Without a Word-a TFP Ratchet Guardian Fanfic (Completed)

Chapter 17

"Cassidy?"

The sound of someone calling my name made me lift my head up slightly and open my eyes slowly. I was greeted with bright sunlight and I grit my teeth, shielding my eyes as I slowly sat up and looked around.

I was sitting on my couch; I didn't even remember falling asleep on it. Next to it was a tipped-over plant, a few broken picture frames, a pair of our living room curtains were on our floor, and I saw Lillian sleeping next to me.

"Cassidy?"

I looked toward the voice, before seeing my mom staring at me.

"What's the time?" I lazily signed to her.

"10:00 in the morning," she replied, placing a hand on my shoulder. I nodded groggily, before realizing what she said.

"10:00? What about school?"

"It was cancelled; the school took damage from the storms."

I secretly smiled in my head. No homework for a while.

"Anyway, your friends are here to see you."

I tilted my head to the side before I saw Nurse Darby, Jack, Raf, and Miko just inside the front door, and my eyes widened before I waved a little. Miko returned the wave, before gesturing for me to come to her. I glanced to my mom, who nodded, and I got up off the couch carefully, as to not wake up Lillian, and walked over towards them, barefoot. Nurse Darby stayed with my mom.

"You okay?" Miko asked, and I nodded, before looking behind me, wanting my notebook. I walked over to the kitchen table, where I found my backpack on its side and I picked it up and searched through it for my notebook and a pencil.

Once I found what I was looking for, Miko grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me out of the room, out of the front door, and outside. She gave me a minute to look around, and I did, seeing a tree fallen in the middle of the road, a few telephone poles knocked down, and my house had a few shingles of the roof ripped off. A green SUV was waiting next to the fallen tree, and I knew it was Bulkhead. I tucked a stray strand of hair back behind my ear before Miko placed a hand on my shoulder, and I looked back at her before writing something down.

So, was the wacky weather part of the prophecy?

"Sort of," Raf replied, before proceeding to tell me about a being named "Unicron" and how he was the Earth's core, and he also told me about Optimus and Megatron and their past and how Optimus had the Matrix of Leadership, and how he and the others allied with Megatron and used the matrix to stop Unicron.

Optimus is okay, right? I asked after hearing this. The three exchanged a glance with each other, before Jack cleared his throat.

"He...lost his memories...he's Orion Pax again."

But he's back at the base, right? I showed them my notebook, my expression obviously worried.

"He's-well-Megatron-Uh-"

"He's with the Decepticons," Miko finished for Jack, who only nodded. My jaw dropped, staring at them in disbelief.

Optimus with the Decepticons?

"Before he left he gave Jack this magic card, though," Miko added, looking to Jack, who frowned a little.

"It's supposed to restore the collective wisdom of the Primes and Optimus' memories," Raf explained, glancing towards Jack's pocket, where the keycard no doubt was at the moment.

As if to prove it, Jack placed his hand protectively over the pocket Raf had been looking at.

"You brought it with you?" Miko scoffed.

"My house has a giant hole in it thanks to a tree. You think I would try and stick the card there somewhere where someone could take it?" Jack almost snapped. It was then I noticed Raf looked a little tired.

Raf? Are you okay?

He nodded a little. "Just feel tired every once in a while. No big deal."

I frowned, but let it go for the moment. I mean, he just had to deal with freakish weather. We all did.

"Cassidy, I think you should come back," Miko suddenly blurted out. "And not just because you're my friend and I want you to come back, but what if you got hurt yesterday?"

And leave my sister alone?

"Well..."

I shook my head a little.

I'm not coming back, okay?

"Will you ever?" Jack asked, and I shrugged in reply, pointing to a sentence in my notebook.

I don't know.

Ratchet's P.O.V.

I sighed, checking Optimus' signal again, even though I knew it was pointless and the monitor wouldn't show me his signal. It was cloaked; the Nemesis' shielding was another feat of Decepticon engineering. I'd tried cracking the code earlier, but failure was my only outcome.

I shook my helm, stepping away from my monitor as Bulkhead drove back in the base, all three humans with him. They got out silently, and Bulkhead transformed and walked out of the room without a word. I looked at him curiously, before Miko started speaking.

"She's not coming back. Yet," she muttered, looking determined.

"Miko, if she doesn't want to come back, don't-"

"Ratchet, you should go see her," Miko interrupted, cutting me off. I stared at her for a second before scoffing.

"Me? No. If she gave you her answer, she gave you her answer. I'm not going to go see her," I replied with a roll of my optics.

"Look, she could've gotten hurt yesterday, or worse. Which reminds me, Optimus can't condone any human casualties, right?"

"Miko, stop," I threatened.

"Hundreds of people died yesterday," she continued, glaring up at me. Jack gestured for her to cut it out, a gesture Miko ignored.

"Oh, and what, are you implying it's my fault humans died?" I snapped back at her.

"It would be your fault if Cassidy did," she snapped back.

"How?" I cried, looking at her like she was insane.

"You didn't try to help her at all. What if she died, Ratchet?"

"Get this through your head," I growled at the young Asian girl, bending down a little. "She's no longer my charge. Therefore, she's no longer my responsibility, which means I don't care what happens to her."

Miko's eyes narrowed. "That's a lie, and you know it."

I was taken slightly aback at her reply, and I didn't know how to respond. I was speechless for a few seconds. I looked away from the human trio.

"Ratchet, it's just one visit. It could be less than ten minutes," Jack offered, shrugging a little.

"We'll keep an eye on things and let you know if anything happens," Raf added, looking up at me.

"What's the point of going?" I finally asked, looking at them. "She's already made up her mind, her answer's no, you guys visited her, which means she's okay, and I need to stay here...just in case."

Miko sighed, Jack looked away, and Raf cleared his throat awkwardly. I looked down, shaking my helm a little. Miko was right; I did care, though I wouldn't admit it.

"Fine. I'll go."

~~~

Hey I updated!

This week has been so busy, third quarter (or term, I think) always feels like the busiest time of the year, and I had some family complications. But I also get a two-week break, so hopefully I can update books that I haven't touched in a while (Facebook, Then and Now...other scrap...)

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Hopefully I'll get the next update out soon. :)

See you all later!

-BP