A Soldier's Will (Transformers Prime Fanfiction)

Regarding Papa

It was another day of school, and Claire was sitting in class with Raf. The class went on as normal before the teacher, Ms. Price, would speak to the class.

"Now class," she said. "For your new assignment, you will go into pairs and create a science project to present to the class."

The teacher continued to explain the assignment further as Claire took notes. She got nervous when the teacher said that she would choose the pairs. Since she did not know a lot of the students in the class, it made her worry about how she would interact with anyone. The only student in the class she really knew was Raf, but that did not change her uneasiness about the pairings. Not only that, but she was afraid that she would get a partner that would not work with her or leave her behind. She sighed.

"This reminds me of a battlefield," Claire thought. "But instead battling soldiers, I will be worrying about a project partner..."

She looked at her notes, trying to keep her uneasiness down over the assignment. She glanced over at Raf, and noticed how calm he was. She felt ridiculous, seeing how calm he was compared to how she was. Was it because she hadn't been in an American school long? She wasn't sure.

"Claire Chevalier," Ms. Price said, breaking her thoughts. "Your partner will be Rafael Esquivel."

That brought her relief. She looked over to where Raf was and smiled. This was a good thing to say the least. Eventually, class would be over and school would be over too. Claire and Raf were chatting happily and exchanging ideas on the project. Soon, the discussion would change to a more personal topic.

"Claire," Raf said. "You don't really talk about your dad a lot. When you do, it is not a lot. Why is that?"

Claire sighed. She had a feeling that her father would come up in discussion. She cared for him, she did, but it all changed once Sebastian died. She looked at Raf, a serious expression on her face.

"He was a good father," Claire explained. "Cared for me and my brother, even if he did train us a lot. However, he became a cold man once Sebastian died. Lost all respect once he couldn't see me or my mother the same way," she looked down. "To this day, before I came here, he still has a cold outlook."

"I'm... I'm sorry Claire. I never knew-"

"It's alright Raf," she looked at him and smiled gently. "I should have told you."

Claire patted Raf's head as they walked outside. She saw Bumblebee and Smokescreen waiting for them. She smiled; it seemed that Smokescreen was cleared to come get her after all. She then saw a new vehicle with someone she recognized. She frowned.

"Speak of the devil..." She said to herself before looking at Raf. "Go to Bumblebee and head to base without me and Smoke. We'll be at base soon."

Raf looked over at the vehicle, then at Claire. He was worried for, but he went to Bumblebee as asked. Claire walked over to the man, a frown on her face.

"...Bonjour papa," she said calmly. "What brings you to Jasper?"

"How this transfer treating you, sergeant?" Her father asked, his voice cold.

"You're not even going to drop the formalities around your own daughter?"

"I may be a veteran now, but I still call everyone by their rank."

"Are you sure that's not an excuse to isolate yourself from me and mama?"

Her father glared. This glare was all too familiar for her. It was a glare of a military man trying to intimidate someone because they talked back. It didn't work for her, however.

"That may have worked on mama, but it won't work on me. You're not the only one reeling from Sebastian's loss."

"He has noth-"

"That's a lie, and you know it papa! Sebastian has everything to do with this! Ever since I came back home to you and mama that day, you would hide away from us when we needed you! Now you come here and ask me how I'm doing, even though you didn't want anything to do with me and mama for months! Why now?!"

During all this, Smokescreen would hear all this. He couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe that her father, her flesh and blood, was so... So... He couldn't even find the right word. He could see how angry Claire was. Her expression would change when her father said this.

"If you didn't leave your brother behind, then everything would still be the same."

"So... You blame me now?" She chuckled in disbelief. "How dare you?!"

Smokescreen couldn't take it anymore, and he got into his holoform and went to her. He placed a hand on her shoulder.

"We should head back Claire," he said. "The others will be worried if we stay too long."

"Who are you?" Her father asked.

"This is one of my teammates within my transfer, papa," Claire answered. "As a silly nickname, I call him Smoke."

"So you have a team here. Hope you do better with him than what you did for your brother."

"You have no need to worry about that, sir," Smokescreen said, frowning before taking Claire to his vehicle mode.

He got her inside, then he went back to her father. He didn't want to leave him with the last word against her.

"Let me make this clear sir. Sergeant Chevalier, Claire, has been doing everything in her power to make sure she succeeds in Jasper. She already misses her brother without you making it worse. She's fought with her blood, sweat, and tears leading her teams and helping mine. She looked up to you, and now she's lost you. Hope you enjoy Jasper, Nevada sir."

Smokescreen walked back into his vehicle mode before driving away with Claire, his holoform gone. He moved his rearview mirror, seeing Claire look out the window in silence. She then sighed before looking at the mirror.

"...Sorry you had to get involved in that Smoke," she looked down. "I... I didn't want you to see that."

"Claire... It's alright. I could see why you didn't want me to see that. However... I didn't want to let you face that. It's wrong of him to blame you for that."

"He's been like that since Sebastian died. He stayed away from me and mama for months. He didn't show any comfort or support. I didn't think he'd blame anyone until now..."

There would be silence during the ride back to base. Smokescreen managed to break the silence and ask her about school. She reluctantly spoke, despite not being in the best mood. He would try to lift her spirits for the time being. It was going to be another long day at base...