Disclaimer: I own nothing but Natalia and Damarys, which is pronounced duh-mare-iss

~Destined~

No P. O. V

No P. O. V

I huddled my five foot nine inch frame further into my thin black jacket, seeking warmth and shelter from the steadily falling rain. My shoulder blade length blonde hair tucked messily underneath my hood.

I was temporarily blinded by a pair of headlights before the car raced off, out of the parking lot.

I walked a little faster, keeping an eye out for cars and puddles. I would rather avoid the added discomfort of internal squishy lake shoes.

Another car sped past, splashing my already soaked body with more water.

Figures. I thought sourly. Up your aft, you jerk!

I never thought this would be my life.

Growing up, I always imagined the future as a bright place full of light and happiness and endless possibilies.

I could do anything, be anything, I wanted without limitations. My parents would still be disgustingly in love and we would all be together in the house with the broken shutter. They were my two best friends, and I had all the time in the world with them.

That all ended with a trip to the south to visit a relative.

Sometimes, car accidents can change everything. One trip was all it took to take my best friends from me and move me halfway across the country to live with an aunt I had never even met.

My name is Natalia Elizabeth Raynes and this is my story.

I waved at a few coworkers, pushing open the factory's double doors. I saw the patter of rain on the parking lot and groaned in dismay.

It looks like I was walking home in the rain. Again.

The route to my apartment was riddled with well traveled streets and plenty of chances for a good samiritan to pick up walkers. There should be no reason for me to be stuck in the rain, right?

As if in answer, a passing car flew by, upsetting a puddle of water and proceeding to splash my already wet form with more water.

Wrong.

I just worked the equivalent of a shift and a half, I felt beyond tired and sore. I wanted to be home, in my small apartment, on my battered tan couch and watch Transformers movies until I passed out.

A camaro that looked like an exact replica of Bumblebee sped by, having the courtesy to at least swerve around the puddle.

Well, it was better than nothing.

I'd gotten another half mile before a familiar dark blue Ford 4X4 pick up truck slowed to a stop and rolled down the window.

An elderly man with silver threaded through his dark ponytail and a kind smile leaned over the driver's seat. "I ended up having to stay over, too. Still in the place beside Fair Avenue?"

"Yes, a text would have been nice, Adam."

"Phone died, forgot to charge it at lunch."

"Yeah, yeah." I aanswered, dragging my soaked butt into the passengers seat. "What has Dresden been up to today?"

Adam Durgen has been giving me rides to and from work off and on for the past few months. He listens to audiobooks usually during the car ride and he introduced me to The Dresden Files.

It was actually quite good.

"Oh, you know, the usual. Running, casting, scaling down fourteen story buildings during a blizzard and avoiding capture." He answered like he was commenting on the weather.

I blinked. The first two were expected, the third was new. "Really? How the hell did he get himself into that mess?"

I sagged gracefully onto my couch. Thank goodness I am finally home.

I sighed, snuggling deeper into the battered cushions with my trusty faded blue quilt and pressed play on my DVD player.

I dozed off to the rumble of Optimus Prime's voice as he told Sam about Cybertron.

Oddly enough, I dreamt of a destroyed, barren world with dead giants strewn over everything in sight.

I couldn't remember much of what I had seen when I woke, just fuzzy impressions that I felt I should recognize.

I shook the thought away, focusing on finding I. B. Profin and breakfast.

I glanced at the clock. Or maybe dinner, I amended.

I settled for a compromise, fried frozen shrimp and hash browns. A glass of ice cold orange juice completed the mixed meal.

My computer dinged from across the room, most likely an email waiting for me.

I rinsed the dishes and set them in the dish washer, before padding on bare feet to the living room. I opened my laptop the rest of the way and clicked on the wiggling envelope on the screen.

It was a message from Damarys. The necklace that I wanted was now available locally, which excited me immensely. It was a necklace many transformers fans would fight each other to have. A shard of the Allspark on a thin, silver chain.

My inner fan girl squealed, while my cooler outer self merely wrote a single sentence response, thanking her for informing me.

That necklace would be mine, if I had to blow half my savings to get it.

I grinned, triumphantly donning the Allspark replica around my neck as I left the store. I ignored the glares of the fans who couldn't afford to buy the only remaining necklace, they'd find another somewhere else. My brand new Transformers t-shirts were carefully folded and bagged, under my watchful eye.

Now, to return to the apartment and put them away. I would most likely wear one for grocery shopping later, Damarys was meeting me and I wanted to show her my favourite shirt. She was also a Transformers fan, but not as crazy as I was. She was a southern girl from Louisiana, and had been my best friend and co-author to my Transfromers fan fiction story Destiny or Desire. It starred Bumblebee and our own invention,the fun loving college student, Tess Miller.

Speaking of stories, I had an update of my favourite fan fiction to read when I got back. A girl got transformed into a Cybertronian femme and worked to save the Autobots and their human allies from their fate. I was anxious to know how my favourite set of twins would react to the news that she was rescued by a former Decepticon.

I was lucky enough to catch a bus heading in the direction I needed. I had trouble ignoring the feeling in my gut, a sort of twisting anxiety. No one was bothering me, or making me uncomfortable, so it wasn't the people on the bus.

The bus slowed unexpectedly.

I frowned, glancing around in confusion. We were in the middle of the street. Why would the driver stop in the middle of the street? Some people stood from their seats to investigate, I was among them. We were in the middle of Sunset Drive, just past the pet store. Did the driver realize he needed to shop for his pet or something? I wondered, my eyebrows scrunching together. It seemed no one was paying attention to the other side of the bus. They really should have. . .

The whole bus jerked, the screeching crunch of metal against metal accompanied with squealing tires caught our attention. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to react. Screams, shattering glass and pain were the last things I knew before darkness consumed me.