Ruby - Transformers: Age of Extinction fanfic

Isn't It Ironic?

Lockdown's words floated around Ruby's mind in a disjointed manner.

Skull    Ignorant    Surgery    Hemorrhage    Brain 

Death.

After everything. All the battles, all the wars, all the injuries and wounds and scars. This was how she would go?

Ruby laughed. She rolled onto her back in the sand, unable to hold herself up anymore. Despite the pain, she couldn't stop laughing.

"It is the truth!" Lockdown bellowed.

"Oh, I know. I'm such an idiot, I should have recognised the symptoms. I've seen them before."

And she had, in unfortunate soldiers with head trauma.

"Then what's so funny!?"

"After all I've lived through, fighting aliens, it's funny that the death of me will be caused by a mere human, and one trying to save me,"
More giggles burst from her lips, but tears also streamed from her eyes. Tears of blood.

Tom would be mortified, he'd blame himself for her death. She thought back to how he'd knocked her aside, saving her from being vaporised by a drone. She had cracked her head on the concrete pretty hard. Head trauma. 

Go figure.

"Well," said Lockdown, "In the end, you are only human,"

Ruby closed her eyes as his shadow descended over her. It was quite nice here, in the sand. She could pretend that the burning she felt was only the sun. She was on the beach.

Lockdown cocked his gun face. The bracelet scorched her skin. It closed around her wrist tighter than ever. Optimus had told her once that it was like a living thing. Would it still live after she died? Was that why it tried so hard to save her? Energy was not created or destroyed. Only transferred, or transformed. What would happen?

"NO!"

There was a mighty crash and light blared behind Ruby's eyelids. She opened her eyes and pushed herself up. Optimus had tackled Lockdown. A cloud of sand blew into her face and she forced herself to stand, looking down to avoid getting bits in her eyes. The sand around her feet was stained red, but one spot glistened. Blood didn't sparkle like that.

Not daring to bend down in case she lost her balance, she held out her hand and lifted the sparkling droplet up with what little was left of her power. She clasped her other hand to her mouth, a sob rising in her throat.

It was her ruby necklace. It had somehow survived unscathed. She curled her fingers around it, clenching her hand until the hard edges of the pendant dug into her skin. She swallowed back the sob clawing its way up her throat.

Ha. Ironic. Word of the day, word of the moment.

Ironic, that this was how the universe had played its hand, how her destiny had led to this fickle fate. Ironic, that the necklace would show up, come back to her against all odds. Ironic, that even now, Ironhide kept talking to her heart, kept it going. Iron-ic.

She wasn't dead yet. There was still reason to fight. Why should she believe Lockdown? There was still hope. He had said to look at herself. No. He should look. He had no reason. He would lose. She curled her hands into fists. She would find another way to help end this fight. Oh, yes.

"Ruby!" Cade came sprinting through the gap she had blasted in the wall, gun in arm, "Don't just stand there! We have – oh."

He skidded to a stop, taking in her bloody nose and horrific red eyes; "You look terrible."