Through Ash and Dust (ROTB)

Chapter 7

*Trigger Warning for this Chapter*

Saphira was so relieved when she found a way out of the factory area. She actually found tracks in the ground that had been left by Optimus, and she followed them to the street. She was just glad that it was not raining heavily at the moment, it was just spitting and the tracks had not been washed away, which made it so much easier for her to find the road. But once she was there, she ran over to the nearest street to look at the street name. The restaurant was only a couple blocks from here. She groaned as she knew she was going to be very late. She glanced at her watch, and it was ten minutes after seven. Dylan was definitely going to be wondering where she is. She felt guilty, even though it was not even her fault.

Now that she knew where she was, Saphira had to get to the restaurant quickly. She did not know how long it would take for the robots to even notice her. Although, she did wonder if autobots was the correct term. Optimus did say that over the radio when he reached out to Mirage, so...maybe that is what they are. She was not entirely sure though. All she knew was that she just had to get to the restaurant. She would worry about getting back to her apartment later. Most likely by taxi.

She did wonder how Dylan was going to react when she finally arrived. She hoped that whatever alibi she could come up with will be enough to keep him from being furious with her. Though given that she was going to arrived sweaty and out of breath, he will at least know she was trying to reach the restaurant as quickly as she could. So she hoped that would help her in regards to her explanation to him about why she was late. She could use traffic as an excuse...but it would be the only thing she could explain to him.

She glanced over her shoulders more than once, half expecting to see one of the autobots following her. She wasn't sure what they would do if they did happen to find her, as she Optimus wanted Mirage to stay hidden. So it would be completely against his rule to just grab her from the street. She knew for a fact that what she had just seen and heard tonight was something she needed to keep to herself. No one in the world would before her.

But Mirage knows where I live...I guess it is time to start looking for a new apartment.

She stopped at a set of traffic lights and pressed the button on the pole to try and get the lights to change so she could walk across the road. She took deep breaths as she tried to pull herself together. She realized she was still trembling. She was not sure if it was fear, or from the cool air, and the raindrops dampening her dress. She glanced around nervously again, checking her surroundings for any sign of the bots before the lights change and the walk symbol turned green for her to walk across the road. She jogged across the road and she looked ahead. The restaurant was on the left and she was relieved.

She grabbed out deodorant to spray on herself and grabbed her heels out to put on quickly before she walked towards the entrance to the restaurant quickly. She glanced at the time again, and she gasped as she saw it was seven-thirty. She was very, very late. She knew she had a lot of explaining to do, and she hoped he would listen. As she approached the entrance, she noticed a few men gathered on the other side of the entrance. She was a little alarmed, but they seemed to be chatting among themselves, so she made a beeline for the entrance.

"Well, well..." Saphira jumped and stopped in her tracks as she saw Claudia walking out of the restaurant, wearing a glittery, red dress, with a big, victorious smile. "You finally made it. My goodness, look at all that sweat. EWW!" She shuddered with a grimace before grinning at Saphira. "But you made it."

Saphira took deep breaths as she frowned in confusion at the woman. "Claudia? I see you came here to dinner too." She tried to remain polite to the woman as Claudia stepped out of the building. "I am not sure what you mean by me making it, but I..."