Half Moon

I wake up, and my headache is gone. My wings have already shrunk, and my hair is back to brown. They do that when the sun comes up.

I have to pull my hood up to keep my eyes from looking at the sun for too long.

I look around, expecting to see Nightshade, but no luck.

A wave of anger goes over me and I bang my fist hard into the rock.

I shake out my hand. "Ow..."

I get up and go to the elevator. But before the door closes, I see a massive pile of stones. A memorial. But to who?

I do a quick whisper of my condolences before the elevator door shuts.

I am a little shaked up when I get out of the elevator, but I get over it after I take a few steps down.

Ratchet looks at me with surprise. "Where's your-"

"They disappear until noon. I can't make them come out till noon, either."

Ratchet looks at me with surprise with me cutting him off. "Sorry." I apologise, and I can feel myself regain some strength.

I sit down and try to summon my daggers, feeling the leather hilts in my hand. I can see the silver blades shimmer into existence, and at the end, I have two blades, just for me.

I sigh and wipe sweat off my brow. I haven't summoned anything in a while. "Have to practice that." I whisper underneath my breath, not wanting to disturb Ratchet and his furious typing.

"How did you do that?"

I jump, dropping my daggers and turn around. Bumblebee is there, looking at my daggers.

Ratchet looks over his shoulder and shakes his head. He goes back to work, not bothering to pay attention.

I pick up my daggers and slip them into my belt.

"I was made that way.  Chosen, anyway." I say, getting up and stretching.

This got Ratchet's attention. "How were you chosen?" He asks, curiosity taking him over.

I sit back down, knowing this will be a long story.

"I am an Alpha. An Alpha gets chosen if the Elders decide on is worthy.  Or unless the Soul of Alphas choose you.  I was chosen by the second choice."

Ratchet nods.  "What do you do, exactly?"

  "Well, I look through the requests to have children, and if I find both parents worthy, they have a child on thier doorstep the next day."

  Ratchet nods again.  "A little strange."

I get up again, this time staying up.

I look to Ratchet. "Can I spar? I need something to do."

Ratchet nods. "Nothing rough."

I take a few steps, but then I realize I have no idea where Im going.

Bee beckons me over, and I follow him down a hallway and he walks through a door that leads to a very large room.

I grow my body until I was autobot size. I was a little smaller than Bee, but taller than Arcee.

"Want to spar with me? Its no fun by myself." I ask Bee, but he just stares at me. I guess he's never seen a human grow to his size in a few seconds.

Bee nods, but before we start, we hear a loud bang, and the sound of hooves. Nightshade.

I run out of the room, shrinking back to human size as I went.

It was Nightshade, on his hind legs, his eyes bugging out of his head, and neighing loudly.

Ratchet is holding some metal equipment up, and Bee runs over to help him put it back on the desk.

I get in front of Nightshade so he can see me. He calms down a little, but not enough. I start storking him. It does nothing.

I back away a litle and put my arms up so he focuses on me. "Nightshade. Calm down. Its okay. Im alraight. Im here. Its alright." I say, calming him down enough for him to stop bucking, but he still is riled up.

"What has gotten into you?" I say as he uses his head to push me away from the others.

He stomps his hooves a few times, our signal for bounty hunters.

"Dang it!" I hiss, still trying to keep him calm. "Did they follow you?" I ask, patting his neck. He stomped three times. He didn't know.

He lifted up his wing and I saw a skull burned into his side. "Oh, god... Oh god..." I back away, knowing that that mark was from someone. And someone bad.

Ratchet went over to take a look, but Nightshade attempted to kick him.

"Nightshade, he helped me. They all did. They're going to help you. But he can't if you're wearing yourself out." I say, giving Ratchet enough time to look at the burn.

Nightshade laid down, exausted. He stopped his kicking, but his eyes were still bugging out of his head.

I sat down on the cold, metal ground, and Nightshade put his head in my lap. I saw scratches and fresh wounds on his face, no doubt in my mind that Nightshade fought as best he could.

"Bumblebee call Optimus. Now." Ratchet ordered, pointing to the screen as he kept checking the burn.

I kept petting Nightshade, keeping him calm. But I was not. Adrenaline was overflowing my veins, ordering my hands to shake and my heart rate to speed up.

Nightshade calmed down enough so that he was almost asleep, and I hear Bee calling Optimus.

Soon, Nightshade was unconscious. Optimus came through the groundbridge with a scanner in hand and he looked at the burn. He turned towards me and asked me something. "Do you know who those people are?"

"Yes. Bounty hunters. They've been after us for a long time." I reply, my voice still shaky.

"Are you sure they're bounty hunters?" Ratchet asks, digging for gauze in his medical kit.

"Im not so sure, but they act like bounty hunters." I say, my hands still refusing to stop shaking.

Optimus and Ratchet turn towards each other.

"You are not permitted to leave this base without one of us accompanying you. Understand?" Optimus ordered.

I nod. I can trust Optimus.

I could sense the worry in his voice.

Who were these people?

What did they want with me?

How much of a threat are they?