Captured Spark
A fair trade
I just want to say sorry for being gone so long, I should have updated sooner, but I couldn't seem to think of where to go with this chapter. But, I'm here now, so ENJOY!
"No!" The child fought hard against the strong grip of Megatronus as he pulled him down the damp hallway and to the wash-racks. "No! No! NO!"
"Child, don't you fight me." Megatronus said back angrily, pulling harder at the child's wrist. The mech had to admit that he was quite surprised at the sheer strength the sparkling had, after five minutes of non-stop pulling forward and back, the child wasn't even the least bit tired.
"No!" The sparklings small servo slipped out of Megatronus's grip and he fell on his aft with an oomph.
The child had been at the arena for about a week now, and already he had considered it close to home. But it'd only taken three days for Megatronus to find out that the sparkling had a will stronger than his own.
"You need to be cleaned, child. It's been one week and you are starting to permeate my room with your smell." The child smiled and made the older mech frown deeply. "This is no laughter matter."
"No."
"Child, what have I said about using your words. I think I've taught you well enough." Megatronus felt bad using child all the time, but the sparkling had yet to acquire a designation and until then, there was nothing else.
"Pit no!" Megatronus shook his head, flabbergasted that the child even knew that word. Then again, he must've heard it many times when the fights were going on. Sighing, Megatronus knelt one knee on the ground and lent a hand out to the sparkling.
The child faltered in lending out his own servo, but then slowly rested it into the elder mechs. "I mean you no harm, child." The sparkling smiled and allowed Megatronus to pick him up and carry him down to the the wash-racks. In honesty, the child did not like the sound of the roaring waves of Cybertronians behind the walls and the rushing water reminded him of terrible memories that happened not so long ago.
The sparkling rested his helm against Megatronus's chest and closed his optics; though he didn't want to go, he was willing in the arms of safety.
StoneBlaze quietly walked down the shimmering corridor that had statues of past family members looking down upon her. She found them quiet appalling at times and felt like each one was judging her with the dim glow in their optics. She found herself speeding down the hallway and stopping and pair of tall double doors that looked to reach the heavens.
Knocking daintily, she waited for the gruff reply. "You may enter." She pushed open one door and slid in gracefully before tenderly pressing it back into place so that her and the office's occupant could have privacy.
"Hello, Sire." She said with her head bowed and hands clasped before her. "You called."
"SharpShoot told me that you ran off last night. I was quite surprised that you would do that with such a fine suitor."
She raised her head and looked at her father. "He was trying to convince me to have high-grade with him. I trust neither I nor him around that substance."
Her father stood up casually and stepped out from behind his gold plated desk. "SharpShoot is a mech I trust, surely he would not give both of you high-grade unless he knew that he could control himself."
"Sire, I do not mean to be disrespectful, but I have known SharpShoot on a more personal level than you for many, many years and when I say I don't trust ourselves, I mean that I do not trust either of us." Her voice had begun to raise nearing the end of her sentence.
Her sire raised an optic ridge. "Where has this rebellious attitude come from, StoneBlaze. I don't know what it happening here, but something is going on with you and I'm going to figure it out."
"Nothing is going on with me, Sire, I have just merely acquired a more full understanding of some things."
"And where is this full understanding come from? Hmmm?"
StoneBlaze froze, her whole body filling with a chilling fear of her father learning her deepest darkest secret yet. It wasn't like she could just tell him that she's been sneaking off lately to Kaon and seeing a mech named Megatronus who fought in the illegal Kaon fights in the worst place ever known as the Pit of Kaon. Ya, that'd go over just great.
He leaned closer. "StoneBlaze, I need an answer. Where have you acquired this full understanding?"
"N-nowhere, Sire. I-I was entirely out of line. I am sorry, Sire, I will watch my glossa."
"You better, StoneBlaze, you don't know where a foul mouth could get you." She bowed her head and looked to the ground. Normally she wasn't this submissive to her fathers words, but today she felt an over abundance of fatigue and didn't want to get into any fights.
She opened her mouth again and spoke softly. "Yes, Sire."
Truvulus sat back down at his desk and began writing on his datapad. "We're finished here."
StoneBlaze bolted out of the office and down the hallway that seemed to spread longer and longer with each step she took. As the corridor ended, she slowed into a steady walk. She tried hard to keep her demeanor steady and calm, but she couldn't help when her intakes were weak and shaky.
"I'm going out." She stated bluntly as she peered her head into the kitchen. The bots who worked inside looked at her and a femme nodded her way.
"We'll let your sire know."
"No, I won't be gone too long, he doesn't need to know." StoneBlaze walked off and out the towering front doors. She looked to her right to see the garden filled with elegant decorations, sitting tables and serving tables. She wanted so badly to know what was happening over there, but knew that she'd be shoved out at the last minute before she could find out.
Sighing, she kept her momentum and stepped outside the gates. There was always a new kind of feeling when she moved away from the property and out into the open; granted it wasn't as free as when she snuck out to Kaon, but it was good enough. For now, she was headed to Iacon and a special friend she knew would listen to her.
The glimmering city of Iacon never took long for her to get to and each trip wielded something new. Buildings reached into space and seemed to never end. Transformers roamed the streets, laughing, talking and just purely enjoying themselves; not even realizing that a more crowded, deadly and dying land lived not far from them.
The streets were clean as she stepped lightly on the pavement that shined in gold and silver. Her pede's clacked against the metal, a gentle soft sound she hadn't heard for a while. Her helm swiveled back and forth as she searched for the building she wanted enter. It was far into the heart of the city and she'd actually forgotten how long the walk was. Seeing her destination she smiled. She always loved visiting the hall of records, it held great memories of her past and better ones of the future. Stepping into the library - a label that was faster for her to say than its actual name - she pulled out her high access card and a mech waved her in without any words, just a stoic expression as he only flickered his optics up at her from his datapad.
She waved and he just lent a quick smile before going back to his reading. Rolling her optics she walked past the sensor and into the overly large building.
Transformers sat at suspended tables in almost glowing chairs. Datapads were placed gently in their hands as their optics flickered back and forth between sentences, taking in everything at once. Sparklings laughed as they pointed to pictures on their pads, speaking quietly among each other with joke's they weren't supposed to know. She only knew their secrets because she had been there before with her friends as a sparkling. They were good memories, sometimes too good for her to realize how messed up her life felt like now.
Stepping into the elevator she messed with the buttons and swiped her card. The shining elevator dinged and shut its grated doors on her, her optics looking through the closing cracks at the guards that began walking into the building. She let out a huff and fell against the back wall, wanting nothing more than peace and quiet with a friend. She knew they were coming sooner or later, but would have preferred the latter.
The elevator came to a bumpy stop and the doors swung open with a groan. She stepped out to see a mech leaned over a large database, his fingers quickly at work with the information that flooded the large screens.
"You should really fix that elevator before someone gets hurt." She saw the mech jump a little and she chuckled.
"StoneBlaze, I did not hear you coming." She waved at him and he smiled back, too busy to wave back.
"Hello, Orion, it's been a long time."
"It has." She sat in the nearby chair and looked to him. Orion Pax had been her friend for a long while, ever since they were young sparklings. Sadly though he was of the middle caste and her father didn't allow many from there to come to his home so they got used to meeting up at the hall of Iacon to read books and tell stories. He became somewhat a brother figure to her and they kept contact even after the mech got busy with his job of archivist.
"Too busy for your friend, I see." A smile tugged at his lips as he passed a glance at her.
"You know it is not like that, StoneBlaze. I merely have a lot of work to finish."
"You know you can call me, Blaze, right?"
"I understand that, but I feel more comfortable with your full name."
She waved him off and looked out the large window that sat adjacent of his working base. Buildings rose up past it and she walked over to look up and see that still she couldn't even find the top of some buildings. She gazed with amazement and a feeling of calmness washed over her. She always felt welcomed and safe here, even if she was in the worst kind of danger.
"Is something bother you, StoneBlaze?" Orion asked pausing his work to look over at her.
"Nothing, O.P. just sometimes I wonder if there's more out there than what we're given."
"I'm afraid I don't understand." His calm face fell into confusion for a split second before falling calm again.
"Like, I'm high caste and your middle caste and even though they're so close there's a large gap between us. . I mean, should we just accept that and move on or do you think there's more to the story?"
"Where are you getting this from?" It was her turn to look confused.
"Nowhere in particular, why?"
"I've been hearing stuff like that over the silent comm. system, a mech by the name of Megatronous. Your words are very close to his. . . StoneBlaze, please don't tell me-"
"He's not bad!" Her words came out too fast for her to catch them and she covered her mouth.
"StoneBlaze, do you know what would happen if the elders found out about-"
"I know, and I try not to think about it. . . But he knows what he's talking about and I have to agree with him." Megatronus hadn't much talked to her privately about the matter, but she'd heard him on many occasions when he stood in the arena with his arms raised, or when she happened to find the silent comm. system that Orion had talked about.
"I'm not saying he's wrong, but what you're doing will get you into trouble." Her friend stood to his full height, towering over her, but even still she felt safe. "I don't mean to scold you, StoneBlaze, but your sire would be furious if he learnt of what you have been doing."
"But, Orion, haven't you ever wanted to do something you know you can't?" She jutted her arms out toward him, the feeling she got from Kaon washing over her again. "I'm always cooped up in that stupid house of my fathers and so many things are going on behind my back that I think it's my turn to do the same." Her pede absently struck the ground. "I'm sick of being the good little girl."
"I never-"
"I know." Blaze dropped her helm and rubbed a servo against her upper arm. She'd gone severely out of line with her friend and he'd done nothing to provoke it. "I'm sorry, Orion Pax. I guess that I just feel like a minority to my sire now and sneaking out to see Megatronus kind of gives me this new feeling."
"I thought you loved SharpShoot?"
She gasped. "Orion, that is not what I am saying."
The mech gave her a tender hearted smile and a chuckle escaped him. "StoneBlaze, I have known you since were sparklings, I have seen that look in your optics many times. I know when you are in love."
"Please, don't tell my sire."
"You know that I would never take something this precious away from you. . I may not understand the subjugation that you're under at times, but I do know that as young Cybertronians, we must experience many things to help us along our paths. I may not fully agree with what you are doing and find it irrefutably unsafe, but I will back you up one-hundred percent if I must."
StoneBlaze snatched Orion into a tight hug. "Thank you." She whispered, lubricant leaking from her eyes. "You don't know how much this means to me." She looked up into a blue optics and smiled. She'd once thought that they could have been more than just friends, but honestly, it wasn't meant to be; and as well, Orion was one to engulf himself into work so much that he wouldn't know how to juggle both work and a family.
"You're very welcome, StoneBlaze. I wish you the best of luck on your journey down this path, but be weary of the obstacles that will come your way. . . I don't want to see you hurt."
"As my carrier used to tell me, first you must make mistakes before you can begin to make corrections."
He closed his optics and spoke soft enough so that she could not hear his next words. "Let's just hope this isn't a mistake you can't fix."
StoneBlaze left soon after, her spark feeling lighter now that she had relieved herself of her worries. She felt bad just leaking out words onto Orion, but he always was willing to listen and on top of that he gave such memorable advice good enough for keeping around.
As she reached her house, she walked through the gates, the feeling of the invisible chains draping around her once again. It was getting dark and she knew that she'd have to get in soon before her sire thought she'd been taken; but in a weird way, she wanted to stay out and just see how her sire would act, would he be worried for her safety or just angry at her for getting kidnapped.
"Miss. StoneBlaze, we've all be wondering where you were." StoneBlaze looked aside to see one of the maids walking up to her.
"I'm sorry to worry you, Mercedes, I simply needed to clear my head."
"Oh, don't be sorry dear, we all need our alone time." The femme smiled and StoneBlaze returned the gesture. Mercedes had always been one of the femme maids she'd gotten close to. They would talk when suitable and sometimes Blaze invited her out on short walks so that they could just hang out. Granted the femme was a bit older than her, but it didn't stop them from being close friends. "I wanted to tell you, since most of the workers here don't have knowledge of the tunnels, I was hearing some knockin' around down there recently and I would check it out myself, but you sire has had be on quite the busy schedule today. I thought you'd like to check it out though, I know you used to play games down there and it's some good memories for you."
"Thank you, Mercedes, I'm delighted you told me." StoneBlaze shook the maids servo and rushed off without another word. She'd sent Megatronus the tunnel layout the day after she saw him, but knew that they were so confusing, even with a life-size map.
Stepping inside, she turned to one of the workers. "Is my sire around?"
"I don't believe so, Ma'am, he's still in his study last I checked."
She nodded a thank you and began heading down one of the less traveled corridors.
StoneBlaze treaded silently and stopped at an old plain metal door. It stood out from most of the others, but most maintenance doors already did, so many didn't look to see what was inside unless it was a new curious worker. Her servo clasped the handle and twisted it; it had always been odd to her that the door wasn't like the others, but never questioned it. Opening the door, she slipped inside and shut it with a minimal creak.
Inside she found herself placed at the top of a narrow staircase. Her pede's felt numb against the cold that emmited from down below, but it didn't stop her from working her way down into the forgotten maze of tunnels.
When StoneBlazze reached the bottom, nostalgia covered her like a warm blanket and she smiled. She'd spent numerous days down there playing hide'n'seek with friends, as well as having spooky night sleepovers in one of the various domed coves.
"Hello." She stepped lightly down the hallway, her pede's now frozen. "Megatronus?"
"AAAAAAHHHHHH!" A high pitched scream filled the already chilled air and she tensely watched horrified green glowing optics speed her way. It wasn't until a small frame hit against her leg that she calmed down, realizing that it was the sparkling she'd found a week ago. He clung to her leg for dear life and scratched at her paint. "No, Monster! No MONSTER!" His voice pierced her audio receptors and she covered them with the palm of her servo's.
"Quiet, sparkling, it's alright." She tried to kneel to his size, but he refused to let her go.
"No monster!" His optics were shut tight and his servo's shook against her.
"There is no monster." At the words, he seemed to calm down and his optics reopened to show a bright green, much better looking than when she had found him. His lower lip trembled and she seized him in her arms, making sure to keep a tender touch.
A short laugh bellowed out of the darkness and she glared its way. "Megatronus, what is your reason behind scaring this young sparkling? Has he not already been through enough?"
"I was merely telling him a ghost story, he scared himself."
"It's not funny." Cyan optics appeared out of the darkness and she tensed at his unfaltering gaze. She felt herself go slightly weak at the knees, but refused to show it. "This poor sparkling is in need of tender love and care, not ghost stories that will scar him for life."
"I mean no harm."
"Of course you don't." She replied dryly. "What brings you around at this time? I thought you might of wanted to have him longer."
"I do, but I'm afraid that he shouldn't stay around the Pits of Kaon for too long, it's both dangerous and he's been picking up a few foul words that I disapprove of." She looked down at the sparkling, she just couldn't imagine foul language coming out of him. "Also," The mech seemed hesitant to speak, as if his next words were going to go against his ego. "I have not been able to give him a shower since the first night. I almost was able to this morning, but he ran away on me at the last minute."
StoneBlaze chuckled. "Well, then I guess that's where the smell is coming from. I'll take care of that, thank you for bringing him."
"I am indebted to you, StoneBlaze." His words were fencing both serious and playful. "What can I give you in return?" She smiled at him.
"I ask for nothing more than to see you once again." He smiled at her, raised her hand to his mouth and kissed it.
"That I can do."
StoneBlaze spoke absently, "A fair trade, a sparkling for a night."
"Hm, usually it's the other way around." StoneBlaze could push back her blushing smile this time as she let out a small gasp and diverted her gaze. "Shall we meet here again?" Megatronus said stoutly, but she could hear the slight embarrassment in his words.
"It's a safe place, no one ever comes down here." She tried looking up, but the flushed feeling was too strong.
"Three days, I'll come check up on the sparkling to make sure you are doing fine with him."
StoneBlaze rolled her optics and looked back up. "I know very well how to take care of a sparkling, thank you very much." It was his turn to smile deeply and she couldn't get past how magnificent it made him look. She could swear that no one knew he was of the lower caste, he'd fit right in. She looked to the rest of his body and then slightly frowned. But as well they would also notice the battle scars and his sharp bulky exterior and they'd never accept it.
"Are you alright, StoneBlaze?" StoneBlaze snapped herself out of deep thought and nodded.
"Yes, Megatronus, just thinking." She forced a grin. "I shall see you in three days, then?" He curtly nodded. "Then I must bid you goodnight."
"Goodnight then, I wish you luck on taking care of him." He waved goodbye to the sparkling who waved back before resting against StoneBlaze's shoulder and closing his optics. Clearly he hadn't gotten enough rest at the arena, but now, now she knew that he'd get what he needed by being with her. Looking back, StoneBlaze frowned yet again as she watched Megatronus's frame fade off into the darkness, if only they could be in this together instead of apart.
Thanks for reading, hope you liked the chapter! If you have a comment, leave it in the review box below, your words are greatly appreciated and I love to read through them to see what you guys think of my story and if I need room for improvement!
I promise I'll try to update the next chapter soon, I'm on winter break now so it shouldn't be so hard. Until next chapter, have a great day/night!
