To Deny Eternity
Something caught Raptor's attention. Reactivating her networks she scanned the inside of the hangar. Nothing seemed out of place, but there was just something… Almost a human sense of impending danger filled her meta. Carefully, she slid out from under Prime's arm and stood up. Muffling her steps, so as not to wake the red mech, she made her way towards the door and slid out.
The Northern Lights danced above her, their tendrils of color reflected from the icy surface of the ground. Scanning around her with all of her available sensors, Raptor found nothing out of the ordinary. But yet, deep inside, she knew something was just not right. The unsettling sensation that someone was watching.. That danger could possibly be lurking. Instinctively she armed the missiles within her belly bays, her door opening to expose her hidden laser canon. She continued to scan warily around her, just knowing that something wasn't quite right.
"You sense another Soul Flyer, Raptor." The deep, familiar voice of the Transformers' Angel of Death – filled her audios.
A wave of turmoil filled her cores at the sound of that familiar voice. A voice she hadn't heard since he'd thrown her out of the afterlife, informing her she didn't belong.. She couldn't die.. That old emotion of despair threatened to come over her, but she fought it down. Had she not decided long ago to accept her fate? Somehow to find happiness in the brief lives of those around her.. To live and die through them – as she existed in the hell that was eternal life.. Watching those around her die while she simply continued to exist… Unable to escape into the peace of death.. Turning, she saw the great Soul Flyer as he fully entered her dimension. "It has been a long time," she answered as she nodded her respect. She turned off her weapon systems, for she had no reason to fear Death. After all, she couldn't very well die – could she…
His blade of death was still in its sheath, so she knew he had not come to take the spark of her soon-to-be bond mate back to his realm. So why had he come? She cocked her head in curiosity. Giving him an expectant look, she waited for his reasons.
"I come to talk with you, for your fate approaches," he said as he nodded his respect to his fellow immortal.
"What fate?" she asked.
His optics bore into hers. "To follow a different God, and perhaps earn the right to eventually become mortal again," he stated.
This shocked her to her core! Stepping back, she looked at him with her mouth open in total surprise, as the ice crunched under her thrusters. Her crimson optics gleamed against the background of white, the fire of her barely contained anger lighting the crystalline air around her. "But you told me I was trapped; that I could never escape from eternal life!" she said with accusation in her voice. It had been his statement that had forced her into her depression so long ago, forced her into Sideways' arms, almost destroying the Cybertron of this dimension. She stepped towards him, her stance holding the threat of violence.
"By yourself, you cannot;" he agreed. His optics bore into hers as he stood his ground. They were both immortals, it was pointless to use physical threats against each other. But he understood that the femme was still more accustomed to dealing with mortals. She still avoided associating herself with other Soul Flyers, still choosing to masquerade as a mortal. Still somewhat in denial about fully accepting what she was.
She stepped closer, not the least afraid of the Specter of Death. "Then how?" she demanded, her voice having the edge of anger.
"Once you placed within you, gems of carbon and metal of platinum. These changed, merged, and absorbed the very energy of this planet." Nodding upward at the dancing Northern Lights, he made it obvious as to what energy had been absorbed. "Then one of these unique gems became the power behind the Autobots' light – the Matrix." Pointing towards her port knee, he continued; "the others remains within you. Having helped you once defeat the evil long ago."
"Yes, but what does this have to do with my status as a Soul Flyer?" she was both; intrigued and scared to death. She had faced a living death because of her battle against Unicron. Had lain trapped within him, used by him, for millennia.. Until an Autobot had unwittedly freed her… She didn't want to relive that period of her life.. Of her mistakes which had led up to it..
Nodding, he explained, "You and now your Seeker offspring, produce the seeds that Primus needs planted. If you agree to do his bidding, he will consider allowing you to become mortal when you are done; Providing that you are bonded with his chosen Prime at that time."
"I will be mortal…" she murmured, her tone one of wistful disbelief at a dream finally within her grasp.
"But to do this, you must not follow those Seekers that he will take during teleport. You must not try to bring them back from the dimension he has placed them in. If they need assistance, Primus will call you, tell you what must be done. You can do no more – no less. Whenever Primus calls, you must follow without question."
"Why?!" her optics got large. This price he asked for her very mortality; was to watch silently as her sparklings and grandsparklings were taken from her. The very family that had made her somewhat whole again in this eternal hell that was her life; would have to pay the price. Energon tears filled her optics, for she knew that it wasn't really her choice.. They were all pawns of Primus's game. But she had to swear to not follow the lost.. To not bring them back home. This was her price for mortality.. Her tears.. Her guilt.. Her shame for being what she was. But that great sacrifice was still not enough for the God of Transformers. She must agree to be his mindless tool.. To do his bidding without question… She would have to travel from this dimension that she now called 'home'.. Anxiety filled her core for she was not sure she could find her way back. Her way back to the mech she now loved. The mech that could now be her ticket to mortality.. A dream she had never thought would come to pass.
"Stay away from her!" Prime's voice rang out. He lunged towards them, only knowing that the Spector of Death was facing his future bond mate. He couldn't bear to lose her now.. He had to protect her from death itself.. She was his world now.. He armed his weapon systems, knowing it was futile against Death. But he was desperate to try anything to protect his future bond mate from the Specter.
Calmly, the Golden Spector raised his hand towards the protective mech rushing towards him. He spread his fingers wide. Fifty feet from them, Optimus stopped in his tracks, his amber optics going wide as he felt a force ensnare him. Death closed his hand, and the invisible force around Prime locked his arms tightly to his sides and forced him to his knees as it began to crush him. His knees dug into the ice beneath him as he began to writhe in agony as he was slowly crushed.
Raptor stepped forward, putting her hand over Death's and forcing him to stop crushing Prime. "That's enough, leave him be," she ordered with a dead calmness over her façade. Her optics scanned Death's façade.. She was his equal now.. As damned as he was in eternal life… They understood each other more so than any mech ever could. But unlike Death, she'd never truly given up on the dream of being mortal again. She still felt – hope….
Death's brilliant optics bore into hers, he appeared to consider challenging her – but then suddenly he broke out in a chuckle. He slapped her wing with the very hand he had been crushing Prime with. "You are learning your power as a Soul Flyer my sister – that is good!" he praised her.
As the crushing force lifted off of him, Prime staggered to his feet, sliding a bit on the slick ice beneath him. He looked from Raptor to Death in total shock. "Sister? Raptor – what is this all about?!" he demanded to know.
Before he could try to approach again, she held up her hand to stop him; "I will explain later Optimus, do not interfere right now." She didn't want the mortal hurt.. The mortal that she now loved with all her being...
"You have learned well Soul Flyer," Death complimented. His optics watched as the big mech grudgingly backed off, Optimus's optics filled with suspicious confusion. Then he turned his harsh gaze to Raptor. The femme didn't even flinch as she matched them with her own. She had finally come to terms with her immortality it seemed, but she was still desperate to be mortal. To finally have the ability to die again.. "But have you finally accepted what you truly are now? Prove it to me. Show Prime what you've been hiding, But this time – call to Primus," he challenged the femme.
Raptor studied him, her lip quivered as she realized that she was exposed for the atrocity she was. Everything that she had ever wanted to protect her family from – was now out in the open. There was nothing left to hide; if Prime left her for her lies then she'd accept it as the price she paid for being what she was. Falling deep within herself, she found that small part of her that was still human. Focusing on it – she called. But instead of calling to her human God, she called to Primus.
A shock of power unlike anything she'd ever felt before - blew threw her. Almost knocking her to her own knees! But still she concentrated, blocking out the outside world as she let the rapture take her. The energy-filled gems embedded within the very matrix of her skin began to respond. Tendrils of the multicolored energy flowed over her air frame, creating a being of almost pure plasma energy. Raptor could feel the very pulse of the Earth; she became an extension of it... One with it… A living, functioning tendril of its mighty power… She felt as one with the gyrating energy balance of the great magnetic field…
Then slowly, gently, she allowed the energy to flow back within her, as she calmed both her meta and the crystals. But the call to Primus had changed her, and as her fuselage solidified from the plasma energy, the change fixated. For now she stood, fully one of Primus's chosen Guardians. Her dull fuselage now one of the deepest of blacks, the leading edges of her wings now a brilliant gold. The dual insignias on her wings now separate – one wing showing Autobot, the other showed Decepticon. Even her optics had changed. They swirled in a strange liquid crystal pattern, the very tendrils of the Borealis flowing through them.
Death smiled as he enjoyed the mortal's look of sheer wonder at the power of Primus.
"The first femme Guardian is surely an impressive one, is she not?" he asked him as he cocked his own head while he studied the change Primus had wrought within his immortal 'sister'.
"What is he talking about, Raptor? What are you?" Prime demanded to know. His amber optics gleamed in both wonder and confusion. The Seeker he'd grown to love so deeply; was not what he'd thought she was. She was something so beyond his experience; and he didn't know if he should feel fear or amazement.
Again, Raptor signaled him to have patience. Turning to Death she lifted her chin in pride. "He asked that I do his bidding, that I become his tool. I've already unwittedly been used by him once. Is this a similar mission?" she demanded to know.
Death chuckled, "Yes, you catch on quickly Guardian. This bodes well for your future."
"You said I will lose some of my descendants to his bidding. Yet, I'll also be called on to protect those same Seekers when needed? Do I do this alone?" she asked.
"No, the Covenant will choose those whom will accompany you on each mission that Primus sends you on."
Raptor studied him, "But they are mortal, they can die." She didn't want to have to lead her family members to their deaths. It was too much to ask for – for the mere chance of becoming mortal again.
"True, but without them, you will be unsuccessful. I will keep my blade sheathed, for you know how to bring them back if necessary," he promised.
She sensed Optimus shifting uncomfortably, for he most definitely knew exactly what that entailed. "So who has been chosen?"
"Hotshot and Wheeljack, along with the three minicon teams, and the Earth Seekers that the Covenant will choose to transplant into the new dimension, to 'seed' that dimension with his Guardians," Death answered.
"I will volunteer, let them stay here!" Optimus argued. His innate need to protect his men and his sparklings, forced him to volunteer in their stead. Even though he didn't fully understand what these missions would entail. If Raptor was to go, he would stand at her side; just as she had given him her oath to stand at his. But if Death himself was withholding his blade, then these missions were far more important than any that Prime had ever been part of before.
Death looked at him, his brilliant optics giving the mortal a weak feeling in his core. "There is no volunteering. Primus needs the matrix here," he flatly stated.
Optimus boldly approached the two immortals; he couldn't bear for Raptor to go without him. They'd sworn to fight at each other's side hadn't they? "I will give the matrix to another while we are gone, it will not leave," he promised.
The brilliant Specter studied the mortal, his strong gaze causing butterflies of anxiety flow through Prime. But what the mortal had offered as a compromise would be satisfactory to Primus. And having Raptor and Prime power link and thus even more invincible, would help to ensure success. "That would be satisfactory to Primus, as long as you further develop your power linking capabilities with each other," he stated.
She felt relief flow through her. She'd have her future bond mate at her side. His strength and conviction would shore up her insecurities. "So when?" Raptor asked.
"Since you can travel both dimensions and time, there is no rush. Enjoy your time here, and come when you are ready." With that, Death was gone.
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