Calling to the night (Optimus, Cassandra, Bumblebee and Belle)

Optimus Prime was the last of the Primes and the leader of the Autobots and he was alone.

Sure he had some of his Autobot brothers here on Earth with him but that wasn't what he meant by being alone. He was alone because there was no one here on Earth to share himself with. The Autobots all revered him and idolised him and none of them wanted to entertain the idea that he too was flawed, that he too sometimes felt like he needed someone to lean on.

It had been a contributing factor as to why he had begun sending out calls for Autobots to join them here on Earth.

The other factors were much stronger of course, including the fact that he was beginning to see this as his home more and more. Day by day more of his brothers and sisters arrived on the planet and yet... not one partner for him.

He watched as the 'shooting star' began to burn it's way through the sky, crashing in for a landing in the middle of the empty field he was stood in,

"Rise my Autobot ally." he declared with a small smile, "And enjoy the freedoms and peace of our new home with me and the others."

Belle had decided that she would go with her sister Cassandra, and respond to the call that they had received from Optimus Prime. An Autobot they both knew. However she had a thing fora little Decepticon now and again, but they were the cause of all of this devastation, the death of Cybertron so she had been told that was.

Having never seen Cybertron before, or in fact any Mech...Belle was out of her mind nervous about what was going to happen when she got to Earth.

Nevertheless she was here now and slowly she transformed out of her travel form to her own rather different humanoid form. It was exactly like a human apart from her eyes which shimmered and changed like opals in the nights sky, they shone ever so slightly and her waist length blue hair was different to humans, but apart from that -and the fact she was at least 12 feet tall- Belle looked almost entirely human.

Underneath of course she was Cybertonian.

Blushing softly when she saw the Mech standing in front of her, Belle was in awe. He seemed to exude power, he was so tall, his paintwork so attractive, and his eyes were locked onto her! It was like his sensors were reading her very spark. It made the air blow a little faster through her vents just thinking about Mechs! Now one was here!

"H-hello." She blushed softly, looking around she saw other Mechs, no Femmes at all and she blushed slightly "I am designation Belle."

Bumblebee was a little bit messed up still from his arrival on Earth; namely he was still unable to actually speak, just selecting random pieces of human broadcasts that he thought fit what he wanted to say best. It was a terribly inefficient way of communicating to say the least but at least he was able to get his point across... more often than not anyway.

But the fact of the matter was that he had told Optimus that he would follow him to meet up with the two new Autobots. Was it Bumblebee's fault that his fearless leader hadn't absorbed enough human culture to get the pop culture reference? The answer was probably yes but that wasn't how Bumblebee liked to think about it.

So when the first of the two Autobots crash landed, Bumblebee decided that it would be best if he showed himself now. Rolling out from behind a bush in his car mode, he shifted into his robot mode to stand beside Optimus,

"Welcome to planet Earth... home to billions of lifeforms." he quoted from some nature documentary before looking at Optimus sheepishly, "I think I'm going to get in trouble..."

He blinked a few times as he saw her shape for the first time. He grinned at her and gave her a double thumbs up,

"You are..." he paused before selecting, "Red Freaking Hot!"

Belle blushed brighter when the other Mech, stepped forwards and introduced himself, he was smaller than the first one she had met but he was no less intimidating or attractive to her. In fact, his lighthearted air put her completely at ease while the other seemed to be far too intense for her to cope with, as the first Mech she was speaking with.

Although there was a tug to both of them which could only be what Cassandra had explained, Belle was only young and had never had a Sparkmate before, so, this was her instincts kicking in and calling for her to make her choice.

Needless to say she squashed those instincts.

Unable to stop a nervous giggle when the newest bright yellow Autobot welcomed her Belle smiled shyly at the two of them, unsure of what would happen next.

"Thank you...although it was my sisters idea to respond to your message. She should be here soon..." Belle whispered softly, Cassandra was more confident than she and Belle had no doubt she would command the Mechs attention -unfortunately "May I know your designations...uhm, please?"

Unsure of how to speak to Mechs, the Femme averted her shimmering gaze to the ground although it was closer to looking at the sweet yellow bot that the fearsome leader. Smiling softly she commented; "I hope you do not get into too much trouble." Belle teased, looking up at the bots with a shy smile.

Optimus sighed a little bit and glanced over at a sheepish... but not repentant, Bumblebee. It was entirely too obvious to see what had happened. Bumblebee had disobeyed him and his order to stay away, in favour of coming to meet these new autobots with him. He was... less than pleased that his orders had been ignored and decided the for now he simply had to let it go. Turning to the new autobot, Belle, he bowed to her a little bit,

"A pleasure to meet you Belle." he told her warmly, "I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots here on Earth."

When Bumblebee started... quoting, he frowned to himself and made a mental note to have some of the more technologically advanced Autobots take a look at his vocal software again. Speaking only in quotes must get tiresome for the little yellow bot after all. He paused,

"When your sister heard of our message... what was her reaction I wonder?" he asked her with a small smile before gesturing to Bumblebee, "You may call me simply Optimus. And this... this yellow rule-breaker is Bumblebee."

He smirked and glanced sideways at Bumblebee,

"Oh I'll find something especially suited to him don't you worry..." he said before turning back to her, "What is your sister's designation?"

Belle couldn't help but blush when the Mech, Optimus introduced himself to her properly, it made her circuitry shiver a little bit and she couldn't help but smile brightly at learning the other bots name, it was so cheerful and it matched his colouring to a T. Honestly she could have guessed that before she had asked.

Looking up at the sky she could see the trail of her sisters form speeding down from the atmosphere it would be a while yet until she arrived on Earth and in the right place however.

"Pleased to meet you, Optimus, and Bumblebee." The Femme murmured, glancing up at Bumblebee with a shy smile "I like your designation, it matches your handsome paintwork."

When they asked her about her sister and her reaction to the message she was a little bit confused, why did they not ask about her reaction to the message? Although she would follow the leaders commands she didn't want to be punished as well as Bumblebee! She heard that there were few to no Femmes here...with the Allspark gone, creating Sparklings could only be done with Femmes...it made sense Mechs would break orders to meet Femmes.

"My sister is Designation Cassandra, she was most pleased when she heard the message from the Autobots, we were able to come out of hiding again and that pleased her. Although, I myself am neutral in this war, I was created after we fled Cybertron so...I know not much about it." Belle explained "Maybe...you could inform me?" She asked with a soft blush.

Bumblebee had to admit that being upstaged by Optimus was not a feeling he like so much as a feeling he had gotten used to. He frowned a little bit at the other bigger machine but didn't let it really affect him and he grinned at Belle widely, happy to know her name now. It was always nice to know that beauty had another name after all.

He looked up at the 'shooting star'-like object before grinning a little bit. It wouldn't be long now. Soon another would join them on their new home and it would be like they had never fought in a war or anything. Hopefully,

"Stop... you'll... make me blush!" Bumblebee quoted over the radio before grinning wider, "You ain't too bad yourself hot stuff!"

Bumblebee frowned a little bit. Of course it would make sense that Optimus would want to know the reaction of the sister. After all, he wanted to try and figure out if it wasn't some kind of plot by the decepicons. He wouldn't put it past them to be honest, it stank of their underhanded ways to be damned sure,

"Cassadra..." he repeated with a blink, turning to Optimus in time to see the older bot hiding some kind of emotional response. He smiled a little bit, "A brave new world for you... just beyond the riverbend! And I'll help you! Yes sir I'll help like you ain' never seen before yessir!"

Belle couldn't help but giggle soft each time she heard Bumblebee speak, although she was still nervous about being around Mechs, given what she had been told by Cassandra she knew to be on her guard but...Bumblebee seemed so friendly she didn't think that he would be one of those Mechs. The others she had yet to meet she couldn't speak for, but it seemed that Optimus kept a tight ship here.

Tilting her head to one side, Belle just then realised something and she was wondering about Bumblebee, he didn't speak the same way as she thought he would do.

"You speak differently." She commented with a light smile before laughing and smiling wider "I like it." Belle complimented with a shy smile on her lips, rubbing her toes into the ground making a small pot hole there

They didn't seem to have many questions for her but she had many for them! Belle stifled them though, she thought they might be annoyed by her queries...biting her lip plate softly, her eyes shifted to glimmer white and purple. Lifting them she played with the ends of her blue hair to calm her spinning valves.

"I can't wait to learn." Belle admitted with a bright smile "Where do you have your base? Are there any other Mechs there? Do you live with the humans? Uhm...my apologies I promised myself not to ask too many questions...do you have any for myself while my sister arrives?"

Optimus had to say that it was nice to see that not only had she figured out that something was different about Bumblebee but that it was his voice. Strangely enough a lot of the newer autobots just assumed that he was being random or something by shouting out quotes from films to match what they were doing. It wasn't right and his right hand man deserved a heck of a lot better than that from the people around him.

When she mentioned the name of the bot coming down to Earth, Optimus stiffened a little bit but just enough to be absolutely certain. He swallowed thickly,

"Cassandra you say?" he asked her quietly before looking up at the approaching bot in the sky, "Well then... this might get interesting."

He chuckled a little bit and shook his head a little bit before responding to her,

"Our base is currently with the humans. Either as vehicles in disguise or as the weapons to ensure peace in this world." he told her with a grin before nodding, "There are other mechs, more come often and that's brilliant for our cause don't you think?"

Belle wondered what had happened to poor Bumblebee that would mean he was unable to speak, could the medical officers not fix him or something? Or was it a more recent injury? Frowning a little bit as she thought about it, Belle lightened her mood and thought she would ask about it later on, now wasn't the time, they hardly knew each other after all.

Tilting her head to one side, Belle frowned softly;

"Why is it going to get interesting? Have the two of you met before? I mean...I don't think she has ever mentioned you to me..." Biting her lip softly Belle looked slightly apologetic if that fact was going to hurt Optimus, it seemed that he did in fact know her sister, why else would he react that way?

With a small smile on her lips she clasped her hands together and nodded her head, although she was not an Autobot she was happy that they were going to be able to have more Mechs. Although she was finding a certain Autobot really very attractive, the smaller yellow bot Bumblebee.

Smiling softly she couldn't help but beam;

"That's great for your cause! Although I...I'm a little nervous." Belle admitted with a bright blush "You are the first Mechs I've met, there seem to be a lot of them in your base...and no Femmes to speak of."

Bumblebee was a little bit embarrassed that his injury had been brought up so quickly. Well it was just great wasn't it? The first thing she really learnt about him and it was that he was crippled with the ability of speech being taken away from him, meaning he was at the mercy of whatever the TV and Radio shows had running at the time. It was really rather depressing to be quite honest but he was more than aware that there was nothing to be done about it.

He had researched it extensively.

When conversation turned to Optimus and Cassandra he couldn't help but chuckle a little bit,

"Optimus and Cassandra... sitting in a tree... K I S S I N G!" He sang in a childlike voice before pointing to Optimus, "Always had a thing for her... well, that's just what I think."

Bumblebee found himself hoping that Belle would agree to join the autobot cause because he would really love to spend more time with her. This triggered his radio receiver and it began to make him talk before he could filter it, broadcasting his thoughts,

"Oh happy days, she's coming to stay!" he gushed, trying to cover his face in embarrassment even as his voice module continued, "You're just too good to be true... can't take my eyes off of you... the sight of you leaves me weak... I want to hold you so much..."

He slapped himself and his voice modulator stopped there. Bumblebee's eyes had a touch of pink in them, betraying his blush.

Belle opened her mouth in shock when she heard that Optimus had a crush on her sister, she had been a dedicated Autobot on Cybertron so she thought they merely knew each other through the cause they fought for but it seemed that it might be a little bit more than that. She would have to torture the information out of Cassandra later on when she arrived.

Unable to stop a little giggle Belle winked;

"I'll make sure she has an upload of that information, I am sure she will be most pleased to hear she has admirers before she has even arrived." She laughed softly, relaxing into herself a little bit and enjoying the attention from the Mechs intensely, never having had it before today.

When Bumblebees intercom began to go on the fritz she felt really sorry for him, it seemed the filter between thoughts and communication transmissions were broken too. Unable to stop her bright blush and shy smile when her receptors picked up his speech, Belle tried to regain some sort of composure before attempting to speak.

"You look sweet when you blush Bee..." She whispered "Don't be embarrassed I would be lying if I said my processors weren't also desiring an embrace." Belle admitted before coughing slightly and moving on "Besides my sister did care to explain the feelings between Mechs and Femmes, no doubt our sparks will settle soon."

Optimus closed his mouth and refused to speak about his feelings for Cassandra. Whatever his feelings for Cassandra were, they were complex and passionate. He just wasn't even sure what to define their relationship as anymore. Mainly because he was unable to figure out just how he felt for her right now. It would hopefully become clearer as he met her again.

When Belle winked at him he managed a smile in return,

"Yes... yes I imagine that Cassandra would enjoy knowing that she's already turning heads." he agreed with a small smirk, "She never much cared to draw attention to herself... but never the less she enjoyed having some positive attention."

Optimus had to say that although he felt sorry for Bumblebee, he knew that the young bot was going to be set on the path to finding his spark-mate with that one malfunction. The reason why he felt bad for the younger bot was that it was doubtful that he would ever regain full control of his vocal processors.

Seeing that the two of them seemed to be having a conversation all their own, off in their own little world, Optimus coughed loudly to get their attention. With a rueful smirk, he gestured to the quickly approaching Cassandra,

"Thought you might like to rejoin the waking world before your sister arrived."

Belle stepped a little bit closer to Bumblebee while they were talking to each other, it was nice to be able to talk to someone new and especially when they were so handsome and sweet. The way that he talked made her heart flutter...even though it was strange and different, she was sure that she would never get tired of hearing him speak.

She wondered if it was difficult for him.

Realising that she was in her own little world enjoying looking over his body armour, letting her gears and vents go into overdrive with wondering about what it would feel like to reach out and touch his innermost circuitry...

The cough from Optimus made Belle gasp and squeak;

"Oh I am so sorry I didn't mean to offend!" Bowing her head to both bots Belle stayed silent, and watched as her sister crashed into the Earth not too far away from where her own trajectory had ended.

Ever since she had heard the message from Optimus Prime, Cassandra had known that it was time for her to recon Earth, only her sister had chosen to come with her on this occasion. It was nice to have her support with her even though she didn't believe in the Autobots cause she couldn't blame her. Cassandra had purposefully kept all knowledge of Cybertron from her delicate sister, in case she should do something foolish.

Speeding down to the planet, Belle having landed before her, Cassandra braced herself for impact and she hit the already donated ground with more force than her sister, she was a more powerful bot after all. It was expected.

Very slowly she began to transform into her new humanoid type form and for a moment she wondered if it would be pleasing to Optimus. The few Decepticon Sparklings she had rescued had the same structure as them and she knew the Decepticons cared nothing for human forms. Would the same be said for Optimus?

Would he even care after she left?


Raising her gaze she smiled at her sister;

"Here only a mere 30 minutes and already you have a Mech on your heels...I should have left you at home baby sister. You'll break hearts." Cassandra teased her sibling before extending her hand out towards Optimus her nerves ticking over her circuits "Optimus, nice to see you again."

For some reason the rest of the world didn't seem to matter to Optimus anymore.

Even though he had begun the conversation with Bumblebee and Belle about being in their own little world, he was not taking part in it anymore. Kind of ironic considering he was now doing exactly what he had pulled them up for not two minutes ago. The irony was lost on him however, as everything else was too, when Cassandra stepped out of the impact centre.

What was it about looking at this single femmes that made his entire inner circuitry race both with anger and with desire and affection?

Of course he knew why the anger was there. She had left without a world during their darkest hours as a group. And she had left him... when he had needed her the most. And to add insult to injury, she had refused to tell him why or where she was going. It had almost broken him and had, quite possibly, cost the autobots the war.

And yet... the affection was there. The love that he had once felt for her, pushed down deep so that it wouldn't break him again. Just seeing her again was dragging it back to the forefront of his mind,

"Cassandra..." he said quietly, just staring into her eyes, "It has been a long time."

He shook her hand a little hesitantly before giving a faint smile, unable to resist adding,

"I hope you'll stay longer this time."

Bumblebee would have swallowed nervously if he was actually capable of the action. She was stepping closer to him and the proximity... it was doing things to him. His armour was feeling heavier and hotter than it ever had done before and much, much, too tight in areas too.

Gods of cybertron! She was already getting under his shell and worming her way into his processors without him knowing!

She wasn't outfitted with armour so what he was seeing right now was basically Bella in the all natural. It was... a beautiful sight to be damned sure. He tried to swallow before remembering that it really wasn't going to work. The cough made him jump,

"Don't worry... yer ain' done nothin' wron'." he told her, his accent shifting due to the radio signals.

Watching the interaction between Optimus and Cassandra, he leant in to Bella and lowered his vocal output so that only she could hear him,

"My... isn't this an awkward moment?"

Belle couldn't help but blush a little bit when she saw him look at her the way that she was looking at him, although she thought that their sparks would settle down eventually, the excitement of being around the opposite sex was just so new and exciting...Belle didn't know how to handle it. Perhaps it would calm down but...would it really be such a bad thing if it didn't?

Bee seemed sweet, he was handsome and looked just a little older than herself, he was...perfect.

Sighing softly as she let those thoughts run through her processor she hoped that Bumblebee didn't mind, she wanted to make sure she was coming across as cool but she didn't think she was really doing a good job of it.

"Oh yeah." She stated rolling her eyes "I can't believe she never mentioned Optimus it is so obvious they have a thing together. Uhm...do you have a Sparkmate by the way? J-just curious of course." She whispered back so that they were the only ones that could hear. She didn't want Cassandra teasing her any more than she had already.

Cassandra could see in Optimus' eyes the way he felt about her, she could feel it in the low remains of the spark mating they had done. He was still in love with her as she was with him but the spark bond they shared also told her something else. It spoke to her of his anger, and his hurt that she had left him in the hour of need for him and the Autobot cause.

She communicated through the bond that she was so deeply sorry for the way she had acted but she was going to have to explain it to Optimus, he needed to know and Belle needed to know.

"We need to speak in private Optimus..." She whispered softly " There are many things I need to discuss with you and well I hope when we do speak you will listen with an open spark."

Cassandra shifted her gaze from Optimus' keen blue gaze to the floor and she hoped that he would at least listen to her, there was a reason she left her Sparkmate and each day she was away from Optimus she felt the never ending ache in her spark. It just would not budge. Even when raising Sparklings.

"I just wanted to say, for what it's worth, I am very sorry." She whispered gently so that only the two of them could hear.