Disclaimer: I do not own transformers

I've decided to do one-shots about the fledglings. Tourniquet is first, and the saddest. Don't worry, Ratchet a Firestar get better in ATJ2, I promise.

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I'm Here

They were there when I first came online, Ratchet and Firestar. Bebop infers they are my "mommy and daddy", whatever that means. Bebop's deduction is contaminated by his motherspark's human mind. That mech can't even describe a plasma injection valve, and we have the same designation; how that came to be, I have yet to discover. I am far superior to that minute Autobot. His elder sibling is no exception to their mother's naivety.

Still...

Something about the Autobot femme referred to as both "Amy" and "Blazer" has me wondering. What is a "mom"? Bebop references Blazer as "mom" consistently in what diminutive conversation he can hold.

There was a time I thought I wanted one of these "moms". I witnessed Bebop walking in Autobot City, Blazer held his hand, and smiled at him as he said something unintelligent about a creature of flight classified as a "bird". At the time, I was naïve. I attempted to clutch Ratchet's hand in the same way Bebop held Blazer's hand, but he rejected my touch. I learned then.

After that, Firestar suggested I spend time at "Amy's house". Needless to say the location of the house lay outside of Autobot City, in the town of Tranquility, Nevada; the home of Samuel James Witwicky. The house itself is unimpressive, and compact; a far cry from an Autobot dwelling, though the current accommodations in Autobot City are less than satisfactory.

A common occurrence in this household is "hide and seek", a so-called game practiced by Blazer, Bebop, and Bumblebee. I take no enjoyment out of this game, but use it to hone my stalking abilities. I a proud to say I cane find anyone, anywhere, no matter how clever they think they are being.

Blazer says the point of the game is not the same as the main objective; to find the hiding players. She thinks there is metaphorical significance in the fact that I have learned to look for the participants as opposed to the first time I agreed to play, I did not search for anyone, but enjoyed by time alone in the living room.

Blazer cooks food though we do not technically consume it. I had my Pretender form adjusted to compensate for "taste" only as an experiment. I will have it re-adjusted to normal parameters eventually, but I have yet to conduct remaining experiments with "taste".

Every night I am here at this dwelling, I realize Firestar and Ratchet have made no attempt to contact me. I think nothing of it until Blazer's attention bothers me. She "tucks me in" every night in an uncomfortable squishy recharge station she calls a "bed".

Before bed, Blazer enacts a ritual called "storytelling". I sit silently, and listen from my room so no one will see. If the story ends, and the other fledglings do not sleep, Blazer sings. I am able to recharge, but as of late I have been having dreams; bad dreams. I do not tell anyone about them, but I see a mass, larger than Earth, it devours Cybertron, or at least it tries. The mass is engulfed in a blue light, and all disappears. When I awake from this dream, my optic cavities are leaking.

I can recall when Bebop awakes in such a way, Blazer hurries to his side, and holds him until he stops leaking. "Crying", I believe it is called. Firestar does not hold me if I "cry", though I do not sob in distress as Bebop does. The "tears" simply fall from my optic cavities.

Today, I am still at this house, staring out the window. Part of me wants to see Firstar or Ratchet, or both, come to the house, and take me back to Autobot City.

"Hey, kiddo." Blazer approaches me from the kitchen. She wears clothing on her pretender form of black shorts, and a blue shirt. "See any rainbows?"

I shake my head wordlessly. The sky is gray, poor weather is upon us again. It is late October on Earth, and rain falls every day in short showers. She come closer, and leans to look out the window.

"I see one." Her voice rises in pitch. "See it, Tourniquet?" She smiles at me, but I try not to notice.

I shake my head again, there is no "rainbow" as she calls it, an anomaly of light bent through raindrops on a sunny day.

"Well, I can see all the colors. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple." Her smile grows broad. "Red, see in the roses?" She points out the window. I shift my eyes, and see the chlorophyll life form known as a "rosebush".

I shake my head slowly.

"Oh," Blazer sighs, she faking it of course, to get a rise out of me. "Then do you see orange In the orange tree."

Upon finishing the dwelling, Bumblebee planted an "Orange tree" bearing citrus fruit named for their color. How the tree survives in the climate is unthinkably impossible.

I shake my head again, slower this time, my resolve is breaking.

"Yellow is there, in the daffodils." Blazer smiles. "Green in the grass?" I try to ignore her. "Purple in the violets."

A garden of chlorophyll life forms is in the backyard. They take up space, and serve no rational purpose.

"Well, if you don't see them..." Blazer turns to leave.

"Wait." I grab her arm. I am puzzled because she skipped a color. I do not care, but her lack of consistency is stifling. "You forgot blue."

Blazer's smile returns. "Oh, well that one's easy." She leans closer to me. I want to recoil, but her presence has as of late brought me comfort. "Blue is in the eyes of a little boy." She taps my nose. I am unable to respond, and I watch her as she stands up, and walks toward the kitchen. "I think I'll make oatmeal cookies today, but," she pauses, standing in the doorway of the kitchen, her back to me. "I sure could use some help, but too bad everyone's gone."

"I'm here!" I shout before I can stop myself, but she walks into the kitchen ignoring me. I dislike being ignored...everyone else ignores me. They say I'm bossy, or too imaginative. I jump off of the windowsill. "I'm here, Blazer!" I exclaim, running to the kitchen.

Blazer removes a bowl from the cabinet, and smiles at me. "I'm glad."

As we watch the cookies warming in the oven, I reach my hand to hers, and grasp it. She pulls her hand away, and removes her apron. I fell rejected, and turn away so she doesn't see me cry.

"Hey Tourniquet, wanna go for a walk?" I turn to look at Blazer, and she is holding her hand out to me. I hesitate to reach for it, but I do, and she holds my hand tightly.

END