Seven Wonders|Transformers.

Chapter 2: Strange Magic.

6 years later.

"Can I ask you something?" Clara heard the voice of Mirage ask as she groggily opened her eyes from her bed. The woman peered through her lashes at her clock which read one fifteen in the afternoon. It was her day off, Sam's day to potentially be getting a car finally. She just wanted rest, she'd been doing overnight at the lab and hospital almost all week, but of course, Mirage put his holomatter avatar to use (when she and her mom learned about his holomatter avatar it was strange but in a sense, it gave him more freedom). Six years, well actually a little over six years, since she and Mirage met in that ancient cybertronian ship and she touched the lexicon. Of course, she still ended up in what she called the limbo from time to time in her dreams. Her mom, Rose, as she expected handled Mirage and everything about him and what happened to Clara like a champ.

Though, again of course, some people didn't know Mirage even know who exactly Mirage was underneath his holomatter avatar or about what happened. That was namely her mom's friend Judy Witwicky, her husband Ron, and her son Samuel, who is also her mom's godson and he calls her mom Aunt and Clara was more like a friend, though sometimes he did call her Aunt, but it would just slip out. It seemed strange but a ten-year age gap between her and Sam made something like sister weird to them, given their major differences in maturity and the fact Judy and Ron considered Clara more of a peer and friend. Life, though, had moved on after the lexicon and the ship, Mirage fell in comfortably with this life and her mom was more than happy to have him around, he even called her mom. Clara had gone from Clara Grey to Doctor Clara Grey in those six years, tackling a medical degree and Ph.D. program. Everything had changed but they never would forget about the lexicon, what she could do in her dreams, and what Alpha Trion and Primus said. "Actually, technically can I ask you multiple somethings?" the autobot corrected himself while Clara looked at him through bleary eyes while he chomped down on the potato chips he didn't even need, he just liked them.

"You do know as a cybertronian you don't need human food to sustain yourself." Clara bluntly reminded him with a dry expression on her face but Mirage just shrugged.

"I know, I just like the taste." He told her and the woman sighed with a groan, sitting up and throwing her covers off of herself. She truly didn't know what it was like to have a brother, let alone a sibling, until Mirage came around. Now she did and it was a lot.

"What is it you want to ask, Mirage?" Clara tiredly asks, rubbing her sleep-ridden eyes as Mirage plopped down next to her on the bed.

"So, I know we're meeting up with Sam and Ron today about getting Sam potentially a car. I don't get why Sam has to get an A and then he collects money then his dad also gives money, didn't you have to make all of your own money and buy the car, why?" Mirage rambles out his question and Clara rolls her eyes but opens her mouth to speak when he interrupts. "Are they going to pay for his college too? It wasn't like that for you." He blurts out his second question, unknowingly interrupting his friend. Though the chewing from Mirage eating the potato chips got more on her nerves and she snatched the bag from him irritated, which caused Mirage to let out an offended 'hey'.

"First off, my mom would've paid but I refused to let her, on both accounts, car and school." Clara replied with a tired sigh, standing up from her bed and walking over to her closet to get herself some clothes while taking off her bonnet and placing it atop her dresser. "Secondly, Mirage, I had student loans because there was no way at the time with her cancer she could've afforded it, they don't want that for Sam. You know I went into the military as a medic to get rid of my loans and pay for graduate school, medical school, and my PhD. The stipend from the latter two together was not enough." She reminded him with a small sigh, Mirage leaning forward taking back the bag of chips as Clara walked into her bathroom and began to change. "Mine and Sam's circumstances are different, he has privileges that I never did, and that's okay. It's important he acknowledges it when dealing with other people who have similar circumstances, like that lovely girl Mikaela he has a crush on and she briefly mentored her for a science camp when they were in eighth grade." Clara stopped herself when she noticed she was rambling slightly and quickly finished getting dressed. Sam would get off at two thirty today and they were supposed to meet Ron and him at the school, then go to the used car dealership.