Categories > Cartoons > Transformers > Listening to Shadows
AN: Yet more drablets for consumption.
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Song: Within You -- David Bowie
Characters: Megatron, Optimus
I move the stars for no one.
"You know I can't let you do this."
"You would kill your bonded?"
"If it comes to it."
"You know what will happen, don't you?" His voice was a deep purr."Your processors will falter. Your spark will fail. And if you survive the systems crash, you will spend the rest of your days locked away behind heavy doors, while Medical interns fresh from the Academy examine you."
"I am well aware."
"Then, Optimus," he said, stepping closer and bringing his hands up to cup the Prime's face, claws scraping lightly over the paint. "What are you waiting for?"
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Song: Wheel in the Sky -- Journey
Characters: Ratchet
I don't know where I'll be tomorrow
All across the battlefield smoke is rising from holes in the plating of Decepticons and Autobots alike.
And Ratchet, moving among the fallen, checking each and everyone alike to see who among them still bears a living spark, occasionally dodging fire from friend and enemy alike.
He uses a pede to turn one mech over, eyes widening for a moment at the construction of the face, before he relaxes, spotting the differences in framework, the Decepticon mark on the chest plate.
He is safe, Ratchet tries to assure himself. His bonded is far from this planet and this place, mired in his lab on the Ark.
And for the briefest of moments, Ratchet is incredibly thankful for the distance that separates them.
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Song: Gloomy Sunday -- Billie Holiday
Characters: ?
The shadows I live with are numberless.
Rain was something he had not experienced before.
He liked it.
He listened to the other Autobots complaining of the damp in their wirework, listened to the humans bemoaning the mire of the desert surrounding the new base.
It refreshed the planet. Seeped into the earth and made new life grow. Washed away dirt and debris.
And, standing just outside the complex at the rear of the base, looking at the second Lieutenant's name on the stone memorial--a memorial constructed months before he and his team arrived on the planet to the news of the Allspark's destruction--he can pretend, just for a moment, that the water on his face is tears.
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Song: It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday -- Boyz II Men
Characters: Megatron, Optimus
And I'll take with me the memories
To be my sunshine after the rain
The only thing he took aboard the Ark was a photoscreen with a single image inside it.
Taken less than a month after his coronation.
He and Megatron stood side by side and shoulder to shoulder.
Orion Pax--newly Optimus Prime--stared straight at the camera, optics bright with unspoken promise. And the Lord High Protector had one arm surreptitiously surrounding the young Prime's waist, so that only those who knew how to look could see the silver fingers tracing along the delicate plating of the Prime's hip.
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Song: Old Soldiers -- Hal Ketchum
Characters: ?
I can't forget, you. I can't even try.
It was the same every evening.
Sitting in the dark corner of the energon bar in the newly constructed Iacon, thinking this night he might get a reprieve and then someone would spot him, recognize him.
And he'd find himself, once more, revisiting years past. Friends lost. Friends gained. The death of comrades. Of enemies. Of lovers.
And despite how he told himself he wouldn't do it anymore, he couldn't stop himself from returning to his little corner every night.
Because, despite the pain, he enjoyed revisiting those who were closest to his spark.
Even if they were now just a memory.
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Song: Heartache Every Moment -- HIM
Characters: Wheeljack, Ratchet
It's heartache every moment with you.
The repeated clang of metal meeting metal was loud in the otherwise quiet medbay.
"Ow!Ow!Ow!"
"Well, if you wouldn't insist on blowing yourself up every astrocycle, you wouldn't be in here. And I wouldn't be forced to put your sorry aft back together just for you to do it all over again!"
"That doesn't justify you hittin' me with a tire iron."
"I thought maybe, just maybe, if I could at least show you some of the pain you've inflicted on me, you'd be learn to be more careful. But no..."
The scientist tilted his head, looking wary and thoughtful all at once.
"Do you have any idea how much it hurts," the Medic's hand pressed to his own chest, just over his spark, "when I hear the explosions, feel the compound shake, see you dragged in here, offline, leaking energon and other fluids all over the place?"
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Song: Past the Point of Rescue -- Hal Ketchum
Characters: Megatron/Optimus
Last night I dreamed you were back again.
It was their last night together.
He knew it immediately.
When Megatron came through the door, he stood to greet him and was nearly short circuited as silver hands reached immediately for the sensitive wiring at the base of his spinal column, fingers curving sharp as they stroked and tugged at plates and sensor nodes.
Optimus let himself be maneuvered into the recharge chambers, laid prostrate across the berth, while Megatron balanced above him, red optics searching his own blue ones for something.
He never knew if Megatron found what he was looking for.
The next moment his chest plates were manipulated open, Megatron's own following, and they were together in a surge of light brighter than anything he'd ever seen, and the pain searing through his core was sweeter than the most refined energon. Light exploded in his optics, silver, then green, the red bordering on black as his systems threatened a shut down.
When he came to, the room was empty.
His body sore, spark aching, cooling fans running, he took that last memory--a whisper of a mouth over his brow--for what it was.
Goodbye.
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Song: Don't Dream It's Over -- Crowded House
Characters: Sam, Bee
There's a battle ahead, many battles are lost
But you'll never see the end of the road
While you're traveling with me
They took the northern route, up through San Francisco and then headed west and south, rolling through miles and miles of desert sands that were stark as bone beneath the full moon's light.
Radio contact with the others had been lost days before.
The only thing they were sure of was the arrival of more Decepticons.
Though Bee knew, in his spark, that his comrades were still out there.
Some undercover, maybe.
Some hiding, yes.
But still out there.
Still existing.
And that's what kept him moving.
That and the young man currently asleep in his backseat, murmuring softly as dreams troubled him.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Song: Within You -- David Bowie
Characters: Megatron, Optimus
I move the stars for no one.
"You know I can't let you do this."
"You would kill your bonded?"
"If it comes to it."
"You know what will happen, don't you?" His voice was a deep purr."Your processors will falter. Your spark will fail. And if you survive the systems crash, you will spend the rest of your days locked away behind heavy doors, while Medical interns fresh from the Academy examine you."
"I am well aware."
"Then, Optimus," he said, stepping closer and bringing his hands up to cup the Prime's face, claws scraping lightly over the paint. "What are you waiting for?"
-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Song: Wheel in the Sky -- Journey
Characters: Ratchet
I don't know where I'll be tomorrow
All across the battlefield smoke is rising from holes in the plating of Decepticons and Autobots alike.
And Ratchet, moving among the fallen, checking each and everyone alike to see who among them still bears a living spark, occasionally dodging fire from friend and enemy alike.
He uses a pede to turn one mech over, eyes widening for a moment at the construction of the face, before he relaxes, spotting the differences in framework, the Decepticon mark on the chest plate.
He is safe, Ratchet tries to assure himself. His bonded is far from this planet and this place, mired in his lab on the Ark.
And for the briefest of moments, Ratchet is incredibly thankful for the distance that separates them.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Song: Gloomy Sunday -- Billie Holiday
Characters: ?
The shadows I live with are numberless.
Rain was something he had not experienced before.
He liked it.
He listened to the other Autobots complaining of the damp in their wirework, listened to the humans bemoaning the mire of the desert surrounding the new base.
It refreshed the planet. Seeped into the earth and made new life grow. Washed away dirt and debris.
And, standing just outside the complex at the rear of the base, looking at the second Lieutenant's name on the stone memorial--a memorial constructed months before he and his team arrived on the planet to the news of the Allspark's destruction--he can pretend, just for a moment, that the water on his face is tears.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Song: It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday -- Boyz II Men
Characters: Megatron, Optimus
And I'll take with me the memories
To be my sunshine after the rain
The only thing he took aboard the Ark was a photoscreen with a single image inside it.
Taken less than a month after his coronation.
He and Megatron stood side by side and shoulder to shoulder.
Orion Pax--newly Optimus Prime--stared straight at the camera, optics bright with unspoken promise. And the Lord High Protector had one arm surreptitiously surrounding the young Prime's waist, so that only those who knew how to look could see the silver fingers tracing along the delicate plating of the Prime's hip.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Song: Old Soldiers -- Hal Ketchum
Characters: ?
I can't forget, you. I can't even try.
It was the same every evening.
Sitting in the dark corner of the energon bar in the newly constructed Iacon, thinking this night he might get a reprieve and then someone would spot him, recognize him.
And he'd find himself, once more, revisiting years past. Friends lost. Friends gained. The death of comrades. Of enemies. Of lovers.
And despite how he told himself he wouldn't do it anymore, he couldn't stop himself from returning to his little corner every night.
Because, despite the pain, he enjoyed revisiting those who were closest to his spark.
Even if they were now just a memory.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Song: Heartache Every Moment -- HIM
Characters: Wheeljack, Ratchet
It's heartache every moment with you.
The repeated clang of metal meeting metal was loud in the otherwise quiet medbay.
"Ow!Ow!Ow!"
"Well, if you wouldn't insist on blowing yourself up every astrocycle, you wouldn't be in here. And I wouldn't be forced to put your sorry aft back together just for you to do it all over again!"
"That doesn't justify you hittin' me with a tire iron."
"I thought maybe, just maybe, if I could at least show you some of the pain you've inflicted on me, you'd be learn to be more careful. But no..."
The scientist tilted his head, looking wary and thoughtful all at once.
"Do you have any idea how much it hurts," the Medic's hand pressed to his own chest, just over his spark, "when I hear the explosions, feel the compound shake, see you dragged in here, offline, leaking energon and other fluids all over the place?"
-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Song: Past the Point of Rescue -- Hal Ketchum
Characters: Megatron/Optimus
Last night I dreamed you were back again.
It was their last night together.
He knew it immediately.
When Megatron came through the door, he stood to greet him and was nearly short circuited as silver hands reached immediately for the sensitive wiring at the base of his spinal column, fingers curving sharp as they stroked and tugged at plates and sensor nodes.
Optimus let himself be maneuvered into the recharge chambers, laid prostrate across the berth, while Megatron balanced above him, red optics searching his own blue ones for something.
He never knew if Megatron found what he was looking for.
The next moment his chest plates were manipulated open, Megatron's own following, and they were together in a surge of light brighter than anything he'd ever seen, and the pain searing through his core was sweeter than the most refined energon. Light exploded in his optics, silver, then green, the red bordering on black as his systems threatened a shut down.
When he came to, the room was empty.
His body sore, spark aching, cooling fans running, he took that last memory--a whisper of a mouth over his brow--for what it was.
Goodbye.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Song: Don't Dream It's Over -- Crowded House
Characters: Sam, Bee
There's a battle ahead, many battles are lost
But you'll never see the end of the road
While you're traveling with me
They took the northern route, up through San Francisco and then headed west and south, rolling through miles and miles of desert sands that were stark as bone beneath the full moon's light.
Radio contact with the others had been lost days before.
The only thing they were sure of was the arrival of more Decepticons.
Though Bee knew, in his spark, that his comrades were still out there.
Some undercover, maybe.
Some hiding, yes.
But still out there.
Still existing.
And that's what kept him moving.
That and the young man currently asleep in his backseat, murmuring softly as dreams troubled him.
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