I suggest you look the songs up and listen to them while reading this chapter. The first is Lea Salonga on Fox 5 NEWS singing Empty Chairs at Empty Tables, and the second is Footprints in the Sand, by Leona Lewis.
Then to make you more depressed, imagine Jazz.
The ones after that are Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend by Marilyn Monroe, No Air by Jordan Sparks feat. Chris Brown (or Blaster in our case), Mi Morena by Josh Groban.
Nightbeat hummed as she buffed her armour and adjusted the strands of gold chain dripping with gems hanging from the spikes protecting her audials. Gems made well placed swirls in the hub-caps of her wheels and on her arms and shoulders. The lines of white gems continued over her abdominal plates, which were exposed, and down her legs to the heeled pedes.
Several smaller gems framed her blue optics, and they sent fractures of blue light scattering like human glitter. Nightbeat's underglow was set and locked in purple, and the gems on her body refracted the light as well.
Nightbeat -in the human fashion of makeup- had 'borrowed' a miniscule amount of gold paint from Sunstreaker, and had lined the gems around her optics with the paint.
The lounging yellow Cassette at her pedes nudged her shin strut.
"Blaster, says that it's time for a sound check." Steeljaw strode to the door, and sat beside it as he couldn't reach the lock.
As most sound checks go, Nightbeat had to sing several of the songs she'd chosen to preform that night. The door was partly open for the most part, and as she finished the vocal exercises she'd watched humans do on Youtube -although she didn't need to do it- there were a pair of small Twins watching her in awe.
"Yo, man. That shit's dope!" The red one grinned, slamming his hands together.
"That shit right there, that's amazing!" The green one nodded. "Do some more!"
Nightbeat raised an optic ridge at Blaster, who shrugged. "You might as well start your set now."
"I suppose."
"There's a grief that can't be spoken. There's a pain goes on and on. Empty chairs at empty tables, now my friends are dead and gone. Here they talked of revolution. Here it was they lit the flame. Here they sang about `tomorrow', and tomorrow never came."
"From the table in the corner, they could see a world reborn and they rose with voices ringing. I can hear them now! The very words that they had sung became their last communion on the lonely barricade at dawn."
"Oh my friends, my friends forgive me. That I live and you are gone. There's a grief that can't be spoken. There's a pain goes on and on."
"Phantom faces at the window. Phantom shadows on the floor. Empty chairs at empty tables where my friends will meet no more. Oh my friends, my friends, don't ask me what your sacrifice was for. Empty chairs at empty tables where my friends will meet no more..."
The soft clapping in the now fully open doorway revealed a teary optic'd Elita, Optimus and a crying Prowl, although he tried to hide it.
"I see your talent hasn't vanished, Nightbeat. You sound wonderful." Elita smiled, wiping away a tear that spilled from her optic.
"Thank you. It's a pity my holographic projector was damaged before we left Cybertron." Nightbeat smiled, bowing slightly with her arms out.
"Mudflap, Skidz; I see you're already here." Optimus smiled at the young awestruck Autobots as piano started for the next song. Blaster grinned, optics hidden behind his visor and his Cassettes crowded around him.
"You walked with me, footprints in the sand, and helped me understand where I'm going. You walked with me when I was all alone, with so much I know along the way. Then I heard you say,
I promise you, I'm always there when your heart is filled with sorrow and despair. I'll carry you when you need a friend. You'll find my footprints in the sand.
I see my life flash across the sky. So many times have I been so afraid and just when I have thought I lost my way, you give me strength to carry on. That's when I heard you say,
I promise you, I'm always there when your heart is filled with sorrow and despair. And I'll carry you when you need a friend. You'll find my footprints in the sand.
When I'm weary, well, I know you'll be there and I can feel you when you say I promise you, I'm always there when your heart is filled with sadness and despair. I'll carry you when you need a friend. You'll find my footprints in the sand. I promise you, I'm always there when your heart is full of sadness and despair. I'll carry you when you need a friend. You'll find my footprints in the sand..."
-;-
Sideswipe glided down the empty hallways of the NEST base, making zigzag patterns as his twin followed behind him. As a joint unit, the twins wondered where in Pit everyone was.
"Wait a kilk." Sunstreaker stopped in the middle of the hall. "Wasn't there some thing in the rec room today?"
"Oh riiiight! Let's go look!"
They were close to the rec room, but the door was shut, as it was sometimes, but not locked. It slid open, when Sideswipe typed the pass-code in. As the silver door slid open, the Twins were met with a sudden wall of sound.
"The French are glad to die for love, they delight in fighting duels, but I prefer a man who lives and gives," Sideswipe's optics were drawn to the dark blue femme standing slightly above everyone else. Nightbeat's optics flickered over to where he and Sunstreaker were standing, and she gave a sly smile and wink. "Expensive jewels."
"A kiss on the hand may be quite continental, but diamonds are a girl's best friend. A kiss may be grand... but it won't pay the rental on your humble flat, or help you feed your, meow, pussycat! Men grow cold as girls grow old and we all lose our charms in the end. But square cut or pear shape these rocks don't lose their shape! Diamonds are a girl's best friend!
"... Tiffany's! ... Cartier! Black Star, Frost, Gorham! Talk to me Harry Winston tell me all about it! There may come a time when a lass needs a lawyer, but diamonds are a girl's best friend. There may come a time when a hard boiled employer thinks you're awful nice, but get that ice or else no dice. He's your guy when stocks are high but beware when they start to descend. It's then that those louses go back to their spouses. Diamonds are a girl's best friend!"
"I've heard of affairs that are strictly platonic, but diamonds are a girl's best friend. And I think affairs that you must keep liaisonic are better bets. If little pets get big baguettes. Time rolls on and youth is gone and you can't straighten up when you bend, but stiff back or stiff knees you stand straight at... Tiffany's..."
"Diamonds... diamonds... I don't mean rhinestones... but diamonds... are a girls best... best friend!"
Nightbeat threw one of her arms in the air, subspacing a decorative crystal that shone with multicoloured lights she projected from the underglow on her arm.
"That's a big-ass diamond." Lennox muttered, easily heard in the silence following Nightbeat's performance.
"I'll take requests if you want." She laughed, optics focused on the Twins.
"Yo, yo, do that one about air!" Mudflap yelled, jumping to his feet.
"Bro, dat's girly music!" Skidz grumbled. "Why you listen to dat?"
"Blaster, you wanna join me?" The orange and red mech grinned at the femme, striding to where she was standing.
"Steeljaw, you're in charge."
"Tell me how I'm supposed to breathe with no air. If I should die before I wake, it's 'cause you took my breath away. Losing you is like living in a world with no air. Oh."
"I'm here alone, didn't wanna leave. My heart won't move, it's incomplete. Wish there was a way that I can make you understand." Blaster joined in, his strong alto rolling through the room.
"But how do you expect me to live alone with just me. 'Cause my world revolves around you. It's so hard for me to breath,"
"Tell me how I'm supposed to breathe with no air. Can't live, can't breathe with no air. It's how I feel whenever you ain't there. It's no air, no air. Got me out here in the water so deep, tell me how you gonna be without me. If you ain't here, I just can't breathe. It's no air, no air. No air, air. No air, air. No air, air. No air, air."
"I walked, I ran, I jumped, I flew, right off the ground to float to you. There's no gravity to hold me down for real."
"But somehow I'm still alive inside. You took my breath, but I survived. I don't know how, but I don't even care."
"So how do you expect me to live alone with just me. 'Cause my world revolves around you. It's so hard for me to breathe. No air, air. No air, air. No air, air. No air, air. No more. It's no air, no air. No air, air. No air, air. No air, air. No air, air. Tell me how I'm supposed to breathe with no air. Can't live, can't breathe with no air. It's how I feel whenever you ain't there. It's no air, no air."
"Got me out here in the water so deep, tell me how you gonna be without me. If you ain't here, I just can't breathe. It's no air, no air. No air, air. No air, air. No air, air. No air."
"Optimus, is there anything you and Elita want to hear?" Nightbeat smiled down at the Autobot Commanders. The rec room was empty, save for Optimus, Elita, Ratchet, Ironhide, Moonracer, Chromia, and the Twins.
"Elita?" The blue and red custom mech glanced at his spark-mate.
The three femmes in the room conversed over the femme bond, and Nightbeat smiled, remotely accessing the speakers that had previously pumped out loud music, courtesy of Blaster. The mech had retired to his room a few hours earlier.
"And so my love from my window I can see a beautiful vision. And when the music plays, your body rises like a bird of grace. Mi morena, I saw you dancing in the rain. Holy water. Shining like a silver flame. Come like a ghost, I will watch you dance alone. Mi morena, You're the light within my soul."
"And so my love the way you're moving in your dress to a nylon guitar on wings of silk and lace. You lift upon the notes and slip away. Mi morena, I saw you dancing in the rain. Holy water. Shining like a silver flame. Come like a ghost, I will watch you dance alone. Mi morena, you're the light within my soul. Take this cross of feathers and bone, take this heart I've carved in stone, in your name."
"Where the setting sun surrenders to the moon, Mi querida, I wait for you. Mi morena, Hold your hands out to the night. Be my lover, I will fall into your eyes. Sweet fire of love. For you I'd steal the stars, `cause I adore you. O my morena."
"What are you?" Nightbeat spun, pulling her blades from subspace and throwing them as she turned and subspaced her blasters.
The older Twins stood behind her, staring at the blades impaled in the wall where their sparks would be. Her optics narrowed, and her blasters hummed a little louder, bringing their attention back to her.
"Hi!" The silver one chirped, grinning. He swiftly pulled one of the blades from the wall and handed it to her. "I think this is yours."
"What are you doing?" The dark blue femme hissed, snatching the blade back and subspacing it with her blasters. "Everybot is supposed to be in recharge. The humans most certainly are."
"We were waiting for you." The gold one crossed his arms, glaring.
"Outside the wash racks?" Nightbeat crossed her arms, cocking her hip out. Her body language revealed she was annoyed, and her optics told the Twins that the femme was exhausted.
"Yeah. We're curious. Who are you? And what are you?" The silver bot crossed his arms, mirroring his Twins' posture.
The femme pulled herself to her full height. "I am First Lieutenant Nightbeat. And I am a femme."
"Well, we could tell you were a femme. What caste did you come from?" The gold one snorted.
"Entertainment."
"You have a sub-caste?" The silver one tilted his head, rocking on his wheeled pedes.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Nightbeat growled. "Now, who are you?"
"I'm Sideswipe! That's my brother Sunn-"
"Sunstreaker." The gold one snapped, cutting his brother off. Sideswipe pouted and Nightbeat lifted an optic ridge.
The twins were easily sixteen feet tall, with handsome faces and model-like bodies. They looked strong, cocky, and their paint was perfect; buffed, and shiny. Sideswipe was the more childish looking of the two, with glimmers of mischief in his blue optics. Sunstreaker was the more vain of the two, as his armour was polished and waxed better than his brother's. He had a grumpy expression on his facial plates, and no wheels on his feet.
"Wait." Sudden realization dawned on Nightbeat and she grinned. "Sunstreaker. The Sunstreaker?"
The gold mech looked surprised, but he nodded, and his arms dropped slightly.
"Yeah."
"I'm such a fan of your work!" Nightbeat grinned, practically bouncing on her pedes, a large smile on her lip components. "I managed to save an entire collection of data pads with your paintings on them."
"The entire collection." Sunstreaker looked dumbfound. Sideswipe shared his expression. "You saved the entire collection."
"Yeah! And most of the Iacon libraries." She nodded.
"You saved every painting I have ever done in my life-cycle."
"Yeah..."
"Okay, now that Sunny's processor has been blown, where are they?" Sideswipe smacked his brother on the back of the helm, bringing a loud curse from the gold mech.
"In my berth room. We can go get them. They do belong to you." Nightbeat nodded down the hallway, spinning the tires on her shoulders and making her neon underglow flash.