Transformers 1. Suspicions

**Hello my readers! If you don't know, this is a rewrite of my 'main' storyline, Ashwood's Rebirth Part One.**

**This is going to be in third person and will explain about more about the plot line of Ashwood's Story, which will definitely be posted when ARC ONE of Ashwood's Rebirth is complete. I'm sorry for this long wait, and I'm sorry for having to rewrite this, but the words no longer flow with the plot.**

**I do not own Transformers.**

* * *

**AU; Alissa Ross was a normal sixteen year old. Well, as normal as you can get with an alien consciousness running around in her head. She was just wanting to finish her Sophomore year in high school, not to get dragged into an alien war for what appears to be a second time. Mentioned OP/OC and M/OC**

* * *

**Chapter 1:**

**Suspicions**

* * *

MY NAME IS ALISSA MARIE ROSS. I lived in Tranquility Nevada for the first five years of my life and the Hayden Kansas for the next ten. Last year, I moved to Wichita Kansas, two hours east away from Hayden. I have an older sister who is twenty two and my parents are divorced. Mom got custody of me, which is why we moved to Hayden.

Last year, something... amazing and utterly terrifying happened to me when we went on a family trip to Mission City. I saw the creatures from my dreams appear from ordinary vehicles and saved as many humans as they could. There was a silver one, it/he had red eyes/optics and when he tried to take a blue eye/optic one, I had ran and stopped in front of it/him.

'_Not him._' I had said. '_Not any of them._' The freaky part was, I was trying to run away when this happened. And I didn't even speak in my own voice! It had turned more flow-y, but more... mechanical. '_Leave this planet be._'

Both had been too shocked to move until the small silver one – the one with blue eyes/optics – lunged forward and gently grabbed me before taking off to join the others. When he let me down, I regained control of my body and bolted, not even noticing until later that he had called me '_Ashwood_'.

But, that was a month ago.

A bombing, they say. Terrorists and illusion gas, they lie. I don't believe them. I know. I _know_.

**/=\ S |-| \^/ () () |)'S** **|} | |3 | T |-|**

A blonde with multiple locks of hair dyed a different color than the other walked in the park. Her honey blonde hair contrasted the silver, red, blue, and black, but one could barely see the yellow and gold that had been dyed as well. It went to the small of her back. She had stunning blue eyes and a small scar on the corner of her mouth that disappeared when she smiled, so she smiled no matter what. She was thin, but she couldn't fathom why as she constantly ate.

She shivered and pulled her baby blue jacket closer to her as she looked at her sandal clad feet. Her white slacks swished as she took a step before she paused and looked up, noticing a very familiar Pontiac Solstice parked in one of the stalls. She shook her head lightly and began to walk past it when a cool hand wrapped around her arm, making her jerk to face the Solstice. "Let me go!" She said, her voice wavering slightly as she pulled on her arm.

The African American man had a sorrowful expression and the blonde noticed that he had stunning blue eyes as well, if not more electric than hers. "Ah afraid ah can't do that." He said with a thick accent. The teenager stiffened and clenched her free hand around her keys, ready to stab him with them if he didn't let her go.

"Let. Me. Go." She growled, glaring at the man. He flinched slightly, but shook his head. A second later, the Top-kick and Camaro from Mission City parked on either side of the Solstice, making her freeze. "Please, just let me go." She whimpered, knowing that whenever the blue optic ones, then the others were sure to follow. "Ya don't know what's going to happen. Just let me go."

"What's going to happen?" He asked, loosening his grip slightly, but not enough that she could break. She looked at the sky nervously as an F-22 flew over head. She shivered, which didn't go unnoticed. "Bee, Ironhide, Ah got her." He said to the two vehicles. She turned with him, screwing her eyes shut to the point of tears. She shouldn't have went digging for that extra information on Mission City! She just wanted to see what the others who had been there thought. She didn't want to get their attention again!

"Who are you, young one?" A gruff, accented voice asked. She opened her eyes slightly to see someone who could easily pass as a drill sergeant in front of her.

"M-my name is A-Alissa." She stammered. "A-Alissa Ross." The man stayed quiet for a second before frowning.

"Where were you last month, on May 5th?" He questioned. Alissa felt sick as she swallowed thickly, something _very_ off about this.

"M-Mission C-City. I-I was with Rose, my sister, and my mother when we heard explosions. We ran out of the city as fast as we could." She answered weakly, leaving out the part of her saving the small silver blue optic robot. The man nodded slightly at this and the other one let go of her. However, as soon as he did so, Alissa's feeling of dread doubled and she doubled over in pain. A blond man, looking eerily like her, caught her along with the man who had grabbed her arm.

"What's wrong?" The first man she met asked. "Bee, a don't think that...?"

"No, it would've done so by now..." The blonde murmured. Alissa opened her eyes and looked at them carefully as she backed away from them.

"What would've done so by now?" She whispered to the blond, who had blanched with the unknown men. "What are you hiding from me? What _isn't_ the government hiding from the people?"

"She heard that? But only ExIS could here our comms." The African American mused. Alissa looked at all of them before baking away and shaking her head.

"Ya barmy. All of ya." She declared. "Ya keep talkin' as if ah'm... ah'm some sort of alien."

"That accent, where did you pick it up from?" The eldest one asked.

"Ah was raised in the country." She defended, crossing her arms as she rubbed her throat. She hated hiding her accent, but in the city, she kept being made fun of. "I personally like my accent, but the jerks and jackasses in my class don't think the same way I do."

"Language youngling." The eldest snapped, making Alissa roll my eyes.

"Yeah, _sure._" She scoffed. "Look, if you whackos want to keep trying to question random people, go on, but I'm not looking for any trouble." With a sharp turn, she started to walk back towards her house.

Who were those people? What did they want with her?

Alissa shivered and pulled her jacket closer to her just as there was a rather loud, earthshaking explosion right behind her, a piece of asphalt hitting her head, making her tumble to the concrete. With an even greater shudder, Alissa slowly raised her head, knowing that if she turned around, her suspicions would be confirmed.

She had just blown off her only hope on surviving to her 18th birthday.

* * *

**Review and tell me how you want her to react!**


	2. Run

**Special thanks to you people!**

* * *

The Fox Familiar - Well, I learned that you should use the first few chapters to get all of the clichéd stuff out of the way, which is the 'damsel in distress' 'saved by Autobots' kind of stuff along with the character development, so I'm sorry about all of the cliché. I'm just getting it out of the way. I understand the tense issue, but I can't help it. I'm only human!

autobotgirlforever - Well, here's the next chapter! Hope you enjoy it!

* * *

**I don't own Transformers!**

* * *

**Chapter 2:**

**Run**

Taking a deep breath, Alissa heard a groan of bending metal before scrambling up to her feet and running. It was mission city all over again, she realized as she heard a woman scream. '_Do NOT look around._' She chanted. After scrambling around the corner of Broadway and Douglas, at the Orpheum theater, she bolted towards Hillside, desperate to find one of those vehicles. There was a charcoal black truck, right? Alissa growled at her memory issues and pushed herself to go faster. A howl sent shivers down her spine and she stumbled, her right ankle rolling.

She straightened out and automatically looked over her shoulder. There, at the end of the block, was a black, metallic creature. It had 'saliva' dripping from it's horridly made face and stood on four legs with a jagged looking tail thrashing back and forth, completely taking out the Orpheum's doors. '_That was one of our main attractions._' She thought blankly. The hound like creature's head suddenly snapped towards her and open it's mouth in a roar that nearly blew her eardrums. The pretty – to Alissa at least – blue liquid splattered all over the place and when it landed on the civilians between Alissa and the creature, they screamed and wiped it of to reveal bubbling skin. '_Poisonous! That liquid is poisonous!_'

There was a harsh clicking as it stalked two steps forward, making Alissa limp four steps back. "_Ash... Wood._"It growled, sending another shiver up her spine. She had seen documentaries on TV about the hunter and the prey and right now, she was the timid little Gazelle that always got killed. Oh, _hell_ no if she was going to just stand there and let that happen.

"Nope!" She exclaimed before turning around and bolting once more.

"_Distraction_." A voice whispered from her own mouth. It was the same voice that had taken over her body to save that silver robot. "_Don't think about the Tracker and think about something._"

Alissa scoffed, realizing that she was still in control of her body. "Think of what?! Ah'm being bloody chased!" She retorted without even thinking about it.

"_What about that cute boy? What was his name, James? You wouldn't want to miss our date with him, would you?_" The voice said. Alissa panted at running so hard for so long, but managed a weak smile. James had light blonde hair and blue eyes, but not as intense as Alissa's. He was tall, about 5'9", but so shy. She felt her body stumble and snapped from her thoughts just as she almost ran into Grove's traffic. "_No, don't stop!_"

**/=\ S |-| \^/ () () |)'S** **|} | |3 | T |-|**

The warning came too late.

**/=\ S |-| \^/ () () |)'S** **|} | |3 | T |-|**

A bone crushing weight landed on her and Alissa's head hit the concrete of the sidewalk with a harsh crack, making her pass out. The black creature let out a roaring chuckle that made the civilians in their cars, who had been forced to stop as the creature was in the street, to cover their ears and flex back into their seats as far as they could. The creature walked up to the crumpled organic and did a simple scan, which indicated two broken ribs, a bruised Humerus on her left servo, and a twisted ankle joint on her right pede. The scan also showed a concussion, but it couldn't tell if it was serious or mild though it did know the organic was temporarily offline.

It turned off the energon lines that the Autobot cybercat had opened and made sure that no energon was within it's mouth before picking up the organic roughly enough to make sure she didn't fall out while it was running. It started it's journey east, the direction the organic had been traveling. '_How in the name of Primus could this little thing ever be our hope to resurrect Cybertron? They burn at the mere touch of energon! How do they survive?_' it thought. It was on the outskirts of an organic town called Augusta ten minutes later when the sound of five raging engines was heard through it's over sensitive mechanical ears.

With a growl of an animal defending it's kill – which was almost very much true – it pushed the organic into a small, rough outcrop that his sensors couldn't see through. It turned around and ran a good hundred meters before the five offending vehicles came into view. There was a black Topkick, silver Solstice, yellow camaro, yet another yellow vehicle – an ambulance, it's CPU identified – and a blue peterbilt with red flames painted on it.

"**Tracker, where is the human?**" The Cybertronian who was the peterbilt demanded. Tracker merely growled and barred it's fangs at the five. It had orders. Orders it planned to keep.

**/=\ S |-| \^/ () () |)'S** **|} | |3 | T |-|**

'_GET THE ORGANIC FEMME AWAY FROM AUTOBOT WATCH. I DON'T CARE IF YOU HAVE TO OFFLINE HER, KEEP HER AWAY FROM THEM!_'

**/=\ S |-| \^/ () () |)'S** **|} | |3 | T |-|**

Alissa woke with a groan and rubbed her head only to wince as moving her arm hurt her ribs. She slowly felt the large gash that stretched across from her left ear to just above her left eye brow. She definitely needed stitches. Taking a deep breath before curling into a ball. '_If this is death,_' She thought bitterly. '_Then I don't want it._'

'_Relax. Help always comes._' The Voice said. Alissa screwed her eyes shut and mentally scoffed. No one ever helped her before.

Why should they now?

* * *

**Review if you wish to point out any issues or if you just want to say hi!**


	3. Meetings Part 1

**I'm alive and I have a long chapter to prove it! Chapters from here on out shall be at least 1,500 words long, which is better than my other version of this story. Sorry about the false E-mail! I was looking over the story and noticed that Ashwood speaking in Alissa's head wasn't underlined!**

**'_Thinking_' Is Ashwood**

**'_Thinking'_ Is Alissa**

* * *

autobotgirlforever: Hullo, how's life? I'm glad you like it so far!

catspajamas12: The warning was the don't wait, but you're speaking of the line break, which basically transfers to third person, time crunch or first person, and that says the title of the story, Ashwood's Rebirth.

* * *

**I do not own transformers! I only own the ExIS and plot for this story, which takes place between the first and second real life movies! If you wish to use the idea for ExIS or even one of my characters for any of my stories, please ask before you do!**

* * *

Warning!: This is where the rating begins to turn M. Short T, huh?

* * *

Alissa stumbled to where the out cove just covered her and peeked out, she fell flat on her arse as a large, black metallic hand swiped and took out the rocks covering her. Quickly rolling to the side to avoid being stepped on, she watched as the black, red-opticed robot – _Cybertronian_, her mind reminded her patiently – fought the blue opticed ones. Shaking her head and making it pound even more, she stood up, swayed, before once again taking off. Instead of running away from the battle, she did something even _her_ befuddled mind couldn't comprehend.

She ran into the fight.

The blonde shook her head and stumbled back after ten meters away from the torn out cove. What the hell was she thinking?! Apparently she want to be squashed, that's what! Leaning against one of the walls, she shivered as she peeked out and saw the pure malice in the red-opticed Cybertronian. Was that the one that saved her? A closer look said no, that's the one that kidnapped her. Once again, it was the blue-opticed ones that saved her. Was she wrong to tell the man to leave her alone? Did he know these Cybertronians personally? '_Was that man a Cybertronian?_' She thought before shaking her head. That man was very much real, not a hologram that you can stick your hand through.

'_You're letting logic control you._'

'_No shit! A bunch of 20+ foot metal aliens are fighting over me – they probably don't know the bad luck I bring – and you try telling me I can't rely on the last thing I have?_' Alissa thought snidely. '_Dear god, I'm arguing with myself!_'

'_Fine, have it your way. As soon as the Autobots begin to question you about the voice in your head, just tell them Ashwood says hi._' The motherly voice sighed. Alissa took the disappearance of the presence in her head as a good sign and slowly peeked out to see the dust cloud slowly disappearing to show the 'Autobots' standing tall and proud.

"Quickly, scan the area! Rampage couldn't have left the human that far away!" The yellow with red stripes ordered. Alissa peeked out a bit more. That was the tranquility ambulance colors! There was a chuckle and she slowly looked to her right to see the silver bot she had saved kneeling beside her.

"Hello there lil' lady." He said, offering her a clawed hand. Hesitantly, Alissa grabbed one of his digits and his other hand helped her hop into his palm. "Ya seem to be pickin' up trouble."

"_I_ am the trouble." She murmured. What was she doing? These things could easily kill her! Not to mention their blood. Oh… _OH GOD…_ "Those people!" She yelled suddenly, her eyes snapping open. "They got that liquid on their skin! That blue crap that was leaking out of that thing's mouth!"

"They are being treated for the Energon burns as we speak Miss Ross." The tallest said. Alissa craned her neck to meet blue optics that were the very same shade as the mech's who was holding her. "How was it that Rampage was able to get you after I sent my troops for you?"

"If ya had just told me something was gonna happen then ah wouldn't have ran!" Alissa said, rolling her eyes. "Ma mother is probably worried sick!"

"I can assure you Miss Ross, your mother knows you are in safe hands." He assured.

"My name is Alissa and I would prefer it if you called me that or Ali." The blonde muttered. "What does my own mother know that I don't?" She demanded in a louder tone.

"Later youngling." The yellow one said, dismissing her question and carefully plucking her by the back of her jacket. She squealed in protest at being so high up with nothing below her feet.

"I'm not a youngling! Put me down!"

"Definitely not a flier then." The charcoal black Autobot grunted. "It's can't be her then."

"C-can't be who?" Ali asked, still swinging in the yellow one's grip.

"**Ash-wood.**" The one that was the Camaro answered. Ali's electric eyes lit up slightly.

"As soon as the Autobots begin to question you about the voice in your head, just tell them Ashwood says hi." She quoted.

"_Any connection to Ashwood, ExIS or not, will grab the Decepticons attention. She must've been one of Ashwood's friends before her death._" The one holding her said. She huffed.

"If you're not gonna put me down anytime soon, Ah'm gonna unzip my jacket and let myself down!" She threatened. '_Oh dear. The 'Cons want me? Why? I can't do anything while I'm sharing a body with you._'

'You're_ this person they want?! What do you mean by sharing a body with me?!_' Ali thought, feeling thoroughly freaked out. The one holding her merely raised an optic ridge – '_Stop giving me the right terms!_' '_So you want to feel out of the loop?_' '_No._' – but didn't do anything. With an overly frustrated huff, she quickly unzipped and let her arms slid through the sleeves, revealing a sleeveless, v-neck forest green shirt with frills on the 'neck' part. She was thankful that she had a good sense of hygiene before letting go. Granted it was only about a seven foot drop from where she was dangling, the Autobots still freaked out. She landed and glared at them. "_Not a flier my aft._" This Ashwood said, her voice sounding different. "_Can we just go before she regains control?_"

'_I hate you._' Alissa growled from her mental binds.

'_For the greater good._'

'_Greater good my arse. You want to be with them. Why?_'

'_See the Camaro and solstice?_' Ashwood asked as they slowly crawled into the semi.

'_Yeah, why?_'

'_They're my sparklings, children._' Ashwood answered. '_They were… thirteen when I died I believe? Well… the human equivalent of thirteen years old._'

'_So young._' Ali thought, slowly regaining control. "Where are we going?" She asked aloud, her voice holding all of her teenage attitude she gained from her human mother.

"Back to our bass Miss Ross." He answered.

"Ma name is Ali."

**/=\ S |-| \^/ () () |)'S** **|} |**** |3 | T |-|**

Alissa sulked in the back of the conference room as humans – apparently she wasn't human – filled the room along with what the head Autobot, Optimus Prime, had told her to be others like her, whom they called ExIS, which was short for Ex Inter-galactic Species. Yep, she was half alien and half human. The chair beside her scraped on the floor and she looked up to glare at the man – the footsteps had been too heavy for a woman – just for her breath to hitch slightly. He was handsome, but at the sight of the wedding band on his left hand, she quickly looked away. No, she wouldn't be a home wrecker.

"You're the new ExIS, right? ExIS 319?" He asked, making her teenage hormones instantly reel back.

"My name is Alissa!" She hissed violently. "Or are all we are numbers to you?" She added, narrowing her eyes. The man just laughed.

"No, I wanted to know your name. I try to remember all of your names, but there's about 350 of you, so you tend to get names jumbled up. Besides, the report on finding you in right here." He answered, waving a manila envelope. Ali's eyes followed its every movement. "You haven't read it, have you?"

"I literally just got here." She answered, turning her gaze to glare at the three Autobots who probably led to her getting kidnapped by Rampage, the dog like Decepticon. "Came from Hayden Kansas, had a twenty two year old sister who hated that I couldn't handle the stress of our parents divorcing – never could really wrap my head around that one, Dad just announced it out of the blue on Valentine's Day soon to be two years ago – and the fact that his home wrecking girlfriend had agreed to be someone else's fiancée. My life has been a whole drama ever since." Ali sighed, wondering if they got that much.

She looked up to see the man's smile had quickly vanished into a scowl. "There are some people who should just stay at home." He muttered. Ali looked at his uniform trying to find a name. "What are you looking for?"

"You don't have a _nametag_." She said, feeling her scowl deepen. "It's not fair that you know my name but I don't know yours!"

"Life isn't fair." He joked before unbuttoning the top two buttons and flipping the left side to reveal the name tag Ali was trying to find. _Lennox_. "Sarah sewed them on the wrong way. Everyone's teasing me about it." Ali couldn't stop her giggle and clapped her hands over her mouth.

"I accidentally did that with my dad before he had his TIA. I had to pull them off and re-stitch them when he got home." She admitted, getting a laugh from him as well. She heard a cough and noticed everyone was waiting for something to happen. "Sorry…" She whispered, any emotions disappearing off of her face, embarrassment dancing in her eyes as she quickly looked to the floor.

**/=\ S |-| \^/ () () |)'S** **|} |**** |3 | T |-|**

The meeting was a joke, Ali realized as they were not even ten minutes in and the ExIS were already glaring at the soldiers. She looked at Lennox, who had gone up to present, who had the same look of worry. She followed his gaze to where a brunette with deep crimson eyes was glaring at a raven with bright blue eyes. '_Not good. They were rivals once and the ExIS in them can't let that go. They'll be fighting soon._' Ashwood warned her.

Alissa tensioned and began to tap her knee nervously, catching Jazz's holoform's attention. He elbowed Bumblebee's – the Camaro's – holoform and motioned to her as she slowly began to go to the edge of her seat, her eyes dancing between the two. The only soldiers who saw this were Lennox, the African American man next to him, and a honey blonde whose hand twitched to the gun holstered on her hip. What happened next was what they were all expecting.

The two lunged at each other, violently knocking others out of their way. Alissa saw the woman begin to take the gun out and calmly walked to her, holding out a tiny hand with big blue eyes clearly stating what she was wanting to do. The blonde hesitated, but with one look behind Ali, she handed over the gun. Ali stalked back to her corner and fired three times on the concrete floor, making everyone freeze.

"Now that you're kindly over," She said loudly, her voice just oozing disappointment. "I think we should continue on with the meeting."

"What about us?" The blue eyed ExIS complained as everyone began to settle down again. Alissa gave the gun back and looked at him calmly. He had a black eye, split lip and multiple abrasions, but he would survive.

"You'll survive." She simple stated. When he began to sputter, Alissa began to glare. "You two are the ones who chose to fight. You should have thought of the consequences before you decided that disturbing the peace was better than not being injured." Everyone was silent as she just so calmly picked up the chair she had pushed aside so she could shoot the floor and sat down, using the chain in front of her as a footrest. "Well? I'm waiting."

* * *

**Review if you like the story or see any flaws or just want to wish me a good day! Dare I ask you favorite it if you love it and follow if you want more?**


	4. Meetings (P2) And Training (P1)

Guys, I think i broke my brain writing this. D=

I was going to have the training session in the same chapter, but this is easily +2,500 words!

**(Added in: I do not believe in any type of abuse nor have I ever gone through abuse. Yes, my parents are divorcing, but they have never said anything to me that could be considered abuse)**

* * *

**No Reviews**

* * *

Thanks to all who read! I do not own Transformers, but I do own Alissa, Zachary, Zenya, Michelle and the idea of the ExIS (Ex Intergalactic Species)

Let the chapter begin!

'_Alissa thoughts_'

'_Ashwood Thoughts_'

* * *

"Here you go." Lennox said, showing Ali a building. It was a nice yellow with a white trim. "It's where unidentified ExIS go."

"And if they never get identified?" Ali asked. During the rest of the meeting – it merely said do this, don't do that, and behave – Ashwood had pleaded with her to not reveal who she was. "What do you do then?"

"Keep testing and training them until something slips, or at least that's what we're supposed to do." The soldier answered with a grim face. Ali was feeling bold.

"And if they don't wish to be revealed?"

Lennox looked at her oddly. "Most want to." He simply said before motioning for her to follow him to the three story building.

"But I don't want to." She whispered. Alissa wasn't stupid. She knew whomever this Ashwood was, she was powerful and dangerous and if she was to be revealed, then she would never have a life afterwards. Shaking her head, Ali jogged after him, grimacing as the pain in her knees started again. She had been born with bone spurs, or extra bones in her knees. It stopped her from running properly and she often walked with a limp (her left leg was worse) if she was at home. But no, she was at the ExIS Quarters, which doubled as a town in itself. "So where's my room?" She asked once they reached the hotel like lobby.

"Top floor, corner apartment." Lennox answered, looking at the chart with a frown. "Those rooms are the ones with windows that open. Normal they pu the older ExIS, those who have transformed in there."

"Transformed? I'm human. If I transform, I'm gonna be a gooey mess of blood, flesh and bones." She said, laughing sharply while she was mentally panicking. Unlucky her had chosen to say the 'I'm gonna be a gooey mess of blood, flesh and bones' in front of Ratchet's holoform, who's eyes popped out. "Always! It's always my luck!" She growled, swatting away the medic to glare at Lennox, who had issues standing up straight. "I'm fine Ratchet. Just something I was telling the Captain here."

"Still, you're overdue for your scans." The holoform said, making Alissa pale. Scans? Would he be able to see the many conditions she had and deem her unstable? What do they do to unstable ExIS?

"We need to make sure her quarters are up to date." Lennox cut in. "I'll make sure she'll go to the Med Bay personally." Ratchet nodded and walked away. "Are you going to tell me what you're so scared of or will we have to force it out?" He joked, but it just made her pale even more. It was one of the reasons why her parents divorced, she remembered. Her father had been so desperate to know why she was so different. "Alissa?"

"M'fine." She automatically said. "Can I see my room now?"

"Apartment, not room." Lennox corrected, opening up the stairwell door. "The elevator is down."

Alissa snorted. "You live with a bunch of talking alien robots and you can't repair a simple elevator?" Lennox scowled, but then smiled and lead her to the very right corner of the building. "What is it?"

"It's a three bedroom, two bath with living, dining and kitchen." He answered. "Though if I remember correctly, the living and dining are only separated by the wood floor of the dining." He struggled with the door, telling her that it stuck and that was the reason why the last person left for a smaller apartment, before it opened to reveal a mocha colored hall with bamboo hardwood floor that turned into lush beige carpet that held a three person couch, two person love seat, and single person recliner with a flat screen mounted on the small mahogany entertainment center.

She walked forward as the wooden floors continued to see a six person table – chair included – in a blue room. The dining room, obviously, as there was no wall between the living room and the one she was in. There was a small bar with two stools that led to a granite covered kitchen with stainless steel appliances and a pretty gem backsplash. "This…"

The ExIS was truly stunned. How was this for her? "It's supposed to be reserved for someone, but Optimus told me to assign you to it. Said that if she hadn't showed up yet then she had no intention of revealing herself."

"She?" Alissa asked. "I'm guessing she had siblings?"

"Erm, if she did, they didn't tell us." He said with a frown. "You said you had a sister-."

"Who I can easily tell is not an ExIS." Ali said sharply, sending him a glare. "Believe me, if anyone else in my family were ExIS, then I would be making sure that no one else gets hurt, but they aren't, so I'm kindly asking you to leave them the hell alone."

Before her bravo disappeared and her sanity realized she had just yelled at an armed soldier, Alissa turned around and walked down the hall, going into the master bedroom. It was a relaxing room, a yin-yang type design that she instantly loved. There was a small black ottoman with a white cushion sitting just under the window, and when she looked outside it, she saw the forest on the island. It was relaxing and calm, the complete opposite of what she does to people, she thought.

"We can change it, if you don't-."

"I like it." Ali said with a smile, her eyes still on the forest. "It's calming. Almost reminds me of everything I had before hell broke loose."

"Well, next week, when your checkup goes good, you'll be training in the forest. It's when we find out who was a flier."

"Do soldiers take it too?"

"Should we?"

"Well, I was planning on going into the Marine corps before all of this happened. Who says there aren't ExIS hidden deep within the ranks? Your eyes, they say you might be one."

"Impossible. I'm human."

"It's what we've been trying to say, yet you won't listen. Have you been scanned yet?"

Alissa never got an answer.

**/=\ S |-| \^/ () () |)'S** **|} |**** |3 |} T |-|**

The trip to Med Bay was silent and thick with tension as Alissa calmly sat on the human sized berth while Lennox stood awkwardly in the doorway. Alissa knew her challenge was still echoing in his mind and it was only confirmed as he went and sat on the berth beside her. "Finally came in I see." Ratchet said in a scathing tone. Both Alissa and Ashwood flinched, the latter knowing he was one of two that could make her feel like she was a disappointment. "The both of you."

"Can we just get on with it?" Alissa asked, not looking up. She knew what was coming, and half of the dread was coming from Ashwood. There was a huff and something about impatient humans before the familiar sensation of being scanned washed over her, much different than Ashwood had shared with her. She opened her eyes to see the CMO's optics dark, as if saying something on a private link. "When I was three, my parents took me to the doctor's to see if I had bowed legs. I didn't, and when we x-rayed my legs just before I went into middle school because they thought I was getting bowed legs, they found out that I had bone spurs. It affect my running and, if you catch me at the right time, makes me walk with a limp, especially my left leg."

"Bone spurs?" Ratchet asked. Alissa tilted her head. Did he not use the internet or was that restricted?

"Extra bones that grow instead of disappearing when you were a baby." She answered uneasily, shifting slightly.

"Your sparkbeat is irregular as well." Ratchet stated, making Alissa cringe all the more.

"Heart disorder." She squeaked out. "Not serious enough for medication, but enough to cause issues and be spotted." There, now it was out. She opened and eye to glance at Lennox to see him gaping at her. Yep, deep trouble.

**/=\ S |-| \^/ () () |)'S** **|} **** |3 |} T |-|**

"She's not training." Ratchet said flatly the next week when both Alissa and Lennox had shown up to the gate. As it turned out, Ali's suspicions were correct and he was a hidden ExIS. The blonde turned to glare at him just to get scooped up into his hand and passed off to Optimus, who seemed lost. "The youngling has a spark condition."

"I've ran and fought with it before. Why can't I now?" She said in a defensive tone, crossing her arms.

"Not to mention the needless pain she is in currently with the extra 'bones' at her knee joints." Ratchet continued, not listening to Alissa.

"Honestly, talking to him is like talking to a brick wall." The said ExIS muttered. "Look," She said, raising her voice enough to make the medic stop talking. "It's obvious that whoever this 'Ashwood' character knew me in my previous life, yeah? That makes me a very vulnerable target if I _don't_ get this training. Who says they won't bring someone who could look human, but be a Cybertronian to befriend me and then take me to whoever wants to use me to get to her? And what ever happened to the people chose what they get to do? I thought it was my choice to go through with this or not since it _is_ my body and mental state going under the pressure."

"Spoken like a true politician." She heard Epps, the African American man who was standing beside Lennox, mutter to the other soldier in question.

"I am afraid Miss Ross is correct Ratchet. She is too valuable to take the risk." Optimus said, ending the fight. He set her down and she hopped of happily, a wide smirk on her face as she walked through the gates.

She went to stand beside a twenty odd year old pair of twins, who smiled at her, making her relax slightly. "I'm Zachary and this is Zenya."

"Alissa." She said with a shy smile. "I only got here a week ago. What about you?"

"We've been here for about a month. The training was almost finished when we got here, so we had to wait for this course to start." Zenya answered with a chuckle. "You don't seem like you're eighteen."

"I'm not." Alissa answered, making their smiles vanish immediately. "Why, is that bad?"

"NEST can't take anyone under eighteen from their countries, American or not. What makes you different?" Zachary asked. A blonde beside him looked over, her brows knit together.

"Z-Zach?!" She said, her green eyes wide. The raven turned and his own blue eyes – why where they the same shade as Alissa's? – widened. "What are you doing here?" She asked with a smile.

"Attention!" Epps called as Lennox took the opposite side of the line. "You are all here because Ratchet has deemed you fit," He gave Alissa an amused look and she tried not to smile. "To be tested to see which ExIS you were. Now, many of you might get the same ExIS as a result, which is very messy paperwork for me." Epps got many laughing, Alissa included. "Today is a mere quiz, just to see how good you are with tapping in with your past live. We are not expecting you to manage to get the flag," They all looked up on the lone mountain – _'The lonely Mountain!_' Alissa thought gleefully. – "on any attempt that you may try to get it." Epps stepped to the side. "Begin."

**/=\ S |-| \^/ () () |)'S** **|} **** |3 |} T |-|**

They all shot forward, but Alissa quickly paused as she caught something glinting in the bushes. Looking at the others, she ducked into the bushes and noticed nets – rope, but still nets none the less – and a trip wire about to be set off. Her eyes widened and she squeaked, ducking back into the path and pushing Zachary and Zenya down. "Trap!" She yelled, getting odd looks, but those who had already contacted their ExIS dropped just as the nets came out in a dizzying speed. They nodded to the sixteen year old and Lennox held the branches back enough to look at her.

"How did you know?" He asked.

"Something caught my eye and when I looked, I saw a trap." She shrugged. The running was starting to bother her now, but she tried to hide it. The four came up on a row of trees to which Lennox stopped with some others – Zachary, Zenya and Alissa included – while the rest continued. Holograms popped up and those who were able to fight them off glared that the soldier, who shrugged. Those who couldn't fight them off were dragged off, making Alissa worry.

"They'll be fine, right?" She asked.

"The holograms will take them to Epps." Lennox said.

"You designed this course." Zachary said, his voice almost accusing.

"I didn't know I would be taking it one day."

'_Dear god, you can smell the testosterone._' Alissa thought bitterly. She stalked forward to a tree and noticed foot holds. She grabbed one of the branches and used it to propel herself up. That's when she noticed that there were several branches sturdy enough to balance on to cross the ambush area with enough cover to not be spotted. With a grin, Alissa set out and was about halfway when the twins and soldier noticed that she wasn't with them.

"Where's Alissa?" Zachary asked Zenya.

"I thought you were watching her!" The female exclaimed. "You were closest to her before!"

'_Slag! It's Jetfire and Jetstorm!_' Ashwood said.

"Because you were closer to First Aid!" Zachary yelled back. "You lost our own sister!"

"Who was your sister?" Lennox asked.

"If she doesn't tell you soon, then it's her choice." Zenya said after a pregnant pause. "Alissa?" That's when they finally noticed her standing on the other side, twigs and leaves sticking out of her multi-color highlighted hair. "How'd you get there?"

"Ask the soldier. He designed it." Zachary muttered.

"The trees." She merely responded before turning tail and racing into the foliage. She could hear grunts and something hitting flesh ahead, pushing herself not to fall out of the bushes just as she stumbled into a clearing to see a familiar holoform fighting an ExIS, who looked so scared. The poor man was her age if not a year or two younger. As she stared between the two blonds, she groaned and raced forward, knocking the holoform to the side. "Go before I regret this." She hissed to the teen, who nodded and took off. She was tossed off and propped herself up with her left hand while her right one held her ribs. She half glared at Bumblebee, who was frowning at her.

"Why?" He asked, not moving to attack her. "Why not go while I was distracted?" She saw Zachary and Zenya appear with a disgruntled Lennox.

"Because," She said, trying to think of a fib. How about a truth? "You never leave a man behind. I was taught that in the war by my best friends, who I considered brothers, before they went to the Decepticons. While I regret not being able to stop them, I do not regret the time I spent with them."

"What was his name?"

"He believes me to be long dead." Alissa said, just as Zachary and Aenya made it to the other side of the clearing. Where was Lennox?!

"Try me."

"Their names were Runner and Roadbreaker, but Megatron switched them to Barricade and Knock Out." Alissa smirked at his gob smacked expression. Something – an arm? – hit the joint between his neck and shoulder and the holoform collapsed to reveal a smug Lennox. "Lennox?"

"Leave no man behind." He quoted, helping her up before they raced from the area. "I have no idea what they do after this, only that there's twenty three more obstacles."

"Whoever this Ashwood girl is, she best be fit." Alissa said ruefully. She was in no way fit for anything. Lennox laughed and nodded, the two of them catching up with Zachary and Zenya long enough to see them jump off of a ledge. "Ah hell no!" She practically yelled.

"You're scared of heights?" Lennox asked. Alissa looked at him as if he was crazy.

"I'm scared of falling." She answered. "Just something that happened as a kid that scarred me. Literally." She stopped her small smile and flattened out the skin on the right side of her mouth. "But then again, all fliers are scared of falling. It's something we grew worse on as the Decepticons began with the anti-air missles."

"So you're admitting on being an Autobot flier." Lennox stated.

"Do you think I could be a Decepticon and still be friends with Ashwood?" She asked before racing from the bushes without a reply. Taking a deep breath, she launched herself off of the edge and closed her eyes.


	5. Training (P2)

**I'm alive, I swear I am! I'm about to start school, so I've been trying to write as many chapters as I can before going back. x.x**

* * *

SkyrimPlayer - I did! =)

* * *

**AU; Alissa Ross was a normal sixteen year old. Well, as normal as you can get with an alien consciousness running around in her head. She was just wanting to finish her sophomore year in high school, not to get dragged into an alien war for what appears to be a second time. Mentioned OP/OC and M/OC**

* * *

**I do not own Transformers! I own the idea of ExIS and Alissa with the OCs mentioned!**

* * *

Falling.

That's what she was doing.

She loved the free feeling it gave her. It made her forget that she was being hunted and it made her forget the stress of her human life before the Cybertronians got to her. Her hair didn't feel like it was suffocating her and the air against her face felt wonderful.

But she was falling none the less.

She opened her eyes to see a river and braced herself for a wet landing. She didn't get one as a net caught her a second later, bouncing her up and down a few times before settling down. She hadn't seen the net, which made her frown. Standing up on shaky legs – her fear of the falling had finally came – she noticed a dark cave and bit her lip. Falling was one thing, but small enclosed spaces? The net bounced her again, making her fall on her arse, and she looked to see a disgruntled Lennox struggling to stand. She laughed and stood up easily, wobbly walking to him and helping him up. "I draw the line here. I'll call for Epps to get me." She said to him, nodding towards the cave. "I can't go on."

"Is it your knees?" He asked immediately. Alissa shook her head. "Your heart?" Now that he mentioned it, it was pounding painfully and skipped every half a minute ever since training started, but she just grinned painfully.

"No. Enclosed spaces." She laughed. "I've done enough for today anyways. If I keep pushing myself, I'm going to collapse." Lennox nodded and continued on into the cave while Alissa sat down and waited. A few minutes later, Epps and a few other soldiers came to the edge and she waved up at them.

"Whatchca waiting for?" The female who let Alissa use her gun yelled.

"I can't go on!" She answered. "Now get me out of here before I go crazy." Epps grinned and dropped a rope down with a loop big enough to slip her foot in. Doing so, she held onto the rope as Jazz, in his true form, appeared over the edge and easily drew the rope up.

**/=\ S |-| \^/ () () |)'S** **|} | |3 | T |-|**

Alissa was relaxing against the wall beside Jazz when Ratchet and the final ExIS returned. The redhead looked battered and worse for wear, but smug none the less. "Miss Ross," Ratchet said, making her look up. "Your ExIS was friends with Ashwood, correct?"

"Yeah, why?" She asked, standing up and brushing off the dust.

"I need you to ask her a few questions only Ashwood would know." He answered before gently pushing the redhead towards Alissa. Jazz caught the hint and sauntered off to join an equally battered Lennox, who had joined the majority of the group twenty minutes after Alissa did. The redhead smiled at Alissa, who hesitantly smiled back.

'_What do I do? Technically, I'm your ExIS._' She thought desperately before getting her answer. "What are the names of your Sparklings?"

"Jazz and Bumblebee and then I adopted Sunstreaker and Sideswipe and gave Prowl to Ironhide and Chromia." She answered flawlessly.

"What happened after the Battle of Klär?" Alissa shot.

"I was wounded and Optimus, who was Orion Pax at the time still, carried me to the core, where I was given my flier frame and he was revealed as the last Prime." She answered once more, looking at her nails in boredom.

Ashwood's last question weighed her mind down, causing her to close her eyes as she spoke. "What happened a jour before you realized you were sparked with Bumblebee and Jazz?" She swallowed thickly, not wishing to see the memories.

'_I am sorry Alissa. I did not know they passed to you._' Ashwood murmured.

"I was… violated…" The redhead whispered, her smirk falling. "How the hell do you know that stuff? I only tell that to my siblings!"

'_First Aid! She's First Aid!_' Ashwood wailed. '_My youngest sister died!_'

"What's your name?"

"Fiona, why?" She asked. Alissa took a step forward and the sun came out just long enough to show a flash of recognition in the other's eyes. "No… Then… who am I?"

"First Aid. I'm sorry, but we have to keep this between us. If they caught word on who I was, the government would yank me out, saying that I'm underage and shouldn't even be here." Alissa pleaded. Fiona hesitated before nodding. The two embraced and Alissa felt Ratchet walk towards them.

"She's one of Ashwood's siblings." She told him with a smile. Ratchet's optic widened at her declaration and immediately scooped Fiona up.

"Is this everyone?" Epps called. Alissa walked forward until she was standing in between the twins. "Right, so like I said before, this was just the test to see how good you can contact your past life. We have where you stopped or was forcibly stopped and what class you would be if you were still a Cybertronian. From here you'll get one-on-one with those types of Autobots."

"What about seekers?" Alissa found herself asking. "I may not have seen them, but we're kind of short of fliers to help those train."

"A valid point young one." Ratchet said, still holding Fiona. "Optimus, who knew several fliers," Don't think Alissa didn't notice the look Zachary and Zenya shared above her head! They knew the Autobot leader! "Will be training you until the Ariel-bots land."

'_Silverbolt is coming?_' Ashwood asked happily. '_He was my best friend and second in command when I was the leader of them, shortly after I switched my frame._'

'_That's nice, but won't they be shocked about humanoid Autobots and Decepticons working together and physically push us to the superhuman limits?_' Alissa rolled her eyes as the group of seekers began to chitter in excitement.

"See either me, Martinez or Figg to see which bot to answer to for next week's training!" Epps finished. Alissa looked at the three soldiers, who had begun to be surrounded by different ExIS, all eager to see what class they were.

"You'd think that they'd be less willing." Lennox's voice said from behind Alissa, making her jump and whirl around, clutching her heart.

"Don't do that!" She half wailed. "I'd say some other things, but Ratchet is still here." Lennox laughed, but his smile turned into a scowl as the Latino man came up to him and clapped him on the shoulder.

"Report to Bumblebee." He grinned. "You're a scout!" Alissa saw the disbelieving look on his face and snorted before slapping a hand over her mouth. "Right then, your name?"

"Alissa Ross." She said.

"Report to Optimus for further instructions. You've qualified as both Seeker and scout." He said with a charming smile. Martinez walked up to them with a sour look.

"Imagine, we have to do this again in another few months." She sighed. "How are you going to tell Sarah?" She asked Lennox. Alissa felt as if she was intruding and begun to move away.

"I don't know."

**/=\ S |-| \^/ () () |)'S** **|} | |3 | T |-|**

Alissa was laying upside down on the couch when someone knocked on the door. Pausing in tossing the little mesh ball up and down, she called out a 'come in' before resuming. She had many things on her mind. One of which was why she qualified as two classes, but that was easily solved when Ashwood reminded her she was a scout and a seeker. She heard shuffling and looked up to see Jazz. "Hullo Jazz." She said with a smile. The holoform smiled back at her uneasily. "What's wrong?"

"Optimus ordered tha' one of us guard ya and Fiona at all times." He answered. "We don' have ta be in the same room, but jus' watch over."

"I'd honestly prefer to have some company." Alissa admitted, sitting up straight and properly. Jazz nodded and looked awkward, making her lips twitch. "You can sit down you know. I don't bit _that_ hard." He shook his head at the poor joke, but moved to sit beside her. "So… what do you like about Earth so far?"

"The music." Jazz immediately answered, making Alissa smile widely. As she didn't have much friends, she often relied on music to keep her sanity while alone. "How are ya settlin' in so far?"

"I'm honestly willing to say that if I get used to it then my luck will kick in and something bad will happen." She answered, twirling a lock of hair in her fingers. "Most likely to me or someone who I've become attached to."

"Well, ya saved me once." Jazz shrugged, making Alissa stiffen. No, that isn't what she meant. "Wha' do ya plan to do next Saturday?"

"What's on Saturday?" Alissa asked, resuming to twirl her hair.

"It's the Twilight Concert!"

"Twilight Concert? What's that?" Alissa asked, sitting up. It was Monday, and if the title was correct, then she only had twelve days to get everything she needed.

**/=\ S |-| \^/ () () |)'S** **|} | |3 | T |-|**

Strapping the final bit of her heels on, Alissa straightened up and made sure her highlights were hidden for the umpteenth time. Nodding, she looked over once more. Her red wine colored halter dress had a small, diamond shaped cut just above the sash that let the two materials of her dress separate. The top, fluffy part was see through and barely reached her knees while the silky bottom was three inches shy of the bottom of the top material. Making sure she had the purple eyeliner on correctly, Alissa slowly slid on a half blackened, half whitened mask that left the left side of her face white to the world. She also had a black wig on as her hair was easily spotted with the highlights. Jazz had told her that the Twilight Concert was followed by a ball that only ExIS twenty one years old and up can attend to, but the concert was free for all ages.

Smiling, Alissa twirled and nodded before pulling her long trench coat over herself and taking off her mask, concealing it in the coat as she walked down the steps warily. Heels and clumsiness did _not_ work at all. Finally, she got to the ground floor and easily found the park where she could see someone standing on the side of a stage in the DJ pit. Stopping just out of the park, Alissa placed the trench coat in a hidden place and placed her mask on, getting used to it before merely walking through the crowd, stopping in front of Optimus' holoform. Ashwood had dared her to do this, but even she was reluctant.

"_Hullo Optimus._" She whispered, making him look up. Placing her arms behind her back, she grabbed her left arm in her right hand and appeared to be nervous. "_Ashwood… she's not happy._"

"You've spoken to her?" Optimus demanded, stepping forward.

'_More than you know._' Alissa thought as Ashwood answered. "_Yes. She's not happy because you haven't gone through with your promise._" Optimus' eyes fluttered shut for a second and both human and Autobot felt a pain run through them. "_She promised she would come forward only when she absolutely had to. She understands the training, but not how her sparkmate_," Wait, _WHAT?!_ "_Would go back on letting her rest._"

Optimus bowed his head. "I had tried not to linger on that solar cycle. Many things went by unnoticed that day."

'_The one day the war was called for a standstill. A rouge Decepticon had stabbed me in the spark while Optimus and Megatron were fighting, despite Megatron's orders for me to never be harmed. Both sides grieved as I was an ally for both sides at one point in time._' Ahswood murmured. '_Not one of my finer points, being a Decepticon, but Megatron had been my friend and there were so many untreated, injured just laying on the ground, energon leaking from anywhere and everywhere. Not to mention the Cybernetic Plague we had somehow created by accident._'

"And they both forgive everyone for that." Alissa said, blinking and taking a step back. Optimus finally seemed to have noticed that it was the ex-Autobot who had talked and not Alissa. "**We're all so tired. We're being dragged back into a war we didn't want to be in, in the first place. Alissa/I had a life before everything, the first Decepticon, came to Earth. We were happy, and then Rampage took that all away from us.**"

"You are able to speak alongside your Autobot side." Figg said, looking at her with wide eyes. Alissa nodded. "Who are you?"

"_I'm something you have all feared._" Alissa began. "I am something you fear of as of now. **And I am something you will all fear till the end of time.**" She saw two other people dressed in red dresses as well and made her way to them, smiling at Michelle and Zenya, who smiled back.

"We haven't practiced that much." Michelle pointed out nervously.

"Think about it as karaoke. All that matters is that we're having fun!" Zenya whispered back. "How are we going to mash these three songs to where they sound good? Who's going to take what song?"

"_Rumor has it_!" Michelle immediately called.

"_According to you_, if I had to choose." Zenya hummed.

"Leaving me the song I was going to pick." Alissa grinned. "Now how are we going to introduce ourselves and each song?"

"Dark Souls?" Michella said. The other two shook their head. "Ooh, Dark Sparks!" Alissa grinned and looked at Zenya, who seemed thoughtful.

"Mysterious, but playfully dangerous, I like it." She said. "Dark Sparks it is! Now, who's first?"

"I say alphabetical." Alissa said. "Nice opening, slow middle, nice upbeat close and then the mash off."

* * *

**Three guesses for the Three songs! Tell me if you spotted something wrong or just want to say hi!**


	6. A New Age

**Bleh. Lack of Muse and School has struck again! I'm sorry for not updating sooner. ;_;**

**I do not own!**

Underlined centered is Zenya singing

_Italic _centered is Michelle singing

**Bold** centered is Alissa singing. Combos apply for each character!

* * *

**AU; Alissa Ross was a normal sixteen year old. Well, as normal as you can get with an alien consciousness running around in her head. She was just wanting to finish her Sophomore year in high school, not to get dragged into an alien war for what appears to be a second time. Mentioned OP/OC and M/OC T-M Rating**

* * *

Alissa stood on the left side of the stage while Michelle stood on the right, both concealed by the curtains as Zenya stepped forward. "Dark Sparks doing a mash up of three songs with three singers, but where are the other two?" The DJ, the very same ExIS who I had told to run during training, asked with a smirk. Clearly he knew. He winked at the female twin and begun the music, Zenya shooting Alissa one last panicked look before singing.

According to you,

I'm stupid,

I'm useless,

I can't do anything right.

Another glance had Alissa mouthing 'dance' and going through some of the practiced moves herself. Zenya half nodded, but still stayed still. '_What are you doing?!_' Alissa howled. '_You'll doom our act!_'

According to you,

I'm difficult,

Hard to please,

Forever changing my mind.

I'm a mess in a dress,

Can't show up on time,

Even if it would save my life.

Finally, she begun to slowly reenact her moves, from twisting her skirt to faux fainting.

According to you.

According to you.

As planned, Michelle began to mouth her lines quickly as they would end every chorus with a new song. Meanwhile, Zenya was easily dancing in front of the crowd now.

But according to him,

I'm beautiful,

Incredible, 

He can't get me out of his head!

According to him,

I'm funny,

Irresistible,

Everything he ever wanted.

Counting to three, Alissa watched as Michelle popped out and easily began to sing with her. As soon as they got to the second part of this song, she would have to come out.

_Everything is opposite,_

_I don't feel like stopping it,_

_So baby tell me what I got to lose!_

_He's into me for everything I'm not,_

_According to you._

The music became mixed up and settled into the beat the most of the crowd knew. Zenya began to sing and 'gulf clap' to the beat and soon the crowd started. Michelle shot the twin a dirty look that got Alissa to giggle.

_She, she ain't real._

_She ain't gonna be able to love you like I will._

_She is a stranger._

_You and I have history,_

_Or don't you remember?_

_Sure, she's got it all,_

_But baby is that really what you want?_

At this, Michelle suddenly abandoned her nervous look for a one of vengeance, making most of the male population at the concert back away. As she began to sing next, she grabbed her heart and then swiped it out.

_Bless your soul,_

_You've got your head in the cloud._

_You made a fool out of you,_

_And, boy, she's bringing you down._

_She made your heart melt,_

_But you're cold to the core_

_Now rumor has it she's ain't got your love anymore._

Alissa stepped into view and stood on the other side of Michelle, placing her right hand on her hip as she readjusted the wireless mike attached to her mask. It was the first set before her song, she realized as Zenya shot her a smile. As they began to sing, they stepped side to side and their hands with the back to the crowd, as it telling a rumor.

**_Rumor has it, ooh_**

**_Rumor has it, ooh_**

**_Rumor has it, ooh_**

**_Rumor has it, ooh_**

**_Rumor has it, ooh_**

**_Rumor has it, ooh_**

**_Rumor has it, ooh_**

**_Rumor has it, ooh_**

The two stepped back as the music mixed up once more and settled into yet another different type of theme. Alissa closed her eyes gently tapping a four/four time beat with the drums as she opened her eyes.

**You heard that I was starting over with someone new.**

**They told you I was moving on, over you.**

Zenya and Michelle – playing their part – did the clichéd gossip popular girls while Alissa stood to the side, her arms wrapped around her in an insecure way. She looked at the crowd, who was grinning.

Shame they didn't know this was from a girl who was going to be hunted for her entire life.

**You didn't think that I'd come back,**

**I'd come back swinging.**

**You tried to break me, but you see,**

With a sharp twist, Michella and Zenya danced away from Alissa, creating an odd triangle. Several fighting moves – none that required their feet to leave the ground, mind you – that were turned dance moves were used, making the crowd suddenly lose their laughter.

**What doesn't kill you make you stronger!**

**Stand a little taller!**

**Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone!**

**What doesn't kill you makes a fighter!**

**Footsteps even lighter!**

**Doesn't mean I'm over caused you're gone!**

**What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stronger**

**Just me, myself and I!**

**What doesn't kill you make you stronger!**

**Stand a little taller!**

**Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone!**

They had planned it to where the first two songs would be played at the beginning of their songs while the last one would be in the middle of the song. Alissa felt her patience wear thin as someone in the back begun to make catcalls. Primus save them all.

**/=\ S |-| \^/ () () |)'S** **|} | |3 | T |-|**

Alissa quickly changed into the dress waiting for her back stage. It was a purple cocktail dress that went just two inches above her knees. It had a see through sleeve on her right arm and was a one shoulder dress. Taking of the mask, Alissa stripped the wig and bundled the two items in the red dress before stuffing it into the tote she had taken with her. As she walked through the crowd, she noted that some of the soldiers were glaring at the ExIS. Shaking her head, she walked to a familiar face. "Here's trouble." Epps joked. She had found a friend – if not uncle – in the man over the few days she had spent just getting to know everyone. "I didn't see you earlier."

"I just came." She lied with a shrug.

"Shame. There was this really good act. Plus you have to leave in thirty minutes." He chuckled. Alissa half pouted, but shrugged it off with a laugh. The DJ finally stopped with the singing and approached her with a smile.

"I never got the chance to thank you." He said. "I'm Alex."

"Alissa." She said, holding out a hand. She wasn't expecting him to grab it and kiss her knuckles – she flushed something terrible – but its gesture was much appreciated. "And you don't need to thank me. Us ExIS need to stick together now."

"Ain't that the truth?" Epps said, his smile falling. "Ever since the 'bots came, we've been separated. Both ExIS and soldiers. For almost a fourth of us to find out we're an ExIS, our commander included… I'm surprised we haven't had riots yet."

"Don't jinx it." Alissa warned. "Because if we do end up getting riots, then they'll go for the ExIS the bots guard. That means me and Lennox will be taken."

"Na, Will, he'll put up a good fight. Dunno about you though. You only just started your training."

"I can help." Alex offered. "Before this, I worked at a self-defense gym." Alissa smiled at him and he grinned back. She could tell this was the start of a wonderful friendship.

**/=\ S |-| \^/ () () |)'S** **|} | |3 | T |-|**

_My grandfather once told me that we always had to choose what was **right** and what you **wanted**. He also told me that no action was without consequence. He was right. He always _was_ right, especially if it was about me._

**/=\ S |-| \^/ () () |)'S** **|} | |3 | T |-|**

"Hi, I'm Alice."

Alissa looked up with wide blue eyes to see a youthful blonde who looked as if she should be on a runway instead of a military base. "Alissa," she said with a grin. "You just joined us ExIS then?"

"ExIS?" Alice asked, frowning. "I know about those robot things," she said, flipping her hair like the typical clichéd popular girl. "But not of ExIS."

"We're a rare breed." Ali joked. "All in all, we're 'those robot things' souls placed in a human body. Most of us share a mind with a Cybertronian, but there's a few who have either their human or Cybertronian mind sleeping." Alice's eyes narrowed her sharp blue eyes. They were too sharp to be ExIS, but too dull to be Autobot.

"What do you have?" She asked, her voice dropping lower.

"She's asleep, most of the time, but there's a few times that she wakes up. Like when I was applied to the ExIS Challenger," The younger blonde explained with a tight smile. "Have you been tested yet?"

"They say I'm Avalon, whoever that is," She snorted. Alissa frowned. This woman was _not_ ExIS material. She would never _possibly_ be her dearest friend!

**/=\ S |-| \^/ () () |)'S** **|} | |3 | T |-|**

"Miss Ross, Practicing will cause more-,"

Alissa pointedly ignored the Prime's reasoning words and once again tried the Jet Jitsu attacks. As a scout and front liner, they all learned it. Now she had to relearn it once more. Her heart had been pounding painfully for the last few attempts and her breathing labored, but she kept going because if she didn't learn, then who would? Her vision blurred enough and she collapsed on her hands and knees, feeling her arms tremble. She felt Optimus' hand scoop her up and gently use a finger to lay her on her back. Ratchet, the 'Miracle Medic', appeared a second later.

"Slaggit femme! This is _why_ I told you no training!" He snarled. Alissa weakly tried to wave him off, but she could only twitch her fingers. Letting her eyes flutter shut, she cautiously opened her newly discovered bond. It had been little over four months since she had joined June 16th, and over that time, she had found out that part of the Sparkmate bond – the one that kills the other after a span of five Earth years – stayed intact, for if that had broken, then Ashwood's mate – she refused to say who – would have died. The mech holding her suddenly went still and she slammed the bond shut before he could sense it was coming from her.

"Ratchet, I believe Ashwood is aware of what she is," the taller mech said in a quiet undertone. Ali nearly burst out laughing. Oh, she was _definitely_ aware of what she was. Instead, Ali closed her eyes and concentrated on keeping slow and even breaths. She felt Ratchet easily pluck her up and carry her somewhere, but she chose to think as they walked back. She had yet to get things from her house – things that she desperately needed.

"I need to go home," she found herself saying.

"Oh? Why's that youngling?"

"There's things I need there, like my phone and there's a few keepsakes I've always kept with me," she explained. Ratchet looked at her with most unamused look. "Please, I've had them since I was really little." To add to her pleading, she did her best puppy dog face, to which the CMO sighed and nodded once.

"However," He added at her happy expression. "You cannot be in direct contact with your family." Alissa kept her face neutral as she nodded, trying to ignore the pain in her heart. She felt Ashwood stir and she finally realized something.

_Sparkmate bond that _Optimus Prime_ could sense_.

'_Holy hell…_' Alissa thought. '_Optimus Prime and Ashwood were a thing_,'

**/=\ S |-| \^/ () () |)'S** **|} | |3 | T |-|**

As Alissa folded her clothes, she kept glancing at the torn sketch book in the trash bin. She had tossed it about a month before she was kidnapped because she had thought it was just junk, but now, after living with the bots, she knew that I was very, _very _real, what was in that book. Sighing, she looked at the holoforms and went to the bin, before taking the sketch book out and peeking at one somewhere in the middle.

Pain hit her heart as it showed a younger – was that possible? – Optimus with a silver femme and two young Cybertronians. They looked so tiny, as if they were a newborn human. '**_That's me, when our sparlings were just born, in human terms,_**' Ashwood sighed. The femme had been less than pleased by Ali finding out who she was exactly, but now she was a tad bit more willing to talk about her past. Alissa shut the book and placed it at the bottom of a new box before packing some more jeans on top of it.

"Are you almost done youngling?" Ratchet said in an almost bitter tone. Alissa paused to look at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I bled in most of these clothes and never got the stain out," she half growled before grabbing the item such as her phone – bless her mother for not letting it over charge! – and other small knickknacks that she wanted, such as the bracelet she had been given when she was young. In fact, she slipped it on and, as she was so used to it, didn't notice the white flash it gave off as it rested on her writs. She knelt under the bed and pulled out the journals that she had written before placing them in the box with the sketchbook as well.

"What was that?"

"What was what?" Alissa hummed, grabbing the rest of the new composition books from the shelf in her closet. Hell, they would be gone in a week!

"The white energon spike that originated from the metal cuff on your wrist," Ratchet seemed annoyed.

"It's a bracelet, not a cuff," Ali corrected. "And honestly? I've worn this so much, I'd forgotten there was a flash. It was my grandmothers, before she passed away." Ashwood tsk'ed in the back of her head, showing her an image of her in her prime – no pun intended – making that bracelet oh so carefully. As she folded the top carefully, a new voice came into the room.

"We must move, if Alissa is not to be discovered by her creators," Optimus' voice said. Ali looked up from carrying the box to the bed to see his eyes suddenly trained on her wrist. "Where did you get that bracelet?"

"Her grandcarrier owned it, apparently," Ratchet answered, rolling his eyes as Jazz happily took the box, looking at her with an unreadable expression.

'**_Slag, I forgot about Jazz!_**' Alissa almost jumped at the sound of Ashwood, but it would've tipped them off that her ExIS wasn't as sleepy as they thought. '**_He knows when someone is lying, a sixth sense, so to speak._**'

'_Does he know about you?_'

'**_No. He might think we're one the same, but since you haven't confirmed it…_**' Alissa half grimaced, but quickly wiped her face to turn to Optimus and Ratchet again.

"Why? Is it something special?" she asked, half holding her wrist out. She was surprised when he gently took it and felt the bracelet.

"My mate made this, long before we came to Earth, during the Golden Era between the two wars," Alissa felt her curiosity perk up.

"Two wars…? I thought there was just one," she murmured. Both bots frozen and shared a look. "Well, us ExIS _have_ forgotten everything about our old life!" she huffed, tempted to cross her arms, but the way Prime held her wrist…

"There was a time of peace when both Megatron and Optimus were able to rule peacefully. Jazz and Bumblebee were born and an orn later, the war restarted, only more… milder than before."

"I feel like you're leaving something out," Alissa said in a soft tone, using her other hand to unhook the bracelet and placed it in Prime's other hand. "But I won't ask about it. If it was Ashwood's, then you have it. It's not mine to keep." Prime's eyes widened with Ratchet's, but before they could say anything, she slipped out of the room and walked down the steps, going to the silver solstice. She sat in the passenger seat, debating for a few minutes – in which the holoforms came out, shooting her curious looks until Jazz tinted the windows – before speaking. "Who do you think I was… before all of this happened?"

"Alissa Ross, daughter of Jasmine and Harvey Ross, sister of Deana," Jazz answered, obviously looking at her file. The teen shook her head.

"No, before I was reborn, who was I?" As they pulled out of the driveway and onto First Street, she rubbed her arms nervously.

"Ah don' know," he finally said as they got on Kellog from Second Street. The blonde let out a shaky sigh, getting a small nudge from Ashwood, which held a hidden '_tell him_'. "Why are ya asking me?"

"Because my ExIS isn't sleeping as good as we thought she was."

The Solstice swerved, almost hitting Bumblebee. "_What_?!"

* * *

**Soo... my muse hit me after the sketch book scene...**

**What if I did an AU to this story, where S7 knew about Alissa and the ExIS having ene-blood (energon mixed with human blood) and Alissa knew that she was Ashwood reborn? Just think of how many things I can do with _that_ twisted plot. .**

**Anyways, reviews are very welcomed!**


	7. IMPORTANT AUTHORS NOTE

I changed my name! Yes, this _**IS**_ Ashwood's Flame, but over the past year, I've encountered issues, such as graduating High School, applying to College, family emergencies and pet passings. By the time this is all linked to my stories, I'll be linked to my AO3 account ((OMsRandomWriter)) and will be working on publishing/updating my stories there. I **will** be doing a dual update on both here and AO3, so if you don't have an account, you do not have to make one ((Though I suggest you do, as t's a fuller summary and more in detail list of what to expect.))

_**Now, let's make this clear:**_

I **am** an infrequent updater.

I **am** working on my stories.

I **will** continue on with my stories.

I **do** have an AO3 account.

I **do** update my stories on there.

I **will** link my accounts.

I **will** work on my other FF account.

I **do** ask for criticism, **not** flames.

I **am **a college student, and I **do** take priority. **Classes before Stories**.

**Til All Are One,**

**OMsRandomWriter (Ashwood's Flame)**


End file.

Transformers, Adventure, Friendship