Introduction: This is a backstory chapter. It happens before the beginning of Many Voices, but I'm putting it up now, between chapters 9 and 10 because if you've read chapter 9 you've already met Crescent in the main storyline and kind of know who she is. At the time of this chapter, Soundwave is about one and a half vorns old.

I looked at the ground so she didn't have to see my screen. She always thought I was staring at her when she could see it. She didn't like me staring at her. "I-I…"

"You what?" Don't waste my time. Crescent didn't look up from the datapad she was reading. It was a romance novel, full of things I wasn't sure I quite understood. But she seemed to enjoy it.

"Ca-a-an I-I ha-a-a-a-ave-ave…. a… sy-sy-symbi-i-ot?"

What did he say? "Can you… do what?" She narrowed her optics and lowered the data pad. A symbiot. He just asked for a… no. "No. No, I don't need anything else underpede, Soundwave."

I took in a few quick vents, trying to hide how shaky I was. She didn't like whining. She hated whining. I shouldn't complain… But a few decaorns ago, when we'd been in Iacon, we'd walked right past a little femme about my age who had a symbiot she was playing with and she had been so happy. I hadn't been able to stop thinking about it since then. "I-I pr-r-ro-omise I-I-I'll take ca-are o-o-f it."

"Absolutely not."

"I-I-I wo-on't bo-othe-e-e-er yo-ou for a-a who-o-ole vo-rn."

"Soundwave, would you please speak like a normal youngling. We just went to see my medic yesterday and he said there was nothing wrong with your voice box. Stop trying so hard to convince me to feel sorry for you. I know it's just a trick."

My shoulders hunched. I really was trying. "O-ok."

"And no, you can't have a symbiot."

"Bu-ut the-e-ere's nobo-ody else to-o-o talk to-o." She didn't want me talking to her servants. She got mad when I tried to be friends with them.

She shot me a sharp glare, and I looked down at the ground.

Maybe he would stop bothering me so much if I got him something else to play with. And it might help with his silly stutter if he had a symbiot to talk to. At least maybe I'll catch him talking normally so I'll know for certain he's faking it. But we'll have to find a symbiot that's not afraid of him. I bet he's even afraid of himself, creepy little glitch. Part of me wishes I hadn't... Oh, the stupid promises we make when we're grieving…

"Fine," she said.

Relieved, I relaxed a little "Tha-a-ank…"

"Shut up."

Silence fell.

She sighed. "Just… go entertain yourself somewhere else for now. Go to your room or something. I'm busy." She went back to the data pad, and I left her alone.

She forgot about it though. She didn't even think about getting me a symbiot for the next several decaorns. I didn't want to remind her, in case it bothered her and made her change her mind.

"So," one of Crescent's friends-a femme designated Dazzle-said. "Did you hear what happened last decaorn at Requiem's party?" I need to know if Crescent is suspicious. She's good at figuring things out, especially lately.

"Yes," Archer, a mech sitting by the side of the room, said. "That overcharged fool, August." Spilled most of his business secrets to a whole room full of mecha. I'd heard rumors about a few of the things he said, but not all… some of that was pretty dark. I won't be surprised if he disappears for treason. Too bad… once he'd gained the council's favor, I was hoping to ally myself with him…

Crescent frowned. "I heard a little bit about it. Didn't he have too much high grade and start bragging to the others at his table about all the important criminals he had dealings with?"

Dazzle winced. Too blunt. This femme shouldn't say things like that so casually.

"More or less," Archer said.

He spilled all of his secrets… just like you're spilling all your secrets to me, Crescent shook her helm. "Guess that's why you should be careful with high grade… though I've heard a theory he was drugged on purpose."

Dazzle forced herself to look thoughtful, and a little skeptical. Yes. And I know who did it. But does she? Let's see if she hints at it. If so, we'll have to move to block her before she does anything. She's hard to blackmail, though. If she's got any really juicy secrets, she hides them well… there's that mechling, but I think that's just an act. It isn't too hard to see she doesn't really care about him….

"I hadn't thought about that," Archer said. I had wondered… where did she hear that rumor? Does she know something? That would be interesting. Maybe next time I have a chance, I can corner her and ask about it.

"Not really good for Requiem's reputation, though," Crescent said. "If it's true… do you think it could have been Requiem himself? I mean, it wouldn't be hard for him to have a servant slip something into August's energon."

Dazzle couldn't tell if she was hinting at anything. It wasn't Requiem who'd done it, though.

They didn't know I was here—well, Crescent knew. But the other two didn't. I sat out in the hallway, waiting for them to finish talking. I didn't really like Crescent's friends. They were only friendly on the outside. They talked nicely to each other, most of the time. They spent joors and joors and joors talking to each other at parties and little gatherings like this. But they didn't think nice things about each other.

They kept going for a long time. I was pretty bored, by the time they finally got ready to leave. Not that I had much else to do. I got to my pedes and went to Crescent's office before her friends could come out into the hallway and see me. Sometimes she brought me right into the room with them, especially if we were visiting someone else's house. I liked this better. If they couldn't see me, they didn't stare at me. They didn't like me at all, and the ones who had sparklings always told them not to play with me. It wasn't fair, really. I knew why mecha were scared of me, but some of Crescent's servants didn't mind me so much if they had time to get used to me before she fired them.

Once the others were gone, Crescent followed me into her office.

"Well," she said, and sat down at her desk. "I definitely have some questions from that conversation." I think Dazzle's plotting something. She seemed a little on edge, especially toward the beginning…

Dazzle was planning a lot of things. Most of them I didn't really understand, but I did understand enough to explain it to Crescent. After a sentence or two, Crescent gave up trying to decipher my talking, and let me sit on her desk and type on a datapad instead as she asked questions.

We did this fairly often. Something seemed wrong about it, but I didn't care that much. It made Crescent happy when she knew all her friends' secrets. She was nicer when she was happy.

There had been a lot of information her two friends had thought about during that conversation that she thought was useful. By the end, she was really feeling triumphant, which made me feel kind of good too.

"Well," she said when she'd run out of questions and I had told her almost everything I could remember. "This has been a very productive orn." I feel like going out to do something… not sure what…

She was a good mood. This could be my chance. "Can I-I-I ge-et a sy-ymbio-ot?"

She frowned at me. I did tell him that, didn't I? Well, why not? This orn's as good as any, and I do want him to have something to do so he stops bothering me all the time… "Ok," she said. "Fine. But if it doesn't stop you from pestering me when I'm busy, we'll give it back."

I nodded. I understood.

We'll have to walk. Ugh, walking is so slow. But I don't want to drive with that creepy little thing inside of me.

She led the way out of the house. I followed, hurrying to keep up, as we walked outside and down the street. Before too long, we got to a more crowded place, and I realized it had been a bad idea to come with her. I had needed to make my range grow to listen in on Crescent's conversation with her friends, and now there were too many mecha in my helm. I started to feel dizzy and fell behind.

Crescent noticed, and waited for me to catch up. "Soundwave," she hissed.

I shook my helm a little, trying to clear my processor. "So-o-orry."

She took my hand and pulled me.

I was glad she did, because I didn't want to have to concentrate on where I put my pedes.

He sometimes gets like this when we're outside. This is why I can't take him anywhere. I don't know why he complains so much about being cooped up in the house when every time we come out here, he gets sick. Her train of thought was just one of many.

By the time we got to the symbiot shop, my processor was hurting, but it always did that if I was around too many mecha for too long.

It was a little better in the shop. Symbiots didn't think things I couldn't understand, and they didn't think them very loud either.

"Ok," Crescent said. "Let's find you something medium sized, sturdy, and quiet." Something that won't get in my way, and won't escape. She let my hand go, and left me in the doorway. I watched her for a few astroseconds, then started following her.

A large cat hissed at me from behind scratched-up bars. I stopped.

It growled, a low and menacing rumble. Why did he stop? Go away.

"You-u're sca-ared, aren't yo-o-ou?" I asked quietly, taking a step closer. The cat hissed. "I-It's o-ok. A-a-a lot o-of… e-eve-e-eryo-one's scared o-of me."

It narrowed its optics. I'm not scared, you're the one who should be scared!

I could tell it was a lie. I could feel how scared the cat was, just like I could hear what it was thinking.

It was ok. I wasn't really scary. You were only supposed to be scared of something that would hurt you, right? I wouldn't hurt anybody. I really wouldn't.

"I-It's ok," I said again, and reached out. The cat shied away from my hand as I neared the bars. Then I stopped, and waited for it to get a little more comfortable. After only a few astroseconds, it relaxed a little. "I-I'm sca-a-ared of a lot o-o-of stu-u-uff too. E-e-even stuff I-I sho-o-uldn't be-e sca-a-a-ared of."

The cat hesitantly crept forward, and I felt something warm inside. I reached through the bars, slowly so it wouldn't be startled. "Wha-a-at's yo-our de-esigna-atio-on?" I asked.

"Ravage," the cat said quietly, voice full of hissing uneasiness. But he was calmer than he'd been moments ago. I left my hand just inside the bars, waiting for Ravage to come closer on his own.

What is that sparkling… no! There was a scream. I jumped. Ravage started, then leaped forward and bit my hand. Another scream followed, and then Crescent pulled me away from the cage. The cat shied away, retreating all the way to the back and hissing fiercely.

"Oh, I am so sorry," the shop owner, a pretty yellow femme said. "That creature's wild, we don't know what to do with him."

"Soundwave?" Crescent asked. "Soundwave, are you stupid… You shouldn't have stuck your hand into that thing's cage, you know better!" Pain flared in my hand and I didn't answer her. It hurt worse than my processor did.

He's just a youngling, the shopkeeper thought. Why wasn't that femme watching him more closely? And we are going to have to do something about that cat. It needs to be put down. Nobody wants the awful thing.

"He-e wasn't go-o-oing to-o hu-urt me-e."

"Clearly," Crescent said, taking my hand. I couldn't hold back a whimper. It was crushed and leaking energon a little.

"Oh!" Crescent said. "Just look at this."

The shopkeeper came over. "Oh, my, you poor thing. Here, I can help. I fix the symbiots sometimes."

"Absolutely not, we need to see a real medic," Crescent said. "Come on."

"Crescent?"

"What?"

I looked back at the cat, then pointed with my uninjured hand. "I-I-I wa-an't tha-a-a-at one."

"What! It tried to rip you to pieces!" I do not want that thing in my house. There is something seriously wrong with you.

There's something wrong with his voice box too, poor thing.

"He-e wa-a-asn't go-oing to hu-urt me-e-e." I could barely keep the keening out of my voice. I had heard that shopkeeper thinking about killing it. I didn't want that to happen. "He ju-ust go-ot sca-a-ared."

"I'm sorry," the shopkeeper said again.

Crescent turned to glare at her. "I should make you and your shop fund the visit to the medic." Then she looked at me again. "We are not getting that thing."

"Bu-u-ut he-e's lo-onely a-and no-o-obo-o-ody-y wa-ant's hi-i-im, and the-e-e-ey're go-o-oing to ki-ill hi-i-i-im be-e-eca-ause…"

Oh, no, stop, stop, Soundwave, shut up! There's no way a youngling would know that they're going to offline the cat. If this femme figures out you can hear her thoughts, they'll take you away. They'll kill you, Soundwave. Shut UP!

"…he-e so-ome-etime-e-es ge-e-ets sca-a-ared a-and hu-u-urts…"

The poor thing can barely talk. The shopkeeper thought. And why is it hiding its faceplate behind that visor?

"Oh fine!" Crescent said. "Fine, you can have the stupid monster, and then if it rips you to pieces, at least I'll be rid of you!"

Oh, my… the shopkeeper's processor stalled.

Crescent took in a deep vent to cool her systems, and turned back to the shopkeeper. "How much for the cat?"

The femme just stared. She should not talk to a youngling like that…

"Well? How much is it?"

"Are you sure, ma'am? It's wild… not exactly a household pet. I think it would be better to…"

"I am buying the cat!" Crescent said. "Are you going to tell me the price or do I need to ask to talk to your manager?"

I looked back at Ravage, who was watching me with wide optics. I could tell he'd understood. He hadn't thought about them killing him, and now that he'd heard me say it, he was really scared. His only hope was that they'd let Crescent buy him. At least he wasn't scared of me anymore, though. In fact, he was grateful.

Crescent bought him but she didn't intend to keep him. She was trying not to think about it as we walked home, because she didn't want me to know. But I knew.

When we got back to the house she set him down hard on the floor. I stayed in the doorway, cradling my broken hand. It was still slowly dripping energon. I hoped it would heal itself.

"Oh," Crescent said. "Right. Your hand." The things I go through for this sparkling… She sighed. "Come on, let's go see my medic."

She picked me up and carried me this time, which I thought was nice of her. I normally had to walk if we went anywhere. She didn't drive, though. She didn't want me getting energon on the interior of her alt mode.

Fortunately, Creacent's medic's work was close by. I liked him. Crescent was nicer when we were around him, because she didn't want him to think she wasn't good at being my caretaker. She explained what had happened as he fixed my hand, leaving out the part where she actually bought Ravage, and then we went home. She said she was too exhausted to get rid of the cat this orn, and told me again she'd be mad if I let him out.

I waited for her to leave the room, and sat by Ravage. My processor hurt, and I was really tired, and my hand still ached a little. Ravage watched me cautiously as I reached my good hand in. I waited. After a few astroseconds, the big symbiot leaned forward to touch his olfactory sensor to my palm. I like this little mech, he thought. I don't think he'd hurt me… Even after I hurt him. He leaned back. "Sorry I bit you," he said.

"I-It's o-ok," I told him, holding up my other hand. "I go-o-ot it fi-ixed."

"Why do you talk like that?" Ravage asked, tilting his helm to the side in curiosity.

I shrugged. "I-I do-on't know."

Ravage seemed to accept that. Then he shot an uneasy glance in the direction Crescent had gone. "She's going to get rid of me."

I shook my helm, which made my processor hurt more. "Do-on't wo-o-orry-y. I-I ca-a-an pro-o-ba-a-ably-y-y-y-y…" Talking wasn't working right now. I was too tired. I looked down.

Ravage seemed a little comforted though. "Ok." I wonder if he could let me out. He'd just have to let me leave and I could go back to living on the streets like I was before.

Crescent had told me not to let him out. And besides, I still wanted a symbiot. There was no way she'd agree to go back to that shop and get a different one.

"Y-you ca-a-an stay he-ere. We-e-e just ha-ave to pro-o-ove yo-o-o-ou're no-ot sca-a-ary-y-y." I reached out and tugged on the latch. Ravage tensed, ready to spring out, but I shook my helm. If he was going to do that, I wasn't going to open the cage.

There was a moment where we looked at each other, and then he lay down. I could push past him, but I don't want to hurt him again.

I fumbled with the latch until I'd gotten it undone, and opened the door. But instead of letting Ravage out, I crawled in and pulled it shut behind me. It was a little tight in the cage, with both of us in there, but we could fit. I was smaller than Ravage. I reached out and he let me pet him.

We were going to be friends, I just knew it. I'd have to explain things to him in more detail later when I could talk better. We needed to convince Crescent that he wouldn't hurt anyone, and that I really really wanted to keep him. Then we had to be really good and quiet and stay out of her way. As long as we did that, things would work out.

Ravage put his helm down and shuttered his optics, engine thrumming contentedly. He was tired too. I turned off my screen and curled up next to him.

Notes:

1. Crescent eventually stopped using him so much to spy on her friends when he got old enough to start questioning her. He started complaining about how wrong it was, and she decided that she didn't trust him anymore.

2. It's kind of interesting that with Crescent for a role model, Soundwave isn't a complete jerk by the beginning of Many Voices, but you have to remember that his abilities make it so he feels the effects of whatever he does to anyone else.