Chapter 8

                                    

                                          
When Gardenia woke up in the morning, she felt even worse. She didn't want to move at all because everything hurts. Breathing hurts. She wants her dad to be here with her but of course, circumstances don't allow that. Wait, her mirror!
She pats around ignoring the thumping pain of her bruises, rummaging her pockets for the mirror but grasps nothing but a few wrapped candies. She stared at the candies with blank eyes until it became too blurry to see.
"Fleshling. Human. Kid. Child. Girl. Gardenia. Are: you dissociating?" Soundwave already pulled up a site where it has methods on how to have someone back from dissociating. 
At the sight of tears silently falling down the witch's cheeks, Soundwave all but nearly skidded to a stop in the middle of the road. It was only because there were no cars that Soundwave got away with it.
Soundwave immediately scanned the witch, searched up "how to stop child from crying" on google and materialized his hologram in the front seat. Gardenia was now silently crying at her palm, which is now void of candies because of the abrupt halt of the car.
Soundwave didn't understand how "give the child comforting hugs" or "talk in a soothing tone" would help but the internet hasn't failed him yet. 
Before he could say a word though, Gardenia started sobbing and shoved her head in her arms, her knees bending to tuck close to her chest. Soundwave was going to give her a head pat but Gardenia's scream of "Don't touch me!" stopped him from doing so. 
A few moments of silence save for Gardenia's sobbing and now hiccups filled the air. He received confusion and slight panic from his bond with his casseticons and that's not helping him with this problem right now. With an order to quiet down, Soundwave tried speaking. 
"Fleshling-"
"My name's not fleshling, it's Gardenia!" She sobbed-yelled through her arms. 
"...Gardenia. What: is wrong? Why: are you leaking?"
Gardenia didn't answer and just continued to sob. Soundwave's hologram just sat there, waiting for Gardenia to answer while calculating the nearest place that sells ice cream. It's a detour but it'll at least make the flesh- child not cry anymore. 
The nearest place is an hour's drive from his location but he could make it in 20 minutes if he uses shortcuts and maximum speed. 
Oh, Soundwave should give Gardenia a tissue. He opened a compartment, took out a box of tissues and plopped it next to Gardenia. He then took out a plastic bag and placed it next to the tissue box. "There: I put tissues and a bag for trash next to you."
Gardenia's hand reached out and blindly grabbed for the tissue box, successfully taking it after a few tries and disappeared under her arms. The sound of her blowing her nose kind of disgusted Soundwave. Cybertronians didn't have weird fluids coming out of them compared to humans. It seems like humans lubricate themselves a lot. 
"..m..r..." Gardenia's voice was muffled under her arms and no matter how Sounwave enhanced the sound, he still couldn't make out what Gardenia was saying.
"Please: repeat again. I: didn't register your words."
Gardenia's head poked out of her arms and Soundwave winced at the red, teary eyes. Cybertronian optics definitely didn't do that.
"My mirror's gone."
"Mirror?"
"It was in my pocket." She pats her pocket. "It was a magic mirror that my dad," She hiccuped at the word dad, "gave me. It's the only connection to him."
Soundwave replays the memory from yesterday. He didn't remember breaking the mirror. If he did, the shards would've pierced Gardenia and from his scans, all she had were bruises. He ignored how a part of him felt guilt for damaging the fle- Gardenia.
Gardenia probably lost it when she was chasing Lazerbeak. 
:.Lazerbeak: do you remember which route you took when luring Gardenia to me?.:
:.Yes..:
:.Good. Find: mirror. Gardenia: dropped it when chasing you..:
:....What about spying on the Autobot base?.:
:.....Finding: mirror takes precedence..:
:.Understood..:
Soundwave turned back to see Gardenia staring at him while she sniffled. "Were you talking to someone?"
Soundwave nodded. "Contacted Lazerbeak. Will: search for mirror."
Gardenia's eyes widened and he could practically see growing hope in her eyes. "Really?" They'll search for it?"
"Affirmative." 
"Thank you." Gardenia smiled. Her smile dropped at her next words as she looked at Soundwave guiltily. "I'm sorry I yelled at you. Things have been stressful lately and I took it out on you." It was a long time coming for a breakdown to occur. To be fair, her father did warn her that shoving her feelings down isn't good for her. 
Gardenia thought that would be the end of talking about her overreaction but Soundwave took her to a store that sells ice cream and ice packs. When she struggled to get out of the car, Soundwave surprisingly carried her. Right when shoved a popsicle in her mouth after getting back in the car, she almost spit it out when Soundwave immediately asked her, "Gardenia: let's talk about your feelings.
Gardenia should've apparated, injuries be damned.
****************
Lazerbeak searched and searched for the mirror. Hours later, when they finally found the mirror and they carefully put it in their subspace, they heard a branch snap. Before they knew it, they were caught by Jazz.
"Gah! 'Old still, ya little bugger!" Jazz spluttered as he tried to wrangle Lazerbeak in his servos. 
**********
If Lazerbeak had arms, they would be crossing their arms across their chest and staring moodily at the trinemates from within a metal cage. 
Skywarp, who had little self preservation, laughed at Lazerbeak's predicament.
Lazerbeak will remember this humiliation of being stuffed in a cage like this planet's pet avians. Honestly, Lazerbeak should be kept in a secure prison with bars that electrify them when they touch it, not confined like an organic pet. 
"Lazerbeak, where's Soundwave? We have a little witch fleshling missing and I want her found. So she could be of use to our cause." Megatron added the last sentence. Skywarp quieted down to hear Lazerbeak's answer.
"They are a few states away, my lord. Soundwave is with the fleshling and making their way here." :.To plan a prison ecape.:
:.Wonderful!.: Megatron beamed, his relief of the witch being found replacing his worry and concern. He ignores the fact that he still feels worried about why the hell the witch ended up a few states away instead of right here with him.
"...Wait. Is Gardenia planning a prison escape or is it only Soundwave?"
Lazerbeak shrugged. By the time Soundwave and the witch make it to the Autobot base, Soundwave should be able to convince the witch to join the Decepticon's cause, right?