In Which Miracles Do Happen

Written by: CherryDrug

Disclaimer: Okay people, let's start this off with a big, huge BANG, people! I don't own the Transformers or any of its franchise, characters, places, etc; nor do I own any other places or brands or song lyrics written here in this story. What I do own, however, is the plot of this story, my original characters, AND myself (Yep, you heard me, no human trafficking here :P). Oh, and if you see anything that SEEMS to be copyrighted, it is NOT (I repeat, NOT) to be intended, so no sueing is allowed here, capische?

Rating: For the mean time, it'll be a T-rated fic (so any kiddies out there who isn't comfortable with sexual innuendoes, jokes, pranks, etc; violence; inappropriate language; you know what I'm talking about... stop reading, k? If you are though, read on!) that'll soon become an M-rated fic, if I'm motivated in the right direction (and if I have enough guts to write a gory or smutty scene).

Genre: Humor (just mainly that), Adventure, Drama, Action, Sci-Fi, Angst, Friendship, Family, and... ROMANCE (some time down the road~ [but obviously not now])

Characters: A lot. Just a lot.

Summary: A lot of things can happen in the matter of a minute. Someone dying, someone living, but for me? In just a matter of a minute, I've been brought into a world I know all too well and dragged into a war I never even wanted to partake in. A miracle? Fraggit, this is more like a curse!

Pairings: Optimus/Elita-One; Ironhide/Chromia; Jazz/Prowl; Sam/Mikaela (indefinite, maybe?) ... for now. Still deciding the rest, opinions and reviews are welcomed to broaden my options.

Author's Freaking Long Note: Hey, wassup? I know, I know, there's another story that needs to be worked on (*coughs*STEPBYSTEP*coughs*) but my other co-author, ChocoDrug, is in charge of that and I'm not really allowed to post anything without her permission. Currently, she's having a plot bunny and is deciding if whether or not the chapter is acceptable (*whispers* she's a perfectionist, beware!). Sooo, while she's working on that, I'mma just go write this story that's been poking me in my sleep. Oh! And I forgot one important detail :D... I love reviews, and I just LOVE opinions, to be honest. Why? Because they help improve my writing and help better this story into something that can be proudly read, BUT I only like opinions that aren't nonsense AKA Flames. If you like, I can give you an example of TOTAL nonsense :)

Example: "Why the hell are those two paired?! You know what, this story's rubbish! Why the hell did you even write it in the first place?!"; "Ugh, why's your (Canon character like that?! He/She's not supposed to be like that!"; etc.

Dear Future Flamer: If you don't like something/someone, AT LEAST notify me in a polite way. Because to be honest? I've dealt with people like you, so I know just what the hell I'd have to do to deal with you. You don't give the authors a CHANCE to change or correct their mistakes, so let me say something clear with you. You wanna harass me? Fine. But I'll harass you back. Tenfold. I'm not the eye for an eye person (I don't believe in shit like that) but I'm most definitely an eye for a heart person. Flame this story or any other story written underneath this username, then you'll pay. I'll report you and block you. But that's it. I won't flame any of your stories, why? Because I'm not just some horrible, terrible, sick waste of space just like you. I have my pride and dignity and I would not go so far as to stoop so low as to flame another author's story because I ADMIRE every story here (whether their ones I've read or not, or are crappy or amazing), because this is all the hard work of people who LOVE their fandom and are just having fun on the net, and for me to do that to someone else? It'll me make feel like a horrible piece of shit and nothing better than you. But let me tell you one thing: YOU. STARTED. IT. So don't expect me to just back down and let you ruin MY fun because when the frag did I ruin YOURS? I'll fight back, and I'm not afraid to do so. Report me, block me, I don't give a slag because all I'm doing is defending what I love, capische?

Hoping for you to realise this and become a better person, the Author.

-Inserts Smiley Face Here- :D

Okay. Now that THAT'S done, I just wanted to remedy my, ugh, scary speech to possible Flamers. But don't worry! :) To anyone else who has a question regarding possible OOC-ness or dislike to certain characters or merely confusion to certain parts, I'll pm you back first, and ASK what I did wrong, so don't be afraid to ask or correct, because honest to Primus I'm very nice and patient. Just don't be rude when you ask. You can be funny, add something perverted, or just be generally nice or polite with your questions or reviews, but don't expect me to not be rude when you're rude to me 'kay? Okay!

Oh, and feel free to either rage or criticise my OC characters xD I got no problem with that. Every character has their lovers and their haters. *Looks at Sentinel Prime*

Anyways, this idea's been egging me on for a LONG time, and I just found time to do it now, to be honest. The updates MIGHT be slow, but expect long ones, 'kay? (At least more than 10,00 words, I think...) You can egg me on for not updating quicker ;) I won't get mad at that, instead I'll feel REALLY happy that you're expecting something from this story, so don't hesitate, HAHAHA!

Anyways... Let's just get on with the story, ne? I bet you're either interested or just generally bored enough to even bother opening this link, but do enjoy ;)

CHAPTER 1

In Which I Can Be As Paranoid As My Mother

If I had been given the choice of being reincarnated or transferred into the Transformers universe, I wouldn't even bat a single eyelash as I would flatly answer, "NO"

And it wasn't like I hated Transformers. In fact, it was the very opposite. I loved it, almost to an extent you could even call it my not so little secret that everyone I knew knew that it was the crack to my pot. Because ever since I was a little girl I had already been hooked on the original 1986 G1 Transformers series that my brother had a spare DVD of. I remembered that I enjoyed the idea of mechanical sentient beings thrice or quadruple my size living out there in outer space and I got to watch their awesome little adventures on T.V.

It was embarrassing to admit that I thought there really were Transformers out there when I was four, but fortunately for me my older brother had been the one to tell me that 'They're not real, they're just cartoons,' before I could embarrass myself and shout out to the world like some madwoman that there really were sentient mechanical beings out there.

I remembered I had thrown such a large tantrum when I had found out everything that I've watched was fiction and that my favourite characters had never been real to begin with. As well as hiding my brother's phone in the freezer for a month.

But eventually, I grew up (and begrudgingly said sorry for hiding my brother's now destroyed phone), having already accepted the fact that my favourite cartoons weren't real and just plain fiction used to entertain the minds of people. But that still didn't stop me from watching every goddamn Transformers related series out there.

Transformers G1 was and still is a personal favourite of mine, because that had been the beginning of my journey to the Transformers fandom. I was addicted to its plot line because it was simply amazing, despite the corny dialogues; my favourite Autobot then had been Jazz, because c'mon who couldn't love him?, whereas my favourite Decepticon was Soundwave because I had been hung on his 'fantabulously-super-ultra-cool-voice' as I had nicknamed it when I was about five or six.

And yes, I had a thing for guys with visors. When I was probably five or six, I had put that condition on 'The man I will marry should have:' list that would forever haunt me for the rest of my life. It didn't help when my brother would always bring it out and use it to blackmail me to do his house chores, the little glitch.

But anyways, I watched everything related to Transformers that I could get my hands on. The Headmasters, Super-God Masterforce, Victory! and Zone didn't really appeal to me that much aside from the better graphics; whereas Transformers Armada, Energon and Cybertron really appealed to me, because c'mon! Starscream becoming a good guy and developing a friendly relationship with a human (that I so fucking ship) in Armada? Then having to go back into a freaking bad guy in Energon because of Uni-fucking-cron? And the ending where Coby and Lori got married after everything in Cybertron? Wow, just... wow.

And Beast Wars! Yeah! It weirded me out at first that they transformed into animals but eventually I got used to it and began enjoying watching every episode. Ah~ Those were really the good times.

And don't even get me started on Transformers Animated. The characters were super anime-kawaii, and when I took one look at Jazz's ultra cool (yet kinda perverted, hehe) design and Prowl as a motherfragging ninja, it was hands down one of the best cartoons of my childhood. Because seriously, Transformers was already cool enough with robots, but robot ninjas?! That was just on a whole other level. So, it really wasn't that much of a surprise to me when the entire series had landed itself as my third most favorite Trasnformers series with how badass it had become.

Transformers Rescue Bots didn't satiate my hunger for a good Transformers series, since it was for little kids and once I saw the graphics I was immediately like, 'No, nu-uh, not watching that. Ever'

The GO! series was okay too, but was incredibly too short for my liking though. It had lots of potential but then it was shut down too early 'cause of budget problems, last I've heard.

And then Transformers Prime came out, and I was literally trigger-happy when I saw all of the character's designs. They all looked super badass! My favourite so far from that series was (surprise surprise) Soundwave. But my close second would be Knockout, 'cause of his sassy personality and good looks (what can I say? The mech really was smoking hot). But what really made Transformers Prime my second favorite Transformers series was when I saw Arcee as one of the leading protagonists. This was probably the first time I'd ever seen a femme have that large of a role in any Transformers series, and you can bet your credits that I was incredibly hyped up at the very idea.

I was a hardcore feminist through and through; seeing a badass, strong-willed, and battle-hardened femme like Arcee really made the feminist inside of me swell up in pride.

I knew that there was gonna be another series coming out, one that was a direct sequel to Transformers Prime. I heard that it was called Robots in Disguise and that 'Bee would be the lead 'bot and that there was a femme called Strongarm. I heard that only Sideswipe (where the fragging pit was Sunstreaker these days?!) and Grimlock would be a part of the main team, as well as a minicon called Fixit.

And last but not the very least, there was the Michael Bay version that I both loathed and loved with all my heart. For starters, since I've never read a single Transformers comic in my whole life, (well, I've never held one to be more exact, only downloaded the comics online) it introduced a whole new bunch of both human and cybertronian characters. For starters, we have the twitchy Sam Witwicky and his hot girlfriend Mikaela Banes which would then be replaced by the equally hot Carly Spencer; Will, Sarah, Annabelle, Epps, Keller, Maggie, Glen, Miles, Cade, Tessa, Shane and so many more humans. Then we also have Skids and Mudflap, Jolt, Brains, Leadfoot, Scorn and like I said a moment ago, even more.

And not too mention the mere plot the movie used. Most of it were no-nonsense that the humour and explosions (that Bay seemed to have an odd fetish for) made up for but if you really delved deep into it you would see that it actually made some sense. The drama that had been added, the adventure it held for each character, and not to mention the fully-packed action that made it look like metal parts were having sex. Yeah, I couldn't really understand half of the fights but my brain had apparently registered it as pure raw awesomeness.

And let's not forget the heart shattering deaths. Each and everyone of them. And yes, I'm even talking about the Decepticons here, since no matter how insane they are, they too held a spot in my heart. Jazz, ripped in half by Megatron; Frenzy, Blackout, the Constructicons, Barricade and Starscream, defeated by either foolishly stupid or brave humans; Brawl, Rampage, Laserbeak and Soundwave, taken down by Bumblebee; Jetfire, sacrificed himself to help the Autobot cause despite his Decepticon status; Sideways, butchered in half by Sideswipe; Jolt, killed off by Shockwave; Wheeljack, shot in the chest by Barricade; Shockwave, Sentinel and Lockdown, offlined by Optimus himself; Ironhide and Skids and Mudflap, offlined by Sentinel Prime; Ratchet, Leadfoot, and the Arcee triplets, hunted down by Lockdown. And let's not forget about Megatron dying twice throughout the movies, which he deserved for trying to enslave us and rule the world but still cracked my heart a bit every time I watched it, because what was once a strong-willed gladiator who actually led the Decepticon cause to renew Cybertron from the unfair treatment most aristocrats in Cybertron would give to those who were lower than them, was now a power-hungry tyrant who was more of a dictator than the leader he had been oh so long ago.

It really hurt me a lot to see such strong mechs and femmes go down like that, after years of me watching their bravery and skills in battle and how they acted when they weren't fighting their biggest enemies. Because despite their huge metallic bodies, they weren't that much different from us humans. They had hearts too, but was termed in their culture as sparks and were orbs of glowing light that were the very essence of their souls, and no matter how cruel or brutal they were in battle they too had feelings. They could feel pain, happiness, sadness, anger, and love as well.

And it really pained me to watch such strong warriors fight until the bitter end, believing in whatever cause they believed in until their sparks extinguished. It was heart-wrenchingly admirable. Really, it was. Because they all deserved to see the end of the war, where peace would finally settle in. Call me unrealistic, but a fangirl could dream right?

But there was a reason why I loathed Michael Bay. Sure, I could thank him for making Transformers into a live action blockbuster movie and for widening its fandom, but did he really have to eff up the characters' personalities and the most basic of basic things that any Trans-fan would know?

For starters, when the fuck did Optimus become such a war-freak? Last time I checked, he wasn't that much of a violent person and if there was a chance to spare a spark he would, no matter how much that mech or femme had done, he would save them. Because that was Optimus Prime, the one Primus had hand picked to lead his children. At least he was still the gentle giant I knew, but only to the humans and his fellow Autobots. And the way he man-handled those Dinobots in the last movie! That was complete and utter dictatorship that anybody would expect from Megatron and not bossbot himself.

And, to be honest, I felt bad for Starscream in the movies. Because all I've seen him kinda do was keep getting beaten up by Megatron, spit out green energon, keep missing targets, get killed by Sam, and just fail. Which was sad, for me. Because what happened to the narcissistic Starscream that always shot Megatron in the back? The only thing that made my anger and sadness for Starscream go away whenever I watched the movies was the shape of his body. Hah! I could never look at doritoes without remembering ol' Screamer. And honestly, despite how much I hated the little bugger, the Decepticons wouldn't really be complete without him.

Anyways, no matter how much I wanted to rant on and on about how much Jazz should have made it through the first movie (because c'mon! Jazz was a fantabulous mech! What did you have against him, Bay? Was it the visor?!), now wasn't really the time. I had a question to answer right? The one where I didn't really wanna get reincarnated into the Transformers universe?

Well, I can explain.

To be honest, it had all started with one single question that in the distant future I would look back at ironically.

The day had started out horribly because the thunderstorm that everyone in Blue Keys had been expecting arrived on that day at exactly three o'clock in the morning. My mother had stayed overnight at the hospital since every medical doctor and nurse needed to be there in case of casualties that would need to be tended to immediately, according to our Mayor's briefings; Eric, my asshole of an older brother, was a commissioned officer of the U.S. Air Force so he would still be stationed somewhere in Colorado; Nico, my other older brother (yeah, that's right, I was the freaking baby of the family), would still be in West Point, N.Y. to finish his Military Training.

And my father? Well, he's currently six feet underground at Arlington National Cemetery, so yeah, 'nuff said.

I had woken up early in the morning to the sound of pounding rain and crackling thunder outside my bedroom window, and also to the sleeping bodies underneath me. Almost calmly, I glanced down, and confirmed my suspicions that yes I had fallen asleep on top of my two best friends, and yes all three of us were still perfectly clothed, and thank God I still had my virginity intact.

Not even bothering to be careful, I rolled over them and plopped down on my wooden floor as softly as I could. I glanced back up at the two sleeping quite snugly on my bed and snorted at their peaceful expressions. I stood up, wiped my sweaty palms on my shirt, and eyed my best friends positioned a few inches away from each other.

Immediately, an evil idea formed on my mind and I began shifting arms and legs here and there and placed a head over there. I stepped back to quietly admire my handiwork and grinned evilly. Somebody hand me a Nobel Prize for I'd just created a masterpiece!

Snorting at my thoughts, I turned around and headed out of my room, making sure to slam the door really hard on my way out. Immediately, as I descended down the stairs, I heard the sounds of screaming, loud cursing, and things being thrown at my bedroom wall. I smirked, completely satisfied with what I'd done, and emerged into my kitchen slash dining room.

I paused when I entered the completely dark room, and immediately began wondering who had closed the lights. Ever since I had been born, mom had made it a number one rule to leave the lights in the kitchen on in case anyone got hungry in the middle of the night, since my dad and brothers had the unfortunate habit of going down to have a midnight snack and usually fell down the stairs since they couldn't see a single thing in the darkness. And my friends knew all too well how pissed off my mom could get if they didn't obey this single rule.

I warily looked around, and jumped when I heard a loud thump come from upstairs. I looked up at the ceiling, and breathed out a sigh of relief once I heard Ryan's voice cursing out Ciara for kicking him out of the bed. I rolled my eyes at them and muttered a quick, "Idiots."

Making my way (downtown~!) through the kitchen, I walked over to the switch for the light and flicked it up. I glanced up at the dark light bulb and flicked the switch down. I pursed my lips and looked out of the small kitchen window. I watched as the heavy rain fell to the ground of my backyard and looked out at my neighbour's porch and noticed the lack of light there too.

Grimacing darkly, I scrunched up my nose and sighed heavily, "Looks like the power's out, huh."

"Mew."

I jumped again in surprise and whirled around to face the source of that noise. I blinked as my eyes landed on the figure sitting idly on the countertop. I felt a small smile make its way up to my lips as I walked over to Abyss to rub her head. Almost immediately, the large, dark-furred Abyssinian purred against my touch and rubbed back.

"You're such a sweetie, aren't cha?" I cooed, "Who's my favourite little girl? Who is? Who is? Of course it's you Abyss, it'll always be you!" I winked at her. Abyss mewled in response and continued rubbing her head down my arm.

I looked over my shoulder to eye the doorway once I heard my best friends' fighting move from my bedroom to the staircase, their voices as loud as the rumbling storm outside. I winced once I heard Ciara let out a high-pitched screech and was immediately followed by a distinct thump somewhere at the bottom of the stairs.

I turned to look back at Abyss who had managed to rub her way from my arm to my stomach, purring the entire time and just demanding my entire attention, like the little attention whore she was. I giggled at her actions and cooed to her one last time before I gave her chin a tickle and promptly carried her off the counter and gently placed her on the tiled ground.

She meowed at me, her bluish-green eyes watching me as I gave her one last pat on the head and turned to face the cupboards where my mother had stored some canned foods in case of emergencies like this. I swung open the small cabinet doors and eyed the wide array of canned goods piled up on top of the shelf. Blue Keys was a common place for typhoons, thunderstorms and floods to visit, what with being an area that had the Pacific Ocean as its next door neighbour, and since my mother was a very, very paranoid woman (up to the point she could even be a second Red Alert if she just tried to!), she had made it a point to be completely prepared in case of emergencies; such as one whole cupboard filled to the brim with canned goods, a large backpack stuffed with evacuation materials hidden under the bathroom sink, and a very large first aid kit courtesy of her medical career placed behind the bathroom mirror.

I scanned the entire cupboard for something Abyss could eat and stomach in instead of heaving it out like she always does if the food wasn't up to her standards. Because ever since she had been just a wee little kitty that was just the utterly adorable size of my palm, her stomach had been a very sensitive one that downright refused anything that wasn't Premium Royal Canin Cat food. And sliced ham. And tuna. And chicken. Especially chicken.

Okay, Abyss was a very picky cat who vomited everything she didn't like, 'nuff said.

Anyways, after a few more seconds of scavenging around the cupboard, I had managed to find a medium-sized can of tuna. The bad news? It was stacked on top of several other canned goods.

I narrowed my eyes at the can of tuna, that I just knew was mocking my height. Even on my toes, my fingers barely grazed the third can underneath it. I puffed my cheeks in indignation as I realised that the only way I could achieve the little shit was by climbing the counter top, and there was no way I was doing that after having slipped off of it several times. I wasn't that brain-damaged enough yet.

I pondered over it for a few moments, and heard the scuffle of a fight from down the corridor. Almost immediately, a light bulb lit up on top of my head.

I turned around and cupped my hands over my mouth, making sure to inhale a large amount of air into my lungs, then shrieked so loudly that I could have made Starscream of all mechs proud.

"RYAN QUINNS, GET YOUR AFT IN THE KITCHEN RIGHT THIS SLAGGING MINUTE OR I SWEAR I'LL KICK YOUR SORRY AFT OUTTA MY HOUSE!"

There was a brief pause of silence from the corridor, before I heard a deep male voice curse briefly underneath his breath that was immediately followed by the familiar thumps of footsteps making its way to the kitchen as fast as possible. I waited as patiently as possible and not a second later, a person appeared into the doorway.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT NOW WOMAN?!" Ryan's deep voice went up a decibel as he bellowed back at me. I squinted at him to try to see what he looked like right now, which was quite a feat since the only source of light was coming from the flashes of thunder crackling and booming outside the window. His messy mop of brown hair was as disheveled as ever and his bangs hung over his wide brown eyes. His clothes were bedraggled and I eyed his now stretched up shirt that had its neckline slipping off one of his shoulder blades.

A corner of my lips curled up into an amused smirk just as his dark scowl deepened. Without caring about the consequences, I snorted and pointed at his pants that were hanging rather dangerously low over his hips. "Dude, you look like you just got raped," I snickered, my smirk stretching into a full-blown grin.

He glared viciously at me as he stalked towards me, even going so far as to stomp his feet at every step he took. "Well you can thank Cece for that," he scowled as he towered over me.

This time, it was my turn to scowl as he practically cornered me against a counter, both of his hands slamming against the counter on both of my sides, effectively caging me between him and the kitchen counter. My eyes narrowed into a fierce glare once I caught sight of his lips twitching into an amused smile. I poked him harshly in the middle of the chest which made him wince. "Hey! Personal space here buddy! Back off, now, or you're not getting any breakfast!"

Ryan stared at me lazily, his six foot something stature towering over my five foot four. "You're not gonna feed me either ways," he bluntly stated, even going so far as to lean his face closer to mine.

Almost immediately, I slammed my open palm against his forehead, my nose scrunching up in disgust. "Ew, Ray! At least brush your teeth first before you try acting sexy! It's a major turn off to a girl if the guy who's flirting with her has dragon breath! Sheesh, you don't even deserve a two!" I reprimanded him, successfully pushing him away from me.

This was something normal between me and my two best friends. We had this sort of game going on every week where one of us would try to act all sexy and flirty and the victim/s would rate how hot it was. Whoever got the lowest score by the end of the week would treat the winners to milkshakes. Ciara was currently in the lead, having had enough experience with past relationships, and I was in second place, what with having enough time to read a lot of fan fiction (wink wink), which always left Ryan in third place, the poor unlucky bastard.

"I don't know, Megs, that was pretty hot," I heard a female voice piped up, and me and Ryan turned our heads to face our other best friend. Standing in the doorway with a hand placed on her cocked hip, Ciara regarded the two of us with a perverted cheshire grin, her blond hair and clothes just as disheveled as Ryan's were, but she was now sporting a nice swelling bruise on her cheek.

I frowned at her. "It was, until Mr. Skunky here opened his mouth," I grimaced before turning back to Ryan, "And if you're gonna corner a girl like that, at least look like you're interested, not bored out of your fragging mind," I advised, flicking my finger against his cheek. "Girls like it when you're looking at them like they're the most beautiful person in the world."

Ryan yelped and immediately placed a hand to nurse his reddened cheek.

Satisfied that I had managed to inflict pain on my male best friend, I turned to Ciara. "What happened to you guys?" I asked innocently, "You only fight after eating, what changed?" I sported my most innocent look.

Ciara's face morphed into a disgusted and irritated glower as she narrowed her eyes at Ryan. "Well, Megs, what would you do if you woke up with your face smack-dab against a guy's crotch? And that guy's face smack-dab against your own crotch?" She sassily crossed her arms, her angry snarl never wavering as she continued to glower darkly at Ryan.

I blinked innocently, because there was no way in hell I was planning on getting caught!, and widened my eyes as much as possible, activating my acting skills to its maximum limit, "You and Ray were in the sixty-nine zone?" I said and slapped a hand against my face to hide the wide, wide grin stretching my lips.

Ryan, still nursing his cheek, glowered right back at Ciara. "How many times do I have to tell you, Cece?! It. Wasn't. Me! And why the hell would I want to stuff my face there?! Of all places?!" He demanded. "It's stinky and god knows how many times you freaking fart in your sleep!"

I cackled loudly with laughter, knowing oh-so well how true THAT was.

Ciara had the right to look offended as she placed a hand on her chest, "Excuse me!" She yelled back, "I'll have you know that it smells better than your dick!"

"And how would you KNOW?!" Ryan demanded seriously, "Have you been stuffing your face in my dick lately?" His face looked so seriously horrified that I had to grab the edges of the countertop to steady myself whilst I laughed myself to death. "I KNEW it!" he exclaimed, his voice sounding as if he'd just discovered another mystery of the world, "You DO have a crush on me!" he dramatically gasped, covering his mouth with his hand.

"WHAT?" Ciara bursted out, eyes widening. "Where the hell-"

"Look," Ryan interrupted her, "I can't blame you for falling in love with me, what with my sinfully gorgeous looks." Here, he turned to me, giving me a wink and smirking devilishly. I cursed him briefly in my mind when my tired panting turned into fits of gleeful giggles once again. He turned back to a red-faced Ciara. "But that doesn't mean you can just molest me in my sleep, woman!" He raged, "I know I'm sexy, and these abs of mine can't be resisted." Here, he lifted up his shirt to show his absolutely abs-less belly.

I snorted in an unladylike way that was sure to give me a spanking from my dead grandmother if she heard me.

"But, alas!" He said dramatically, pressing the back of his hand to his forehead, "I'm just not interested in-" Before he could continue his speech, an enraged Ciara had tackled him to the floor with an indignant screech.

I yelped and jumped onto the countertop, narrowly missing Ryan's hand attempting to grab my shirt in an effort to pull me down along with them. I stuck my tongue out at him once he shot me a betrayed look, the word 'TRAITOR!' practically written on his face.

I watched them brawl it out for a few minutes, my mind made up that Ciara would definitely win for sure this time. She had just gotten her nails done the other day, making sure they were extra sharp and painted midnight blue, and with that kind of lethal weapon, I was entirely sure she would leave terrible marks on Ryan's face, his biggest weakness.

My attention was ripped away from my two best friends once I felt something pawing on my arm. Tearing my gaze away from the fight on my kitchen tiles, I glanced down at Abyss who had jumped back on top of the counter like the rebellious feline I had raised her to be. I stared down at her and she stared right back at me, her bluish-green eyes looking even larger than before as she mewled at me.

I continued to stare down at her, trying my best to wonder just what she wanted now. And then something clicked in my head once Abyss began pawing at my stomach, mewling rather loudly, and I immediately remembered the reason why I even called Ryan to get his ass in the kitchen in the first place.

I gave Abyss an apologetic look. "Sorry, baby kitty," I cooed, rubbing her right ear, but she didn't rub back which meant that she was extra pissy with me right now for not feeding her immediately. "I'll get your tuna right away, just give me a minute," I patted her head once again, and sulkily noted that she pressed her ears back and didn't mewl back at me.

Yep. Kitty was definitely pissed at me.

Sighing loudly, I pushed myself off the counter and landed right on top of Ciara's back, who in turn was right on top of Ryan and was currently scratching his face like there was no tomorrow and screaming like a banshee. My blonde headed best friend gave an alarmed squawk once she noticed the unexpected weight that had landed on top of her back and immediately collapsed on Ryan who gave a pained groan.

"H-HEY!" Ciara squeaked, tilting her head back to give me a panicked expression. "Ow! You're stepping on a bruise there!" she complained, narrowing her green eyes at me.

"Just give me a minute!" I told her as I tried to find my sense of balance on top of her.

"Well hurry it up!" Ryan snapped. "You're not the one underneath two people who're as heavy as cows!"

I ignored him, but that didn't mean I wasn't pleased by the pained groan he gave once Ciara slapped him silly on the head, and began stepping on the tip of my toes (bless you dancing classes) as I struggled to reach the can of tuna just mocking my height. The tips of my fingers brushed the top, and I tipped the entire can so that it would land right on the palm of my waiting palm.

I grinned triumphantly as I held the can in one hand, and gleefully showed it to Abyss. "Look, Abyss! Food!" I cheered. The dark-furred feline mewled back and pawed the can, knowing that it was food, and the good kind as well.

"Great, you got the can, could you, by any chance, GET. THE. HELL. OFF?" Ryan snarled at me.

I ignored him and hopped off of Ciara, who puffed out a relieved sigh along with Ryan. I went around the counter and pulled open a drawer that held several plastic dining ware. I began rummaging around for a dish bowl just as Ciara and Ryan got off the ground, fully irked with my little stunt a while ago, but I knew they wouldn't dare do anything to me unless they wanted to be kicked out of their only shelter right now and into the thunderstorm.

"Geez, ya didn't have do that to me, ya know?" Ciara moaned as she rubbed her throbbing back. "Now I'm gonna have to sleep on my side for days," she whined.

I pulled one of my hands out from the drawer and patted her head. "Sorry, Cece," I apologised before stuffing my hand back in the drawer. Sheesh, my mom sure did have a lot of crap in here. After a few more beats of silence, I had managed to successfully pull out a neon blue plastic dish bowl. I placed the bowl on the counter and turned to my tallest friend.

Looking up at Ryan, I presented the tuna can to him with both of my hands. "Open." A beat later, "Please?"

Ryan stared blankly at the can on my hand before he sighed and accepted it. I beamed brightly at him as he shook his head. "You better feed me for this," he warned.

I nodded amiably at him before I pulled out a neon pink plastic spoon from out of the same drawer. I turned to Ciara who already had one of her hands opened out. I smiled brightly at her and placed the spoon in her hand. "You know what to do!" I chirped.

She gave me a deadpanned expression. "Yeah, or else you won't feed me anything," she grumbled. I smiled knowingly at her reaction and slammed the drawer shut, making Abyss jump in surprise and let out a hiss at me.

I gave her an apologetic pat on the head before I began scavenging for food once again in the emergency cupboard to feed my ever hungry friends.

Once I'd found a large tin can of vienna sausage, I easily peeled back the top and shoved all of its contents into a large bowl. After draining the oily liquid that came along with it, I began mashing all of the vienna sausages into mush with a silver spoon so that I could use it as a spreading for the bread. After that, I grabbed the bowl of mushed meat as well as a plastic covered loaf of bread.

"Hey, could you-" I stopped and nearly jumped a foot above the ground, heart in my throat once I noticed that both of my friends were watching me with puckered lips. I balanced the bowl next to my hip and placed a single hand on my chest. "Fraggit, don't scare me like that!" I hissed, "You almost gave me a spark attack!"

Both of them cracked up at my reaction and I exasperatedly rolled my eyes at them. "Yeah, yeah, whatever, just laugh it all up," I scoffed and slammed the bowl in front of Ciara. "Here, bring these up to my room while I go grab some mangoes," I commanded as I shoved the bread into Ryan's chest.

The two of them adjusted their assigned food closer to their chests with one hand before they saluted me sharply with the other. "Ma'am, yes ma'am!" They said loudly, bringing up their best poker face. I rolled my eyes at the two, but nevertheless I played along and lazily returned their salute with my own two-fingered one.

Almost immediately, their lips stretched into their signature twin wolfish grins that had never failed to bring a light and warm feeling to my chest. They gave me a brief nod before they darted out of the room, Ciara whooping out loud that they had finally managed to acquire their 'precious.'

I smiled fondly at the doorway before I peeked over the counter where Abyss was currently devouring her delicious breakfast on the other side. I nodded my head, pleased to see that my baby kitty wasn't vomiting anything up and was instead enjoying her meal to the fullest. I pushed myself away from the counter and turned to the refrigerator which was at the other side of the room.

Once I made my way to it, I eagerly opened it, shivering lightly once the cool air from the deactivated machine slammed right into my face. I quickly gathered up my frozen mangoes from the freezer area, knowing that I had to act fast unless I wanted all the leftover cold from the refrigerator to come out. I didn't want my mom to come home to a ref filled with spoiled food, after all.

After slamming the door shut, I began placing my mangoes in a large bowl, not even bothering to bring a knife since I could always use my teeth to peel off the skin.

I hummed a merry tune once I left the kitchen with a skip in my steps.

After all, I couldn't wait to devour my precious.

Before we decided to ravage our selected food, Ciara had recommended that we watch a movie while we were eating. The plan was brilliant, and me and Ryan would have agreed with her, if not for one obvious reason.

The electricity was out. Which meant no power. Which meant no T.V. and DVD. Which definitely meant no movie.

Once me and Ryan had deadpanned this to her, Ciara simply rolled her eyes and pulled out a laptop from underneath my bed. I stared at it in cluelessness before I remembered that she had brought her laptop over so that she could work on some reports that our Science teacher had assigned to her. Because, surprise surprise, despite Ciara's wild, flirtatious and quick-tempered personality that could rival the school's head cheerleader's persona, my best friend was a very serious and responsible student. Even though we were at the same age, she had been moved a grade up and was currently holding the title of top student in her year. She was a great student: her homeworks would always be complete, her test papers would always be marked with a red A, and her shelf was filled to the brim with shiny trophies and medals that she'd won in her younger years.

But despite her impressive achievements that would merit her some bullying from the other students and the adoration of the faculty staff, what she had received was the exact opposite because of one little detail. She was the bane of every single teacher's life, and every student in Blue Keys High knew to watch out for her, and for only one reason alone. And what may that reason be you ask?

It's because when I say Ciara was a pretty crazy girl, I meant it. She'd be the animal you'd spot in parties, the one you'd see in the corridors bitching back at the cheerleaders, the one who'd get caught in the middle of class talking and making perverted innuendoes, the one who'd have the balls to stand up to the teacher, the one who could ramble on and on about one theory for hours, the one who could prank the entire football team and not be afraid to admit it and get beaten up, and practically the only one who'd be starting up fights that couldn't even be handled.

And when I say fights that couldn't be handled, I meant that too. Because despite her fierce personality, she was still another one of those geeky nerds who knew squat about fighting. Heck, she couldn't even throw a punch just to save her life! Which is why she had best friends—AKA Ryan and I, AKA the 'Reinforcements', AKA the 'Bitch, back up, we'll be the one throwing the punches here' duo—to protect her, and Ryan and I didn't mind it one bit since we all knew if one of us we're in the same situation as her she would do the same for us in the matter of a heartbeat, even if she'd be the one to get beaten up in the end. However, even if she couldn't fight just to save her life, break or crack even one of her nails, then we'll see who's running for their lives now because apparently her nails were much more important than her life.

Maybe that was one of the reasons I liked Ciara now. Because even though she was an arrogant, annoying, perverted and talkative bitch, she wouldn't leave her friends for anything.

...

I think. I'm not so sure, what with the countless of times she'd left me in the mercy of angry teachers once our pranks worked. And that time she ditched me at the mall to chase after some boys. And that time she ratted me out to my mom in exchange for a fragging pair of heels

... Maybe I'll ask her one day if she really would, because I'm really not sure. (O-O)

Anyways, back to the present. Once Ryan and I had gotten over staring at her laptop like we'd never seen one before, Ryan had looked up at Ciara and he, being such the sarcastic smartass I knew and trolled, said

"Oh? So you brought a laptop, huh? Well, ain't that great, because seriously, this isn't any better. There's no electricity, Ciara. And when there's no electricity, there's no freaking wi-fi, so how the hell are we gonna watch movies now, huh?"

Ciara, my fellow-troller of one Ryan Quinns, merely smiled the best shit-eating grin I'd ever seen. "I downloaded some movies last week since I thought something like this might happen," she said, pointing at the dark lightbulb above us.

I immediately straightened my back and beamed brightly, "Any Transformers movies?"

She feigned a pained expression. "Now what kind of Trans-fan would I be if I didn't?"

Ryan rolled his eyes. "Fangirls."

Ciara and I gave him the most innocent look we could muster. "And? It's not like you don't like it either."

He merely sighed and shook his head, already used to us. "Whatever. Just play the damn movie already, I'm starving!" He shooed as both as he ripped open the plastic bag that held the bread.

Ciara and I exchanged triumphant smirks, and not a minute later we were all positioned near the bed, munching on our food, and watching the first minute of the 2007 Transformers movie

"That practically makes us family. Uncle Bobby B, baby, uncle Bobby B!"

"See that smile? That's the, 'I'mma get all yo money, then rape you, then stuff them dollars up yo ass,' smile. So if you see it on any human being, male or female, black or white, you better fucking run girls."

"Yes, mommy Ray."

"S-S-S-St-Stuuupid H-H-Humaaans!"

"Woo-hoo! Go Frenzy! Make that computer your bitch!"

"Are you on drugs?"

"Yes. He definitely is."

"Are you LadiesMan217?!"

"Introducing Barricade! The naughty cop of the Decepticon army!"

"The boy's pheromone levels suggests he wants to mate with the female."

"See? This is why Ratchet is so fragging awesome."

"Were...Were you masturbating?"

"BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"But what about 'Bee, Prime?"

"YEAH, Optimus, what about 'Bee?"

"Shut it, Meg."

"AWHIIIIIEEEE!"

"Fucking Simmons, killing off sparklings. I should go report his aft to Optimus."

"I. AM. MEGATRON!"

"Never fails to amaze the crap outta me."

"No! I want two!"

"Megatron, you aft."

"I smell you boy!"

"...That's just fucking creepy. What the hell are you now? A bloody bloodhound?"

"I wish to stay with the boy."

"AWWWWWW"

*snort* "Girls"

We watched the ending scene where Sam and Mikaela were making out on Bumblebee's hood near the edge of the cliff together with the other Autobots and the Lennox family close by. Ciara and I watched in full concentration as Optimus appeared on the screen.

"I," the leader began dramatically, "am Optimus Prime, and I send this message to any Autobots taking refuge amongst the stars: We are here. We are waiting."

Once he'd finished his ending speech, I'd stood up from my seat on the floor and strolled over to my personal bathroom, twisting the doorknob open with my elbows since my hands were coated with thick, sticky, mango juice. The moment I stepped in, I heard Linkin Park's 'What I've Done' get cut off in the middle which meant that Ciara had already closed the movie and was now scrolling down her movie folder to search for the next one.

"Hey, guys." I heard Ryan call, and I leaned my head back to peek at him through the doorway as I began washing my hands; Ciara having had already turned her head to give him a raised eyebrow.

"What?" The two of us said.

"Don't you guys, I don't know, just wonder?" He said, his brown eyes fixated on the glow in the dark stars that we had slammed into my ceiling a couple of years ago.

Ciara and I exchanged bemused looks before looking back at Ryan's face. "About-" Ciara started. "-what?" I ended.

Ryan blinked before he furrowed his eyebrows. Turning his head to give me and Ciara a vicious glare, he said, "Would you stop doing that? It's kinda creeping me out, and it's starting to get really annoying," he frowned grimly at us.

Ciara and I grinned back at him, albeit ours was much brighter and better looking than his. "Which is why we do it!" The two of us chimed making Ryan grab a pair of pillows from the bed and chuck them at both of his harassers.

Out of pure instinct, I released an 'eep!' and ducked down, easily missing the swift projectile that had been aimed for my face; Ciara, however, had failed to move faster since she was much nearer to our brunette friend and had gotten a face full of pillow.

"My friends," Ryan started dramatically, even going so far as to pause for a moment, "are bastards."

"Sorry!" I chirped as Ciara ripped the soft object off of her face. "But it came with the job description!" I smiled goofily at Ryan as he huffed and exasperatingly rolled his eyes at me.

"Figures," he rumbled as he easily caught the pillow that Ciara had chucked back at him with one hand. He gave Ciara an unamused look before he wrapped his arms around the pillow and gave it a warm squeeze. "But I'm being serious here guys," he said, voice getting softer as he lifted his feet off of the ground and promptly propped them on the top of my bed. "Don't you guys think about it?" he asked as he looked back up at the ceiling with an indescribable emotion swirling in his brown eyes. "Being in the Transformers universe, I mean," he quickly added once he saw me and Ciara exchange devious looks.

I blinked, thoroughly surprised by the unexpected question that came from Ryan of all people. Usually, it would be Ciara who would be asking this sort of question, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't curious to know why Ryan had even bothered to ask. He just wasn't the type to care about things like that, because if it happened then it happened; he was never one to wonder what would things be like if something else had happened—because that was supposed to be in Ciara's category.

"What brought this up?" I questioned, narrowing my eyes in suspicion.

Ryan turned his head to face me, his brown eyes flashing once the thunder outside crackled and illuminated a light through my bedroom window. "Aren't you, I don't know, bored?" he asked, glancing at Ciara so that she would know he was asking her as well. "Aren't you tired of living a normal life like this? Don't you imagine yourself being a part of a world like...like in Transformers?" he murmured.

Ciara cracked a grin as she said jokingly, "What? Me and Megs here not giving you enough adrenaline everyday?"

Ryan didn't smirk nor did he smile a little, instead his lips twitched into a frown as he sighed. "It's not that, it's just...when I saw Sam running away from Megatron, I thought what would it be like if I had been the one running from Megatron?"

"You'd piss your pants along the way," I immediately retorted. Ryan sent me a half-hearted glare, but everyone in this room knew he so would.

"Haha, very funny Meg. But jokes aside, I'm being serious here, what would you do if you were suddenly in...there?"

Almost immediately, an answer popped up in my mind—one that I had been completely sure of ever since I had started reading the fanfictions regarding Ryan's question. I nibbled on my bottom lip as I hesitated if whether or not I should answer the question, because if I did answer it truthfully then I was completely sure both Ryan and Ciara would take offense from it; Ciara, however, was currently pondering for her answer as Ryan stared at the two of us with an imquisitve expression

The silence the occupied us was eerie. It was unwelcoming. Irritating. Suffocating. And I didn't like it one bit. Shifting a bit on my feet, I opened my mouth to finally say something.

"And what would you do, huh?"

Almost immediately, Ryan and Ciara snapped their gazes to me, and I met their gazes steadily. I had no reason to be scared of their heavy gazes, having known them for so long, and having shared a familiar pain with them.

Tilting his head, Ryan answered immediately. "Well," he drawled thoughtfully, "I wouldn't want to be human again, because this is the Transformers universe we're talking about here. I'd try to find a way to become a Transformer, one with a fucking badass bipedal and alt mode, maybe a flier type," he mused. "But being a grounder's fine with me too, as long as I get the 2016 Acura NSX as my alt mode," he added, leering.

"Dude has plans," Ciara snorted.

Ryan peacefully ignored her as he carried on. "And then after that, I'd probably join one of the sides...maybe the Autobots, since they have a few femmes and mechs with them that I'd love to tap."

I shoved two fingers into my mouth and released a rather loud wolf whistle. In response to my playfulness, Ryan flirtatiously winked at me and grinned a perverted grin.

"And also," he continued, "I'd like to meet Optimus Prime one day, because c'mon! Who doesn't?" He gave both me and Ciara inquiring looks before he continued, "... Or maybe I'd join the Decepticons instead, since they seem much more badass and they'd always get away with stealing or destroying stuff," he shrugged, uncaring. "Or maybe I'd stay a neutral for the rest of my life, hunting down mechs from both sides or just messing with them until they finally had enough of me and joined forces to kill me," he smirked devilishly.

Ciara butted in. "Wouldn't that be a wonderful way to end the war. Both sides joining forces to hunt down the biggest pain in their aft, hah!" she laughed. "I can just see it now! Ryan Quinns, most annoying mech to have ever onlined, and the sole reason why the bots and cons reunited and ended war to hunt down the biggest menace," she cackled wildly.

Ryan nodded, his brown eyes flashing as he grinned evilly. "That has a nice ring to it...but I'd like to change my name into something more Cybteronian-ish," he shrugged, "Because it'd be weird if a Transformer has a name that's normal by human standards."

"Well, you'll have plenty of time to think about that," I said as I walked over to him and ruffled his hair, making sure to dry my wet hands into his messy locks. Annoyed with his hair getting wet, he swatted my hands away and made a move to grab me by the ankle. Out of pure reflex, I hopped away from him and moved over to sit beside Ciara, leaning my back against her shoulder. "If it ever happens," I added, smiling wickedly at the rude hand gesture he made for me.

"Give him a break, Megs," Ciara reprimanded me as she threaded her fingers through my messy brown hair. I winced every time she came across a knot and kept combing through it, uncaring if she ripped what felt like a hundred strands of hair out, but I eventually settled down once her fingers made its way to my scalp.

I snorted quietly, lowering my eyelids a little as I relaxed against Ciara, loving every second she wasted on massaging my scalp this time. Lazily looking up at her, I asked, "Hm? Then how about you? What would you do if you were suddenly shoved into the Transformers universe?"

She tilted her head, her eyes narrowing a little to show she was strongly pondering over the question. Finally, her eyes cleared up from its misty haze and she inclined her head towards Ryan. "Same as him," she shrugged. "I'd find a way to become a Transformer too, but I'd like my form to be sleek and sexy," she said, smirking, as she winked sultrily at me. "After all, I can't attract a mech without looking the part, ne?"

I cracked a smile at her. Typical Ciara.

"And I'd definitely want to be a flier," she continued. "The F-22's a good choice, but the F-16 is something I'd love to transform into." Here, she grinned evilly. "Imagine the utter chaos and destruction I'd create if I had it as my alt. mode! I'd be bombing cities anytime of the day, and if someone tries to shoot me down I can just shoot them back with my missiles or fly my way out of there with my superior negative stability!" she cackled.

"How very Decepticon of you, Cece," Ryan remarked, raising an eyebrow.

Ciara leered at him, "Of course, Ray. I'd have to be if I want to be one of them. After all, if I'm gonna become a flier, might as well be one of the best, ne?" She grinned. "And which side has the best of the best fliers? Well, the 'cons, obviously, and I like the title 'Seeker' better than simple 'Flier' right next to my name," she added, shrugging.

Ryan snorted loudly. "Or it's because you just have the fucking hots for Starscream."

Ciara furrowed her eyebrows, looking incredibly indignant. "What? Primus, what the slag? Why do you always assume I want to frag Starscream silly?"

"Oh, maybe it's, I don't know, because of the fact that you have a freaking shrine of him in your closet?" he replied dryly.

Ciara pursed her lips before she mumbled lowly, "It's not just for Starscream..."

"Oh, my sincerest apologies, I forgot, it's for the entire freaking elite trine," he sarcastically retorted.

"Not to mention for Wheeljack, Shockwave, Perceptor, Soundwave and Skyfire as well," I chirped.

Ryan paused, looking momentarily surprised, before he snapped his head so fast to look at Ciara that he could have gotten whiplash. Amazingly, he did not. "What?" he voiced, looking incredulous. "You have a freaking shrine of Soundwave, as well?!"

Ciara sighed, "Well, it's more like I made it to appease Megs here."

"Damn straight you did. Soundwave is one awesome glitch, and anybody who thinks otherwise should go die in a hole," I nodded, completely convinced. Because Soundwave deserved to be worshipped, dammit.

Ryan turned to me, his nose scrunched up in disgust. "You should go die in a hole. Soundwave is one creepy fucker," he grimaced. "He keeps speaking in that creepy computer-ish voice of his. And did you even see him in the movies? Him practically molesting that poor satellite? Him having goddamn tentacles?!" he demanded, voice hiking up to a screechy point. "I've seen enough hentai to know where the hell that is going!"

I recoiled away from Ciara, which earned me a sharp yank from the hair since she had her fingers entangled in them. "Ow!" I winced, and gave her a sharp look, to which she responded with a shrug, before I turned to shoot Ryan a nasty glare. "You take that back this instance, Ryan Quinns. Soundwave's voice is awesome, and how dare you disgrace it!" I hissed.

"Or what, Meg Malstrom," he mocked.

"Or I'll rip your balls off, shove them up your freaking ass so far up that it'll be the only thing you'll taste until you die," I started, "Then I'll chop your hand off and make you shit your balls and crap out in that hand and use that hand to slap all of that in your face. Then I'll rip your dick out to stab you in the eyes until you go blind then stuff that dick up your ass and shove it in and out over and over again until you bleed to death from the ass," I finished.

Ryan didn't even blink at my graphic description of his murder, and he looked bored as he lifted an eyebrow at me as if asking me if that was all I could come up with.

There was a pregnant pause that followed afterwards.

Surprisingly, it was Ciara who first broke it.

"Why shove his balls up his ass?" She looked confused. "Couldn't you just use them to choke him to death?"

"Because then she wouldn't have enough curse words to use," Ryan explained, glancing at her. "When you're relaying a threat, you need to add a lot of curse words to make it seem threatening."

"I already knew that," Ciara snapped at him, "But it seems much more threatening and insulting if she chokes you with your balls, because then it would be like she was forcing you to deep-throat yourself."

Ryan flinched whereas I grinned. "Sweet Jesus, I did not need that mental image," he shuddered. After a moment, he turned to me, looking quite smug, "And is that the best you've got?"

I decided to bring out my wild card.

"I'll sick your cousin on you."

He furrowed his eyebrows and suspiciously asked me, "Which cousin?"

"You're twice-removed cousin. The one we met a year ago. You know, the one who had purple hair."

A look of pure terror and fear contorted his features, and I almost cracked up once I saw it. "You wouldn't."

"Oh, I would. I really would," I grinned viciously.

"You're sick. You're a sick, sick bitch, you know that?"

"Yes, this is the nth time you've told me that and I appreciate the compliment, so can you take your words back now or do I have to give Tihana a call after this storm's out."

He continued to glare at me for a few more minutes before he finally relented and ate his own words back. By the time he was done talking, he looked utterly humiliated and angry with me.

"I bet you'd go hunt Soundwave down and force him to give you his babies if you were ever placed in their universe," He grumbled.

To be honest, what made me say the words I'd say next was the complete product of my stupidity. All 100% of it in fact. I wasn't thinking straight, nor was I logically stable, what with how smug I was with my victory on out-scaring Ryan; so when my mouth opened before my brain could comprehend the words that came out of my throat, I instantly regretted it the moment after I realised what I'd done.

"Then it's a good thing I don't even want to go there."

"We-" Whatever Ryan was going to stay died somewhere in the back of his throat as his eyes widened tremendously and he stared at me, slack jawed. Ciara wasn't so far from looking like a fish too as she stared at me as well.

I snapped my mouth shut tightly and flushed underneath their intense gazes, because whew! Did the temperature just get hotter in here or something? I leaned away from Ciara and scooted a few feet away from her, because once my two best friends were done gawking at me like rabid squirrels then I knew, for sure, that Ciara would be the first one to strike.

Physically.

To my utter relief, surprise, and bewilderment, all Ciara did was say, "What?" while still supporting the most hilarious expression I could have ever seen on her face.

I knew that I couldn't just eat my words back and lie my way through or pretend that I hadn't said what I truly said, because if I did any of those aforementioned options then they would know for sure that I had been lying not even a second after. We hadn't been friends for more than ten years for nothing after all. We knew each other as well as we knew the back of our hands. Joined at the hips, our parents would laugh about. Could never be separated; Always found with at least one other by their side; Always there, laughing and crying and fighting until it was time to go home kicking and screaming.

And if they did find out that I was lying, well, it wouldn't be pretty, that was for sure, but all I can tell you is that it involves me, them, the bed, and jumping rope (or, if they couldn't find one, they'd use the pillow covers. They were that resourceful).

And no, we weren't gonna enact a scene from Fifty Shades of Grey, so get over yourselves, you perverts.

And so, with me fearing of the horrifying consequences of lying, I told them the truth.

"I don't want to go there," I summarised, and waited for the gears in their head to process my words.

It hadn't even been a full minute yet when one of my best friends reacted, and I blinked in surprise once I heard Ciara calmly ask me, with a face that could rival steel, what had I meant.

"What?" This time, it was my turn to look like a drowning goldfish.

Ciara pursed her lips and folded her arms over her chest, her brown eyes gleaming with a cold, calculating look that was only reserved for when she was staring at something that didn't make sense. "What do you mean," she emphasised each word slowly as if she was talking to a toddler, "When you said that you didn't want to go there?"

"You're not going to attack me?" I reluctantly asked, because for all I knew she might just be a few seconds away from doing so.

She sent me an unamused look. "I don't want a bruise on my other cheek, Meg. One's enough," she snorted and shot Ryan a dark glare to which he responded by raising his hands up in the universal sign of peace.

I couldn't stop the small, amused smile from playing on my lips.

After she was done glowering at Ryan, she returned her heated glare to me. Unconsciously, I gulped and tried to imagine myself being five inches tall so that I could bury myself underneath my bed. "Let me repeat my question, again," she added darkly and I cringed guiltily. "What. Do. You. Mean. By. That," She emphasised slowly.

I should have slapped her for treating me like a two year old child but I let the opportunity pass considering my current situation. For now.

I pursed my lips, weighing and outweighing the pros and cons of my answer, before I sighed dejectedly. "Exactly what it meant," I answered carefully.

I felt a hand clamp itself down on my shoulder and I snapped my gaze from Ciara to the pair of brown eyes that belonged to Ryan (and I vaguely wondered how the hell did he get from there to here so fast). He squeezed my shoulder and I tensed up, because that squeeze wasn't a good kind of squeeze judging by the dull pain that shot up from there.

He scrutinized me with narrowed eyes, using his other hand to pinch and pull on my cheek. If you thought I would let him slide by like with what I did with Ciara, then you're sadly mistaken because there's a thick, thick wall between words and touching.

I slapped his hand away and gave him my best annoyed look. "Dude, what the hell?"

He regarded me impassively and I couldn't help but feel a little bit nervous, because a Ryan with a poker-face was worse than an emotional or bored Ryan. That face meant serious business. And serious business meant no shit were to be taken lightly. "Out of the three of us in this room," he started, his tone of that of a drawl. "I had absolutely expected you to love the idea of being in the Transformers universe. You were obsessed with that crap ever since we were kids, and you were even the one who converted me and Cece into Trans-fans, and all of a sudden I'm hearing from you, Blue Key's resident Trans-fangirl to the geeky max, that you don't even want to go there?" His voice was cool and dangerously close to having an icy edge, and I flinched and avoided his uncomfortable gaze, feeling... what? Shame? Embarrassment? I didn't know. "You..." At that pause, he grabbed my chin and tipped it upward so that I was looking straight at him. "Who are you? Because the Meg Malstrom that I knew loved Transformers with everything she had and she would never say those kind of words." And just like that, he released my chin.

I didn't bother reprimanding him this time for manhandling me in such a way, because the words he'd just said made my heart clench so painfully that I'd been rendered speechless. Not a single train of thought entered my mind aside from Ryan's words that rang so painfully loud in my head just like a haunting mantra.

If somebody else had told me those exact words, I wouldn't feel this affected since I would be too busy insulting them back until they cried or calling up Ryan to help me beat the shit out of the bastard who had dared to act as if they knew me. Problem is, this wasn't somebody else. This was Ryan. Ryan my bi buddy. Ryan my best friend. Ryan my brother from another mother.

And it hurt to hear those words from him. Because he wasn't just somebody else who acted as if they knew me, Ryan really knew me. And him saying those kind of words to me made me feel as if he'd just punched me. Straight through my heart.

I curled my hands into fists, making sure that my nails dug painfully into the skin of my palms. The muscles in my jaw constricted and I forced my eyes into an angry glare blurred by tears. "Then maybe you don't know me!" I snapped, slapping his hand on my shoulder away. "Maybe you never knew me!" I screamed and out of a fit of pure utter rage, I shoved him away from me.

"Meg!" Ciara had snapped and before I knew it, she was right beside me with one of her hands clenched tightly on my upper arm.

I didn't even notice the warning look she had sent me, my attention focused solely on the startled boy whose face depicted surprise. "Because the world you want to go to is a place I would never want to be in!" I snarled. "Because only a fucking idiot would ever want to be in a world filled with wars after wars!" I threw my hands up to show how frustrated I was. "Because isn't that what Transformers is all about?! The war between the Autobots and the Decepticons being brought to Earth so that even more people can throw themselves into it and lose their lives?!" I stopped screaming after that, instead resorting to silently pressing my lips together into a tight grim line.

Ryan stared at me, his mouth agape; I turned my head to look at Ciara and saw that she had her lips pursed into a tight line like mine.

I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply, slowly counting to ten in my mind, before I exhaled loudly. I gently pried Ciara's fingers off of my arm and rolled my shoulders backwards a few times to unwind myself.

I eyed Ryan for a few seconds, silently debating if whether or not I should sock him in the eye while he was still stunned, before I decided against it. Despite it being an instant stress reliever, rendering Ryan blind in the right eye would only complicate things even further.

And plus, aunt Shirlee, Ryan's mother, would stop making me stuff toys if I did so. The woman could make a mean Prowl puggleformer in the matter of a couple of minutes, provided she had the right materials around her.

I sighed for the umpteenth time today, my eyes straying to my toes that had been painted a dark shade of blue green since last week, with some of the paint having been chipped off from having stabbed my toe into the door for who knows how many god-forsaken times.

Reluctantly, I opened my mouth, hoping that my words would be enough to erase the eerie silence. "I want you to ask yourself this. The both of you," I said quietly, my whispered words sounding even louder than the thunder outside. "Are you ready to lose another person important to you?" I ripped my gaze away from my toes and stared at Ciara then Ryan and back again. "Are you really ready to have someone who you've known for how many years, who you've held close to the heart, just die?" I drew my eyebrows together. "Because if you do go to their world, I want you to remember that the people there aren't just comic book or movie characters who you've grown to love, admire or maybe even hate anymore. They're real live people who you've come to love, admire or hate and aren't any less real than we are right now. They aren't just characters anymore that live in films or books, but people who are actually affected with what we plan to do around them." I paused, and solemnly closed my eyes. "And sure it's fun to watch it from an outside perspective because you know that none of it is actually real and it's just a story made purely to entertain us, but when you're actually in it then you know everything that will happen is as real as real can get and you'll realise soon enough that all of it is not as fun as you think it will be." I paused to gauge their reactions. So far, both them had gone neutral. "And that none of them are immortal, and will eventually die just like-" I stopped there, because I didn't have a name to use even if there was several of them that flashed through my mind. My heart squeezed at that thought.

I know I shouldn't be thinking like this, because no matter what Trasnformers will still be what it had been born for. A simple story to entertain us human beings. And the idea of some omnipotent being out there choosing us out of the bazillion people out there to go to the Transformers universe to save the fate of the universe, or a simple chance of ridiculous luck that some space rift thingy would suddenly open up and engulf us and just magically spit us out in the Transformers universe, sounded pretty stupid and insane to me. Because, really? Who the hell would expect that on their agenda of the day?

However, despite my knowledge that none of it was and could be real, I still couldn't shake that tiny, tiny detail that there was a possibility (of .00000000001%) that it could happen. And to be transported into some world with what little knowledge I could garner from the fandom and series itself, sounded pretty terrifying to me. Because if it did happen, then didn't that mean you basically had the power to change things? To change destiny?

Even the lone thought of me possessing that kind of knowledge that could simply undo whatever event I deemed as wrong, unnerved me a little and I didn't like it one bit. Why? Because, let's say, I decided to save Jazz from the movie, what would the consequences be? Would another bot die? Or would several, if not hundreds, of people (with families who were waiting for them to come home) die if Jazz had not been buying time for them to escape? And what would happen if I decided to not save Jazz? Sure, everything would roll on as expected, but the unending guilt I would feel for not doing something (anything) would eat through me for the rest of my life; because I had the knowledge, so why didn't I use it? And even if I did decide to choose one, what were the chances of me royally screwing up? It wasn't like there would be a million chances sitting right there, waiting for me to use them. And-

"You're thinking of our dads... aren't you?"

That short, whispered sentence lingered in the air just as loudly as fireworks exploding in the sky. Both Ryan and I tensed up at the mention of them, and the two of us slowly turned our heads to look at Ciara who, too, had her shoulders as rigid as ours.

It was one of the most sensitive topics the three of us would ever have. Even after six years our dads had kicked the bucket too early, it was kind of a forbidden thing to talk about between the three of us. The emotional scars that had been left, on not just us but on our entire families as well, as an after effect of their deaths were still there, and I knew for sure that they would never leave for as long as we lived.

"Yes," I whispered, wrapping my arms around my knees, as I shuddered violently at the horrible memory of my father's coffin slowly descending into the dark depths of the hole that had been dug up just for him—a loyal and hard-working American soldier that had died in the midst of battle, protecting the evacuating citizens in Libya, only to get a bullet to the head for his hard work; a husband that would never kiss his wife one last time; a father that would never watch his dearly-beloved sons graduate and become soldiers in honour of him (instead of one becoming a pilot and the other a physician just like his mother), or ever see his only daughter quit one of the few things she'd cherished in her entire life and become as much as a soldier as her brothers were now (instead of working to become what she should have been—a dancer that would move her feet for her love of music, and the excitement and awe she'd bring for the crowd.)

It didn't take a long while until the two of them followed my example: bringing their knees closer to their chests, wrapping their arms around them, and burying their heads as close as possible to their thighs.

We stayed like that for what seemed like an eternity, curled up into balls, with a suffocating silence over our heads, our minds either as blank as white sheets or filled with thoughts of why why why?, with only the sounds of booming lightning reminding us that this was reality and everything was always unfair.

After what seemed like forever, one of us finally had enough guts to shove all that angst to the deepest and darkest corner of their mind and lock it in there for a very, very, long time.

Proud to say, that person was me.

I didn't bother glancing at the vegetable states my two best friends were in, and crawled my way to Ciara's laptop. I exited the Transformers Movies folder and tapped open the Horror Movies folder. I selected a random one (and cried in my head when I realised it was 'The Shinning') before scooting back to my immobile friends. I gently shook Ciara first, then Ryan.

Almost at the same second, the two popped their heads out, staring at me with blank brown eyes.

I didn't say anything; instead, I grabbed their arms and pulled them as close to me as possible. Once their shoulders bumped against mine, I wrapped my arms around theirs and intertwined my fingers into their unresponding ones. I swivelled my head from side to side to look at them in the eyes, before I gave their hands a firm squeeze—a sign of comfort, a sign of understanding, a silent gesture to them that no mater what I would always be with them.

And they seemed to have heard my unspoken gesture, because they slowly slumped against my shoulders and squeezed my hands back.

We didn't say a single thing as we watched the movie play on the small laptop's screen, but only after a few minutes into the movie did I start to shiver from the cold.

Ryan didn't bother giving me a single glance as he outstretched his long, muscled and naturally tanned arm out to pull off the large comforter off of my bed. Silently, he threw one side of the thick blanket to Ciara; together, they grabbed their end of the blanket with their other free hand and wrapped it around us; securely locking it in place when they intertwined their own hands together and laid them on top of my lap.

I smiled gratefully at them, and leaned my head against Ryan's shoulder since Ciara was doing the same thing to mine.

"Thanks," I murmured softly.

"Sorry." I didn't have to glance up at Ryan to know that was him. "I didn't mean to say any of that."

I watched the attractive woman on screen look around warily, before I responded. "I'm sorry for saying you never knew me." And that was it, because I didn't regret telling them that it was basically stupid to want to go to the Transformers universe.

"I'm sorry for punching you on the cheek earlier, Cece."

"I'm sorry for kicking you in the nuts, Ray."

"I'm sorry for stepping on the both of you."

Then after a moment, together as one, we breathed. "Nah, it's fine."

We watched a few more scenes in total silence and I couldn't help but think how stupid main characters were in horror movies.

Finally, after the lead woman screamed an ear-shattering scream, Ciara curiously turned her brown eyes to me.

"But seriously, Megs. What would you do if you were really in the Transformers universe?" She asked me, and Ryan turned his head away from the movie to glance down at me.

Assholes. The both of them. Asking me the same accursed question while we were watching one of my most scariest movies.

I pursed my lips, debating if whether or not I should just get it over with and answer her question. After a few more seconds of thinking it through, I sighed wearily and nonchalantly shrugged my shoulders.

"I would end the war."

Because that was the main source of where all these deaths were coming from, and if ending the war meant stopping the deaths then that would be the only thing that I would want to do in their world.

Satisfied, my two friends turned back to watch the movies, our hands gripping the other a little tighter than before when the murderer shoved his axe through the door.

As I squeezed my eyes shut and stifled a terrified scream, I didn't bother giving my words another thought, because there was no possible way I would ever be transported to a universe that only existed in fiction. It was just absurd. Illogical. And downright impossible.

Unbeknownst to me, that would be the final requirement that would sign my destiny.

Word Count: 14,628

Time of Finish: June 3, 2015 at 9:35 P.M.

So, YEAH. That's all for today, people, ahaha. See ya next time, I guess? Oh, and if you want character profiles, just ask me and I'll bring it up on the next chapter.