!WARNING!

THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS UNCHARACTERISTIC VIOLENCE AND POSSIBLE SCHIZOPHRENIA

I write about such lovely things, don't I?

Anyway, I've been watching gameplay videos of Amnesia: The Dark Descent a lot recently, so much of the eventual themes of this fic are based on that.

It's a fucking scary-ass game, don't play it unless you've got balls of steel.

Yes, Bonesy swears a lot.

Enjoy!

:D


Chapter One: Vindictive Laughter

Blurr woke with a start and a yelp, rolling off the berth. Flash Bang was there in a moment, helping her black armoured bondmate up. She looked down at him with concerned optics.

"Another nightmare?" she asked softly, caressing his faceplate.

"The same as always," Blurr replied, pushing himself onto his elbows. "They only ever get more intense."

Flash Bang looked over Blurr. She was worried, and she wasn't planning on hiding it. She rested her cranial unit against Blurr's and they simply sat together for a while. But then their peace was disturbed by a knock on the door.

"Can we come in?" came a little voice from outside. With a smile, Flash Bang moved to the door and opened it. Two little sparklings came in, one green and the other maroon, and rushed over to their mech creator.

"Is Blurry okay?" the maroon one, a femme, asked. Flash Bang scooped the little one up and sat her on her lap as she perched on the berth.

"He'll be okay, Rush," she promised. "He just needs some peace and quiet." She kissed the top of Rush's helm. "Gearshift, take your sister back to berth, please." Reluctantly, Rush lowered herself back to the floor, taking her brother's servo as Gearshift silently led Rush back out of the room, his faceplate creased with concern.

"This is getting out of servo," Blurr mumbled as he stood up, clinging to the berth for support.

"You're telling me," Flash Bang replied. "This is the eighth time this decacyle."

"It's not like I can stop it, Flash Bang. It's a dream! I can't control it," Blurr snapped. Flash Bang flinched, clearly hurt by Blurr's little outburst.

"I wasn't blaming you for anything," Flash Bang replied. Blurr looked at her, and his faceplate fell as he saw her expression of hurt.

"I'm sorry," he sighed. "I just... I don't know, Flash. I think I need some time to myself."

That wasn't going to come anytime soon, however. Blurr and Flash Bang managed to drift back into recharge again before long, but morning came too quickly for their liking. Blurr had a race to attend, but, for once, he didn't want to be in the spotlight. He didn't even want to be at home. He wanted to go somewhere where he could be entirely alone.

The race went by without a hitch. Blurr won, obviously, but even victory felt hollow and pointless to him. But what was wrong with him? Bad dreams could easily just be caused by a bad line of code or a system malfunction, but the hollow feeling he was plagued by was something else entirely. Either way, he went to the race medic to see if he could tell him anything.

"Everything checks out, Blurr, sir," the medic replied. "There's nothing wrong with your processor, or your body. If you're worried, I'd suggest going to Perceptor, he'll have a better idea than me."

Blurr walked back out onto the track to receive his medal, arms folded and annoyance spread across his features. He didn't really look where he was going until he slammed into the back of someone.

"I did not cheat!" the mech roared as he was shoved backwards. Blurr ducked to the side to avoid being trampled, only for the attacking mech to lash out in his direction, aiming for the other mech. Blurr narrowly dodged, but the defending mech's kick caught him right in the abdomen.

"Primus!" Blurr wheezed, dropping to his knees. The mech that'd hit him hardly paid him mind until Blurr had him pinned against a wall.

"What the Pit?" the mech cried, aghast. Blurr had one servo around his neck and wasn't being gentle. The other mech was cheering him on behind him, but Blurr didn't hear him. What he heard was the vindictive laughter from his nightmares.

Do it!

"Blurr!" came a cry. A pair of red servos grabbed his shoulders and began to pull him away. "Blurr, let him go!"

Blurr was suddenly himself again as Flash Bang turned him to face her. Her bright blue optics glared into his, and she was clearly upset. All the anger he'd inexplicably felt just vanished as soon as their optics met, and he found himself shaking.

"Flash Bang..." he whimpered. Flash Bang grabbed his servo and began to drag him out of the racetrack.

"We're going to Perceptor," she announced. "He'll know what to do. He always knows what to do."

But even Perceptor drew a blank.

"It seems that something is trying to alter your personality programming," Perceptor explained. Flash Bang had taken Blurr to see him the very next solar cycle. "However, I can't locate any viruses or anything else that could possibly be malicious to you."

"Alter my personality?" Blurr mused, worried. Flash Bang sat with her faceplate contorted in thought.

"Blurr, you don't think it could possibly be to do with your upgrade, do you?" she proposed. Blurr bit his lip module.

"I won't rule it out," he admitted. "But I didn't think Lockdown had done anything to my actual processor..."

"You let Lockdown upgrade you?" Perceptor asked. Had his voice had any emotion, he may have sounded revolted. Blurr ignored his question.

"I have to go see him," he decided.

"You'd go into the stockades just to see if Lockdown did something to you?" Flash Bang demanded. "What if it's nothing?"

"Flash, these dreams have been plaguing me for lunar cycles," Blurr retorted. "I can hardly recharge at night anymore. And that outburst at the tracks... that wasn't normal. That wasn't me!"

"It might sort itself out..."

"I thought you weren't so disapproving of Lockdown?" Blurr snapped.

"Blurr!" Flash Bang hissed. "Not here!" Perceptor raised an optic ridge but otherwise didn't react to the mini domestic playing out in his lab.

"I'm going, Flash," Blurr growled. "You can come, too, if you want." Flash Bang folded her arms and looked away. Blurr just huffed and turned, heading to leave Perceptor's office. The door slid shut behind him and Flash Bang collapsed into a chair.

"I don't know what to do," she moaned. Perceptor stood in front of her.

"I didn't save Blurr just to see the two of you get into trouble with each other," he said to Flash Bang, who tried not to groan at the sound of his voice. "I don't know what's happening to him, but he will need you. He is struggling to contain himself, Flash Bang, and as his bondmate, you're in the best position to help him out."

"But I don't know what to do for him," she confessed. "Honestly, Perceptor, I'd scour the galaxy for him if I just knew what to do."

"Maybe going with him to see Lockdown is all you can do at the moment," Perceptor offered. "How did Blurr come to be upgraded by him, anyway?"

"I'd... rather not say," Flash Bang replied. "It's a long story and I don't care to recall it right now."

"Very well," Perceptor replied. "But really, Flash Bang, go after Blurr."

Reluctantly, Flash Bang rose from her seat and left.


Blurr didn't stop for any of his fans as he stalked along the streets towards the stockades. His frustrated demeanour kept most of them away, anyway. He just didn't understand Flash Bang sometimes. She wanted nothing more than to help him one moment, and then the next she was trying to prevent him from finding out the truth. Why was she so convoluted? Why couldn't she just have a one track processor like other femmes?

No, he thought, that's a terrible thing to think.

But he didn't just think his little reprimand; he made himself think it, as if he were telling one of his sparklings off for saying something mean. He stopped in his tracks for a moment and held his cranial unit in his servos, trying to shake away the increasingly negative thoughts that were passing through his processor. What was going on? Why was he turning so... dark?

Dark like the armour.

His digits tightened on his cranial unit to the point where his helm began to bend inwards. He didn't stop, though, until he felt someone else's servos on his.

"Blurr," Flash Bang said softly. "Look at me." She gently pried his servos from his helm and held them tightly in her own as Blurr opened his optics and looked at her. Concern was scrawled across her faceplate, and she looked to be on the verge of tears.

"Whatever is happening to you, I am going to help you through it," she promised. "I love you, Blurr, and I don't want to see you struggle alone."

Love surged through both their sparks, and Blurr drew Flash Bang up into a passionate kiss. "Thank you," he whispered as he pulled away. "Thank you so much for everything you've ever done for me, Flash. From saving me from the incinerator to this."

"I haven't even done anything yet," Flash Bang chuckled.

"You've done more than I could ask by just being there for me," Blurr replied. He hugged her so tightly she gasped, though it wasn't uncomfortable. She buried her faceplate into his shoulder, content in the feeling of being in his arms. A moment later, she pulled away from him and took his servo, leading him towards the stockades.


Aww~

I did tell you all this was going to be dark - and we've hardly scratched the surface yet!

Please review!

:D