A/N: icecreamsundaes2011 here, back with the finale to "A Brand New World"! A Megatron sized thanks to Answerthecall and Blazestar of Shadowclan for their continued support of this FanFic, also a thanks to everyone else who reviewed, your comments have helped me improve my writing style. Enjoy this last chapter, it's my longest yet!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the younglings and sparklings!
On the Artemis...
Ratchet finally let me go from the medbay, now alternatively known as the pits of Unicron. He had scanned, poked and prodded me and the other two younglings for cycles before he deemed us fully functional and well. Of course, Wisp had to stay longer than us because she caught a minor virus from the Nemesis's unsanitary brig. But he let us younglings off with a" I'm warning you three, do not do anything too tiring over the next few days, or you'll all face the wrath of my wrenches!"
Flarelight sweat dropped at the violent statement, he'll never get used to that. But, he smiled while walking towards the exit, that just proves they really are back home. Now, to report to his sire...
Optimus Prime and Ironhide had been pacing the halls near the medbay so much over the last few cycles that the floor was caving in where they've walked over it hundreds of times. Prowl had been forced to leave earlier to address an emergency elsewhere, but not before the tactician made Ratchet responsible for Wisp until he got back.
As soon as Flarelight emerged from the doors, he ran towards Optimus and they shared a tight embrace. Then the two red and blue mechs walked towards the Prime's office for some long awaited reconciling.
Ironhide glared at the door intensely with a scowl, as if it was the reason that his youngling isn't out yet. If looks can burn, then the door would be a puddle of molten metal by now. Then, he felt a light tap on his shoulder. As he turned around to yell at the slagger who obviously didn't hear that he was not accepting missions right now, his lips were enveloped by another's warm and familiar ones. When he stepped back in shock, he noticed the various shades of blue plating the femme had. Wait. Blue plated femmes? He was sure he'd met someone like that somewhere, but the only 'bot he can remember is-
"Chromia! Why are ya here and not on Cybertron with the others?" then he realized he sounded ungrateful of his sparkmate's presence and quickly added "Of course, you're always welcome onboard. It's not like ya don't belong here. Ah have no idea you were coming so ah didn't even prepare properly, when did ya come, do ya need-
Chromia quickly shushed her bonded with a slim servo on his mouth. Geez, he was still so awkward sometimes, but that was part of what made him so attractive. She thought as she smiled "You commed me a few vorns ago about becoming a caretaker to a sparkling and since Shockwave and the other 'cons have been so quiet, Arcee gave me permission to visit and I got a ride courtesy of Skyfire. He was dropping some supplies off at base and was heading in your general direction anyway." the femme explained as she peeked around Ironhide's shoulder "Does your charge have a red paintjob?"
"Yeah, how'd ya know?" questioned the weapons specialist "Have ya been spying on me?"
"No silly, he's right behind you!" the femme squealed as she got a good look at the youngling "And he's so cute too!"
Tridisc was still a bit sore after Ratchet fixed the few dents and scratches he got from being squished into that narrow cockpit. But overall, the mechling felt better now that he was back with his sire. So you can imagine how surprised Tridisc was to find a strange femme squeezing him to death.
"Chromia, for Primus's sake, you're squeezing that mechling too hard, we just got him back from the Decepticons!" yelled Ironhide as he tried to pry his sparkmate's servos from Tridisc, who began to turn purple.
The air went cold as Chromia processed what he just said then with a vengeance even Unicron could not hope to ever match, she screamed into the high heavens at her bonded, who winced and held his hands protectively over his audios "YOU LET THE CONS GET A HOLD ON HIM?! WHAT KIND OF SIRE ARE YOU?!"
Chromia suddenly went quiet, as a punishment severe enough to serve as to making Ironhide pay for his mistake ran through her mind. Then with some method the Authoress did not have words to describe, the femme managed to statis cuff Ironhide and drag him while still tightly holding on to a now blue Tridisc. No 'bot on the ship dared to stop her, since they knew how crazy and strong femmes could be when they want to. Ironhide cursed and swore that he'd get his revenge on those mechs another cycle, but he had to survive whatever torture Chromia had planned for him first.
Later...
"Did da 'cons treat you badly, Tridisc?" rumbled Ironhide as he rubbed at the spot that Chromia had hit him repeatedly in.
"Not really." curtly answered the mechling as he looked down at his servos.
"C'mon, ya know ya tell me anything, ah ain't your sire for nothing." coaxed Ironhide as he stretched and winced as a particularly painful spot was cracked.
Tridisc's optics widened as he digested this new information "Really? Then you know how you can't find that bruise cream? I accidentally dropped it a decacycle ago off the balcony. Phew. Now I don't feel so guilty anymore." sighed Tridisc as he smiled and looked at his sire.
Ironhide's optic ledges twitched.
That was the only warning Tridisc got before his sire blew up. In the yelling kind of way, although the youngling's audio probably wouldn't have overloaded if Ironhide exploded into itty-bitty pieces. But in the end, both sire and creator were in the medbay for the second time that cycle and had dents in their helms that looked suspiciously like wrenches for "idiotic behavior". Chromia joined them shortly and scolded Ironhide but soon all three were laughing as the merry noise was heard throughout the Artemis.
In the Prime's office...
"Dad? There's something I need to tell you." nervously said Flarelight as he stared at his pedes.
"Yes? What is it?" Optimus asked as he pulled over two chairs and seated the mechling in one. "You can tell me anything, you know that, right?"
"Yeah... I snuck out with Tridisc that day the 'cons took us. It wasn't Tridisc's fault, he was only trying to stop me." blurted out the guilty youngling.
Optimus stared at the mechling in shock. Then it all clicked together, a Decepticon must have seen the two and reported it to Megatron, who deployed Starscream and his trine to seize the four.
"I'm very disappointed in you, Flarelight, you know better that to disobey you elders. We have good reasons to prevent you from doing something. I thought I taught you better than that." the youngling slouched in his seat as his optics teared up. Then Flarelight looked at Optimus with anger and despair written all over his faceplates.
"How do I know what you've taught me when we barely even see each other?!" screeched the youngling as he jabbed a servo in the Prime's direction "You avoid me all day for meetings and never keep any of your promises! Admit it, you don't want me anymore, even that grey 'con said so!"
Then Flarelight began to wail unintelligible words as the lubricant falling from his optics stained his faceplates and floor with their blue coloring. Optimus quickly scooped the youngling in his large arms and whispered comforting words to him, just like a human would to a crying infant. Finally, Flarelight regained some composure as his sobs diminished into hiccups.
"I had no idea you felt that way, Flarelight." rumbled Optimus in his regal baritone, just then, Prowl's faceplate appeared on his monitor.
"Optimus, there is a meeting that requires your attention right now, what should I reply?" efficiently stated the tactician while organizing and signing various datapads.
"Tell then to wait, I'm spending time with Flarelight right now. And if they throw a fit, you can unleash the twins on them." replied the Prime with a straight face.
Prowl noticed the lubricant tear stains on the youngling's faceplates and nodded "Very well. Prowl out."
Flarelight looked at his sire in wonder, this had never happened before. Maybe Optimus would change this time.
"I promise, no, swear by Primus, Unicron and all other gods and deities that I will not spend as much time on my work. Now, you're still grounded for a decacycle for sneaking out." the last statement was punctuated with a groan from the youngling "That will start next cycle, we have some time right now, would you like a game of Circuitball with your friends and me?"
Flarelight widened his optics "Is it really okay for you to not attend that meeting right now? You won't get it trouble?"
"As I said, you're more important than a bunch of mechs who don't know a single thing they're complaining about." replied Optimus while lowering the youngling to the ground.
A huge grin threatened to split Flarelight's faceplates in two as he ran off to get his two friends as fast as his pedes would carry him. He was afraid that if he took too long, he'll wake up to find that this was all a hallucination brought on by overexertion.
Optimus smiled as he saw the youngling's mood improve dramatically. He could never forgive himself for neglecting his creation like that, but he'll try with a his night to correct that mistake. And to make sure it never happens again.
A few joors later, aboard the Nemesis...
Starscream stared at the calm, sleeping faceplates of his trinemates and their younglings. How can he protect those he held dear from the tyrannical Megatron? The warlord was too strong for him to kill, so the only way so far had been to draw his attention and cruelty onto the tri-coloured seeker. But even Starscream can't last long like this. Then once he becomes expendable, he'll be deactivated, and then these were
the mechs who would suffer in his stead. He must prevent that.
"But how?" Starscream angrily muttered as he paced the length of the room, all that noise woke a certain tri-coloured seekerlet.
"Sire? What's wrong?" asked a groggy Starfall as he rubbed away the last bits of sleep from his optics "Aren't you going to go to sleep?"
Starscream patted the seekerlet's helm affectionately, he could not let his creation here walk the same dark path his sire had. Starfall must remain ignorant to those things he he had seen that no mech should have to witness. "Nothing Starfall, go back to recharge."
"Okay, sire. Good lunar cycle." yawned the seekerlet as he sleepily smiled at his creater as he lied on his chest and drifted back into recharge.
Starscream smiled slightly before his optics hardened, there is only one way to protect what little he has left from this war as much as possible.
That solution is to join the Autobots.
Same time, Communications Center...
Soundwave reclined in his seat as he finished the last of his workload for the cycle. Silverwhirl was recharging on the chair beside him. Ravage was acting as a pillow and Buzzsaw a blanket to the tiny sparkling, who made a whining noise as the cat- like saboteur shifted to a more comfortable position.
The Communications Officer found himself remembering his youngling from before the war started, and how the sparkling beside him looked so much like her. He had been wounded deep inside his spark when he saw his only femme creation being offlined before his very optics just because they were poorer than the nobles that wanted to interface with her. She of course, refused and that led to her demise.
He fell into the deep depths of despair, and that's when the telepathy came. He could hear the thoughts of every mech in a mile. It was painful at first, but as he learned how to control whose thoughts he heard, it slowly became as natural as breathing to him. Then Megatron came and told him of his then righteous ideas for the future, and he accepted the offer to be a communications officer to the Decepticon army, if only to wipe those arrogant grins off the faceplates of the higher castes that made his Silverstream die.
He was a broken mech, nothing more than a mere shadow of his former self, the one who was the life of the party.
Who would've thought that mech would later become the silent, stoic TIC of the Decepticons? He had been emotionlessly condemning millions of mechs and femmes to deactivation or worse. Yet when he saw the Youth Sectors being destroyed, his consciousness didn't allow him to just stand there, so he managed to secretly load all the protoforms from the nearest Sector onto a cargo ship installed with basic life support and set them afloat. Just as he was about to return to the Nemesis, a sudden thought ran through his processor.
He can't stay stable in his current mental state forever, and when he snaps, Megatron will mercilessly deactivate him as he does any others who he believes will slow him from his twisted, impossible ideals.
So he needed someone to take his post, since the cracks he received from the trauma of a dead sparkbond then was now a gaping chasm that threatened to override his processor. He needed, craved the opportunities to take his mind off himself and on a different matter so he wouldn't have to see the images playing again and again in his mind or the agony of his spark calling out to another that no longer existed.
In between his duties, he devised a fullproof plan to gain the trust of Megatron, and appear to have accidentally discovered the ship. Also along with notifying the Autobots of the precious cargo so that the two forces battle it out while he transferred most protoforms on to his private ship and grabbed the last ones he saw to please the Warlord. He was even kind enough to leave several for the Autobots before commanding self-destruct on the now useless cargo ship.
The Decepticons had taken the bait, sinker and all. Soundwave was promoted and held in a higher regard by most after that. But the one thing that didn't go according to plan was him being given his own sparkling to take care of. It was the runt, but when he inserted his DNA and saw it morph into a sparkling, he almost reared back in shock due to how much it resembled its deactivated sister. Soundwave could not hold back the affection that welled up immediately in his spark that slowly repaired the hole that was there. But he felt sorrow and pity for this sparkling, for no matter what she did, in his eyes it would always be Silverstream that was there. He could never love her as her own person, only as a memory of her sister.
Maybe one day, when his spark is complete, he'll make it up to Silverwhirl.
But now all he can do is stay frozen as she'll soon tear herself apart upon realizing that he couldn't give the support and love she gives but also needs back.
Well, that folks, was the end of the story. I might make a sequel if I can, but the plot bunnies have to catch me first! Thank you all for reading this and suffering through my rants every single chapter. Have a great day! For the final time on this FanFic, icecreamsundaes, signing off...