Drain of Lost Past - Act 1
By: Kidcat and MariaSunderland
Chapter 3
- Mommy’s Here -
Before Felina could do further more, the woman who had called her name had taken the huntress in her arms. Felina's eyes opened wide with shock and disbelief. There was only a light moan that escaped her lips, then she gave up when she realized words just would not be spoken.
The woman moved away but did not lose the physical contact with her long lost daughter whose cheek she caressed with the care only a mother could give. "It's all fine now, Fiona, I'm here, right here for you. Momma's here."
Her smile was so reassuring, so sweet. Felina recognized her mother from every physical angle: her short dark hair, her shiny blue eyes… people had said how Fiona's eyes were like her mother's with the look of the ocean running in them. Her clothes, however, were different. She had passed from her beautiful white dress, or one of those business woman suites, to a bloody red warrior suit... That and there was something wrong with her touch. Though Felina could not feel cold any longer with her metallic skin, she felt something awkward about Alana's touch. She chose not to care for now however. It was her moment, her fairytale, her dream come true.
"We searched the whole galaxy to find you", Alana went on, touching Felina's wired hair, her cheeks, her shoulders, the back to her head, sometimes planting a soft kiss on her cheek or her forehead. The mother seemed agitated and so excited to find her daughter again and with each action she seemed to be afraid of losing her again.
"We?" Rattrap repeated the words with much sarcasm. While Felina could not hear Gemini and Rhinox growling in the background, he definitely could. He trusted and knew Rhinox enough to know it was best to follow his instincts.
"Yes, we", a masculine voice from behind Alana answered.
Rhinox's growl grew louder at the view of the one who had answered Rattrap. A tall, gold, black, silver and blue robot stepped beside Alana; GoldenFire. He smiled to his long lost daughter, grabbing her shoulders firmly in the same manner Alana had.
"It was such a long journey... I... I have a hard time to find the words now that I'm face to face with you. And to think I repeated this back and forth in my head so many times."
"You forgot", Felina's voice came unusually sour, "did you?"
Felina's father raised an eyebrow at the defiance but his look softened immediately, "No, I did not. I'm just... I'm so sorry for everything that has happened. I guess I might be looking for forgiveness. My programming turned faulty and I did so many things..."
"It's alright, dad, I understand", Felina told him softly; choosing to believe it could be all true. It could be… it really could. And all those Maximals staring at the beautiful scene, they had best believe in it as well.
"That was too easy", Gemini whispered desperately to Rhinox, "What do we do?"
"It's best to wait for now..."
They heard a moan not far from them. SilverBolt, still in robot mode, was laboriously walking towards the Maximal group, holding a huge, weird looking piece of scrap metal. He kneeled by AirRazor and dropped it by Rhinox so he could take a closer look.
"By Primus! It's Optimus!"
It was hard to tell; in fact, half of his face was gone, showing wires drowning into a massive puddle of oil. As for the other side of his face, it was almost too scratched to distinguish anything. The only thing that was still holding his arms and legs, which were almost totally detached from his body, were 2 or 3 small wires. Cheetor put his hands in front of his mouth.
"Big'Bot! Is he...?"
"No", Rhinox growled, "But he'll be in the CR Chamber for a long time", he sighed heavily with a glance at the reunited family, "This was the work only a skilled Predacon could have done."
"Oh my, what happened to him?" Alana asked innocently as if she had not heard the comment toward her and her husband.
Rhinox only narrowed his eyes in answer.
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Rhinox closed the CR Chamber's door on Optimus. The injuries weren’t as bad as previously believed. In fact, most of his body was intact. Whoever had attacked him had simply shut him down with the right moves and scratched down on his face to make it look worst. Nevertheless, there would be quite a while before the CR chamber would complete it’s work. Rhinox sat by the commands and activated the chamber with his eyes on Felina, who was trying to give Gemini a quick tour of The Axalon.
"Now, here's the scanners...Gemi?"
"Huh? Oh...what's a scanner?"
Felina sighed and shook her head with irritation, "Stop looking at Cheetor like that, or you're gonna damage him. Pay attention, will you?"
"... Huh? Sorry teach. What were you saying?"
"Hey! Gemini", Cheetor called, "I can show you the kitchen!"
"Okay! Um...." she looked at Felina, "It's not that it's not interesting… I mean, scanners, hah! Wow, heh... um..."
The huntress rolled her eyes, "Go."
"Thanks teach! Teehee!" It took less then half a second before both Cheetor and Gemini had disappeared in one of the corridors.
Rattrap stepped closer to his partner, scratching at his head as if questioning what he had witnessed.
"Why does she keep callin' ya teach?"
"Y'know why", she told him coldly and whispered: "Stop pretending, you're getting on my nerves."
SilverBolt stepped in, somewhat saving Rattrap, "It IS rather interesting, please tell us."
"Err..." she sighed, "We've been best friends since I was 12 and she was 11...and we still are..."
"But why 'teach'?"
"Because Felina is Gemini's mentor", Dinobot interrupted, "Gemini was her partner in battle against all robots. At first, Fiona was acting alone, for at least 2 years. Later on, Gemini came in, helping Fiona. *snarl* It was advertised across the whole galaxy."
Felina's hands turned into fists by her side, "That's not it, that's not it at all."
"Ooooh? Well then, enlighten us on your slaughters, huntress. We're all 'dying' to find out more then we already... know", a sheepish grin appeared on Dinobot's face, his shark-like teeth showing brighter with mischief, "or perhaps *snarl* you've grown too soft to let us know. After all... you ARE a machine now."
That was it. Her sword was set against his neck in a flash while Dinobot's shark alike grin only grew larger, his own spinning sword moving near Felina's head, "You're asking for a fight, aren't you", she hissed at him.
"Hey! Hey! Hey! Down! Down", Gemini interrupted as she pushed away her friend's sword with her forefinger.
Felina offered no resistance so to not cut Geimini and stepped away from Dinobot, "I thought you were going to the kitchen with Cheetor."
"I was going, but your conversation stopped me", she said more severely and glared at Dinobot, "as for you, you shouldn't be talking about things you know nothing about."
Felina raised an eyebrow at Gemini's reaction. Not only did she dare stop her mentor, she actually stepped up to both her and Dinobot at once. Felina made no further comment on the subject however, for the moment. With a sigh, she put away her sword, not ready to admit defeat however, but Gemini decided to try and change the mood slightly.
"Hey teach, I'd like to go take a walk outside a bit. I've been trapped in a pod for so long, I'm just... kind of sore. Want to come with me? Catch up on the good old times?"
Felina's face unexpectedly brightened, "Yeah, that's a good idea...", she trailed off, "but I...."
"Oh my", Alana said suddenly, interrupting the only attempt Gemini had made to try and get Felina away from the base and possibly from both her parents, "Gemini, what happened to your arms and legs?"
Gemini drew in her breathe when Felina froze.
Felina, now taking a good look at her best friend, had finally found what was different on Gemini. Her forearms and lower legs were of a metallic purple and gold...they were roboticized. Also, part of her stomach, neck, cheeks and her forehead were golden. There was a diamond‑shaped purple gem incrusted in her golden forehead between her eyes as a decoration. Oddly enough, Felina's mind had blocked out what she was now being forced to see. It was obvious; Gemini had been a partial cyborg ever since she had stepped out of that pod, only Felina's subconscious had decided it was not worth to see. At least not until now…
"Y-Yeah, what happened, Gemi? What's up with that?"
Gemini licked her lips nervously. She had thought all along Felina had not only seen it, but had acknowledged it as well. Apparently, mommy had noticed her sweet offspring had not yet taken notice somehow, "I...um..."
‘Why you bunch of no good bastards!’ Gemini thought to herself as she glared at Alana and Golderfire. She came to believe she had seen something like arrows in their eyes. It was quite hard to see, so subtle, but Gemini knew she was probably the only one to notice it thus far; this light smile on their face... showing much more than they were surely expecting to let on...Gemini narrowed her eyes at their cruel smile...
"Gemini", Felina called her coldly, "Look at me when I'm talkin' to you. You're going to tell me what happened! Now!"
Gemini gulped and looked at Rhinox in need for help. Rhinox nodded that if things were to turn sour, he would step up for her, but for now, he was to stay seated and watch the outcome, which he knew was not going to be pretty, "Felina, wait before going to conclusions, and listen carefully to her story."
"Is that the best you can do?" Gemini asked him desperately, "Come ON!"
"Shut up, Rhinox", Felina interrupted calmly, "this is between me and Gemini. Not you, not the others, me and her alone."
Gemini moved back two or three steps away from her teacher's reach and took a deep breath, "Well... um... you... remember when ...you kinda died?"
"I'm not dead!" Felina shouted impatiently.
"You're not helping you know."
"Just explain!"
"Okay... um... um... um..."
"Say it already!"
"Um… alright... but you're not gonna like it much..."
End of part 3