Transformers Prime: Merely a Whisper

Chapter Fifteen

A/N: I'm so sorry this took SOOOOO long. I'm so extremely apologetic that I'm including this Author's Note as a preface to this chapter. Please accept a rather long chapter yet rushed as my apology. I'm also including one of my all time favourite songs, Zombie by The Cranberries. I feel that this song well relates to the theme of this story, and just enhances the overall mood. If you have never heard it, please listen. If you have, I suggest listening again :) Enjoy Chapter Fifteen (by the way, this story is approaching the close.)

Of late, Danielle Jamieson didn't regularly practise the concept of human connection, in fact, she prided herself on the ability and self-training she had endured to resist it, but as the days rolled into a fortnight, something small within her spark yearned for the connection she shared with the three techno-organics back on The Nemesis. Too much time, she recognized, she was spending among the people who were unlike herself and indirectly experiencing their closeness. The human side of her craved that relationship, but the Cybertronian side- the Decepticon side- was stronger. It had to be stronger.

She stared up in the darkness as she lay in bed, deep in the night, seemingly an abyss looming over her head, but she knew better. Reaffirming this knowledge, she extended a well-toned arm and brushed her fingertips against the cool ceiling. She couldn't sleep, and she found her appetite diminishing as the days went on. Stress, she recognized the two obvious symptoms instantly. Stress was a bad thing for a soldier to be suffering from, especially one on an invasive espionage mission.

She knew that good progress had been made, and as time passed, it became easier to feign a more 'Autobot' persona, but worry still nagged at her. So many different things could go wrong, and if they did, she was alone. The weight of responsibility, and of accountability, was colossal. She had borne it for this long, but she could feel her resolve beginning to weaken. She was starting to use her fear of failure as fuel; her knowledge of punishments associated with it.

She exhaled deeply and rolled over, shuffling into a more comfortable position. She was frustrated that sleep wouldn't come.

When it would, however, it was usually accompanied with vivid terrors.

Then, there was the sound of movement somewhere else in the room, and she blinked at the sudden presence of a dim light nearby. Sitting up, and dropping silently from her bed, her dark eyes quickly spotted the source: Millie. The lamp by her bed cast a faint light and many shadows that sprawled across the floor. Despite herself being awake at that hour, it struck her as odd that the younger girl was.

"Millie?" Danielle made it sound as though she was concerned for the girl, although she was simply and coldly curious.

"Dani?" the girl's head turned and faced her, eyes shining with what could only be the lingering of tears.

"Yes," she confirmed, meeting the gaze of the younger female, "it's me."

"Why are you up?"

"I couldn't sleep," she told her the truth without any details or reasons. She paused, "why are you awake?"

"I had a bad dream," Millie admitted in a small voice, a few tears leaking from her eyes, obviously shaken by whatever images terrorized her subconscious mind.

"I was going to fetch a glass of water," she admitted without hesitation, "you may join me, if you'd like to," Danielle told her quietly, and the girl's face was split by a smile, and her head bobbed up and down a couple times in acceptance. So, in the company of Millie, she strode into the hall, dimly illuminated by a distant source.

All the girl knew she needed was a talk with Megatron, but she realized that by inviting Millie, that wouldn't be possible as her offer was accepted. Why had she done that? Why had she so quickly considered the girl?