I Had a Good Time

Lyrics Transcribed on: 24 August 2004

Date Written: 6 September 2004

Date Revised: 9 September 2004

Author’s Note: This project was supposed to have been started months ago, but that was the beginning of July, and that was when all heck decided to break loose. But that was inevitable, as my grandfather had passed away, and I had to focus upon both family and finding a job. Keeping that job was the priority for the next month, and during that time, I ended up getting really close to another friend of mine, Commander Destrik. Des for short! *winks, hopes he won’t kill me for the nickname* So I’ve been busy, but I’ve never forgotten that I had to crack down upon this soon. And that came when I had finally gotten around to getting “Corporate America,” the album for this series. So. Here’s the disclaimer: I don’t own the band Boston, the song “I Had a Good Time,” or Miss Special. Hasbro/Mainframe owns Inferno. But I’ll leave his rights up to Miss Spesh to dispute over.

Hey, you can be so unfair

And you know I will remember

Pacing never had helped before. It never made you think faster, or better, or whatever. It just kept you moving while your brain slugged away at the same pace it always had. Miss Special was fully aware of this, yet she continued in her trek across her room and back. The art was uploaded onto Sapphire’s site and everything was ready for the update on Saturday. It was a small one, with not that many pieces to be thrown up, yet it had to be done, nevertheless.

Stopping to look at the mirror in her room hopefully, she sighed. And she turned away, looking out her window to the light sky beyond. Why bother hoping? Depth Charge’s report upon Inferno hadn’t been good when he had come to the human world.

It hadn’t been good at all.

You said you’d always be there

When you go

The Royalty had left. He had become human. Hadn’t they wanted to destroy the humans? This did not make sense. It wasn’t logical. The Royalty was human, and with a human mate. That meant that he . . . was not a Queen? This, also, did not make sense.

Inferno turned to look out the window, at a loss of what to do. He had done his patrolling quota for the day, checked in with Optimus, narrowly avoided Rampage, who was acting strange lately, and had made sure that every part of his quarters was meticulously cleaned. So what was left to do? What else was there?

Optics alighting upon the mirror, he realized that the edges were tarnished. Tarnished?! Impossible! He had polished that this very morning!

Snorting with disgust, Inferno reached for a rag and started rubbing at the mirror again.

Hey, I wanted you to know

I wish you were mine

Squeaking broke Miss Special out of her reverie. The kinda squeaking that a cloth makes upon glass when one rubs a slight bit too hard upon it. Frowning, she turned and saw the shadow.

“Nuh-uh.”

Walking closer, she saw that the mirror had been tarnished in a strange pattern around the edges. Squinting, she read a name . . . her name . . . and . . .

She brushed her fingers across the surface. “Are you really going to be mine?”

And I, I just wanted you to know

I had a good time

Ooh, I had a really good time

Inferno’s hand went through the mirror up to his elbow. Stopping his forward movement, he froze completely, not moving. He swallowed and pulled his hand back . . . then stopped, feeling something brush his fingers. Something that cast a shadow onto his mirror from the . . .

The other side.

This did not make sense.

“What in the fires of the Inferno is this?” he said to himself, blinking. Then, with a timidity that he never knew he possessed, Inferno walked through the mirror.

You can lie and I’ll still believe it

It’s okay, it doesn’t matter

Miss Special was surprised at her own audacity. She touched that hand! How stupid could that move have been? What if it was a mistake? What if this wasn’t the right mirror?

And then . . .

And then he was there.

“Inferno.”

I know that you really mean it

In your own way

This human was not the one with the Royalty. She was taller, lankier, darker hair that was also longer. She had a different presence than the Royalty’s mate. But it wasn’t a bad presence. It was one that was . . . comforting? Yes. Comforting. It was comforting to his Spark, seeming to fill the space that the Royalty had once occupied.

“How do you know my name?” Inferno asked, standing straighter.

Miss Special smiled reassuringly. “I’ve talked with Micheal. Megatron, as you know him as.”

Hey, I wanted you to know

I wish you were mine

“The Royalty?! You have spoken with him?!”

Smiling wider, Miss Special nodded. “Yes. He . . . he was talking about you one day.”

“What . . . what did my Queen have to say?”

“Only that he missed having you around sometimes. But that he was also content with just being with Starath.”

“His mate?”

“Yes.”

And I, I just wanted you to know

I had a good time

Ooh, I had a really good time

Inferno nodded, understanding. But then the strange happy feeling deserted him. Blinking, he looked at Miss Special. “He . . . is content?”

“Happy. Feeling fine. But he does miss you.”

Inferno looked around the room. His eyes alighted upon a small toy on a shelf. He took a step closer, then realized that he was in another’s colony. Just as he had returned to the spot he had been in, the human smiled kindly, in a reassuring sense. “You can roam around this room, if you like.”

“I have permission?”

“Yes.”

You know what you want

And maybe love is blind

As Inferno picked up the smaller toy of himself, Miss Special watched the way he moved, the timidity of his actions, and everything that didn’t seem as if it was really of the Inferno that she knew about in the show. He wasn’t the confidant Predacon that could have been a fair match with the Maximal Dinobot, and he wasn’t the subservient minion that some of the other authors had portrayed him as. Sure, she could see his loyalty to Megatron, but . . . she could also see that he was now in a different stage in his life.

But she still could see that crazed bot fighting for an ideal, for loyalty to a leader who hadn’t respected it until only recently, and she could still see the Predacon that she really enjoyed watching and trying to figure out.

She still saw the individual that she loved as a character, and here he was, standing in her room, watching her.

Watching her?!

But it’s alright, it’s cool

I just wanted you to know

I had a really good time

“Oh! Sorry. Did you say anything?”

“Negative. The Royalty did not wish to be disturbed while thinking, and so I assumed that you would be the same. Is that true?”

“No, not at all! Please, though, ask me anything.”

“What is your name?”

That one startled Miss Special. She was prepared for something along the lines of “What’s this toy? Why is it me?” or something like that. Blinking a few times to clear her thoughts, the author replied, “Miss Special.”

“You are the respected and important Miss Special that the Queens Sinead, Sapphire, and Starath were talking about? The one who also enjoys fire and . . .” He stopped, feeling that he would be going too far.

“And?”

Well, I’ve been in love

And nothing lasts forever

“And you would be the one coming for me?” Inferno asked quietly.

“Looks like you came for me, but yeah. I’m–”

“Drattit, Miss Special! Stop ignoring my IMs!!!”

Both human and bot jumped at the voice that came from the computer. Laughing, Miss Special turned the microphone on. “You nearly gave me a heart attack! What’s going on?”

“Re-read the window, and you tell me.”

“Fine! Pushy, pushy.” She smiled over her shoulder at Inferno, beckoning him closer. He did so, watching over her shoulder as she read something that bordered upon an essay. Sighing in exasperation, the braided author asked, “So you and Donovan will be on another vacation?!”

So just hold on long enough

And maybe you’ll end up together

It’s alright, yeah, yeah, yeah

Donovan? That was a familiar-sounding name. And that voice was . . . her!

“Well, we’re not really going on vacation, but it’s more like a trip with my college. I managed to talk the dean into letting Don come.”

“Queen Sinead?!”

“What?! Inferno?! Miss Special, you’ve been holding out on us again?!”

“Hey!” the author protested. “He just got here!”

“Oh. That’s cool, then. Yes, Inferno, it’s me. How are you?”

Unused to the question, Inferno stammered out that he was functioning within his normal parameters. “But where is the Royalty?”

“With Starath. They’re not on at the moment, but I’ll be sure to tell him that you’re fine and that you’re in this . . . wait! They’re on!”

You can lie to my face and I’ll believe it

It’s okay, ’cause there’s a feeling you can’t replace

You didn’t mean it, anyway

The chaos that ensued caused those who were able to hear it and remember it to always smile in that happy memory. Inferno had brightened up, becoming the Predacon that Miss Special remembered from the show. Micheal was overjoyed, it seemed, to hear that Inferno was still managing. But now that there was a lull in the conversation, Micheal sighed. The sound carried.

“Is everything all right, my Queen?”

“Inferno, will you stop calling me that?” Micheal chuckled. “And everything is fine. But you cannot come to visit.”

“I understand. I am to get to know Miss Special. And . . . I want to know why the other queens regard this one to be . . . special.”

“Good. I was hoping you’d understand.”

Hey, I wanted you to know

Miss Special smiled as Inferno watched the icon depicting Micheal’s online status flick off. With a sigh, the ant sagged the tiniest piece, looking at Miss Special. She signed off for a moment, and then started to reach up to towards Inferno’s face, but she pulled her hand back, placing it instead in a pocket. “You miss having a commander like he was, don’t you?”

I wish you were mine

“Yes. And I wish that I had him back, sometimes. Yet I know that he is busy and happy where he is. And that it . . . was . . .”

Suddenly, nothing made sense.

And I, I just wanted you to know

Miss Special saw the confusion ripple across Inferno’s face. The ant stammered and then fell silent. The human, however, spoke. “You don’t understand this, do you?”

“Not . . . just this, but . . . everything is not logical. Not moving right.”

“In your head?”

I had a good time

Inferno nodded. Miss Special smiled kindly. “Then whenever you start feeling this way, you come to me and I’ll help you figure things out. As for right now, I don’t think that either of us understand exactly what’s going on. And that can get frustrating, but still, I think that in the end, everything will be fine. Don’t you?”

Ooh, I had a really good time

Inferno nodded, smiling with his optics, starting to see the beginning to the deep soul that this new queen possessed.

That his new queen possessed.