Family Secrets.

Chapter 16.

The air was serious as June brought two boxes to the human area. She opened one, revealing the birthday cake, and sat the other in Aurora's lap.

"What's this..?" Aurora asked quietly, peering up at June.

"You'll see." June said, heading down to the small kitchen in the base for plates and forks and a knife to cut the cake.

Aurora opened the box, labeled 'Aurora F. Hendricks.' And looked inside.

"Hendricks..?" Aurora questioned.

Inside were a bunch of trinkets, some small, some big. There were two shirts inside, with two letters.

Aurora held the smaller shirt up, the front had 'Marina A. Hendricks' stitched into the fabric across the chest, and the back had a wolf looking autobot insignia on the back, a crown above it. It was riddled with bullet holes and had tears in the arms, with a blue substance staining it.

The bigger shirt was the same, instead of her mother's name however, it had one word on the front.

'Thermos.' That didn't sound like a human, unless it was a codename.

"Thermos?" Miko asked.

The bots were watching closely, just as interested as their humans.

Aurora set the shirts aside, looking at the trinkets inside the wooden box. There were necklaces, more pendants like her mother's, some rings, bracelets, a chain necklace that looked to be a man's. It was covered in a blue substance.

And finally, two photographs.

The first was of her mother and father when Marina was pregnant. He looked relatively human, except for one thing. His eyes were glowing blue. Both of her parents were wearing the pendants, each pendant customized to fit the personality of its owner.

The second photo was of Aurora's parents and ten other people. They looked rowdy, and loud. They also looked like warriors.

Next, Aurora opened the letters. She read her mother's first, her emotions quickly being heightened at her mother's delicate handwriting.

Next was her father's. His handwriting wasn't as graceful, but she could still read it. She froze, reading it again three more times just to be sure she'd read it correctly.

"Holy fuck." She said, shooting up from her seat.

"June!! You knew!?" Aurora yelled, bolting down the stairs and heading for the kitchen. June stood there, ready for the teen to burst.

After a few moments, both women returned to the human area, June with plates and silverware.

"..what did June know?" Ratchet asked in a hushed tone.

"That I'm half fucking cybertronian." Aurora said, the edge of a growl lacing her voice.

"You're what?" Arcee is the first to break the silence, and then activated her holoform. The others quickly following her lead.

"This is big.." Bulkhead stammers, his wide dark blue gaze looked fearful.

Finally, Aurora let Ratchet and Optimus read it, both of their eyes widded at what they read.

"Aurora, Thermos was a Cyberwolf alpha. He was royalty." Ratchet tells her, making her throw her hands up in exasperation.

"Great, I'm a werewolf princess and my dad was killed because he's a war hero for the autobots, which means if Megatron finds out I'm the daughter of Thermos then my head will be put on a damned pike because I can't fight a massive ass tyrant in oversized armor." Aurora exaggerated, a vain in her throat popping out in anger.

Miko laughed at Aurora's description of Megatron, and so did Raf and Bumblebee, Ratchet shook his head, seemingly just as exasperated as Aurora.

"If I have a cybertronian form, I want to learn to use it. I can't hide from fate forever."