Valentine's Challenge #6: Gift: Twilight
featuring Chromia

Chromia climbed the last few steps of the ascent on Mt. St. Hilary, and then turned and looked back down into the snow-covered valley. Sol's light was a mere line of burnt orange on the western horizon, turning the blanket of white a delicate shade of peach. The lights of Autobot City were beginning to come on, as were the lights of Portland and other human settlements nearby, making it seem like the landscape had been scattered with jewels. The eastern sky was a deep shade of indigo, spangled with a few dim stars.

So this is Earth, she thought, feeling a chill wind rake across her plating.

As she had done so many times before, Chromia summoned her treasure from subspace and held in her hand. It was a cluster of beautifully faceted little spires, grown on some far-off world in a time long ago; she didn't remember exactly when Ironhide had given it to her or where he'd gotten it from, but it didn't matter. Whenever she looked at it, she'd thought of him.

Once, when Shockwave's stooges had caught up to them and they'd had to bug out, she had run back to her quarters to get it.

"Chromia!" Firestar had yelled over the sound of laser fire. "Come back here!"

"I'll be right back!" she yelled over her shoulder, dodging fallen pillars and sprinting through walls of flame to the ruin that had been her corner of the bunker. She opened a small panel, and there was the crystal, its shine undimmed by the horrors of war. She snatched it up and ran from the bunker mere microseconds before the ceiling caved in on top of her.

When they'd managed to chase the drones off, Elita had rounded on her. "How could you be so foolish?" she snarled. Wordlessly, Chromia had opened her hand to reveal her prize, and immediately all the panic and frustration drained from her commander's face. "I see," Elita said quietly, and a wistful smile touched her lips as she remembered her own absent lover.

And then one day-Chromia would never forget it as long as she lived-they rounded a corner to see the mechs they'd given up for dead, engaged in a firefight with Starscream and his flunkeys.

"Oh, how quaint," Starscream had sneered. "The girls have come to rescue their boyfriends!"

Ironhide turned; their optics met. "Chromia," he murmured, and her name on his lips made her processor grind to a halt. For a split second, it was almost as if the whole world-the other femmes, the war, Starscream-had disappeared.

Later, when their combined strength had once again thwarted Shockwave's efforts to exterminate them-and they had welcomed Elita and Optimus back to the land of the functioning-Ironhide had pulled her into a quiet corner and simply held her in his arms for a long, long while.

Finally, he stood back and held her at arm's length. "Lemme look at ya," he'd said, grinning. "Yer still the prettiest femme on Cybertron."

She'd smiled at him. "Same old Ironhide. You still think flattery is gonna get you anywhere?"

"Well," he said, pulling her close again, "Ah sure hoped it would."

She had told herself in the years that he was gone that she didn't miss his touch, his kiss anymore-but as he dimmed his optics and pressed his lips against hers, she'd known what a lie that had been.

All too soon, he'd had to go. Before he left, she'd shown him the crystal, and he chuckled.

"Ah remember this," he said softly, in that broad, flat dialect that she loved. He ran a finger along one of the facets, making the crystal sing a high, pure note. "Ah can't believe y'kept it all this time."

"Just don't tell anyone I'm so sentimental," she quipped. "It's bound to ruin my reputation."

"Yer secret's safe with me," he said, and kissed her one last time.

With a start, she realized that she'd last seen him twenty Terran years ago. Not even a vorn, she thought.

She sighed through her filters. It had been easier during the ages on Cybertron when she had thought him dead, but knowing he was alive made twenty years apart seem like twenty centuries. When time allowed, they'd exchanged messages; usually nothing more elaborate than Doing okay. Miss you. Otherwise, it was business as usual, and the war ground on.

She had been on Cybertron when Unicron smashed into the planet. Words like terror and despair just weren't enough, so she didn't think about them. She fought and pulled and carried and dug and shot, and didn't look up until a nova of pure aqua light burst over the ravaged planet. Every Autobot and Decepticon had stopped what they were doing and gaped at the sight as the monster's head blew off its mammoth body.

No one had cheered. The wounded still needed tending, the dead still needed to be mourned.

It had been much later that she'd learned of the death of everyone aboard the shuttle, the devastation at Autobot City, and the death of Optimus Prime. When she finally found Elita, the loss in the femme commander's optics had made Chromia want to howl at the injustice of the universe.

"We still have work to do, my friend," Elita said, her own grief lapping at the edge of her words. "In their memory, we must carry on and see it through."

A few lunar cycles ago, Elita had transferred to Earth in order to assist Ultra Magnus and Rodimus Prime with the final preparations for bringing Autobot City back online. Now that the City was whole once more, Elita had asked Chromia to come and see the planet that Prime and Ironhide had loved so well.

It was apparent from Chromia's first moment in the City that today was special, and a few inquiries had yielded some interesting information: Today was Valentine's Day, a day when lovers exchanged tokens of endearment, and friends sent greetings of appreciation to one another. Seeing mechs and femmes together brought back the ache that had been blurred by years of unceasing work, and she had found it hard to concentrate on Ultra Magnus' discourse on the repairs. Displaying the intuition and compassion that had endeared her to the femmes under her command, Elita finally drew Chromia aside.

"You can't see much of Earth from Metroplex," said Elita, as they left the command center. "Why don't you get out of the City for a while? The view from the volcano is absolutely beautiful." She smiled, understanding in her optics. "Optimus told me once that he and Ironhide liked to go there to talk, just as the sun was going down."

Chromia returned the smile. "I'd like that," she said, and sunset had found her climbing the mountain alone.

Now the daystar's light was gone, and the crystal shimmered by the silver-white light of Earth's moon. Chromia slid a fingertip along one of the facets, making the crystal sing and hum. She held it a moment more, and then drew back and hurled it as hard as she could into the sky.

Drawing her pistol, Chromia tracked the crystal as it rocketed away, and fired a single shot. The crystal burst into a million glittering fragments, the captive energy inside igniting with rainbow fire.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Ironhide," Chromia said, smiling to herself as the light faded.

-End-