And This Is Love

Optimus camera punches.

Welp finally finished the prologue! If you guys actually like this series I'll definitely have to make more! (I would have made more chapters anyway to challenge my brain. 😂) Don't mind the grammer, but if you see anything wrong don't be afraid to say something.

Prologue

One

Two

Three

...

"Ready or not here I come April!" Said the black haired girl, determined to find her best friend...but first she searches her room, just in case she was in here, but nope she finds no sign of April. The girl leaves to go check the other areas, hoping to find her.

She checks the kitchen first, nope shes not here surprisingly, since April likes to raid her fridge for drinks and food...sometimes. She then checks the living room, not here either.

With that she goes running towards her parents room, knocking on the door as she opens it.

"Mom, dad have you seen April? Were playing hide and seek." The girl asks but goes silent upon seeing a new face, one that looks familiar to her.

It can't be.

Everyone turns to look at the girl.

"My my, so this is your daughter Layla, she's got your looks for sure." The new figure says as her mother chuckles.

"I would hope so Lou, but she's got her fathers personality down to a pat. Isnt that right dear?"

The girl watches her father chuckle as he comes over and picks her up. "Not just my personality she has hun, she has your intelligence and sassy attitude love." The father says as he looks down at his daughter.

"As for your friend April, I would suggest looking outside sweetie. Now run along, your mother and I got some business to deal with." With that he ruffles his daughters hair before placing her back down.

The girl smiles and thanks her parents, but as she turns to leave she glances back at the man standing beside her mother.

Something about him unerves the girl, but she smiles and waves as she runs outta the room in search of April.

She listens to what her father said and goes outside to check.

As she wanders around, she thinks about the man she saw. Her mother called him Lou right? He can't be the famous movie actor Lou Jitsu...can he?

As she thinks about it her eyes widen, as she realises it was the famous Lou Jitsu. As she recalls seeing him on tv, she was a pretty big fan herself since she knew his signature catch phrase and watched all his movies.

The girl couldn't believe it, Lou Jitsu knows her parents!

As the girl is lost in thought, she runs into a tree, groaning in pain from the impact on her poor little face.

"Kay?!" Exclaims April, but more so in worry.

"She saw that." Kay says quietly to herself, as she turns to where the sound of her best friends voice is.

She watches as her friend jumps down from the treehouse, running over to check on her friend. "That looked like it hurt, you okay Karise?" April asks worriedly.

Karise smiles and laughs at her curly haired friend, nodding at her concerned friend.

"I'm okay. Wanna play something else?" She asks her friend.

April points to the sky and sighs. "Its late Kay, I have to go home before mom and dad start looking for me."

With that the girls hug each other as they say their goodbyes, both having made plans to hangout tomorrow.

Not realising that things are about to change for the worst.

Karise should have known something was off with him from the beginning, but she wouldn't have expected this.

She heads back inside, only to be greeted with a strong sickening stench, as it wafts through the air around her.

She pinches her nose as her face scrunched up in disgust.

Where is that smell coming from and why is it strong?

Her stomach churns as a thought comes to mind.

Are her parents okay? What if something happened?

With that thought, she dashes to her parents room, flinging the door open. Startled by the gruesome sight before her.

Red.

All she sees is red or rather blood, and a message.

"Happy 5th birthday Karise." The message reads.

Tears begin to pull in her eyes as she sees her mother and father propped up against the wall, blood pulling underneath and onto the floor as it seeps outta fresh wounds.

No no no no no no.

She runs over to them, shaking her father awake. "Daddy wake up!" She cries out.

No response.

She goes over to try with her mother, only to recieve the same results.

She cries from realising that both her parents are dead.

She wipes away the tears on her sleeve as she gets up off the floor, knowing she can't be sad forever...its not what they would want.

She looks down at her parents, sadness washing over her as she wonders what to do now.

An idea pops into her head as she makes her way over to her mothers work desk. Karise opens the top drawer to see an old worn down leather notebook sitting on top of some folders. She grabs it and closes the drawer, as she focuses her attention on her mothers journal as she begins to open it, but quickly decides against it.

She remembers her mothers words clearly.

"Don't open my journal by any means Karise, should something ever happen to your father and I. Only then can you read it, but make sure you are safe first."

Karise knows she is not safe.

She runs back to her room and grabs her bookbag, sliding her mothers journal in as she goes and gathers some of her belongings.

After doing so Kay equips the backpack as she heads to the kitchen, making sure to grab plently of food and water, as puts them in her bag as well.

With that she sprints out of her house, not taking a glance back.

She can't go back, not now anyway.

It's late and she should be sleeping by now at home. Tooo bad she can't, she needs to get to somewhere safe first.

Karise realises how lost in thought she is when she wounds up in a city alleyway, one she doesnt remember. She stops for a moment to catch her breath, she can see how visible it has become.

Winter is soon approaching the girl thinks to herself, shivering when a gust of cold air hits her.

Luckily she threw on her blue hoodie beforhand.

Once she catches her breath she turns to continue her way forward, only to be slammed onto the ground.

Kay gasps in pain as her eyes widen in shock and fear.

Lou Jitsu?

He grins as she trembles in fear. Blood staining his blazer. "Finally I've been looking everywhere for you, your pretty fast kid." Lou says as he evily grins at her, wrapping a hand around the base of her neck.

He begins to choke her.

Karise's eyes widen as she screams for help.

"Keep your damn mouth shut! God kids are so fucking annoying. This is why I dont have any." He says angrily at her.

Someone please help me!

Karise wants to scream more but her airway is beginning to shut down by Lou choking her way to tightly.

...

As if someone heard her prayer, a man comes barreling outta nowhere and slams Lou Jitsu off of her.

The man in question looks behind him, turning to kneel down to her level as he holdd out his hand. A small smile adorning the man's face.

"Are you alright little one?" He asks softly, quietly, as if it would alarm her. She looks up at him, reaching out her little hand in his grasp as she nods.

"I am now. Thank you for saving me mister I appreciate it." Karise says as a smile forms onto her face. He lifts her up off the ground, helping her as she wipes away the dirt on her knees.

"My name is Baron Draxum, but you can call me Barry."

She smiles up at him.

"Karise Zirmei! Nice to meet you Barry!" She says happily.

Baron smiles down at the small child, letting his thoughts stir around as he wonders why she was out walking around alone. Where are her parents he questions.

"Tell me Karise, why are you out here all alone? Where are your parents?" Baron asks, watching as the small girl begins to tear up.

"They...there not waking up. They were covered in a lot of blood." Karise says as she cries softly.

Barons eyes widen.

He quickly bends down and pulls the child into his arms. "I'm so sorry little one...no one your age should ever have to loose her parents..." Barom says solemnly, comforting the girl as best as he can.

As he comforts Karise, he forgets about the man he shoved off of him. That is until a green liquid comes hurdling towards him, smashing into pieces up against his back.

He yells out in pain as he drops the child, his body contorting and shifting into something new.

"Forget about me did you?!" Lou yells out in anger.

In pain but not completely, Baron scoops the girl up into his arms and runs outta the alleyway, hoping to escape that mad man.

Kay watches in fascination as his body begins to transform.

She should be shocked from his new appearance, but she isn't.

I mean her mother is a Yokai after all...was a Yokai.

Layla was a red eared slider, but was able to take on a human appearance. Her father however was just a normal old human.

Chen loved her all the same when he found out, and boy was he shocked of course but it didn't change how he felt.

Afterall Karise was born...somehow.

As the girl thinks about her parents, she blinks in confusion as to where she is.

Karise takes a look at her surroundings.

She's not outside anymore, but in an old kinda torn down apartment.

"This is my home...I apologize for the mess...its never gotten this bad." Baron says as he places Karise down.

Kay looks at him, studying his new appearance now that he's no longer human.

He looks like a sheep.

She giggles to herself as Baron looks at her weirdly. "What do you find that is so funny child?" He asks in amusement. "You look like a sheep Barry!" She says in between fits of giggles.

His eyes widen as he panics. "What?!" He says with a startle.

Kay takes off her bookbag as she begins digging through it. Pulling out her small mirror, she hands it to him as he begins to inspect.

A gasp leaves his lips, shocked to see what he looks like now.

He's a tad horrified, but also curious, he supposes its to do with his scientific nature.

"Well this is now what I expected...as a scientist this is beyond my knowledge. What did he throw at me and how could this happen?" Baron says with curiosity. "I think it was that green ooze Lou threw at you." Kay says as Baron stops stroking his new beard.

"Green ooze?...!" Baron gasps in shock as he knows what hit him.

Mutagen.

He begins pacing back and forth as he explains what the green ooze...or rather mutagen is, as she sits down. Looking down at her from time to time to see if shes paying attention. She nods to him as he continues explaining in great detail of what is was gonna be used for.

"The formula I had made was incomplete...or so I had thought."

Did Lou Jitsu take it and finish it?

"It was suppose to be a scientific breakthrough but now..." Baron sighs as he walks over and looks out the window.

Kay frowns at this.

She gets up off the floor and walks over to Baron, as she wraps her little hand around his much bigger one. He turns his head downward and looks at her. "Do not worry about me Kay I will be alright...but now we have a bigger problem on our hands." Kay turns her head to meet his big brown eyes that are staring back at her.

"We need to stop Lou Jitsu." He says with determination.

Kay's eyes widen in disbelief...take on Lou Jitsu?

Karise must have looked scared as Baron ruffles her hair to qwell her fears. "Do not worry, I will teach you the art of Ninjitsu little one. So you may protect yourself. After all my father has taught me when I was your age once." Baron says as he smiles down at her.

Ninjitsu? She's heard that before from somewhere.

"Do you not know what Ninjitsu is?" Baron asks as the girl shakes her head no at first, but then nods. "Isn't it like fighting?" She asks.

He nods. "It is a form of fighting yes, but anyone can master it as long as you are brave enough to take on the challenge. Like my father and his father had done and so on, but do not fret I will explain it all, so take many notes little one. Your training will begin soon." Baron says as he watches the girl grow excited from what she is about to be taught.

With this a new story unfolds for the both of them.

If you have any comments or questions feel free to ask! Again don't mind the grammer (kinda suck when it comes to grammer) just enjoy the story. Also yes Baron Draxum is her step father! He's grown quite an attachment towards her and now he doesnt want to let her go and yes in this AU he was born human and is actually quite nice towards them...for the most part (he has a soft spot for children shhhh) but , I'll leave it up to your imagination at to what he would have looked like.

This user loves the Kenways.

Alfred watches the man walk out of the plane, he pales hearing the man say he jumped out of the plane the last time he was on one. "No you never did tell me your name."

The man sighs, tilting his head a bit and mutters "strange family..." he shakes his head and shrugs. "Lead the way hero. I got no idea what I'm doing."

“Haha sweet dude!” Alfred calls in for a car, which comes and picks them up, taking them to the airport. Once they get on the plane they wait and soon arrive in Canada.

Somebody somewhere said Quintessa talks to Optimus like he’s a bratty child.

NO.

That’s not how you treat a child, not even if they are being bratty and rude.

The way she treats Optimus is straight up physical and emotional abuse.

I’ll break it down. I posted about this before, but fuck it I’m doing it again.

All pics were dug off Google. Gifs were made by me with help from Youtube and gifs.com

Optimus lands in a less than optimal condition. He’s been in stasis for who-knows-how-long. He’s got dents from space rocks that probably hit him while he was out. He’s half-frozen, as in you see ice fall off him when he looks up. He’s probably in pain because space is really fricken cold.

And he’s pissed off.

Optimus walks in to Quintessa all “I’ll kill you!” because he believes Quintessa is the person behind the Seeds and as a result is a direct threat to Earth. He’s trying to protect a place and people he values.

Quintessa, despite her tiny size, has powers that make her able to render Optimus helpless against her without effort. She hurls an energy blast at his arm to knock his sword from his hand, calls forth the chains that restrain him and shoots him in the upper body / head with a stronger energy blast that knocks him into his knees. This is an establishment of dominance, which she completes by saying, “You dare to strike your god?” Her voice is very cold, angry sounding.

Now the emotional and physical abuse begins as Infernocus walks behind Optimus.

Quintessa spits at Optimus, “Your war doomed Cybertron.”

This is when Infernocus starts to beat Optimus and grab his head to further immobilize him and force him to look at Quintessa. It’s right as Optimus says, “Megatron started the war!”

Quintessa takes hold of Optimus’ chin and gaslights him with this accusation: “You destroyed your world, you fool!” 

Keep in mind, Optimus launched the Allspark (Cube) into space. Cybertron was already dying, and this would seal its fate. An act of desperation to stop the war. Cybertron was probably screwed no matter what choice Optimus made. He wrestled with the decision before and after he made it. This is what Quintessa hooks into when she gaslights Optimus by making it sound like the loss of Cybertron is entirely his fault. His fault, nobody else’s. We all know the real blame lays on everyone involved on the war, yet Quintessa puts all that blame on Optimus alone. 

Think about that for a moment. That’s what Optimus is doing in this scene. I bet he sees the face of every soldier he ever lost or killed in battle as well as the Cube zooming into space. It’s all flashing through him. He’s silent, stunned by her words. And the slap happens while he’s still reeling from what she said to him. It’s not a little love tap. Optimus grunts in pain, sparks fly and the blow jerks his head to the side. He doesn’t turn his head, her slap does.

It’s interesting how the red mark doesn’t just appear. It starts small and propagates until it “solidifies”. It’s like you see the physical pain of her slap and accusations / gaslighting manifesting as glowing gold light spreading on the left side of his face.  Optimus realizes she’s done something to him; his face is twitchy with a look of pain and fear. 

And after that, Quintessa’s tone of voice changes to something more gentle and condescending. There may be dialogue missing because all I have are somebody’s low quality thirty-second long clips to verify, but she basically says “My perfect creation… you’re going to fix it, or the race of Transformers dies forever.”

Then she runs her hand down his cheek and smiles. “I made you. You are mine to command.” (Human parent abusers might say, “I’m your mom / dad / relative, so you have to do what I say.”)

The whole time, Optimus just looks confused, hurt and scared. It’s a huge contrast to how utterly pissed off he was mere seconds ago. 

Quintessa has taken every doubt he’s ever had and twisted it to destabilize him. She knows she’s got him when he avoids eye contact and remains silent instead of throwing verbal barbs back at her. No more “What have you done to my world? I’ll kill you!” He’s just…silent.

Something interesting of note is how Optimus keeps avoiding eye contact even as Quintessa lifts his chin to turn his face towards her after the cheek caress. This would be perfectly normal behavior for an autistic person like me, but I don’t headcanon Bayverse Optimus as autistic. Eye contact for an autistic person hyper-activates a part of the brain related to faces in a way that doesn’t bother non-autistic people. Depending on the culture, NT’s who place a lot of importance on eye contact avoid it when they feel defeated or are afraid of somebody. 

Quintessa maintains eye contact the whole time, even leaning into Optimus’ personal space as if to tell him he’s not allowed to have that anymore. She knows she’s got him when he’s avoiding her gaze. It takers her less than five minutes to utterly destroy him mentally.

A “skilled” abuser can tear somebody down real fast, and she does exactly that. She’s totally screwing with his mind.

She starts feeding Optimus lies about the Staff being stolen and basically sweet-talks / orders him to get it back. That’s where the “Do you seek redemption, Prime? Do you?” line comes from, to which Optimus replies, “My maker, I do.”

This leads to even more abuse and there are other things they discuss while Quintessa is making the chains zap Optimus. I’m sorta guessing this is part of what she considers his “redemption”. She basically groomed the hell out of him to accept her treatment of him as normal. He’s making noises of pain, but not fighting it because she conditioned him to see it as fixing the problem she convinced him he caused. I can’t say what she tells him without spoiling the movie for those who haven’t seen it yet, but Quintessa feeding Optimus this information while inflicting pain on him. To avoid spoilers, all I can say is she tells him Earth has the Staff and something on Earth can rebuild Cybertron. She convinces Optimus that this thing on Earth is something that must die for Cybertron to live. 

The chilling part is Optimus mumbles “yes” as she’s saying “Earth will die, and Cybertron will live.”

Optimus accepts what she says as true. She has totally squashed his will and twisted his identity, and you know the damage is complete when Optimus says “I will fight anyone who stands in my way.”

Abusers find out what gets under their target’s skin and they will hook themselves under it and rip whenever they please to cause maximum pain whether it’s physical or mental. Then they play ‘move the goal posts’ where they imply doing this one thing will appease them, but when their victim does that thing it’s suddenly not good enough anymore. 

She preys on Optimus after he’s been betrayed by nearly everyone he has ever trusted or looked up to. The way she talks to him almost sounds like she’s saying do my bidding and I will never betray you while literally betraying him. I shudder to wonder what else Quintessa had planned had he been the one to hand her the staff.

But the scene with the chains and dialogue is such a powerful scene. It shows how abuse doesn’t take long to destroy someone, especially if that someone is already vulnerable for other reasons. And it’s not Optimus’ fault that this happened. Yes, he walked into her ‘space’, but she, or whoever made the Seeds, became a threat to him first. The Creators sent Lockdown, who killed Ratchet. Lockdown mentioned the Creators, which named the threat Optimus had to target next to protect Earth.

Ultimately, Quintessa takes two things Optimus values greatly and forces him to pick one, yet her tactics coerce him to pick what she wants. You know abuse has done serious damage when the person being abused obeys their abuser’s will instead of their own because they’ve been twisted into believing they want what their abuser wants. They can’t think for themselves anymore because every action they take is based on “will it please them enough to not hurt me?”

It’s very easy to destroy and control a person if you know exactly what they value most. Destroying people inside and out is what abusers do. And it’s exactly what Quintessa did to Optimus. 

I’m not saying nobody can make memes out of the slap or whatever. Have fun with that. Just remember how serious and damaging that scene is in the context of the movie.

reblog and make a wish! this was removed from tumbrl due to “violating one or more of Tumblr’s Community Guidelines”, but since my wish came true the first time, I’m putting it back. :)

WE HAVE OUR PLOT SYNOPSIS BABYYYYY

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