Lockdown
He was my best friend.
I tried to help him.
But he traded everything for suffering,
And found himself alone.
As I fought Snarl, I began to have these hallucinations sort of speak. I saw a happy white and blue wolf sparkling with his Autobot parents. His father had been a commander, and his mother an intelligence officer. Pretty good for a slagger like him. But why was he now the way he was? I was snapped back to reality when he charged me and knocked me over. I protected my throat with my front paws (unfortunately, we were in his advantage zone). I wasn't about to make this easy on him. I scratched his face and he pulled back. I got up again and another hallucination hit me.
I watched the lying,
Turn into hiding.
With scars on both his lips,
His fingertips,
Were melted to the bone.
I watched the father, a wolf mech like Snarl, lose his life to Decepticon forces. I saw his mother, another wolf, die at the hands of a bounty hunter like me. I realized that Snarl didn't hate me for being a Half Blood, he hated me for what I was. He hated my family all the more for it. The Quents and the Decepticons had wanted the Beast Morphs dead, and his parents were just two of several thousand victims of a…bloody, I guess, massacre of innocent people. All of it was destroyed right in front of him.
It was Scourge who took him under his wing. He tried to help the troubled pup, but his views about Decepticons, bounty hunters, and Quentissons wouldn't change. The hatred of Half-Bloods came with the hatred for bounty hunters, since most were Half Bloods.
But I can still remember,
What his face looked like,
When I found him in an alley,
In the middle of the night.
The memory faded and I tried to focus, but couldn't. Snarl was taking full advantage of the situation. He continuously knocked me over and tried to claim a victory, but I wouldn't let him. I had to know more. I had to see more. I knew he wasn't a Half-Blood, but it was quite possible that he was just as lost and alone as I had been.
Scourge had been like to him as Death Gar was to me. If he only knew my story, maybe he wouldn't hate me so much. But there was little chance that he actually wanted to listen. All Snarl wanted to do now was fight, and become the planet's leader. I wouldn't make that easy, as said.
Tell me what you know.
Tell me what you've gone and done now.
Tell me what you know.
Tell me what you've gone and done now.
I watched his depression after the death of his parents. He was barely six stellar cycles old, and torn between a terrible war. I knew what that was like. It wasn't fair in my optics that he had to suffer when he was so young. I had hoped that no one else had to experience my pain, but there was one, and possibly thousands more.
"Get up and fight, Orion! You don't back down from a bounty! So why's this any different?!" Snarl spat.
I rose to my feet. "Because you and I are much alike, Snarl. I could explain if you'd let me".
Gonna do the trick, get it over with.
You're better off to take all that,
You've got and burn it on the spot.
Just to get high.
"You wouldn't get it, Hunter. Fight me, Slag it!" Snarl demanded, crushing into me again, "You're a Half Blood, you should be stronger than me! So Prove it!".
I fell to the ground again. "No" I said simply, "I won't hurt anyone anymore than I need to".
"You liar!" Snarl pinned me.
"I'm not in this to become leader. I'm in this because it's my birth right to be a part of this".
Snarl gave a snap at the throat. "Don't make me kill you, Orion".
Three days no sleeping, he gave up eating.
He sold his mother's rings, she said nothing,
And pretended not to know.
"You wouldn't do it. I wanna see you pull the trigger, Snarl. Just to see if you've got the spark plugs to do it" I dared.
Snarl pushed down harder on me, but I bit his leg and found myself pinning him. Now he had to listen.
"look at me, Snarl! I said look at me, damn it!" I forced him to do so, "You think you're the only one who had to suffer through that war?! At least you have memories of your parents! Let me tell you something, not remembering, it sucks!".
He started stealing to supply the feeling.
Found out he pulled a knife on someone's wife,
And held it to her throat.
"Shut up, Orion!".
"NO!" I shouted at him, "You shut up and listen to me, kid! You better be grateful for what you do have rather than dwelling on the past. It's over now, get over it! I had to. It might've been easier for me, and I understand that I might not fully understand your pain, but when I was shown what my mother was like…Oh, I caught on that realization was a glitch!".
Snarl breathed hard and bit the side of my neck, knocking me over again.
But I can still remember,
What his face looked like,
When I found him in an alley,
In the middle of the night.
"I hate bounty hunters, Orion, and Half Bloods along with them! This is me, your kind made me this way!".
"Yeah, but you had a choice. You still do. Snarl, it's not too late for you! When my memory core was swiped…it was the worse thing ever. My path was chosen for me. My mother never wanted me to be a bounty hunter, despite what my name implied!".
I had another memory just then, one of his. My mother, she had made a beautiful nest by a wolf den by a river. It was raining, and right under the phoenix's wing, there was a little scared wolf sparkling.
Tell me what you know.
Tell me what you've gone and done now.
Tell me what you know.
Tell me what you've gone and done now.
"Wait!" I realized, "My mother took care of you, didn't she?!".
"That's not your business!" Snarl growled.
"I think it is".
I watched the wolf circle me. He was waiting just to kill me. I noticed that Aquila wanted to get in to help. I gave her a look that said not to. I was alright without her help. I got up. I had to teach him the hard way. I rushed at him and pulverized him, scratching him all over his body. I was doing what I had to do. I had to save him from himself. That's what Shadow had to do with me, maybe it would work for him.
Gonna do the trick, get it over with.
You're better off to take all that
You've got and burn it on the spot.
Just to get high.
He squirmed under me, but I kept him pin. I hated doing this, but I had to. I had to help him somehow. He wouldn't listen to my reason, so I had to do it his way. My alloy might have been weaker, but I proved stronger in the end. I grabbed his throat, and a trickle of oil came from the wound.
My fight alone was bloody. But both of us were hurt in our own way. He had memories of his parents, both good and bad. Me? All I had were just visions that Scourge showed me. After that…nothing. I had wanted to help him…and in a way that was entirely my own, I had. No, I didn't kill him like I had wanted to before.
Tell me what you did, where you gone and hid?
Show me what you really want, was it what you got?
Slowly circle in the drain, throw it all away.
Just to get high, high, high, oh.
I watched Snarl walk off and go back to Scourge. The dragon stared at him, and for a moment, I thought he was going to kill him. But rather, Snarl sighed and took off in another direction. I found myself feeling sorry for the way he had to learn. I didn't want it to be that way.
"Dad, you okay?" Aquila asked me.
"Yeah. Hey, I caught on to something. I gotta talk to Scourge" I addressed the dragon now, "This was the test of family bonds, wasn't it? His memories, Snarl was raised by my mother after his was killed, right?".
"Yes. Snarl…he's hated bounty hunters and Half-Bloods since his mother's death. It was my fault. I could've protected her, but I put my faith in the wrong person. He appeared to blame the hunters, but I knew, and still know, better. He blames me for his mother's death".
Tell me what you know,
Tell me what you've gone and done now.
Tell me what you know.
Tell me what you've gone and done now.
Aquila, Slick, Caller, and Liber went back to the temple, but I took off to find Snarl. He couldn't take this on his own. He had been his whole function. I didn't know that one spark could take so much pain, but his did. I followed his scent, leaking oil in case you wanted to know, to the same den site in my last vision.
"Snarl?" I looked into the den and found him trying in vain to lick the wound on his neck (not deep enough to kill).
"Now what do you want?!" Snarl growled.
"I wanna help".
Gonna do the trick, get it over with.
You're better off to take all that
You've got and burn it on the spot
Just to get high.
Snarl laughed with sarcasm evident. "I think you've helped enough".
"Get outta there and let me help".
"NO!".
"Will you stop being so damn stubborn and let me help you?! Cassiopeia would not have wanted this for both of us! I would know, I'm her son!".
"You're a disgrace to her! You're the reason why she's not here now!".
"Scourge thinks you blame him" I calmed down, lying down at the entrance hole with my head sticking in.
Tell me what you did, where you've gone and hid?
Show me what you really want, was it what you got?
Slowly circle in the drain, throw it all away.
Just to get high, just to get high.
Circle in the drain, throw it all away.
Just to get high.
"He can blame himself all he wants. Let the old fool think for himself. It hasn't gotten me anywhere".
"So you blame me? Cassiopeia was killed for her religious beliefs, not because of me. She was a paganist. She believed in human gods, and not ours. For a while, I did too".
"Yet you were never killed".
I was sure he was calmed now, so I scooted a little in and tumbled into him. He snarled at me and got out.
"Sorry about that" I noticed he couldn't reach his throat to lick the oil, so I came closer.
"Don't even think of it" Snarl growled.
I ignored him and started licking up the oil myself. We were brothers…in a way. Again, our fight was the bloodiest. The fight to survive always is.
A/N: I'm almost done with this guys, don't worry. I don't own the song Just to Get High. That belongs to Nickelback, my favorite band. See ya next chapter.