A/N: Okay, time to be a little more dramatic than what I've been doing lately. We can't forget that this is a war. (P.s, remember the chapter: 'Blessing'?)
Warning: Battlefield violence and minor swearing, but not enough for it to go up to M rating.
Family is Forever – Chapter 22 – A Blessing Revealed
'All Autobots to battle stations, repeat, all Autobots to battle stations.'
Prowl and Jazz were up and running out of the rec-room before the sentence had concluded, the klaxon wailing. The pair raced to their quarters, opening it to find Bumblebee, missing a hand, already there and looking after Harmony.
"We're both going out. You'll be all right here Bumblebee?" the tactician asked as Jazz knelt, gathering their sombre and silent youngling in his arms and holding her close and pressing a kiss to her helm. Ever since Harmony had been upgraded into a youngling, every time there was a battle she was looking forward them less and less, over aware of the fact that at any point of time, her creators could deactivate. She was silent as the saboteur released her and for Prowl to mimic his mate's actions.
Bumblebee's own face was devoid of his habitual cheerfulness as he nodded to his superiors. They gave one last pat to the white femme's helm before they were off again to the front line.
Harmony stared at the door, expression glum and doorwings drooping. Ignoring her guardian for the day, she trudged to her room and threw herself on the berth, grabbing her Sun-Sun and curling up, sighing.
These were the worst times. When all she got was a quick kiss and a cuddle before her Papa and her Father were out there saving the world, leaving her here.
Not all the time. But most of the time her creators were so important to the Autobots that they'd both be fighting.
Letting out a small whimper, the femme curled up into a ball and shut her optics. If she could recharge through this battle, it would be a blessing.
Prowl growled, frustrated with the way the battle was going. Every time it seemed like the Decepticons were slackening, Megatron roared and glared at his army and it bolstered them, causing them to fight on.
There was no sense to this. It was like they were stalling, but stalling for what?
~: I don't like this Jazz,:~ the Praxian said over his sparkbond.
~: Me either. It ain't right, and it's torqueing me off,:~ replied the visored mech, connecting optics with his mate across the battlefield for a moment before fighting on against Skywarp.
~: Keep an optic out,:~ warned the chevroned mech, closing the bond once more and aiming his acid gun at Soundwave.
Jolting awake, Harmony immediately felt that something wasn't right. She had been awoken by something, and it was suddenly too quiet in her quarters. Clutching her soft toy close, Harmony warily crossed to her door, opening and peeking down the small hallway. She froze, seeing Bumblebee struggling silently against a grey and purple mech who had his hand covering the scout's mouth.
Her doorwings flared on instinct, sensors picking up subtle vibrations that there was more than one mech.
"We must silence-"
"- the yellow bot and-"
"-find our target."
The three voices sounded uncannily the same, but came from different sources.
Harmony didn't know what to do. A fear so strong rose within her when she saw the plucky scout get injected with something and fall to the ground. It gave her a clear view of the three mechs who looked very similar. Only one was slightly different, and he had a shutter on his chest. Harmony remembered her parents saying something about a Decepticon who could combine into a camera. Maybe this was them. As they looked around, she closed the door and slid under her berth. She was too big to get into the vent in her room. Her parents vent was big enough, but she couldn't cross the hall. They would see her.
Trembling, the little femme stifled a squeak as the door to her room was forced open and three pairs of pedes came in.
'Be brave Harmony. There will be times when your courage is tested. Be brave and stay safe.'
Elita-1's voice came back to her, and she clung to those words of advice, looking around her for something that could help her as those pedes made their way through her room, looking in her closet, her drawers. She spotted a musical block from her sparkling play set and carefully manoeuvred it into her small hands.
"Maybe we should-"
"-look under the berth-"
"-she may be hiding there," the three components of Reflector said, edging closer.
Harmony swore that she heard her spark pounding in her audials. She felt through the bond, trying to alert her creators, but found both channels blocked, both heavily engaged in battle.
It was quiet, the slight creaking of joints heard, when suddenly a face with burning red optics peered under the berth.
"Target found!" Reflector chorused.
"Slagheads!"squeaked Harmony, taking a chance and throwing the cube at the face.
Viewfinder jerked back with a cry as the block – thrown harder than what the youngling looked capable of doing – collided with his optics, cracking the glass.
The white femme took her chance, scrambling off to the side and racing for the door, too conscious of the two Decepticons following her. If only she could reach her parent's vent...
Harmony yelled as hands grabbed her as she was about to jump for the hallway. She thrashed in the grip, using her doorwings like her Father did to bat at the hands, trying to get him to drop her. Her Papa had told her to never stop trying to get out of the hold you were in. Scrabbling against the hands, Harmony yelled again and kicked about, but to no avail.
"Quick! We must get out before-"
"-the Red Alerter notices-"
"-and deliver her to Lord Megatron."
"No!" screamed Harmony, upon hearing that dreaded name, but she was powerless in her stature.
She was only barely aware that she was being carried out to the battle field.
Harmony, as precious as she was to her creators, had lived as much of a sheltered life as possible. Only allowed to leave the Ark with a guardian, kept from war as much as she could be as young as she was. She knew about the war, she knew why they were fighting. But she had never seen a full scale battle until today.
The youngling couldn't help but stare at the raw violence. Overhead the Seekers zoomed, Skywarp and Thundercracker cursing as Sunstreaker and Sideswipe jet-judoed them. Mechs fell randomly and without warning when Mirage attacked, and soundwaves sent out on a special frequency from Soundwave felled any mech in his way. Harmony wanted to scream, for someone to notice her, get her out of there.
Then the three mechs carrying her squirming form turned in a new direction, and her spark filled with sheer terror as she saw the great big grey mech fighting Uncle Optimus.
Megatron.
The very name sent chills up and down her backstrut.
A familiar tone nearby caught her attention.
Nothing, nothing prepared her to see both her creators kicking, punching, and grappling at a large black mech with a sword in his hand. Her youngling mind did not see their grace in battle or their strength, nor their impeccable sense of co-ordination. All Harmony saw was the snarling faces that usually held so much love for her, energon flecking their bodies as they fought. She cringed and whimpered behind the hand that held her mouthplates closed as Prowl delivered a particularly powerful punch to lodge his hand in Motormaster's abdomen, before pulling out a handful of wires and tubing.
The white youngling knew her parents fought.
She never knew they could be so…so…savage.
A loud cry of triumph diverted her attention, only to find they had reached Megatron and they were right in front of him!
Looking up, fearful, Harmony met the cold, red optics of the Decepticon leader as he smirked manically. His massive hands reached towards her, and she twisted In Reflector's grip, finally getting her mouth free and letting out a desolate, "Papa! Daddy!"
"Scream all you want, little femme," Megatron growled as he tugged her from his soldiers hands, "you are mine now. You are at the perfect age to be made into a Decepticon, a femme worthy to our ranks."
"NO!" Harmony shrieked, finally attracting the attention of all the mechs in the battle field.
Prowl and Jazz, turning at hearing the high-pitched cry, felt their sparks sink, cold with horror at the sight.
Megatron was holding Harmony out in front of him, the youngling screaming and trying to wiggle, but finding herself not strong enough.
"Oh Primus….sweet Primus no," murmured Prowl, doorwings stiff, while his bondmate beside him growled, visor flashing darkly, "Ah'm gonna kill the glitch." Abandoning their fight, they ran towards the warlord, sparks reaching out to their terrified daughter. Both felt sick when they realised some of her terror had been caused by the sight of them.
"What do you want, Megatron? She is an innocent youngling!" bellowed Optimus, getting up from the ground where his enemy had knocked him.
"Her creators are not so innocent," said Megatron. "She is coming with me."
"Let go of her!" screamed Jazz, racing forward, but halting when the grey mech shifted the white femme into one arm, holding the end of his fusion cannon to the white helm. Everybot froze, even the Decepticons. Harmony suddenly went quiet and started to tremble, feeling the heat of the weapon on her sensory horn.
"Daddy," she whined, only to have the gun pressed more insistently to her helm.
"Quiet," hissed Megatron.
Swallowing her tears, telling herself to be brave, the white femme clamped her mouth tightly shut, her optics pleading her creators to save her.
"I told you I would kill you if you ever threatened my mate or sparkling, Megatron. Consider your days numbered," pronounced the Praxian, his doorwings hiking up, intimidating.
"Is that so?" taunted the larger mech, "Well if that's the case, your youngling has only minutes then."
"Let her go!" came a new voice, some turning to see Sunstreaker, his optics a brilliant violet in his rage, Sideswipe struggling to hold his twin back. If the golden twin tried to save his niece, he would endanger her life.
Optics shrewd, Megatron asked, "You care for this weak creature?"
"Frag off Megsy!" shouted Sideswipe, biting his glossa when the warlord shook Harmony.
"Answer!" he bellowed.
"Yes!" growled Sunstreaker. All he could focus on was getting his young charge out of those servos and back to Prowl and Jazz. He knew that the only reason Prowl and Jazz were calmer than he was, was because they didn't want to frighten their daughter more.
Optimus rumbled at seeing the innocent young femme held in the tyrant's arms. "By Primus, let her go or you'll have the entire Autobot army wanting your torn carcass littered across space, and that includes all the 'pacifists,'" he threatened.
'Be brave.'
Moving her helm slowly, Harmony, opened her mouth, hoping this would work, and bit down on Megatron's hand holding her.
"Rrrarrghh! Little scraplet!" cursed Megatron, shaking his hand, but not letting go of the youngling in his hand. Anger encroached on his sense of victory as both Autobots and Decepticons tried to stifle their giggles. He would show them, and frag his plan!
Without a word or his usual posturing, the warlord flung the youngling into the air, relishing in her scream.
Prowl and Jazz felt their sparks lurch, trying to protect their offspring, but the hum of a cannon charging made them feel it was too late. They moved, arms held open to try and catch the white femme as she came down. Sunstreaker broke free of his twin, charging towards his enemy.
Optics focused on the wailing white frame, Megatron felt an immense amount of satisfaction in his being. He would extinguish the one hope the Autobots had.
Power at full capacity, he fired.
The discharge of crackling purple energy would have been beautiful if not for the innocent target it was aiming for. Harmony saw Megatron fire at her as she fell through the air. She glimpsed her parents below her, their desperate, scared faces.
Their expressions matched her own of pure terror.
She sobbed, curling in on herself.
"I don't want to die!"
The ball of destructive energy got nearer to her, and she shuttered her optics.
And then a warm feeling flooded her, as if to assure her everything was going to be all right. She felt hot for a second, and then she felt like she was floating, free falling with a sense of peace.
Did that mean she was in the Well of Sparks now?
Harmony whimpered as two pairs of warm arms encased her, holding her close. Cracking open her optics, she saw the relieved and worried faces of her creators above her as they held her tight. Reaching a hand up to see if this was real, the white femme shocked herself by seeing a golden aura around her plating. She stared at herself. She was glowing!
The battlefield was silent, staring in awe at the glowing youngling, who had, moments before, seemed lost forever when Megatron's shot engulfed her. She had suddenly glowed a bright gold, the symbol of the Primes flashing above her helm as she floated down and safely into her creators arms.
Gasping, Harmony asked, "I'm alive?"
"Yes," Prowl murmured, so close to sobbing – and knowing Jazz was too – and hugged both his mate and creation close to him. "You're alive, my dearspark, by the grace of Primus."
Jazz was choked up, knowing if he spoke he would stammer and break down. He had almost seen the destruction of his creation, and the thought it had almost happened tore both him and Prowl apart from the inside. He cuddled closer, keening only loud enough for Prowl and Harmony to hear him. The glow from around her white body faded, and she curled up, placing her fear at seeing her parents so fierce the back of her mind to bask in the warmth and the love and the relief feeding through them all. Soft kisses rained down on her helm and cheeks, and she nuzzled back.
Megatron, meanwhile, stared.
The youngling had gotten a blessing from Primus.
Figures.
Damnit.
His plan had been foiled again.
Two simultaneous low growls emanated behind him, and the warlord slowly turned to see a murderous Optimus Prime and Sunstreaker.
"Leave," snarled the Autobot leader, gun held to Megatron's forehelm.
"Or what? You'll kill me?" asked Megatron, disliking the fact he had been deprived of victory once more.
Smirking behind his mask, Optimus replied, "No, actually. I'll leave that honour to Prowl and Jazz. After the brief nightmare you've just put them through, I think they deserve that."
If the warlord could pale, he did then, the realisation of making sure a huge, anger filled mistake hitting him like Devastator's foot. Prime's words were too true, and he bellowed, "Decepticons! Retreat!"
Neither Prowl, nor Jazz, nor Harmony noticed the Decepticons silently leaving, humbled by the supernatural event that had just happened. They clung to each other, a family thankful and relieved, although fear for what could have been was still there.
"I love you Papa and Daddy," whispered Harmony, her doorwings fluttering as her audial horns were stroked.
"We love you," they both replied, clutching their precious daughter closer to their sparks.
A/N: ….
So….did you like it?
I hope you did. I needed to do something dramatic.
Here's another dilemma I have though. I don't want to make Harmony a Mary-Sue. I don't. So will this event be enough for her to enable she's not one? Or is there another part of her personality that has a flaw?