TWO SISTERS, THREE CHOICES.
CHAPTER ONE
DIVERGANCE
RIAN
Sunblazer was the older sibling of the two of us, constructed and Spark-imbued not too soon before I was. Headstrong and more impulsive than I, she was also more adventurous, took more risks, and was always a bit of a rebel.
Before the conflict began on Cybertron, this was not a huge problem, as in peacetime, going out about to do whatever you wanted to was safe enough. Of course, the troubles and conflicts began, society began to break down, which put a huge strain on our family unit.
When our parental units declared themselves neutral in the conflict, Sunblazer and I were still sub-adult, thus we were assigned our parental units neutral status.
In the conflicts and battles that followed, those who had chosen neutrality were not immune to destruction. They were caught up in the crossfire, for neutrality was no protection against stray bolts, mistaken identity, or trigger-happy combatants. Still, our parental units advocated and embraced pacific neutrality, although I was sure that Sunblazer, like I, was rooting for one particular side.
The arguments between Sunblazer and the parental units got worse as the conflicts escalated. Sunblazer wanted to go out, to go where and do what she pleased, as she had had the freedom to do earlier in life. Our parental units imposed limitations and rules, urging caution. They feared that the random conflicts that could seemingly arise out of nothing anywhere might sweep away our Sparks if we were unlucky enough to be in the vicinity.
Some of these arguments got very unpleasant, for Sunblazer had had a rebellious Spark from the moment she was imbued with it. The strength and ferocity with which it shone was, after all, why she had been named what she was.
Ironically, it was our cautious parental units whose Sparks were needlessly lost, caught up in a conflict they wanted no part of.
Although still not fully adult, Sunblazer and I had to make a decision of whether to take sides. We were separated soon after discovering the bodies of our parental units, cold and dark, their Sparks gone forever. I already knew which side I would take, and I knew Sunblazer would, like me, reject the pacific neutrality that had not saved our parental units.
I chose to throw my lot in with the Autobots, who believed in the right of all sentient beings to live their lives without interference, who wanted to rebuild our shattered world and live in peace again. I went and, when it was needed, fought with all the passion and belief my own Spark gave me, (for, although not as bright or fierce as Sunblazer's, it was by no means dull) for the ideals and cause of the Autobots.
I waited a long time for Sunblazer to find us, hoping she still lived, until I came to believe that her continued disappearance meant that she had died.
Then one day, I did see her, and she was not dead. The reality was almost worse.
Sunblazer had become a Decepticon.
SUNBLAZER
From the start, I had been a rebel, someone who tended to go against the flow rather than with it. I had railed against my parental units neutrality while they still lived, and railed even more against it when their pacifism and non-involvement got them both killed.
Rian and I went looking for them when they didn't return when they said they would. We found their damaged shells. All the physical damage could have been repaired had someone got to them in time, but with the hospitals either overflowing or closed, nobody had been able to help them. They were gone, their Sparks snuffed out.
The conflict was still ongoing, it had moved away, but for whatever reason,-maybe even because our presence attracted attention-it headed back our way. Dodging laser blasts and running for cover, Rian and I got separated.
Perhaps we would have met again that day if I had returned to our dwelling, but our family unit was gone, there was nothing for me there any more. What was the point? To sit there in the dwelling until the conflict reached us anyway? I did not intend to go the way of our parental units.
Like Rian, I had watched the battles between the two factions, but without really paying any attention to what each side stood for, except that the Autobots seemed to put their own Sparks at risk. They defended others, putting themselves in harm's way. I saw them as idealists, only one step removed from the neutrals. One day, their misguided ideals would get them destroyed.
I hadn't seen Rian since our separation, for all I knew she could have perished already. She was not as swift as I, maybe she had not escaped the conflict. It seemed I was the last of my family unit to survive. I was determined to preserve my own Spark, thus, although I knew little about them, I joined the side I thought most likely to get me through to the other side of this conflict with my own Spark intact, the Decepticons. That way, at least I would not necessarily die needlessly like the rest of my family.
By the time a few more of the Decepticon's methods and beliefs became clearer to me-and many of them were less than desirable-I was too deeply in to get back out. Anyway, even if I did get out, the only other two options-Autobots or Neutrals-could only, I thought, lead to my destruction. Add to that the fact that the Decepticons believed that "if you're not for us, you're against us", it seemed more prudent to keep my vocal processor off and put up with it. This was survival, and sometimes morals and personal comforts had to be temporarily put aside in the name of survival. Better to stay where I was then risk my Spark by deserting.
As a sign of my alliance, the blue optics I was created with were removed and replaced with red ones, and the Decepticon's spiky symbol was etched on my right chest plate. Both things felt like a violation, but there was little else I could do.
I told myself that in time, I would get used to them.