A/N: The following two sections were pieces I initially wrote to begin the chapters of chapters 5 and 14.

For chapter 5, my initial idea was to show a bit of the direct aftermath of Simfur, basically describing the reactions of both the survivors and the Autobots, and trying to show when the seeds of distrust were planted between them and the Neutrals. But it wasn't going where I wanted it to go, and I wasn't sure how best to continue it, so I eventually discarded that idea, soon after coming up with the scene in the Medbay between Ratchet and Optimus.

The section for chapter 14 was my 1st idea to start out the chapter. I was trying to come up with a good lead-up to the conversation between TC and Starscream, but again, I couldn't really make it go as I wanted to. It didn't feel right. But I did like a few of the ideas I came up with (the comm. call, Megatron's actions, the description of the arena) and ended up incorporating pieces of those into what became the final version of the chapter.

In both cases, the differences are very obvious.

The Paths Not Taken

Original planned start for Chapter 5

Iacon, Autobot Headquarters, 15 orns later

Looking back long afterwards, if he were asked, Optimus Prime would willingly admit that the orns following the battle at Simfur and its destruction proved to be dark ones for the Autobots. The loss of one of the more important city-states had been a heavy blow for morale in what was left of the troops, dropping further when the fact became known that they had lost over a third of the soldiers sent there.

The scouts sent to search the ruins had eventually discovered a handful of survivors, about thirty of them, but by and large, the efforts had become more recovery rather than search and rescue. Jazz and some of his agents attempted to piece together the ruined databases of the city in order to determine a final death toll for the city. What they'd learned from those databases was even worse than Prime had feared. The city had contained nearly seventeen thousand mechs and femmes. The shells and limbs pulled out were eventually pieced together, and when the final count was made, it seemed that approximately twelve thousand had perished; though some of those victims were suspected to be those who had died of starvation before the walls fell. Around five thousand mechs and femmes were still unaccounted for, and there was no way to confirm if they were prisoners of the Decepticons or had been outside of Simfur before the siege began.

And if they were prisoners, there was no doubt in the processors of Optimus or his officers that they were already as good as dead. Megatron had likely either reprogrammed them to serve in his ranks or had them killed in revenge for the insult he had received. As for the known survivors, most had preferred to take their chances living in the ruins. The majority seemed to blame the Autobots as much as the Decepticons for what had happened to the city, believing they should have come sooner. If they had, many of the survivors said, the city wouldn't have fallen and they wouldn't have been slaughtered. Only seven had chosen to join the ranks of the Autobots. Not enough to balance the losses the Autobots had taken in the battle, but every few helped.

Unfortunately, the words left a lasting effect. At the officers' meeting fifteen orns after the battle, when Jazz had given his report on what the survivors had said, Ironhide had leaped from his chair, furious.

"Their blasted Emirate caused the siege in the first place! Where do those slaggers get off blaming us for what happened to their city?!"

"Ironhide..." began Optimus. While he privately agreed with Ironhide's statements, he also knew that at this point, casting blame would not help matters. He let out a tired intake and continued.

"They are speaking from grief and anger. They have seen their homes, friends and family units destroyed, and livelihoods lost. They are looking for someone to blame, and we happen to be it."

Ironhide's response had been cold. "Doesn't make it right. We shed energon for those ungrateful fraggers. Not our fault that their Emirate had a big mouth and ego to match, and the 'Con leader wasn't much better."

Prowl had interjected grimly at this point. "While I cannot say I disagree, and I am certain that everyone here shares your beliefs to a point, their Emirate and those in power in Simfur are among the dead and missing. It is likely preferable for the survivors to blame the living rather than the dead for what happened."

Ironhide had snorted. "Still don't make it right. The Emirate and his council called the Decepticons cowards and practically invited them to their doorstep. If the survivors don't wanna blame the dead, they should be blamin' the 'Cons instead of us."

He let out a sharp intake. "I know I blame 'em. Lost a lotta mechs out there, Prowl. I may not have liked a lot of 'em, but we lost mechs we couldn't afford because of the Emirate's big mouth and Buckethead's ego."

Without another word, he turned and stalked out of the room.

It didn't take long for the word to get out, and Optimus believed that this was the beginning of the souring of relations between the Neutrals and the Autobots. The words were seen by the army at large as an insult to those who had fought and died or were injured; almost as if they had wasted their time in helping a city which had turned out to be ungrateful for their efforts. From then on, the rank and file acted coldly towards any Neutral who approached them, and eventually, the Neutrals returned the favor. As time went on, Prime would find himself wondering just how many potential recruits they had lost due to words spoken by angry survivors of a lost city.

Original planned start for chapter 14

In the center of Kaon stands a circular black structure. From the outside, it appears old and run down, holes in the walls where panels of metal have fallen out. Cyberrats and other vermin creep around the holes and into the tunnels leading inside the building scavenging for whatever they can find. If one would walk through those tunnels, they would find dark remnants of this structure's past: Energon stains on the walls and floors, and if they were to go deeper, they would find cells and a room with a large cold furnace with what seem to be limbs and other parts scattered around.

But if one were to follow those tunnels up instead of down, they would find instead entrance ways that would lead to rows upon rows of seats, going up and around in a theater-like formation. Looking down towards the last row of chairs, half-eaten away by acid rain, one would see the barrier walls with what would seem to be barred gateways. The bars are half rusted, and some gaps exist to show where others have fallen away.

Beyond the wall is a large patch of ground with a chain and cuffs in the middle. The ground also has various stains of energon littering the ground. Old stains, which hint at a dark history.

A history about to be revisited.

For these grounds are no longer empty, and Kaon's gladiator arena is about to bear witness to another show...

::Unit Punch to Commander Jazz::

::Jazz here. What's the word, Punch?::

::Megatron and the others left the cell unit a few kliks ago, according to Ramjet.::

Silence for a moment.

::And?::

::Still alive, apparently; though not for much longer if what Ramjet said was true.::

::What else did he say, Punch?::

::He doesn't know why, but Megatron gave Starscream to Stormraiser and the other Seekers to deal with. According to him, Stormraiser doesn't know why either, but doesn't really care.::

::Anything else?::

::They've sent for the base medic, to repair him enough so that he'll survive for whatever Stormraiser has planned. Once finished, he's to be transported to the arena in the center of Kaon.::

Stormraiser just stood at the entranceway to the arena grounds, a cold smirk on his face as he watched two of Shockwave's drones fasten the unconscious Seeker to the ground in a kneeling position. The jet had a massive hole in his right wing, and most of the lower half of his right arm was melted off, along with most of the armor on the right side of his chassis. All the circuitry in those areas were burned away, and the exposed protoform that could be seen was also heavily damaged, and would require some transplants to be functional again. Since the arm was deemed to be useless and the Seeker had no weapons now, only one of his wrists was cuffed and hooked up.

However, the mech would never have the chance to receive the medical care he needed, reflected the Air Commander with some satisfaction...

Megatron turned away from the unconscious Seeker hanging on the wall. His gaze fixed on Stormraiser, who stiffened at the sight of the Warlord's attention, his face immediately going slack. A cold smile crossed the Decepticon leader's face.

"Stormraiser, since you and your Trine performed so well, I have a...reward for you."

Stormraiser's optics widened briefly at the words. "A reward, Sire?"

A cold, dark laugh. "Oh, yes." He glanced back at the Seeker on the wall for a moment with the same cold smirk. "A very special reward."

For whatever reason, Lord Megatron had decided to hand the traitor over to he and the other Seekers. It had been a surprise that his lord hadn't finished the job, but Stormraiser wasn't going to question the Decepticon leader's decision. Not this time. He'd been given a perfect opportunity, one which he wouldn't waste.

Once the drones were finished, he dismissed them. Once they had left, he turned to his Trinemates. "Skywarp, you and I will go fetch the others. Thundercracker, stay and guard the prisoner."

Thundercracker nodded, but Skywarp glared at his Trineleader. "How come he gets to guard the traitor and I don't? You know I've been looking forward to this!"

"Yes, but we need him alive for the demonstration, and you wouldn't be able to restrain yourself before the others arrived," Stormraiser stated calmly, well-used to his Third's petulance and his enjoyment of violence. "Besides, wouldn't it be more entertaining if there was an audience?"

Skywarp looked thoughtfully over at the chained Seeker at that comment. Then the glare faded, to be replaced by a very cruel grin. "Yeah. Yeah, it would."