Artificial Mind

06

Sleep generally wasn't an easy thing for Minnie. Either her dreams were swamped by vague, but horrifying flashbacks, or they were void of everything and anything. Minnie knew she was asleep, and that this was a dream. She knew this because as she stared at her feet she saw her boots tightly laced up. She hadn't gone to sleep in them, she had bought them with her from home but underneath her feet laid crumpled paper and bits of debris.

Hearing the quiet sounds of fighting, Minnie's head tilted upwards. Frowning lightly she stepped forwards, soon her pace quickened and she was running towards the battlefield. The small town around her was destroyed, hardly any of the buildings remained. Scrambling and climbing over chunks of brickwork, Minnie screamed as she saw the lifeless body of an innocent bystander. Hearing the deafening thud of something hitting the ground, she turned. Her eyes skimmed over the body of an Autobot. When she looked closer, she could tell it was Smokescreen. Her heart sunk, seeing the ever excitable, energetic bot now laying before her motionless and void of life caused tears to form in her eyes.

This dream was a nightmare, one which clearly got created with thanks to her ordeal, her rescue and making new friends. Moving past Smokescreen, she watched as his leader fell too. She couldn't imagine Optimus falling in battle. She'd only seen him fight once, but he seemed so strong and wise when fighting. He seemed to know tactically what move to do and what move not to do. Minnie winced as sparks erupted from his partially open chest. She could see a small blue light within, it dwindled and flickered. Energon trickled down from his injuries. Getting close enough she reached up and placed her hand against his face. The tears which she was holding in for Smokescreen, now fully fell down her cheeks. She gave a start when blue optics narrowed down at her, struggling to focus.

"Minnie?" His voice was so low and crackled, like a radio which wasn't tuned in properly.

"Optimus." She said equally quietly, she didn't want to be in this nightmare anymore.

"Never lose hope." He said with a pause between each word. Clearly speaking visibly hurt him.

"I'll try, but it all seems so hard." She said while biting her lip. In the face of such adversity, how could she have or find hope from this?

"Don't cry...everything will be fine," his voice got a little fainter. "I shall return to the Matrix..." his eyes closed at this point, the colour seemingly became duller in his body.

Minnie stood in utter disbelief. Removing her hand she stepped back slowly. This was by far one of the most vivid, and most horrible nightmares she had ever had, although she couldn't think of any other nightmare at this point in time. "You can't die, Optimus! The world needs you...I need you..." Minnie whispered while wiping her eyes again. Her words were true. The world, whether it knew it or not, their only hope against Decepticon attacks was Optimus and the Autobots. She was also being honest about the latter part of her sentence. They had only known each other for a short space of time, but Minnie could safely say that despite this, they had forged a small friendship. Whatever questions she had, Optimus would kindly answer. Even if he was in the middle of another conversation – like the one with Ratchet – he'd still answer whatever questions she had.

Although Minnie knew, deep down, despite the dream if this was to become reality – which she desperately prayed it wouldn't – what could she do to stop or prevent Optimus dying? A small human, one human at that couldn't do anything to stop this. Looking over her shoulder, she narrowed her eyes. Red optics narrowed down at her in return. Her first thoughts drifted to Knock Out, he was after all the only Decepticon which she'd crossed paths with. The thought of Knock Out being the one who ended Optimus's life angered her. Out of all possible Decepticons, it had to be him? The bot behind her moved forwards, her breath hitched.