Disclaimer: I own a bunch of books, a busted pair of blades, and a skateboard but not Transformers
Chapter 13
Optimus maneuvered his way threw rush hour traffic. It was times like this he really wished that he was a better conversationalist. The silence between him and the boy in his passenger seat was nearly unbearable. He knew Koji was probably shocked by the viciousness Optimus had gone after the Deceptacons with. He needed to explain before they got back to the base.
"Koji-" he was cut off.
"I know" Koji said.
"Huh?"
"The Deceptacons would have kept coming if you hadn't done what you did. Now Scourge will at least back off for a while until he can build up his forces" Koji said exactly Optimus had been about to tell him.
It shouldn't have surprised him all that much. Koji was one of the most perceptive people he'd ever met. "What makes you think he'll even come back?"
"He has a big grudge against you, Magnus, just about every Autobot in existence, and now apparently me. I think he'll be back," Koji said with a small smile.
"Unfortunately you're probably right" Optimus said with a sigh. "But when he does come back we'll be ready. He won't come near you. You have my word on that."
"And if his word isn't good enough you got mine too" Magnus said over Optimus' communicator.
"Magnus do you always listen in on my conversations?" Optimus asked.
"Only the interesting ones. Like when we were younger and you would talk to Elita every night about--"
"That's enough Magnus!"
"Hahahaha" Magnus could be heard.
"Um just ignore whatever he says about our younger days. Ok?" Optimus nervously told Koji. Koji really didn't need to know about the stupid things he'd done during the Autobot equivalent of the teenage years. He would have been mad at his brother if Koji hadn't been laughing. Hearing Koji laugh was a rare occurrence these days.
"Optimus! Your back! Thank Primus. We couldn't get Sideburn to stay in the infirmary he's too worried about-" T-Ai was cutoff.
"Koji!" Sideburn spotted his friend almost immediately. He ran up and fell on his knees in front of the boy. He looked him over to make sure he wasn't hurt. When he was sure that his friend was ok he just sat and stared at him some more as though to make sure he was real.
"Koji… I'm-"
"Sideburn. You need to get to the infirmary." Koji cut him off.
Sideburn stared at him like he'd grown an extra head for a minute. Then their eyes met and he knew when he didn't see any anger or disappointment in Koji's eyes that he didn't blame him for anything. Sideburn smiled and let his brothers lead him back to the infirmary.
Optimus was hit with a sense of déjà vu as he watched the group in the infirmary. The four were in the same positions they had been in the day before. The mood of the room was different though. Prowl and X-brawn were laughing at something Sideburn had said about how worried T-Ai had been about Koji while Koji blushed an interesting shade of red. Optimus did wonder how humans could change their color like that when they were embarrassed.
He smiled watching Koji. The child's eyes hadn't regained the light he was use to seeing in them but they weren't as dead looking as at his father's funeral or even as the day before. Koji was slowly recovering. Optimus didn't try to delude himself into thinking Koji would automatically be the happy boy he met when he'd first came to earth but he knew Koji would eventually be alright.
"Are you sure you have everything?" Optimus asked for the fifth time in the last hour.
"For the last time Prime, he has everything so stop asking" Magnus, said exasperated.
"I'm just making sure," Optimus said defensively.
"You should know everything's packed. You supervised the whole process."
"I believe in being thorough."
"Well if you're any more thorough we're going to have to wait for the next ship."
"Uhh guys?" Wedge said.
"What!" Optimus and Magnus yelled in unison.
"Koji and Sideburn are already on the ship".
The brothers looked toward the ship and sure enough Koji and Sideburn were standing behind one of the foot thick glass windows of the ship. Koji smiled and waved.
"If we forgot anything you can send it on the next ship. See ya" Magnus said before taking off running toward the ship.
"You better take good care of him or else Magnus" Optimus yelled after his brother. "And remember the schedule!"
Magnus waved in acknowledgement that he'd heard his brother.
Optimus sighed. He was going to call Elita tonight and ask her to look in on his new family member. Thinking of Koji as family wasn't as hard as he'd have thought. It had probably happened before Dr. Onishi had died and he just hadn't realized it.
He had other things to do now like making sure Koji stayed under his guardianship in human eyes. His meeting with the world leaders was in four days and he needed to finish preparing. He also had a few things to look over. That morning Koji had given him a box full of books. Dr. Onishi's journals pertaining to what he knew about the earth's energy resources. Everything Dr. Onishi knew was in those books. From the little skimming he'd done he'd discovered quite a few things that would soon require his attention, which he could spare now that Koji was safe and didn't need his constant care. He still intended to act as father to the boy but it would take awhile to balance his leadership duties with his new fatherly duties but he'd eventually manage. Until then he could rest easy knowing Koji was protected by twoBots who would give their lives for him and a couple hundred Autobots who would be working along side the human scientists.
At least until Optimus was able to go home himself.
AN: this is the ending. Don't worry there will be a sequel. Actually the sequel was suppose to be chapter 2 but I felt like I should write the story explaining what Koji went through before he went to Cybertron. After the sequel to this is done I might get around to writing a sequel to Koji's Son but that won't be for a month or so. Ttfn