Chapter 5

Moon Wishes and New Friends

…grandpa…

…grandpa...

…grandpa, please wake up…

"Hmm… wha? Paradox?" Ratchet mumbled as he somehow managed to force himself out of recharge when he heard Paradox's voice. He opened his optics only to see the youngling femme's brilliant gold ones only a few inches from his face. It was in the middle of the night at the Autobot base and Ratchet had only just gotten to sleep a few hours ago! What was Paradox even doing at this time of night? Although after a few more seconds of gathering his senses one particular notion stood out amongst the rest. "Did you have another nightmare?" Paradox merely nodded and Ratchet took notice of the tears that still stained her small face and suddenly the reason why she was in his room became glaringly apparent. "Did you want to sleep with me tonight?" Again another nod and after a few moments she climbed up and cuddled against him on his berth. Ratchet paused when he noticed how Paradox was trembling violently. "Was it that nightmare again?"

"Yes…" Paradox was no stranger to nightmares, nor was Tripwire. They both used to get them quite frequently when they were younger and even though the nightmares seemed to have decreased over the years they were still devastating when they did occur. But there was one other thing in particular about these nightmares that was part of the reason they affected the younglings so… It was always the same nightmare over and over again. Ratchet and Optimus both suspected that this nightmare was in fact a suppressed memory file from when the sparklings were taken from their parents by the Deceptions.

"Did your brother have the nightmare too?" Ratchet asked while trying to calm her down. Another odd thing about this nightmare was that when one of the youngling's had it the other one always seem to have it was well.

"He went to go sleep with Bulkhead." Paradox whispered before looking up at Ratchet with those huge optics of hers. "It was a little different this time. I could… I could actually make out what one of the voices was saying... I think it was a mech's voice and he was screaming: 'No! No please I beg you don't take them!' But after that all I saw was red... I hate that dream so much… why do I keep having it grandpa?"

"I don't know sweetspark, all you can do is try not to think about it." He explained as best he could. "Why don't you try thinking about something else like-"

"The Northern Lights?" Paradox offered up sadly. Ratchet cringed at this; after the mess that had happened with Miko, Bulkhead and Wheeljack earlier in the day Optimus had decided that it was for the best if they heeded the new Predacon's warning and not return to the area or anywhere close to it.

…Long story short, Ratchet found himself unable to keep his promise to take Paradox to see the Aurora Borealis…

"You must be pretty disappointed about not being able to see the Aurora. I am sorry about not being able to take you."

"It's alright." She muttered as she adjusted herself next to him on the berth and he pulled the blanket up more over her small frame. "I never actually expected to see them anyway. I kinda figured that something might come up… so I'm not really that disappointed." She suddenly paused and looked at Ratchet having realized that she had said something that was unintentionally mean. "I didn't mean it like you would deliberately break your promise to me grandpa, but… it's just that I don't like getting my hopes up for silly things."

"It's not silly Paradox, it's something that you want to see!" He explained a little bit surprised at what the little one had just said. Paradox however failed to notice this and adjusted her position so that she could see out of the window next to the berth and her optics locked onto the nearly-full moon that illuminated the night's sky.

"Grandpa… is it bad that I still hope to one day meet my Carrier and Sire?" She asked in a voice barely louder than a whisper. "Once I read an old story where a human made a wish to the moon and the spirit that lives there granted it for them. So every night I wish on the moon that they are really alive and that they will come and find me and Tripwire. And I know that it's stupid since things don't happen just because you hope and wish for them too! But I just can't help it. Is… is that bad?"

The old medic could do nothing but look sadly at the little femme, he had no idea that Paradox was becoming so world-weary already. But sadly he realized that he should have expected it… every day in all sorts of little ways Paradox and Tripwire were exposed to the war. Even though everyone at the base tried very hard to shield the two from everything that went on, the younglings were not blind and Paradox in particular was often too perceptive for her own good. But had it really gone so far that the little femme didn't know that it was alright to hope for things? No… she was far too young and this was something that Ratchet could just not allow her to think.

"Paradox… it is perfectly fine to wish for that to happen." He said reassuringly. "I know it must be hard wondering about your Creators, who they were and what happened to them… but you know we don't know for sure that the Cons killed them. There is always hope."

Paradox's eyes suddenly lit up at Ratchet's words. "Really?" She then paused for a second. "Grandpa what is it that you wish for?"

"Me? Hmmm…" He thought about it only briefly before answering. "I wish that this war was over and that Cybertron was restored… and we could all go home. That is something that I hope for every day little one."

"You really want to go back to Cybertron?"

"Yes… quite badly."

"…then make a wish with me…"

"Come again?"

Paradox smiled cutely but her expression still remained rather serious. "You said it was okay to wish for things so why don't we make a wish on the moon together?" Primus Ratchet could not say no to that little face… so with a loud sigh he gave the sparkling a quick nod and she hurriedly sat up on the berth and looked out the window at the moon and she folded her hands as though she was about to pray, something that she had picked up from when she would occasionally see Miko praying… (Praying she would not end up in trouble from whatever accident that she had just caused immediately beforehand…)

"I wish that someday I will find my Carrier and Sire… and… if it's not too much trouble maybe I could get to see the Northern Lights as well?" The little femme said and she then looked over at Ratchet expectantly. And even if he felt absolutely ridiculous doing it the old medic folded his hands and looked up at the moon.

"I wish that the war will end and that Cybertron would be restored…" 'I also wish that Paradox will always be safe and happy…' Of course he added the last part silently to himself so Paradox would not hear. Although he really tried not to show favoritism between the two younglings, Ratchet could not deny that he had started to see Paradox like she was his own child rather than grandchild. He loved this little one so very much and he would do anything to make her happy. But for now he watched as Paradox lay back down on the berth, and began to slowly drift off into what was hopefully a pleasant recharge.

And it was at that moment that Ratchet inwardly decided something…

One way or another he was going to take Paradox to see the Aurora Borealis…

It had been eight days since Songbird and her daughters had taken up residence on the Nemesis…

And as far as Songbird was concerned it had been the eight days from hell…

It wasn't so much that the days had actually been bad per say, but her being as unfamiliar as she was with her new surroundings it led the gryphon to get lost virtually every time she left her private quarters. It was embarrassing, especially the one time that she had left the Nemesis to hunt and bring back something for her daughters to eat… only to barely avoid having a mental breakdown for when she got back and spent no less than six hours trying to find her room somewhere in the twisting hall of the warship. Fortunately she had not been asked to do anything by Megatron or by anyone else yet; however she had no choice but to instruct Moonrise and Freefall to not leave the room without her. Much to their dismay since there was only so much that they could do whilst being cooped up in a room for days on end. They both wanted to explore their new surroundings but Songbird was reluctant to allow them to do so… Still she did manage to distract her daughters with one of the other items she kept in her satchel along with her tarot cards, a large somewhat clunky data pad that she had made herself. It was what she used to connect to the human's Internet and Songbird primarily used it to download various books that she would later read to either herself or to her sparklings. And just as if they were still living in their cave, every night she would either tell a story or sing them to sleep.

Which is what the femme Predacon was attempting to do now, as she was humming a low tune as Freefall and Moony were laying against her chest and listening intently. However, just before she could actually begin singing a faint sound suddenly caught her attention making her pause and listen for moment… Everything was totally silent and Songbird started to think she was mistaken only to hear it again; there was the sound of something… or someone… shifting just outside of her berthroom. Songbird tensed and she stood up, did Megatron really think that she would tolerate him sending someone to spy on her and her youngling's? If he did he had another thing coming…

"What's going on mama?" Moonrise asked only to be silenced when Songbird held up a claw to her beak and making a quiet 'Shhh…' She made her way over to the door, treating this situation like she would a hunt. Moving carefully not to make sound until she was right in front of the closed door; pausing for only a few seconds before she burst through the doorway and pinned the unfortunate individual who had been eavesdropping under her razor-sharp claws.

Turned out the individual was one of the Vehicons; and judging by the way she now had it pinned it had been listening with audio press right up against the metal door. It cried out in a mix of surprise and horror as Songbird proceeded to snarl in its face. "P-Please don't!" It squeaked sounding particularly pathetic. "All I wanted was to hear you s-sing!" This stopped Songbird dead in her tracks and she stared down at the now trembling mech that was trapped beneath her talons.

"What?" She asked a little bit dumbfounded and cautiously released her crushing grip on the smaller creature although she did not let him stand up. "What are you talking about?"

The Vehicon whimpered a bit before finally managing to collect himself, or at least somewhat. "Y-You sing so beautifully. We all love listening to your songs and stories, I just wanted to hear it tonight! I'm sorry please don't k-kill me!"

The gryphon stared completely dumbfounded and released the Vehicon allowing him to stand but she still blocked his way so that he could not run away. "You could hear me?"

"Y-yes." He answered sheepishly. "The Vehicon and Eradicon barracks are located directly underneath your room, there is a vent that connects the two and… well… we can all hear you when you sing and tell your stories."

"Um…" Believe it or not this situation had almost instantly gotten awkward and uncomfortable for Songbird. It was one thing when she was singing to her daughters but she had never anticipated others hearing her. She was normally not a creature to feel self-conscious but that's definitely what she was feeling now… that mixed with a shit load of embarrassment. "I'm... sorry?"

"No no! Don't be sorry! We love listening to you!" The little Vehicons fear seeming to dissipate almost entirely when he saw that he was not going to get smacked around, beat senseless or outright murdered… and he took on a relatively sweet and unintimidating air. Vaguely reminding Songbird of the time Moony had been followed home by a wolf pup. Since there was something strangely puppy like about this particular Vehicon.

"We?"

"All the other Vehicon's; that's kind of why I'm here. You see everybody was crowded around the vent and I couldn't get a spot close enough to hear anything so I… decided to come listen near your door. I really didn't think I you'd hear me." He muttered as he rubbed the back of his helm. Songbird raised an optic ridge at this and after a moment she thought of something…

"What's your name?" She asked curiously. The Vehicon looked surprised like a genuinely have expected that question to come up but after a second the awkwardness left and his good nature returned and if he'd had a visible mouth to do so Songbird was pretty sure that he'd be smiling.

"Well my designation is ST3V3, but everyone just calls me Steve." He chirped.

"Alright then Steve I want to make something crystal clear to you now." Songbird said unintentionally getting very intimidating and making Steve back away as much as he could, wondering what he had done to accidentally anger the femme. He brought his arms up to shield himself, expecting to be brutally attacked… "If you ever wish to hear me sing, all you have to do from now on is ask." Steve stopped and looked up at Songbird almost disbelievingly.

"Really? You're… not going to smack me?" Part of him almost didn't believe what she had just said. They were Vehicon's! Megatron's worthless grunt soldiers! No one was ever nice to them, in fact unknown to Lord Megatron and his officers the Vehicon's had long accepted the fact that they were viewed as expendable and they had secretly adopted a code where they would always try to watch out for one another.

After all the only officer to ever watch out for them had been Breakdown…

…and he was long gone…

"No I'm not." Songbird explained inwardly wondering just how badly these low ranked soldiers were treated. "Although there is something that you could do for me. You see I don't know my way around the ship… perhaps-?"

"You want someone to show you around?" Steve interrupted having been able to pretty much guess what the Predacon was going to say. "No problem! We'd be happy to show you around!" Of course he quickly took notice of Songbirds confusion and at the reference of 'we'… "When I say we, I mean myself along with all the other Vehicon and Eradicons! Um… when you say all I have to do is ask to hear you sing, could I possibly bring a few friends along?"

"That's okay as well, I don't mind." Songbird said with a nod suddenly seeing this situation is working out on both ends. While she was undoubtedly cautious when it came to dealing with new individuals, there was something about all of the Vehicon's and Eradicons that was just not intimidating at all. Probably the fact that she ripped apart several of them with ease back when she had first returned to her decimated cave…

"Yep! Our mama sings better than anyone else in the whole world!" Moonrise chuckled drawing Songbird and Steve's attention to where both kids were standing in the room's entranceway. Moony looked happy as usual and Freefall was looking up at Steve skeptically… also as usual. Songbird did tense up when Steve squatted down in order to get a better look at her sparklings but that quickly dispersed with the next words he spoke.

"Daww, your squishy little organics are really cute!" Steve said as he reached down and very carefully rubbed Moonrise's head with one of his sharp servos causing the child to giggle. He didn't make an attempt to pet the older sibling… that look she was giving him was creepy.

"Call me cute and squishy again and I will find some way to break your face…" Freefall threatened. Since she was most certainly not cute or squishy; she viewed herself a warrior after all. Steve gulped little bit and stopped petting Moonrise, of course the little girl still clung tightly to his servo and when he stood up straight she was quickly transferred to Songbirds back.

"Well, I guess I should get going then." Steve muttered.

"You could stay listen to tonight's song if you would like." Songbird offered but the Vehicon shook his head.

"No it's okay, I'll come back tomorrow… since… it is still okay right?" He quickly doubled checked and Songbird nodded. "And I'll stop by in the morning to show you all around?"

"Yes, that will be fine. Good night and sleep well Steve." She said with a small smile as Steve merely waved and headed off down the hall, back to the barracks. Once back inside of her private quarters however Moonrise slid off of Songbird's back and laughed.

"I like Steve, he seems really nice!" She then turned her attention to her older sister. "Heck I think that even Freefall doesn't mind him so much!" This got her glare from Freefall as it was somewhat obvious at this point that Freefall didn't care for anyone outside of her family, but she let her ire fade out of her body since it was virtually impossible for her to stay mad at her little sister for longer than a few minutes.

"Admittedly… he doesn't seem so bad but I still don't think I'm gonna trust him. He could still turn out to be a threat." The older girl explained only to get a loud laugh from her mother.

"Freefall I think I can safely assure you that he is not a threat… in fact I think that he is a perfectly delightful little idiot." She explained as she settled down on her berth.

"Yeah Fall I bet that we're going to be great friends with him, just like we are with Yue!" The younger girl exclaimed flashing a broad happy smile. Songbird suddenly snorted loudly and shook her head as her expression suddenly became serious.

"Moonrise, when you speak of Yue you must speak of her with respect." Songbird explained seriously. For the individual named Yue was a being who Songbird greatly respect and was the only other creature that Song had ever conversed with outside of her daughters. Still Songbird managed to pull herself from her thoughts and her expression lightened once again. "But yes… friends. Perhaps I might actually make a few in the Vehicons."

"And the dragon?" Mooney piped up. At this Freefall just rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"The dragon is a jerk." She stated flatly.

"He is not… I think he's just lonely." Moonrise explained her reasoning as best she could to her elder sister. But then turned her attention back to Songbird. "If he tries to be nice to you we become friends with him mama?"

"Although I find his arrogance to be extremely annoying, if… if he tries to be friendly to me I will be friendly back to him." Songbird relented, thinking back to what she had seen pertaining to Predaking in her tarot cards. Moony seemed content with this and she suddenly yawned clearly exhausted, it was late after all. Upon seeing this the Gryphon Predacon smiled softly. "Come now, it's time for bed young ones." And with that Songbirds daughters made themselves comfortable and settled in for sleep…

And Songbird sang just a little bit louder that night so that her secret audience could hear better…

But unbeknownst to Songbird her youngest sparkling was planning something that involved her mother and Predaking…

I'm really sorry about the delay with posting this chapter but my life has been a bit hectic lately. I promise to do my very best about updating quicker. As usual please remember to Read and Review and please know that constructive criticism is always welcome!