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The Ark’s internal chronometer, adapted to the Earth's cycle, alerted it’s crew to the dawn steadily encroaching their world. A sound beyond human hearing thrummed away in the rooms of those who had not been on any sort of night-guard, rousing their sleeping systems up from a well-earned rest.
If you listened carefully you could probably hear the creaks and groans of stiff metal and fibre stretching as various bots got up from their rest and eased their systems into motion.
A loud thud echoed from one room as a body hit the floor with unnecessary force.
Seaspray was too excited to care that he’d flopped out of bed so unceremoniously, forgetting to put his arms out to cushion the fall.
It was a brilliant day for him, as it was every other time this date rolled around.
In a quick dive-like motion forward Seaspray flattened his body and pushed with his arms, sending him into a controlled slide across the smooth metal, the automatic door opening for him and letting him out to the Ark’s hallways.
Using his arms and short legs Seaspray avoided a head-on collision with any walls and slipped between his fellow Autobots as carefully as possible, disgruntled growls from Ironhide were easily shrugged off.
Jazz had organised a schedule for various mechs and Seaspray had already had a lengthy chat with the relaxed senior officer who had been more than fine with allowing the aquatic mech some time off, at least enough to cover the day, something Seaspray always tried to do for this day with varied success (usually depending on who he spoke to, of course).
Regardless, he still put aside some time for it no matter his schedule.
Getting to the Arks entrance was easy, getting outside wasn’t so.
Earth’s surface was so varied and changed on a dime or was a mishmash of textures and bumps. It wasn’t as if Seaspray couldn’t get about on Earth it was just that it felt odd and was often a bit jarring if he was just zooming out the Ark without a care in the universe. Regardless, pushing up with his flat, spread legs along with his arms he moved quicker across Earth's surface in an ungainly looking waddle.
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“Hey! You lookin’ a bit nervous there!” Seaspray jumped with the sudden sound and jerked his head around to the beach.
The time was far, far in the distant past, Cybertron was still… alive and bustling. The sun was high in it’s peak of the current solar cycle, and on the beach a very young charcoal-coloured mech lay, optics staring at Seaspray.
Equally as young as the tiny figure gazing at him with the type of curiosity only younglings had Seaspray sunk into the water a little bit before mumbling.
“N… nothing...”
“M’ names Coldseep! I live near here!” The other child seemed somewhat oblivious to Seaspray’s shyness, “Haven’t seen you around before is all!” they chirped.
‘Oh’ Seaspray thought, this was one of those moments his parental units told him about, one where he should really speak up.
“I’m Seaspray… I, uh, we just moved here… recently…” He barely emerged from the water anymore, just a pair of optics above its surface.
Coldseep immediately burst into excited squeals and thrashed his way into the water, coming to a halt s short distance away from Seaspray, arms in the air.
“YAY! New friend! We can see each other every day!” Coldseep practically bobbed up and down in his excitement.
Seaspray, however, wasn’t quite at his level of excitement.
“I… I dunno” He muttered back, rising out the water a little more, “I live on the water-side… I’m more of a sea-mech”
“Oh! Tha’s okay! I’m a submaran! Marin! Dangit!” Coldseep fumbled over his words with a frown deepening on his face plates.
“A… A submarine? You’re a Submarine?” Seaspray rose up a bit more, daring to get closer to examine him with a curious optic.
“YEAH! Tha’s it! I always mess up the end bit!” Coldseep’s grin could’ve split his face apart.
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In the present Seaspray had slowed down to a very slow amble only pausing slightly to watch his own hand press into some sand and sink down. Feeling the loose grains softly envelop his digits before slowly pulling it away and looking fondly at the imprint he left behind.
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A much smaller imprint was left in the sands of a newly local shore.
Since meeting him Coldseep had come to see Seaspray every day, he was indeed a submarine and joyfully accompanied Seaspray on several swimming excursions. Coldseep would always claim he could make a bubble-ring simply by swimming in a circle fast enough. He never did and would just throw off his balance, even underwater, it was fun though Seaspray often giggled at this antic and promised he’d swim rings inside the bubble when he made it!.
Seaspray would point out various local sea life and promised to one day help Coldseep find and see a Warwhale!
The two spent so much of their time swimming that it was like a cold slap to the face when Coldseep bounded onto the beach after a dive and ran around, somehow still having the energy to after all their underwater antics.
Seaspray came out of the water, but only halfway.
“Hey!” Coldseep snapped him out of his moment of silence, “You should come to my place! I can show you some cool shells I found!”
“Uh” Seaspray retreated back an inch becoming worried.
“Eh? Wha’s wrong? D… don’t you wanna come over?” Coldseep caught his nervous tone and promptly deflated.
“No! No! I do!” Seaspray panicked, he didn’t want to upset his first friend of his ‘new life’, or at least that’s what his parental units called it, “I just… I just can’t get out the water…”
“Whaaaaaaaaat! Of course you can silly!” Coldseep’s manner flipped like a switch and he returned to grinning.
“It’s true! Well, I can barely move when out the water… I hate it… and… and I have to go to the education centre here when it’s b-back open” Seaspray started to sniffle, “An I, I gotta go an… and it’s on land… I don’t” Seaspray flopped to the ground and covered his face, “I’m gonna be a freak! Everyone will laugh!”
A long silence ensued between the two children. Seaspray couldn’t bring himself to uncover his face, it only became harder when a weight suddenly pressed upon him.
“You’re forgettin’ I go there too! I’ll fight anyone who says meanie-aft things about you! They know I will! It’s how I got sent to the nurse with a bent rotor once!” Coldseep announced with a loud pride that made Seaspray uncurl a little, mostly out of shock at his volume.
“Th… thank you” Was all Seaspray could whisper through the tail end of his sniffles.
There was a brief silence again.
Only this time it got broken by a scream as Coldseep gripped Seaspray’s sides and yanked him out of the water and onto land. Coldseep bellowed with laughter as Seaspray flopped about in a panic trying to get a footing but only wiggling his rear fruitlessly.
It took a few more astroseconds of laughter before Coldseep got up and grabbed onto Seaspray.
“Hold on buddy, hold on!” Seaspray responded to his words by wrapping his arms around Coldseep’s, “There, not so bad now!”.
Seaspray whimpered only just opening his optics to peer around him.
“I bet I can help you walk on land just fine! I also totally bet an awesome tub of Energon ice cream that I could even get you running on land too!” Coldseep announced.
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Just like him, brash and loud. Never stood down when he knew he could push on.
Seaspray sighed as he clambered over some rocks, nearing the Ocean.
He could distinctly remember Coldseep holding his middle and helping him work on his locomotion above water. It still wasn’t graceful but he was able to move on-land with little issue, Seaspray chuckled to himself remembering when the weather turned colder. The ground had gone icy and more compact in various areas, Coldseep had hidden away behind a rock, only to rush him and push him, causing him to slide along the ground.
Seaspray allowed himself to let out an actual chuckle, remembering how they had spent entire days sliding around on ice, reaching high speeds, Coldseep often riding on Seasprays back as they whizzed up and down. Tactics he still used to this day, they never failed him.
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The learning room hushed as the one designated to oversee their communal learning held an arm out, presenting another youngster that was to be added to their sector.
“This” they announced, “Is Depth Charge. I want you all to welcome them here and make them comfortable”.
Depth Charge had blues and purples across his frame and gold accents, yet his red optics scoured the class with cold anger, many of the others in the class avoided their gaze. Coldseep looked over at Seaspray with a cocked optical ridge.
“What a nerd” He whispered.
“Wha! What do you mean?” Seaspray kept his head ducked down glancing at Coldseep and back to the rest of the room, “He’s scary!”
“Nope!” Coldseep grinned, “Watch”
The teaching section of the day went quietly, no one really wanted to interact with the angry-looking new kid, but it came to the ‘free’ section of the day. Building bonds with your fellow mech was always a promoted activity, so a good amount of free time to talk and strengthen your social connections even at such a young age was encouraged.
Cybertronians are quite social afterall.
Coldseep nearly had to drag Seaspray with him to the corner of the yard where Depth Charge sat glaring at everything, but mostly his own pedes. With one last drag Coldseep dropped Seaspray, letting him scuttle behind him to put some distance between himself and the new guy.
“Whas’sup nerd?” Coldseep had his hands on his hips and another one of his big grins on his face.
“What do you want?” Depth Charge snapped back his optics darting away from the pair so quick they probably should’ve fallen out.
“Seaspray here says he’s gonna show me a Warwhale one day!” Coldseep made a slight move to show off the nervously shuffling mech behind him.
Depth Charge slowly turned his head around to look at the pair giving a look up and down between the two.
“That’s dumb” he grunted, “They don’t live remotely near our waters”
“HAH! KNEW IT!” Coldseep suddenly jumped, pointing a triumphant finger at Depth Charge.
In response Depth Charge shuffled back and tensed up.
“You don’t know anything!” He snapped back.
“You’re a neeeeerd” Coldseep lilted, “One of us!” He changed to a chant, “One of us! One of us!”
Depth Charge continued to shrink back optics snapping in different directions as if searching for a way out.
Seaspray finally managed to pull himself from behind his friend, realising the motion of distress. Closer to him Seaspray had a better view of the panels that spread from Depth Charge’s back.
“You’re an aquatic mech too” He uttered.
“SO!?” Depth Charge finally snapped his optics down, “Just what my family unit are!” He hissed.
“Uh, duh!” Coldseep stopped cheering to roll his optics “So are we! Dum-dum!”
A silence fell over their corner and Depth Charge finally seemed to look up and truly take in the pair that stood before him.
“Our lot know a lot about sea-stuff! You just have a grumpy face! Plus this is a coastal place!” Coldseep beamed, “Seaspray moved here too! Better suited for us!”
Depth Charge seemed to soften up a little bit, which was good because if he got any tenser he looked like he might’ve snapped a few muscle fibres.
“Y-yeah” He stammered, “Better than Vos...”
“WHOA! You came here all the way from Vos!?” Coldseep immediately glued himself to Depth Charge’s side sitting obnoxiously close to him, “Fliers live there! What was it like? Why’d you move? Isn’t that place super cool!?”
Seaspray also moved in, but slower, hoping to appear more normal and less in-your-face than Coldseep who had clearly startled Depth Charge.
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Seaspray remained perched on a rock looking out at the section of the beach, taking in the salty wind that washed over him. So different from Cybertron, yet, it made him feel more at home. The memories that washed over him with an equally constant flow, his circuits tingled with surges of nostalgia.
Depth Charge had moved from Vos due to an altercation at his other learning facility.
Apparently he got into frequent trouble with a trio of Seekerlings that also attended that place, he didn’t know their names merely referred to them by colour. The blue one was the oldest, and thought it was funny that he couldn’t fly, only ‘fly’ in water, the red one was the worst, often making snide comments yet able to twist situations to cover his own back, probably, Depth Charge had claimed, to ‘cover’ for how short he was. The purple one was an idiot but tagged along anyway.
He’d spotted them teasing another student and tried to defend them, but it didn’t work out and Depth Charge was kicked out for his behaviour. He always lamented not being able to help or protect the other student.
“Hmph” Seaspray mused, that was just like Depth Charge.
Depth Charge who stood up for them when someone mocked Coldseep’s lively attitude, or Seasprays own awkward gait. The trio almost never left each others side, they were as the humans say ‘thick as thieves’ despite no thievery taking place.
It was even Coldseeps idea… he was the one who named them the ‘Sea Seekers’ a trine of the best sea-fairing mechs Cybertron will ever see, or so he’d claim.
They were all into it, Depth Charge in his awkward manner had decided to take this as a cue to announce how he’d protect them with his life.
Guess that was his way of showing how thankful he was to have them.
Protecting others… Seaspray allowed himself a sad flop onto the sand below. Depth Charge always took it personally when he couldn’t defend others… Probably why he was given charge of a peaceful sector that’d refused to take part in the war.
Then Rampage came along… The Decepticons unleashed that… thing upon all of Cybertron. It had slaughtered anything in his path… Seaspray curled in slightly, remembering the look on Depth Charge’s face… how hollow he’d become, a hollowness that became filled with hate.
He was like a different mech, he scared Seaspray now. Yet, Seaspray refused to leave him they were a trine! Despite Coldseep… they weren’t going to lose each other.
They already lost Coldseep, he followed the Decepticons lead. It was odd, Coldseep almost seemed to change into a different mech more and more each time he snuck out to meet them. He’d begged Seaspray and Depth Charge to join him. That Megatron promised to make Cybertron equal for everyone!.
It was like Coldseep couldn’t see how Megatron was just taking everything for himself, and merely lived in a fantasy world where all of Megatron's lies were true.
It almost broke him when he finally agreed that Megatron wasn’t acting right, he said he was going to leave… he said… It didn’t matter now…
Seaspray dragged himself upright and slowly to the Ocean’s edge, the light glittering off it’s surface turning bitter in his mind, churning up bad memories.
He tried, oh how he tried, he tried keeping up with Depth Charge after the ‘incident’ but he couldn’t. Depth Charge went to ridiculous lengths to fulfil his desire to fight Rampage.
He punched Seaspray when the latter suggested he stop hunting him.
Seaspray sucked it up, Depth Charge wouldn’t abandon him if he was in his place! He’d wait until the time was right, until they were ready to accept the help then stand by them all the way! He was all Seaspray had left… his last friend.
Then they found Rampage, his trail of destruction easier to follow than initially believed. The fight lasted for barely a few astroseconds, Rampage was too strong for a battalion let alone these two mechs.
Depth Charge said he had a plan.
Depth Charge told Seaspray to get a head start and he’d join him.
Depth Charge lied.
Seaspray looked into his reflection in the Ocean, his optics were getting as watery as it’s surface.
It was too late.
Seaspray didn’t know.
Depth Charge had stolen the Energon Destroyer, made by the late scientist Rhinox.
He’d taken it and charged Rampage with it.
Seaspray didn’t have a chance to react as a Autobot team grabbed him and rushed him away, having discovered the weapon was missing they took Seaspray and fled from the blast.
It was like an explosion, but in reverse. The ground broke off in chunks, rising into the air as it crumbled. It was as beautiful as it was vile, the aim of that weapon… horrid.
It did its job. Rampage was gone. So was Depth Charge.
All that remained was a crater. Tainted by the blast, no life would EVER return to it after such an action.
And like that… Seaspray was alone…
The water made a quiet sound and Seaspray broke from his minor trance, tears streaking down his face and dropping into the sea.
“I miss you guys” he sniffled, lying down and letting the water lap over him and around him. If he pretended hard enough it was as if the two were there, beside him.
On the anniversary of them becoming a Trine.
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Several miles down the beach, a dark and stealthy shape prowled along, looking to the water with a deep longing, yet painful apprehension.
Ravage was a Decepticon and never allowed himself to be taken by emotion. Megatron wouldn’t allow that, be it by words, fist or the end of his cannon he would not allow it.
Ravage had to be far away from his leader for this… curious emotion to thrum through his damaged Spark with no repercussion.
Looking across the landscape he spotted a yellow figure, also at the water's edge.
The enemy. THE ENEMY!. Ravage cringed hard, his face plates bunching up as he forced down the raging senseless anger that arose everytime an Autobot neared him.
That one. That one was okay.
Ravage didn’t know why, but that yellow one was okay.
Ravage also had no idea why he felt the compulsion to be here today.
Just that for him it held some sort of significance.
Settling down to rest Ravage nosed the water, and ignoring the tear that rolled down his face.