AN1: Oh my gosh! *author faints* Holy frozen bad guys! I cant believe how many reviews the last chapter got! I'm just…. *faints again*
*author is unable to express her gratitude and utmost adoration toward the unlimited outpouring of favs, messages, encouragement, and warm fuzzy feelings expressed by readers*
An2: I noticed that comedy tends to get the most responses. Why is that? Did I miss something in the angst department or was something wrong that I didn't catch? I want to expand my horizons and expound upon all avenues. Do you think I should do a little quickie that's more 'cerebral' or do the twins demand I keep the comedy alive? I don't know. I'm conflicted. There's SOOOO much I want to explore but I think I'm missing something. If someone figures it out, please let me know. I honestly don't want to concentrate on only one genre and want to encompass every nuance of the twins' lives. They don't like it, but I snoop through their room to find info… don't ask about the car mags and motor oil. *blanches*
0000-ooooo-IIIIII-0000-OOOOO-III-000-OOOOOOO
The party was in full swing when Sunstreaker entered the rec room. Mechs lingered in groups, talking, singing, and even a few were trying to have an argument, though they kept losing their train of thought and remedying the situation with another drink. It was a typical evening on the ARK.
Sunstreaker went to the dispensary and filled a cube, ignoring the general chatter around him. He didn't like groups, or loud noises. Only necessity had forced him to brave coming into the common room while everyone was amicable after hours. The twins only kept high grade stored in their room, and not needing an overcharge with an early morning shift the next day, he opted for regular grade. He wanted to get his ration and go back to the silent solitude of his quarters. But his golden paint shone like a star, and captured his twins' attention.
"Sunny!" Sideswipe called, brandishing a cube of high grade and motioning for his twin to join him at the table with Jazz, Prowl (who was glaring daggers at Jazz), Ironhide, Hound (who was unconscious), and Smokescreen, who was shuffling cards and grinning at Prowl's demeanor. "Come join us!"
Sunstreaker gave a sneer and exited the room without a backward glance. Sideswipe sighed, slouching back in his seat and downing his cube in one long draught. He tossed the empty cube behind him to the considerable pile and grabbed another from the side table.
"He has an early shift," Prowl said not bothering to grab the hand he was dealt. His ire was focused on Jazz, who had effectively leaned back in his chair and pinned the Praxian's door wing into place. Jazz knew how to subdue in any situation. Whether he was conscious of it or not, it was hard to tell. "He's wise in not getting overcharged, unlike some of our crew members."
Jazz offered a lopsided grin, grabbing Prowl's cards and holding them next to his own, playing the mechs hand for him. "Sunny's never been one to socialize," Jazz put in giving a significant look to Prowl and adding, "Like someone else I know. Apparently some bots aren't programmed to be social."
"He used to love parties," Sideswipe said, and no one could miss the grief in his voice. He stared morosely at his new cube, tilting it and making the purple liquid slosh in its crystalline cage.
Everyone exchanged looks, knowing Sunstreaker had the reputation of being 'unfriendly' since the twins joined the Autobot ranks. It was shocking news to learn that he had once enjoyed socializing festivities. It was like someone saying that Prime had a past life at a pleasure house.
"What happened?" Smokescreen asked, the underlying psychologist in him rearing its head. He wasn't the only one that was curious though. Jazz and Ironhide had stopped surveying their cards and were now looking at Sideswipe. Hound was still face down on the table.
"Why doesn't Sunstreaker like parties?" Ironhide asked, twirling his cards though he hadn't looked at his hand yet. "I mean, he was a famous artist. Surely he had to attend parties and gallery openings."
"Kaon," Sideswipe answered, his optics dimming in memory.
"The gladiatorial circuit?" Prowl prompted.
Sideswipe nodded, his face graying with long forgotten memory.
"I would think the crowds would have appealed to Sunstreaker," Jazz put in, surveying Sideswipe with intense scrutiny. "Entertaining a crowd and draining their accounts as they overcharged. Hear them screaming your designation and having femmes throwing themselves at you. All the adulation and admiration a mech could hope for."
"Especially when you have to kill your opponent," Sideswipe said, earning startled beeps from his table mates. Everyone looked at him with a strange mixture of fear and trepidation. They knew the twins had endured fighting for the gladiatorial circuit for a long time. Rumor had it, they excelled in the lethal tournaments, but neither openly spoke about what went on in the Pits of Kaon.
"You killed for…. entertainment?" Prowl asked, noting the look of abject sorrow on Sideswipe's face. It looked very out of place compared to the more jovial, pranking mood for which he was notorious.
"We fought in the regular matches and by accident, we were billed for a death match," Sideswipe said, staring at his cube. His own cards lay untouched in front of him. "But the first time the crowd roared for termination, we had no choice."
Jazz leaned forward to better glimpse Sideswipe, his action freeing up Prowl's trapped doorwing, but the Praxian remained stationary, still staring at Sideswipe.
"There's always a choice,' Jazz put in, as if was the most obvious thing in the world.
"We didn't want to terminate someone," Sideswipe confided to his audience, his gaze still far away in another time and place. "But our opponents nearly terminated us, and when we realized we could lose each other," He offered a partial shrug. "Sunny just…snapped."
The assembled bots felt their energon lines run cold at the harsh tone Sideswipe adopted as he continued, lost in memory.
"I thought the first time he terminated someone would repulse him, as it had repulsed me, but Sunny actually enjoyed it. He felt something that he had never experienced before. And that feeling is what drove him to terminate anyone who crossed him."
"What was that?" Prowl asked, making a note to keep whatever it was away from Sunstreaker in the future.
"Control," Sideswipe said, looking to Prowl and making the Second recoil slightly from the look of pained desperation on Sideswipe's face. "We couldn't control our lives. We were bought and sold and slaved out to anyone who paid a fair price," Sideswipe admitted, not noticing the shameful looks he was receiving. No one knew the extent of the twins' enslavement, their past kept private for obvious reasons. "We couldn't control when we ate, when we charged, who shared our berth, who we fought against, but this..." Sideswipe gave Prowl a hurt expression, "Sunny could control who lived and who terminated."
"More like, uncontrolled," Ironhide put in, dropping his cards as no one seemed to be interested in playing their game.
"He was uncontrollable, yes," Sideswipe admitted, he downed the rest of his high grade and grabbed another cube from the side table. It was lucky he had so much liquid courage filling his tanks. He didn't divulge such information freely. And there was a good chance he wouldn't remember the conversation tomorrow.
"Sunny lost his control," Sideswipe continued, "He terminated every opponent, even if it wasn't a death match. He saw, he raged, he terminated. And all to the roaring laughter of the crowds." He stared into the shimmering depths of his cube, lost in bitter thought. "You think battling Deceptions is bad. You should fight a death match for entertainment. All chanting your designation and screaming for your hand to extinguish a spark. A life taken, simply because they wish to see that brilliant life disappear into darkness."
Smokescreen nodded, filing away the information. Now that Sideswipe was well past intoxicated, he offered information that wasn't even given in confidence. Not that either twin resorted to Smokescreen's profession before.
"That's why Sunstreaker doesn't want to be around groups," Smokescreen said with a thoughtful expression. Now that he had this little piece of the puzzle, he could better formulate a way to help Sunstreaker. Though there was a good chance he could get slagged for even offering. Sunstreaker didn't like to talk to others about his past, nor his feelings. He usually spoke with violence.
Sideswipe offered a nod, glancing to the Praxian sitting opposite.
"He enjoyed the noise too much," Sideswipe admitted, his gaze returning to that faraway place. "He was like watching death in fast forward. And the exhilaration of his name being screamed by thousands of spectators, was intoxicating. He craved their bloodlust, using it to fuel his actions and take even more lives."
Smokescreen expelled a slow ex-vent, scrutinizing the ruby Lamborghini. "And what stopped him? Surly if he enjoyed the roar of the crowd and the adulation, he would have kept going. So, what stopped him and caused him to join the Autobot ranks?"
"Me." Sideswipe looked up, and the table felt his spark burn at the raw grief. "Sunstreaker's last opponent, was me."
"But if he terminated you, wouldn't that mean he would terminate as well?" Jazz asked. It was often joked that neither twin could perish because their spark could latch onto the other and continue to exist.
"We were ordered to fight each other," Sideswipe admitted, feeling his tanks churn at the memory. He closed his optics, shaking his head in slow motion as he relived the worst moment of his life. The cube in his hand cracked as he clutched it. "Sunny lost himself to the will of the crowd. He attacked me. I doubt he really wanted to do me harm, but the look in his optics as he charged…. I will never forget it. He was just so… angry. In that moment, I knew Sunstreaker was capable of anything." Sideswipe downed the contents of the cube and gave his head a little shake as the extra charge made him see double. "I dropped my guard and allowed him to strike me."
"Why would you do such a thing?" Prowl asked, wondering what could have went through each twins processors in that moment. It was very perplexing. He felt his battle computer engage and churn with random equations.
"I didn't want to live with a brother who turned into a monster," Sideswipe said simply, swaying a little as he turned in his seat to regard Prowl, both of him. "He struck me down, and as he stood ready to deliver the fatal blow…he came back. My Sunny came back. He saw what he had done and refused to fight any longer. When our handler had us brought before him for punishment, Sunstreaker attacked and terminated him. He found the disabling device for our slave collars, freed all the slaves, and we left. A few days later, we joined up."
"So that's why Sunstreaker doesn't like parties," Smokescreen put in thoughtfully. "The crowds remind him of what he allowed himself to become."
"Now, all he wants is to be left alone," Sideswipe said, "Just… peace and quiet for his processor."
"If you call a war quiet and peaceful," Jazz snorted.
Sideswipe's gaze drifted toward the empty cube, his brow furrowing in deep thought. "All Sunny wants is peace and quiet. Away from those who would erase his will and force him into becoming a drone for their entertainment." He let out a hiccupping chirp, his expression still disturbed. "He only wants to hear silence."
"That is something we all wish," Prowl said in a soft tone, earning several nods in agreement.
Sideswipe gave a little start, as if noticing those gathered around him for the first time. His overly bright optics fell on Prowl and with another hiccupping chirp, he declared, "I love you!" before faceplanting on the Praxian's chassis.
Prowl sighed, knowing the frontliner was just overcharged…. Again. He twitched a doorwing in annoyance and felt a sudden burst of relief when he realized Jazz no longer had the doorwing pinned. He pushed from the table, hoisting an unconscious Sideswipe against him. "I'll drop him at his quarters."
Jazz grinned, earning Prowl's questioning glare.
"I said you looked irresistible with that new wax job," Jazz smirked.
Prowl rolled his optics and hugged Sideswipe against him as he stood, pulling both from their seats. "I'll take him to his berth."
"I didn't think you'd be one to take advantage," Jazz ginned, picking up his forgotten cards and scowling at the horrible hand he was dealt.
Prowl offered a snort, "Unlike yourself, I do not take advantage of those who can not fend for themselves."
"Ouch man, that stung," Jazz called, not looking up from his hand as he shuffled his cards, weighing his options. He took three from Prowl's hand and shuffled them with his own, his optics narrowing at the new configuration.
Prow dragged the unconscious Sideswipe out of the rec room and toward his quarters. Not wanting to barge in and have Sunstreaker attack the unannounced stranger, Prowl hit the door chime, alerting the other occupant to his visit. When Sunstreaker answered the door it was with his usual scowl.
"Apologies for the interruption, but your brother seems to have overindulged," Prowl said, waiting for Sunstreaker to make the first move.
As expected, Sunstreaker stepped aside, giving the Second a clear path to the other berth. Prowl suppressed a scoff, but dragged the unconscious Lamborghini and dropped him on his berth. He turned to leave, noticing Sunstreaker still stationed at the door, a dark look on his face. When Prowl went to the door, he stopped in front of the golden twin, his expression neutral. Sunstreaker gave him a hard stare, clearly not liking the sudden attention or invasion of personal space.
"You have my word, you will find peace," Prowl said, and without another word, he left, leaving behind a stunned Sunstreaker and a snoring Sideswipe.
Sunstreaker shut the door, his expression frozen in shock. When a particularly loud snore permeated the room, he zeroed in on its source, his fists forming at his sides as he stalked to his brother. He had a feeling that his twin was in a talkative mood this evening with the high grade. When Sideswipe snored again, Sunstreaker placed his foot against his brother's side and shoved him forward, ramming his face against the berth and wall. When Sideswipe's face was smashed into the crease eliminating his snores, Sunstreaker ex-vented and returned to his berth.
Silence reigned once more.
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I'm sorry. I just cant seem to keep Sideswipe sober. Little bastard can put away the hooch! And it taxes my little brain to slur words and spell them accordingly, so you're just going to have to imagine the words coming from a drunk vocalizer.
HUGE THANK YOU AND RESOUNDING GRATITUDE TO ALL READERS! I do try to answer everyone via the site's messaging system. If I miss anyone just jump up and down and yell 'Me me me me" and I'll get back to you. :D
