28.Jan.06

  Could have

Part fifteen

By: Rainynight

Disclaimer: Not mine except for the plot.

A/N: Thank so much to all wonderful people who regularly comment on this story. Thank you guys, I appreciate it so much! You’re my inspiration.

Starlet was crying. She had promised herself not to cry and she had gone through a lot keeping that promise. But now she broke. And it wasn’t out of self-pity; the tears she shed weren’t caused by her own misery. The little robot was crying for the sake of someone else. Something horrible was happening in the cell next to her. She could feel it as well as hear it and her compassionate spark continued to cringe in sympathy even after it was finally over.

True, he wasn’t very pleasant but he hadn’t really done anything to her. Well, he hadn’t had the chance to but the fact remained.

He had actually done something for her. He had saved her life. Twice.

Unwillingly, yes, but the fact still remained.

And her mother had taught her that no one became bad on purpose. People generally became bad when they were frightened, sad or in pain. Due to her illness she could never play outside like a normal child and she remembered how that had made her shout at her mother and break anything she could in the house. And she was intelligent enough to realize that being sick and knowing you would die but having someone to love and care for you could not even be compared to what he was going trough. Even Dr. Clearcut, scary as she was, was being very nice to her and especially cold and cruel to him.

I wonder if he has a family. I wonder if anybody is looking for him like my mother is looking for me. There has to be someone… But what if there isn’t?

Suddenly determined, she wiped away her tears. She didn’t like being near him but she wanted to do something to help him. That decision pulled her out of the lethargic state she had been in since they had taken her here and helped her focus her thoughts.

She gingerly touched her chest plate.

If a piece of his spark is beating inside me, then maybe…

Breathe. At least they haven’t stopped you from breathing.

It’s over. You failed. You’ll stay here forever.

No! Take deep breaths. And don’t move, it makes things worse. Think of something else, something to distract you.

You can try to distract yourself from the pain but not from the fact that you failed.

NO! Think of how you’re going to slowly tear all of them apart and rejoice in their pain when you break out of here. When you break out of… When you… But that was supposed to happen today.

AND YOU FAILED!

This was worse than the first time. His thinking patterns had been a lot simpler at that time, his knowledge of anything too little to burden him in any way. As he discovered now, thinking was a liability in such situations.

His hands balled into fists, his optics shut tight in a futile attempt to block away the whole world. His whole body shuddered from both the after-effect of what had been done to him and his mental struggle against desperation. Why couldn’t they just go away and leave him alone? It was too much. He wanted his mind to stop working. He wanted to go really insane, the kind of insane when you don’t know who you are or what you are or what world you’re in. He just wanted to disappear.

Then suddenly he felt it. An intense emotion brushed his spark.

It didn’t have a name and it couldn’t be clearly identified but it was strong. Like it was directed at him on purpose.

The little one.

The emotion was nudging him to pay attention to it. He didn’t have the strength to ignore it right now and it was a distraction so he submitted to it almost eagerly.

It was overwhelming at first. It was something a lot more complicated than anything he had sensed in a bot so far, more complicated than anything he himself had felt. The emotions he was used to being surrounded by – hatred, anger, fear, pain, – they were all simple and clear. This one though… It was only one thing but it was both reluctant and determined, bittersweet and… com-… comforting? He withdrew a little. This was strange. This was too alien. It almost seemed that she wanted him to feel her emotions. Of course, that couldn’t be true. She didn’t even know he was an empath. Unless she had come to the conclusion that if a piece of his spark was in her, they could somehow connect. A child’s logic. Not that it wasn’t true…

Rubbish. It has nothing to do with you. She’s not trying to communicate to you. She hates since the first time she talked to you. She’s just little and not accustomed to locking her feelings away. That’s why you feel her so strongly.

He tried to push her away completely and when the superficial hand that had encircled his spark disappeared, it suddenly shivered. Reality hit him painfully and with such force that he quickly stepped back into the small peaceful space her spark provided.

Depth Charge had fallen into exhausted sleep, his mind needing time to comprehend everything that had happened. When he awoke in the middle of the night his head still hurt. He rubbed tiredly at his forehead and he automatically moved to look trough the gap in the wall. All seemed quiet. His paranoia instantly made him worry if the killer hadn’t somehow slipped away and the cell wasn’t empty. But no. He could hear Rampage breathing rather unevenly.

He flinched as the memory of what had occurred in that cell earlier tried to resurface. Depth Charge pushed it back down. He didn’t even want to go near that thought.

Mind Game stared at Optimus, her eyes wide.

“But I warned you! I warned you not to tell the Elders! You… You’ve just put us all in danger, including yourself! Why did you do it? WHY, Optimus? Was it so hard to imagine for at least a cycle that the government was corrupt? Have they brainwashed everyone? The same government that helped in kidnapping my daughter! WHY DID YOU TELL THEM?”

Optimus gazed at her, taken aback.

“Mind Game, calm down! The government promised that they would address the matter!”

She laughed hollowly. It was a horrible sound.

“It’s all over now. We’re all over.”

A/N: I hope you guys are still enjoying this story because it has a long way to go :D. Of course, it will go a lot faster if you comment ;).

Click here for part 16