Chapter 12: Storm of Sorrow

POV Neonna

I waited and waited for Harmony and Soundwave to come back from getting the drinks. I became anxious that I said to the children, "I am going to go find those two. I'll be right back."

They nodded their heads in reply before we heard a gasp from the crowd. I turned my head to see what had happened on the battlefield when I saw him. My optics widened in horror to see Arron walking on the battlefield towards my sparkmate.

"What are they doing on the battlefield?" asked Bee in confusion.

"More importantly, who are these mechs and what on Cybertron do they think that they are doing!" said Arcee as she narrowed her optics to get a better look at them.

"Arron's back" I whispered to myself as my optics looked down towards the ground in shock while my energon turned into ice crystals in my veins.

"What do you mean?" asked Starscream as he tilted his head in confusion.

I was about to explain my dark history with Arron when I heard someone shouting.

"Get your hands off of me you creep!" said the familiar voice.

I looked back up to see what happened. I almost got a spark attack at what I saw. I saw my daughter held captive against her will by another mech.

I went to the railing that was in front of us, put my hands on them, and shouted in horror, "Harmony!"

The children gasped as they saw their friends and shouted simultaneously, "Harmony! Soundwave!"

Lubricant was starting to form in my optics at what was about to happen. Then the referee came back on the mic as he said, "Has someone called security yet?"

"No need for that" said a voice.

Everyone turned to the tall box and saw the governor of Kaon sitting in it.

He then waved his servo and said, "Please, let the battle commence. I want to see who will be victorious and who will be the victim."

I narrowed my optics hatefully at him as everyone started to mumble in confusion.

"Well, this will be a double battle to the death match today with Megatronus and Shadowwave teaming up to defeat Arron and Candra" the referee said into his mic.

I started to sit back down in my seat as I prayed to Primus. "Oh Primus, why does this have to happen?" I whispered silently to myself as tears dripped down my face in frustration.

POV Megatronus

I narrowed my optics hatefully at Arron because he went and persuaded a government official to support him on his quest for vengeance. I still can't believe that our governor would allow such a thing to happen.

But I had to push that thought to the side as Arron and Candra came at us. Shadowwave and I had little time to react before we both took out our weapons and blocked them.

I used my wrist blade to block Arron's blades as we both tried to get at each other's throats. We swung our blades at each other that sparks started to fly off of them. Then Arron tried to use his blaster to hit me, but I quickly moved to the side and kicked him in the torso.

As we were fighting each other, I happened to get a glimpse of Shadowwave using his dual sword blades against Candra's scythe.

Then Arron punched me in the face as I fell backwards a little. Arron was about to strike me with his blades when I luckily dodged them, but I wasn't fast enough because he managed to strike my right leg.

"DADDY!" shouted Harmony.

I recoiled in pain as energon started to leak out of the small yet deep hole in my leg. I grind my teeth together as I narrowed my optics at Arron in hatred. He only laughed at me before I started to fire my blaster at him.

He deflected the blasts as he charged at me. Then we locked blades together as thunder started to roar into the darkening sky.

The audience gasped at the brewing dark clouds that rapidly darkened the sunny sky.

Arron laughed as he said, "This must be a sign from Primus that your demise is nearing!"

I looked at him with hatred as lightning started to crackle in the dark foreboding sky. Then I started to charge at him with anger pumping into my veins.

POV Shadowwave

As Candra swung his scythe, I in turn blocked it with my swords by making a 'x' with them. Then I broke away from him and used the hilt of my sword to hit him in the abdomen. He recoiled away in pain before he transformed his scythe into a sniper rifle and started to fire it at me.

I dodged the bullets at lighting fast speed until I leaped into the air and transformed my hand into a blaster and fired at Candra. Candra leaped to the side as he transformed his own servo into a blaster and fired right back at me as lightning danced across the black sky.

We then started to use hand-to-hand combat as I punched, dodged, and kicked at Candra while he just blocked my attacks one by one. He then crescent kicked me in the helmet as I faltered a few steps back.

Energon started to drip from the corner of my visera. Candra laughed as he said, "What's the matter Shadowwave? Getting too use to fighting gladiators weaker than you?"

I whipped the energon from my helmet armor and replied coolly, "A wise mech once said that it is not the weapons that make up the warrior, but the skills and tactics that a warrior uses to his or her advantage."

Candra narrowed his optics as he charged at me.

POV Soundwave

Darkness covered my vision as I slowly gained consciousness. I then started to hear a mixture of shouts, cheers, and the clash of metal against metal. I then fully opened my optics to see that I was on the battlefield in the arena.

I also noticed that someone was holding my arms behind my back. Then I saw my father fighting against Candra in an epic battle to the death while I saw Megatronus fighting against Arron on the other side of the battlefield.

"GRRR! Let me go or you'll get it!" said a familiar femme.

My optics widened in fear as I realized that Harmony was a captive here as well. I gasped silently to myself as I realized that this was all a trap for our parents to fight their enemies to the death.

I had to get us out of here and towards safety, but how? Then I realized that my captor couldn't really tell the difference if I was still awake or that I'm still unconscious because of my visor. This might actually work towards my advantage.

~ "Harmony, can you hear me?" ~ I said telepathically to my friend.

~ "Oh thank Primus! You're finally awake" ~ she replied back to me.

Good, this plan might actually work. Then I said to her, ~ "I have a plan on how we are going to get out of this predicament." ~

~ "Okay, what's the plan?" ~ she said to me.

~ "The plan is for you to step on the mech's foot until he lets go of you. Once he does, you run towards the entrance of the battlefield as fast as you can" ~ I said to her.

~ "What about you?" ~ she asked me.

~ "Don't worry. I'll be right behind you. Now on the count of three we break free from our captors and run" ~ I said to her.

~ "Okay. One….." ~ she said as she started the countdown.

~ "Two…." ~ I said as I got ready to out maneuver my captor.

~ "Three!" ~ we both said simultaneously.

I heard a painful howl as Harmony stepped on the mech's foot. My captor in turn reacted to the situation as he was distracted by his comrade's howl.

I then broke one of my arms free from his grip as I elbowed him hard in the abdomen. He recoiled in pain as I did a front kick in his chest to make him fall towards the ground in pain.

I then turned to see that Harmony had already had a head start, but the mech who held her captive pursued her. I ran after him and did a sidekick in his left side. He toppled to the ground before he got up and tried to punch me. I dodged to the side as I went down low and delivered a powerful punch up at his chest.

He fell to the ground in pain, but before I could run after Harmony, I was attacked.

I dodged the blasts with ease before I saw a large light green Mini-Con flying in the air and shooting at me. I ran as fast as I can to dodge the fast firing bullets before I tripped and fell to the ground.

POV Shadowwave

As I was fighting, I heard a commotion. I turned to see that Harmony and my son have managed to break free of their captors and tried to escape the battlefield.

"What!" said Candra as he saw my son fighting off the mech. He growled before he said, "I see you have been training your son how to fight. But that doesn't matter. He may be like father like son, but he doesn't have his own Mini-Con to protect himself.

I saw Candra activate his flying Mini-Con, Scorpion, as it ascended into the dark sky to stop my son from escaping.

~ "Laserbeak, disconnect and protect my son" ~ I said telepathically to her.

~ "I'll do as you command, Shadowwave" ~ she said as she disconnected and took flight into the air after Scorpion.

I then blocked Candra's blast with my swords as I advanced towards him at full ninja speed.

I turned to see Scorpion shooting its blasters at my son as he tried to run away as fast as he can until he'd collapsed. My optics widened in horror as I shouted, "Soundwave!"

I then saw Laserbeak intervened and knocked Scorpion away from my son and battled the Mini-Con in the dark stormy sky. I breathed a sigh of relief before I felt immense pain in the side of my abdomen.

I looked to see that Candra used his scythe to cut into my side. I screamed in pain.

Laserbeak heard my scream as she said, ~ "Shadowwave! I'm coming to your aid!" ~

~ "No! Protect my son at all cost!" ~ I shouted to her.

~ "But master, you need my help. It is my sworn duty to protect you!"~ she replied to me as she made an attempt to come to my aid.

I managed to cut into Candra's leg as he screamed in pain. ~ "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. You on the other hand must protect my son from harm!" ~

~ "But…" ~ she said before I cut her off.

~ "Just GO!" ~ I shouted as I whip kicked Candra in the face.

~ "As you wish, my dear friend" ~ she said solemnly as she left me alone to defend myself against Candra.

I smiled to myself for a brief moment before Candra and I went after each other while another sound of thunder erupted from the sky.

POV Megatronus

I heard a commotion happening on the battlefield, but I was too occupied at the moment to see what it was because Arron was trying to frag me with his explosive grenades. I dodged each blast as I pursued him.

We clashed blades with each other as I manage to deliver a punch in his faceplate. He recoiled back a little before he touched the side of his mouth to see that a bit of energon was leaking from that punch.

"Alright, I see how it is" he said as he charged at me with his fist in the air before he switched to use his leg to land a powerful kick in my chest at the last minute. I faltered back to the ground as I fell down on one knee.

Arron laughed evilly as he strode over towards me. I was then kicked back as his foot was on top of my chest plate. He pointed his blaster at my spark chamber as I struggled to get up.

"Prepare to meet your demise, Megatronus," said Arron as he began to charge his blaster. I looked at him hatefully before I heard running footsteps towards me.

"Daddy, noooo!" said my daughter as she ran towards me.

My optics widened in horror as I shouted, "Harmony, get away. Run!" But it was too late. Arron turned his attention to my daughter as he pointed his blaster directly at her.

She stopped dead in her tracks as her optics shone with terror. Arron snickered in satisfaction to see me suffer.

I narrowed my optics at him and said, "Leave my daughter alone! This is between you and me, Arron!"

He only laughed at my efforts in distracting him as he said with a purr, "On the contrary Megatronus. I won't leave her alone. I want to see you beg and suffer at the death of the one you love most."

He smiled as he took aim at my daughter.

My optics widened in terror as I begged, "Arron please! Let my only sparkling live. Kill me instead, please!"

"It's no use Megatronus. Begging won't save your daughter's fate to die!" he said as he fired one blast directly at her.

"NOOOOOO!" I shouted as lubricant started to form in my optics. Her face was petrified with fear that she couldn't move an inch.

Then I heard the roar of a speeding vehicle as it drove as fast as lighting towards my daughter. I recognized the vehicle to be my wife, Neonna, speeding like a mad speed demon towards Harmony.

"Harmony!" she shouted as she transformed and pushed our daughter out of the way of the blast. She manages to get Harmony out of the direction of the blast in time, but it was too late for her to get out of the way.

The blast hit her like a speeding bullet. She gasped in pain as she fell towards the ground slowly. The crowd gasped in horror at the sacrifice that Neonna did to save our sparkling's life.

My optics shone with a mix of fear, anger, and heartbreak as I screamed in agony, "Neonna!"

"No, what have I've done?" said Arron in horror at what he just did.

Rage filled my circuits as I used my blade to cut into Arron's leg that was pinning me down.

He screamed in pain as he released me. I stood up to fight him some more when I heard my daughter's cry.

"MOMMY!" shouted Harmony as tears fell down her face while running over to my sparkmate.

I looked at him with hatred in my optics as I said, "This isn't over with yet." Then I started to run towards my mate while ignoring the burning pain in my leg. Thunder sounded again as rain started to fall down slowly and steadily.

Harmony was kneeling next to her mother while tears flowed down her faceplate in steady streams. My spark skipped a beat as I saw Neonna's energon leaking out of her deep wound in her abdomen from the blast.

I slowly fell down on my knees as I felt my spark being torn apart from seeing her die like this. "N-Neonna" I said with a mixture of fear and sadness.

She coughed as her beautiful optics opened up and turned to look at me lovingly. "M-Megatronus…." she weakly said as she forced a smile on her beautiful faceplate while drops of cold rain fell on her softly.

Tears blurred my vision as I grabbed her servo tenderly and pleaded, "Please Neonna, stay with me. I...I need you. Harmony needs you."

Then we heard the crowd gasped again in horror as I turned to see Candra fall down to the ground with a sword puncturing his spark chamber. After Candra collapsed dead onto the ground, Shadowwave too started collapsed on the ground a few feet away from Candra's sparkless husk. Soundwave and Laserbeak rushed over to him as tears of sorrow and regret finally started to fall down my faceplate.

I turned away, bowed my head down to the ground, shut my optics tightly as lubricant fell in slow, steady streams, and said in between sobs, "If this never happened, if we never meet…."

"Megatronus" said Neonna as I felt her other servo touch my cheek. I opened my optics as I looked into her tearful optics. "If we never have met, then I would have been all alone for all these years." She coughed some more as she continued, "If you hadn't saved my life that night, then I wouldn't know what love felt like for the first time. If you had never proposed to me, then we wouldn't have been sparkmates for life…."

My spark started to beat slowly and painfully as I felt a hole starting to form in my spark chamber at my mate's words. I put my other servo over hers and gently rubbed them soothingly.

"If we hadn't sparked, then we wouldn't have our beautiful daughter," she said as Harmony cried even more as whispers of regret and love escaped her lips.

"Neonna…." I said solemnly before another wave of tears flowed down my cheeks. "I love you!" I said as my tears fell on her faceplate.

Lighting flashed across the black sky as Neonna looked up at me lovingly before she said in a faint whisper as she breathed her last breath, "And I will always love you, even in death." She then took her servo off my cheek and put it on my chest plate where my spark chamber was. She then smiled as a tear escaped her optic and fell down the side of her face and said faintly, "I will always be in your spark, for we...are….one."

I looked at her lovingly before I saw her optics slowly close peacefully, like if she was sleeping. I then noticed that her servo slowly fell from my chest down towards the ground.

Rain then started to come down heavily as Harmony screamed in agony as she hugged her mother's sparkless body.

POV Soundwave

I heard a scream as I turned to see that Harmony's mom threw herself in the way of the blast that was coming straight for my friend. Her body fell limp on the ground as Harmony ran to her body and started to cry. I saw Megatronus get up off the ground and ran over to where his sparkmate collapsed.

Then I noticed Arron slowly backing away before he transformed into his vehicular mode and drove out of the battlefield.

That's when I heard the crowd gasp in horror. I turned to see Candra collapse onto the ground, with my father's sword embedded into his spark chamber. My father stood there a few feet away from Candra's body before he started to collapse on the ground.

"FATHER!" I shouted as I ran towards him.

~ "Shadowwave!" ~ I heard Laserbeak exclaim as she flew towards my father's body at lighting fast speed.

I slid next to my father as I hovered above him. He opened his optics, smiled at me lovingly, and said, "My son…"

I took off my visor so that I could see him. I noticed his deep gash in his side as energon leaked out. Tears threatened to form in my optics as I held them back.

My father noticed this as he said lovingly, "It's alright to cry, my son," He gasped in pain as his wounds started to become worse.

Tears fell down from my optics as I cried out, "Dad don't go! I can't lose you like I did with Mom!"

~ "Master, I will get help, just hold on" ~ Laserbeak said as she try to fly to get help before my dad stopped her.

"Laserbeak, wait" he said shakily. She stopped and came back down by his side as he continued; "It's too late to save me now."

I shook my head, as I said, "No, it's not too late we can still save you, just please hang in there, father."

My father shook his head and said, "I...can't Soundwave. I-I'm just too weak."

I cried even more as the rain started to come down on us. My dad put his servo on my face and tried to soothe my fears by gently hushing me. I noticed that Laserbeak's head tilted down in sorrow as she watched her master die in front of her for the umpteenth time.

"Soundwave…." my father said weakly as his death was drawing nearer.

I turned to him and replied, "Yes, Dad?"

"Please take care of Laserbeak for me" he said with a smile.

I looked at him as I wiped away some tears and replied, "I will."

He nodded as he turned to Laserbeak and said, "Make sure that he doesn't get himself into any trouble."

She only nodded her head as she placed a loving wing over her master's body to ease his pain as he slowly dies.

I then said shakily, "T-Then who's going to take care of me? You are the only family that I have left."

Dad smiled lovingly before he stroked my cheek gently and said, "I'm sure Megatronus will take good care of you, my son…" He heaved heavily as his time was about to come to an end.

"Soon...I'll join your mother….in ….the AllSpark" he whispered to me as my tears never ceased to stop flowing. "Soundwave…." he said as he lifted my head up a little. I looked into his red violet and dark purple optics as he breathed his last breath; "Your mother and I will always ….be here with you...In your spark"

He then pointed at my spark chamber before his optics dimmed until they were completely out.

"Dad?..." I said before his hand slowly fell motionless to the ground. Tears covered my vision as I screamed into the roar of the thunder. Cold rain fell heavily on my armor as I cried into the dark storming sky.

It felt like an eternity of crying for the death of my father until I felt a warm servo on my shoulder. I turned to see Megatronus behind me with Harmony curled up in his arm.

He looked at me with tears in his optics as he said, "We...have to go now."

I looked beyond him to see security and medics carrying Neonna's body in a body bag. Then some of the medics came over to us to put Candra and my father in body bags.

I slowly stood up and looked at my father for the last time as a single tear escaped my optic and fell towards the ground. I then started to follow Megatronus with my head down in shame as I put my visor back on.

We then saw Starscream, Bumblebee, and Arcee standing out in the rain, waiting for us. Megatronus put Harmony down so that she and I could go talk to them.

Arcee burst into tears as she ran towards us and gave us a loving hug. Harmony and Arcee cried together for a long time before Starscream and Bumblebee came towards us to give us a loving hug.

Everyone mumbled loving words of hope and sad regrets for what happened to our parents. After we spent a few minutes of talking, Megatronus came to us and said, "Let's take you guys home."

Everyone nodded his or her head in reply.

"Soundwave, you can spend the night with us until I can get the papers to be your legal guardian" he said to me.

I nodded my head slowly as we walked in the pouring rain as lighting brightened up the dark, dreary, deathly sky.

*A few days later: At the cemetery*

POV Megatronous

Harmony, Soundwave and I were standing in front of the gravestones of our love ones who passed away on that dreadful day. I lost my beloved sparkmate because of that sick Arron.

Soundwave was taking this very hard because he lost his mother just fifty-five years ago in an accident. She was pregnant with an unborn sparkling the day she'd died in the accident. He and his father were the only ones left in his family line, but now that his father is gone, Soundwave has become a little bit distant and quieter than usual.

Harmony is the only one who seems to break him out of this cycle of sorrow. She some how manages to get him to be more interactive after his parent's deaths now then a few days ago.

Anyway, we were paying our respects for our deceased family and friends for a long time now. Harmony made a bouquet of flowers for her mother and for Soundwave's family. She placed them in front of the cold metallic gravestones as we stood there in silence.

Then I turned to them and said, "How about you two go on ahead and go home to do some homework. I'll be with you two in a minute."

They both nodded their heads as they started to walk home. I stood in front of my sparkmate's grave as I knelt down on one knee and touched her stone.

I sighed as I closed my optics and said, "I swear I'll get revenge for your death, Neonna. I will change the corrupt government by whatever means necessary."