Chapter Text
“Ariel, are you sure you know where you’re going?”
“Absolutely! In fact, we’re almost there!”
The little red, white and blue sparkling didn’t bother reminding his friend that she had said they were “almost there” three times before on their trek up and through the dark streets of Outer Iacon. A focused Ariel had no time to stop and explain, a trait that had dragged him and his other friend Jazz into trouble more than once.
“Would be nice if you could tell me where ‘there’ is.”
“But then it wouldn’t be a surprise ‘Rion” Ariel replied, not looking down from her spot higher up the ladder they were climbing. A few rungs lower, Orion huffed at the answer but kept going. All around them the city was getting brighter, the black shadows of night turning a less oppressive grey. Details of their path remained shrouded, but at least the sparkling could better make out his own hands in front of him. The higher they went, the brighter their surroundings became, the more Orion could pick out details on the two buildings they climbed between. Chipped paint, rusted vents, a few windows facing nothing but the opposite building, familiar sights in this part of the city according to Ariel. Then came a break in the identical sights as the two sparklings reached the top of the ladder, both scrambling up in a quick burst of speed onto a circular, flattened rooftop. Ariel continued her rush between a few scattered antennas with frayed wiring, stopped just before the roofs edge and turned to face her lagging friend with a broad smile and outstretched arms, “We’re here ‘Rion! Happy Creation day!”
Orion almost asked what she meant when a bright, golden glow stopped him dead in his tracks.
Far across the cityscape, towering high over the dilapidated buildings upon which they stood was the hub of Central Iacon. The pristine skyscrapers with their silver and bronze plating had caught the rising dawn and glowed in a way Orion never knew anything could. From gold over silver, to orange over bronze, to rows of distant windows sparkling like stars. His mouth dropped at the sight as he slowly moved closer to the edge of the rooftop right next to his still beaming friend.
“Isn’t it great?” She asked, “Jazz and I found it last time we snuck out of the sector!” Orion settled himself down on the edge, nodding absently as he took in the view. Even as Ariel settled down next to him he kept watching, right up until the little pink femme elbowed him in the side to get his attention.
“And here’s the other half of your present!”
Held out to the startled little mech was a powder-white bag tied off with a neat wire bow. Orion blinked a moment in disbelief before taking the bag and carefully loosening the wire enough to open it up. One look inside at the bright, multi-colored balls nestled within and he was smiling as bright as the sunrise before them. “Sili-balls? Wow Ariel, Thanks!”
Ariel laughed a bit at his response as he fished out two of the silicon-based sweets. He handed off the green one to his friend and took a big bite out of the yellow one he kept for himself, relishing the airy dough and the tangy filling. He was about to take another when Ariel thrust her own treat back into his line of vision, “’Rion, these are a gift. You don’t have to share.”
Orion quickly swallowed his first mouthful, “Don’t worry Ariel, I want to. Besides, sharing makes them taste better.”
“Careful, you’re soundin’ like the Caretakers,” she chided, but started chewing on her gifted treat anyways. They lapsed into silence, enjoying the view and the treats, until something crossed Orion’s mind.
“Ariel?”
“Yeah?” she asked around a mouthful of pastry.
“You didn’t steal these did you?”
“Not this time,” she paused to swallow, “I’ve had enough grounding and lectures.”
“Then how’d you get them?”
“I cleaned stuff in the med bay for the Hatchet, an’ he paid me for it.”
“See, told you he was nice.”
“Still don’t believe you ‘Rion. I think he only let me because it was to get you a gift. You have to be the only bot on Cybertron he likes.”
Unsure how to respond, Orion returned his attention back to the concluding sunrise and finished off the rest of his sili-ball. Popping open a compartment in his right leg, he slipped in the white treat bag and closed it again with a metallic snap. “You’re not eating the rest,” Ariel asked, leaning around to look.
“Just saving them for later,” he answered, checking to make sure his compartment was truly closed, “They’ll last longer if that way.”
He turned back to his friend, and was met with a strange look that didn’t suit her at all. Before he could ask what was wrong, she said, “You really sounded like an adult just now.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“Kinda, yeah,” she answered, slumping where she sat. “We already have to grow up and become ‘good, responsible citizens’ eventually without speeding it up.”
Orion could only blink at that, “Ariel, since when have you thought about all that?”
“Since every older sparkling that used to play with me an’ Jazz grew up, stopped playing with us and got boring. Now all they do is schoolwork.”
“It can’t be all that bad,” Orion shifted to fully face his friend, “What about getting our first alt-modes? You gotta be looking forward to that.”
“Not when the caretakers make a hundred rules about what not to do with them.”
“Ariel, we wouldn’t even be out here if you always did what the caretakers told you to.”
“Well, what about schoolwork?” Ariel asked, “I’m already bad at it, and all the caretakers talk about is how it’s gonna get harder!”
“Good thing you have me and Jazz then. We’ll keep helping as long as you need us to.” A mischievous smile spread across his face, “Kinda sad though. With all that extra work, we won’t have time to hear more stories from the Book of Principles.”
One loud groan and Ariel dropped her helm into her hands. “Yeah,” Orion continued, “no more ‘Golden Petrorabbit.’ No ‘Jackscrew and the Comstalk.’ No more ‘Little Orphan Alumina.’ Don’t worry though, I’m sure we can find plenty more stories of the wicked savages and the bad sparklings they eat. Pretty sure those were your favorites anyway, right?”
Ariel groaned again, fell onto her back, and Orion let himself laugh, “You have to be the only one in our youth sector that hates those stories so much.”
“Bad enough we have school. I don’t need stories to be teachin’ me things too! Sides, everyone knows savages aren’t real. Otherwise I woulda been snatched and eaten a long time ago.”
“Or you were just lucky they weren’t around when you were breaking rules.”
Ariel gave him a look at that, “don’t tell me you actually believe in savages.”
“The caretakers warn us enough about them.”
“Come on ‘Rion, they just made them up to scare us into doing what they want. ‘Clean your room, or the savages will come for the trash and leave with you.’ ‘Don’t go out after dark, that’s when the savages hunt.’ ‘Best behave little ones; naughty sparklings are the tastiest.’”
“But Ariel, I’ve read stories about savages that came from all over Cybertron. Praxus, Polyhex, Vos, Tyger Pax, even Crystal City. How can they all know about them if our caretakers just made them up?”
“By them finding out that red-optic, death colored monsters living under the cities was a good way to scare sparklings into bein’ good.” Having said that, she stood up and stretched her arms up over her head, “Hey, you want to stay and talk about made-up monsters, or go back to Central Iacon and get the rest of your presents.”
“There’s more?” Orion jumped to his feet, talk of savages forgotten.
“Of course there is,” Ariel said with a grin, “You’ll get to see them once we meet up with Jazz. Trust us ‘Rion, this will be a Creation day you’ll never forget.”
With the morning sun now risen, navigating the streets of Outer Iacon was a much easier task for the two sparklings. No having to run their hands on the buildings to stay on course, and only one or two stops to check they were going the right way. Sure there were more cybertronians out and about, but not enough to be crowded. Knowing that would change once they reached Central Iacon, Ariel and Orion took the opportunity to run freely down the streets in as few straight lines as they could manage. The edge of Central Iacon came faster than they both expected.
There was no hard set divide between Central and Outer Iacon; the general rule was that the farther out you went, the more rusted and rundown the bots and buildings became. But one could map out a vague border between the two in the form of lightly renovated structures that were close enough to the bustling metropolis to catch the attention of its charities. The “marker” that Ariel and Orion used was a white-painted fuel bank, sitting squished up against one of the shorter skyscrapers. There was already a small line of worn, rundown mechs leading to the door by the time the two friends caught sight of it, and more put-together bots giving it a wide berth. Once they saw it, the two sparklings each took the others hand in preparation for the crowds that came with Central Iacon. It was then that Orion’s curiosity burst with a question, “Where are we meeting Jazz anyway?”
“Somewhere.”
“Ariel…”
“’Rion, it’s your creation day. It has to be a surprise.”
“Can you at least tell me what we’ll be doing?”
“Teaching you to break rules. Now that you’re free from the Hatchets lair, you can come on adventures with me an’ Jazz, just like we promised.”
Any answer that Orion had to that was abruptly silenced by an explosion blowing through the cracked road just behind him and Ariel.
The next few moments were a white blur punctuated by painful, ringing audials. Orion was blasted forward, Ariel’s hand ripped out of his grip, and the old road ground his armor as he skid forward on his front. He dug his fingers down, scrabbling till his skidding stopped. Over the ringing he heard screams, clanging footsteps, and…something scrapping metal on metal. Something big. His vision slowly cleared, the sharp pain on his hands, knees and chest plates made themselves known as he forced himself up, wobbling from sudden pain and disorientation as he stood and took in his still blurry surroundings.
The road they had been walking had been blown open, the thick metal slabs pushed up and out, their torn edges pointing through to the sky. They stood as black silhouettes in the thickest haze of smoke that Orion had ever seen, and they did not stand alone. Figures moved between the wreckage, large mismatched forms riddled with spikes, and any further details were obscured by the smoke. Still dazed, Orion watched uncomprehending as the forms moved liked ghosts towards the fuel bank, its line long gone save for one or two blurry mechs trying to block the door. Only the weak yelp of a familiar voice broke the haze of his mind and dragged his attention to one of the torn up chunks of road.
Dread seeped into his lines as Orion ran into the smoke, desperately hoping he misheard.
Squinting through the airborne debris he saw pink armor, and with even more dread realized he hadn’t.
Ariel was pinned by rubble, sprawled on her front and trying hard as she could to push herself up. Her struggles only freed smaller torn chunks of road and stained her trapped legs with bright blue energon. Her optics lit up when Orion got close, and flailed to grab onto his offered hand as her vents sputtered painfully. For a moment they were still, Orion squeezing her hand and trying to process what he was seeing. Then a loud, plasmic boom came from the fuel depot on a wave of fresh screams, and it spurred the rattled sparkling to the first action that came to mind: help Ariel.
With a quick “hold on” to his friend he let go of her hand and started pushing against the torn up road that had her trapped. The metal slab stayed solid, and still Orion pushed. Pushed with quickly straining arms as his own vents began to sputter. Distant sirens started blaring, but were barely heard. Approaching thundering footsteps came their way and were steadfastly ignored. What couldn’t be ignored was Ariel’s scream, a terrible noise Orion had never heard her make before. It was enough to make him look away from his task, and only shock kept him from screaming too.
Towering above them, optics red as the pit itself, armor gun-metal grey like a fresh corpse, and massive hands carved into wicked claws, was a Savage. A real Savage. Looking like it just tore its way out of one of the caretaker’s fables. A massive cannon hung on one arm, glowing purple from heat borne of recent use, and though the smoke obscured such details, Orion could easily imagine the furious sneer that, without question, was staring them down. Staring them down as it came closer, each step landing heavy and loud.
Orion was afraid.
Orion was shaking.
Ariel was still trapped.
The enforcers sirens were still too far away.
And so, with a scowl of he hoped was convincing, Orion reached down to grab a small chunk of rubble and jumped between his friend and the monster, his audial antennas pinned back like an angry turbofox. Yelling as loud as a sparkling could, he threw his impromptu weapon, hitting the Savage right between the optics.
The debris fell to the ground with a sad clatter. The Savage did little more than wince from the hit before locking optics with the still shaking sparkling. Three large steps brought it close enough to snatch Orion up in one massive hand, bringing the yelling, thrashing little one up to its optic level.
Orion’s struggles won him nothing. Pry and kick and pound as he did, the grip around his waist remained immovable. Frantic, pleading prayers to Primus raced through his mind; that the Savage would let him go, that his yelling would convince the monster he wasn’t worth eating, that Ariel would be left alone. He was promising to never leave the youth sector again when the monsters free hand grabbed him by the jaw, and turned his face up to meet its own. A face covered in scars and dripping with a thin line of energon from a small, fresh cut where the rubble had hit its mark.
And yet it was the stern expression spreading out into a wicked grin with a mouth full of sharpened denta that had Orion’s spark burning cold and his optics going as wide as they could.
Nodding as though in approval, the Savage let go of his face. Then in a flash of movement Orion was pinned to broad, grey chest plates and unable to see anything but its scarred-up mesh. He felt the monster turn, felt a deep rumble through its chest as it roared aloud to the open air, drowning out the distant sirens and answered by a rush of clanking footsteps. Footsteps that ran past the Savage and suddenly stopped. Orion’s captor turned again and followed after them, only taking a few long strides before making a single powerful jump.
A rush of howling wind filled the sparkling’s audials as the Savage dragged him down into the dark depths below the streets of Outer Iacon.
…you better mind your guardians, and your teachers too my dears
Work honestly in all you do, and help support your peers
Keep loyal to your city-state, and obey the rules about
Or the Savages will get you
If you
Don’t
Watch
Out!”
-Little Orphan Alumina, The Book of Principles