I am sorry that this has taken a while for me to publish! I have been unable to login to even create a document. At least I got it eventually, though!

Here's the next chapter! Hope you like it!

Chapter 9

The panel slid open and bounced against the walls, making a loud, scratching sound that caused even the footsteps to cover their audio receptors.

We gazed up nervously as a towering, silver and violet bot with spiky armor and clawed servos grinned at us with jagged, scraped teeth. "I take it you are the other student?" the silver bot asked me in a calming yet menacing way.

I didn't move. Instead, I scooted backwards and into the corner, glaring all the while. The others stayed together in another corner, not daring to move. My glare turned into a smirk. "I take it you're Megatron, leader of the Decepticons?"

Megatron's grin didn't cease. "So you do recognize me," he replied.

I had nothing left to say, so I stayed bunched up in the corner. "Come along, dear Ariel. We promise that no harm shall come to you." Megatron ushered me towards him and the guards, but I didn't budge.

Starscream had been among them, as I suspected, and he invited himself in, quickly approaching me. He smirked as he reached down to grab my servo, but I kicked him right in the faceplates before he could do so.

"She will not take orders from us. You would be wise to remember that, Starscream," Megatron said slyly as Starscream rubbed his sore faceplates and growled, storming off as the troopers stepped aside.

"I'm not coming with you," I stated plainly, continuing to stay in the corner.

"I am aware," Megatron stated. "That is why I brought back-up." Megatron swiftly stepped aside to reveal—Orion? I hadn't noticed him behind the towering Megatron.

Orion worriedly raced over to me, and I gladly embraced him. "Orion, who are these people? And why didn't—" I suddenly pushed him away. "You're a traitor!" I hissed, and Orion sighed in defeat and gazed to the ground.

"Ariel, I'm sorry that this happened. I just couldn't stop it! I never meant for my brother to—"

"Wait—your brother? You mean to tell me that Megatron is your brother?"

"Yes, he is, and I tried to tell him that he shouldn't do this, that there was a better path!"

"Why did you go along with it, then?"

"At first, it was about discussing matters with the High Council about the caste system, which we both appose. My brother and I grew up poor, and it was all because my parents couldn't afford for us. We weren't allowed to visit the fun places that your caste has access to, like Six Lasers over Cybertron, and—"

"Wait a second—you couldn't even go there?" I was stunned that I didn't know how divided the castes really were! I mean, I knew that there were some that were below us, but I never knew that they were so below us that they couldn't even go to amusement parks!

"I-I'm sorry. I should have told you the truth. I just didn't want to scare you—"

"I understand, and it's for the best," I reassured Orion.

"You didn't let me finish." Orion took a deep breath before saying, "Ariel, I really liked you from the moment I met you, and I was just afraid of, well—"

"Scaring me away?" I asked, causing Orion to smile.

"Yes," he replied, picking up my servo and helping me up. He pulled me closer to him and whispered into my audio receptor, "We need to get out of here. My brother will make us both do something rash if we do not escape."

"What about the others?" I whispered back.

"All of the others except for your sisters and another student joined up with my brother. We will find the other student and Chromia, and we will leave."

I turned back towards an impatient Megatron and whispered, when Megatron's back was turned to us, "How do we get past him?"

"We're going to go with him and demand that the others come with us, and then we will escape once we know what my brother is after."

"Wait—you don't even know what he wants?"

"No. All that I know is that it is something that holds great power, something about wisdom beyond imaginable."

My optics widened. "Like the Matrix of Leadership! But only a Prime can access it."

"He intends to steal it, and with guards no longer placed all over Cybertron, he can easily search wherever he wants for it. That is why we need to find it."

"I understand," I replied. Standing up straight, I cleared my throat, causing Megatron to whip around and face us expectantly.

"Megatron, I will go with you, but only if everyone in this cell, Chromia, and—" I whispered the last part to Orion, "What's the name of the other student."

He cleared his throat before whispering, "Firestar."

"Firestar! Yes," I commanded. Megatron silently debated with himself for a while, but he finally agreed.

"I will allow them all to accompany you," he replied. "Are those your only conditions?" Megatron asked, holding back a smirk that was just dying to form.

It was a very strange question, but I reluctantly replied, "Yes?" I turned towards Orion, who simply shrugged his shoulders.

As Megatron turned to leave, the others excitedly joined us, and we followed close behind, Vehicon troopers surrounding us as we walked.

After a brisk walk down to the end of that hallway, Megatron opened two, large doors and gestured grandly into a large, round room, Decepticons of all sorts standing all around the room with their helms held high.

Megatron whispered something to a blue-and-yellow seeker that I recognized as one of the students. He barely glanced at us as he left the room, more than likely retrieving Chromia and Firestar.

We passed a purple, faceless mech that I recognized as Soundwave. Sentinel must have recognized him from the day he tried to take down Orion, since he foolishly broke away from us and approached him.

"Hey, I remember you! From that one day—right?" Sentinel asked foolishly. The mech continued staring on. "Hey, do you think you could at least get me and Ariel out of here? Since we're kind of friends…since we met—once."

The purple mech lifted one, slender servo and pointed towards us. I happened to be standing the closest to them.

"Yes, I know that that's Ariel! Now, can you get us out of this?" Sentinel whined, stomping his pede on the ground and folding his servos.

The mech continued pointing, and it was then that I realized that Soundwave was pointing to an amused Megatron. Sentinel realized it too, and he made the dumbest shocked face that I had ever seen when he realized that all of the Decepticons, including Megatron, were staring at him.

"It would be wise for you to join your group," Megatron stated, and Sentinel hung his helm in embarrassment and shuffled over, coming to a halt beside me. I scooted over a few steps and turned my helm back up to Megatron, who had looked like he was about to address us before.

"Now, as you can see, a fellow group of friends, including my brother, thought that they could rescue their students, without any weapons or means to call for back-up. Either way, this is a benefit to the Decepticon cause, since I need both Ariel and Orion to retrieve something for me."

"No way!" I declared, and Orion nodded his helm in agreement.

Megatron's grin sliced even wider as the yellow-and-blue seeker from before returned, with both Chromia and a bright, red femme that I guessed was Firestar—in chains?

Before Megatron could continue, I interrupted, "Excuse me, but if you did not bind the rest of us, then does it seem fit to bound my sister and Firestar is they are in the same position as us?"

Megatron's neutral expression turned into a smirk. "Now, now, Ariel, your conditions were that the other two join you while you were with me. I believe that your conditions have been met."

Orion and I shared a wary gaze. What could he be up to?

Megatron continued his speech: "Seeing as the High Council has failed to listen to our demands for a caste-free society, I believe that we need to make an example of how serious we are regarding the castes. That is why we have two 'randomly selected' participants who will sacrifice themselves for the Decepticon cause. Dreadwing, if you please." Megatron gestured towards the seeker holding my sister and Firestar.

"No!" I declared, trying to rush towards my sister and the other student, but a trooper grabbed my wrist and pulled me back. "No, stop it!" I declared, lunging myself away from the seeker.

I gasped as Dreadwing handed them to Starscream and Soundwave, who lead the two to the very back of the room, where a large bomb was held down. Starscream pinned the two writhing bots onto the explosive, grinning evilly as he did so. I dashed towards the bomb, and I turned back around and saw Orion following me. "Don't try to stop me!" I shouted back at him as the bomb's timer began.

"I'm not going to stop you! I am going to help you!" he declared, shoving troopers away from him as he made his way next to me.

The Decepticons and Moonracer, Bumblebee, Sentinel, and Arcee all fled the room as the bomb's timer ticked down to one minute, but we kept on going. We made it to the bomb, and I tried desperately at the bonds, but they were too tough to break easily! As I continued tugging, I managed to get Firestar free, and she fled with the others.

The timer was down to only 30 seconds, and the bonds just would not break! "Orion!" I shouted as I gave up on tugging. He tried to free Chromia as well, but to no success.

"Get out of here, both of you!" my sister screeched as the timer ticked down even more.

"Not without you!" I shouted back as Orion and I tried again to break the bonds.

The timer was down to 10…9…8 seconds, but I was not giving up! Before we could continue again, a sudden blast of air made us both jump. Starscream grabbed Orion and me and transformed, pinning us down to his back as he zoomed away.

"No! We're not leaving my sister!" I shouted back, but Starscream continued flying away.

The automated voice on the bomb declared, "3…2…1. Get clear of the area."

I turned back and choked in a sob as a fiery explosion filled the night sky. "No! Chromia!" I sobbed as ashes rained from the sky and Kaon was reduced to rubble.

I buried my helm in Starscream's armor and fought back desperately, tears escaping my optics. "Oh, no you don't!" Starscream exclaimed as he took off even faster. My agony was too great that I stopped fighting and closed my optics as Starscream transformed and landed with both of us.

Arcee, Sentinel, Bumblebee, Moonracer, Firestar, and all of the Decepticons were patiently waiting.

Arcee warily approached me. "Chromia?" my younger sister asked softly. There was a pause, and I shook my helm. Arcee cried out and lunged herself at me, and I hugged my sister tight as we both sank to the ground, despite everyone staring at us.

When I regained the strength to sit up, Firestar slowly approached me. She had kind, blue optics and red-and-orange armor. "It should have been me," she whispered softly, giving me a small hug.

"Chromia would have made me get you free first, either way," I whispered back, and Firestar gave me a guilty look before trudging off.

Orion came up next to me and gave my shoulder a small squeeze. I tried not to look up, tried not to let Orion see my tears, but I did anyway. I threw myself into him and buried my helm within his armor, sobbing hysterically as he held me close.

"Well, isn't this a nice pity party," Starscream taunted, and Arcee and Firestar both shot him the same death-glare.

The silence stretched on, and I drowned out everything else. Carefully twisting my helm up to meet Orion's optics, I whispered, "I will not let that monster tear any more families apart. Whatever it is he's after, we need to get to it first."

Orion nodded his helm back at me, and I turned my helm with it still leaning against Orion's chest and gazed back at the rising smoke in the distance, carrying ashes up into the air and distributing them all over Cybertron.

Some of those ashes were Chromia's.

~Ariel

I am sorry about the sadness of this chapter, but every good story has to have a life-changing moment, right? Please comment about what you thought about this chapter!

Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it!

Signing off, theautobotprincess.