Ruby - Transformers: The Last Knight

Prologue

There were good days and bad days. Light and dark. Red and blue, like the two halves of Ruby's heart.

She was happy. So brilliantly happy.

And she was broken. So badly broken.

A year to the day since Optimus' departure, Ruby stood on Saint's Street in Chicago.

It was deathly silent, as this part of the city had been for years now. Ruby's footsteps echoed as she wandered through the rubble, waking her memories.

Ash coated her tongue, screaming and gunfire filled her ears. Most of her clothing was burnt away and she was covered in blood and soot. She was the first and only line of defense.

Power had lit Ruby's body ablaze that night. She had been a force that had never been seen before, and she hoped would never be seen again.

And it was here, on this very street, that her friends, her family, had joined her.

But today, she was alone. No one was coming this time.

Despite it being the height of summer, Ruby shivered. She shouldn't have come here. Ghosts, spirits, demons, they were all here. It was too late to turn back.

She pulled her long blonde hair into a pony tail and continued on. She passed the steel skeletons of skyscrapers, remembering how she had scaled them, how the glass had torn her arms when she'd smashed through a window.
There were no windows now. Just sprinklings of glass dust among the rubble.

A few blocks over, Ruby reached the ruins that were courtesy of Shockwave's colossal decepticon pet. She stood under the rusty beams, sideways instead of vertical, tracing where the beast had chased her with a finger. 

The fire escape her friends had escaped down still stood. That's where it had caught her, snatched her out of the air with a razor tentacle. Her hand went to her belly where she still bore the nasty scar.

Further into the city, there was less damage. Ruby stopped on the edge of an invisible threshold, glimpsing the top of Trump tower. That's where it had ended. Where they had been victorious.

The repairs barely made it believable; it was noisy and busy. Traffic moved through the streets, people filled the sidewalks, but still the area bore the scars of war. Scorch marks on the walls. Loose bricks and shards of glass. Bullet holes.

Ruby could hardly stand this part of the city. It was a mass grave to her. She wrapped her jacket tightly around herself as if it could protect her from the pain, and went back the way she had come, keeping her eyes on the ground.

After she passed Saint's street, she stopped. Someone was there. Someone was following her. Her hands curled into fists. The silver bracelet around her right wrist grew warm.

Whoever it was, whined. Not human. Not Animal. 

Alien. 

Ruby sighed and released her fists.

"Hi, Bee," she whispered. All words would perhaps be difficult to speak today. Or maybe it was just the air here, thin, hard to come by; dead.

Ruby continued to walk home, black ankle boots clicking on the tarmac, shiny yellow Camaro following her. It would take hours to get back, like it had taken hours to reach Saint's Street this morning. The sun had just about risen when she'd glimpsed the first corner of destruction. Now it was mid-morning and bright.

Bumble Bee didn't transform, or encourage her to get in. But Ruby knew why he was there. Tom would have sent him, to keep an eye on her. He handled things very well, considering everything. Like the fact that Ruby was half-metal and quite capable of flattening a city all by herself. That she was a soldier, a war veteran, patterned with scars. That she'd been through unbelievable things, done, unbelievable things with incredible friends, then lost nearly all of them. He gave her space, sanctuary, comfort, and he gave her his whole heart, knowing full well she could only give half of hers in return.

The diamond ring on her finger caught the sun, sending blinding rays into Ruby's eyes. She paused to look at it. A small smile lifted the shadow from her face and she started off for home again at a much faster pace.

"She's not some fragile little flower, man!" Cade shouted at Tom.

"I know, I-"

"She doesn't need a baby sitter or a body guard! If she wants to go for a walk, let her!"

Cade hurled his words up the steps of the manor house. Tom stood on the porch, letting Cade shout himself hoarse in the driveway.

"Oi!" Ruby stomped up the driveway, blue energy circling her hands, "What on earth is going on?"

Behind her, Bumble Bee transformed.

Cade turned and looked up at the big robot, "Ah, good, it's about time!"