Hey, all, and welcome to another rp-style fic. Sam was played by Lokiwaterdrac, and Shadowsinger was played by myself, Kd Zeal. This is a little Hyrde-fic, gee, you'd never guess THAT... So, yup, Transformers is not ours, we're just playing with ideas. So, onward!

Well… at least this one was smaller… thank god for small miracles. Sam smiled wryly at that and watched the small mech come toward him, wondering were his guardian had run off to. "Hello," he said, trying to be friendly, while remembering if Bumblebee had introduced him to the ivory and purple Autobot.

Shadowsinger still wasn't really used to looking DOWN for humans, even Wei was usually being carried by someone. He raised his hand in an automatic wave, looking at the boy curiously. Civilian, seemed to be a little younger than Wei... "Hello," he might as well find out if the human wanted to talk, he didn't really have anywhere to go, just enjoying being outside for a change.

"Nice day out, huh?" Sam asked politely, "Have we met before, or am I just being weird again?" He winced at how stupid that sounded, shifting his books on his lap. "My name's Sam, what's yours?"

"Sam?" The name seemed familiar... then again, who could be sure with human names? "I'm Shadowsinger. No, I don't believe we have met. May I sit?" The mech motioned to the ground next to Sam. It really was a nice day, a good temperature and... pretty.

"Huh? Oh yeah, of course!" Clearing his books away the human smiled, "I'd be happy if you did." Sam near winced at that too, he was such an idiot, and a klutz, it was a wonder Bumblebee put up with him… "So, what brings you out here?" he asked casually after the Autobot seated himself.

Folding himself down to sit where Sam had indicated, Shadowsinger shrugged a little. "I'm thoroughly sick of official Autobot yellow, it's been a while since I was on a planet, and... Well, as y'said, it's a nice day." Well... he might as well ask, "If you don't mind... that's the second time you've winced, am I bothering you or something?"

"What? No, no, of course not!" Sam said instantly, waving his hands. "I'm just nervous, like always, twitchy I guess. I'm kinda a klutz and I do stupid stuff…" Trailing off, the human realized just how little sense he'd made and nearly hit himself. "That… totally made no sense…"

Shadowsinger laughed, this earnest young human was almost as endearing as Wei. "You're fine, Sam. You should see my ward, whenever HE doesn't understand something, he'll say his brain broke. As well as making random comments about Apple, he kinda... worked there..." Still did, technically. Very technically, in the totally-never-there manner. "You're lucky the biggest 'bot you have to worry about here is Prime... I've got a sixty-foot dinobot on my ship."

Looking rather confused, Sam blinked. "Dinobot? What's a dinobot?" Sixty feet… holy fuck that was huge! "And I understand brain breakage, when I'm around 'Bee he can be even more confusing than my friend Miles, and Miles… well, he talks to inanimate objects and squirrels… even if they look rabid." Oh, had that been a interesting sight, seeing his dear friend sit in a tree and talk to the furry creatures… although he felt lucky that Miles hadn't tried to HUG it too…

"Dinobot, exactly what it sounds like, Loki happens to be a spinosaurus. She's the biggest Dinobot, AND the youngest, and one of their few femmes," Shadowsinger said all of this with a huge grin on his face. "Miles sounds interest... 'Bee? Bumblebee? Bumblebee is... your guardian?" Okay, well... this was not... what he'd... maybe he was jumping to conclusions, that was never a good thing to do around humans!

"She's… she's not going to step on me, right? I don't want to get turned into a pancake, really…" Sam mumbled, knowing far too well that he was going to have a new nightmare when he slept… "Yeah, Bumblebee, why? Are you good friends with him?"

"No, Loki would never step on you. She's really gentle, even if her favorite hobby is tearing off Screamer's wings," Shadowsinger heard himself answer. He was kind of afraid he'd failed in comforting Sam... Sam... "I'm not really friends with Bumblebee much, I get along more with the Twins... You're the one... I mean..."

Well, that made him feel somewhat better… "What? Did I do something wrong, or...?" Now Sam was even more confused, what was Shadowsinger talking about? Unless he meant the battle against Megatron, but… then why would the mech be so hesitant to talk about it...? of course, he could just be unsure, but…

"Wrong...? No, not... You're the one who... offlined..." Time had passed, made the broken bond fade some, usually he could talk about the AllSpark being destroyed without problems. Of course, usually he was talking about just that, the lose of the Cube, not the lose of his mate. "Would you mind... telling me how it happened...?" It wasn't the boy's fault... he fought to live.

Sam looked down and put his books in his bag, "I don't really know how, but I can try…" He sighed and focused on the patch of ground in front of him. "'Bee got hurt… and he wanted me to go, run, but I refused to leave him… then he gave me the AllSpark and made me go… I don't remember much after that, mostly blurs and explosions… and then Megatron caught up to me, tried to make me give him the cube, but I said no. Then I was falling and Optimus was yelling at me to put the AllSpark in his chest… but I ran the other way and pushed it into Megatron's… and that's it I guess…" He shrugged, eyes glazed over as he remembered the battle.

A surprisingly quick story, really, though Shadowsinger knew well how confusing battle could be, especially the first. "Why? Why didn't you... follow Prime's order? For all you knew, the AllSpark could have bestowed power..." Shadowsinger's voice was soft.

Sam shivered at that thought and shook his head. "I don't know why I did it, really, just something in my gut told me to do it…" He really didn't know why he did it, a little voice just told him to go the other way, shove the cube into Megatron's chest and do what needed done.

A feeling. Just a feeling that it would be best to disobey a Prime's order, and it had left his mate dead. "Well, it... seems to have worked out... well enough. How... have you been after? I mean... I know I... was a bit of a wreck after my first battle..." He needed to change the subject, he needed to change the subject now... And maybe, he wanted to know if Sam felt... even the least bit guilty, over killing someone, anyone, regardless of who it was...

"You're going to laugh or think I'm stupid…" Sam muttered. Sure he didn't mind talking about the battle, but… after... It was weird, some Autobots didn't understand his reaction to the battle and even if it were only a few… would Shadowsinger think it about him?

"No, I won't," he was able to say it calmly and surely. "I'm good at listening, I don't spill secrets, and sometimes I'm even able to say something that helps," Shadowsinger managed a smile on that last part. Why was he always trying to help everyone... Slag, he'd probably even offer to listen to Starscream if the mech... well, okay, not Starscream, but just about anyone else...

"When I realized I'd killed Megatron… I felt horrible, even cried, as stupid as that sounds. No matter what a person does, they don't deserve to die like he did…" The human mumbled, refusing to look Shadowsinger in the optics. He felt foolish spilling such a thing to a person he'd just met, but hopefully the mech really wouldn't laugh.

Shadowsinger froze, absently grateful that the human wasn't looking at him. Primus, he had wanted to know if the boy felt guilt... but he hadn't been ready to hear it laid out so neatly. "There are worse ways to die. It... sounds like it was quick... And in battle, he would... I think... preferred that." He would have been horrified that a slagging organic had offlined him... but Shadowsinger retained the presence of mind not to mention that to the boy. Cycling his vents, the mech continued, "Feeling... guilty for... the deaths we've caused... That's one of the things that separates... well, most Autobots from Decepticons. I mean, look at Starscream, I can promise you that HE doesn't feel guilty, and believe me, he's done far worse..." Comforting his mate's killer... how low had he gone?

"Yeah, but… I'd never killed before, and I never want to kill again, ever," mumbled the human, it was true, he had never killed before, not even any animal… well, except of course some bugs and such… but that was different!

"Exactly. And, Primus willing, you won't have to." Loki would be pulling Sam to cuddle with her... Shadowsinger didn't, he wasn't as prone to touch in the first place, and hugging Sam... "For what it's worth... I wish he didn't... have to die. And that you... hadn't had to kill him." His voice was strained, he hoped the boy didn't take it the wrong way. He had expected to be angry, prepared himself to hate Sam... The mech was quite surprised that he didn't, couldn't.

"Me too…" Sam shivered and pulled his legs up against his chest. "But I would do it again if I had to… no matter how much I hated it and still hate having to do it…" The human tried to push away the thought that maybe Shadowsinger was just being nice and humoring him, after all, everyone else who humored him… well, they were as subtle as a herd of elephants.

Warmth under his hand startled him. Shadowsinger wasn't sure when he'd put his hand on Sam's back, but he looked so miserable... "I know. It was him or your whole race. You made the only decision you could." Well, as much as he wasn't enjoying this conversation, the mech did know he'd be glad he'd had it, later on.

Sam had to force himself to keep from pressing up against the hand touching him. The touch didn't just make him feel better, it also let him know that he wasn't just being humored or tuned out… "Yeah…" he mumbled, not sure what to say.

Perfectly willing to let the conversation fade, the mech returned to his own thoughts. It really was a beautiful day, the sun was warm... He was glad he wasn't black like Ironhide, he was fairly sure that could get uncomfortable pretty quickly. Unconsciously, Shadowsinger rubbed Sam's back a little, something Loki did to him and he'd started doing with Wei, humans seemed to like contact.

Finally letting himself go slightly, Sam relaxed from the petting of his back, near leaning against Shadowsinger's leg before he could stop himself. Although feeling weird about it, he felt safe around Shadowsinger… even if he'd just met the mech.

Yep... his life was as weird as ever, although weirdness had a level of disturbing on it this time. "So... while I'm here, anything else you've been wanting t'talk about? Or anything you want to hear about?" Shadowsinger wasn't looking at Sam, gazing at some point on the horizon.

Shrugging, Sam finally uncurled himself, shoving the thoughts of death away ruthlessly. "Not really, I'm not much of a talker, I get twitchy and stuff… and… yeah… I'll shut up now; just enjoy the weather and niceness." He felt idiotic again, but ignored it, not wanting to end the relaxation.

"Okay," Shadowsinger agreed in amusement. He didn't move his hand, Sam didn't seem to mind it... Silently, the two watched the day pass.

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