Through Ash and Dust (ROTB)

Chapter 16

With the rules now tightened to ensure that she and Transit never meet, Saphira found herself practically glued to the autobots. Whenever she is with Optimus, Arcee or Bumblebee, they really take the rules seriously. At least, with Optimus, stretching her legs when she needs, but she still felt like she was stuck like glue to them. While Saphira fully understood the reason for it, she did find she disliked it a little bit. Only Mirage was relaxed about the whole rules, and he has given her a little more freedom, even though it was at the expense of her safety. Though Saphira admittedly liked that, so she began to hang out with him more. He's enjoyed the company, and he keeps trying to chip away her fear of letting herself have a friend. Which, whether she's realized or not, has slowly been melting away as she relaxes around Mirage.

Despite that, Saphira obeyed the rules rather well. She now knew the gravity of the war, now that Optimus has explained it further to her, so it made her realize that Transit should not be taken lightly. She legitimately wanted to make sure she wasn't a burden. No matter how Optimus tried to word it, he saw her as one, and she knew it. She wasn't stupid, and she wasn't going to accept anything else but that.

And even though she knows Optimus has seen the contents of her diary, she had actually found herself being okay with it. After all, he wasn't actively peaking into her diary. She just happened to write an entry into the diary, and he could see what she was writing. Sure, he knew what her thoughts were, and that could be used against her, but she honestly felt that he would not do that. He would know just how trustworthy she is by what she writes, and she thought it was a good thing.

But she has not really improved much with her pain holding her back. She might have had that burrito, but she has not eaten much since then. And it has been a few days. She honestly would feel sick whenever she smelt food, and even Optimus was getting even more worried about it. Especially as she was still losing more weight. He didn't know how much weight a human could even lose before they really were nothing but skin, and bone. But after seeing her healthy weight compared to now...he realized that she could still die under their protection. And she would be doing it to herself.

Saphira was currently sitting on a crate in the warehouse at the wharf waiting patiently for Bumblebee to show up. Optimus was parked near her, as he had agreed to allow her to go and see Lion King tonight with the young bot. She had put off going to see it, but Bumblebee has been bugging her enough that she had no choice but to give in and agree to his begging. And he was ecstatic, according to Optimus. She herself was not even sure what to expect from the movie. But she hoped she would enjoy it.

Arcee rolled into the warehouse and Saphira smiled when she saw the bike approaching. "I see the young bot is making you wait." She transformed as Saphira nodded with a smile. "For someone who really wants to see this movie, he is surely taking his time."

"Yeah, he is. But he is on his way, and that's all that matters." Saphira stretched her arms and yawned a little. "I am not sure what to expect from the movie, to be honest. But I am primarily going just to shut him up. He's been making me listen to The Lion Sleeps Tonight every time he takes me for a drive. I'm sick of hearing the song now."

"Bumblebee sure has his way of convincing anyone to do what he wants. He's been that way for as long as I can remember." Arcee moved to sit by the crate and relax next to Saphira. "Bumblebee even mentioned that he expects that you will binge on popcorn, or whatever, while you watch the movie."

Saphira grimaced a little when told she should be eating something while watching the movie. "I don't know...I haven't felt like eating for a few days, Arcee. Every time I think about it, I feel nauseous. I hate the feeling."

Arcee looked at her and saw the girl looking down with a sad expression. "You do know you're starving yourself." The girl shrugged as she didn't seem to care. "This is what I think you should do, Saphira. Given what we know about you, you should know that the best kind of victory is to show the world that you won't be beaten down."