Transformers One AU.
Spoiler warning! This obvious contains elements of Tranformers one but also goes off into AU territory.
Alive Lightchaser! Sparkling Resonate!
I might end up doing a part 2 to this piece that follows the ending of the movie. This is set after Orion, D-16, B-127 and Elita are captured by the High Guard.
This is Lightchaser-centric as I realised I've never really done that before!
Lightchaser stirred from her recharge with a soft sigh to the sound of Soundwave cooing over Resonate. Blinking to clear her optics, Lightchaser smiled at the sight of her sparkmate and sparkling playing with some blocks.
Resonate stacked another one on top of a rapidly growing pillar while Soundwave had a servo cradled around her to keep the sparkling steady on her pedes. She was only beginning to learn to walk, after all.
Shifting a little to watch and admire the sight, Lightchaser withheld a coo. She was still unable to believe Resonate existed some solar-cycles. Starting life as C-23 with the single purpose of mining for energon, Lightchaser had believed that had been her sole reason to exist. She wasn't content—none of the no-cogs were really—but they had been created for a purpose.
Except, Lightchaser had learnt it was all a lie.
They had been artificially aged and placed into fledged frames that had their cogs stolen.
Everything Sentinel Prime had sprouted was a lie.
Lightchaser still doesn't know how she caught the false-prime's attention. She was just another miner working during a day he had decided to scout the mines out. Nothing about her set Lightchaser apart from others, yet Sentinel had "seen something in her" and "promoted" her. He had dragged her away from the mines and her makeshift family without her consent. But when did miners have rights? When did they get a say in anything?
Lightchaser had learnt a lot very quickly. Sentinel had wanted to impress her. Wanted to woo her. Lightchaser hadn't even known joining your spark with another could create a bond for life. So, hungry for more information because Orion Pax would love to hear this, Lightchaser had…played into it a little. Given Sentinel the idea that she liked him too.
He had even given her a cog to transform. Transform!
But Lightchaser had gotten ahead of herself. Pushed too far by dragging it out for Sentinel. Arachnid had grown wise of Lightchaser's ploy and informed Sentinel, but Lightchaser had escaped, battered and bleeding, but she had. Lightchaser had scrambled to the surface and had been found by the High Guard.
Thus, here she was, many stellar cycles later, with a sparkmate and a sparkling.
She thought of returning to Iacon sometimes, to return and inform the family she had come online with of what she had learnt. Orion. D-16. Jazz. Elita. Ratchet…so many of the bots she had come to call family as a miner. But Lightchaser was merely one bot. The High Guard had welcomed her into their ranks, and Lightchaser wasn't going to compromise that. Not when more was at stake.
Maybe one day Lightchaser would meet them again, but until then, she was content to live among those that called the surface home.
Perhaps Lightchaser had spoken too soon.
"Primus!" she breathed as Orion, D-16, Elita and an unknown yellow Cybertronian were dragged into their base. "That's—" In her shock, she couldn't get her words out.
"So you know these…lot?" Starscream sneered at the unconscious group. "Oh, for frag's sake, does that one ever shut up?"
Even unconscious, the yellow bot continued to babble despite having his mouth taped shut. Lightchaser was not going to question it.
"No," Shockwave growled. Lightchaser eyed him warily as the one-optic mech twitched. He had been there to apprehend them. Lightchaser pitied Shockwave.
"I do," Lightchaser answered Starscream. "They were the bots I spoke about. A few of the ones I used to work with."
Lightchaser looked closer. They looked so familiar yet so different…they had cogs now! She can't help the awed gasp, hurrying closer to D-16 to kneel. All four of them were sleek and larger, revealing who they should have always been.
Soundwave stepped up behind her. "Potential allies?" he queried.
"Yes," Lightchaser nodded, then frowned. "But the question is how are they here? Why? How did they get cogs?"
There was so much happening. She gave the group a final glance over before returning to her sparkmate's side, a hand absently resting over her sparkling hold where Resonate rested. Soundwave wrapped an arm around her shoulder, tucking her close to his side.
Slowly, the group showed signs of rousing, and Lightchaser stepped back, partly hidden from view. She felt Soundwave's concern before she assured him. She was a silent witness to the first contact, but when D-16 became angry, intent on attacking Starscream when the Seeker provoked him, Lightchaser rushed forward to break the pair up. She leapt out in front of D-16.
"Wait!"
He stopped, optics wide, with his raised fist frozen.
"Cee?" Orion choked out.
Lightchaser met D-16's optic before peering around him at Orion, Elita and the yellow bot. "Hi, Orion."
"How…how are you….?" D-16 asked, disbelief colouring his features. Slowly, his servo reached out as if to touch her shoulder, perhaps believing her to be some hallucination but he stopped short of doing so. "You just—after Sentinel—" D-16's expression twisted with anger again. "What did he do?"
Lightchaser flustered. "He…uh…" Soundwave stepped up behind her, setting a servo on her shoulder. "It's…complicated and I would rather not…"
It was no secret among the High Guard what happened to Lightchaser but here…in front of her friends, she couldn't bring herself to tell them what Sentinel wanted from her. It made her feel mortified because these bots had been her family.
D-16's gaze turned to Soundwave. Something within his optics showed how ruffled he was at how Soundwave comforted her. It was no secret how protective D-16 had always been of her before Sentinel had swept her away. He had treated Lightchaser as a younger sister.
"I escaped from Sentinel, and I got chased top side. The High Guard found and took me in," Lightchaser finally explained simply, fidgeting uneasily. She leaned back into Soundwave's comforting presence.
Orion (Elita and the yellow bot too) had gotten to his pedes at some point. "How long ago?" he asked, sounding almost afraid to ask.
"About a steller-cycle after he upended me," Lightchaser shrugged. "When I wouldn't give him what he wanted, he tried taking it by force. It helped that he gave me a cog."
Starscream sighed from where he had sat back down on his throne. He was messaging his throat from where D-16 had tried strangling him. "It's late. Lightchaser has already vetted you, so don't make me regret allowing you entry into our home. We shall discuss further in the morning."
"This way!" Lightchaser waved them on. "I have something I want to show you guys!"
"…So you've really been up here all this time?" Elita asked. She was just behind D-16, who was behind Lightchaser. B-127 and Orion were at the back.
"I have! Everyone's been so kind to me!" Lightchaser grinned.
When she reached her and Soundwave's room, she ushered them inside. Bemused, the group of four did so. It was a simple room with a few do-dads scattered about.
"What is it you wanted to show us? There's nothing in here? Oh—" Elita reached out and covered B-127's mouth.
Lightchaser smiled softly at the yellow bot.
"Lightchaser, huh?" Orion questioned musingly. "Fitting."
"Soundwave gave it to me," she admitted, servo on her cheek. Her fans kicked in. She looked away from Orion and D-16's disbelieving looks. "Said my biolights made me look like a streak of light when I fly."
"…okay, what is it you wanted to show us?" Elita asked, perhaps a bit impatiently.
"Oh, right!" Lightchaser realised she was getting a little off-topic. "You have to promise you won't crash!"
"…Is it serious?! Is something wrong?" Orion fretted, stepping closer with worry.
"Serious, kind of. Wrong? No. In fact, it's the very opposite!" Lightchaser beamed, taking Orion's servos merrily. "I have a sparkling!"
"…A what?" D-16 blurted.
Instead of answering, Lightchaser released Orion's servos and cupped them beneath her sparkling hold and out rolled Resonate. She chirped and looked up at the newcomers curiously. "This is my sparkling, Resonate!"
"Tiny!" B-127 squealed. Resonate let out a pearl of delighted laughter, and B-127 gasped. "I made her laugh!"
"Soundwave and I created her! Our sparks joined to form a new one! This is how we are meant to be created! Not just artificially aged and shoved into fledged frames!" Lightchaser explained eagerly.
Elita sat on the edge of the berth in shock.
"…Just more Sentinel has lied about, huh?" D-16 muttered bitterly.
Orion eyed him warily. Lightchaser flinched. "Yes, he's…he's lied about a lot."
"Resonate, right?" Orion asked, clearing his throat. It was clear he was trying to turn the subject away from Sentinel.
Resonate cooed at him, tilting her helm at Orion.
"She's only a few stellar-cycles old. I'm still learning how to care for her, but Soundwave was sparked long before Sentinel rose to power, so he knows a lot about sparkling and sparkling care," Lightchaser explained. It had also come seemingly naturally to her, and Shockwave explained every bot had instincts wired into them to care for a sparkling. Yet it was so daunting, considering Lightchaser hadn't known Sparklingseven existed until Sentinel opened his big stupid mouth.
"Say…what exactly did Sentinel want from you?" D-16 asked, something verging on angry tugging at his brows.
It startled Lightchaser, just as it had earlier. D-16…he didn't just get angry, not without good reason. Lightchaser could count on her servos how many times she had seen him this worked up.
Lightchaser grimaced. "He saw something in me he liked apparently. Tried wooing me but uh, his pompousness isn't actually attractive. The awe wore off pretty quickly and…" Lightchaser shrugged. "I played along for a little bit because he was just…spilling all sorts of information to impress me. Arachnid caught on and I fled. I would have offlined from the damage had the High Guard not found me."
"Would you like to hold her?" she asked, changing the subject, as D-16 held a staring contest with Resonate.
"I…can?" he asked in awe, breaking the stare to look up at her.
Lightchaser nodded and held Resonate out, settling the sparkling into D-16's crooked arm.
"…She's so light," he murmured.
Resonate could fit in the palm of their servo and cradled in the crook of his arm she looked tiny, minuscule. Resonate cooed up at D-16, orange optics taking in his faceplate. He gently stroked a finger across her helm.
Lightchaser withheld her sigh of relief, watching the anger melt from D-16 as he became utterly enamoured with the Sparkling.
"Gotta say you and…uh, Soundwave made a cute as slag Sparkling," B-127 chimed, hands on his cheeks. "She's so cute I could squish her!"
"Please don't," Lightchaser chuckled, only slightly serious. "Very fragile."
"How exactly did you create Resonate?" Elita asked.
"Oh, well, we merged our sparks with the intent to create a new one," Lightchaser explained in the simplest terms. "It was kind of surreal to learn so much about our biology that was hidden from us. It can only happen between sparkmates, which are bots who formed lifelong bonds based on romantic intent."
"I'm a carrier, which meant I carried Resonate's kindling. I carried her to term, which was until her protoform finished forming and could survive outside of my frame," Lightchaser sighed softly, recalling the sensation of holding her little Resonate's spark within her. It had been a surreal experience.
A little bit of an abrupt ending but the place is attacked shortly after, which would lead to a part 2 if I end up writing that.
Not mentioned/AU bits:
-Elita is/was jealous of C-23 because, to Elita, Lightchaser had done nothing to earn Sentinal's eye and promotion. Lightchaser used to work on Elita's team with Orion, D-16 and Jazz. Once she learns the truth, she feels guilty but they're good. Lighthchaser doesn't really hold grudges for something so small, she's passive by nature.
-D-16 and Lightchaser were in the same "batch" and onlined together. They were the first person each other saw and it forms a pretty strong bond (that goes for all bots). It harks back to my headcanon of how sparklings always remember the first faces they see when born.
-Lightchaser was closer to D-16 in this AU than Orion for the reason above. But she was definitely close with Orion, trying to stop him from causing too much trouble with D-16. The duo felt a massive hole when Lightchaser was taken. I can imagine it causing a brief rift between the two where D-16 was just worried despite his faith in Sentinel because this was his sister.
-Soundwave (and the High Guard) were all sparked before Sentinel took over. The youngest were younglings when it happened, most already fledged. Soundwave was an almost fledged, probably, idk.