Chapter Five: Death Throes
Leo was hovering over her in an almost restless manner, and it was beginning to drive Zelda absolutely bonkers. She had always been particular about personal space, allowing only a select few to invade it without causing her frustration. One of those few was long gone, beyond the reach of life itself, while the others were miles away. Each time he gave an aborted motion to get closer, she felt a surge of irritation rise within her, amplifying the agitation she was already feeling.
Peering out from under her blanket to glare at the nervous-looking Leo, Zelda let out a weary sigh. "I'm fine. You have that date, remember? Can't keep her waiting."
Frowning, Leo fiddled with his phone. "I could cancel. I'm sure Alice would understand."
"Leo," Zelda stressed, bordering exasperated and not the fond kind. "Your hovering isn't helping either of us."
"Okay," he agreed reluctantly, shifting his weight from one foot to another. He nodded, looking more as if he were trying to convince himself.
"Good. Now go have fun, doofus," Zelda shot him a smirk, and Leo snorted.
"But if you do need something—"
"Call you," Zelda interrupted. "I know, okay? Now go."
Leo lingered in the doorframe for a moment before leaving, clicking the door softly closed behind him.
Zelda let out a relieved sigh as she savoured the peaceful silence of her dorm room. The two guys who worked with Leo in the adjoining room had left for the day, which meant that there was no noise coming from that side to disrupt her thoughts. To her other side, there was no one at all; the unique layout of the building meant that her dorm was situated in a protrusion, creating a cosy isolation. As she snuggled into her hammock, the peacefulness enveloped her like a warm blanket, offering a rare moment of tranquillity.
Perfect.
Then her comm chirped.
Fuuuuck.
Zelda reached for the scarring and opened her comm line, giving an ambiguous grunt in greeting.
"=Optimus and Bumblebee are on their way back to retrieve you, dear spark=" Ratchet spoke softly and Zelda gave a weary sigh. Even if the volume on the commlink was lower than normal, it was still embedded within her head.
"=Did they get all the way back to the airstrip?=" Zelda frowned. "=That's quite the distance.="
"=No, they only got halfway before being alerted to your distress. Megatron's last confirmed location after his rise was the hemisphere before the satellite went dark. We suspect Soundwave's involvement in covering the Decepticons' movements.="
Zelda shuddered, reminded of her dreams, reminded of Rumble's pain. Then came memories of Mission City.
("Is it fear or courage that compels you?" Megatron asked with a tilt of his head.)
("MINE! My AllSpark!")
(For what felt like forever passed by in seconds. It was silent, every other sound faded out in the background, and Zelda sucked in a breath, her ears ringing with white noise. She blinked slowly, watching as Megatron's optics, locked with hers, flickered and darkened. He fell backwards with a thundering sound, dead.)
"=Ratchet…=" Zelda's voice wavered as she tucked herself beneath the comforter more as though it would protect her from the outside world.
"=We will not allow any harm to befall you, dear spark=" Ratchet soothed in that voice that made Zelda sigh, sinking into her hammock. "=We will all be there soon. Just focus on recovering and don't use any of the AllSpark's power unless absolutely necessary, do you understand? Your body can only take so much before it begins to give out.="
"=It hurts=" she whimpered.
Zelda had experienced worse pain, but there was something distinctly different about this ache. It sunk into her marrow and coiled in her joints. Her heart had been beating with an unsteady rhythm since she had awakened after Megatron's revival, and it refused to settle.
But that wasn't all. No, faintly, near inconceivably, Zelda could feel him. Feel Megatron.
It had been like when she became the AllSpark—that instant connection to the Autobots, then with Jazz when she brought him back, unlike with the Triplets or the Bumper Twins, whom she needed to initiate the bond with when they arrived on Earth.
The connection with Megatron was forged the instant the potent energy of the AllSpark had been harnessed to bring him back to life. It was strikingly different to the way Jazz's bond had suddenly come to life, overflowing with a whirlwind of emotions. There were plenty of reasons why—it wasn't Zelda directly resurrecting him and there was a great distance between them as he was brought back…
But that didn't matter to Zelda. No. It was because she longs. Zelda longed so much. The bonds were her damnation, for as much as she adored the connection that bound her to the Autobots, it now bound her to Megatron too.
It was a far-off sensation, damped by distance and would be unlikely to strengthen unless they were within close quarters for an extended period of time. But it was like navigating through dense fog and wading through thick mud even trying to traverse the sensation. Zelda shied away despite the deep innate longing because this mech was someone who had torn his home world asunder in a corrupted belief for freedom. He had tried to do the same with her home.
What had once started as a wish for betterment became twisted after being slighted one time too many. He turned on those who also wished to help when they disagreed, and he turned on his brother when Orion Pax was named Optimus Prime.
"=I know=" Ratchet's voice was sympathetic. They both knew there was little that could be done. Not when she was so far away from them. His next words were full of love. "=Just a few more joors. Try and rest for now, Zelda.="
She gave an agreeing hum because that sounded great right about now—anything to quiet her racing mind.
Zelda lay sprawled across her hammock, finding solace in the warmth of her blankets, which offered a brief respite from the relentless agony of the migraine pounding at her temples. Just as she began to drift off into a much-needed nap, the shrill chirp of her phone pierced the quiet of the room, shattering her momentary peace.
A surge of frustration bubbled up inside her at the second interruption and the urge to scream was overwhelming. Instead, she buried her face deep into the softness of her pillow, muffling her frustrated cries against the fabric as she tried to drown out the incessant sound in hopes it stopped. Each ring felt like a cruel reminder of the chaos awaiting her in the outside world, pulling her back from the fragile comfort of sleep she yearned for.
But the ringing persisted, and she felt a surge of frustration within her. With one swift motion, she reached for the phone on the bedside table, her fingers trembling slightly. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she pressed the accept button.
"Hello?" she croaked. Her voice sounded as terrible as she felt.
"Zelda? It's Mikaela."
Zelda's eyes widened, pulling back slightly to read the name. It really was Mikaela calling her. Holding the phone back to her ear, Zelda turned onto her back. "Kaela, is something the matter?"
"I just drove onto the campus. What dorm are you in?"
What. What?
"What—never mind." Zelda hurriedly told her the building and room number. "Why are you here? Did something happen? Are you okay?"
"After our phone call the other day, I got some company," Mikaela huffed over the phone, almost breathless, as she began hurrying towards Zelda's dorm. "Some tiny minicon looking for the shard you gave me."
"Fuck," Zelda pinched the bridge of her nose. "Sorry, I didn't—I thought it would be safe because it was empty."
But Zelda had put Mikaela in so much danger if the shard could be used like the other piece. Guilt stewed thickly at the realisation.
"It's fine. You can explain more later, okay?"
"Okay, I'll see you in a few minutes," Zelda said, disconnecting the line.
Zelda swung herself from the confines of her hammock, the fabric swaying behind her. She moved with a sense of urgency, her hands trembling slightly as she began to dress. First, she secured a snug sports bra, the fabric elastic yet supportive, before slipping on a day old white t-shirt. Next, she reached for a lightweight mint green zip-up hoodie. The loose black trousers she chose were comfortable and fluid, allowing her to move with ease, while her feet slipped into the mismatched red and yellow Converse, a playful nod to Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, who had gifted them to her for her twenty-sixth birthday. With a few quick movements, she gathered her hair into a loose bun, carefully avoiding anything too tight, as she knew all too well that her head would protest such a decision.
Once Zelda had completed her hurried preparations, she settled on the edge of the hammock, her heart racing with anxiety. A wave of uncertainty washed over her. What had she been thinking, keeping such a crucial secret? Why hadn't she confided in Jazz about the shard? Why couldn't she tell him about the shard? The weight of her silence felt suffocating. Fear gnawed at her; she couldn't shake the thought that the Decepticons were on the hunt for the other shard with the intent to also channel the AllSpark through it. The implications of that possibility sent a shiver down her spine.
Shaking her head to dispel the swirling thoughts—speculating was futile, especially when Zelda lacked any concrete information on which to base her theories—she found herself in a state of restless anticipation. Each measured breath helped to steady her racing mind, but the tension clung to her shoulders, making her head swim.
To her bewilderment, the door creaked open, the lock clicking as the door began to swing open. Mikaela would have knocked. The only reasonable person would be—
"Leo, you better not…" Zelda began to groan but stopped when she spotted who it actually was.
…a woman. An unfamiliar woman at that, and Zelda can only stare in confusion.
"Who…?"
The young woman who had entered the room, letting the door slide closed behind her, was attractive enough to be a model. She was lightly tanned with beach blonde hair. Her eyes were a striking greyish blue and perfectly outlined in black. She was wearing a very short blue summer dress that barely covered her butt and bohemian heels, which added another few inches to her already towering and willowy height.
"I'm Alice," the girl spoke, smiling coyishly.
"Leo's Alice?" she questioned with a hint of incredulousness at this weird situation.
Zelda earned herself a sultry look in response, and she wanted to barf. Partly because Zelda wasn't that overly interested in women and partly because her stomach was churning nauseously.
"Are you looking for him because he left half an hour or so ago looking for you?"
The way the woman looked at Zelda triggered alarm bells in her head, and the tremble in her hands worsened. She clenched her fists to stop the trembling.
"I had to see you." Alice took a step forward. "I don't want Leo."
Ah, it turned out Zelda had been spot-on all along. Alice was, in fact, just like the other girls Leo had been involved with, but this time, the reasons were markedly different. Yikes.
"Please get the hell out of my room."
Alice giggled, the noise sounding oddly sinister to Zelda. The woman moved forward again until only three steps were between them. Zelda's head span, the corners of her vision speckled. Something was wrong.
The taller woman looked down slowly as though sizing Zelda up. She watched the corner of her lips twitch, and when Alice looked up, Zelda saw red in the woman's eyes instead of blue. "Organics are always so pathetically stupid."
"You—" Zelda blanched, her attempt to scramble back failing as Alice tackled her to the floor. Alice's hands grasped the length of Zelda's throat, quickly revealing familiar Cybertronian metal.
Zelda choked as Alices sneered down at her, straddling her waist. No leg flailing would buck the Decepticon off her.
"Poor little human. Lord Megatron's revival must have drained you of so much energy." The Decepticon's fists tightened, and Zelda's hands scratched against the jagged mechanical wrists in a desperate attempt to pull the Pretender off, but she couldn't find purchase. "It was pathetically easy to get so close without you knowing, but that was the plan."
Zelda wheezed, spots dancing across her vision, a leg kicked helplessly. Alice's optics gleamed maliciously at her. "Lord Megatron needs you, little AllSpark. Just make this easier for yourself and sleep."
Sneering, Zelda used her last resort—the AllSpark's power.
Everything happened at once. An arguing Leo and Mikaela opened the door. Mikaela tensed, and Leo paled in horror. Alice began to regain her humanoid form. Zelda funnelled the AllSpark into Alice's chest.
Alice flew off her and into Zelda's chester drawer with a mechanical screech of pain.
Free, Zelda stumbled to her feet. "Move!"
Her knees buckled several times, but she caught herself each, snatching Leo by the shirt as they high-tail it out of the room. High-strung with adrenaline, Zelda became hyper-focused, leading Mikaela and Leo out of the building. Unfortunately, Leo turned and barrelled towards more populated areas like an idiot. Did he really think that would stop the Pretender?
"What the fuck was that?! Robots?" he hollered.
"Alien robots," Zelda snapped.
At his wide-eyed, incredulous look, she glared. "You wanted the real deal? Well congrats!"
With a firm grip on both Mikaela and Leo's elbows, Zelda guided them away from the bustling cafeteria and toward the quieter library. Their footsteps slapped loudly against the polished stone as they hurried up the staircase leading to the library's rear entrance. Once they reached the top, Zelda slowed her pace, motioning for Mikaela and Leo to do the same, her urgency giving way to a moment of caution.
They quickly scanned the expansive room, searching for a secluded corner where they could huddle together and catch their breath. As they settled down, the air around them felt dense, almost suffocating. Zelda felt a familiar wave of dizziness wash over her, her stomach churning ominously.
Mikaela's metal container gave muffled shouts, and Zelda spared it a blink. Said company Mikaela spoke about?
Zelda squinted toward the entrance they had just hurried through, her heart pounding as she scanned for any signs of the lurking Decepticon. She was aware that they must appear utterly absurd in their makeshift hiding spot behind some desks. Yet, in that tense moment, she couldn't muster even a flicker of self-consciousness. The weight of urgency pressed upon her; they had only five fleeting minutes before the Pretender would inevitably catch up to them.
"Okay, explain now?!" Leo panted with hints of hysteria. "When she didn't show up, I came back to the dorm, just—what's happening?"
"She's part of an alien race called Cybertronians. More accurately, she's part of a faction called Decepticons. Cybertronians can take the shape of whatever they want. Mostly, it's just machinery because of their robotic nature, but a select few can do more. Like mimicking organics," Zelda explained. She had never actually seen it happen before. Besides Rumble and Frenzy being able to compress their forms to incredibly small sizes, everything else was merely knowledge Zelda had come to harbour during her time with the Autobots.
And frag, the Decepticons really knew she was the AllSpark.
Realising she should have alerted the Autobots sooner, Zelda raised a finger to her scarring. "=Optimus? We've got a problem.="
"=What's happening?=" he questioned instantly.
"=Got jumped by a Pretender. They know I'm the AllSpark, and they want me for something.="
Zelda ignored Leo as he tried to question her. Mikaela, bless her, shut him up with a hiss of: "Be quiet."
"=Have you lost them? Are you injured? Bumblebee and I are still twenty-odd minutes out.=" Optimus's concern was audible. Zelda might not be able to feel them with such distances between them, but Zelda didn't need to feel them to know how concerned they were.
"=The rest of us are at most forty minutes out still, Prime=" Jazz added, an edge to his voice.
"=Don't have long until she finds us=" Zelda explained, mouth-filling with saliva for the impending upheaval. Shit.
Zelda doubled over, the muscles in her abdomen contracting violently as she struggled to expel the contents of her stomach. Her face paled, beads of sweat forming on her forehead, and she gasped for breath between heaving. The sound of her retching echoed around her, stirring a wave of renewed concern as she struggled to regain control. Each convulsion seemed to drain her further, leaving her pale and visibly shaken.
"Zelda," Mikaela gasped, leaning over to help move Zelda away from her vomit.
"=Optimus, you need to hurry!=" Ratchet said, his voice strained with urgency. "=Zelda's in no condition to endure this any longer. She's too weak to fight back. We have no way of knowing how much more her body can withstand. At this rate, it could completely fail her.="
Just what she wanted to hear. She bit back a comment, knowing there was no time for that.
Then she heard it. "Shit."
The wall behind them erupted in a violent explosion, shards of concrete and plaster hurtling through the air like deadly projectiles. Leo's terrified scream pierced the chaos while Mikaela gasped in shock, instinctively ducking as a large piece of debris narrowly missed her. Panic surged in Zelda's chest as she scanned the wreckage around them and she sprang into action, her hands gripping their arms and pulling them up from the ground.
"We have to move!" she urged, her voice steady amidst the chaos. The three of them stumbled to their feet, adrenaline fuelling their desperate escape.
"=Get off campus immediately=" Optimus urged, his tone sharp and commanding. She felt a rush of adrenaline, mingled with worry for her friends, who ran close by, equally tense and alert.
She nodded in agreement as she took a deep breath, though she knew Optimus couldn't see her. The promise felt heavy on her shoulders.
"=Will do= " she acknowledged, closing the commlink with a shaky hand. Her head throbbed mercilessly, a pulsating migraine twisting at her temples, making it hard to think clearly.
The commlinks were invaluable in moments like these, but when combined with her current state, their practicality became a burden. She winced, attempting to steady herself, knowing she needed to focus. The campus felt too open, too vulnerable. Determined, she steeled herself to lead her group out of the chaotic scene, her mind racing with thoughts of safety and the impending threat around every corner.
"Lord Megatron is waiting, fleshling!" the Pretender crooned, firing off shots at the trio's retreating forms to stop them from escaping.
Mikaela surged forward, beckoning Zelda and Leo to follow. They trailed her through the dimly lit underpass, finally reaching a silver sedan. Panic flashed across Mikaela's face when she realised she couldn't find the keys. Without a moment's hesitation, Zelda stepped up, and with an inhuman burst of strength, she yanked open the passenger door and unlocked it from the inside.
As soon as it was unlocked, Mikaela wasted no time; she dropped into the driver's seat and began skilfully hotwiring the ignition, her fingers moving with urgency and precision. The car roared to life, and Mikaela put her skills to use, reversing and racing them from the parking lot, swerving around the franticly fleeing students.
Alice, half-way shifted between Human and Cybertronian, leapt onto the car bonnet, pummelling the front window.
"Run her down," Zelda ordered, hands braced on the door.
"With pleasure," Mikaela snarled, accelerating, hands tight on the stirring wheel as Leo's cries to stop were ignored.
With a flare of power, Zelda barely deactivated the airbag sensors with just enough time to avoid their activation. Mikaela sent the rented sedan into a light post at forty-four miles per hour, the Pretender between the bonnet and light post. Mikaela reversed and went forward again, dragging the dying Pretender under the car until she released the car and was run over.
"Okay, so what else don't I know? Since you guys forgot to mention some minor details!" Leo finally said something other than stop or oh god.
"Later," Zelda rasped, her voice barely above a whisper as she fought to fill her lungs with air. Each shallow breath was a battle. A tremor coursed through her limbs, threatening to spiral into full convulsions at any moment. The traumatic toll her body had endured pressed heavily upon her, and a panic began to rise in her throat—an instinctual dread that her body might betray her, shutting down in a desperate attempt to resist the relentless strain. The thought sent chills down her spine; she knew that would be catastrophic.
"What's wrong?" Leo asked, eyes wide. "Do we need to get you to a hos—"
"NO!" Zelda lurched. "No hospital. We'll just be risking others' safety. I have—"
Mikaela expertly skidded the car out of the way of a chopper, a massive one that dove out of the sky straight at them with the intent to capture.
How many of them were around here?
"Decepticon," Zelda choked out.
Mikaela's subsequent skid made the wheels squeal and the car tip precariously to one side, threatening to flip when a grappling claw tore through the roof like paper. Its claw opened, hooking, and then the car was lifted into the air.
After enduring relentless jolts and impacts, the passenger door finally succumbed to the wear and tear it had faced, creaking open with a defiant swing. Zelda tumbled as she struggled to get a grip. Her flesh-and-blood fingers clawed desperately at the shattered window frame, splinters biting into her skin. Realising the frailty of her human grip, she swiftly secured her prosthetic hand.
Just breathe, she reminded herself, don't look down.
"Zelda!" Mikaela shrieked, trying and failing to reach for her.
Leo, screaming "no, no, no!" in fear, couldn't do anything either.
The Decepticon swooped down and carefully transported the car to an old foundry warehouse nestled beside the languid river. This particular warehouse had long fallen into disrepair and stood as a silent testament to time, its weathered walls and rusted metalwork betraying at least a decade of neglect. Nature had begun to reclaim the space, with vines snaking through broken windows and the crumbling roof allowing the elements to seep in.
Fuck, is all Zelda can think.
The Decepticon lowered himself to an opening in one of the roofs before hovering. Then, he did as precisely as she had been suspected: he released the car.
It wasn't a fall that would kill them, but it was going to hurt. The car goes side first, crashing through the roof before tilting bonnet down. Zelda instantly released her hold on the door, knowing that fall would kill her. As the car tilted, colliding with Zelda, it pushed her towards the second-story landing, where she cried out from the brunt of the impact. Her arms covered her head, protecting it as best she could. Concrete was a bitch.
Rolling, Zelda came to a stop by the guardrail, the only thing stopping a second tumble.
She groaned breathlessly, but hearing Leo's scream jolted her. Zelda scrambled onto her side, wide eyes looking through the guardrail to catch a glimpse of Starscream and if he was here…
The faint bond was enough of a telling.
Megatron was as Zelda remembered him—several feet taller than Optimus with a broad and sharp frame. In the light that crept into the building, the mech's armour showed that he had not yet taken the time to properly repair the damage caused by spending so long at the bottom of the Challenger Deep, rusted and scratched. Some plant life still clung to him, leaving a smudge of colour on his otherwise silver colour palette.
Still, it took nothing from the horrifying vision he was. He was every child's monster under the bed. He would be the monster under her bed, too, if not for the fact that Ophiuchus was her own nightmare.
When their eyes met, Megatron grinned, revealing his sharp teeth.
"Hello, pet," he crooned at her, optics twinkling with sick amusement. He made a come-hither motion, curling a single digit with a broad, excited grin.
Zelda bared her teeth at the word. It was no doubt a rehash of their last encounter to mock her.
With a heave and support from the guardrail, Zelda struggled to her feet. She gasped for air, an arm clutching her stomach as she forced herself to move towards the stairway.
Starscream leered down at her from his spot as hostage holder. Leo and Mikaela were both face to face with his gun.
Megatron isn't a patient mech, and she should have known to move faster because the next moment, Zelda found herself clutched in his claws. A scream escaped, and Zelda couldn't be sure if it were the fear or pain, a momentary vision blinding pain.
Probably the latter.
To fight was useless, and Zelda hung limply, gasping for air in Megatron's servo. Her free hand instinctively clutched the thumb joint that connects to his servo. He dropped her the last few feet, and Zelda groaned in pain as her head crashed into the concrete slab.
Zelda knew that had it not been for the nanites and enhancements, she would have probably died by now. It's not a pretty thought. Imagine, after all she had gone through, it was concrete that did her in. Ha!
"You remember me, don't you? Because I certainly remember you, Zelda Larsson," Megatron said, his red optics gleaming cruelly as Zelda cracked an eye open to look up at him.
Her vision was blurry, and she blinked desperately to clear it.
"It's hard to forget the being that wanted to tear your world asunder like he did his own," Zelda said, matching his vicious grin with her own.
Yet the mech grinned impossibly wider, amused by her words, and Zelda would have felt annoyed at the lack of rise in any other situation.
Before Zelda could even think of rolling away, she found herself pinned with Megatron's servo laid across her body, making it impossible to escape. She tried still, wiggling uselessly. He loomed over her, smiling at her futile squirming.
"You have something I want, and like any good pet, you will give it to me."
The derogatory name sent chills down her spine this time. The mech, crouched as he was, dipped his helm closer until little else was in her vision. The sadistic glee was undeniable.
"Good luck with that," she rasped. "Can't control what the AllSpark wants me to know."
Megatron chuckled, and dread festered.
That…wasn't good.
"Scalpel," Megatron drawled, and a shape appeared in the fringe of Zelda's vision, causing her head to swerve. A tiny spider-like Cybertronian scuttled his way closer along Megatron's arm. Multiple red eyes seem to smirk at her pinned form.
"Hello, little AllSpark," Scalpel cooed mockingly as he crawled onto her chest, touching and prodding her bloodied face. He turned to Megatron. "Shard! Give me the shard!"
Megatron growled lowly at the demanding tone. "Watch it."
Scalpel just chittered and made impatient grabby hands. The towering mech reached into his chassis and, between two digited, produced the familiar shard Zelda had dreamt of being stolen. Her heart leapt to her throat.
Megatron dropped it into the Scalpel's pincers.
No, no, not again. No, nonononono—
Chest lurching at the spark of something deep inside her, Zelda knew they planned to use the shard as a conductor as they had upon Megatron's revival. But for what? What were they trying to do? What could Zelda possibly give them?
Zelda began fighting again, despite how hopeless it was—she was desperate.
Megatron merely applied more weight onto Zelda's body with a deep, rolling growl like that of a robotic lion.
"Be still," he commanded, and Zelda helplessly did so with harsh breaths, vision beginning to spin with her exhaustion and pain.
"It's gonna kill me," she tried rationalising, meeting his optics. "Anymore and my body's gonna give out."
Scalpel's gave a chitter. "You undermine yourself."
Zelda barely got out a questioning sound between her desperate breaths.
She never got an answer.
Blood-curdling screams of agony tore from her throat as power rippled, drawn from the depths, violent and unrelenting. Zelda's body convulsed as the AllSpark ignited her veins like molten liquid, illuminating the foundry in ethereal divine blue.
Viciously, familiar Cybertronian script dances across her vision.
With the ferocity of a woman in a fight for her life, she frantically clawed at Megatron's servo, her desperation palpable in every movement. She was drawing blood and damaging her prosthetic in her attempt to alleviate the pain. Her words are a jumbled and incoherent begging mess.
Then, everything stopped.
For a fraction of a second, Zelda failed to comprehend anything but the terror that flooded the bonds she shared. Everything was numb. She felt nothing but the working of her heart and lungs in her body's bid for life.
Megatron's claws curled beneath her, cocooning her, and a deadened bond swirled distantly and just out of reach. Yet it was the closest thing to comfort Zelda could comprehend, everything else so far.
A low pleased purr filled the air, and the sound drew a sigh from her raw throat as she lay limply. "There they are."
The words were said with pride and awe.
Zelda heard distant chittering, words that switch rapidly between English and Cybertronian common but that she couldn't understand in her state.
With herculean effort, Zelda peeled her lids open, whimpering at the pain that stabbed her eyes. She rasped and tried again. There, projecting from the shard onto the wall, were familiar scripts that had always flashed by too fast for Zelda to understand. She couldn't even begin to understand what she was seeing. Everything was fuzzy around the edges.
"These, pet," Megatron continued to purr, and her head rolled, eyes flittering back to his optics. Despite the fuzzy edges, her vision focused on the silver titan as he grinned down at her. "will lead us to a mighty energon source here on Earth."
"Mmph?" was the only confused sound she could produce, throat tender and raw.
Cocooned in his claws as she was, Megatron delicately lifted Zelda from the slab. Her head rolls backwards before she lulls it to the side, resting it against a digit. She was cradled in the palm of his servo, and her stomach churned at all the movement.
But she sucked in a breath as she heard the soft resonance of a spark behind warm plating.
Safe, something crooned in her jumbled brain because only her family held her so closely and gently.
All at once, a tumultuous blend of noises filled the air, creating a dissonant and bewildering cacophony.
Optimus Prime had arrived.
Optimus descended into the foundry, optics blazing as he laid sight on Megatron cradling a prone Zelda against his chassis.
"Optimus," Megatron sneered, claws curling tighter as if to hide Zelda from him.
"Give her to me."
He offered no greeting, no… pleasantries. Not when Zelda's life was on the line, not when she lay so still in Megatron's servo, bonds all but deadened in her state.
The agony that had torn through the bonds had been unlike anything Optimus had felt subjected to before, and that was not the true extent of pain, merely a by-product of the bond. He had failed thus far. He refused to allow this to go any further. Refused to allow Zelda to come to further harm.
Megatron merely grinned as if excited by the prospect of Optimus' anger, of his retaliation.
Optimus bared his denta and drew his right blade. "Give her to me!"
"Come and get her," Megatron goaded.
The Prime attacked.
Through the window and wall, Megatron weaved and dodged each swing of Optimus's blade, who, despite his anger, was visibly wary of bringing harm to Zelda. Megatron gleefully used that, mocking him as he clutched her close.
They got further and further away from the foundry, Megatron leading the chase toward the forest. Optimus knew a trap in waiting when he saw one, yet he followed all the same. He raced after Megatron as Bumblebee fought Starscream, rescuing the two humans who had been with Zelda.
As much as Optimus hated to abuse the bond, he needed Zelda awake and aware, so he tugged on the thread that bound him to the youngling in an attempt to nudge Zelda back into consciousness. It wasn't a pleasant option, feeling her flare of pain the moment she roused. He heard the choked breath as her body protested.
Through the pulsing of her brain, Zelda squirmed in Megatron's hold, one hand clutching plating. Everything churned and swirled. Her head pounded unrelentingly. Her body trembled. Her heart raced, pummelling against her sternum, threatening to burst free.
She writhed in Megatron's grasp before reaching with her prosthetic hand and yanked at exposed neck cables. There was a spark as she ripped something loose, and Megatron grunted, almost tripping over his pedes at the shock. His grip on her loosened, and then Optimus came swooping in.
Zelda's head spun viciously, and when the vertigo was over, she found herself in Optimus's servo as he moved, racing away from the scene. Megatron gave an angered roar and gave chase. Now it was Optimus's turn to play keep away. Zelda felt a sense of unease at the thought of being trapped in the midst of two battling titans, like a helpless toy in the hands of children.
The Decepticon leader came barrelling toward them and Optimus turned with impeccable timing, dropping Zelda onto the grassy earth as Megatron collided with him.
"Hide, Zelda!" he ordered as the two faction leaders went rolling with tangled limbs.
Zelda gasped for air and turned onto her front, scrambling to get her feet beneath her. She managed, pushing off a tree as she ran.
The two titans battled loudly behind her, trading powerful blows.
A punch landed.
"Puny!" Optimus mocked.
There was another one, a returned punch, and the ground shook as trees fell. Megatron tackled Optimus again. Zelda was almost thrown from her feet by all the shaking. She caught herself on a tree before pushing off and continuing to move. Yet the fighting leaders kept taking their fight her way as if drawn toward her.
Zelda groaned, both in frustration and because of the way her stomach churned. She had nothing but bile to bring up. She swallowed it back down, almost gagging as it burnt her throat.
She slumped back against a tree, gasping for air as spots fizzled across her vision. Before her, Optimus uprooted a tree and threw it at Megatron, knocking the Decepticon back onto his aft. Awesome. She'd have to make a joke about that later. A once they were clear from danger later.
"Waste of—metal! Junkyard—scrap!" Optimus insulted as he equipped his blades, slicing at Megatron before the Decepticon could gather his wits.
Megatron let out an angered roar. "Decepticons!"
Zelda turned and ran. She knew a cue when she heard one. Above, Starscream and the helicopter Decepticon soared over her position as they arrived. The familiar whirling sound of a transformation followed, and the ground shook, throwing Zelda from her feet.
"Come here, femme," Starscream crooned sweetly, optics locked onto her fallen form as his servo reached past several trees. But Zelda scrambled to her feet once more, darting out of reaching distance and using the trees as cover. Starscream growled in annoyance. "You can't run away forever."
"Watch me!" she snapped back.
The battle continued, but now Optimus was successfully taking on Megatron, Starscream, and the third Decepticon.
"There is another source of energon hidden on this planet. She can lead us to it!" Megatron snarled.
Zelda's heart rose to her throat. So that's what they were after. All those symbols she had been seeing had to be pointing toward whatever this energy source was!
Someone gets a hit on Optimus, and Zelda's heart pounded in her ears as she peered through the roots of a long-uprooted tree. Her wide eyes watched as Optimus tried to return a punch but got a wallop instead. Optimus came flying her way, sending soil and plants into the air. Zelda shielded herself from the spray with a choked noise.
"Zelda," Optimus groaned. "Move."
He nudged her urgently, but her knees refused to cooperate. They had given up. Her entire body was going into shock. Or maybe she was already in shock. Everything felt numb. The pain—where had the pain gone?
"Can't," she whimpered, panting breathlessly. She just…needed a minute, that was all!
Optimus snarled, and she watched as his fight reignited. He pulled himself to his pedes as Megatron approached with a wicked grin. His optics sought Zelda out, looking her over, and Zelda can't help but wonder what state she was in. She grimaced.
"One human, Optimus. She will help us reclaim Cybertron!" Megatron announced, arm blaster firing at the other. Optimus took the hits without voicing his pain, quickly returning the attack with near-lethal swipes of his blades.
"You will never have her!" he vowed, anger dripping from him. "I'll take you all on to protect her!"
Zelda had never felt Optimus so…angry before. It choked her up, tears building. It was still hard to believe that anyone would put their neck out in such a way for her. She didn't deserve it. Zelda could only watch as Optimus tore the unnamed Decepticon apart, extinguishing his spark.
She felt a dullness, a flicker as he passed on, but Zelda couldn't turn her eyes away from the battle, utterly entranced by it. Optimus threw Starscream and turned to Megatron. But Starscream came right back, and neither Decepticon allowed Optimus to gain a footing. They clashed loudly, energon was spilt, gunfire and blasterfire filled the air.
With trembling limbs, Zelda crawled, feeling as though she were jelly. Her joints kept giving out, threatening to make her eat dirt, but it didn't stop her. Zelda needed to get away from the battle. She needed to give Optimus space.
Starscream lost an arm somewhere along the way and Zelda almost let out a hysterical laugh.
She turned and froze, all sound lodged in her throat as Megatron drove his sword through the back of Optimus's chassis, the blade slicing through his spark chamber. Optimus froze, optics wide as they flickered. All sound ceased for Zelda in that moment. She could only watch as Optimus slumped forward, sliding off Megatron's blade. He fell like a great tree, body shuddering the earth.
His flickering optics sought her out, and Zelda panicked.
Her fear and panic drove her to desperately pull on the fraying bond. She pulled and yanked, feeling the sudden firm but panicked—DON'T—from Optimus, but it was too late. She had pulled their bond, winding it like a yo-yo.
His spark extinguished and she shrieked. Shockwaves of power explode outward, and Megatron was thrown with it. Lacerating pain whipped through her, and she hit the ground, skin searing, muscles glacial.
"Zelda!"
She barely registered servos picking her up before she was out.