"Come Lumen, get away from the window."
Megatron took the child's hand and led her away from the window and over to her toys.
"Why are they fighting?"
Megatron padded the little one on the head and smiled.
"Because..." He wasn't sure what he could tell her. The senate soldiers were there to stop the rioting. The Tarn and Vos conflict had slowly escalated, and the senate had sent soldiers to both cities in an attempt to look like they were trying to act as peace makers.
It wasn't helping much, though.

"Papa?"
He looked down. The bright blue eyes shining up at him. Out of all he had paid for to build her, those optics were the most expensive. Blue optics were a sign of prosperity. A way to show off your wealth. Red ones were associated with the working class. He could have bought red ones for her, but he felt it would have doomed her to a life of hard work and next to no energon.

"That because they don't know how to play nice." He answered.
"Didn't their papas teach them how to play nice?"
"No... Eat your energon, Lumen."
She took the cube of energon and started drinking. When she was halfway done, she looked into the cube and over at him again.
"Here, papa." She handed the cube over to him. He didn't take it, but instead he took her in his arms and gave her a squeeze.
"You're too good, little one."
"I wan't you to have it." She smiled, trying to hand it to him again.
"Papa already ate." He lied.

He was watching the newscast when the little one came out of her room. She didn't say anything. She only crawled into his lap and leaned against him. They sat like that for a while.
"They look like boogeymen." She said, squeezing his hand as they showed the Vos soldiers on the screen.
"They do?"
She nodded.
"Yes."
He gave her a squeeze and smiled.
"Don't worry, I'll protect you from the boogeymen."
"Always?"
"And then some."

Megatron stood outside the factory, with Lumen running around behind him, playing with two shiny marbles she had found.
"I'm sorry big guy, but there's nothing I can do." Spur, Megatron's boss, had just informed him that the factory had been shut down.
"Why? I thought the factory was doing fine!"
"The senators..."
Megatron turned and looked at his sparkling. She was examining the marbles, pushing them up a small slope and watching them as they rolled back down.
"What about her? How am I going to feed her now?"
Megatron looked at his former boss.
"I can barely feed both of us as it is."

Spur leaned closer to Megatron.
"You can always take her to Uraya and sell her, she's got blue optics, she'd rack up a good priURGH." Megatron had his fingers tightly wrapped around Spur's neck.
"You pathetic piece of scrap, I ought to..."
"Papa?" Lumen put her hand on his leg. Megatron immediately released Spur and turned to the sparkling.
"It's okay Lumen... We were just playing."
"You're not playing nice."
"You're right... Let's go home."

Spur called after him when they started walking away.
"Hey big guy... There is another option."

Megatron was looking at the information he had gotten about working at the mines.
The pay was good and the work was safe. He looked at Lumen who was recharging on the floor next to him.
He only had to leave her behind for quite a long time.
But she would have energon, and she could get repairs if she was injured. She could even go to the academy with this payout.

The purple femme was a neighbor who had looked after Lumen on occasion. Megatron watched her as she sat opposite of him, her smile genuine.
"You want me to take care of Lumen? I'd love to."
Megatron nodded and looked out of the window. Lumen was playing with another sparkling, both pretending to fly. Lumen was a flying type, but like all sparklings, she had yet to gain the ability to actually take off.

"It's not as simple this time... This time it's not just a few hours or a day."
Resonance leaned back in her seat, her lips pursed.
"How long will you be gone?"
"Two duins."
"Oh..." Resonance nodded, looking out the window to see the sparkling.
"Well... I guess I could take her in."
"I'll be back after two duins. and then i'll be home two duins and away for another two. After that, things may have calmed enough for me to find a better job."

She looked at him with a smile.
"You must care for her a lot if you're willing to do this."
He nodded. She was so sweet, always willing to take care of Lumen. She had told him she was unable to produce sparklings herself, which was why she was always willing to help him. If things had been different, maybe she could have been the completor he was looking for.
Lumen deserved to get the last half of a spark.

The sun was setting, the playground bathed in a harsh yellow light. Megatron put down his belongings and turned to look at the sparkling behind him.
"I will be back as soon as I can, Lumen." Megatron had crouched down to look into the child's optics. He picked her up and felt her tiny arms reaching around his neck.
"Don't go..."
"I'll come back."
"When?"
"Soon, Lumen..."
"Do not worry... I'll take good care of her. I'll protect her as if she were my own."
"Thank you."
Resonance gently pulled her out of his arms and he took a step back.
"Don't leave me!"

He turned around, fighting off his instinct to stay with his sparkling. He shoved the helmet on as he left, numbing the sounds of the child crying. He didn't turn around, knowing he wouldn't be able to go anywhere if he saw her crying.
"Papa! Stay!"

Two duins had passed, but Megatron had yet to make it back. Resonance had gotten anotice from him. He'd informed her that they all had to wait until the senator had visited. Nobody knew why the senator was coming, only that everyone had to stay on site for the announcement.
Lumen had accepted the explanation, but kept asking when he would come back.

In the meantime, rioting and civil unrest plagued Tarn. The conflict had escalated to a point where daily fights and looting was getting to be the Status Quo.
Resonance was watching the broadcasts when the child tugged at her hand.
"Can we go to the playground?"
Resonance stood up and smiled to the child.
"Of course, Lumen. Not for long, though. We should be home if we receive a message from your papa."

As they walked toward the playground, the atmosphere changed dramatically. Someone screamed. Resonance looked up to see giant crafts hovering over the city. Black vessels of hate... All carrying the Vos city sign.
Lumen cried, clutching the femme's leg.
"Boogeymen! The boogeymen are coming!"
Resonance grabbed Lumen and held her tight.
"No, don't cry, it's going to be okay!"
"Papa! I want papa!"

The black vessels opened up and brought fire over the city. Large black bombs hurled towards the ground, destroying everything in a blink of an eye.
Resonance ran with the child in her arms. Around them, bombs knocked over buildings, killing thousands in the blink of an eye.
The force of one of the photon bombs knocked them over, and Resonance realized they couldn't run. The black ships above them were covering the sky like ominous clouds. They had nowhere to run.
Resonance covered the sparkling and screamed.
"Keep your head down!"

She created a shield over them and watched as the photon bombs rained down on Tarn. The radiation from the bombs swept over them. The noise was unbearable.

The shield began to crumble, and Resonance held on to the child, both of them screaming in unison. A cacophony of dying screams, falling debris and explosions.
The shield finally gave up and Resonance never managed a coherent thought before her screams were silenced by the last of the violent energy that had been unleashed.

And then it was all quiet.