Hello! Sorry it took such a long time for me to update that last chapter. It just never seemed to be worded correctly, and I didn't want the end of the chapter with the Ceremony to be really abrupt after everything that's been leading up to it.
To Kitcat from the sky: I assume the "aww"ing means you thought it was sweet? :) Ohh, ok, sorry, my twitchy brain thought the name 'Samwise' was the word "Siamese," the confusion is my fault. Awww, the feline sounds lovely! ...Ok, I know the 'sparing' refers to sparing annoying people, but... Who is this 'Harold'? Uhh, and why shall you kill him?
To WolfSpiritFlower: Hahaha, I'm, hehe *can't stop laughing*, I'm glad you like it. Pffftahaha, I would greatly enjoy watching someone fish-flop crazily in a dance, haha. Yup, they have, after a muchly long time. Hahahahaha, the way you phrased that action and result is hilarious! I can't stop laughing, haha. Ahhhhh, no. Shard's punishment was to help the Vehicons do mining and to clean the battle-room. It's ok, worry not- I'm not very coherent sometimes.
To MusicalPrime: Yaayy, I'm so very happy you liked it! :) I was hoping the readers would like how I did the little bits of the Ceremony.
To Iceshadow911247: Thank you yet again; Shard and I always appreciate your kind sympathy. *shudders* Yep, school is much worse when there's way too many peeeopllle around. Heh-heh-heh heh, I think that'd be quite funny actually- seeing normal-ish people reacting to crazy people can be really fun! 8) Yeah, de Lousy Bug is full of all sorts a' evil wrongness to be avoided. *gasps* YES! YAHOO! Thank you a million times thank you! I was doing my best to make it moving and beautiful even though I had no idea what a Cybertronian wedding would be like (if there was one instead of the gradual spark-bonding) and I was hoping somebody'd mention if I succeeded, THANK YOU!
To Lydiathetigeropean: Thank you ever so muchly! Ohhhh, I was HORRIFIED when 'Bee died! D8 :`( I couldn't believe they'd do that. But I was so giddy with relief and amazement when he got revived. 8D
To zrexheartz: I'm hoping that that's a 'That Ceremony was sweet and/or nice' sort of "Awwwwww"? Oh wow, you're the 150th reviewer!
Oh goodness I've just realized how much I'm using emoticons. And I used to cringe when FireFlare used 'em. *grimaces* They're just so expressive! Anyway, on to the chapteerrrr!
Unexpected
The day after the Ceremony, Shard had to start on her two new jobs/punishment. Cleaning/ repairing the battle-room, and helping the Vehicons to mine for energon.
Before she did these things, she had to get supplies to use. Shard asked where to find them, and, amazingly, it was Breakdown who actually carried her in his hand to where the supplies were stored.
Shard knew how much the one-eyed 'Con still disliked humans, so she was amazed at how kind he was being to her. It was a thank-you for helping him and Caterwaul, a thank-you which Shard greatly appreciated.
Since all the supplies for both mining and repairing were made for huge Cybertronians, Shard contented herself with broken scraps and collecting some makeshift equipment for herself.
These included a half-smushed cart, which she sawed pieces off of with her blade, (to make it lighter), and a broken-off rod that she could use like a mining pick or crowbar.
She'd work on the repairing/cleaning-the-battle-room stuff later. While waiting for the Vehicons to come to the main-control room to use the groundbridge, Shard glanced up at Soundwave. The girl hesitantly told him, "hi."
After a second, the silent Decepticon nodded once. Shard felt a little hurt, but gave a weak smile, guessing that the quiet 'Con was still unhappy with her. Shard's eyes flicked up towards him for a split-second, then back to the floor.
He was probably right. Besides, if she had told him in the first place, the whole miserable school disaster wouldn't have happened. Now Shard worried that she'd be prevented from keeping her promise to the Autobot-humans, about coming back to explain.
A snap made the girl jump, and she turned to see Soundwave standing slightly closer. The noise had been one of his tentacle-arms' claws snapping closed- to get Shard's attention, she realized. ...No gentle nudge though.
Shard looked up at Soundwave's visor, which showed a video. It was from the point of view of something- Laserbeak!- flying. Near the school! What'd Laserbeak been doing there?
Shard's eyes widened as the video showed a single thin blast come shooting out, cutting through several of the power-lines for the school. That's what had caused the power-outage that ended the school-day early?!
The human had no idea what to say. Had Soundwave meant it as a favor- which Shard thought of it as, freeing her from school? Or was this a warning?
After a moment of searching for a response, her mouth opening and closing stupidly, Shard nodded and went with a quiet, "Thank you for everything. I'm sorry for not telling you."
Soundwave nodded once again, and then Shard had to go work on mining energon.
Meanwhile, almost everything that went on around the ship improved amazingly over the next few days, at least in morale among the troops.
Caterwaul only ripped off small pieces of her opponents' limbs during battle-practice within the next half month, and only twice!
During actual battle, the femme looked more like she was playing or dancing than fighting. And whenever the feline got irritated- which became rarer- she'd simply stare at her claws as if they were her 'happy place,' instead of leaving claw-marks on anything within a 9-foot radius.
Often, while Caterwaul was resting in her room, Shard would hear her randomly start giggling happily to herself about whatever she was thinking of. Occasionally it would be accompanied by laying on her back and wiggling around like an actual cat.
The really weird part was Breakdown. He was perky. Breakdown was never 'perky'! (Insert disturbed face here.) And yet, now, he was!
The blue Decepticon was less stiff with everyone, and almost constantly smiled. He also often spoke with Caterwaul in different languages (which, Shard realized, was why he'd watched videos on YouTube in different languages with her.)
Breakdown focused most of his bizarrely-perky energy into battle, fighting even more zealously to make sure Caterwaul was safe (not that it was necessary), and she did the same for him.
In all honesty, it was scary to see the pair during battle. Not that they were extra vicious or merciless, but extra happy!
Being attacked by a happy, perky, smiling pair of Decepticons can be rather disconcerting.
Caterwaul, who usually was mildly perky by nature (and now overly-perky), actually had to work hard to look serious sometimes! And even then, she had the habit of staring into space with a smile.
Shard, however, had to endure her punishment. Mining energon was exhausting. The Vehicons had those huge drill-machines, and they were big strong Decepticons! Shard was a tiny, weak little human, with a metal stick!
She tried her best, but only managed to clear away a few bits of rock from a relatively small crystal the first day.
Cleaning the battle-room wasn't so bad, except for the fact that it took a huge amount of time and effort to bend any sliver of wall back into place.
Since the walls were metal, and the use of sharp objects was common there, the walls were covered in scrapes and dents and a few blast marks. And since Cybertronian metal is harder than most metals, it was difficult for the small human to bend any of it back into place.
Caterwaul helped out by supplying softened metal to put on the gouged spots. So Shard was using the retched-up metal goo like spackle or silly putty. It burned her hands a little, and she hoped to find thick gloves one day to solve this problem.
Actually, she was given the opportunity to do just that, during her roughly-every-two-weeks day for collecting food. And not a moment too soon- she was starving!
(Watching a beautiful Spark-Bonding Ceremony had been very moving, but remembering the beauty of it did not distract the girl from her hunger for very long. And her scrounged food was all eaten or very bad by now.)
Megatron told Shard that there was a large, empty building near the town, which had been... damaged. He wouldn't say how, but he informed the girl that she should go there to look for food.
Shard asked Soundwave before she left, if it'd be ok for her to revisit the Autobot-kids. The Decepticon replayed Shard's promise to the kids, then pointed at the groundbridge.
Promises were to be kept.
"Thankyouthankyouthankyou," Shard whispered, ducking her head. Then she scuttled through the groundbridge, her shoulders hunched beneath her backpack.
The portal opened up near... what looked like an abandoned store that had been hit by a mid-sized tornado. Or, the girl realized, it was that place Caterwaul had mentioned when Megatron got covered in magnets. That had been fuuuunnnnn...
Upon entering the building, Shard found that the electricity was off, so no light or AC, and barely any perishable food was left. The fruits were rotted and the breads were moldy.
Shard managed to find a couple pieces of bread that were hard instead of moldy, and crunched her way through them.
...BLaauugh. Shard was used to eating stuff that wasn't good anymore, but these slices of bread were more like flat pieces of wood! There HAD to be more edible things around here!
Suddenly, the girl was struck by inspiration, and she raced down the lightless aisles. Oddly, there were what appeared to be tire-tracks of soup all over the floor...
Anyway, Shard found countless still-closed cans of various food, which she thought there should be great beams of light coming out of. And maybe a chorus of "haaaaaah-le-looya"s.
The girl stabbed her shrapnel-blade into a can- once she'd gotten it to someplace with enough light- and tore the cover off. Less than a minute later, the entire can (of Raviolis! Haaaaahh-le-LOOya!) was empty, and Shard was licking her face clean, ever so pleased.
The girl shoved all the cans that would fit into her backpack, and then, realizing how suddenly easy her scrounging had become, went outside to look for loose change. Even if it was only a little, she was going to pay for her food.
When she'd found about 8 cents, Shard left it on the cash register and ran off toward the school. She had a promise to keep, after all. And she couldn't wait to see their reactions.