Ruby (TFP)

Chapter 5

A few hours had passed before Ruby began to wake up again. She had shifted underneath the blanket in her sleep and she opened her eyes slowly to find herself in the darkness of the bed. But the little dragon did not panic as she knew where she was as she could feel the toy by her face. The dragon yawned a little as she stretched her paws and lifted the blanket slowly before squinting at the light shining in her ruby red eyes. Expecting to see Optimus, Ruby’s eyes adjusted quickly and she looked around for him. However, she realized very quickly she was on her own. She did not know she was in the lobby area of the base, and the autobots were currently working elsewhere in the base.

But as the little dragon was alone, the dimly lit, grey space felt very scary to her. Her nostrils twitched a little as she sniffed the air a little before she began to whimper lightly. She shifted to huddle under the blanket nervously before she began to let out loud whines and whimpers, hoping that someone would hear her as she didn’t like that she was left alone. And she didn’t know if Optimus would even hear her as she whined and whimpered loudly. She could hear her voice echoing, but she wasn’t bothered by that as she waited for a sound of someone approaching.

She soon heard the sound of heavy footsteps approaching, and Ruby wasn’t sure if they belonged to Optimus. Her whimpers turned from upset to slight fear as she did not know if this was danger approaching, so alerting Optimus seemed to be reasonable to the dragon’s mind. Though the sound of the footsteps did not hasten, so whoever was approaching was not moving too quickly. And Ruby didn’t know yet if that was good or not.

But as the footsteps did get closer, they slowed down before they came to a stop. “Ruby.” Ruby widened her eyes and she shook her head to shake the blanket off and she looked up at Optimus to see his kind, friendly expression looking back at her. Optimus’s smile widened slightly as he saw the blanket still covering part of the right side of her face and her feathers looked a little messed up too. “I am here now. It is okay.”

Ruby murmured a little as Optimus reached down and she let out a low, growling purr at him as she was unhappy about waking up alone. Optimus ignored the tone and she grumbled as he lifted the blanket from her body and the dragon laid in the nest for a few minutes just staring at Optimus as she contemplated on how she should feel. However, she stood up slowly and lifted her front left paw to step out, only to be surprised to feel how cold the concrete was on her paw.

She immediately pulled it back and lowered her head to nuzzle the floor before snorting and shaking her head with another grumble. “Uh oh, the floor is a bit too cold.” Ruby looked up and she smiled a little as she saw Fowler approaching. He had been helping the bots and was about to leave when Ruby woke up. “Not much we can do, but she should get used to it.”

“I am aware, Agent Fowler. Come on, Ruby...” Optimus gestured for the dragon to get out of the tub, making Ruby whimper and whine as she realized that Optimus was going to make her get out. She wanted him to get her out. But it became clear soon enough that Optimus would not, so the dragon stood up and lifted her front right paw to place on the ground. She whimpered and lifted her paw, looking at Optimus expectedly. Optimus gestured again. “I’m sorry that the ground is cold, but you can’t stay in there and not get used to it, Ruby.”

“Plus, she will probably need to use the toilet too. At least we found one that you can reach and help her, but it will also teach her where she should do it. And hopefully, she will learn quickly.” Fowler watched as the dragon placed her front, right paw on the ground again and she grimaced as she forced herself to get used to the coolness of the floor. “At least we know that she doesn’t like cold floors. But we can’t do too much about that.”

Cliffjumper, who walked over behind Optimus, looked at the dragon as she placed her front, left paw on the ground and grimaced from the cold. He chuckled a little and crouched, making her look at him. “We may not be able to, but she sure is adorable with the way she touches the floor like that.”