Dawn came too quickly. I dragged myself to my pedes and headed to my first class. My range was still too large—it hadn't had time to shrink yet—and so school was terrible. I could hear the classes in the rooms around me, and even a few mecha on the floors above and below. By the time we got to Yoketron's class, my processor ache was just as bad as it had been the off-cycle before.

Yoketron, fortunately, just told Searchlight and I to practice on the side of the room and went to teach the other students something he'd taught us decaorns ago. Neither of us particularly felt like fighting. Ratchet had been able to fix Searchlight's elbow, but it still ached a little, and I was almost recharging on my pedes—or would have been if my helm didn't hurt so much.

So we stood off to the side of the room and pretended to spar every time Yoketron looked our way. It didn't fool him for long, though he decided not to say anything until we met with him privately after classes. Maybe we could ask to take this orn off too. I wanted to bring Ravage to Lakes as soon as possible.

After our classes were over, we met in Yoketron's classroom.

He was waiting for us.

"Good orn," Searchlight said. We need to find a way to talk ourselves out of this. I doubt we'll be able to pretend—he'll know something's not right.

"Good orn," Yoketron said. They've been up to something. They've been sloppy and unfocused for orns. "Were you ever able to find your cat?"

"Yeah," Searchlight said. "We did, actually."

Hmm… "That sounds like an interesting story."

"Not really," Searchlight said. "We just found him in an alley, kind of beat up. He'll be all right, though, we think. We're going to get him looked at by a medic." Searchlight was a little uncomfortable lying, especially lying to Yoketron, whose blue-white optics sometimes seemed to be staring right through him.

I don't know that I believe him. Yoketron thought. That's unfortunate. What have they been up to? "Well, I am glad to hear that. Let us begin."

"Actually," Searchlight said. "Uh, Master Yoketron, can we just meditate this orn?"

Yoketron stared at him, completely shocked.

"I know, I know," Searchlight said. "I hate meditating. But I… uh… kind of busted my elbow joint last orn and Soundwave's been super stressed about his missing cat so I don't think he's been getting enough recharge, and I just don't know if sparring's a good idea for either of us right now."

Yoketron studied him for a moment. I believe him about the elbow and the recharge. They were just pretending during class and Soundwave has not been doing very well these past few orns. I hope whatever they've been doing that it's not going to jeopardize their ability to learn from me. "Whatever you two aren't telling me…"

Oh scrap, he doesn't believe us, Searchlight thought.

"…is it over?"

Searchlight looked down. We got Ravage. But there's still that mech who kidnapped him. Didn't we decide we were going to find a way to stop him? He glanced at me.

He's going to lie again, Yoketron thought.

"It's…over." Searchlight said.

"I believe you are a naturally honest mech," Yoketron said. "Falsehoods do not become you."

"It's mostly over," Searchlight amended. We got Ravage back and he's going to be ok. Only one loose end to deal with. "But the part where we have a hard time sparring is over."

"And the part where you skip school?"

"That's over too."

"So you admit that you skipped school two orns ago."

"Yes," Searchlight said. "I'm sorry. The whole thing was my fault." I should have watched Ravage more closely…

"And does this really have anything to do with a symbiot?"

"Yes," Searchlight said. "That was the truth. It's just… a little complicated."

I could press harder and get the full story out of him. I should.

"We were really looking for the cat that orn we skipped school. I promise that's the truth."

Yoketron wasn't satisfied. He believed Searchlight, at least. "Very well. I'd like to meet this symbiot sometime. It must mean quite a lot to you."

I nodded.

"And I insist that whatever part of this you're keeping to yourselves, it must be over. If you skip school again for any purpose that you are unwilling to explain to me in full detail, then I will stop teaching you. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Searchlight said.

"You may spend this time meditating, if that's really what you want to do."

Searchlight nodded.

We meditated. Or rather, Searchlight did. I did too, for about a breem, but then I slipped into recharge and didn't wake until the end of the joor, when Yoketron dismissed us.

I was fortunate. Only Lakes and Goldsky were there when I carried Ravage in, so I only had to listen to the two of them reacting to my symbiot's condition.

"Primus beneath," Lakes said. "Put him up here on the table. What happened?"

"He-e disappe-eared and we found him li-ike this," I said. It was the story we had all agreed on.

I'm not supposed to repair other symbiots using supplies from the shelter... I can't turn him away though. This is really terrible. Whatever did this must have been dangerous. What the pit do they have roaming Kalis's streets that something like this could happen… "Well, I think I can fix him. Don't tell anyone—I'm not technically allowed to repair symbiots that don't belong in the shelter… of course..." he scanned Ravage again. "I might need to keep him over the off-cycle anyway, to get all these repairs done." Hmmm… someone did a good job tying off all his energon lines and making sure his vital systems are all working well enough to keep him online… "Did someone work on him already?"

I nodded. "Ratchet."

"The other student? Soundwave, you shouldn't take a risk like that… I guess you probably didn't have a choice." I thought it must have been another medic… but now I see he didn't do anything you'd need special tools for… this is very good work. "Is Ratchet a medicine emphasis?"

I nodded.

"Well, tell him he's going into the right field. He's definitely got the gift." He certainly saved this symbiot's life. "I'm going to set up in another room," Lakes said. "Can you keep an optic on things in here until Keepsake and Cam show up?" They're supposed to be back pretty soon. He picked Ravage up and carried him out of the room.

I wandered over to where Laserbeak was. She had been excited to see me at first but was now sulking because she'd realized she wasn't the reason I was here.

"Hi," I said.

She glared at me. You had that cat the first time I met you, she thought. I don't like it.

She didn't like anyone.

Can I come out?

"I have to-o go soon," I said.

When are you going to take me with you?

When she was well-behaved enough to live with Keepsake and Cam. They'd already offered to take her in for me, but it wasn't time yet.

I stuck my fingers in the cage. "I can't let y-you out right no-ow. And I can't ta-ake you with me yet. Be-e patient."

I don't want to be patient.

Lakes came back in to get tools from his work bench, then left again. A large part of me wanted to follow him. It had been so hard to leave Ravage in my room all orn. I'd stopped in once or twice in between classes to check on him. The idea of leaving him here all off-cycle… but I had to because they probably wouldn't let me stay here. I knew he'd be all right, but… I wouldn't.

Keepsake and Cam showed up twenty breems later. Keepsake rushed over and embraced me. "I heard what happened to Ravage," she said. "I'm so sorry, and I'm so glad he's going to be all right."

I felt still-raw emotions rise up inside of me, and shoved them down. Not now.

Searchlight said he was barely online when they found him… at least they found him. Soundwave and that cat are inseparable. She released me and held me out at arms length. He said he was worried about Soundwave too. "How are you holding up?"

I shrugged. Better now that the crisis was mostly over.

Poor mech. "Well, everything will be all right now. Are you hungry? Tired? You're welcome to stop by our apartment on the way to the transit station for some energon if you want. You know the door code, right?"

I nodded.

She hugged me again. "You can tell me if you're not ok, you know." He must have been so worried when Ravage went missing…

She had no idea.

Her embrace was comforting, though, and so I stood there until she let me go again. "Thank you," I said, I lingered a while longer, but I didn't actually want to go in and watch Lakes take my cat apart and put him back together, so I left. I went straight to the transit station without dropping by Keepsake and Cam's apartment, and on the way back to school I slipped into recharge again and almost missed my stop.

Even though I was still exhausted, I didn't recharge very well that off-cycle. I kept waking up, panicking because Ravage was gone again.

School seemed to last for eternity the next orn and I left as soon as it was over. I only had enough credit for one more round trip on the mass transit, so until I got some more somehow, I'd have a hard time visiting Laserbeak. Logic dictated I should wait until the next orn off of school, but that was still five orns away.

Keepsake and Cam were there. Lakes wasn't, which was too bad because I'd wanted to talk to him.

Ravage was awake, sitting in a cage, feeling wary and still very sore.

"Oh, Soundwave," Keepsake said. "We thought you might turn up. Lakes was finished, so he let Ravage come back online. He's over there. Be careful, though. I think he's a bit traumatized, and he's been… very aggressive since waking up."

From the memories she'd just recalled, he had attacked Cam and Lakes, and they'd had to force him into the cage, which had only been possible because Ravage had still been halfway in stasis.

"He was asking for you earlier, though," Keepsake said.

Ravage sat, alert, watching me.

I went to kneel by his cage and he flinched back, momentarily frightened. I stared at him, feeling awful, listening to his fear and feeling the lingering pain from his injuries.

"Ravage," I said quietly.

"Soundwave… I heard you… you were there…"

"He said that before too," Keepsake said. "We aren't sure what it means. He hasn't said much else." Just hisses at us when we get too close, poor thing. I'm glad Soundwave showed up. I wouldn't want to leave Ravage here all off-cycle.

They should have waited until I was here to wake him up.

That thing… It was going to kill me… I passed out… I woke up here… I didn't know where you were. They shoved me in a cage and made me fight other symbiots with mecha watching, shouting…

He retreated back farther into the cage, panicking.

"It's o-ok," I said. "I-I-It's over."

I reached my fingers through the bars and after a moment of hesitation, Ravage came up and rubbed his helm against them. I was going to try to escape, but I couldn't. There was never a good opportunity.

I needed to talk to him alone. "Wa-ant to go home?"

Yes. Get me out of here. Please…

Keepsake tensed as I unlatched the cage, but Ravage just sprang out onto my shoulders. His claws scratched my paint and bit into my mesh a little, but though he was nervous, I knew he wasn't going to hurt me like Keepsake was worried he would.

I stood slowly to avoid startling him.

He saw Keepsake and growled softly which worried her. "Ravage, it's ok," she said. I should warn Soundwave to be careful with him for a few orns. Whatever happened, it was really bad for that cat's sanity.

I raised a hand slowly to stroke Ravage's helm. He relaxed a little and settled down on my shoulders.

"You're ok," I said quietly. "Kee-eepsake's not a-a threat."

Keepsake approached cautiously. Ravage glared at her but allowed her to pet him as well, though it made him nervous.

"Take good care of him," Keepsake said. "Make sure he gets plenty of energon—he's going to need extra while the repairs settle in."

I nodded.

"Ok… and be careful with him outside. He's going to be easily startled… I'm not entirely sure you should take him on a transit."

"It's fine," I said. We couldn't very well walk back to Kalis. "Thanks, Keepsake."

She smiled. "Come back when you can. Laserbeak misses you when you're gone, and so do the rest of us, of course." And I miss Searchlight. It's too bad the two of them can't both come. My little mechling's growing up without us. Sometimes I still wonder about sending him away to that school… but it's been good for him.

I left the shelter. As Keepsake had warned, Ravage was jumpy. We went around the corner and I stopped to talk to him.

"Stay o-on my shoulders," I warned him.

I will.

"We-e're go-oing to the transit stati-ion, then back to Ka-alis. Ok?"

He nodded. "Ok."

Ravage obediently stayed on my shoulders, but he hissed and flared his armor whenever anyone got too close. He usually made some mecha nervous, but now he was making everyone nervous. The mech at the station almost didn't want to let us on.

Ravage was exhausted, but he stayed alert and defensive the whole transit ride home. In Kalis he was even more jumpy, and I was relieved when we got back to the school. I took him to my room, where he leaped off of my shoulders onto the desk. The impact jarred through him and he flinched. It would probably be a few orns before he fully integrated the repairs Lakes had done on him. And there were some things you had to let self-repair systems handle.

I sat down at the desk. I wanted to pet him, but he didn't want to be touched right now. He flicked his tail nervously, watching the shadows.

"I'm so-o so-orry," I said quietly.

Do you want to know what happened?

No. Yes. "Only i-if you want to-o tell me."

Memories ran through his processor as he thought about his experiences. He knew he didn't need to say anything. I would understand anyway.

When he was finished, he curled up in the corner where the desk met the walls and watched the room warily. He wasn't even sure what he was afraid of, only that he was scared.

I hoped this wore off quickly. "Ravage?"

He looked at me.

"You kno-ow I won't let a-anythi-ing hurt you. Ne-e-ever aga-ain."

Ravage nodded, but only relaxed a little.

I sat watching him for several breems, then got out some homework. Eventually, Ravage slipped into recharge, calmed by my presence and the familiarity of the room.

I was glad he was finally resting. He wasn't really himself at the moment, but he was back, and we could let this whole thing fade into the past now.

A joor before lights out, Searchlight came into my range. He approached the door and I realized too late that I should probably go open it before….

*ping* The entry request went off. Ravage started out of recharge and I ducked as he leaped over me to land on the floor, tail spike out and armor flared.

I got up. "It's Se-earchlight," I said, and went to open the door. Searchlight came in, but stopped when Ravage growled threateningly at him.

"Hey, Ravage," he said. "Good to have you back." He does not look like he's in a good mood, but he's repaired at least. "'Wave, any chance you're up for practicing this orn?' it's been a while. We need to start that up again.

I shook my helm. Not this orn. This orn, I had to stay with Ravage. I had a lot of homework to catch up on too.

"Ok," Searchlight said. "Let me know if there's anything I can do… oh, wait." He pulled a cube of energon out of subspace. "Here. Thought you might want this since I doubt you've had a chance to go to the energon hall. See you next orn, 'Wave." He handed me the cube of energon and left. We have like four empty cubes between all of us and so we can sneak as much of that stuff as we want out of the energon hall.

I set the cube on the desk. Ravage hesitated, still watching the closed door. But hunger won out and, after a few astroseconds, he hopped up onto the desk. He got through more than half of the cube before he was finished. I took the rest, then went back to my homework as Ravage slipped into recharge again.

Ravage was a little better the next orn. He wasn't happy when I left for class, but by the time I'd come back, it seemed like his emotions had settled somewhat.

He greeted me by jumping onto my shoulders, purring.

"Y-you're really happy to see me-e."

"I feel like I haven't seen you in forever."

I nodded and sat down on my berth. He climbed into my lap and lay there. Since my last upgrade, he almost, almost fit in my lap if he curled up as small as he could.

I wrapped my arms around him. His engine hummed.

"I hope that never happens again," he said.

"I won't let i-it."

Ravage nodded. He believed me.

"Do you wa-ant to go to Se-earchlight's room?"

Ravage considered that. I haven't seen Ratchet or Breeze since coming back. It would be good to see them. "Yes."

Ok. He climbed back onto my shoulders.

"And you still need to tell me how you found me… you were there." He stiffened a little as he relived the fight in his memories. "I heard you. I saw you… how did I get to the shelter from there?"

"Searchlight wi-ill tell the story be-etter," I said as we left my room.

Out in the hallway, Ravage's nervousness came back. He flared his armor and hissed at the students who were unfortunate enough to pass by us going the other direction. That was a bad sign. He was allowed at the school in part because he was so well-behaved. But there was something wild in him now that had awakened—something from his vorns as a street cat—and I was fairly certain that if anyone got too close or threatened him, he would attack without thinking.

He was already feeling better, though—the pain from his injuries was barely more than a memory. Hopefully the emotional damage would fade as well, and he'd go back to normal. Until then, I'd have to be extra careful.

Searchlight and Ratchet were in their room, having a surprisingly civil conversation about whether science or history was more interesting to study. Ratchet thought they were both interesting, but favored science. Searchlight thought history was the lesser of two evils.

They looked up when the door opened and Ravage and I came in.

"Ravage," Ratchet stood, and my cat hissed threateningly at him.

Ratchet froze. Primus… he's still not all right, is he?

I went and sat down at Searchlight's desk, and Ratchet watched my cat carefully, wishing he could get close enough to analyze his repairs. He wanted to make sure everything had been fixed. Ravage relaxed a little, but still felt wary.

"Rav?" Searchlight said. "How are you doing?" Has he talked at all? If he's stopped talking, that's a bad sign.

Ravage deflated a little, looking at Searchlight. "I'm ok. Soundwave said you could tell me what happened…I remember… were you there too?"

"During the fight?"

Ravage tensed, armor bristling again.

"Whoa," Searchlight said. "Calm down, mech. It's over. It's never happening again, ever. You want to hear the story? It was pretty epic. Probably the awesomest thing we've done yet."

Ravage settled down on my shoulders to listen.

"So," Searchlight said. "Breeze and Ratchet and I, we just felt awful when you disappeared. We looked for you until the sun went down and couldn't find you and then the worst part was waiting here for Soundwave to come back for the off-cycle so we could tell him we'd lost you."

Ravage curled his tail around my neck.

"As you can imagine," Searchlight continued, "He insisted that we go looking for you first thing the next orn…"

I remembered the panic of that off-cycle, my inability to recharge, and the desperate, agonizing need to go out into the dark city and find Ravage. The only thing that had kept me in the building that off-cycle was the hopeless improbability of actually finding him.

Searchlight kept talking. He told how we'd snuck out of school, how I refused to rest until I'd discovered what had happened. Somehow he made me sound brave and loyal, when in reality I had only been terrified. Losing Ravage was something from my worst nightmares, something unthinkable, something that would destroy me.

Searchlight told the story. From his perspective, it had been a grand adventure. He described our discovery of the symbiot fights and our infiltration, narrating with broad gestures and dramatic pauses and heavy use of words like "awesome" and "epic."

At some point early on in the re-telling, Breeze came down the hallway, but she just stood outside the door, smiling as she listened to Searchlight's narration. She admired the way he could turn something so real and frightening into a fun, fictional-sounding escapade. She guessed correctly from his tone that he was talking to my cat, trying to comfort him, explaining the story in a way that would make things all right.

Searchlight was talking to Ravage, but the rest of us were listening too, and it was helping us as well. He didn't realize what he was doing, not really. Breeze did, though, and because she did, I did.

Searchlight led us through the events of that off-cycle, all the way to the happy ending, and left us here, in the present.

Breeze sighed, smiling to herself, but then remembered that Searchlight didn't think of her as anything more than a friend. She suddenly didn't feel like joining us anymore.

Ravage cautiously climbed down from my shoulders and went over to sit by Ratchet's chair. "Sorry I hissed at you," he said.

Ratchet…actually smiled at him. "It's ok," he said, and reached out. Ravage nervously stretched up to rub his helm against Ratchet's hand.

Breeze realized that I was probably in here, and could hear her thinking. Oh… hi Soundwave… that's awkward. I guess I should come in.

"Wait!" I said.

Ravage jumped.

The door opened, and Breeze stepped in, nearly stumbling over Ravage.

None of us were fast enough to do anything. Ravage spun and leaped at her in a panicked fury of claws and teeth.

"Breeze!"

"No-o!"

Breeze raised her arms to shield her faceplate, screaming as my cat's claws tore through her mesh. I leaped forward and dragged Ravage off of her. Ravage squirmed free of my grasp and climbed up to my shoulders, growling viciously.

Breeze stumbled back, venting in shallow gasps, and all of us stared as bright blue energon dripped from her arm to the ground.

"Breeze," Searchlight said again, approaching her.

She shuttered her optics, still in shock, though the pain was catching up. I backed farther away, taking Ravage with me. She had two deep gashes on her arm, and one on the corner of her faceplate.

"Oh, scrap," Searchlight said.

Breeze let out a quiet wail.

"Hey, it's ok," Searchlight walked over and put an arm around her. "We'll take you to Ochre."

We can't… Breeze thought. Ravage…

"Come on, you're ok," he steered her out of the room. I'll be back, 'Wave. You stay here.

They left.

"What was that for!" Ratchet glared at us. Ravage put his helm down, feeling helpless and ashamed. He didn't know what had come over him.

I waited for Breeze and Searchlight to go around the corner.

"What the pit was that?" Ratchet said again, "You attacked her!"

Ravage growled, suddenly feeling threatened. He was going to snap again.

We couldn't stay here. I walked toward the door.

Ratchet called after us as we left, but I didn't listen. I carried Ravage all the way to my room, then locked the door and sat on the berth. Ravage leaped off of my shoulders and sat next to me.

Ravage had attacked Breeze.

Ravage had attacked someone.

I couldn't get the image of her faceplate—horrified and leaking from a gash on her chin—out of my processor.

Ravage had hurt her.

"Soundwave?" Ravage said cautiously. "I'm so sorry… I didn't mean to do that… I'm sorry."

I didn't move.

I should have been more careful. I shouldn't have let this happen.

"Don't be mad at me."

I reached out slowly to stroke behind his audios. "It's no-ot your fault," I said.

Searchlight showed up at my door at some point, maybe half a joor later. I let him in, because I knew he wasn't going to leave until he'd talked to me.

"I told you to stay in my room," he said after the door closed behind him. "You ok?"

I nodded. Ravage leaped down and crouched between the two of us, armor flared, uncertain. His instincts were telling him Searchlight was a threat, though he knew he was a friend.

"Breeze?" I asked.

"She's ok," Searchlight said. Ochre's fixing her up, and she'll be fine. "I think we even managed to convince Ochre that Breeze fell down the stairs again, and landed on something sharp, though she seemed pretty suspicious. I'd keep Ravage in here for a couple of decaorns."

I nodded. Already planning on that.

"She might have a scar on her faceplate," Searchlight said. Just a little one, though. It might look kind of cool…

I looked down.

Ravage deflated a little "I'm really sorry," he said.

"I think she'll forgive you," Searchlight sat down on the ground so he was level with my cat. "You're just kind of freaked out right now. That's understandable." She understands… I wish I'd been fast enough to get in between them. It should have been me. We'd be able to tell Keepsake and Cam, because they'd get it. But Breeze is going to have to lie to her creators if we want you to be able to stay here…

"I don't know why…" Ravage said.

"Hey," Searchlight held out a hand cautiously, and Ravage slowly, nervously approached and let Searchlight pet him. "So…" he looked up at me. "If they figure out it was Ravage, they probably won't let him stay here at the school. I don't think they would expel you."

"If Ra-avage leaves, I le-eave," I said.

Searchlight nodded.

"I…" I'd given it a little bit of thought before Searchlight had shown up. "I could stay wi-ith Cre-escent."

She wouldn't be happy about that, and I definitely wasn't happy about it either, but it was better than starting over at another school.

"Hopefully, it won't come to that," Searchlight said. Especially since I don't know how well Ravage would react to seeing Crescent right now.

Yeah, that might not be good.

The next orn brought bad news. Searchlight, Ratchet and Breeze showed up outside my room before classes. I warned Ravage, then went to open the door. I already knew what they were going to tell me.

Breeze was doing better, though her faceplate still hurt. There wasn't much you could do about a faceplate. They filed into my room. Ravage leaped up onto my shoulders, staring at Breeze with a sick, guilty feeling in his core.

"Hey," Breeze said. "I just wanted to stop in and say goodbye."

I nodded.

"What?" Ravage said.

"My creators are pulling me out of the school." She looked down. "Something about how many times I've gotten hurt…" When the bullies pushed me down the stairs, and now this, and they weren't too happy about me getting lost during that field trip last term either…

"I'm sorry," I said.

"This is my fault, isn't it?" Ravage said.

"No, it's ok," Breeze said.

"I'm so sorry I…"

"It's ok, Ravage," Breeze said. "I'll just… talk them into letting me come back." She glanced at Searchlight and Ratchet. "It shouldn't be too hard. I'll be back in a few decaorns, hopefully." Maybe…probably not. But I can't just give up. I need these mechs, I doubt I'll find friends like them anywhere else, and Searchlight... there's only one Searchlight. You know, I wonder what would happen if there were more than one Searchlight. I don't know if the world would be able to contain two. It might spontaneously combust or something.

"Breeze?" Searchlight said.

She looked up, remembering that she was in the middle of a conversation. She sighed. "I'm going to miss all of you… but I'll keep in touch until I can convince them to let me come back. I promise." She met Searchlight's optics, but couldn't hold his gaze for long. "I need to go finish packing."

"Hey," Searchlight said. "We are all still friends, that's not going to change. Just get back here soon, ok? Don't give up until they let you come back."

She smiled at him, and turned to leave.

Searchlight looked down once she was gone. "This is not all right," he said. "I wonder if I could talk to her creators…"

"Don't," I said. From Breeze's thoughts, I'd picked up that she'd told them a little about Searchlight and they already didn't have a very high opinion of him. If he tried to talk them into letting her come back, it would probably make things worse.

"She's never coming back, is she?" Ratchet asked.

Searchlight glared at him. "You're the world's worst pessimist. She will come back."

We all wanted to believe that.