Jasper Rain ((TFP ULTRA MAGNUS X OC))

8

Ailani sped over the slick-paved tarmac with her radio blasting the amped beat of 'Billie Jean,' the repetitive thumping of raindrops against the hood of her army green truck harmonizing with the thrum of the bass. Her bare hands gripped the steering wheel with a vengeance, knuckles pigmented white as her luminescent hues locked on the empty road ahead of her.

She didn't know where she was going, or if she was going to stop anytime soon. The shards of energon she previously discarded to her pocket were now scattered across the passenger seat, glistening against the street lights as she drove underneath them; teasing her peripheral vision as she focused on the never ending stretch of road.

It had been hours since Ailani left Washington, and she had blown clear passed Jasper ages ago. Long streaks of damp, orange desert sand played as glum scenery during her long drive. There was an occasional tumbleweed caught in the shrubbery beside the left lane. The sun had long since set behind the dark clouds, and the only light aiding Ailani's vision were the headlights on the front of her truck and the ones rooted on the side of the road. Her mind raced with thoughts of August and Soundwave; trying with every fiber of her being to figure out what it was they wanted from her. Megatron had been defeated years ago, and Starscream was somewhere in space. They were left without a leader — without a cause. There was not a single thing that made the tiniest bit of sense as to why they were still fighting. There was no way they could know about Molly.

So what did they want?

Revenge was a topic that kept replaying in Ailani's mind as she aimlessly drove. It was the only real possibility, and the only thing that obviously made sense. Though, now that Soundwave and August were left without a leader, and had no formal rules to go by, it meant that they had absolutely nothing to lose. It made them all the more dangerous, and made Ailani's sick feeling worsen as she veered to the side of the road.

She switched off the car and watched blankly as the headlights died with the car's ignition. Her hands fell heavily to her lap, and she leaned against the backrest of the drivers seat. Her conversation with Optimus replayed in her head, and she again found herself wondering what she was going to do. She pondered again why she was the one chosen to be Earth's protecter, and how her clumsy and slobbish personality was overlooked by the Ancients to get her to be chosen in the first place.

She was dramatically unfit for such a huge roll, and buried her face in her hands as she took in a deep, needed breath. Her body shook as she sat there, parked in the middle of nowhere. Her mind was now racing, and she felt an edged panic rising in her chest the longer she stayed there. It was a familiar sensation, and at the realization that the feeling she had mistaken to be panic wasn't panic at all; but disgust. Loathing. Detestation.

Her head perked from her palms at her body's warning signs. Her narrowed hues flicked about the vacant street before her. The streetlight above her flickered eerily as the blank silence consumed her.

Her thick brows narrowed into a scowl as one hand flew to her seatbelt buckle and the other to the door handle. In one swift motion, she hand jumped from her truck's drivers seat and onto the slick tarmac, her boots crunching against the loose gravel as she took slow steps toward the center of the street. Her head flicked from the right to the left, eyes peeled for a head of pale blond hair.

The sensation of abhorrence in her heart intensified as she halted in her slow pace, hands balled tightly at her sides as the accompanying sound of footsteps made it to her ears. Ailani shifted to look over her shoulder, and as expected, August stood behind her.

He appeared to have aged considerably since their last meeting. His once piercing blue eyes were now a dull shade of purple, and his slim shoulders appeared to be broader. His rain-watered hair was matted to his head, and brushed against the neck of his dark grey turtle neck. He had dark bags cupping the under-lids of his eyes, and stubble dotted his jawline and chin; refracting against the pale light illuminating the street they stood on. He had a forced, yet soft, smile on his face as Ailani turned completely to face him; her expression greatly contrasting against his.