Mechanical love

Chapter Fourteen

"Did it work?" Carolina echoed, looking around the surrounding, empty blackness.

She was clearly talking to somebody in front of her, but there was nothing there; she was standing alone in the dark.

Lennox's voice was the one that responded; his voice ringing out in the vast hollowness, "We couldn't make it. He...he's gone Carol."

The girl's eyes widened in shock, "What? But you told me that he was safe! Sam brought him back! Where is everybody?"

"Gone. We turned Sam in."

Gripping her hands into her hair she tried to stop herself from drowning in the sense of confusion and loss that suddenly engulfed her.

She felt her throat tighten and she reached out a hand for where Lennox should have been. She could see their faces; hear screams echoing from between her ears.

Lennox, Graham, Epps; all of their faces faded and barely visible...all of them covered in blood!

"Carolina!" a voice cried in the background, the sound faded and distant; almost like it was underwater.

"Sideswipe!" she screamed suddenly; her scenery changing abruptly, "Don't go so fast! You'll kill yourself!" she shrieked, whirling around in disorientation as she found herself seated inside the Corvette.

In the back of her mind, she knew that the sudden shift in scenery wasn't physically possible, but she was trapped within her own mind. Nothing sense and she could not reason with herself.

Her skin felt like ice, her eyes were on fire.

"I'm sorry..." the silver Autobot crackled over the speakers. He sounded distant, weak; dying, "Nobody made it. They won..."

Screaming violently she slammed her fists repeatedly into the dashboard as she yelled at him. "NO! You're lying to me! He said he was back! It's not true!"

"Carolina!" the distance voice repeated.

"Even Optimus can't come back from the dead." Sideswipe replied and they dropped off the dark road and began to plummet into blackness; her stomach flying to her chest at the feeling of falling. "I told you, everyone was killed."

"FUCKING STOP IT!" She shrieked as she fell. She opened her eyes in horror when she realized that she was falling alone; Sideswipe was gone too.

She flailed and kicked, trying to fight away the terror of falling that encased her; trying to destroy the unbearable sense of loss that gripped her.

"Carolina!"

She opened her mouth not caring that it wasn't going to save her; and screamed.

"Carolina!" came a yell, a pair of hands gripping her shoulders to shake her. "Wake up!"

She drew in a sharp, violent breathe that burned her throat raw as her eyes flew open and she grabbed at empty air frantically.

A pair of strong hands gripped her on the face, causing her to focus.

She was met with the sight of a pair of neon blue eyes, and a dark mop of blue-black tresses trailing into trimmed facial hair of the same color.

"O-Optimus..." she breathed, tears welling up in her eyes as she shook her head violently.

She shot a hand out at lightning speed and gripped the front of his jacket, burying her face into his chest. "You're real...you're real..."

She whispered the phrase over and over under her breath; trying to reassure herself. The Prime stroked her hair gently as he tried to soothe her.

He wasn't entirely familiar with how to ease a human's suffering, but he'd always noticed that whenever he touched her hair; she would calm down considerably.