Chapter 4: Lullaby

-Flashback: Barricade's version-

Moonmetal gazed upon the sky with young optics watching stars glitter brightly along the cloak of darkness, spreading across Cybertronian skies. Cybertron was at peace… back then, there was no such thing called Autobot or Decepticon; optic color didn't matter. True, there were small squabbles but nothing was serious enough to initiate physical contact; all were small verbal wars, if one could describe. Other than that, the scene was calm with mechs and femmes minding their own business in the busy metropolis. Moonmetal turning back to her protector, her best friend and her big brother.

"Moonmetal… can we sight see some other time? Your sister is waiting for us, you know? You know she has a temper."

"Oh come on, Barricade! I just arrived! Besides, devil can wait!!"

"Ahem, that's Dare-devil, missy" spoke a feminine voice from behind. Moonmetal chuckled, greeting her older (step) sister. "How's my little moody metal doing?"

"Hey!" Moonmetal gave her sister a small punch on the arm then delivered a tight squeeze. "I miss my sister!! And brother of course!"

Barricade stared at his two sisters; the eldest was named Dare-devil, identified by sharp horns on her head, the red and black painting over her body followed with yellow stripes down her arms and legs. What signified her most were Cybertronian engravings on her armor spelling out, "Dare" and "Devil". Dare-devil was accurately named due to her daring nature; she had a habit of performing crazy stunts in the city, just to earn a couple hundred creds. Many stunts she performed involved skyscrapers and herself, either climbing up the monstrosities or jumping from them, expecting to land on her feet, unscathed. Some called her completely insane while others admired her daring stunts.

And then there was young Moonmetal, their adopted sister. She had a much smaller frame than Dare-devil but size didn't bother her; it was the size of her Spark that mattered. Her Spark was as pure as it got; it nourished love and care for her siblings, even though she wasn't directly linked to them. She was mostly lavender and black with red stripes on each of her legs, running down from her pelvic plate. Her face was young and vibrant. Soft features painted her caring nature toward everyone and everything. What made her different from her siblings were her eyes; Barricade and Dare-devil had crimson, blood-shot eyes signifying their inner strength. With Moonmetal, her right optic was red but her left optic was blue…

"Barricade?"

The empty sockets filled with red light, suddenly illuminated. Optics traced the voice down to Maiden, standing there with hands clutched tightly against her heart. Maiden stared at Barricade with worried brown eyes; what happened to him? Right after she began to sing, she noticed his optics fought to stay online. At first she dismissed it as small glitches but then it became apparent he was actually fighting to stay online by low growls and twitching fingers.

"Ugh, what happened?"

Maiden shuffled her feet, "Well, you were having a difficult time trying to stay, um, online. Your optics dimmed and you remained stationary… until now. Are you okay?"

Twisting his head left to right, his optics returned to Maiden. Standing under a dimly lit street light, he saw her complexion; she was young with tanned skin, not too dark but light-medium brown. Her glossy eyes were not that large either, rather, large enough to see them displaying their deepest sorrows. Her hair was black as night tied loosely, hanging off her left shoulder. What caught his optics were black, curvy markings that wrapped around her neck, slithering down to her exposed belly and possibly further down her legs. Maiden noticed this and pulled her jacket together, hiding the marks.

"Where'd you get those marks?" he questioned, referring to the markings.

"These… these are nothing, really. Well, they used to be something…" a hand slithered down her belly, tracing those black string-like markings. Maiden sat on a steel box, eyes filled with sorrow. "These markings… they used to be important to me. They were burnt plants that were imprinted on me when I was young, from my tribe."

"Tribe?" he questioned, confused. He didn't understand what they meant by 'tribe' but to his understanding, it was like a group of people living together… somewhat like people living in the city.

Maiden nodded, "I come from a tribe which we believe humans emerged from the ground. Plants, flowers and trees are symbols of our tribe. I don't remember the name of our tribe since I was torn away from them when I was really young. By the time I knew it, I was thrown into a foster home… I hated it there… and then some guys came into the house and took me away to another place… and it's been like that ever since… I miss my step-sister and step-brother…" she muttered the last part quietly to herself. Maiden looked up into the Decepticon's optics, cocking her head. It was a time to change topic. "And what about you? What's your story here?"

"It is pointless for me to talk about it, human. What I want to know is how did you know that song? Also, singing it in our native tongue. Hmm, those markings… they remind me of Dare-devil… no, it can't be. I kept insisting it was her but…"

Maiden looked toward buildings, watching the rain sliding off them until they descended onto the ground, formulating her answer. Honestly, she had no clue where she learnt that melody. It was just there, in her head from the day her eyes opened. Although the melody was soothing, it carried a sad tune. The carried tune was like a tune sung by someone who knew they were about to die, in pain or lonely. She only sang that song when she felt lonely but since she met Barricade, the meaning of the tune suddenly changed into a more heartbreaking melody.

"I don't know where that song came from," Maiden replied. "I honestly don't know."

Barricade watched her, thinking of an answer while privately, he conversed with Frenzy. Frenzy kept on insisting that this Maiden never existed; there were no records of her existence but then again, nobody knew where she truly came from. The only parts of her existence were pictures of her lacking descriptions.

"Maiden," he spoke, breaking the rain tunes. "Tell me something: do you anybody by the name of Dare-devil?"

"Nope, I never heard someone by that name. Believe me, it's hard to find names like that unless it's internet screen names." She walked off into the distance, under a porch taking her jacket off. Rinsing then shaking it, the wind picked up, ripping the jacket from her slender fingers. Maiden cried out, running after the jacket in flight. As she ran, the wind blew her hair away exposing her back with the words "Dare" and "Devil" burnt and scarred deeply into her skin…