~Star Light, Star Bright~
Prologue: A Xtar sees a Star
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Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.
–Harriet Tubman
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"Stand down Megatron! Your reign of terror is over." Optimus Prime stood before his arch nemesis, optics narrowed. Megatron merely sneered in return, and raised his fusion cannon threateningly.
"Is that so, Prime? I'm afraid that I'd have to disagree! It is you that is over!" The silver mech lunged forward, fangs bared. The two faction leaders met like bulls, digits locking, each straining to gain the upper servo.
Behind Megatron, Optimus could clearly see the rest of his comrades bravely fighting Megatron's army. In the sky, Starscream shot his null rays with his trine down into the seething mass of fighting warriors, cackling all the while.
One of his shots nicked Ironhide in the shoulder, causing the old warrior to growl angrily. In return, Ironhide rolled and came up directly beneath the seeker, and sent off several shots of his cannons. The seeker yelped when his left wing was nicked, and attempted to balance himself, only to fail when Ironhide's next shot completely took out his right wing. With a load wail, Starscream found himself spiraling down towards the battlefield at dangerous speeds completely out of control.
Megatron, completely oblivious as to what was happening behind, grinned wickedly when Optimus seemed to falter. "What's the matter, Prime? Finally realizing your fate?" Optimus shook his head and seemed to smile underneath his face mask.
"No, just preparing to dodge." Before Megatron could realize what he meant, Optimus shoved him back and quickly rolled to the side. The stumbling warlord teetered back a few steps, before regaining his balance. He snarled and raised his fusion cannon.
"Hah! What was that supposed to do Prime? You soft sparked foo-UGH!" Starscream smashed straight into his master's broad back with a rather loud CLANG! The two howled together in pain, rolling quite a few feet in a tangled of mess of limbs.
"STARSCREAM, YOU FOOL!"
"It's not MY fault mighty Megatron! That slagging old weapon specialist Ironaft shot me down!"
"And you couldn't think to steer away from me?!"
"With what? Half of a left wing? You must be joking!"
The rest of battlefield came to a still as everyone listened to the Lord and his SIC bicker loudly, completely uncaring of anyone else. Optimus shook his head and sighed, while Jazz snickered loudly. A little ways away Thundercracker face-palmed and Skywarp pulled out a video recorder. Meanwhile, Ironhide watched in smug satisfaction.
Megatron reared up and drew back his fist, more than ready to punish his disobedient seeker. Seeing it coming, Starscream cringed. "I'll teach you, you ignorant fool. You'll-"
"-have some cookies?"
Cody blinked out of his daydream, and stared at his babysitter, who had plopped down next to him on the couch where he'd been playing with his transformers.
"Eh? Sorry Auntie, I didn't hear you."
Macy Lu blinked and smiled, once again amazed at the little boy's politeness. She reached out and ruffled his soft gray brown mop of hair with a smirk.
"That's okay squirt. I said, do you want to have some cookies?" She watched in fond amusement as his already large eyes widened, and he bounced off the couch with an elated shout.
"Yes! I'd love some please!" He dashed toward the kitchen, almost tripping over his baggy pants in the progress. Leaping onto the kitchen stool, Cody drummed his hands happily on the counter top. "Cookies, cookies, cookies! I love cookies, cookies." He sang, waving his feet back and forth excitedly. Then he leaned forward, silver eyes suddenly becoming serious.
"Auntie, what kind did you bring this time?" He eyed her warily. "You didn't bring My Little Pony again, did you?" Macy skilled her face into a completely blank slate.
"And what if I did?" Cody's face went white, and she couldn't help but burst into laughter. "No no, don't worry." She pulled a plastic container out of the fridge, and leaned over the table toward him. "But you have to guess what it is." Cody's little face scrunched up thoughtfully, and she had to resist the urge to hug him to death.
"Is it.. is it Ben 10?" Macy shook her head with a mischievous grin. Cody bit his thumb and thought long and hard. His next answer was almost hesitant. "Uh... Generator Rex?"
"Nope!" Grin growing even broader, Macy leaned back and folded her arms behind her head nonchalantly. "But~ it is your favorite show of all time..." And like that, the light bulb went off, and Cody nearly fell of the stool.
"YOU MADE ME TRANFORMER COOKIES?!"
Cringing at the loud yell, Macy popped open the container and showed him the surgery sweetness that lay inside. There lay about eight sugar cookies with frosting shaped in the Autobot and Decepticon insignias. Macy chanced a glance at Cody's face and nearly died from laughter.
He looked as if Christmas, Easter, Halloween, and his birthday had come all at once. He reverently reached in and took out an Autobot cookie, and bit into it.
A pause. Then-
"OHMYGAWD AUNTIE THIS IS LIKE THE BEST THING EVER AND I LOVE YOU SO MUCH RIGHT NOW AND THIS COULDN'T BE ANY BETTER AND-!" Macy beamed and waved a finger.
"Oh, but it can get better." She reached into her purse and pulled out a disc case, bracing herself for impact. "I brought the first Transformers movie for you to watch." Sure enough, the hyper active little boy practically flew over the table and glomped her.
"OhthankyousomuchIloveyouIloveyouIcan'tbelieveyoub roughtitandyourthebestinthewholewideworldaandcanwe watchitnow?"
"Yeah yeah, love you too, brat. Go ahead and watch it in the living room. I have work to do." She gave a huge sigh of relief when he let go of his choke hold around her neck, and bounced off toward the TV with cookies in hand. "Ah, you adorable midget." Turning toward the stove top, she rubbed her hands together. "Time to start dinner!"
Macy stirred the stew one last time, and checked her watch. The digital numbers informed her it was 6:30. She frowned. Looks like the parents flaked off again.
She growled irritably, and massaged her forehead. What the heck is wrong with them? They've got an over achieving kid that's incredibly polite to boot, and what do they do? They avoid him like he's the devil incarnate! Macy leaned out of the kitchen doorway and watched Cody for a moment, who happened to be cheering on Optimus Prime against some Decepticon she didn't know.
Standing at 3'8, the short eight year old boy looked more like he was six. With the large adorable eyes of a kid who believed in everything, Cody Xtar was overly curious and wanted to learn anything and everything. Floppy brown hair with pale gray tips covered one eye, leaving the other to stare out at the world, gleaming an electric silver that was incredibly striking.
Macy snorted.
That adorable look of his was incredibly deceiving. The kid had to have a massive IQ, considering the fact that he had done her College Chemistry work. She paused at the thought, and reminisced.
She had left it and the her chemistry book on the table one night while babysitting him, and he had snagged both and sneaked off to his room. When it was time for her to leave, she had completely forgotten all about it, and left non the wiser. Only a week later on the night before the work was due had she realized what she had lost.
Desperate to get find it, she had driven over to his house and dashed in with her spare key. After asking the maid that worked part time, she had ran into Cody's room only top stop short. Lying their on the ground, humming happily away, the kid had been writing down answers in his favorite color crayons on her homework. She mildly noticed that he had also drawn an Autobot symbol in the top right corner, but at the time, she had been more angry at the fact that he was writing on her work.
"What do you think your doing?!" She stomped over and snagged the book out of his hand. "This is my homework and-" Macy stopped short, and stared at the writing on the paper. In slightly messing hand writing that was obviously done by a kid, accurate symbols and explanations told her the answers to the problems efficiently and neatly. She glanced at Cody, eyes wide with shock. "Did you do this?" The boy nodded shyly, and held up the Chemistry text book for her to take.
"It was really hard, but after I read this, it sorta clicked!" He stare up at her, hopeful and nervous at the same time. "D-did I do a good job? I tried really hard." Macy could only stare blankly at him for a moment, before sighing and giving him a pat on his head with an affectionate smile.
"Yeah kid, you did good."
Macy smiled softly at the memory. The kid was an incredibly intelligent, naïve, adorable midget that was completely obsessed with Transformers that had to try to hard to get his undeserving parents attention. He wasn't perfect, far from it. Cody was sensitive, and yearned constantly for approval. He also was incredibly stubborn, and could put a mule to shame sometimes once he had set his mind on something. For example: he wouldn't stop calling her 'Auntie'. And sure, like any little kid, he could get annoying, but that didn't mean he deserved such neglecting parents.
Now she scowled. His parents hadn't believed her when she had tried to tell them the truth about the Chemistry homework, and had even threatened to fire her if she continued to insist that he was a genius. Macy huffed angrily. He deserves far better parents than those unbelieving crappy excuses of humanity.
The redhead gave her forehead one last rub, and stepped into the living room in time to see the credits rolling on the TV screen.
"Hey twerp, it's time for dinner. How was the movie?" Cody's head was in his lap, and she leaned over the couch in an attempt to see what was wrong. "Kid? What's wrong?" The little boy looked up, and Macy was startled to see him crying. He sniffed once, before leaping into her arms, sending her crashing onto the couch.
"J-Jazz died! Why did he die? T-that's not fair! The war practically ends, a-and he dies before he could ever enjoy the peace! T-t-that's just wrong! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Macy gently gathered the distraught boy in her arms and rocked him back and forth.
"Oh hush baby, it's okay. It's not like he's real anyway." Instead of comforting the boy like she had hoped it would, her words sent the child into an even bigger fit of tears. Wincing at her mistake, Macy hefted the boy up further in her arms and stood up, cursing her lack of tact. "Never mind that, baby. Go ahead and believe in Transformers. Let's just get you to bed, I think a good sleep will make you feel better."
Quick, confident strides got her to Cody's room in record time. After making sure that he had brushed his teeth, Macy gently help the still hiccuping boy into his Autobot pajamas, and settled him in bed. "Do think you'll be alright? Or do you want me to stay with you tonight?" Cody hesitated, before shaking his head 'no'.
"I'll be okay." His already soft voice grew even quieter, and Macy gave into the urge to leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Night kid."
"Night Auntie. Love you."
"Love you too squirt. See you in the morning." And with that, Macy flipped the lights off, and closed the door behind her.
Cody waited a few moments, listening to his favorite babysitter's foot steps fade away, before leaping out of bed.
Trotting over to his bedroom window, he pulled over a little chair so he could stand upon it. Once he got into place, he grunted and pushed at the window pane, trying to get it to open. It took several shoves, but it finally opened, and Cody was rewarded with fresh breeze of the night.
The little boy stared intensely at the night sky. You see, Cody had come to the decision that if Transformers weren't real, then he'd wish for them to be real. And the only option he had at the moment was a shooting star. His birthday was still off quite a ways, and he didn't want to wait that long to make his wish come true.
After a few moments of watching unblinkingly, lady luck favored him and a streak of light shot across the sky. Cody gasped, closing his eyes and clasping his hands.
"Star light, star bright, The first star I see tonight; I wish I may, I wish I might, Have the wish I wish tonight."
Waiting a long moment, Cody peeked open one eye and glanced out the window. Nothing seemed to have changed. He checked his room. Nope, nothing was different. He let out a depressed sight and jumped off the chair, walking forlornly back to bed.
Elsewhere, far beyond the sight of a certain little boy, an ancient and wise force shifted as it felt the overwhelming desire of a human sparkling.
I can't bring my creations to a world in which they never existed.
It moved again, suddenly growing bright with the spark of excitement.
But I CAN bring you to my creations world.
It chuckled.
And that will benefit us both.
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End – Prologue: A Xtar sees a Star
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Authors Note: This is a plot bunny that's bitten me and won't let go. c: And so, Star Light, Star Bright was born. Its going to be a long fic, I can tell all ready. :T
Reviews would make the wait for the next chapter much shorter! :D