autobots-in-training

[autobots-in-training]

Coming Clean

Arcee disappears. First Aid is inconsolable. Springer just wants his friends to be happy again.

It all comes to light.

ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/63647608

Drift was walking back from therapy, approaching the kids play room to chat with First Aid. He hadn't seen him for a couple days, after being assigned his duties(once he was deemed "trustworthy" enough), his schedule had been pretty packed.

There was yelling.

Kids yell and scream when they're excited, he's used to it.

But this didn't sound like the kids having fun and getting carried away with their volume...

"I fucking hate it here!" more yelling, and then a loud crash.

OK, he needed to step in.

"What is going on, why are you yelling?" he stepped in, only to see chaos. "No one leaves until I'm told what happened."

"She's crazy!"

"He's a hypocrite!"

"Stop it! Please!"

All three younglings started shouting again. Drift pinched the bridge of his nose.

"All of you quiet!"

They all went quiet

"I need one of you, and only one of you, to explain to me exactly what happened, or you will all be grounded." Drift's face was flat, showing the kids that he was not playing around. "Springer, you seem to be the only one not insulting the others, what happened?"

"Well..." The green youngling looked over at First Aid, who glared at him and shook his head. "Nothing, sir. It was nothing."

"No, you're explaining the situation to me, not First Aid. What happened that he doesn't want me to know?" Drift asked.

"S-sorry... So uhm... a couple months ago... First Aid had the idea to start a... a blog. On the internet. Where we would answer questions from random people online-"

"You did what?!" Drift growled. "None of you are allowed to use the internet without adult supervision! What were you thinking?!"

"That's not all, sir..." Springer spoke up again. "We uhm... we got these... anonymous questions... from... from bots that said they were Decepticons..."

Drift took a deep breath. Alright. He could handle this. He knew most of the 'Cons that resided on earth, he couldn't think of any that would want to cause harm to children, even if they were Autobot children...

"Tell me the truth. Did any of you give away information that could put not just you, but the entire base in danger?" He asked.

All three looked guilty.

Drift let out an exasperated sigh. "You all should know better! Arcee where the hell are you going?"

"I'm leaving!" she yelled at him. "You aren't my carrier, fuck off!"

"Arcee!"

"Let her leave, she's a dirty 'Con, she doesn't care about us!" First Aid said loudly, making sure that Arcee heard him.

Arcee shot him a glare, and ran out.

"First Aid! You of all bots should be the most understanding!" Drift reprimanded his child.

"Springer-" he turned to the other youngling still in the room. "-get your carrier. Have him inform Chromia and Windblade that Arcee might have run away."

Springer only nodded, and ran out.

Drift turned back to his creation. "How could you say that to one of your best friends?"

"Her carrier took you from me! She's Megatron's kid!! I hate them both!" First Aid cried. "He took you from us, he took you from us and you finally came back, how are you not mad at him too?"

Drift side, and got down on his knees to look First Aid in the eyes. "Aidy, Megatron didn't take me from you. He never did." he hugged the crying youngling.

"Aid, my shining, brilliant spark, me leaving never had anything to do with him. I missed you the entire time I was gone, I thought about you and your carrier every single day." he took a shakey breath. "But, I need you to understand, no one has the blame for me leaving, but me. Not you, not Arcee, not even Megatron. Me."

"Why did you leave though?" First Aid said, through tears. "Neither of you have ever told me why. Carrier never talked about it, Pharma just said it was between you and carrier, and you've been here for months now, and still you haven't said anything! I'm 14! I'm almost 15! I can understand!"

"This... this is a conversation best had with your carrier present. So we can both tell you what happened, OK?" Drift asked.

First Aid nodded.

Drift smiled, and picked up his creation.

"S-sire! Put me down! This is embarrassing!"

"Come on, I missed out on so much, let me at least carry you like I did when you were still a bitlet." he smiled.

First Aid hid his face in his sire's neck. "Fine." he said, though it was muffled.

Arcee was still running. She knew that she wouldn't be able to leave the front entrance, it was always so heavily guarded. Damn it, stupid First Aid never showed her how he and Springer would sneak out for their stupid unchaperoned dates in the city!

Hiding out in the room she shared with Springer and First Aid was out of the question as well, if they start looking for her, they'd find her there right away.

She skidded to a stop when she heard voices coming from the direction she was heading. She made a quick U-turn, and turned left at the first corridor.

There had to be some part of the ship that had low foot traffic...

She kept running, avoiding any voices she heard, she didn't want to see any Autobots. They would all soon learn that she wasn't one of them, she was a 'dirty Con' like First Aid called her.

Every single Autobot hated her. Might even want her dead.

Stopping was not an option.

After running around, evading and sneaking around bots that were getting off their shifts, others patrolling, she found a quiet corridor.

It seemed to be a dead end. At least to anyone too big to fit in a vent. She recalled when Rumble and Frenzy would show her and her twin how to quietly sneak through the ventilation systems of The Nemesis.

She made sure to put back the grate, so that no one knew how she'd escaped.

They'll never see her again.

Prowl was nearly knocked to the ground by his only creation.

Springer cried into his carrier's chest. Prowl tried calming him down, but the child's words were indiscernible.

"Springer, I can't understand you. Please, take a deep breath." He whispered. "What happened?"

Springer took deep breaths, too quick, it only made his vents stutter.

"Slow and steady." Prowl said.

The older bot cradled his creation's face, and took a deep breath, the youngling followed suit.

A minute passed, Springer was able to calm down.

"A-Arcee ran away. We-we need to tell Chromia and Windblade." He said, still unable to get his voice steady. "Her and First Aid started fighting and she got so angry... and she ran away!"

"Springer, there's little chance that she left the Ark. There's guards at the only entrance. She has to still be somewhere here." Prowl said. "Come now, I'll call Chromia and Windblade to meet us at Prime's office. Let's go."

"I'm sorry I couldn't stop them from fighting, carrier... They didn't listen to me!"

"Springer, that's not your job. You're just a kid, like them. Come on," Prowl said. "We need to tell Chromia and Windblade what happened, and ask Optimus to make an announcement so we can start looking for her."

"Prowl, what happened?" Windblade rushed to the SIC. "Where's Arcee?"

"Sh-she ran away-"

"What!?" Chromia screamed. "When did this happen?!"

"T-ten minutes ago?" Springer said. "I tried to get them to stop-"

"Get who to stop?" Windblade asked. "Why did you wait to tell us? We need to start looking for her!"

"I had to run to find my carrier. I didn't know where you guys were." Springer explained. "And I don't have personal comms yet."

Windblade and Chromia shared a worried look.

"Sorry for blowing up on you, kid." Chromia sighed. "Prowl, I'm guessing you asked us to meet outside the Prime's office so he could make a ship wide announcement?"

"Exactly." Prowl said. He knocked on the office door. "Optimus, sir, sorry to interrupt, but this is a very urgent matter."

The door slid open.

Inside, they saw Drift and Optimus.

"Drift, sir!" Springer was surprised to see the ex-Decepticon. He looked around the office. "W-where's Aid?"

"With Ratchet. His carrier and I will be having a long talk with him. After we find Arcee." Drift looked between Chromia and Windblade. "He's the one that upset her in the first place, so I'm not going to take this lightly."

"Arcee did mention a couple weeks ago that First Aid and her got into a bit of a fight. But I thought they'd made up." Windblade sighed. "She refused to tell us what it was that upset her though."

"Uhm..." Springer piped up. "I uhm... i might know."

"Don't worry Springer, I'll explain." Drift said. Springer sighed in relief at not having to be the center of attention anymore. "Arcee, as it turns out, is the missing child of Megatron."

"What?" Optimus spoke for the first time since everyone entered his office. "Megatron's Arcee... is our Arcee?"

"Did you know that Megatron had twins?" Drift looked surprised.

Everyone else in the room was stunned to hear that revelation.

"We were... close. Before the war." Optimus admitted. "I had no idea that the Arcee that Windblade and Chromia brought back... was his Arcee. Had i known... I would have reunited them. All these years... Megatron must have been so distraught."

"He was."

"How do you know? Were you even close with Megatron before you defected?" Chromia sounded skeptical. "I didn't even know Megatron had a child, let alone twins."

"It was an open secret among the Decepticons, high command were the only ones that knew the whole story though."

"You were Decepticon High Command, sir?" Springer was surprised. He looked at Drift with awe.

"I was Megatron's personal assassin. And I guarded Arcee and Galvatron whenever I was on base. I was with them when she went missing. I searched everywhere for her, the Wastelands were vast and hard to maneuver, easy to get lost in the massive dust cloud. I told Megatron that I would not rest until she was found. He was busy fighting a war, and he needed to lead his troops. I assured him that I would look for her in his stead.

"I didn't stop on my own. He was the one that ordered me to. Megatron didn't have any hope left. She'd been missing for over a century at this point. He didn't think that she would have been able to survive on her own. She was too young." he sighed. "But i never would've guessed that she'd been found by Autobots."

"Chromia and I found her wandering the wastes. She was crying and calling out for her carrier and someone named 'Galvy'. I'm guessing 'Galvy' was 'Galvatron'."

"Correct. And guessing from how everyone reacted, especially First Aid, no one knew who she really was." Drift pinched his nose bridge. "She's most likely scared, her secret was revealed, and she might think that the entire Autobot base will be hunting her down."

"What do we do then? Not look for her? If she leaves the Ark, she has no idea where the Nemesis is." Chromia was trying to think. "She'll be completely lost, and her full armor is still growing, she'll either overheat during the day or freeze during the night! We have to find her, and try to get her to understand that we're not going to hurt her."

"What do you suggest we do? We can't notify everyone of what happened, but we have to hurry and find her before she finds a way out of the ship." Prowl approaches Optimus. "I say we get a few more bots, anyone that doesn't have as hostile views of the Decepticons. Velocity is a good candidate. Ratchet would probably volunteer, but the medbay can't be left unattended, even if there are some human doctors there."

"Skyfire? He has a past relationship with Starscream. He still speaks of him positively." Windblade suggests.

"He does?!" Chromia was surprised. "Why didn't you tell me??"

"Because last time i tried to tell you flyer gossip, you told me you didn't care." Windblade crossed her arms.

"Because I was looking over my reports from a past mission-" Chromia stops herself. "Nevermind, we need to focus on trying to find Arcee before she leaves the Ark!"

"So, all of us, Velocity and Skyfire. That should be enough." Optimus said. "She'll most likely be very cautious, we have to make sure not to scare her."

"I can help!"

"Springer, it's best you just go back to your room for now." Prowl shoots down his kid. "You nearly had a panic attack earlier, it's best you just rest for now."

Springer frowned, but agreed.

"Ok, fine. Please, just make sure she's OK."

"Do not worry, Springer, we'll do everything we can to find her and bring her back safe." Optimus assured her. "Let's roll out."

Arcee wished she was still mostly protoform.

"Ugh, why do the vents have to be so small..."

Moving slowly to make sure that no one suspected she was hiding in the vents.

She had no idea where she was. Peaking into the rooms gave her little idea where she was in the ship, being unfamiliar with most of the Ark.

After an hour of crawling around the tiny vents(seriously, how did the cassettes do this all the time), she saw a bright light at the end of the vent.

She started to move faster, finally! She was getting out of here!

The vent opened easily, and she wondered how the cassettes still haven't invaded the Ark.

"I'm coming, carrier." she whispered to herself, before promptly losing her balance and falling down the side of the Ark.

She screamed and landed on the metal below.

Metal?

She looked down. Metal. This was the outside of the Ark.

Looking up, she saw that she had fallen out of a vent that lead into the upper most floor of the Ark. She groaned in frustration. She was hoping this vent would lead closer to the ground.

Why did that hurt so much! It wasn't a long fall!

"Great..." she whispered. She cautiously sat up, and leaned back on the wall behind her.

What was she supposed to do? The mountain was too fragile for her to climb down, and the Ark was too smooth to be able to climb either.

Plus, her entire body hurt from that fall. "How did that hurt? It wasn't even that far..."

She curled up. Trying her hardest not to cry and scream in frustration. Even if she was stuck here, she didn't want them to find her because she couldn't control herself.

It was the afternoon. The giant top floor towered over her and gave her some nice shade. She wasn't looking forward to when it got dark... At least now she has protection from the sun. Once the temperature cools at night, she won't be able to do anything.

The Ark, being a space worthy ship, didn't retain a lot of heat. The metal will cool down quickly, and she doesn't have a strong internal heating system yet.

This was all stupid First Aid's fault!

He caused this whole entire thing! His stupid blog idea, his stupid insistence that they all join him, his stupid opinions about Decepticons and even his stupid sire!

Her mind was racing, she couldn't stop the tears from falling. Arcee let her tears fall, but she tried to be as quiet as possible.

It hurt to keep everything in. Even after all these years, she couldn't express what she was really feeling, because then she'd be captured and kept prisoner!

She wanted to think that Windblade and Chromia wouldn't let that happen, but she also thought highly of First Aid before he went and said all that awful shit to her.

Maybe... maybe Arcee will never be able to see any of the bots she still liked ever again.

That was fine! She still has her family! Her real family. Because the Autobots were never her family. They... they were just the ones that looked after her after she got lost.

Took care of her when she was sick. Comforted her when she was scared. Made her laugh, cheered her up, fed her, gave her a place to sleep.

No! They were still the enemy!

First Aid, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were the worst! They were awful and she hated them!

Springer was the only one that understood her. Maybe Prowl.

Drift was a traitor.

When he cared for her and her twin, it was probably all just lies!

She slumped over to the side. The pleasant cool of the metal felt nice.

Looking out into the horizon, she wished she could turn her thoughts off. She didn't want to think about anything! She was just tired.

Arcee closed her eyes.

The next time she opened them, it was dark. Oddly, though, she wasn't cold-

"Huh?" she sat up and rubbed her optics. There was a blanket on her...

She looked looked around her, no one but-

"Ahhhhh!!!"

"It's ok. I'm not going to hurt you."

"You! What are you doing here, how did you find me!?" Arcee stood up, throwing the thermal blanket at him. "Get away from me!" she yelled, though he hadn't made an attempt to get closer.

"I won't take you back down if you don't want that. I'm just here to talk." he said simply.

"Sure you aren't, Deadlock. Or should i say Drift?" Arcee said sarcastically. "Just like you said you would always be loyal to my carrier and keep me and Galvy from harm. If that was true, why are you here? Why are you following Optimus now, huh?"

"I have my reasons. One of them being First Aid. Another being Ratchet."

Arcee glared at him, but said nothing. She dropped down to the metal floor, hugging her knees.

"Talk then."

"I know you're upset. What First Aid said to you was unacceptable. Ratchet and I are going to have a talk with him later." Drift started. "But I'm also here to ask you what you are planning to do."

"You obviously know what i want to do." Arcee said angrily. "I wanna see my carrier, my twin, my real friends."

"I get you being upset with First Aid, but what about Springer? Is he not your friend too?" he asked.

"No-... Well... Springer is my friend. But he's an Autobot, just like First Aid." she turned her gaze down, and started picking at the reinforced roof of the Ark.

"They aren't Autobots." Drift said. "Technically, you, Springer, First Aid, Roddy, Illy, even Bumblebee, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker are classified as neutrals in the Autobot database."

"What do you mean?"

"You're all too young to officially be considered Autobots. Even Megatron didn't classify you and Galvatron as Decepticons." Drift took a deep breath. "None of you have insignias or badges. You are all too young. Bumblebee, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker are only allowed to go on missions because they used to sneak out, at least that's what Ratchet told me happened."

Arcee let out a laugh accidentally, but quickly covered her mouth. "When they were caught, they were put in the brig. Ratchet and Ironhide would yell at them, and Optimus would give them disappointed looks."

Drift smiled, but then he looked at Arcee with sadness.

"Cee, why did you never say anything? About Megatron, about the Decepticons?"

"Cause i was scared." she said quietly. "I was so small and had no armor yet, I didn't want them to hurt me."

"Do you think, now that you've known them for many many years, that they would hurt you?" Drift asked. "Do you think Windblade, Chromia, any of the Autobots, would hurt you?"

"Windblade and Chromia... probably not." she whispered. "After today... I don't know if i can trust anyone else."

"Do you trust me?" Drift asked, he didn't move.

"I..." Arcee hesitated. What was she supposed to say? That she loved him, that he reminds her of the time before she lost her family, that she wishes he had come to take her back home? "I don't know."

"Arcee, I want to help you."

"I'm not going back down. Not unless it's to go directly to the Nemesis." she tried to scoot herself back, she was already up against the wall. "I don't want to see anyone unless it's Galvy and my carrier."

"That's what i want to do. I want to take you to them. First you have to trust me." he reached out a hand. "So, Arcee, do you trust me?"

She hesitated. Could she trust him? He took care of her and her twin.

Her carrier trusted him too, and now he's an Autobot.

He's not forcing her though. Drift hasn't made a move to grab her at all. He could have picked her up and taken her back down while she was sleep, but instead he put a blanket on her, and waited for her to wake up.

Maybe... Maybe she should trust him. She can always bite him if he does something she doesn't want him to.

"O...OK. I'll go." she took his hand.

Drift smiled warmly. She missed his smile.

"Let's go then.

"First Aid, sit back down." Ratchet said, not turning away from the medicine he was organizing. "You aren't leaving until your sire comes back."

"But its been hours!" First Aid whines. "I just wanted answers, I didn't expect him to make me wait for so fucking long!"

Ratchet turned and glared at his creation.

First Aid shrunk under his carrier's disapproving glare.

"Sorry..."

"You know better than to use those words." Ratchet put down the bottles, and walked over to the bed opposite the one First Aid was sitting on.

They both sat in relative silence.

All the humans that worked in the medbay had gone home for the day, Velocity had also left hours ago to help look for Arcee.

"Kid, why did you react like that towards Arcee?" he asked.

"Cause she's stupid! And she was probably sent here to spy on us!" First Aid yelled. "She was just upset that we uncovered her evil plan before she was able to do anything!"

Ratchet looked at First Aid, looking him up and down.

The kid was angry, that was certain. He was still crying, out of anger, guilt or genuine sadness, Ratchet wasn't sure. It might be all three.

"Arcee arrived here when she was barely 7 or 8. You really think a child, who was the same age as you, and didn't trust anyone, would really come here to spy on us?" Ratchet wiped some of First Aid's tears away. "Megatron never would have sent his own kid to do that. She's been with us for thousands of years, her carrier probably doesn't even know what she looks like now."

"But-"

"No. First Aid, Drift came back specifically for you. I would have done the same. Drift knew Megatron well before the war. Everything Drift told me about him... He would do anything for his kids."

"Kids?" First Aid asked. "He had more?"

"He had twins. Arcee and... another kid. I never got their name." Ratchet said. "The Autobots and Decepticons really aren't all that different. We were fighting for the same goal, we just went about it differently." Ratchet sighed. "This war has gone on so long, it feels like everyone, even Optimus, has forgotten why we're even fighting."

"Why stay here then?"

"Where would we go? There aren't any space worthy ships that function here on earth. Ones that can navigate and aren't just rockets."

"I-... I dont know..." First Aid hadnt stopped crying. "If this whole thing is pointless, why are we still here? Why are they still fighting!?"

"Because Megatron and Optimus are idiots and would rather try to kill eachother than admit that they were wrong."

Ratchet hugged his creation tightly, letting him cry as much as he needed to.

He wished he could do something, but even if he could boss around Optimus when it came to matters of medicine, the Autobot leader would just dismiss him in the way he does his officers when they have an idea he doesn't particularly like.

"Come on, they're all probably still looking for Arcee. Let's get back to our hab." Ratchet said as he picked up his creation.

First Aid didn't protest.

"No one knows, right?" Arcee asked. "They aren't going to hurt me or look at me all angry?"

"No one knows. Just the ones that were looking for you." Drift reassures her. "I commed everyone, they'll meet us at Optimus' office, and we'll go from there, OK?"

Arcee only nodded. She was holding onto Drift like he was her lifeline. At that particular moment, it felt to her like he was.

The older bot navigated quietly and cautiously through the halls of the Ark. Even if no one knew about what had happened hours earlier, he could tell that Arcee was too scared to see any other bots at that moment.

Finally arriving to the door that led to Optimus' office, Drift stopped and looked down at the young bot.

"Ready?" he asked simply.

Again, she only nodded.

Drift smiled at her, and opened the door.

All Arcee could do before she was bombarded with hugs was squeal in surprise.

"Arcee, we're so glad you're safe!" Chromia exclaimed.

"We were so worried. When Drift called us saying he found you, we were so relieved!" Windblade whispered to her. "It doesn't matter to us who your carrier is, all we care about is that you're safe and happy and healthy."

"We would have liked to know who your carrier was so we could have reunited you sooner. We never would have hurt you." Chromia kisses the top of Arcee's head.

The tears were falling down her cheeks before she could try to hold them back. She hugged them back, and cried. She cried and cried, even when she had no more tears, she sobbed.

All the weight Arcee felt on her small form lifted. They knew who she really was, and they still loved her.

The rest of the bots in Optimus' office waited patiently for Arcee to calm down.

It took a while, the poor kid had been terrified the only caretakers she's known since before she had armor would hate her for "not being an Autobot."

Once Arcee was sat on Windblade's lap, snuggled into her chest and holding Chromia's hand for reassurance, asleep, they started to plan.

"Megatron will never believe that Arcee is alive. He lost hope since before we all arrived on earth. He didn't think that she could have survived in the Wastelands." Drfit started, Optimus looked at him as if he had read his mind. "Prime, it would have been a good idea a few thousand years ago when Megatron still thought she was alive. Now? He'd just think that you had some cruel plan to use his dead kid as bait."

"I would never do that."

"I know that, but Megatron wouldn't." Drift explained. "I'm sure if Prowl had stayed, he would have told you the same. Megatron doesn't take the mention of Arcee lightly. Starscream mentioned her once, reminiscing about the times he would fly her, Galvatron and his own twins around when they were all smaller. Megatron punched him."

Skyfire's engine growled angrily.

"I'm not saying that Megatron was in the right for doing this. He just doesn't take anyone talking about Arcee lightly. He lost her after an attack on the base they were in. He thinks that even if the Wastelands didn't kill her, an Autobot would have." Drift explains.

"What do you suggest we do then?" Windblade asked quietly. "Megatron would just think it's a trap if we tell him we have Arcee. He wouldn't believe Optimus if he said he wanted to meet for a ceasaefire, because Optimus would never do that-"

"You think so little of me?"

"When was the last time you tried to ask for a ceasefire?" Windblade asked earnestly.

Optimus said nothing.

"Exactly. You suddenly asking now? He wouldn't believe it."

"I have an idea." Skyfire spoke up, having calmed down from his small outburst earlier. "I... I could contact Starscream. He was fond of Arcee and her twin, correct?" he asked.

"Would Starscream believe you if you said that Arcee was alive?" Chromia asked. "From what i know, that bastard doesn't trust anyone."

"He's always been like that. Back in our academy days... The administration wasn't happy that 2 flyers got into their academy. A seeker and a shuttle at that! The other students tried to sabotage us. We still prevailed. But then... my accident..." Skyfire closed his optics, the pain clear on his face. "I can only imagine what happened after he returned to Cybertron. When i was rescued from the ice, he said nothing about what happened. He was just happy to see me again."

"Doesn't he hate you now?" Drift asked.

"No!" Skyfire blushed angrily.

"He was pretty angry when we returned from that mission in the arctic..." Drift said.

"He said that he hoped i realized my mistake so that I could meet our kids! He doesn't hate me!" Skyfire yelled. "I still have his frequency."

"Are you telling him the truth, or are you making an excuse?" Optimus asked. "I met Starscream a couple times before the war, I don't think he would be very happy if you lied to him."

"Why would i lie to him? I'll tell him the truth. Plus, i was thinking that i could fly Arcee along with Chromia, Windblade and Drift close to the Nemesis, call him and he can see her himself and he can tell Megatron about Arcee."

"Did you forget the bit where i said that he punched Starscream through a wall the last time that he talked about Arcee around him?"

"He got punched through a fucking wall??" Skyfire yelled.

The entire room shushed him.

"He can just take Arcee with him to meet Megatron." Skyfire regained his composure. "Really, you're making it harder than it should be. We can literally just take her there, if Star doesn't come out to meet us, we can just sneak in, Arcee is small so it'd be easier for her to go unnoticed and make her way to Megatron."

Everyone went silent.

"You have been at war for too long. Did you really forget you can just go to a place you know the location of and just... talk?"

Optimus glared at the shuttle, but then sighed and said defeatedly. "You aren't wrong. I think this would be the best course of action."

"We should wait till morning, when Arcee is rested and feeling better. Though i do want to do this early so no one else questions why Arcee is leaving with us, specifically in Skyfire." Drift smiles softly at the sleeping youngling. "We can tell everyone that asks what happened after reuniting Arcee with her carrier and twin."

So it was settled.

First Aid watched his carrier go through his nightly routine.

"Why do you polish before going to sleep?" he asked quietly.

"Working in the medbay all day, i get covered in some not so pleasant substances. Some times they stain my armor." Ratchet explained. "I don't polish my armor every night, i try to do it once or twice a week. If a stain is bad enough, i do polish that same day."

First Aid only nodded.

"If you choose to be a medic when you're older, you'll have to do this as well."

First Aid scoffs. "Of course I'm gonna be a medic when I'm older."

"You don't have to be." Ratchet says, putting his cloth down. "I know we named you First Aid, but even that isn't permanent. You can change your name, and change what you want to do when you grow up at any time. I don't want you to choose something just because of us."

"Isn't that why you named me First Aid though? So that i could be a medic when i grew up? It's why im white and red." he said. He scooted over so his carrier and him had space between them as he sat down.

"You told me you wanted your first paint job to be like mine." Ratchet made no move to get First Aid close again. "First Aid, i don't want you to think that you have to be something you dont want to be."

"Rie, I-"

There was a knock at the door.

"Come in, Drift." Ratchet said.

First Aid got up quickly to greet his sire.

"Hey kid!" Drift said. He looked tired, but didn't let First Aid see. "Velocity told me you retired to your habsuite."

"it was getting late." Ratchet deadpanned.

"Ratty..."

Ratchet sighed, and waved Drift over.

"Let's get this over with." Ratchet said.

First Aid went to sit next to his carrier, his sire sitting on his other side.

"Am I finally gonna learn why you two refuse to look at each other or even talk?" First Aid asked. He crossed his arms and refused to look at either of his creators.

Both older bots sighed.

"It started-"

"The whole thing is-"

They both started and stopped at the same time.

"You first, Drift." Ratchet motioned to him.

The former assassin took in a deep breath.

"It started after a... a good friend of mine was killed by an autobot enforcer. Neither of us had officially joined either side, Ratchet still ran his free clinic in Rodion. Anyone was allowed in as long as they didn't start trouble..."

Drift looked over to Ratchet. Ratchet did not look back at him.

"I was so angry. I wanted to join the decepticons. I wanted to get revenge for my friend... Ratchet didn't agree. He said that enforcer was just one bot, not all of them were like that." Drift shook his head. "We had fight after fight until i... I couldn't take it. I left. I said nothing, i just left. I wanted to take you with me but... I didn't think Ratchet would have taken that too well and gone after me. I'm sorry, Aidy."

Drift tried to hug his child.

First Aid got down from the berth.

"I heard your side. Carrier, i want your side now." First Aid didn't turn to look at either of them.

Ratchet glared at Drift.

"I never told you anything because I was destroyed when he left. The time you were with Pharma after Drift left... I had gone to look for him. I wanted him to come back, to yell at him, to ask him to stay, to hit him for leaving us... I'm sorry, First Aid. I wasn't thinking-"

"Neither of you were thinking! You both left me! You came back carrier, but it always felt like something was wrong! For so long, you looked so sad when you looked at me! And you didn't like talking about Sire!!! I got little tidbits every now and then, but it wasn't enough! You are both so selfish!! Now i get that Megatron didn't take you, you left me and carrier and then you both became idiots!"

First Aid screamed, and ran out of the room.

Drift stood to chase after him, but was stopped.

"He needs to cool off. We... we both failed him." Ratchet said.

"Maybe we should talk as well..." Drift said.

"We should."

Hours after having left the Autobot base, Arcee stood on a platform that stood barely above the crashing waves of the ocean below.

She was holding Windblade and Chromia's hands, Starscream was in front of them, trying to sneak them inside.

He cursed under his breath, for some reason, he couldn't get the door to open.

"I swear to fucking Unicron, if Frenzy or Rumble messed with the door again, they are getting grounded until the war ends." Starscream said just loud enough for Arcee to hear.

She giggled. Chromia and Windblade only gave Starscream concerned looks.

The door finally slid open.

"Quickly now, can't have anyone seeing the enemy leisurely enter the ship like they own the place." he said, sounding just a tad bit annoyed.

Arcee squeezed both her guardians' hands, let go and followed quickly after the seeker.

The Nemesis had winding corridors that seemed to never end. Arcee recognized none of it. Fearing getting lost, she stuck as close as she could to Starscream, periodically looking behind her to make sure that Chromia and Windblade were still there.

They were.

"Chromia, if you and Windblade have a kid after I leave, will they still be my sibling?" Arcee asked out of nowhere.

That caught all three adults off guard, Starscream nearly fell to the floor.

"If you want that, of course." Windblade was the first to recover. "But sweety, we're not trying to have a kid right now." she laughed nervously.

"Sure, but i asked if." Arcee said. "Galvatron and I are twins, I've never had younger siblings." She grabbed Starscream's hand, the adult tried not flinch, but Arcee sees how he twitches just the lightest bit. She frowns at that.

"Didn't you used to call my twins your bitlets when you were a kid?" Starscream asked after he recovered. "I recall that you snuck into my quarters and woke them up, thinking you were helping."

"I'd never seen a bitlet before!"

"They weren't bitlets anymore. You're only a couple thou years older than them. All four of you were bitlets around the same time." Starscream rolled his eyes, but still smiled warmly down at Arcee.

Arcee glares back at him. He only laughs.

Behind them, Chromia and Windblade see a side of their enemy they never thought they'd see. They've only ever met on the battlefield.

Windblade opened her mouth to tease Starscream, Chromia stopped her.

"Best not to antagonize him in his territorry, Win." Chromia said quietly.

Windblade sighed deeply.

They finally arrive before a large door.

The seeker turns to Arcee and tells her "Stay behind me, alright?" then turns to the two Autobots. "You stay out here."

All three nod.

The door slides open, and Starscream walks in confidently, Arcee follows, trying to keep her excitement contained.

Chromia and Windblade stayed behind.

Before the door could close fully, Arcee waved goodbye.

-

Arcee looked around the room. There were lots of monitors, several bots working, but relatively little noise.

"Star! Nice of you to join us during your shift, did you check on the twins?" she recognized that voice.

"They've been quiet all day, so either they're planning something, or they decided to take a break from breaking things today." Starscream sounded exaspterated. "That wasn't why I left, where's Megatron, he was here when i left."

"Well... Maybe you should check on them. Little Megan Jr and the twins got into, lets just call it a disagreement. All three are in the medbay right now, KO called Megs down to yell at him."

Megan Jr? Isn't that a human name?

"Who's Megan Jr?" She asked.

"Megatron's ankle biter-"

"Stop using earth slang!" Starscream screeched, though no real animosity was in his voice.

"It's funny! And Megs doesnt do anything about it, he just glares at me!"

"Skywarp, he just glares because he know's Galvatron likes you. If he disciplined you in any way, the kid would start crying."

Arcee perked up at the mention of her twin.

"So Galvy's in the medbay?"

"What's it to you, kid?" Skywarp finally looked at her. Xe looked her up and down, then settled on her face. Recognition was plastered on his face. "Arcee?"

The mention of her name got several other bots' attention.

"Do NOT swarm her." Starscream said firmly at all the bots that were now staring at the pink youngling.

She didn't know what to do. All this attention felt like too much and tugged on Starscream's arm. "I wanna see my carrier and Galvy."

Glaring at the bots in the command room, a silent order to stay put, he started leading her back out, and to the medbay.

Windblade and Chromia were no longer outside. They must have left...

Arcee didn't blame them. It'd be dangerous if they'd hung around, and she didn't want either side to get hurt.

Doesn't mean she wasn't disappointed to not see them again, at least for one last time.

Starscream was fast. Of course he was, he was mostly legs.

The halls were so empty, was everyone working right now? She didn't even see anyone slacking off in the halls.

Maybe Starscream chose the path that was least likely to have traffic.

Smart move.

Back at the Ark, the only younglings were her, Springer, First Aid, Hot Rod and Illusion. She didnt count Bumblebee, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker since they didn't look that much like younglings anymore.

If there were few kids here as well, it'd be suspicious for a new one to just appear suddenly. People would ask questions. And she didn't want to have much attention on her, all she wanted right now was to see her carrier and twin again.

"We should get there soon. There's a more private entrance to the medbay that Knockout uses when he doesn't want anyone to see him leave. With all the trouble that your twin and those 2 brats caused with their fight, theres no doubt theres several bots crowding around the entrence of the medbay." he explained.

That made sense.

They stopped at a nondescript door, the older bot put in a code she couldnt quite see, and it opened.

"Keep quiet." Starscream whispers.

Looking around, there isn't much besides a simple recharge slab, not even a proper berth, and medical supplies.

This is probably where the medics rest when there's patients in the main area.

They approach yet another door. She can hear a lot of noise through it.

Once on the other side, its chaos. A red bot is yelling at the twins, theres 2 kids that seem a lot younger than her, a small kid that seems to be the same age as her, a big bot with blue armor that's tending to-

Galvatron.

That's Galvatron!

And! And her carrier is on his other side!!

Arcee pushes past Starscream and runs to them

Finally! After so long!

She's home!

[autobots-in-training]

do you guys fight regularly? yall are weirdly intense about that animal ask.

Galvatron: I'll throw you into the ocean! I bet Starscream will be happy!

Slipstream: Fuck you! I bet Arcee's happy she doesnt have to deal with you anymore!

Jetstream: Yeah! She's probably happy that her friends arent as idiotic as you!

Galvatron:

Ravage: Primus this isnt going to end well.

Galvatron: Run.

Ravage: Hey, hey!-

Slipstream: Oh please, you can't do anything to us!

Jetstream: We're taller than you!

Galvatron: RUN BEFORE I FUCKING KILL YOU!

*metal clashing*

Ravage: Stop! Stop it! Frenzy, Rumble, go get Knockout, now!

*running*

Galvatron: I'll kill you!

Jetstream: Ha! Thats all you can do?

Slipstream: You can barely punch!

Ravage: You three, stop! Sto-

*crash*

*end transmission*

[autobots-in-training]

When I say this I MEAN IT I WOULD DIE FOR ALL OF YOU UR ALL SO FLAPPING CUTE OMGGGGGGG Onto the question ;^; now- if all would keep ANY animal from Earth Cybertron or another planet as a pet what animal would it be?

Slipstream: Honey badger, but it can fly, so i can take it with me when we practice flying.

Jetstream: Wouldn't a hawk be better and cooler? They can already fly.

Slipstream: Badgers are so fucking cool!

Galvatron: If either of you say anything about this, I'm telling Starscream you swore.

Jetstream: What?!

Galvatron: This was supposed to stay between me, Ravage and the other twins! And then you came and spied on us!

Jetstream: You were literally yelling.

Slipstream: You're an idiot. Also, you aren't subtle. You were doing this in the hallway.

Rumble: No one ever comes down this hallway though! Because its on the far end of the ship, only our carrier's quarters are around here, and no one comes here except us!! and Carrier, but we usually know where he is and when he's coming!

Jetstream: Our carrier sleeps in Soundwave's quarters sometimes though.

Slipstream: Yeah! He's sleeping here tonight, and he told us to wait for him here while his shift ends!

Frenzy: What? No! Carrier said it was only us tonight!

Slipstream: Well, he lied.

Frenzy: Carrier doesn't lie to us!!

Slipstream: Well, he clearly did.

Jetstream: What animal would you be?

Frenzy: Huh?

Jetstream: That's what this is about right? Just answering random questions you get from strangers online? This one's asking what earth animal we would like to have.

Frenzy:...

Rumble: ...I'd want one of those weird sea animals that can hit it's prey so fast and so hard it can kill it in one blow.

Slipstreams: That doesn't exist!

Rumble: It does!! its called something like... manta shrimp. It's really colorful, and has really funky eyes! Red, what'd you keep?

Frenzy: *grumbling* I want an elephant.

Rumble: That's carrier's favourite earth animal!

Frenzy: They're pretty fucking majestic, carrier likes them for a reason.

Rumble: Hey Galv, what would you want to keep?

Galvatron: Ugh, do I have to?

Rumble: We all said something. so yes. Also didn't you say this was your blog? You gotta answer.

Galvatron: Ugh, fine. I'd keep... A leopard seal.

Rumble: really? A seal?

Galvatron: They eat whole penguins. Have sharp teeth. Pretty dangerous, humans dont approach them, especially in the water because they'd get eaten otherwise.

Slipstream: Thats a really detailed response.

Jetstream: You've thought about this before.

Galvatron: No, I haven't!

Slipstream: Oh!! You're getting defensive! You totally have!

Galvatron: Shut up!! Or I'm telling Starscream!

Jetstream: Slip, stop. He's gonna start crying.

Galvatron: STARSCREAM!!!

Jet&Slip: *quietly* shit!

*end transmission*

[autobots-in-training]

Hi! This is for every bot (and the human running this blog) I just wanted to say hi, I think you’re all cool, I hope you have a good day, and happy holidays! :)

Ravage: December is an interesting month, because humans are so... Unusually cheery. It's weird when i go on missions, how does nearly the entire planet have that weird human dressed in red and sometimes blue everywhere??

Galvatron: Humans are weird.

Ravage: Each city state on cybertron had its own holidays, there were just a couple that were enforced by the coundi-

Frenzy: Outta my way!! I fucking LOVE christmas!! TC is obsessed with earth media, and showed carrier some stuff that's popular around this time of year, and started a tradition of giving us stuff!!

Ravage: Ugh, you only like it because your present is always new speaker mods for your outlier abilities that somehow make it even more unbearable.

Frenzy: AND IT ALWAYS FUCKING ROCKS!!!

Rumble: it's so astonishing that she hasn't permanently damaged her audio receptors.

Frenzy: Only a little bit!! My left receptor doesn't register lower frequencies anymore!

Rumble: That's a bad thing. You know that's a bad thing, right?

Frenzy: You're no fun! All our presents are so fucking cool!!

Ravage: You do know that Starscream helps build them right?

Rumble&Frenzy: WHAT???

Galvatron: Ha, you broke them.

Ravage: They were going to learn sooner or later.

*end transmission*

(happy holidays to you all, thank you for sending asks and participating in my silly little fan continuity. next year will have more fics, more lore and more art!! (bit of a longer message in tags))

[autobots-in-training]

Id like to formerly apologize to galvatron, it seems im crossed between views of worlds that don't exist to your veiw... ima take a guess that galvatron is his own person and a better person than his... alternates... those who had gone insane from the power, from realities where the planet eater Unicron does truely exsist... soo many worlds... I envy your freedom from such a monstrosity

Galvatron: Rumble and Frenzy are distracting the twins, i need to make this fast.... It's fine, I guess? This whole blog thing is weird, and learning that there's a version of myself out there that tecnically is my carrier and i killed a bunch of bots... Scary. Is Arcee there at least? I feel like if Arcee is with me, anything can happen and it'd still be fine.

*end transmission*

[autobots-in-training]

Hey Galvatron!

What do you think about the Decepticon S-I-C Starscream?

I hear he is a real drama Queen.

Galvatron: I'm never asking Ravage anything, ever again.

Rumble: Ugh. Imagine seeing all that pink!

Frenzy: Pleease stop talking about it!

Galvatron: yeah. Good idea. This next question... Ugh.

Frenzy: What does it say?

oh.

Ugh.

Rumble: Starscream?

Galvatron&Frenzy: Starscream.

Galvatron: He was more fun before that weird Shuttle appeared in the Arctic.

Frenzy: Since when is that tight ass fun?

Galvatron: Ok, you're just saying that because your carrier and Starscream have been courting for years.

Rumble: HOW THE FUCK DO YOU KNOW, NO ONE IS SUPPOSED TO KNOW!!

Galvatron: Because they are the most unsubtle bots in the whole universe?? Before either of you say anything about Soundwave being a spy, he also sometimes walks around the Nemesis with his own theme music. How is that subtle?

Rumble&Frenzy: ...

Galvatron: I don't hate Starscream. His stupid twins are the annoying losers that i want to Punch whenever i see them!

Rumble: Aren't they like-

Frenzy: Several thou years younger than you?

Galvatron: I still hate them!! They are such suck ups to Star-

Rumble: Their carrier-

Galvatron: and they were so mean to me when i asked Starscream if he could take me and Arcee flying during a clear day back on Cybertron!

Frenzy: Dude. They were babies then.

Galvatron: THEY WERE MEAN!

Frenzy: Jesus, stop yelling!

Rumble: it's a miracle we haven't been caught doing this stupid thing with all your yelling!

Slipstream: Caught doing what?

Jetstream: Ooh is that a camera?

Galvatron&Rumble&Frenzy: AHHHHHHHHH-

*end transmission*

[autobots-in-training]

Do any of you know a dude by the name of Tarantulas? Or mesothulas? How about Ostaros?

Ravage: I swear! If anyone breaks this camera again, I'm going directly to Megatron and telling him everthying!

Rumble: It was literally you who dropped it.

Ravage: And why did i drop it?

Frenzy: Because you have no hands?

Galvatron: Because you're awful at catching things?

Rumble: Because we through it at you with little warning and you attempted to catch it with your tail and it smashed on the ground, breaking everything including the mic which was pretty much the only thing that worked on it?

Ravage: *sigh* I need a fucking break from all of you.

Galvatron: Wait!

Ravage: What!?

Galvatron: Do you know some bot named Meso... Uh.

Rumble: Mesothulas. The other name is pronounced-

Galvatron: I know how to say Tarantulas!

Frenzy: you could barely pronounce Mesothulas.

Ravage: Focus! What is the question, Galvatron?

Galvatron: it's asking if we know anything about Mesothulas, Tarantulas or Ostaros.

Ravage: You don't want to know anything about them. You'll get nightmares.

Frenzy: *loud whisper* I think that means she doesn't actually know.

Rumble: *louder whisper* Oh, she absolutely doesn't know.

Ravage: I can hear you, you know!

Galvatron: If you do know, why not just tell us?

Ravage: because I'd rather not get in trouble with my carrier for telling you three something that will scare the protoform right out of you!

Rumble: Pfffft, yeah right!

Ravage: You really want to know?

Frenzy: You're terrible at improvising stories, so yeah, i wanna hear what you come up with.

Ravage: Alright. But not here. Follow me. Don't say i didn't fucking warn you.

*audio cuts off for a few seconds*

Ravage: You all comfy? Last chance to back out.

Rumble: Just tell the damn story already!

Frenzy: I'm dying to know what this "scary story" is going to be.

Galvatron: STOP TALKING! Just let her start!

Ravage: Thank you, Galvy-

Galvatron: Hey!-

Ravage: -Now. if any of you interrupt me at any point, I'll stop and i won't tell you guys anything anymore, got it?

*the three are heard nodding*

Ravage: Good. So... At the very start of the war, Megatron was recruiting left and right! Anyone that believed in his cause, and didn't want to follow some Prime that thought that the council had one or two good ideas.

A bot that joined early on, was named Mesothulas. He was a bit of a weirdo a tad creepy, but he seemed to be a good bot.

Lord Megatron was able to secure him a private lab in an abandoned part of Kaon. It was connected to the main Decepticon base by a series of tunnels. At first, he reported to Megatron and Soundwave at regular intervals.

I actually got to see his lab a couple times. One of those times, I met a kid, apperantly he was 7, but he looked HUGE for a 7 thou year old kid! His name was Ostaros. Mesothulas told him to go back to his room before i could really ask him anything besides his name and age.

As the war became worse and worse... Mesothulas stopped reporting in. At one point, he just stopped sending or responding to any messages sent by carrier or Megatron.

Soundwave was sent to check up him. The last few times he'd reported in... he didn't sound like himself. At least that's what carrier said.

When we arrived, the tunnel entrance was blocked. it took hours to get through all the rubble and the fucking locked door.

What we saw... There was too much blood for it to have come from just one bot... All the surfaces were covered in it!

I was worried for the kid, so ejected myself so I could look for him.

All i found was a bot. Called himself... Tarantulas. He was rambling like a mad man, carrier called us back, didn't want to risk us getting hurt.

Beaks, Buzz and I were... well, we were kinda terrified. All that blood had come from Tarantulas. How could someone lose so much energon and still be alive? Before carrier could really ask him anything... He hissed at us, and ran.

That was the last time we saw him. He looked... horrifying. I never want to see that again.

Next time i say you don't want to know, I mean it. You do not want to fucking know.

*end transmission*

[autobots-in-training]

Mod Update

hiii sorry, grad school kicked my ass at the end of november, and i am still recovering.

good news, i started my last class, and it ends next week! i'll most likely return with updates after christmas. my family likes to party, so christmas eve and christmas day will be Busy. (new years and three kings day as well but to a lesser extent)

after the holidays, i dont have classes, and just have my graduation ceremony to look forward to! i hope you guys are having a lovely december and get to have fun during whatever holiday you celebrate this month and next!

Will see yall in a few weeks!

[autobots-in-training]

Hey ravage, how small is Ratbat?

Also, Rumble, Frenzy, which one of you is read and which one of you is blue?

Can we ask Ambulon questions? Does Wildbreak speak yet?

Frenzy: Ravage gave us the camera.

Rumble: Ha, big mistake.

Frenzy: The first question is easy. He's a foot tall.

Rumble: isnt that a body part on a human?

Frenzy: Stupid, its also a human measurement!

Rumble: How much is it?

Frenzy: I literally just said. You know how tall Batty is when he stands up straight? Or as straight as he can because he's still an itty bitty bitlet?

Rumble: Oh. You're mean.

Frenzy: That's literally what my outlier ability is.

Rumble: I thought it was sonic warfare.

Frenzy: I can hurt people with my sounds.

Rumble: And i can do it with my pile drivers, doesn't mean you have to be rude.

Frenzy: Hey.

Rumble: What?

*sound of metal hitting metal*

Rumble: Ow! I'm telling carrier?

Frenzy: Yeah, sure you will. ANYWAYS!! I'm red, usually, and Rumble is blue, usually.

Rumble: *grumble*

Frenzy: Oh get over it. We like to switch colors sometimes, to confuse the others.

Rumble: One time, we got our other siblings in on it, and we all painted ourselves exactly like carrier.

Frenzy: AHAHAHAH!! YEAH IT WAS HILARIOUS! This was waaay before Ratbat was sparked. We wouldn't've been able to paint him either way though, he's still all protoform.

Rumble: Carrier would have killed us if we'd done it.

Frenzy: Hey, why are they asking about Ambulon? he's a little freak loser.

Rumble: He's one of Doc Knock's assistants. His paint is always flaky, its hilarious. His paint changes all the fucking time! Nothing sticks. And he's always so serious! What is with him?

Frenzy: This little project is just between us and Galvatron. Us meaning our other siblings.

Rumble: Minus the 2 birdbrains.

Frenzy: Minus them. they'd tell on us the moment we left them alone.

Rumble: Also, no! You can't ask Wildbreak any questions because hes a bitlet!! Smaller than Ratbat!! Pretty sure he's not even 100 years old yet! Bitlets can barely start making words at 2,000. Ratbat is 3, so he can talk pretty well.

Frenzy: He doesn't understand bigger words though.

Rumble: FRENZ That reminds me, the other day, Ratty tried to say "juxtaposition" and he couldnt!

Frenzy: I missed that?? What did he say instead?!

Rumble: Jakpositive, Jazpos, Jutpossy.

Frenzy: God damn. I need to start following him around, just to hear these attempts at big words.

Rumble: Have you asked him about pronouns lately?

Frenzy: No, did he say something?

Rumble: He wants to change them again, but he said he didn't know which ones to use. He asked me and Ravage about them.

Frenzy: We both use she/her, but you use he/him too. He could use several pronouns. Neo-cybex has a lot, but most of them are tied to vehicle form, so no one really uses them much anymore.

Rumble: I like using she/her. It's fun, but he/him is also fun.

Frenzy: Did you tell him that he can always change them if he doesnt like them?

Rumble: He was a bit anxious about it, Ravage reassured him though.

*quiet beeping*

Rumble: Oops. Looks like the camera is low on battery.

Frenzy: She took Batty to carrier. They might all be in our room, lets go.

*end of transmission*

[autobots-in-training]

Galvatron, what happened after Arcee disappeared?

Ravage: Primus i finally lost him.

Ratbat: That was mean.

Ravage: Have you ever seen Galvatron have a tantrum so loud, you could hear it from the other side of the base?

Ratbat: Uhm... no...

Ravage: If you want to keep it that way, be glad i ran away with the camera and this question before he could read it.

Ratbat: It's just asking about Arcee.

Ravage: You're still a bitlet-

Ratbat: Am not!

Ravage: -So you dont remember this happening. Arcee and Galvatron were always together. You know how sometimes Frenzy and Rumble will do their own thing sometimes?

Ratbat: Yeah? They love eachother, but they cant stand eachother sometimes.

Ravage: Well, Arcee and Galvatron weren't like that at all. They never left eachother's side. A packaged deal, as the humans say.

Ratbat: Why?

Ravage: Carrier and Lord Megatorn met while he was still a gladiator. Arcee and Galvatron only had eachother when their carrier was fighting for his life. Most gladiators that were sparked typically terminated the sparklings, because they'd have to stop fighting. You stop fighting, you lose sponsors, you don't get energon, you'd lose the sparkling anyway.

Ratbat: How was he able to keep them then?

Ravage: He was getting shanix under the table. Rumors said that the sire was some rich mech, didn't want Megatron to terminate. Others say that the other gladiators took pity on him. Whatever it was, Arcee and Galvatron were the only younglings that were around the gladiators. All of the bots that they knew before the war, at least almost all of them, are gone now. When the war started, Megatron was too busy to look after them. He did his best to spend time with them, but he was leading a war. Carrier sometimes looked after them, I helped, Beaky and Saws helped as well. Deadlock was assigned to look after them when he wasn't on an active mission. After she disappeared... Cyclonus was assigned to look after Galvatron while Deadlock kept looking for Arcee. Now Deadlock is gone. Galvatron doesn't like talking about the time just after she disappeared.

Ratbat: Oh... I get it now.

Ravage: Yeah. It's a lot but it's why I'm telling you this, and the people asking us questions. He was so young. Twins being seperated... It's cruel. He'd deny that she was gone, sometimes. Saying that she was just playing a mean joke, she was hiding, and he needed to find her.

Ratbat: Thats so sad! :[

Ravage: Do you get it now? He's a pain in the ass, but I still don't want to make cause him anguish.

Ratbat: Huh?

Ravage: I don't want to make him sad, if i can help it.

Ratbat: oh. Ok. I get it now.

Ravage: Good. Hopefully these question askers get it too.

Ratbat: Ravs?

Ratbat: Yeah?

Ratbat: Can you take me to carrier now?

Ravage: Of course, lets go then.

*end transmission*

[autobots-in-training]

hey galvatron, what color are you? arcee is pink, are you also pink?

Galvatron: I'm purple. Carrier once told me that our sire was red and blue, so i decided to be purple!

Ravage: Thats. Interesting.

Galvatron: What? Carrier is all grey! thats boring! Arcee and I wanted to each take one color. But she got kidnapped before either of us got our armor. So i got purple. I couldnt just take one or the other, that would have been stupid!

Ravage: Whatever you say. What's wrong with all grey anyway?

Galvatron: It's not a fun color. Even Soundwave is blue and yellow!

Ravage: Alright, alright.

*end transmission*

[autobots-in-training]

Hey galvatron... if your able to go back in time... how much you wanna bet you'd accidently meet ythe younger self... D-16.. back before you slaughtered them all, before you made the deal with unciron, before you gone insane from the pain you have done 👁

Galvatron: Huh?? What do you mean? D-16 was my carrier's name before he took the name Megatron. And my carrier hasn't slaughtered anyone!

Ravage: Unicron isn't even real. He was just a story the functionists made up to say that if we don't perform our assigned roles in society, all of Cybertron will fall to chaos and Unicron will eat the planet.

Galvatron: I've never hurt anyone! The autobots are the ones that hurt people!

Ravage: Mmmm...

Galvatron: Am I wrong??

Ravage: Not particularly.

Galvatron: It was a yes or no answer!

Ravage: You're still a baby. The answer is complicated.

Galvatron: I hate you.

Ravage: Yeah whatever.

*end transmission*

[autobots-in-training]

wha-what does Ravage mean by kneeding?

Galvatron: *distant* Ravage, please! come back, I won't tell!

Ravage: The vents are too small for Galv now, so he won't find me here. Anyway, its a word i picked up from the humans. Like how you knead that stuff called bread? Ratbat is still a bitlet, he can talk, but he's still all protoform, he hasn't taken his full proper shape yet.

Wildbreak a couple thousand years younger that RatBat, so he's still a round blob of protoform. Ratbat has started to take form, he's 3, and Wildbreak is only 1. But they would both require regular kneading. Helps their protoform develope, and its pretty fun for them.

I know some of these asks are humans, couldn't figure out how to filter out humans and cybertronians, but I don't know how to describe it in a way that a human would understand.

Just know that it's good for their developement.

*end transmission*

[autobots-in-training]

Oh Hello Ravage and Galvatron!

How are you two doing and what is it like being a Decepticon in training?

Ravage: I don't know who you're asking that, I'm a full Decepticon. Little Galvy here is tecnically still a neutral.

Galvatron: Get your paw off me!

Ravage: Out of all the younglings, I'm the only one that's an actual Decepticon. Lord Megatron doesn't let anyone under 50 enlist.

Galvatron: You aren't even 50 though.

Ravage: Yes I am!

Galvatron: Preeeetty sure I heard Soundwave say you were 32, not too long ago.

Ravage: Shut up! Don't you dare tell Lord Megatron.

Galvatron: Hah, if my carrier knew you were under 50, he'd be so upset, and he'd be sad and he'd cryyyy.

Ravage: Lord Megatron wouldn't cry!

Galvatron: He'd be soooooo disappointed that you and Soundwave lied about your age!

Ravage: Well, back before the war I would be allowed to live on my own and have a job!

Galvatron: That was so that the council could start exploiting younglings sooner. Are you agreeing with the Functionist Council that our carriers fought so hard against to take down so that we would have better and happier lives?

Ravage: Primus, shut up!

Galvatron: My name's Galvatron.

Ravage: If you weren't Lord Megatron's kid i would throw you into the ocean.

Galvatron: But you caaaan't.

Ravage: I'm leaving.

Galvatron: Byeeee- Wait don't take the camera!

Ravage: I fixed it, i keep it!

Galvatron: Ravage come bac-

*end transmission*

[autobots-in-training]

Knock knoc.... who's there? Galvatron? Ravage? any other we should know about?

Ravage: me and my siblings are the only ones that matter.

Galvatron: And me!

Ravage: Yeah, and you. The only ones that know about this little... side project are me, Rumble and Frenzy, him, and Ratbat. Frenzy and Rumble aren't tattle tales, and Ratbat's still a bitlet, so its fine that they know. Bird Brain 1 and Bird Brain 2 dont know how to keep any secrets from Soundwave, so we can't tell them anything.

Galvatron: There's the jet's twins... I dont like them.

Ravage: Slipstream and Jetstream are fine, I used to watch them sometimes when they were bitlets.

Galvatron: Ew.

Ravage: Soundwave and Thundercracker were friends before the war. At least those two didn't inherit Starscream's voice.

Galvatron: My carrier damaged his voice box. That was before he knew that he had twins too. They still hate eachother, but at least they don't fight anymore.

Ravage: What about Specter and Stormclaw?

Galvatron: Those two are so weird! They are always together and they arent even siblings.

Ravage: Do they have to be siblings to be best friends?

Galvatron: Isn't that how it works?

Ravage: You can be best friends with people that aren't related to you.

Galvatron: But Arcee was my best friend.

Ravage: Yeah, thats how it was with you. Not with Specter and Stormclaw. Those 2 are also friends with Ambulon. I'm pretty sure he's youre age, actually.

Galvatron: Ew.

Ravage: Stop that!

Galvatron: That's everyone right?

Ravage: Do you count Wildbreak? he can't talk yet.

Galvatron: He's still a blob. Ratbat is just barely older than him.

Ravage: With that, I think thats everyone. Unless another soldier has a kid and no one knows. Not likely though. I would know.

Galvatron: Yeah yeah, Master Spy Ravage and all that.

Ravage: And you better not forget.

*end transmission*

[autobots-in-training]

hey galvy, can i call you galvy? cool thanks. how are you and your sister?

Galvatron: You must be either a human or an Autobot. They're the only assholes that are rude enough not to wait for permission about anything. Fuck you and fuck everything you stand for. She's miserable with the Autobots, how dare you ask about her when you know so fucking well that you have her!?

[autobots-in-training]

Ravage: So. You broke the fucking camera.

Rumble: It was her fault!

Frenzy: You were the one holding it!

Ravage: Shut it! The only thing that works now is the microphone! Galvatron wanted to start posting days ago! I should have let him throw you into the ocean.

Frenzy: If Soundwave knew-

Ravage: You arent going to tell him because you'd get in trouble too! So now we're going to start posting and Galvatron will stop whining and I can forget about this stupid camera!

Rumble: *whispers* Hey i think Ravage is actually mad at us.

Frenzy: *whispers* You think?!

Ravage: I'm taking the camera to Galvatron. If he asks me about the video, I'm telling him you two fucked it up.

*end transmission*