Been a while, eh? While this fic is technically a sequel to The Young Teacher, it can be read alone.
Warning : Following chapter contains themes of suicide and abuse.
TF:P's not mine.
Enjoy.
The two mechs faced one another bravely. The roars of the crowd could be heard behind them. They were excited for the match to begin. It would be a battle between champions.
There seemed to be no fear on their faceplates, yet somebot who knew them would have seen it in the restlessness of their optics and digits. They weren't afraid of getting hurt, though. They were afraid of hurting each other.
The shorter one vented deeply. He had a small and lithe frame. Though he had no paintjob, like all lower castes, his protoform was naturally darker than the usual color. He pulled out his data cables.
The taller mech flexed his digits. He would soon be fighting his brother. (He had no family, but the mech in front of him was as close as it got.) He was heavily armored, which, he thought, gave him a slight advantage against the shorter, slender mech. "I'm sorry." he whispered. His words were lost in the screams of the crowd.
No!
The shorter one dipped his helm in understanding. It was all he could do. What would be in this fight, would be. The victorious would live. The defeated would offline. That was the way it had always been. Besides, he'd never been much of a one for words anyway.
There was a sudden screech from a megaphone. It wasn't good quality equipment. What was, in the Kaonian gladiatorial pits?
"Mechs and femmes, I present to you..." The crowd grew a little quiet, out of respect for the names. They were two champions, after all. They had earned the right to be called by names, to be reforged and resparked in the arena. "Megatronous and Soundwave!" The crowd went wild.
Stop, please stop!
"One, tall, handsome and fearsome! A winner of many battles!" Megatronous quirked an optic ridge. "Handsome? That's new." He muttered. His brother sniggered.
"And the other! Short, dark and dangerous. He's the one to look out for." Soundwave rolled his optics. "Who will win...?" The crowd began chanting. For once, he didn't want to know whose name it was. Not when he was fighting his brother.
Please... We didn't want this...
The horn sounded and the brothers began to circle slowly, looking for an opening.
Both of you! Stop!
Megatronous made the first move, rushing forward. Soundwave dodged and threw a feint before trying to kick his legs out from under him. Megatronous moved just as fast, however, and managed to land a punch. The crowd roared. It was the first hit of the match. Soundwave landed on his aft. There was suddenly venom in his optics that Megatronous had never seen before.
They met each other blow for blow.
No... No...
Soundwave grew frenzied and Megatronous had difficulty fending off his attacks. A giant gash opened up in his side. The first drops of energon hit the ground. The crowd went out of control.
Suddenly, Megatronous was crazy too. He wanted – no, he needed to live. There was something driving him. What it was, though, he had no idea. Not yet. Maddened with pain and desperation, he rushed towards Soundwave. The mech opened up a second gash in him. It was deep, too deep. He stared into Soundwave's blazing optics. His faceplate. He had left it unguarded. Megatronous raised his claws, and tore it in half. Then he collapsed, still aware of the data cables gauging the now exposed protoform below his chestplates.
We didn't want...I'm sorry...
Arcee woke up shuddering. The image of Soundwave's faceplates being torn in half swam across her vision. She felt sick. What did they do to him-
She needed to get out. Now. She jumped off her berth and out of Ratchet's room. Prowl, her brother, was deep in recharge on the berth beside her - as long as she blocked her end of their sibling bond, he wouldn't realize that she was awake.
She ran up the stairs and onto the roof of the two storey house. The sudden change in the atmosphere disoriented her : she was now under a silent canopy of stars, stretching out as far as she could see. A single half-moon shone dimly overhead. Faint streetlights glimmered on the road below. She could see the roofs of all the other houses, the exact same height as this one, but there was obviously nobot there this time of the night. She felt faintly thankful as she sank to the floor. The roof was small with walls on three sides, giving her some amount of privacy.
"Primus, please let them be alright." She begged. Though it had been only a dream, she knew it was true, because all three of them were connected by sibling bonds. Bonds they hadn't bothered to break. As they weren't true sparkbonds, there was no way they could communicate through them, but it gave them all a sense of connection. When any of them had strong emotions, the others could feel it, but since they were now in two entirely different cities, their bond worked erratically, showing only flashes. D-16 and S-42 (or Megatronous and Soundwave, as they were now called), had broken their bonds with Prowl after their first gladiatorial match, so that he, the sparkling, wouldn't have to feel their pain. But neither of them could bring themselves to break their bond with Arcee.
She stiffened as she felt a wave of agony course through her spark. D-16 was very badly hurt. She had to resist the urge to cry out, or she'd wake everybot up. And this would be pretty hard to explain.
Suddenly, she was back in the arena and looking at Megatronous through Soundwave's optics. It felt as though her whole faceplate was on fire. She let out a soft whimper. Megatronous raised energon tipped claws for the final blow. His optics were dim as well – he'd lost a lot of energon. The claws descended. Then it went dark.
When she came to, Arcee realised she was sobbing. She sat up and peered at the houses blearily. No lights. Thankfully, nobot had woken up.
S-42 was dead, or dying; she wasn't sure. She hoped that she would at least feel it when he finally went offline. She wouldn't be able to bear not knowing.
She pulled herself up and trudged to the railing, leaning heavily against it. If S-42 was offline...and so was D-16...that left only her and Prowl. Tears trailed silently down her faceplate.
There was nobot left for them. Her formers had offlined long ago. The bots she had run away with, D-16 and S-42, were now dead as well. Orion Pax was distant. Ratchet hated her. Sift, his sire... Well, he was okay, but it wasn't as though he cared for her or Prowl much. Master Yoketron disliked her, and the other law enforcement younglings... She shuddered and her winglets sunk and quivered. Things had hit an all time low, and that was saying something, considering her past.
Arcee squinted into the faintly lit street below. Maybe...it would be better to just end this. She shrunk back, horrified. What would D-16 say if he knew she was thinking such things? Then she shook her helm, irritated at herself. D-16 was probably dead, and imagining him here wasn't going to help that. She sunk her claws into the railing, leaving small marks.
If she committed suicide...would there really be any difference? If she died, Sift would look after Prowl. Prowl was still pretty young. She knew that he'd be sad, but eventually he'd grow up and forget all about her. He barely even remembered their formers, after all. Ratchet probably wouldn't care much. Orion would be sad for a while, and then he wouldn't care, either. And if she was dead, Prowl would be safe from the stigma of having a low caste as a sister. He was young enough to make a fresh start as a high caste. He would never have to endure what she did from the law enforcement younglings.
Furthermore, if she died, her spark would go to the Wall Of Allsparks, and she would be resparked. It would be a fresh start for her, too.
The idea of a new life, without her burdens, intoxicated her. She sat on the railing, kicking her pedes up and down as though she was merely on the climbing wall in the enforcement training building.
She closed her optics for a moment. It felt as though Primus himself was calling out to her spark.
She pushed off the railing. For a moment, she was weightless, then she was falling. Then she was jolted. A servo had caught hers and she was hauled up roughly. Reality hit her. Scrap.
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