#istgs it was not my intention to make them sound like conjunxes ^^’

[thegrinningghost]

BLACK, The Night That Ends At Last!

Prompt: what if Aerovive met Dazzle?

Information: Dazzle’s alt is a dazzle ship, and the war he fought in was WWII; oh, and he has a sort of chimney sweeper British accent mixed with southern lingo and an angry hippie/70s disco drag queen attitude =3

Characters: Aerovive, Dazzle

Credits: Aerovive belongs to sviidoll; Dazzle & moodboard belong to me

Tag(s): @sviidoll

—

The sea was good at drowning out most things. Sorrow, guilt, confidence, fear; the waves could take anything under, and that was a power to be in awe of. For all their years at sea, it was still an ability that wrought Dazzle’s spark with envy. To be able to remember but not be haunted. If only it were that simple.

The sky was a place to forget. When the wind sweeps up and over, around and past, it takes the terrors with it. To embrace the sky is to finally escape. An honor, it is, to have wings. A joy that Aerovive wished many times was easier to share.

Though the war from which they came had lulled into a peaceful truce, the memories danced as ghosts through many harrowing days and nights. With nothing to fight for, the weight of carrying a life to live finally crashed down on many weary sparks. Some allowed themselves to be buried under it, others dodged the weight in order to leap from one task to the next. Few began to wonder, searching and letting the dust begin to settle.

The beach held the aching rust Dazzle had learned to hide from years of activity at sea. It was one thing to fight a battle for your people, to interest yourself in another civilization’s war? The shame weighed them down. Perhaps it was because of the weight that they failed to recognize the sight of a jet hanging low from the clouds, disappearing and reappearing through the fog before landing on the soft padding of the sand. In fact, it wasn’t until the seeker settled next to them that their bubble popped, and the clouds began to clear. 

“Hello–”

“Ya need something?”

The seeker looked over, as did Dazzle, who bounced their focus rapidly to different sights. “No,” the femme replied, finally. Then, she stuck out her hand, “I’m Aerovive. And you?”

His optics flitted back to her hand, then up at her and back down again. There was a certain restless uncertainty in the air around them, but eventually, they took it as a playful smile. “You can call me Dazzle. Say, what brings you here, Viv? Don’t imagine a bot would wander aimlessly towards the sea, much less a seeker.”

She laughed. “I’m just taking a break. I’ve been flying since sunrise. Why are you stuck on this shore,” Viv inquired, tilting her helm and adjusting her wings. Dazzle vented, looking back towards the faded crashing waves.

“I’ve escaped the sea, but not the memories of it,” he began, “and anyway, I can’t exactly leave. I can’t face anyone. Not after running like a coward.”

“But,” she interrupted, shrugging as she spoke, “you’re facing me right now. That’s a start.”

The remark was strange, but at a second-glance, Dazzle recognized it to be true, laughing. “I guess, I guess. But no, I know it might be hard to understand, but I ran. I mean, from the war back home. Even when it came here, I didn’t fight. I couldn’t.”

Aerovive hummed, thinking for a moment. “I get it,” she said at last. Dazzle shook their head, but she cut them off, continuing, “I do. I aided the Autobots because I believed in their cause, but after so long … the destruction began to seem all the same. So I left.”

“You,” Dazzle paused, wide-eyed, “left?” As soon as she nodded, he laughed. “I didn’t think those bots were capable of letting someone go, seeing how often they mourn one of their own every klik. You’re not jesting, are ya?”

She stared, watching as Dazzle burst into laughter, mocking and teasing, feigning the tears for Autobot comrades lost. “I’m not,” she finally snapped out of the daze, “and it’s not nice to make fun of them. Those are sparks gone, after all. Weren’t you just gloomy about war a few moments ago? How can it be so … funny to you?”

“It’s not a human war,” Dazzle exclaimed, standing up with a hand outstretched to Aerovive. As soon as they pulled her up, they started trailing across the beach with her catching up close behind. “What do you mean?”

“They’re feisty,” he explained, moving his servos in crazed gestures. “Fiery! Like the minicons! The clever little toasters. Humans come up with all these strategies and plans. It’s wild! Their wars end so quickly, meanwhile ours? I don’t know if it’ll ever see an end!”

“But–,” Viv tried to start, but stuttered, ideas and questions tripping over one another. “How do you know all of this? About the humans, and their wars?”

Dazzle vented, servos and helm lowering, their brief burst of dazzling energy fading. “I didn’t have a t-cog during the war, y’know. I fought best I could, but it was never enough. Not for him. Not for any of them! … so I left. Signed up for the G-force and abandoned the war. Most of us stayed here, and it wasn’t long before the humans broke out in war. Nobody really cared. Afterall, we came to Earth to avoid the war. But, there were a few of us. Rue and Rye; the trine and a select few others. We didn’t lose as many as the humans, but … it was more than we expected.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

The clouded sky darkened the monotone hues Dazzle wore, emphasizing the rust that should’ve been worn as a badge. Pride in survival. But there was no such thing, not after something that had gotten so many others killed. Aerovive weighed the options before reaching a gentle servo out for Dazzle’s shoulder, only for him to turn suddenly to face her. Their optics were a blushy pink that took the light of the sunset when a golden visor flicked down from the top of their helm.

“I want to bash their helms in and tear up their cybo-dendrons!”

“What?” Exclaimed Viv, watching as Dazzle shouldered past her and started off towards the other side of the beach. “Who? Dazzle!”

Swiftly turning around, they screamed, “Megatron! And Starscream! And his stupid trine and everyone else on that wretched ship we called the Nemesis! I’m going to find them, and I’m going to– going to … blast them to smithereens!”

The shift from playful mockery to solemn explanation to pure ire and vengeance was startling, to say the least. When their arm retracted to transform into a torpedo launcher, Viv had to halt her attempts at getting closer. That was a sign of no empty threat. Still, despite the bot's vigor and passion, there was something hanging in the air around them. Suffocating them. 

Cowardice.

“Would you really,” Viv asked, slowly backing away, servos up in reassuring surrender. Dazzle pointed their launcher at her, but faltered as they processed her words. “I would … I would! Yeah!” They scoffed, “Of course I would! I mean, Starscream’s overthrown Megatron numerous times! It doesn’t seem so hard to … y’know … I mean, he attempted multiple times. It never did work out for him. His screams kept me up at night. Everything did. There was never time to rest on the Nemesis. Not during a war … but I’m not war-worn like them, so clearly I have an advantage! Ha-ha!”

Aerovive couldn’t help but laugh, trying best she could to hide it with her helm. Still, the bot caught on, lowering their torpedo launcher as it slowly transformed back again. “Would you stop? It’s not very compassionate for an Autobot to laugh at anyone! Don’t they teach any y’all anything?”

“You’re weird,” she finally got out. Dazzle stared, servo mid-action of flipping their visor back up, before deciding it wasn’t worth it. “Yeah I am,” he exclaimed, servo proudly on his chest plate. Back in a full swing of energy, and with more genuine playfulness than the attitude of playing with the mind of an enemy, Dazzle strode over and picked Viv up in a hug, squeezing her before setting her back down.

“You’re strange yourself. The Autobot that got away! … hey, that’s got a nice ring to it!” Dazzle hummed, grinning. “What do you think?”

“I think you’re a madman,” Viv explained, adjusting her wings, “but for you, I think that’s a pretty alright quality to have. So long as you don’t hurt anyone.”

Dazzle sighed, gesturing off-handedly. “No promises.”