What Divides Us
Primeverse AU; Takes place in Season 1 before T.M.I. Zettabyte, the adoptive son of the late Sentinel Zeta Prime, has been alone and judged all his life until he arrives on Earth and gets his life turned upside down when he acquires powers unseen by humans and Cybertronians. He uncovers many truths and misunderstandings….and more. But what can one "half-breed" outcast do to help stop the war on Earth? OCs and a bit of a Danny Phantom parody/crossover. Some characters are a bit OOC. Don't like then don't read and don't give me immature attitude in the comments. The word Amma is borrowed from the lovely Speedstreak360;3 Thanks Speedy!
Warnings: Violence, Cybertronian cursing, and a little character bashing.
A short fanfic that will lead to a long run of related fanfics.
Sparkling-Baby Sire-Father (Lunar) Orbital Cycle-1 Day/Night
Sparklet-Toddler Carrier-Mother Megacycle- Hour
Youngling-Kid/Pre teen Amma-adoptive mother Solar Cycle- year (in Cybertronian)
Mechling/Femmenet- Teen Oppa-adoptive father Metacycle-month
Astrosecond- second Nano-klik-minute Orn-week
Note that I found some of these words online but I changed their meanings a bit. Hence I give the makers of TF credit for these words.
Chapter 1: Prologue
The mechling looked out upon the vast space of blackness which was faintly lit with far off stars and comets. The pod he was currently inside of was extremely small with only a berth, which was built right beneath the large ceiling window, for him to lay on. The somewhat mirror like surface of the pod's window just barely gave him a good look at his reflection.
A red and blue paintjob with a frame that was a little lithe and muscular. A sleek helm with a slim facial structure that somehow matched his talon-like fingers. But perhaps the most unusual of all his features were his optics. They were shaped in a angular way like many of his fellow Cybertronians and they had dark but slim optic brows to go with them. It was their color that attracted the most attention.
While the right one was a crystal blue like the majority of Cybertronians, the left one was…red. An optic color most associated with the Decepticons, the most feared members of the Cybertronian race.
Zettabyte closed his optics at the thought. He could still recall the time when he was a sparklet, during the pre-stages of the war, when he heard the nobles whisper about him being conceived forcefully by "low caste" bot, as they were the first known Cybertronians to have red colored optics. As he grew into his youngling stage, it became hard to ignore the hidden insults. The only thing that gave him some sort of triumphant feeling was that his adoptive sire intimidated them to the point where Zettabyte was certain is saw them mouth sheepish apologies even when they had not said anything.
Who was his father? Why none other than the late previous Prime; Sentinel.
Looking back now, Zettabyte felt a sliver of guilt. Having Sentinel Zeta Prime was a blessing yet a curse. Yes the mechling had been given everything he needed to grow into a healthy adolescent but at what cost? Another low caste family going hungry? Another bonded pair's child being denied a chance to get a good education? Another bot's chance at getting a raise gone down the drain? These questions had plagued the mismatched mechling since his early youngling years.
He had often doubted that Sentinel even cared for him, as the Prime had always been away on business or at ritzy gatherings or just plain political issues that ended with more problems than they started out with. Even when he was present, he may as well have been in another place. He ignored every gift, conversation, or thought Zettabyte presented him with, only responding with "Mm-hm." His attempts at greeting his Oppa home were only meant with a pat on the helm before the blue and bronze mech went to his office to do his work or to the communications room to rant at his colleagues.
The only condolence he got was the fact that his loneliness was shared by another; his adoptive mother, Theta. A small smile came to Zettabyte's face as he recalled the femme who had loved him like he was her own. Her lack of fertility didn't stop her from wanting a sparkling which led to his adoption. And it was her sympathy towards the lower caste that encouraged him to go behind his father's back to help them.
It was small things. He saved the treats and whatever sustenance he could find from his meals and brought it to the hungry sparklings and younglings that were scattered in the opens areas near the mines or looked after in the Kaon Youth Centers. He would give the Creation Day credits to the mechs and femmes whose only shelters were rickety old storage sheds or pieces of metal barely standing up. Sometimes he would take the sparkling first aid kit that Theta would bring with her when she took him to the Iacon Youth Park and attempt to patch up the wounds of some of the miners who would let him.
Theta never questioned him. In fact, Zettabyte was pretty sure she knew what he was doing but she actually seemed happy about his actions. She was known for her donations (which were secret too everybody but him and the low caste members) and her protectiveness of sparklings growing up in the slums whenever nobles spat abuse at them or gave them a dirty look.
The mismatched mechling's earliest memory of her was when they had been taking a stroll when she stopped to offer comfort to a femmenet who had been insulted by a passing noble femmenet. Theta had then immediately turned to that noble, with a look that would make the smelting pits' heat equal to that of a small flame, before putting her in her place.
"That femmenet may not be rich, but she has a lot more social civility than you could ever afford," she had spoken with a cold tone. "And atleast her paint job doesn't make her look like a pleasure bot."
Every bot within a 10 feet radius stopped and stared at the Prime's mate. The noble femmenet stared at his Amma in shock before sputtering and running away in embarrassment. When the femmenet's creators had confronted his Amma and Oppa later that very same solar cycle, his Amma remained calm and sophisticated.
"I was merely reminding her of what's expected of a noble her age. Young femmes shouldn't be walking around shouting slander like drunk construction bots," she proudly stated in a matter of factly voice. "Not to mention that there were countless sparklings and younglings in that area, including my own. If bots her age wish to be treated like adults then they need to set a good example for the younger ones and behave respectfully in public, no matter who's present."
Zettabyte had been surprise when his Oppa had agreed with his Amma before dismissing the couple who had left in a fluster. That moment had given him a feeling of sharp glee. As though he had witnessed true justice. It most likely was. Like his Amma and a good portion of the population, Zettabyte knew what the caste system was; pure inequality and injustice.
He saw evidence of this when he went to the Energon market with Theta and saw lower caste bots walking out with a cube smaller than their heads while nobles walked out with enough large cases of Energon to feed a colony of Insecticons. He saw it when he would walk pass the other nobles and notice how now matter what time or place it was, they were brightly painted with a waxy finish that smelled of crystal flowers while he would look at a lone low caste bot and see that they were caked with rust, ashes, and grime. But the worse that he'd seen was miners and gladiators sporting signs of illnesses or infections but unable to receive proper aid because of the pitiful donations and supplies given to slum medics.
That was one of the reasons he became interested in the field of medicine and science. That and the fact that Zettabyte saw it as a sort of neutral subject in the midst of the horrid caste system. Everything about it seemed to be aimed towards the benefit of all bots; lower caste or upper caste, femme or mech, young or old. The scientists and medics seemed uncaring and unafraid of the caste system's looming dominion. Perhaps the most vital reason was his Amma's influence. Her sense of empathy to the struggling bots and firm and defiant against her own fellow nobles was astonishing to his young mind. Everytime she walked out into public, it was almost as if she glowed an invisible aurora that brought warmth to the less fortunate and sparked fear into the sparks of the selfish and wicked. She had a kind and strong spark.
But in the end, it was not enough to keep her healthy and alive physically.
Her lack of fertility was just one symptom of the disease that was stealing away her life. It was a virus that had arisen when she had just became a full grown femme. It had subsided before she'd bonded with Sentinel. No one, not even Theta, counted on it to return at full force. What had started as simple coughs had turn into full blown surgeries and injections. As the virus progressed, Theta began refusing her treatments, seeing her end as inevitable. Zetta could still remember the last words she said to him in her dying breaths.
"Be strong. Be brave. Don't allow others to dictate who you are my sparkling. You are who you wish to be or become. No one can take that away from you," her voice was crackly from the virus but her smile and loving gaze never wavered. Zettabyte had spent those last few moments clinging onto her as golden fluids streamed from his optics.
Not too long after her funeral, Sentinel sent him to go to a Cybertronian boarding academy. It was there that Zettabyte began his goal at becoming a medic and a scientist. He took careful notes, he checked over his assignments, he would study late into the night before exams, and in his spare time he would read datapads of any kind. His hard work paid off as he graduated at the top of his science classes. His next step was to attend a Medical Trainee Center and be taught by a veteran medic who would then send him off to the Medical and Science Councils to see if he was true medic and scientist material. Fate was not a simple being however.
The academy that the Prime's son was sent off to was incredibly sheltered from many distractions, including the war. This came to an end when a bomb landed on the outskirts of the academy and the teachers were force to evacuate the students and, as a result, halting the goals of young bots like Zettabyte. Three orns after the evacuation of the academy, the mismatched mechling had been told that Sentinel was dead.
All Zettabyte could remember was blacking out and awaking an orbital cycle later in the medbay. Once he had been filled in about what had transpired during the time he was temporarily offline, an unfamiliar medic came up to him and offered him condolences.
While setting a servo gently on Zettabyte's shoulder, he softly said, "It'll get easier in time. The wounds will leave scars but they will heal. You'll see."
Another orn passed before he was ushered onto a ship called Haven, a ship for adolescent bots who sought to complete some more education before attempting to join the older Autobot soldiers. Zettabyte wasn't keen on the thought of holding a weapon. He was aiming to be a medic. Medics save lives, not destroy them. Hadn't the Decepticons suffered enough? Didn't anyone else realize than more than eighty nine percent of the Decepticons were former slaves, miners, gladiators, and Vosnians who snapped because of discrimination? Did no one care that each time a Cybertronian died, be it Autobot and Decepticon, that their species became closer to extinction? Was the war worth losing their home, the ones they use to call their brothers and sisters, and their lives?
Zettabyte never told any bot these thoughts. How could he without being labeled as "Con sympathizer" or worse, a "possible traitor?" Even if he could, who would listen? All his peers were concerned with was just finishing their classes in order to be qualified as capable soldiers while the older bots just seemed to be busy with the welfare and learning experience that he and his classmates would receive. In fact, no bot seemed to pay any attention to him unless they were teasing him, listening to him answer a question from the teacher, or partnered with him for a project.
Life on the Haven had been…mediocre at best. The ship had a small library area stocked with as much data pads and documentary holo vids as the teachers could salvage from the now ruined archives and libraries that stood crumbling back on their barren planet. It wasn't the same as watching a real life medic at work but Zettabyte could make do. He watched and read everything he could twice an orn, three times if he got the chance. He would read and observe class topics and subjects if he finished early or the the class got a small break. A few times he went up to the teachers and asked if he could have a sneak peek at some of the specimens or holo scans to which they often would, if only for a few nano-kliks. The only thing he couldn't bear was the hostility they would get everytime they so much as landed on a planet.
Word had spread throughout the galaxy that his people's "precious caste system" had ended in the loss of their "high and mighty planet." These species' feared for their own well-being and the safety of their planet as they knew Cybertronians needed to mined and harvest energy to create Energon or Energon itself and that sometimes the methods could lead to the damaging of the planet's other resources or structures. This thinking led to conflict whenever the Haven would land on either of these said planets. Sometimes they would allow the metal titans refuge but only for a short amount of time. Other times there would be violent arguments between his teachers and the planet's rulers in a debate that was a twist of negotiations and accusations. And more often than not, it would end with the planet's natives chasing them off while roaring abuse.
Strangely enough, Zettabyte didn't blame him. Who wants a group of robotic sentient beings who have devolved from a almost deity-like stature into nomadic refugees and marauders? He was no fool. He had heard rumors about Cybertronians coming to planets and attempting to forcefully dig Energon out of the ground of the planet they invaded. He had also heard rumors of random ships, filled with soldiers or not, being attacked out of nowhere. That last one turned out to be proven true. Six metacycles after the Haven's latest failure to find a planet to take refuge on the ship was attacked.
The teachers had shouted for him and his classmates to grab whatever they could and get to the escape pods while the guards headed to where the ship was hit or vulnerable in defense. Zettabyte had wasted no time in going into his room and gather his belongings. In the end he only had three; one was filled with sparkling-hood keepsakes and treasures that he managed to keep safe since Theta's departing, another with supplies and tools that all students aboard the ship had been given, and the last was filled with the notes, data pads, holo scans, and holo vids he had taken from the library on his way to the he had safely loaded his cargo into the pod, the mechling had hopped in without hesitation. The rest was history.
Now here he was, alone in the vastness of space. The ones who had attacked the Haven had been more crafty than he thought as they had deactivated all communications in any way they could. That included deactivating the communications in his escape pod and most likely in the escape pods of his classmates. The pod was stuck aimlessly on autopilot and would only land if the scanners sensed a Autobot signal on any nearby planets. So far there had been no traces of such signals or signs of any other drifting life form.
Zettabyte tossed and turned on his berth, unable to get comfortable. He didn't bother to check his internal clock. What use was there knowing the time when you didn't know where you were or when you would see civilization again? These thoughts made shivers of fear wrack his body. Was he truly destined to continue drifting through space.
Shaking his head Zettabyte inwardly scolded himself, No! Don't be ridiculous! There has got to be a planet with a few Cybertronians on it. We're scattered throughout the universe for Primus' sake! The ship will eventually find one. I can hold on a little while longer.
Nano-kliks after he reassured himself, the mismatched mechling felt the pod lurch in a way that made his helm hit the side of the pod with a dull CLING! Groaning, he rubbed his helm just as a holo screen popped up, covering the upper half of the window. In Cybertronian it read;
ALERT! CYBERTRONIAN INHABITED PLANET DETECTED! SETTING COURSE FOR PLANET. WILL BE ARRIVING IN TWO MEGACYCLES. PREPARE FOR A SAFE LANDING.
Zettabyte stared in awe. He blinked three times to make sure he wasn't dreaming. He reread it over and over to make sure he hadn't misunderstood. This was it. He had finally found a planet with other Cybertronians on it! Breathing a sigh of relief and gratitude and sending a quick thank you prayer to Primus, he started to prepare himself for when the pod landed. However, he was unaware of how his presence on the destined planet would change his fate.
Well here it is! The first chapter to my first fanfic that will lead to a long string of related fanfics. I hope I did good. To those who review and give their well constructed opinions and what not, I say thank you. To haters, I will flame you. Thank you readers for your time. I only own Zettabyte, Theta, and the fanfic idea. To the creators of Transformers and Danny Phantom I give them respective credit.