was he waiting for?

"I like the look in your eyes when you're desperate. Is that the face you made when Ironhide died?"

She shot at him again, but he sidestepped out of the way. Her hand went for another arrow.

"I bet you really thought you were special, winning over an Autobot like old Ironhide."

She let out a scream as she sent another arrow at him. Maybe it was her aim, but it looked like he barely moved to avoid it.

"But I'm afraid you weren't. The minute I sensed his signature leaving the base more frequently, I knew I had to find out what got his attention. 'There's no way he's falling for a human,' I thought, but sure enough, he started using his holoform. And then—" Eli let out a laugh. "After I sent Starscream to kill you both, now you have an Energon signature! I thought 'No, no way', but sure enough, I can practically see it in your vile, disgusting, fleshy, human chest."

Aria hastily notched the last arrow. Eli was in front of her now, his alien face half amused, half disgusted.

This time, he caught the arrow.

"I think it was worth it in the end though." He tossed the arrow away. "Playing your friend was fun while it lasted. Watching you fall in love with the Autobot I planned to have killed in front of your eyes. You should have seen Sentinel's face when I told him. I knew Ironhide's fate was sealed."

She went for the last arrow. The one that would kill them both.

Eli grabbed her bow. She tried to pry it away from him, but he didn't budge. He jerked it back towards himself. Aria stumbled forward. Eli's face was inches from her. His optic eyes wandered down the bow.

"To protect at any cost," he read. "How sweet."

Then without warning, he plunged his metal claws into her chest.

She gasped in pain. His fingers moved under her skin, ripping, tearing. She grabbed at his arm, but again, he didn't budge. She screamed and fell backward as he ripped his fingers out.

Her hand immediately covered the wound. Warm blood gushed out between her fingers. Something was very very wrong.

Pinched between Eli's claws was the shard of Ironhide's spark, still glowing brightly through the blood that coated it.

His eyes narrowed. For a second, it looked like he was straining. Then he stopped and merely flicked the shard away. Like it was nothing.

Aria followed it with her eyes as it landed and rolled under the remains of a car. She went to crawl towards it, but the world was spinning. Her chest was burning. Her leg was aching. The bow in her hand shrunk back into a rod.

Whatever strength she had left was ripped out of her. Without Ironhide's shard—

"Now…now you have nothing." He looked up to the sky. "And your world is ending. How fitting."

She couldn't help but follow his gaze. The sky was gone, replaced by a planet.

So Sentinel did succeed. Cybertron was here, just like he wanted.

Eli kneeled in front of her, pinching her face between his nails and forcing her to look at him. "I can feel the Energon draining from your body."

She looked into his eyes. This was Eli's true face. It was hidden behind every smile since the moment she met him. All the while, he was only figuring out how to make her suffer. To learn what she cared most about in the world and take it away. It was he who told Starscream to destroy her home. It was he who told Sentinel about their relationship. All because he wanted to. Because he enjoyed it.

"It's a shame Ironhide isn't here."

He ruined her life because it was fun. He killed Ironhide because she loved him.

"I really wanted you to both watch each other die."

She blinked the tears from her eyes. Her grip on the bow tightened. "You chose the wrong human to fuck with."

"Wha—"

The unmistakable sound of the bow transforming and piercing metal filled the street.

Eli's red eyes flickered. Slowly, he looked down to his chest where the bow had impaled him. Energon leaked down the symbols from his spark chamber.

He went limp. The tip of the bow protruded further from his back as he sunk further onto it.

She relaxed her grip and the bow transformed. Eli's body fell beside her, scraping the asphalt. His impaled spark rolled away.

Slowly, she crawled away from Eli. Her arms shook under the weight of her body. When she got to the car, she lay flat and reached. She groaned, stretching as far as she could. The shard was just close enough to grab with her fingertips.

She sat back against the car. Ironhide's spark was clutched tightly in her hand as she lifted it up to its intended spot in her bleeding chest.

And there she cried.

She had killed Eli, and nothing changed.

Ironhide was still dead and Cybertron still blocked out the sky.

She had been right. Revenge was pointless. It didn't solve anything.

The only difference was now she had no target. She tried and failed to kill Sentinel and completely failed to kill Starscream. Both carried out Eli's plans. Both succeeded in destroying her life.

She used the bow Ironhide had made her promise to use in self defence to find and kill Decepticons.

Was that why he looked like her like that in the vision? Did he know what she did through the spark in her chest?

She opened her hand, peeling back her fingers coated in drying blood. There it was, still glowing faintly. She sent a wave of Energon down her arm and it began to glow brighter.

So that was it. The circuit Dr. Martinez mentioned. The Ironhide's spark gave her Energon, and in turn, her Energon now fueled the shard.

Her connection with him was lost, but this piece of him was still alive. She was keeping it alive! It's what Jetfire was trying to show her.

"Yo, Aria, there you are—holy shit."

Wheelie and Brains strode up to her looking worse for wear.

Wheelie stopped beside Eli's body and kicked it. "Is that a Pretender?"

"And the Perceptor."

"Awe, damn. No wonder we could never find 'im."

"It was Eli."

Wheelie did a double take. "You're shitting me." He gave the body another kick "Asshole."

Brains came over to her. "Woah woah woah! Wheelie, she's bleedin'!"

Wheelie rushed over. Both of them examined her. It was sweet actually, how they spoke to each other as they prodded at her arms and legs.

"You know, princess, you're damn lucky Eli didn't kill ya."

"Wait, what's that?" Brains started prying at her closed hand.

She lifted it back up to her chest, holding it close.

Wheelie must have put two and two together. "Did he rip out the shard?"

Aria swallowed and nodded.

Wheelie cursed again. "Come on, let's get back to the others. Maybe some of those human doctors can put it back in you."

When she didn't move, they each grabbed one of her wrists and pulled. She let out a cry of pain. Her entire body protested against the movement.

Wheelie did a once over when she stood. "Jesus, you look like you got hit by a truck."

"And you wet," Brains added.

He was right, her hair and clothes were still damp.

"Did you fight any other 'Cons?" Wheelie asked.

As they walked, Brains went around collecting arrows.

"A couple."

Wheelie gave her a skeptical look. "Yeah, like who?"

"Some alien looking one, Starscream," she paused, "and Sentinel."

Wheelie put a hand on his face. "I thought you were going to stay with Sam and sneak up on him or something, not go marching off on your own like a—"

"I destroyed his gun."

"You probably saved a lot of bots by doing that." Brains held up the arrows he'd collected. Three in total.

"What'd Sentinel do after that?"

"He tried killing me. Shot me with a cannon."

Wheelie stopped so fast that his tires screeched. "And you lived?"

Brains nudged him. "The bow, dummy. "Hide probably added an energy field. Protect her from gunfire 'n' all that."

Starscream mentioned something about that too. That the bow would probably shield her if he attacked.

Ironhide never said anything about it to her, probably to prevent her from doing anything stupid like she was currently doing. It was most likely the reason Wheeljack was allowed to make her detonating arrows. The bow would likely protect her from the resulting blast.

He truly did turn a simple bow into both a powerful weapon and a shield.

Aria held up the bow. Even in its rod form, the markings Eli had read were visible. Ironhide said they meant to protect, but Eli told her the full translation.

To protect at all costs.

To think she was mad at him for saying that he would do that for Sam, while he meant it just as much for her.

He had said it was the reality of the life he lived. But why did it have to be that way? What was wrong with wanting to run away from it all?

Why did he have to be so damn noble about it?

Their war was stupid. The planet hovering about them was a hollow shell of what it once was. No amount of Earth's resources could repair it, it was long past that point.

The Decepticons fought for nothing of any substance anymore. They were ruled by a Cybertronian that loved war for the sake of war. Sending life after life to the place she had gone only to stand side by side along…

The river flowed in front of them. Gunfire and explosions lit up the horizon beyond.

"After Sentinel shot me, I think I had a vision or…something."

"Whaddya mean vision?" Brains asked.

"I saw Jetfire, and Ironhide, and a bunch of other Cybertronians. I was holding Jetfire's spark."

Wheelie was looking at her as if she were crazy. "Sounds like some dream." He turned to Brains who shrugged.

"You don't think it could have meant anything? It was like he was trying to show me Ironhide's spark shard was still alive because of the Energon in my blood." She opened her hand up again. The glow of the shard illuminated her palm.

Wheelie and Brains craned their necks to look.

"It's still glowing! Even outside her body!" Brains said giving Wheelie a shake.

"How much Energon do you have?" Wheelie asked, ignoring Brains.

"Lots, I think. At least, that's what I was told. Even after Eli ripped the shard out, I could still transform the bow."

"And then you stabbed him with it?"

"Yeah."

"Geez. Hey, would you do me a favor and not mention to anyone that it was my idea to bring you? I think I'd be booted from the Autobots again."

"I won't say a word."

The ground quaked as a deep rumble filled the air. Cybertron imploded, sucking in any loose or floating objects into it. Large alien ships, aircraft, and teetering buildings gave way to the pull of the planet.

Aria's body felt weightless. Wheelie and Brains clutched her pants as they all watched the planet disappear from the sky.

Sam had done it. The control pillar must have been destroyed.

The city ahead of her was still alight with explosions which meant Sentinel was probably not dead yet.

"Come on!" With another surge of energy, she continued forward.

The two small Autobots followed after her.

Optimus came into view. He was on a bridge fighting a Decepticon the same size as him. Sentinel was laying on the ground nearby. Crawling. Defeated.

The sound of metal weapons crashing rang in her ears, but her eyes never left Sentinel as she drew nearer to the bridge.

All his greatness and dignity peeled away, revealing an old pathetic traitor in its place.

He caught sight of her. Their eyes met as the noise stopped.

Optimus approached, drawing away his attention.

And with a pathetic attempt at justifying himself for betraying them, she watched as Optimus killed him.

…