Chapter 21

Primus, it's...so small...

At first, all she could do was stare at it. The little dragon that Gears had been working on, made out of her own old armor, stared back. It was waiting for her to accept the bond, even pushing for it, like it already believed Demona was her creator.

After she overcame the first shock, Demona scanned her optics over the sparkling, and felt her spark sadden.

It was falling apart, because it wasn't built right, there was no engine or energon-lines or joints...It's just supposed to be a statue...it's not...

As if it could understand, the sparkling edged closer before it collapsed into a heap of more painful shrieking, trembling violently as it's spark tried to control an unresponsive body. Demona knelt, drawing back her claw blades so she could touch without causing harm. She scooped the little one up in her hands, very gently, and lifted it closer so she could see better, taking in the amount of damage.

Distantly, Demona felt Prime's sudden awareness, felt him nearly swerve right off the road he was currently traveling on. There was shock and a ghost of joy. He could sense the sparkling, like every other in their faction. The joy gave way to fear, and he opened himself to her unintentionally, so she could hear the thoughts rushing through his processor, '...Sparkling, Where? Where is it? Find it before...'

The optics dimmed and she felt another desperate yank on her spark, which told her to reach back, to take the creation as her own. Offlining...it'll offline if you don't give it a spark to hold on to...

Demona passed a finger lightly over the heaving sides, the shining plates of armor that used to be her own. My armor...

You're going to let it die? The dark voice whispered through her head, you finally find a new life in this war, and you're going to let it fade?

Demona shuttered her optics and vented sharply. Could she give the sparkling what it needed? Could she be a decent 'mother'? Look how Megatron turned out...I'm his creation, would I really be any different?

The smallest claws she'd ever seen wrapped around one of her fingers, and she opened her optics to look down at the subject of her conflict. Bright, beautiful red optics stared back, lost between a desperate plea and an already rapidly developing adoration. Whether or not I accept, I've already been chosen...believes that I'm the one...

So when the sparkling reached out again, persistent, she pulled back.

The new bond almost hurt it was so intense, on a completely new level compared to the other two she'd experienced. Immediately, she was flooded by foreign senses of great, spark-wrenching pain and fear. But they were overcome with a great, innocent love that was outshining everything. A silent 'I found you' reached her, and when the little one leaned into the bond and towards her spark, Demona let her, giving her the strength she needed, even if it was the weirdest fragging feeling.

The sparkling seemed to relax, uncurling and onlining her optics again. She kept her tiny claws wrapped around Demona's finger, eyeballing it almost curiously before she arched her long, pretty neck and tilted her head back to stare up at Demona. There was brief look of relief before her entire body convulsed.

Without thinking, Demona transformed her free hand into a set of medic's tools and settled in the wreckage to save her new sparkling's body.

The entire time she worked, between spouts of sharp pains, the sparkling tried her best to let Demona know just how much she loved her already, fearlessly wrapping herself around her spark and holding on. She was constantly pulling for more strength, but only a little at a time. There were moments when the sparkling almost sung in her new found peace, and there were others where she would prod back at Demona's feelings and thoughts, like she was checking to make sure she was okay.

The little femme's emotions were so slagging strong...it was all so overwhelming...but it was...right.

Demona shut her thoughts down as she slowly took the sparkling apart piece by piece, but never in a rushed or frightening way. Every time she took some useless chunk of scrap out, she replaced it with working cybertronian technology.

Soon the sparkling femme had full use of her tail and had it wrapped around Demona's thumb, delighted in the sudden new control she was experiencing. Her wide red optics stayed trained on Demona's moving hand, captivated.

It wasn't until the first rays of daylight shot through the darkness that Demona slowed. The sparkling was recharging now, still wrapped around her fingers almost possessively. She watched the resting femme, and felt her expression soften as the sparkling's dreams flitted through her mind through the bond. She was dreaming of her 'mother', who she had waited so long to find...and she was dreaming of flying beside her, singing in the morning light.

The familiar baritone of Prime's voice reached her, 'Demona...what has happened?'

'The body wasn't built right,' Demona told him softly, letting him inside so he could see the resting sparkling through her optics, 'the sparkling was offlining, but was insistent on having me as a creator...'

'...you made the bond.'

'Yes,' she clarified, 'I did, and the little one lives.'

She smiled softly when he squeezed her spark almost lovingly, 'What is it?'

'A femme,' she put away her tools and cupped her other hand over the sparkling, her sparkling, to keep the sunlight from rousing her again, 'a red femme.'

'And your designation,' Demona whispered through her new bond with the small wonder in her hands, 'will be Sundance.'

The living dragon gave a little squeak, curling up against her palm, flexing her new toes happily, testing her new body even in her dreams.

OKAY, NEVER MIND with the problem...stayed up late and cleared it up...and look! I got another update in! Just for you guys! *hugs*

:3 OMG you have no idea how long I've waited to put this little miracle in the story! She's been a key part since the very beginning, in fact, picking out her name and how she would come into being was why the story started kind of slow, because I was so focused on it...And Demonas a momma! 8D WOW a sparkling is going to make kicking decepticon-aft difficult...But Dem can handle it. ^^ Wonder what the G-Ma has got to say about that? :D I'm so happy I finally got to write this chapter!

Also, real quick, if you read The Guardian, then you know that Demona was the one to put the all spark in Megatron's spark, so thats how a shard of it got caught up in her claws. By some miracle, it came loose and fell in the course of battle, right on top of Gears' sculpture. All spark sliver + pretty red dragon sculpture= Sundance! :D

...Sundance totally won her over when she grabbed her finger in her itty-bitty claws. I mean, COME ON...

Demona and her family belongs to me, along with the story. Transformers does not. ^^