Moon

I see them now. I see who they were.

  Before they were Disattatched.

  They were brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers and uncles and aunts and nieces and nephews.

  But one question kept burning in my mind.

  Why.

  Why did she do this to them?

  They did nothing wrong!

  She did this...  Just to get back at me...

  I never doubted it.

  I walk back to the front of the truck, the goop still hanging off of my feathers.

  I face the armored figures.

  "Take off your helmets and look me in the eye." I say, my wrist on one of my dagger handles.

  They all hesitantly take off thier helmets, putting them beneath thier arm.

  "Answer truthfully, and I will not harm you." I say as calmly as I could.

  "How do we know you're not lying?" One of them asks, a female.

  I look at her. "I was just almost captured by you and possibly killed. Why would I lie to you when you clearly have the power to defeat me?"

  She blinks, nodding.

  "Where were you going to bring those angels?" I ask, trying to sound as calming as I could.

  "We were just given a list of coordinates." One of them replies.

  "Do you know who you are working for?"

  The female who questioned me shakes her head.  "We don't know her name, but she was a blonde, tan, a little taller than you...  Um...  Amber eyes...  And long nails on one hand, cracked nails on the other."

  This was the Empress.

  I nod. "And why were you transporting them?"

  "We were promised enough money for..."

  "College." One replied.

  "My bills." The next said.

  "Child care."

  "Getting my mom out of a nursing home."

  "Enough to get my son his medicine."

  It just went down the line, the reasons becoming quite clear she needed humans.

  She needed to manipulate them to do her dirty work.

  "I understand." I say, my body relaxing.

  These were just innocent people doing the wrong thing just to scrape by.

I wince. I could have killed them moments ago thinking they did the horrendous act if S hadn't stopped me.

  I could have taken them away from thier families.  Thier friends. And no one would know why.

  I need to learn to think before my actions overcome me.

  I look up at them. "I will help you all. But you must promise me that you will never speak to that woman ever again.  Deal?" I ask, and I get a series of nods.

  I nod back. "If it wouldn't be too much..." I hold out my wing. "How do you remove this stuff?"

  "Just wash it off with water.  Should come right out. At least, that's what she told us..." A male says, looking flustered, his cheeks going pink.

I nod. "Thank you.  You may all return home. And if this woman crosses paths with any of you ever again, just think of what I look like.  I will be there to help." I say, and they all nod, going back into the truck.

  But one male strays for a moment.

  He comes next to me, S watching from the shadows suspiciously.

  The male is still blushing.  He looks like he's going into college.

  "Uh...  I'm really sorry for what we did...  I know it's not right...  And I didn't want to do it...  But that lady seemed so...  Persuasive." He glances at the ground, biting his lip.

  I nod. "That is what she does. She manipulates people in need, using thier weaknessess as blackmail.  You were just another group to fall blind to her lies."

  He looks up at me. "You are really wise."

  I thank him.

  "You're...." He blushes more, hand behind his neck. "You're really pretty, too.  I hope I can find a girl like you one day."

  "Do not judge on appearances."

  "I know.  It's just...  You're so..."

  I put my hand up, cutting him off. "How old do you think I am?"

  He stutters for a moment. "No older than 20?"

  I chuckle. "I am over a thousand years old, with much battle experience.  I have led wars and help govern my own realm.  I have many enemies, with even more allies. But I just look the part of being a damsel in distress, correct?" I raise an eyebrow.

  He looks shocked.  "Y....  Yeah..."

  "Like I said, don't judge on appearances. Just actions. You might find a woman...  Or even a man quicker that way."

He nods, his arms suddenly around me.

  S stiffens in the shadows.

  The male suddenly backs off. "I-I'm sorry...  Probably just crossed a line there..."

  I shrug. "As long as you apologized, I'm ok." I reply, smiling.

  "Gee..." He says, his face getting redder and redder.

  S shakes his head, smiling in the back, leaning on the tire.

  "Going back to the no-judging thing..." I say, gesturing to my Mate.

  He stands next to me, arm on my shoulder.

  The male is very pale now, craning his neck to look at him.

  "He looks scary, don't he?" I ask, and the male nods.

  "I'm just a big love." He says, using me as an armrest, again.

  "See?" I say, and the male nods fearfully.

  "He...  He.... Um...  Is pretty scary when he's mad." The male said, cowering away slightly.

  S scoffs.  "You think I'm scary?  Pfft.  Try and make her really mad, and I'm nothing but a cute cuddly kitten."

  The male looks at me, shocked.

  I grin, shrugging innocently.

  "Well,  I've got to go. Bye!" He scrambles away, hurriedly climbing into the truck.

  The truck starts with a rumble of thunder, evading trees to leave.

  S chuckles. "You've even got the youngsters falling for you!"

  "Be quiet." I say, poking him in the stomach.

  He laughs, tossing me over his shoulder.

  "Really?"  I say, annoyed with his gags.

  "No, my damsel in distress." He smiles widely.

  I tap my fingers impatiently on his shoulder. "This damsel is about to put you in distress." I roll my eyes.

  "Fine.  Fine.  Didn't know you could be such a wise old woman." He replies, putting me down.

  I roll my eyes at the comment, shaking my head.

  The recovered angels were already sent to the hospital.

  They were going to be fine.  They just needed time to gather strength.

  I was happy we got to them in time.  I could only imagine what would have happened to them if we didn't.

  "I wanna go home. But I have to find Nightshade first." I say, S smiling down at me.

  "I think he found us."

  I wait, and I hear the thundering hooves.  Along with several speeding engines.

  The bots.

  I see Nightshade barreling through the treeline, Arcee speeding behind him.

  Nightshade stops in front of me, knocking me over.

  I am worried by the way he walks. He is very nervous.

  "I'm fine, bud. I'm okay." I say, petting him.

  I get up, my wings completely covered in leaves.

  Everyone drives out of the forest, including Ratchet.

  "Are you alright?" Arcee asks, still a moped.

  "Yes. Just a little...  Weighed down." I gesture to my sticky wings.

  "You really had us worried." Arcee says, transforming.

  "I'm sorry, guys. I just didn't know what to do..." I hold my elbow.

  "Your apology is accepted. But Anti has been worried about you for hours." Optimus says, opening his passenger door.

  A little figure with glowing green gliders stumbles out.

  He was crying.

  "MAMA!" He cries, slamming into me.

  "Ack!" I fall flat on my back again, my arms around the little figure.

  "Mama...  I'm sorry I was mean! I'm sorry for making you run away..."

I put my arms around him, all the color in my life slowly returning.

  "You didn't make me run away. I was just scared." I say, looking at him.

  His eyes are still red and puffy.

  He gets up, and I get up, too.

  Nightshade was still agitated.

I was still worried for him.

  I feel the goop and leaves slip off my feathers.

  "Thanks." I whisper to S, and he shrugs, smirking.

  Anti takes my hand, refusing to let go.

  "Come on.  Let's go home." I say, lifting him up off the ground.

  He leans into me, the blue glow in me surfacing again.

  Anti sees it, putting his hand over it like he was curious.

  The glow grows brighter.

  Anti squeaks in delight, watching as the glow recedes.

  I smile.

  Anti looks at me, tilting his head to the side.

  "Mama, your eyes look funny."

  S looks at me, a little fear in those frosty eyes of his.

I go over to Bee, looking in his rear-views.

  My eyes were glowing blue.  Just like how the bots eyes glowed.

  Soft, but strong.

  I blinked in slight alarm, and the glow disappeared.

  "What was that?" Bee asked.

  "Don't ask me. I have no idea."

  "How can you understand him?" S asks, looking a little shocked.

  "You can't hear his voice?" I ask, and he shakes his head.

  "You can hear my voice?  Not warbling?" Bee asks.

  "Yes, I hear your voice." I respond.

  Everyone goes silent for a moment.

  "Can't you hear his voice?" I say, becoming slightly confused.

  Anti and S both shake thier heads.

  "Huh." I say, still slightly confused on how I could hear his voice and the others didn't.

  We take a groundbridge back.

  Ratchet still checked me when we got back, scanning my stomach about a hundred times.

  I had almost forgotten I was pregnant.

  What a great mother I was turning out to be.