Work Text:
When Soundwave onlined his optics for the first time, his field of vision was immediately bombarded with the intensity of the lights circling above him. Which…didn’t seem right. It shouldn’t be so bright here. Soundwave knew what had happened, knew he had offlined. He knew his frame had long faded to gray back on Cybertron, his spark extinguished. But this was all wrong. He shouldn’t be in the Well of All Sparks.
Soundwave had never had any delusions of where he would end up after his death. While the idea of the Pit was just that, an idea, he knew that mechs like him don’t go to the Well. Mechs like him don’t get to rejoin Primus in the afterlife. Soundwave knew his role in the war, his role as Megatron’s third in command. He knew all of the things he had done. This had to be some sort of mistake, wires got crossed or something. Anything to explain the irrationality of him being allowed to be a part of this afterlife. One that he felt he would never get long before he even joined ranks with Decepticons. He shouldn’t have been allowed to get anywhere even remotely close to something as sacred as the Well. Let alone be in it, with the clear intention of him rejoining it. This was wrong.
Soundwave rose to his pedes slowly; his visor darkening to try and shield his optics from the blazing lights that continued to dance and move around him. Once you got used to it, the lights moving around were absolutely stunning. It was the Well after all, of course it would be breathtaking. Soundwave continued to regard the lights, his optics tracing the movement of the lights moving overhead. They were probably moving towards the actual Well itself, the epicenter that was spilling so much energy it made Soundwave quake slightly. He had never been a witness to something of such powerful proportions.
The sound of a vocalizer being cleared caught his attention, and Soundwave whipped his helm around to look at the source of the noise. In front of him, contrasting vibrantly against the blue and white streaked landscape, was a tiny yellow minibot. The small bot was looking up at him, blue optics that seemingly glowed even brighter in the light surrounding them locked onto Soundwave’s visor. He didn’t seem surprised by Soundwave’s presence either, if anything the yellow mech was looking up at him like he was an old friend he had been expecting. Someone he had been waiting for.
After a moment of regarding each other, the minibot broke the silence, warm vocals filling the silence between them easily,
“You look confused. Did I surprise you?” The yellow bot grins at him suddenly, and Soundwave really cannot fathom how the other mech was able to gauge his expression through his visor and battle mask. It’s not like he had an EM field anymore that could betray his emotions. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to sneak up on you or anything. Everyone is always a little different when I first meet them, so you definitely aren’t the first soul I’ve met that I’ve spooked. But I promise I didn't mean to actually scare you or anything!”
Soundwave shuttered his optics slowly. This minibot talked a lot. This whole situation was a lot to take in, and Soundwave wasn’t sure how to deal with it.
“Query: Why am I here?” The yellow bot’s grin is quickly replaced by a look of confusion, his lip plates pursing and turning into a small frown.
“What do you mean, why are you here? You died?” Yeah, no slag Soundwave thought to himself, as he crossed his arms over his chassis and looked down at the minibot.
“Correction: Why am I here in the Well? Soundwave: Should not be here.” The minibot surprised Soundwave when he let out a laugh at his statement, rolling his optics before he refocused on the blue mech.
“I don’t know what to tell you-Soundwave, right? You’re here. You ended up where you were supposed to, death is uh, rather precise if you will. You're in the Well because you're supposed to be, and I don't know where you think you were supposed to go, but here we are. I know it can be overwhelming, but don't worry, I’m here to guide you through it! My name is Bumblebee!”
Soundwave regarded Bumblebee carefully, his visor dimming as his processor spun. This wasn't a mistake? He was supposed to rejoin with the Well of All Sparks? It was a lot for him to consider- he had never been one to spend extended amounts of time reflecting on what happened after death, but he had always been absolute in his belief he would not be given this opportunity. He had believed in Megatron and the Decepticon cause with his entire spark, and he knew that the things that they had done, not just to Cybertron itself when they ignited the revolution that tore their home apart, but it’s peoples as well; the innocent citizens who had been caught in the crossfires were all unforgivable things that Soundwave had been positive would exclude him from this afterlife.
Bumblebee smiles at him softly and reached out a servo to rest on Soundwave’s arm. The blue mech immediately jumped at the touch, moving away from the black servos and Bumblebee retracts them, holding them up by his helm as he says,
“Woah, I’m sorry, I won’t touch you again, I promise. But I’m not gonna hurt you, this isn’t a trick or anything. I’m just here to help you.”
Soundwave eyed the yellow bot warily, before he reset his vocalizer to speak,
“Soundwave: Apologizes. Soundwave: Understands you are here to help,” Soundwave trailed off slowly, before shifting his gaze down his pedes. Being touched had been something that had been hard for him even while alive. Too many of his memories from his time as a youngling were filled with violence, so being touched had always been something he had never gone out of his way to seek out. He could tolerate it when absolutely necessary, but the only touches he had ever felt completely comfortable with had been his cassettes.
At the thought of his cassettes, Soundwave immediately jerked his helm up to look at the minibot. If he was in the Well, did that mean he would be able to be reconnected with them? He wasn’t sure how the Well worked, but clearly there was a way for the deceased to interact with each other, at least on this plane he and Bumblebee stood on.
“Query: Are you the only one able to interact with others here?” Bumblebee blinked in surprise, his optics dimming and lighting back up quickly.
“No, but the others who are out here are like me, we haven’t fully rejoined the Well. There aren’t very many. Mostly just me and a few random Primes that can sort of do whatever they want in a way. I stay out here to make sure mechs like you make it okay. Why? Is there someone in particular you wanted to see?” Soundwave nodded tightly, feeling a lump forming around his vocalizer. When he spoke again, he spit static,
“S-Soundwave: Had cassettes. Casettes: Rejoined the Well at different times before me,” Bumblebee’s optical ridges raise, and he nods thoughtfully.
“Do you want to tell me about them? I’ve been here for a long time. I might have guided them to the Well.” Soundwave looked at Bumblebee, the guide’s blue optics soft as he looked up at him. Soundwave hadn’t reflected on his cassettes much after the last of them, Ratbat, had died, leaving him completely alone. It had been too hard to think about them. He had thought of them almost as his sparklings, they had meant everything to him.
“Soundwave: Had 5 cassettes. Soundwave: Thought of them like my own sparklings. Casettes: Mainly offlined during the war.” Soundwave frowns deeply at his statement-he knew the application of them, why they had been used. But he had never been completely comfortable sending his younglings into combat. When Ravage had been killed, he had sworn that he would do everything in his power to avoid putting them into harm’s way. Oh, how he had failed. While Soundwave’s love for his cassettes was always greater than his commitment to the Decepticon cause, Megatron took what he wanted. If he wanted little spies, then so be it. Soundwave had been powerless to stop him.
Bumblebee nodded thoughtfully, before he sat down, crossing his legs and gesturing for Soundwave to join him.
“Come on, tell me everything. We have all the time in the world.” Soundwave took a deep invent before seating himself next to the small yellow bot, looking down at his lap as he began to speak softly about his cassettes.
He started with Ravage, his oldest cassette. His oldest friend. Soundwave spoke about finding Ravage when they were both young; frames weak and damaged from living on the dirty streets for so long. Ravage’s death had been the hardest-it had also been the first out of the cassettes, which made it even more painful.He told Bumblebee about how one day while he and Ravage had been looking for some energon for their empty tanks, they ran into two twins who had spent their entire childhood in the mines. Soundwave couldn’t help but break into a smile as he told the guide about Rumble and Frenzy’s penchant for trouble, and their love of pranks.
Soundwave continued to talk, telling Bumblebee about Laserbeak, the only femme, who had been so quiet and shy when he had taken her in during the war. She had lost a twin before they met, Buzzsaw, and it had impacted her greatly. She came out of her shell quickly though, gaining new siblings and a new creator to help her work through the pain of Buzzsaw’s loss. Soundwave had to swallow hard around the lump that had risen up into his vocalizer again, spitting out more static as he spoke of Ratbat, his youngest. One that never really got to live the existence he was supposed to, his life cut far too short by the horrors of war.
By the end of his stories, Soundwave had retracted his visor to allow for the coolant to spill down his face plates. He hadn’t cried since Ratbat had passed, refusing to let anything else tear him down like the deaths of his cassettes had. Bumblebee spent the entire time nodding along quietly, his optics dim as he listened to the blue mech talk about the loss of his family for the first with anyone else. Emotions like this had no place during the war, especially in the Decepticon ranks. Emotions like this were a weakness, one that could so easily be exploited, so Soundwave had done everything he could to remain as emotionless around others as possible.
Soundwave finally fell silent, his voicebox hiccupping static as he wiped at his optics, trying to stop the flow of liquid coming from them. Bumblebee regarded him with soft optics, before finally speaking in a soft voice,
“When we met, you said that you weren’t supposed to be here. That it was a mistake for you to end up back here, in the Well. But Soundwave, that’s not true. I mean clearly, besides the fact that you are here, but that’s not the point. Hearing you talk about your cassettes, clearly you had so much love for them. I’m not going to sit here and pretend to know every secret of the Well, that I know exactly why you ended up here. But I am here to tell you that you belong. You went through your life with so much love and care for other beings, even if it was only these 5, even if you think you spent your life doing bad things, clearly you never had a bad spark, or a bad soul. You are here, in the Well, for a reason. And maybe that reason is to see your family again. And whenever you are ready, I can take you to your them. You can be reunited with all of them. You can be together, be a family again.”
The pair sit together in silence for a few kliks, Bumblebee waiting patiently for Soundwave to be ready, and Soundwave thinking of Bumblebee’s words, ‘You can be together.’ That is all Soundwave has ever wanted, since Ravage died. And now, finally in death, he’s getting the chance. Soundwave takes a moment more, cleaning off his faceplates before he locks his optics with Bumblebee.
“Soundwave: Would very much like for Bumblebee to show the way,” Bumblebee grin returns, and he stands slowly, extending his servo to help Soundwave up. Soundwave takes it, shocking both himself and the yellow guide. But Bumblebee most through his shock easily, and smiles at Soundwave once more before saying in a soft voice,
“Soundwave, it would be my honor to escort you back to your family.” The two smiled softly at each other, before they focus their optics on the Well’s center in the distance. Soundwave took one last shaky invent, before nodding his agreement, and moving to walk with the guide. Finally, after all the time spent alone, spent mourning what he had lost, Soundwave was going to see his cassettes, his only family he had ever known. And now, nothing would be able to tear them apart, ever again.