"Well, I guess that wraps things up." Kclayna shrugged, surprised how early she was going to dismiss the sparklings. She knew Bianna and Tier weren't going to be pleased that she dismissed their sparklings so early. But Kclayna had other plans that were more imperative than teaching medical terms to sparklings. "Um, so don't forget about the oral exam tomorrow, and that means you Tobit."
Steele heard Tobit snicker behind him. Unsurprisingly, Tobit was the class clown and it hampered his schooling. Switching off his data pad, Steele stood up and stretched. Sitting on cold cement wasn't an ideal place for a class room to be, and some instructor's, like Kclayna, thought that gossiping and watching human interaction to be a higher priority than teaching sparklings. None the less, Steele was thrilled. Turning his head to the side, he noticed his carrier was talking to Arcee. Then an idea came to him.
"Hey mom, what was your family like?" Steele asked, running up to Tier who looked at him baffled.
"Why are you not in your lesson?"
"We got done early." Steele smiled innocently, hoping she wouldn't ignore his question.
"Why would you want to know what my family was like?"
"Because they're my family, too."
"Well, I suppose you have a right to know." Tier sighed, sitting on the floor; she pulled Steele into her lap. Tier knew she would have to explain her family background to Steele someday, but she had hoped that it would be on Cybertron and she would be showing him her former home. "What questions do you have?"
"Dad said that I'm the only living relative the two of you have now, right?"
"Yes, that is the unfortunate truth." Tier said, feeling a tension in her stomach pit, realizing how true her words were.
"Why is that true? Why is that unfortunate?"
"We lost a great deal of friends and families in this war, Steele. Your creator and I have lost ones we cherish." Tier tried to keep her demeanor calm and somewhat relaxed. Steele could see she was trying to be strong, something he wished she wouldn't do. Tier would often shut down her emotions if something was tragic or spark wrenching. He was surprised to see her suddenly smile. "I wish you could have met my caretakers, they were truly honest bots."
"Your caretakers?" Steele wondered what his life would be like if he had grand care takers like Tobit and his siblings. "Did they fight in the war?"
"Actually, they refused to participate." Tier snickered, remembering the words her caretaker's used on the subject of war. And they were words she wouldn't say in front of Steele. "My carrier was more focused on raising me, and helping those sparklings who have been labeled 'war orphans'. My creator helped build weapons and tested them out on broken pieces of metal and buildings."
"Are they still online? Are dad's caretaker's online?" Steele asked, excitement and hope in his voice print.
"Sadly, I do not know. When my town was attacked, a soldier hid me, and when I came out, I was taken prisoner on the Decepticon warship. I would advise you speak to your creator about his caretakers." Tier grasped Steele's arm, fighting the sudden urge to cry. Not just because of the fear of the unknown of her caretaker's fate. But the fate of Smokescreen's carrier was more spark wrenching; he found her offline husk, discovered his creator murdered her, and, without a doubt, Smokescreen was drowning in his ocean of questions. And he deserved to know why, to have a reason why his sparklinghood was stolen from him, to endure the memory every night. "You would be surprised to know your creator and I met on that very same warship."
"Wait, you guys met on a Con warship? As in the war ship with Megatron and all those guys? " Steele stared wide optic at Tier, stunned that his parents met in the most hopeless of places. "That's so cool, but in an ironic way."
"It is indeed. He was taken prisoner just as I was, same as Parate, Sanna, Arc and Ree." Tier smiled, reminiscing in the memory when she received her freedom, and met the mech destined to be her lover. "If it was not for Smokescreen's encouraging words, I would have died there. Your creator is a true hero to us."
"Do you believe your caretakers are still online, mom?" Steele felt guilty asking; he could see his mom was in pain talking about her care takers. But his thirst for knowledge was his guilty pleasure.
"Yes, until I find their offline husks'." Tier said, her voice more determined than Steele had ever heard. "I cannot believe my caretakers have passed."
"That's sad, mom."
"It is, but not all news was sad." She said, smiling a small and hopeful smile. "The soldier who hid me was a good friend of mine, in fact, I named you after him."
"His name was Steele?" Tier chuckled hearing the excitement in his voice print.
"Yes, and he was one of the greatest friends I could have."
"He was a soldier?"
"That's all that matters to you, does it not?" Steele's faceplate slowly turned red with excitement and embarrassment. He won't admit it, but she was right; all he really cared about was that his namesake was a soldier. But it was a bit more exciting because that soldier saved his carrier.
"Well, I mean, it's cool he was your friend and all. But I think it's amazing that he saved you, he's basically your hero."
"Yes, I suppose you could call him that."
"Do you believe he's online?"
"No, I cannot recall clearly, but I believe I saw him die trying to save me."
