Pretender Chronicles

A War for Cybertron/Fall of Cybertron/Transformers Prime Fan Fiction

By daywalker03

Chapter 1: Give me the Prize

Mae was tossing and turning in her recharge state; Jack and Arcee had just had an unpleasant encounter with Airachnid that had reminded her vividly of her own worst nightmare, and she was having trouble getting comfortable as a result. Butch, who was laying next to her, wasn't fairing much better; his own nightmare was tied in with Mae's and he was doing as she was.

Suddenly, Butch whimpered and clutched at Mae, pulling her close to him. Her eyes opened and she cuddled him, knowing that his memories had taken over and right then he wasn't the strong twin brother that most people saw him as, but rather the frightened, dying boy whose life had become tied up in her own in a way that she could never give up until she returned to the Well. His eyes were open, but unfocused, and she could feel the terror of the memories through the guardian bond. He pushed himself against her and she wrapped her arms around him, letting him feel loved and protected from the bad things.

- Long Ago-

It started out like any other day for them. Teal and Turq would head out after eating their morning meal with his family to spend the day exploring; Teal often would neglect to wear anything other than her moccasins, and no one thought anything odd about it, since she didn't flaunt her lack of certain things like other girls would. Turq, for his part, ignored the ribbing that he would get from the older males in the tribe for spending so much time with her. Little did they know that the day would end with Turq's transformation into something new.

~* Teal, look at this, *~ Turq called out from where he was examining a plant. Teal, who had decided to go for a quick swim in the creek, came over carrying her moccasins and wringing out her hair with her free hand. She knelt next to him and examined what he showed her carefully while braiding her hair back up. Turq smiled as she followed his explanation attentively, never seemingly distracted by anything going on around them. ~* You're amazing, *~ he said finally. ~* You're the only girl except for Lael that doesn't try to hide when I walk by while you're bathing, and you don't fuss about what position you sit in around me. *~

Teal smiled and took hold of his hands, saying, ~* Your family has accepted that my tribe has different customs and that it would be unfair for them to force me to change them. I thank them, and you especially, for ignoring those that speak rudely about me and how I choose to dress and act in the village. This is why I am so comfortable like this. That, and in many small ways you remind me of the leader of my tribe, Orion. *~

He squirmed and colored a bit, then said in response, ~* I'm not a leader, Teal, so how can I be like him. *~

~* He wasn't expecting to be named leader when he and a friend went before our council of elders to address some things that were needing changed. His friend said some things that we were beginning to suspect were his true goal, and when Orion was called to speak, his words stirred the hearts of the council and they chose him over the other, *~ Teal remarked.

~* Interesting. Was his friend happy about it, or did they argue afterwards? *~ Turq asked, honest curiosity in his voice and facial expression.

~* What should have been a joyful time for our tribe at the selection of Orion as our leader, was the start of a war. Those that believed only a strong leader answering to no one but himself was the right way followed Megus and those that believed a true leader should guide the people with compassion followed Orion. There were others that, while they accepted Orion as their leader, could not find it within themselves to support either faction that attempted to continue their lives as before, but Megus refused to let them be, so eventually they fled our home, *~ Teal said sadly.

~* That's sad; is that why you left, or was there another reason? *~ Turq asked softly after a few minutes contemplation of what she had said.

~* I didn't leave immediately; in fact, it wasn't totally my choice to leave at all. The war interrupted some research I was doing for Orion's best medicine man Percy, and I had to remain in case he wished to consult with me about something I had discovered in my exploration of our tribe's past; by the time we were able to do so, the war had ravaged our land to the point where everyone had to leave it for a time, and we barely had time to properly prepare me for the journey to a safe place for me to continue the studies I wanted to conduct, *~ Teal said, looking up at Turq. ~* But now I don't have access to much of the research data and can't continue it, even though I want to. All I can do is evaluate what I experience now that I am here and learn from it. *~

Turq squeezed her hands and said, ~* You're starting to get mopey on me, Teal. You're no fun like that. Let's go swimming or something. *~

Teal grinned and pulled him up as she stood. ~* Swim, and then sunbathe completely nude? *~ she suggested sweetly.

Turq grinned back and said ~* Why not. It sounds fun this time. *~

Teal ran towards the creek with Turq close on her heels and after he stopped briefly to shed his loincloth, they both ran into the water. Teal slipped smoothly under the water and swam out into a deeper section while he followed her more slowly. They came to the surface and looked at each other and laughed, each casually splashing water at the other in turn, then paddled slowly towards each other until they were less than an arm's length apart.

From the woods, a pair of eyes watched them at play, though the creature that the eyes belonged to was indistinct, as though it wasn't truly there. This was Tikaani, one of the Inuit wolf spirits. *They are in danger but do not yet sense it, though the girl may perceive it slightly before the boy, despite her appearing to not truly be one of them,* he thought. *Curious that her form is so perfectly that of a human that I can barely determine she is not, but perhaps we were so focused on the destruction the Voidwalkers caused that the humans could not discover this themselves. What she truly is does not matter; they must be warned and protected from the coming attack.* With that thought, he solidified his form into that of a young wolf and continued to watch.

As Teal swam to the shore and got out of the water, she stopped and began to look around with more than just her eyes. In some manner that she could not define, the world around her looked darker, as though she was seeing it through the smoke of a cooking fire centered on her current location. Turq slowed as he got out and asked cautiously, ~* What is it, Teal? *~

~* Something is affecting the lighting here, but I am uncertain as to what it is yet,*~ she answered, stepping cautiously forward and extended the senses that the tribe had taught her to use that were the gift of the Others.

Tikaani heard her speak and stood slowly in the forest, then spoke to them, ~* A hunter comes, young ones; run for the village while you have time. I will delay it until you reach safety. *~

Teal felt a chill as Tikaani spoke,but swiftly reached out and took hold of Turq's hand before starting to run for the village. Turq, for his part, did not question why; he simply ran.

Tikaani wheeled about and bared his fangs in a snarl at the hunter and swiftly grew in size while becoming somewhat hazy to the eye and focusing on the hunger maddened creature that was swiftly approaching his location. It swiped at him with long, razor-like claws but despite his increased size compared to what he had seemed to be to the children, he easily dodged the clumsy attacks and sank his fangs into it. It howled in pain and Tikaani bit harder, then suddenly stiffened as he sensed another take off in pursuit of the children. He released the hunter long enough to let out a single, bone-chilling howl that was meant as both warning and call to arms, then renewed his attack on the one closest to him.

Teal heard the howl and understood without being told that the danger had increased, so she increased her pace and did her best to keep hold of Turq's hand. But it was not to be. Three things happened simultaneously; the light around them faded to blackness, Teal heard Turq scream in pain and felt him fall limply against her back, and the forest air around them filled with growling, howling forms that formed a protective circle around the two children.

Teal turned and carefully guided Turq to the ground, her left arm supporting him under the head as she cradled him and tried to calm his cries of pain from the wounds he had received. As she watched, the light that he emitted that wasn't visible to most people began to fade and she cried out, ~* No, you can't go. *~

She heard a faint voice borne on the wind, one that she knew and had never hoped to hear after the devastation of Cybertron. The voice said, /* It is his destiny to become more than what he was born into his world as, just as it was your destiny to be sent there at this time. You can aid him and thus assure that your destinies intertwine as prophesied at his birth. */ Teal looked up to the stars to thank her Creator and, with a calm intake of breath, began the long process of saving his life.

As she carefully gathered the essential parts of Turq's memories and stabilized his life essence, an unseen energy barrier formed around them; its existence enraged the hunter that had struck Turq, and it attempted to strike them both but the claws impacted the barrier harmlessly.

Teal concentrated and noticed minute points of light scattered at precise intervals throughout Turq human form; she sensed that these points of light, if merged carefully into a single object, would within nearly precise parameters match the Cybertronian Spark. She further noted that his existing biomass shared many of the same characteristics of the Cybertronian protoform and that in her current state it would be easy to modify his body to match what was required for the new form to function properly.

Teal lay Turq's still but breathing form on the ground and allowed her natural form to show, because she was going to need to provide him purified Energon for his reawakening. Her entire focus settled on his spark, as it was going to be the most difficult part of his transformation. Slowly she nudged the individual points of light to see how they were anchored, then cautiously reshaped the bonding patterns so that they would gravitate towards one another and link together. Slowly, ever so slowly, she sensed that the spark was indeed forming as she had surmised it would from the energy within those points of light. His form blurred often as the spark formed, each time coming back to full visibility in its original look though in fact it too was undergoing massive changes.

After a time, Turq's eyes slowly opened and he looked around, frantically searching for something. When he saw her, his initial reaction was to recoil in terror, but she simply smiled and let her chest plates open to reveal her spark to him. As his eyes fell upon the spark within her, his own chest plate opened to reveal his spark and she felt the coding that had once been forced to dormancy by the war awaken; a thin conduit extended from her spark to Turq's developing one and the purified Energon that she had to give him, along with the knowledge of Cybertron and its various languages traveled into his body to be stored in his newly enhanced processor and memory banks. When the transfer ended and both of their chests had closed, he looked up at her and said, in nearly perfect Iaconian Cybertronian, /* What has happened to me, Guardian? The last I remember, the shadow beast had struck me. */

Teal smiled sadly as she answered in the same language, /* You were dying and I had no choice but to reshape you into one of my own kind, but retaining as much of your original form as I could. I felt in my spark that you would not want to leave me alone if there was a way to prevent it, so I did what I felt was the correct thing at the time. I can only pray that the Elders and your parents accept it since I know that it was once said among my people that no Guardian wanted to see their sparkling go to the Well before they did themselves. */

As they were talking, the energy field that had protected them faded and Tikaani approached them, again at his normal size. He waited patiently as they spoke in a language that he could not understand, and once they had stopped, he spoke, ~* You have done what needed to be done, Teal. Turq's destiny was tied to yours the moment his mother gave birth to him, though no one in the village understood until Lael brought you to them. Wolf protected, and will continue to protect, the village until such time as the Voidwalkers are dealt with one way or another. *~

Authors note:

Nasty flashback, but it gives insight into the two main characters and the connection between them. I tried not to make it too gory, but still show how badly hurt Turq was. Also, the characters she speaks of when talking about the war that split her tribe should be easily identified; Orion is Optimus Prime (Orion Pax) and Megus is Megatronus (Megatron). She simply used variant forms of the names.

Tikaani is, or seems to be from some of my research, one of a number of words in the Inuit language that means "wolf"; Amaroq (or Amarok, as in Foxbear's various stories) is another. I may make a connection between my wolf character and hers in a later chapter or I may not; I have not decided yet.

The song in the title is from the Queen album A Kind of Magic, many of which appear on the soundtrack for the movie The Highlander. On the album, it is subtitled Kurgan's Theme, and is a reference to the ultimate goal of the Game, which is the reason for the fighting between the Immortals. The prize in this case is not leadership over humanity as it was in the movie, but immortality of a sort.