Experiences
Once again, thanks to everyone who reviewed. I'm planning on responding to review requests in the near future. Probably as soon as I'm allowed out of bed for a length of time longer than it takes to post something. But like I said, Thanks! And please keep reading.
Chapter Five
Part Three
The sky was red he realized vaguely. The beauty of the desert sunset was being marred and warped by the rising plumes of smoke from the ruined city below. Sparks were jumping up from the fires left unchecked, and the city had fallen quiet with only the crackle of flames and the sounds of falling buildings to break the unnatural silence. Turning his eyes away from the sight, violet eyes were hidden away as their owner stared unseeingly at the ground below. Hunching his shoulders at the feeling of the unrelenting ruby optics staring at him, Sam remained silent even as the largest of the mechs surrounding him began to speak to him in a deceptively calm and soothing tone of voice.
"So, the Allspark chose a new container before its destruction." Megatron said softly, his fingers tapping lightly against his crossed arms. "Such a fragile container chosen. Perhaps it was the lack of options available to it at the moment, and so it chose the first to display a presence of life signs and a semblance of sentience."
"No." Sam retorted unable to stop the words tumbling out of his mouth, somehow knowing that what he was saying was the truth. "The Allspark wanted something able to defend the power it contained in a manner that it was never able to. It wanted to stop you from being able to use it for something other than creating sentient life in the manner that it was always meant to. It gave up hope on you, Megatron. It realized that the Lord High Protector that had formed the Protection Bond with it was either gone or hidden so far away that any hope of redemption was lost."
Megatron held his hand up in a clear order for silence when the indignant murmurs behind him began growing in intensity. "I see the Autobots have done a fine job of indoctrinating you in their simplistic and foolish ways." He sneered, his optics burning as they met Sam's unflinching violet gaze. "What I did saved the lives of our people from the foolishness of the Senate. A Senate that even Prime and I were unable to control in their greed."
"Maybe at first." Sam admitted, remembering the somewhat heated conversation he'd held with Bumblebee over the reasons for the Decepticon movement at the beginning of the war one day while they were talking about it. "But how many Sparks did you extinguish when Kaon fell? How about Iacon? Praxus? Vos? You sent so many to the Matrix because you refused to accept that while your reasons were good…" Sam paused for a moment to calm himself before continuing, forcing his hands to relax from the tight fists they'd clenched into. "The Senate is gone now, and your race is a shadow of itself. And Cybertron itself may as well be dead for all the life that it can sustain on its barren husk. So what noble reasons do you have now for your stubborn refusal to bring an end to the war? What reason can possibly be good enough to explain your desire to dominate every life in this universe?"
"What better and faster way to repopulate Cybertron than by conquering other worlds, and using their primitive technology to further bolster our ranks?" Megatron countered, his clawed hand continuing to tap on his other arm almost absently. "As for Cybertron… It will become inhabitable once the Allspark has been returned to its rightful place."
"The Allspark is me." Sam said slowly as though he were talking to a rather slow witted individual who was only a step below needing crayons and a large drawn out picture. "You can't have one without the other. And unfortunately for you, my approval is needed to even attempt what you're talking about."
"I'm certain that with the right persuasion you could be brought to do what I ask of you." Megatron replied dismissively before turning to speak to the silent blue mech behind him. "Soundwave, bring me those fleshlings your Creations found wandering about earlier."
Stiffening, Sam felt as though icy fingers were now trailing down his spine leaving in their wake raised hairs and an overwhelming feeling of foreboding. His feelings only intensified when a red visored mech came into view, his hands dragging Will and Epps behind him. Sam took a step forward before stopping himself and wrapping his arms around his middle as though to comfort himself as he looked up to meet Megatron's darkly amused optics.
"You know," Sam said quietly, "there used to be a time when you could have asked the Allspark for anything and it would have given it to you. Your Spark was a sense of comfort for all those waiting to be given to their Creator Sparks, and now…" Sam snorted in derision as his arms fell from his waist to clench tightly together, the knuckles of his hands white from the strain. "Now, they hide from you. Your Spark gives them nothing from pain, and there is nothing, I repeat nothing, that could make me do what you want."
Sam's eyes darted towards Will and Epps, pleading without words for forgiveness. His singed and dirty hair loose after the hair tie holding it back had been lost during one of the falls that Sam had taken while climbing his way across rubble. Will glanced at Epps and must have seen something there because the man turned back to Sam and in a raspy voice spoke clearly, his words floating across the air to ring loudly in Sam's ears.
"No sacrifice, no victory, brat."
"They will die." Megatron hissed, stepping closer to the teen still staring at the reassuring and accepting faces of the two older men. "Will you allow them to perish in the same ignoble manner as your Creators did?"
"My parents didn't even know what they were protecting." Sam said in a choked voice, his violet eyes staring at the red hues of the sky. "But I do. I know exactly what'll happen if I let you use me."
Stepping back, Sam gasped as he clutched at his chest as the ever-present throb there seemed to intensify with the darkening colors of the metallic tattoos marking his hands. BUMBLEBEE! He managed to shout across their bond, his energy falling sharply from the amount spent to do so. The pain grew stronger, its unrelenting strength battering at his senses one by one, until he lost control of the block he'd placed over his bonds. His vision darkening and his knees collapsing from beneath him, Sam's last sight was of Will and Epps struggling to break free of the grips holding them back.
DoX
"It's beautiful." Sam whispered to himself, staring in awe at the foreign landscape in front of him. Elegantly designed towers rose from the metallic looking ground, while both ground and air teemed with mechanical life. It looked like something out of the stories that Bumblebee would tell him in the middle of the night after Sam had been awoken from a particularly vivid nightmare.
"It was." A sad voice from behind the teen admitted. "Before my children began to war with one another, Cybertron was a place of peace. And as it is with everything else, artistry and elegance followed in its wake."
Turning around, Sam fell onto his behind with a startled yelp. Standing behind him was a mech taller than Optimus and Megatron combined he realized with a twinge of fear. "Who—what are you?" Sam stuttered, scrambling backwards as quickly as he could.
"One that you have prayed to since your earliest years with your guardian." The mech responded, his amber optics observing the scene that had captivated Sam. "And one who has declared you to be one in the number of his children."
"Nice." Sam deadpanned, his eyes looking up in irritation. "Now how about we explain this in terms that even Trent could understand?"
"My designation since the day of my Creation and that of my twin has been Primus."
"Oh Primus, I have brain damage." Sam muttered under his breath, violet eyes wide with disbelief. "There's no way you're Primus."
"Why would that be youngling?" The large mech asked kneeling down to meet Sam's tired eyes questioningly. "Have I given you reason to hold distrust in what I say?"
"Oh come on!" Sam snapped in exasperation. "Bumblebee says that Cybertron started dying when the Allspark was sent into space. And since Cybertron is supposed to be the form of Primus… it stands to reason that if Cybertron died, then you would have too. Especially since I'm—" Sam cut himself off, his hands covering his mouth in horror.
"Especially since you are now the Allspark."
Sam shot to his feet and hastily ran as close to the edge of the cliff he was standing on without taking a tumble down its steep slope. His eyes narrowed and distrustful as he warily watched the enormous mech rise from his kneeling position to tower (not like he didn't already) over Sam's much smaller frame. Unexpectedly the mech's vents cycled in what Sam recognized as the Cybertronian equivalent of a sigh.
"The Sparks that became the consciousness of the Allspark dispersed after leaving behind one final gift." The mech calling himself Primus said finally, his optics looking out over the serene landscape wistfully. "Although you are now the Allspark and as such will live far longer than any of your race has even contemplated of doing… the fact remains that you are still of organic composition and as such your frame will deteriorate long before your time."
"And I would care, why?" Sam asked nonplussed at the mech's words. "I'd really rather not encourage your delusions of grandeur, but for the sake of clarification… why are you telling me this?"
"The Allspark cannot coexist with one of those it holds in safe keeping." The mech stated quietly, his optics continuing their unwavering stare at the memory of Cybertron. "But a Spark that has been introduced at the same time as the Allspark can be brought to a state of coexistence."
Sam opened his mouth to make an appropriately scathing remark before snapping it closed with a nearly inaudible snap, his eyes growing distant as he mulled over the words. Long minutes passed as Sam turned to stare unseeingly at the skyline in front of him, his violet eyes fixed on an indeterminate point on the horizon. Tilting his head to the side so he could see the mech from the periphery of his vision, Sam spoke hesitantly, "That's why my chest has been hurting, isn't it?"
The mech nodded slowly, his optics coming to rest on the youth in front of him. "The Spark has been reaching an acceptable point of maturation as fueled by the last cognizant decision of the Allspark's consciousness. The discomfort is caused by the Spark's adaptation to the presence of so many immature Sparks that have yet to be realized into a container as it was shortly after its Creation."
"I—I see." Sam said shakily as he gingerly lowered himself to the metallic surface of the ground to sit turning back around as he did so.
"No, I am afraid that you do not… see." The mech seemed to stumble over the odd turn of phrase used by Sam before swiftly regaining his composure. "The fragile balance that your bond mate has held for you while your body and Spark grew into harmony with one another is being disrupted by the rather forceful reemergence of the bond you now hold by default with the Lord High Protector."
"What?" Sam shook his head in disagreement. "No. No, I would have felt it." Rubbing his right arm with the slightly chilled fingers of his left, Sam's entire demeanor radiated disbelief. "I might have been out of it last time it happened, but that isn't something you forget about."
"And how do you believe it is that I was able to pull you so far into the Matrix if you were not already in danger of having your Spark join those already here?" The mech asked gently, his optics shining something that looked an awful lot like pity Sam realized. "Even the bonds you hold with your Surrogate and your bond mate are not enough to bring back that balance that was so vital to your existence."
"Oh." Sam muttered faintly, his hand falling limply to his side from where it had been rubbing his other arm.
"You lose hope far too quickly, youngling." The mech observed in a carefully modulated tone. "I said only that your current bonds cannot help you to regain that balance."
Cycling his vents again when he was met with silence, the mech knelt down in front of the stunned teen. "You so easily forget that you are now the Lifegiver to those who will one day be Created beyond the metal plates of Cybertron. The first to have ever carried that title since my only Creation did so."
"You—you were the one talking to me in Mission City the first time." Sam said numbly, his eyes lighting up with recognition of the voice and the unfamiliar address as Lifegiver instead of Allspark. "I thought—I thought it was the Allspark but it was you, wasn't it?"
"You needed confidence to bolster your flagging strength." The mech conceded. "I merely offered you what I was able to give, as well as gave my approval of what the Allspark offered to you." The mech (Primus, Sam amended in his head) paused for a moment, his head tilting to one side as if listening to something that only he could hear. "The first of your Creations are coming to your aid." He finally commented, his optics glancing down to meet Sam's confused violet gaze.
"My Creations?" Sam asked with a fair amount of trepidation. "I haven't Created anything."
"While you were attempting to evade the Lord High Protector and his subordinates, you stumbled and in your terror, instinctively grasped hold of the Allspark's power and Created several smaller transformers." Primus' faceplates seemed to shift into an amused smile as he spoke. "The source for their Sparks was that of the fledgling Spark that the Allspark was already in the process of crafting for you. They are being brought by the feelings of your Spark beginning to diminish and will give you the time needed to find an alternative to joining the Matrix so early."
"Creations?" Sam muttered wildly to himself, his eyes dilated with shock. "What fragging aft head decided that I needed Creations?!"
"If it alleviates your state of mind any," Primus cut in with a synthesized clearing of his vocalizer, "think of them instead as your guardians as that is what their initial programming was designed as by the Allspark after you used its power and it seized the opportunity to ensure your safety if you were unable to do so for yourself."
"So I've got Creations—guardians—Agh! Whatever they are." Sam growled in frustration his hands reaching up to detangle his hair and rebraid it into its familiar style. "But what you said earlier… what did you mean alternative?"
"You are the new Lifegiver; surely you realize that that you hold more than simply the ability to hold Sparks until it is their time to be returned to those that Created them."
"Of course I realize that." Sam snapped, his growing frustration evident. "What the slag does that have—Oh!"
"I shall assume by your exclamation that you have finally ascertained the only option available to you if you wish to avoid joining the Matrix?" Primus asked dryly.
"But—But…" Sam sputtered incoherently for a few moments before recovering a hold of his wits. "What will happen? I doubt that finding a way to stop the fractures is going to be simple."
"The stress upon your Spark has already forced the fractures past the point that even you can repair." Primus said wearily, his hand coming to rest gently on one of the teen's slumped shoulders. "Repairing the damage on your own would not be a long term solution and would most likely result in similar problems in the near future."
"Oh." Sam said weakly, at a loss for anything more to say that hadn't already been expressed in the way his body was currently doing. "But what," He paused for a moment to clear his throat, "what am I supposed to do?"
"Split it."
"Split it?"
"At the moment the damage is too much for a single entity to repair. Splitting your Spark would result in both halves being repaired without the possibility of a similar reoccurrence in the future."
"No other choice?"
"None."
"And what about my bond mate?" Sam asked quietly, already knowing the answer by the returning look of pity in the amber optics above him.
"The bond will be suppressed until your Spark has been healed of the damage threatening it's survival." Primus halted a moment to allow the teen time to regain his composure before continuing. "Sparks were never meant to be stressed to the point of fracture, and the bond would unfortunately create too much strain while your Spark attempts to heal itself. The only bond that will remain unsuppressed will be the one you formed with your Surrogate so for a while yet, you will remain safe from the Lord High Protector finding you."
"How much—how much time do I have?"
"If you wish to avoid entering the Matrix, then you have no more time left to you."
Sam stood, the large hand rising from his shoulder as he did so. Turning around, he stared at the impressive landscape once more before his expression hardened. "I'll find a way to bring this back." He said softly, his voice filled with a fierce determination before Primus was once again left alone in the part of the Matrix he kept flooded with his memories of a Cybertron long gone.
"If you are able to resist the Lord High Protector…" Primus replied just as softly, his eyes gazing over the distance at the city of Praxus with longing coloring his amber optics. "…then I believe that you truly will find a way to restore the world I gave the children of my Creation."
DoX
Swirls of color made up his surroundings, reminding him of the one memory he was able to hold onto after Mission City. Even with both Ratchet and Bumblebee asking him numerous times about what he could remember, he hadn't told them about the gentle and warmly beckoning colors he'd seen. It hadn't felt right to him, he reflected as he ran a hand lightly over one of the brightest colors he could see and immediately shivered from the sensation. Glancing around the colors again, he was reminded of something else.
When he listened to music he could envision the sounds as flowing tendrils of color combining together to create the harmonic frequencies heard by his ears. Bumblebee hadn't understood when he'd tried to explain it, but a few weeks before while he'd been spending some time with Jazz while both of their respective mates were on shift, Jazz had turned on some music and Sam hadn't been able to stop the comment he'd made about the colors and music. Thankfully, the mech hadn't said a word but had instead stared at Sam for a long moment before nodding sharply and the two had returned to listening to the music, only this time with their eyes closed as Sam leaned against one of Jazz's legs.
The colors that he saw rather than heard in music, Sam mused to himself, was a lot like the colors of the different Sparks that he could now see. Every Spark was different, their color determined by the individual contributions of their Creators. And like the Sparks that he was entrusted with, Sam's own Spark was reminiscent of its origins. Especially since the Spark of the Allspark's new host couldn't be anything other than neutral. So his Spark had taken on the richest purple hue that he had ever seen. It was as though the most vibrant shades of red and blue had been taken and swirled together until they formed the seamless unison that the purple offered up.
Frowning at the dark lines running over the iridescent sphere of light in front of him, Sam resumed tracing the lines with dexterous hands. Crowding around him, the immature Sparks in his care began to fluctuate their light in agitation, alternating between blinding brilliance and deafening darkness. He could feel their concern over the rapidly deteriorating condition of the amethyst colored Spark before him, each line was growing darker and darker with each passing second and the feeling of upheaval was beginning to grow overwhelming. Closing his eyes briefly when he felt a suitable point of separation, Sam hoped fervently that his bond mate would forgive him before digging his fingers in deeply and with a quick tug he was once again in darkness.
DoX
Will was worried beyond anything he'd ever thought he'd be forced to endure. It was one thing to be the one injured with your friends hovering around you anxiously, but it was another entirely to be the one watching over said injured. Sam's breathing had become shallow and labored as the minutes ticked by and he was beginning to wonder if the help he knew was coming would get there before the kid just ran out of time. The longer he spent with his eyes closed, the harder he knew it would be for Sam to fight his way back to them. Blood loss, still bleeding cuts, and a concussion were not good factors when you wanted someone to wake up. Especially not after he'd seen the strain reflected in Sam's tired eyes when the teen had first seen them being dragged behind that overgrown and outdated piece of metal that had caught them in the first place.
Looking back up from where he'd been staring down at Sam's pale face, Will watched the mechs around them in barely concealed bewilderment. At the moment the teen had begun to lose consciousness, a silver streak had darted in and after gently depositing the teen into the arms of what looked like a pair of parking meters, had attacked the mech holding both him and Epps back. The grace and fluidity of the movements were something that he'd seen only once, and that once had been when he'd seen Jazz attacking that giant tank in the center of Mission City.
Now hiding behind a hastily piled barrier of rubble, Will was watching the unknown entities defend them with what looked like everything in their tiny arsenals. Or rather, he amended to himself, they were protecting Sam. After he and Epps had been liberated from that piece of Decepticon slag, the part of his mind that had been heavily influenced by Ironhide's presence growled, they had been left behind the makeshift barrier with Sam being laid on the ground with a gentleness he wouldn't have expected. But before running back outside of the barrier, each of the mechs had looked at Will and Epps with amethyst optics that seemed to say without words that there would be hell to pay if anything more happened to Sam.
So here he was, waiting for the Autobots to arrive and hoping that their new friends and Sam could hold out long enough for that to happen. His mouth twisting into a wry smile, Will let loose a half hearted laugh as he thought about Ratchet's threats earlier that morning. "You better hang in there brat." Will said quietly, ducking his head when the topmost portion of the wall behind them exploded. "Looks like I'm gonna need to take you up on your offer of protecting me if I don't wanna end up a lab rat for the rest of my life."
DoX
Their Creator was in trouble. He had called out to them, asking for help… and so they came. All of them had gathered at the first signs of their Creator's brilliance fading, and so they had all left together when the call had finally come. For a moment he'd wondered what had taken his Creator so long to do so before he realized that his Creator had probably been unaware of their existence until that moment. It wasn't so surprising given that their Creator had collapsed in exhaustion after merging with the Allspark, and since had not had the time to delve deeper into the subconscious link he maintained with all those he had Created that day.
Sidestepping an outstretched arm, the youngest of the Creations continued to hassle the still grounded Seekers. They had all agreed that to allow the Seekers into the air would only place them at a disadvantage and could also become a threat towards their Creator's already fragile well-being. So while the rest were attempting to occupy the attentions of the other Decepticons, the youngest had been delegated with the task of keeping the Seekers on the ground. Being the smallest had its advantages in that he was also the fastest of them, so it was relatively easy to evade the Seekers while at the same time disconnecting a vital wire here or nicking a coolant line there.
It had been fifteen minutes and even if he was small, the amount of energy he was being forced to expend was taking its toll on him. Daring to glance over towards his co-Creations, he noted that they were in much the same condition as he himself was. They were made to fight yes, but more in the sense that they were Created to be the Allspark's final line of defense. Final line before the new Allspark would be forced to defend itself, or rather before his Creator would be forced to defend himself.
Ignoring the various warnings his overheating systems were sending to his processors, he slid underneath the red and white Seeker and swiftly disabled the mechs thrusters before scampering off to a safe distance again. The purple and black one was still off to the side attempting to get his warping abilities back online after he'd successfully managed to take them offline with a well-aimed large chunk of rubble to the back of the cranial unit.
Revving engines in the distance caught his attention and it was with a furious cycle of his vents that he looked up to see an unusual line of cars speeding towards them. Nodding his head at the orders from the oldest of his co-Creations, he waved cheekily at the Seeker trine before retreating to the hastily made defensive wall that he and his co-Creations had placed their Creator behind.
Cooling systems were finally allowed to begin catching up with the massive overheating spread throughout his systems, the warnings from his processor slowing to a halt as he joined his co-Creations behind the wall as the first of the unknown allies arrived. He watched in appreciation as the lead vehicle smoothly transformed into its bipedal state without taking the liberty of stopping or even slowing down before tackling the large mech that had been tormenting his Creator. Snickering when the mech yelled in outrage, the youngest Creation turned around at the distressed sound from one of his co-Creations.
Amethyst optics blinked offline before being rapidly rebooted to ascertain that he'd really seen what his processor was insisting on. His Creator's eyes were open and he was struggling to sit up, talking in an urgent whisper to the older human holding him to keep him from falling to the ground. In his Creator's hands was a vividly pulsing light, its color unlike anything that he had seen in the months since his Creation. So it was with a shock when he realized that he was looked at the Spark of his Creator, or rather one half of his Creator's Spark. And that was when everything went to the Pit he decided as he heard an enraged bellow and looked up to see a pair of yellow mechs standing side by side and staring down at his Creator in horror.
And that would be the end of this Chapter. Three whole parts, and it's finally over. I've spent the past two days in the hospital for pneumonia, otherwise this would have been out two days ago. I hope you guys like it, and more explanations are forthcoming in the subsequent chapters. Chapter Six is already started but I thought I should post this before I ended up posting the both of them at the same time. Maybe now I'll be able to get those ideas for Winds out of my head and onto paper/screen.
P.S. The thing about the colors and the music isn't something I just made up. I tend to do the same thing, which is why I think that I have so many problems writing if I don't have some sort of music in the background.
