"Cal?"

Caliber's response to that inquiry was to pull the thermal blanket more snugly over his head. "I'm asleep."

"How can you be sleepin' when you're talkin'?" Rhapsody retorted. "You ain't left that room for days, Cal! You gotta get up!"

No I don't, he thought, but didn't bother saying that out loud. He had no reason to leave his room… no reason to do anything but curl up and stew in his thoughts. Ever since the courts had delivered the verdict that had doomed his father to death, he couldn't muster the energy to so much as get out of bed, let alone leave his room. Nothing piqued his interest - not the concern of his friends and brother, not his anxious foster parents, not his books or games. Not even Ravage slipping into his room to paw at his covers, mewling worriedly, could rouse him.

"Cal… you have us all worried," she went on, coming to stand next to his berth. "I know you're upset, but lockin' yourself up like this ain't gonna help anything."

He didn't respond. What was there to say? He didn't want to talk about the trial, or his father's impending execution, or anything else. He just wanted to hide from the world - a world that seemed to have turned cruel and uncaring in the past decacycle. What kind of world would rip so much away from him, simply for the crime of having the wrong parents? What kind of justice or goodness could exist in that kind of world?

A hand found his shoulder through the blanket, shaking lightly. "C'mon… I know you're hurtin'. We all do. But you're not gonna help yourself just lyin' in bed rustin'."

"I'm helping you," he shot back. "By not subjecting all of you to my presence."

"Don't talk like that." She grabbed the blanket and whipped it off him, and he flinched and curled up tighter like a cyberroach exposed to light. "We care 'bout you, okay? Even if you ARE being a pain in the aft right now!"

"Leave me alone, Rhap," he groaned.

"We've left you alone," she retorted. "And in my opinion we've left you alone for way too long. Please… don't shut us out like this. We're your friends."

"You don't get it, do you?" The words burst out more harshly than Caliber intended, but his annoyance and pain had built to the boiling point, a pressure that couldn't be released without burning everyone in the vicinity. "My father's going to die! And there's nothing I or anyone else can do about it! You guys expect me to just act like everything's fine and I'm not about to lose the most important mech in my life?!"

Rhapsody just gazed at him calmly, her ruby optics gleaming with emotion. "Cal… we don't expect you to pretend everything's normal. We just know that lockin' yourself up like this isn't healthy. We're willin' to give you distance… but right now, you need to get out of this room. Even if Paddles has to come in and carry you out."

Caliber sighed and sat up slowly, every joint creaking in protest. A low-fuel warning pinged in his HUD, and he wondered just how long he'd been laying in his berth shutting out the world. It wasn't as if he'd paid a lot of attention to his chronometer lately.

"I'll come out," he replied, "if you answer a question for me, Rhapsody."

She nodded. "'Course, Cal. What is it?"

"You lost your parents… how did you get through that? What helped you?"

Rhapsody went quiet, her gaze drifting into a corner, and Caliber cursed his stupidity. That had come out sounding insensitive…

"It was a long time ago," she murmured. "I don't remember much about my creators. But… the thing I remember most was havin' Dad there. He was my anchor - someone I could cling to when things got bad. An' he never minded me trailin' him like a little shadow for that first little while. I sometimes still think about my first set've parents an' miss 'em… but Dad saved me. In more ways than one."

Caliber pondered that. He knew Rhapsody was Jazz's adopted daughter, but he hadn't realized just how alike they were. She, like him, had been rescued from a terrifying situation - her the Spiralis Disaster, him his father's capture and arrest. And like him, she had latched onto her rescuer and come to see him as a parental figure. Perhaps she hadn't grown up under the shadow of her creators' legacy like he had, but she had faced her share of prejudice for her Decepticon origins… and she knew what it was like to lose your family, even if she had been young when it had happened.

Rhapsody smiled at him and lightly squeezed his hand. "Hey… it's okay to be upset. To be angry and sad and everythin' else. Just don't let it push us away, 'kay?"

"I'll try not to. I… I'm sorry I snapped."

"You're forgiven," Rhapsody assured him. "Now c'mon… some of us are headin' out of town on a day trip. It'll be fun, promise."

Orion, Zinc, and Paddles waited outside his room, and Orion stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Caliber as he emerged. Caliber squeezed his brother tightly, just taking comfort in his presence. No words were exchanged… but in this case, none were needed. They were brothers; they understood each other well enough.

"Gonna be okay?" Paddles rumbled.

"Eventually," Caliber replied. "Rhapsody mentioned a day trip… where to?"

Zinc gave a mischievous grin. "It's a surprise. And now that Rhapsody got you out of your room, you don't get to say no."

"Um… okay?" Caliber was tempted to turn around and go right back into his room. But Orion still had one arm hooked around his shoulders, and Rhapsody had snagged his hand again, making it difficult to retreat without making a scene. And to be honest, he was curious to see what they had in mind. If nothing else, it would at least distract him from… matters he really didn't want to think about right now.

"This outing includes drinks, right?" he asked. "I… haven't refueled in awhile."

"Three days to be exact," Orion chimed in. "Well, two and a half, but still too long. Don't worry, we'll hit a bar somewhere along the way."

"Just don't get overcharged on us again," Paddles ordered. "I ain't hauling your loopy aft home again. Not after you tank-purged down my back last time."

"You act like stuff like that happens every time I get plastered," Orion retorted.

"That's because it DOES," Zinc reminded him.

Caliber let Orion and Rhapsody lead him outside, feeling something in his chassis relax slightly in their company. He'd thought that he'd needed isolation from everyone else to deal with his turmoil… and for the first few days, at least, that had been true. But he needed this, too - the company of his friends, their assurance that they cared and hadn't forgotten about them. Perhaps, with their help, he could forget for just a little while, and be a normal mech again.

"Okay guys, joke's over, take me home."

"We just got off the train!" Zinc insisted. "We're not even there yet!"

"If I'd known you guys were taking me to Kaon, I never would have agreed to come!" Caliber retorted.

"Hey, it's not like we're dragging you back to the arena or anything," Orion pointed out. "Or, um… should I not have mentioned that?"

Rhapsody rolled her optics at Orion before squeezing Caliber's hand and guiding him away from the transit station. "C'mon… there's just one place we wanna take ya, then we can go back if you want. But I think you'll like this."

Caliber wasn't so sure, but he let his friends and brother herd him down the street anyhow. He tried to keep his optics on the path, but they strayed up to take in the cityscape anyhow. He'd expected the sight of Kaon's towers to reawaken terrible memories of his abduction… but thankfully those memories stayed banked in the back of his processor. Maybe enough time had passed to dull the trauma - or, more likely, maybe he was so preoccupied with his father's upcoming execution that he didn't have time to dwell on that experience.

Kaon still bore the scars of the Spiralis Disaster, with many buildings still mottled with acid burns and many taller buildings still under renovation to shore up damaged foundations. But life had returned to the city, with mechs walking the streets and shops and drinking establishments open for business even as repairs continued on their exteriors. Most of the mechs they passed bore Decepticon sigils, but oddly, few of them seemed threatened by the presence of a group of young adults not bearing faction markings. Everyone seemed content - maybe more tired and strained than the citizens of Iacon, but still hopeful for the future.

Caliber's spark clenched slightly as a blue-and-gold Seeker gave him a respectful nod, and he nodded slightly in return. How many of these mechs recognized him as the son of Megatron? And how many of them resented him for his heritage? It wasn't just Autobots who hated the former Decepticon commander - plenty of Decepticons resented their leader for what he had done to their homeworld, and the announcement of Megatron's guilty verdict had brought just as much rejoicing as it had mourning among the remaining Decepticons.

Rhapsody squeezed his hand. "You okay?"

Caliber shook his head. "Just… thinking."

"Don't think too hard, you'll blow a fuse," Orion joked. "But seriously… you're gonna be okay here. We're all here to protect you if anything happens."

"Nothing's going to happen," Zinc retorted, slugging Orion's shoulder. "Most of these mechs probably don't even recognize him. And if they do… well, maybe Decepticons are smarter than Autobots and don't judge kids for their parents' crimes."

Caliber stared at her. "Zinc, if your father heard you say that…"

"What, it's the truth!" Zinc retorted. "Who says Autobots have a monopoly on the moral high ground anyhow? Especially when it was the Decepticons who first decided that it was stupid to divide everyone based on their alt mode in the first place? If they're smart enough to do THAT, then maybe they're smart enough not to judge a sparkling for what his father did."

Caliber raised an optic ridge. "Someone just read my father's book."

"And?" she demanded. "It's a bit dry in parts, but still interesting."

"I don't think Decepticons are any smarter than Autobots, to be honest," Rhapsody confessed. "Or more right about anythin'. They've got good mechs an' bad mechs among their numbers, just like Autobots. An' honestly, I don't wanna start judgin' any mech just by what symbol they wear."

Paddles grunted. "How'd we get havin' THIS conversation again?"

"Honestly, given that we all have friends from either faction or no faction at all, it's inevitable," Orion pointed out. "Oh hey, we're here. This is the cafe you were talking about, right Zinc?"

"Yup, this is the place. C'mon, gang, don't just stand outside and rust, we have a date to set Cal up on!"

Caliber just stared at Zinc. Not that he wasn't grateful for a shift in conversation, but this wasn't the direction he wanted it to go. "Um… I'm sorry, but you really think this is the right time to play matchmaker with me?"

"Oh relax, it's not THAT kind of date," Zinc assured him, and opened the door.

"C'mon!" Rhapsody urged, tugging him inside. "We didn't come all this way just to stare at the joint!"

Caliber turned to glare at Orion. "What's going on here, bro?"

"Just a surprise we set up," Orion assured him, grinning widely as he followed him inside. "Something to cheer you up."

"You know I don't like surprises," Caliber insisted, tugging his hand free of Rhapsody's. "Who are we meeting, and why-"

"Caliber?"

He froze, the rest of his protest dying in his vocalizer. That voice… he hadn't heard it in so long… had given up ever hearing it again…

He turned to face the speaker - a boxy blue mech seated at a booth, the benches and tabletop crowded with smaller mechs. A white mask still obscured his face, a ruby visor his optics… but despite his expression being hidden, he seemed to exude an aura of warmth as he rose from his seat. The cassettes scattered to let him by, grinning and chittering excitedly as he approached Caliber.

"Caliber," he murmured, his voice somehow suffused with emotion despite being as monotone as ever. "It has been a long time."

Caliber opened his mouth, but couldn't form the words. For so long he'd tried to think of what he might say to Soundwave if he ever saw him again, but none of those carefully constructed speeches or greetings so much as crossed his CPU. He wanted nothing more than to run forward and be swept up in the blue mech's arms, to allow himself to be a sparkling in the arms of a beloved relative again, but the optics of his friends held him firmly in place.

Rhapsody gave him a nudge. "Go on. Go say hi."

That was all the urging he needed. He stumbled forward, practically falling against Soundwave's chest. A sob broke free, and his composure crumbed completely as Soundwave wrapped his arms around him, rocking him gently. A flood of emotion overwhelmed him, rendering him unable to speak… but at that moment, no words were needed.

"It is good to see you," Soundwave told him, his voice no longer flat and modulated but rich and deep, comforting him as he wept against the mech he'd come to see as another parent.

"I thought... I'd never see you again," he choked. "I missed you…"

"And I missed you." Soundwave hugged him tightly, then held him at arm's length to inspect him. "You've been upgraded. You look very good."

Caliber wiped excess cleanser from his optics. "What are you doing here? I knew you'd been let out early, but… I thought you'd go to one of the colonies or something."

"You think we'd up and leave without seeing you again?" Rumble demanded, scrambling up Caliber's leg and perching on his shoulder. "Especially when Ravage has been hogging all the visits."

Oh, hush, Ravage growled, answering over the general broadband. Some of us are a bit more stealthy than others.

"You sayin' I ain't stealthy, alley cat?" Rumble demanded.

Now is not the time for this banter, Ravage reminded him.

"Right, right." He patted the side of Caliber's helm. "Sorry we couldn't be there for you more, Cal."

"You were in prison… you couldn't help it." He continued to cling to Soundwave, despite knowing they were drawing a few stares from the other cafe patrons. "Soundwave… I need to ask you something… but please, don't hate me for it."

"I could never hate you," Soundwave assured him - it was so strange hearing him speak in a normal, unmodulated voice, and in complete sentences rather than the short fragments of before. But somehow that helped - it made their conversation feel that much more personal.

"I kept updated on the trial… and they said you testified against my father. I… I have to know why. You went to prison to protect my father and me. Why would you… you…"

"Turn against him?" Soundwave finished.

Caliber flinched but nodded. "It sounds so harsh when you put it like that."

"But I know it was in your thoughts." Soundwave guided Caliber to the booth and urged him to sit, nudging Laserbeak aside to make room for him. "I had no desire to testify against him. I would have allowed them to melt my chassis down while I was still online before betraying him. But it wasn't my choice."

Caliber blinked. "It wasn't?"

Soundwave shook his head as he returned to his seat. "Your father contacted me - we maintained communication while in prison, thanks to the cassettes. He informed me that he would not see me suffer on his account. And he commanded any of his officers and soldiers still in prison to testify in exchange for lessened sentences."

A knot of tension in Caliber's spark eased at that. Knowing the reason behind Soundwave's decision to take the witness stand didn't do much to alleviate his grief, but even that small bit helped. "So that's why so many Decepticons went free right before the trial - you, Starscream, Deszaras, Blitzwing, the Constructicons…"

Soundwave nodded. "Not all chose to testify. But your father knew he had to face the consequences for his actions. He did not want anyone else to suffer as a result of his actions, however. Not if he could help it."

Caliber stared down at his hands. "I don't want him to… to be executed, Soundwave. I know he's a criminal, but… he's my father. I love him. It doesn't feel fair."

"I know," Soundwave replied. "I wish it could be otherwise." He rested a hand on Caliber's. "I can't be a replacement for your father. But… you are always welcome to visit."

Caliber nodded, his optics stinging with overflowing cleanser again. "Thank you."

Soundwave glanced up at Caliber's friends… but Orion and the others had taken a booth on the other side of the cafe and were ordering drinks. Orion made optic contact with him and gave him a wink, and Caliber nodded in understanding. They'd set up this meeting with Soundwave, and were now giving them some privacy to catch up on the past and talk about his father.

"Come," Soundwave told him. "Tell me about your life. It has been a long time, and I'm sure there's much Ravage left out in his reports."

Caliber nodded, welcoming the distraction… and the opportunity to catch up with his "uncle." He had lived an eventful life since he and Soundwave had parted ways on New Proximus, and while the former Communications Officer was aware of the major events, there was still much to tell him.

One thing he missed from Earth, Prime mused, was being able to see the stars at night. Until he had awakened on that organic world and established his Autobots there, he had never known a starry night sky - the blazing lights of the cities and the smoky fog of war had each done their part at obliterating the starscape on Cybertron. Many an Autobot had whiled away a nighttime guard shift by admiring the stars, or slipped out after curfew to catch a meteor shower or rare comet sighting. Even Prime wasn't above climbing to the top of Mount St. Hilary just to stretch out on his back and soak in the beauty of the cosmos.

As Cybertron's sun sank below the horizon, it left behind a smoky-violet sky without a single visible star… but the lights of Iacon dazzled the optic in what seemed to be an effort to make up for the lack of a celestial show. Multicolored lights speckled the cityscape as far as he could see, gleaming amber and green and red and blue like a collection of shining jewels. It wasn't quite the same, but it held its own form of beauty.

Prime rested his hands on the balcony railing, absorbing the sight for as long as he could before footsteps marked the approach of another. He didn't turn to face the newcomer, even as said newcomer rested a hand of his own on the railing, holding a crystal glass of high-grade in his other hand.

"Beautiful." Emirate Xaaron noted, sipping his drink as they looked out at the city together. "It's almost as if the Disaster never happened, isn't it? As if a horrific chapter in our civilization's history has finally come to a close."

Prime kept his gaze on the city and his voice even as he replied. "Iacon never saw extensive damage from the Spiralis Disaster. It was on the other side of the planet - the only fallout the city received was from scattered caustic vapor on the outskirts. Other areas of the planet still bear the scars… and it will be many vorns before we can rebuild where the worst of the damage occurred."

Xaaron frowned. "The worst of the damages were-"

"To Decepticon cities, I know," Prime replied sternly, finally turning to face Xaaron. "I'm fully aware that the Council considers anything Decepticon to not be worth worrying about. But I choose to see Decepticons as fellow Cybertronians, ones who deserve to be treated equally no matter what their crimes have been."

The golden mech sighed and drained his glass. "You were never this bleeding-spark worried over the Decepticons during the war. Fatherhood has softened you."

"Perhaps it has… but that's for the better, in my opinion. And if worrying about the welfare of mechs who lost everything in the final days of the war makes me a bleeding spark, then so be it." Prime's fingers flexed against the railing. "You want to declare this 'horrible chapter of our history' over… then let the war truly be over. Let the Decepticons be, and stop holding them accountable for the crimes of Megatron and his officers."

Xaaron snorted. "Some of us aren't so quick to trust the mechs who started the war in the first place."

"The Decepticons fired the first shots of the war," Prime replied. "But the Autobots gave them plenty of ammunition to do so. Neither side is blameless in this war. And assigning blame now is pointless - we can only move on from here. Let Megatron's execution be the end of it."

"We intend to," Xaaron replied. "Tomorrow morning, Megatron will be terminated for his crimes, and his chassis melted down to ensure no fanatics try to retrieve it for their own gain. We would have broadcast the execution and slagging, but apparently that violates more laws than we care to break at this time."

Laws and the boundaries of good taste, Prime thought, tanks churning. In some ways, Xaaron was more like some of the worst Decepticon leaders than he would ever admit. Pointing that out would do no good, however.

"You will, of course, be present for the termination," Xaaron stated.

"No, I will not," Prime replied.

"You're the Prime," Xaaron retorted. "It is your duty to Cybertron to be there. Pit, it should be you throwing the final switch!"

Prime shook his head. "I will be at home with my family… with my sons. One of them in particular will need all the support and comfort he can get at this time."

Xaaron narrowed his optics. "I have never approved of you taking Caliber on as a ward, Optimus Prime. I knew it would cloud your emotions too much, and interfere with your ability to fairly fulfil the duties of your office. It would seem that I was right."

"Are you suggesting that I'm unfit to bear the Matrix of Leadership?" Prime asked, keeping his voice as light and casual as possible despite the anger burning in his spark. "I would dearly love to hear you suggest that to the Council. Or the Senate. Or the Autobots in general. Or even the Decepticons - who, by the way, have always accepted me as Prime, even when they were shooting at me on the battlefield."

Xaaron sneered… but he backed down from that threat, just as Prime had suspected he would. "The Council will continue to watch Caliber, Optimus. Cybertron barely survived one megalomaniac warlord. We won't see another rise to take his place."

"I can't believe I have to keep assuring you that Caliber has no desire to follow in his father's footsteps," Prime sighed. "He refused to do it even when held at gunpoint by his own creator and one of the Decepticons' most notorious war criminals. I highly doubt he'll change his mind on a whim and start calling for a revolution." He released the railing and turned to go. "I'll address the Council again after the execution."

He had almost reached the door when Xaaron called out again. "Optimus?"

Prime paused, turning just enough to peer at the Councilor over his shoulder.

"You've done a fine job of raising Orion and Caliber," he noted. "The Council looks forward to seeing what Orion will accomplish… and Caliber has managed to defy our expectations. I hope he will continue to do so."

Prime wanted to call that backhanded compliment out, but he merely nodded and went inside. He had no desire to argue further with Xaaron tonight. For now, he just wanted to be home with his family.

From the expression on Ultra Magnus' face as the truckformer came barreling around a corner, however, he had a feeling it was going to be awhile before he got his wish.

"Optimus! We have a crisis on our hands!"

"What is it?" Prime demanded. "What's happened?"

"We just got an alert from the correctional facility at Kalis!" Ultra Magnus replied, optics blazing with horror. "Megatron has escaped!"