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The skies of Cybertron were full of the colors of long distant galaxies, planets in the distant skies and stars radiated light onto the buildings of the planet. The entire planet was full of light and life, the sounds of cybertronians talking and driving. Every bot had places to go and there were groups of mechs talking together, laughing and playing music in the bright lights of the city. There were schedules you could stick to, times certain bots could be seen at certain places and as long as you knew the city well enough you knew where everybody was, at every time.
And Nightalon hated it.
They hated Cybertron ever since they were born on the planet. It was one full of autobots and full of the cons stupid enough to think they would be accepted back home with open arms, after spending years at war and exhiled. Instead the autobots seemed more upset about them than ever. Night knew that they were, at school they all were fearful of them, whispering when they weren’t looking and silent when they were. They knew what they were all saying, saying she was big and scary, her voice was deep and intimidating…
Lugnut and Blitzwing… She resented both of them for raising her on cybertron. It just wasn’t fair she had gotten stuck in this situation or stuck on this planet. They should've known how bad of an idea it was…
But even with all that in mind, Nightalon did not know how she felt about the idea of moving to earth. She had heard the planet had a few cybertronians on it, but it was mostly populated by tiny organics called humans. What if they viewed her as strange and scary in the same way the autobots did? What if she didn’t get along with her fellow cybertronians on the planet? It just felt like everything would go wrong all over again…
But regardless, Nightalon woke up in the morning, looking over all her stuff carefully to make sure nothing of value would be left behind. All her bookshelves were empty and she was taking most of her datapads with her, so after her father asked her to wake up her little sibling Treads… Well she didn’t have anything better to do.
“Wake up pest, it’s moving day.” She huffed, shaking them gently, but Treads whined and turned away from her.
“Noooo, give me five more minutes…”
“No! If you don’t get up, I’m gonna leave you behind and you can stay here alone.”
Treads turned to Night, upset as they narrowed their eyes. “No you won’t, vati won’t let you do that!”
“Well if you don’t get up I’m gonna freeze you and then you’ll really be awake!” Night huffed, raising their hand to do just that when Blitzwing’s voice suddenly came from behind her.
“Nightalon, engelchen, you aren’t threatening your little sibling again are you?” Icey asked and Night huffed, lowering their hand and shaking their helm.
“No dad, I’m not…”
“Good…”
Night had hoped he would leave it at that but as Treads got out of bed and yawned, running off to eat breakfast, Icey approached his daughter, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Engel, are you alright? I know this news might be very stressful for you, and I’m sorry about that, but you know you’ve been very strong about it and I am very proud of you for that…”
“I know I know…” Night huffed as the sound of Blitzwing’s face clicking to a different version of himself was heard and she was faced with Random.
“And hey, if it works out you may be way more happier over there than you were here! You know Earth has some very interesting things and some very interesting bots! Bots I used to battle alongside and used to fight!” He purred, giving Night a smile so big she couldn’t help smiling back.
“You keep saying that dad, but you still won’t tell me who these bots are.”
“It’s a surprise!”
“It’s a lame surprise.”
Blitzwing’s face changed again this time to the final of the three, Hothead and he patted Night’s helm with a playful smile. “Don’t be ridiculous, there is no such thing as a lame surprise! Now come on, you should eat before we get on the ship.”
Night suppressed a giggle, following after her dad as she nodded her helm. “Alright, alright dad.”
As Night followed her father through the halls of their small home, she saw her vati, looking to just about every room to make sure the move would go well. He was effortlessly lifting and inspecting even the biggest furniture they had and his five optics scanned the room, squinting as they usually did when anything was more than five feet away from him. Eventually he realized he had been looking at his daughter and waved to her with a goofy smile. “Good morning dearest! Did you check your room for everything and anything you wanna bring to earth?”
“Only for the fourteenth time vati, don’t worry I know I’ve got everything.”
“Well alright! But you know another look never hurt anyone!” He shouted. Honestly, Nightalon had no idea how Lugnut didn’t lose his voice all the time when he was constantly yelling.
“I know vati, good morning!” Night purred, before quickly running back to her father’s side and going into the kitchen, where Treads was already sitting, waiting to eat.
“Dad I’m hungry, why'd you take so long?” Treads whined, pouting to their father who gently kissed them on the cheek.
“I’m sorry sweetest, I’ll make it up to you I promise. What do you want for breakfast?”
“Waffles!”
“I’d just like pancakes please.”
Both Treads and Night simply sat at the table, patiently waiting for their food.
“So sis how do you feel about the move?” Treads asked, bouncing in their seat happily.
Night frowned, glancing to her father who she caught glancing back at her before awkwardly looking away. “I don’t know. It feels like a bad idea. I don’t have much school left to do… I don’t see the point in going to a brand new one.”
“But what if it’s better?”
“Just because it’s new doesn’t mean it’ll be better, I think the humans might all just be afraid of me the way the autobots are… And the last thing I want is more people faking kindness so I won’t murder them or eat them or whatever silly stuff organics think…” Night continued, refusing to look at their father or their sibling.
Treads huffed and crossed their arms, frowning to their sister. “Well, way to be a downer! For once can you be a little happy?”
“You asked for my opinion, don’t start whining now cause it wasn’t what you or dad wanted!”
“Dad didn’t even say anything!”
Random was quick to cut Nightalons response off as he dropped the kids breakfast in front of them. “Here you two go! I hope you enjoy it! Here’s syrup and butter; don't make a mess! I’m gonna go help your father now, be nice, okay bye!”
Both Night and Treads simply watched their father nervously stumble out of the kitchen, before turning to each other with narrowed eyes and silently eating their food. However Night couldn’t help but struggle to eat with the loud chomping and gross licking Treads were doing right across the table…
“Treads can you eat like a normal mech… For once?”
“No.” Treads replied, sticking their tongue out to her and Night rolled her eyes. Of course I was the one stuck in this family… I wonder if other kids put up with stuff like this…
“Hey Treads? You don’t happen to know which bots are on earth do you?”
“Which bots? Ummm I’m not sure…”
“You don’t know any of them? Dad seems to know and I really want to know…”
“Well that’s because dad was around when it was okay to talk to bots on other planets.”
Night huffed. “Yea, I still don’t understand that rule…” They paused, eating some more before continuing. “But then again, nobody really does…”
Treads nodded quietly and the two of them sat in silence as they ate before Night finished and quietly put their plate away.
“Hey, Night?”
“Yeah, Treads?”
“I hope the kids on earth are nicer to you than these ones…”
Night froze. they usually didn’t like talking about their struggles with their peers with their family and thus it was rarely brought to their attention. But despite that, she couldn’t help but be a little touched by Treads words…
“Thanks I uh… Hope so too…” She whispered before going to go find her parents. They were beginning to really want to get moving just so they could sleep away the anxiety and stress that was beginning to consume their spark…
“vati? Dad? We finished our food, are we gonna be heading out soon?” Night asked and Lugnut, who was looking under a table, jumped, smacking his helm against said table. “H-huh? Oh yes, yes sweetie we are going to! Me and your father are just doing one last look around!”
“One last look around until we have to take everything and run!” Random declared dramatically, giggling excitedly as Night clicked their tongue and rolled their eyes.
“Is it okay if I just shove my stuff in the ship and sleep? I already have everything I wanna take packed.”
“Umm, well I’m not sure… Dearest?”
“I think that’s fine liebling, just make sure you bring everything, Night. I’d hate for any of your stuff to be left behind…”
“I know dad, thank you.” Night replied, turning away from their parents but not without giving one last glance to both of them, they were so big and so, ungraceful to say the least. They had deep voices and no real curve to their frames. Night then examined themselves feeling a bit of bitterness wash over them. Why couldn’t they have had parents with more… Feminine traits instead of those two big brutes… It was no wonder the autobots were all afraid of her…
“Sweetie? Are you okay?”
Lugnut’s voice snapped Night out of their thoughts and they quickly shook their helm. “Yes-yes, I’m fine, just got lost in thought… I’m gonna go get my stuff now.” They replied quickly, walking away and going to their room. They shut the door and took in a deep breath clearing their mind and looking around their room. It looked empty, but that wasn’t really anything new, Night wasn’t much for decorating, and even if they were they didn’t really know what they would put up. All their interests were rather silly and they weren’t about to listen to the ridiculous ideas their parents would surely have. They’d really much rather not have anything in it at all.
Nightalon sighed, simply looking through the stuff they packed, they had their datapads, some school stuff and their favorite books… Taking one out of the box, they carressed the cover of one; the lovely femme displayed in front of her conjux; a hollow, struggling bot she had run away with… Nightalon couldn’t help but daydream with herself in the place of the femme, imagininng themselves as graceful, beautiful and away from their home, from their family and from the people who whispered around them… She would pick up the pieces of her conjux’s state of mind and on her own she would bring them back to the exquisite mirror they once were…
What a lovely femme they would marry and what a life they’d have together… Long as they had that dream and that story with them, Nightalon was sure nothing they owned was as precious to pack. They didn’t even glance at the other boxes as they picked them up and went to the ship.
“Hey sis! You want help?” Treads suddenly asked and Night jumped looking down to the tiny sparkling before shaking their helm.
“No, no I’m quite alright.”
“You sure?”
“I’m very, very sure, I’ve never been more sure of something in my life in fact.”
“Awww, why’s that?”
“Because you always look through my stuff!”
“I just want to read the books you read!”
“No, you’re going to destroy them. Now go away.”
Night didn’t turn to face Treads as they heard them stomp their pedes and come to a stop, huffing and shouting to her. “You care more about those dumb books than you care about me!”
She decided to ignore them, simply opening the door to the ship and finding one of the rooms to lay in. As frustrated as they were about the sudden move, at least the ship they were using did have somewhere pretty comfortable to sleep, especially considering that even with the transwarp they’d do to get to earth it would take quite a while to get there.
So might as well get comfortable, they thought, doing just that as they laid in the temporary bed and grabbed one of their favorite stories to read. The reading itself was rather mindless; they had read this story plenty of times and could probably recite their favorite chapters from memory. Cybertron just didn’t have a lot of literature; it was seen as a massive waste of time; especially the fantasy romance genre that was hardly given any attention. Which was a shame, because if Nightalon could, they’d spend all their allowance on nothing but books. Oh well… That’s just the deck they were handed…
So they continued to read, not really paying much attention to what they were doing as they drifted off into recharge, their mind growing distant and fuzzy…
“vati, have you seen my book anywhere?” Night asked, looking around the ship as Lugnut turned to them, tilting his head. “No I don’t think I have dearest, did you make sure it was on the ship?”
Night huffed, crossing their arms “Yes I am sure, I was reading it before I fell asleep! And now it’s disappeared!”
“Well, maybe Treads wanted to take a look at it, you should ask them.”
Nightalon paused before tensing up and clenching their fists, oh of course it was Treads! They should’ve known right away! “Thank you vati. I'll go ask them right now.” She hissed, stomping off and leaving a very confused and worried Lugnut.
“Treads!” Night hissed looking into the various rooms for them and they opened a door to find Treads on one of the temporary beds, with their missing book in their claws.
“Huh? Oh hey sis, I borrowed your book!”
“You stole it! I already told you you couldn’t read it! And you just waited for me to sleep!”
Treads frowned, closing the book and crossing their arms. “Okay, okay fine I took it, but I really wanted to read it and you’re always reading these books! I was just a little curious…”
Night huffed, rolling their optics before taking the book. “You wouldn’t understand the meaning of these books if it hit you like a truck.”
Treads narrowed their optics to their sister before sitting up and crossing their arms. “I understand what it is about! It’s about a girl falling in love with a total jerk!”
Night paused, about to leave the room before they stopped and turned around to glare at Treads. “He’s not a total jerk, he’s a very deeply broken bot! They ran away from their homes together and it’s beautiful! And far too complex for such a little kid!”
“No it’s not! It’s dumb! Why don’t they just break up?”
“Because she is gonna help him and if they break up they will both be alone! Because all they have in the world is each other, how can you not see how romantic that is?”
“That’s just sad!”
Night tensed up again shutting their optics tightly and taking in a deep breath, before breathing out and simply walking away. As much as the idea of roasting Treads and their dumb little processor sounded great right now, they didn’t want to even imagine how long they’d be grounded for if they baked their little sibling…
That didn’t entirely make them not want to do it, but if they were gonna make a good impression on their new peers, it’d be better to not start it out by being punished… She also decided to hardly acknowledge Lugnut as he looked at her worried.
“Night, sweetie, are you alright, you look rather upset, did something happen-”
“Nothing happened, I’m gonna go to sleep until we arrive on Earth, good night.”
“Er- uh, okay, good night…”
With a huff, Nightalon shut the door, locking it and laying back in the berth. She crossed her arms and put down her book, ignoring the way the berth beneath her heated up from how warm her frame was getting. They had to take a deep breath before they set the room ablaze or even melted the berth beneath them, instead deciding to send a chill through their frame and into the room. They quietly relaxed and decided to gently ice over the desk next to them, they knew their father wasn’t the biggest fan of the way they constantly used their powers, especially to show off and put on an elegant show… But Blitzwing and Lugnut were both, to put simply, dumb as rocks. of course they could never understand the way Night chose to express themselves, they were probably too busy destroying everything around them back in the fighting days to learn any better…
And that thought stuck in their mind as they thought about what their father said. Who were the bots who lived on earth? What were they like? Would they like Nightalon? Would they all fear her?
In the end they just accepted that those answers would come in the next few days and they allowed their processor to drift away into recharge.
The first few days of being on Earth had gone by without much happening, Nightalon and their family got visited by Blackarachnia, a bot Night barely even knew about, however she seemed friendly enough. But it was later the three mechs Night was most fascinated by: Shockwave, Blurr and Bumblebee, stopped by. They were all bots who had known their parents back when the autobots and decepticons were still in conflict. they had told Nightalon and Treads they had a few kids their age, But they had all been in school so they weren’t able to show up. Nightalon was told, however, they would see them on their first day of school.
So imagine their disappointment when they realized that they had to change into their holoform to attend the human school and therefore wouldn’t be able to find out until the end of the day the identities of their mysterious peers. They had really hoped when they announced their clearly not human name one of the kids would raise their hands and announce to them they were cybertronian… But nooooo the kids they had hoped would want to be their friend were silent, wherever they were and Night was stuck amongst a bunch of strange looking organics.
At least the humans were very curious about them and didn’t seem to resent them; they all just seemed curious about how they looked and their powers. It wasn’t exactly friendship or acceptance just yet but at least there was that…
Earth so far just seemed like a mildly better cybertron, even when the bell rang and Night could leave the building and finally show off their robot form, the awestruck looks from the humans did little to lift their mood. Regardless they chose to sit down and talk to the organics, answering various questions they all had.
Despite what they told themself, they were actually pretty caught up in the fun of having so many people be interested in stuff like their powers and flying abilities. So caught up they didn’t realize someone very important had approached them until the humans began to look nervous and anxious backed away from them.
Night huffed, about to turn to tell their parents to just call their name when they wanted to pick them up but they were faced with not Blitzwing or Lugnut, but two short cybertronians. One of them was a seafoam green mech with horns and a rounded, skinny frame. the other had pointed features, a pair of antlers and one glowing, red optic.
Nightalon wasn’t sure what to say to them but when the sharp, dark purple bot spoke, Night knew she commanded silence. “So, you’re the new kid around here?” The femme asked scanning Nightalon’s frame, her claws tapping on her hips impatiently.
“Uh, oh yes, I am! My name is Nightalon! I’m so excited to meet you guys, your dad said-”
“So Night, do you like the show off all the time, or was all that attention the humans gave you enough to make you think you could just waltz in here and establish yourself as some sort of powerhouse?”
Night went quiet giving time for the green mech to nervously step in front of the other. “Radio, Radz, come on don’t do this! They just got here and remember what dad said about you getting into fights?”
“I never said I was going to fight them…”
“But I know you’re going to! Radio, dad said one more fight and you’re grounded! He’s been really forgiving of you for a while but dad keeps his word, you know he keeps his word!”
“Zippy, be quiet and let Night answer the question…”
Night gulped quietly, feeling unsure of themselves as Radio stared them down. “I uh, I guess I do like to show off most of the time…” She mumbled.
“Alright, well then we’re fighting, right here and now.” Radio announced, flexing her claws. Night froze going silent as they glanced at the sharp digits.
“We-we’re what?”
“You wanna show off, don’t you? Well get up and let’s make a show~” Radio purred with a dark expression and a glow in her optic that made Night’s spark both stop…
And flutter… Something about her expression showed off the deep shade of red her optic was and her stance showed off her sharp and deadly frame. Her claws were pointed and deadly, the shine on them was only out done by the way light shone through her doorwings creating a red light on her frame contrasting against her dark purple paint job.
She was so small but so bold. she stared at Night and looked her up and down like she was already figuring out how to take them down and keep them down. She had to be a one of a kind bot… Night had spent their entire life seeming powerful and towering over all their peers, when really they were meek and cowardly, unable to confront anyone but their family with the way they were treated..
Radio was beautiful, her slit optic and the want, the need for battle in it made Night want something else… It made Night want-
“Hey! You fall asleep on me? It’s time for a fight!” Radio spat, taking Night out of their little world and back to reality. They quickly straightened up, ignoring Zippy’s continuous panicked protests. They nodded to Radio before politely gesturing to themselves.
“I was waiting for you to make your move… Radio~” They purred, trying to give Radio just the right kind of smirk with enough flirtiness and sass to truly show her how they felt about all of this.
Radio ignored this and leapt forward, punching Night in the stomach with such force it knocked them off their feet. When Nightalon felt the pain hit them a second later they hardly had a chance to register how on earth Radio had such strength when she headbutted them. Night quickly shot up, now struggling to stay calm and be gentle with the smaller bot as they inhaled and froze part of Radio’s frame which gave them enough time to knock her off of them. A move which sent Radio flying back and right into Zippy. Radio however was quick to get back on her feet, looking back at Zippy as he clumsily got to his feet wobbly and shaky as he held his helm in pain.
“Oh you’re gonna regret that~” Radio growled, transforming into her other non-minicon form, one with a face, fangs and two narrowed optics. She was so beautiful, so confident and once again her battle stance only served to make Night freeze in place, caught up in how amazing Radio looked and just… Was. So caught up they did nothing when she practically launched herself at them, kicking hard at their chest, causing them to stumble back but Radio was relentless and after biting their arm she slammed her leg into Nights. That was the final thing she did that got Night to fall over again. And primus, was it harsh, as Night even lying on the ground was unsure if the minicon was done with her.
Their head was still spinning when Radio placed her claws against their throat, glaring down at them and smiling wickedly. “You give up yet, new girl?” She growled. Night, breathless and beaten up, only nodded, about to reply when they heard…
“Radiowave! What on earth are you doing? Get over here, young lady, right now!”
Oh boy…
Night felt just about a million and one things going through their head as they sat on the couch within the bumblebee household. Looking over to Zippy, who was quickly and anxiously kicking his feet. Night cleared their throat, finally deciding to break the silence. “Is Radio gonna be grounded after this like you said?”
Zippy gulped, looking over to the room where Radio and her parents were. they were clearly chewing her out for the fight she started. He shrugged to Night. “I would probably say yeah… This was kinda the last chance she had gotten after all the other people she beat up…”
“So this is just something she always does?”
“Yeah… Well nowadays it is…”
Night went quiet, taking in what Zippy said as he curled his legs to his chest, his blue optics glancing back to the room where his big sister was.
After a bit, Radio and her parents finally stepped out of the room. Blurr had his arms crossed, while Bee simply fidgeted with his, however Shockwave wasted no time pointing to Night and looking to Radio with a stern look. “Young lady, what do you have to say for what you did?”
Radio didn’t so much as glance at the much larger bot, she just crossed her arms and narrowed her optic to Night. “I’m sorry.” She hissed, subtly looking over Night again, once again making Night wonder if she was scanning them for fighting purposes or perhaps another purpose? Regardless, Night was confident in their answer as they got up and put their hand on Radio’s shoulder, shooting her a friendly smile before looking at Shockwave.
“There’s no need for her to apologize sir, truly, Radiowave is wonderful and I am so glad to meet her, mr. Wave. Even if she did bite me and punch me around, really it was my pleasure. Not to mention how impressive her fighting skills are.”
She purred, giving him a polite nod before a knock on the door alerted her to the fact her parents were here to pick her up.
“Sorry, I have to go now… I truly hope to see you again, Radio. you’re fantastic and unlike any girl I’ve ever met… Really you are… And honestly? I wouldn’t mind having another battle with you sometime~” Night winked to her, casting a final look to Radio whose optic was wide and she tilted her helm rather curiously at Night. The subtle emotion she displayed was very different from the looks of total shock and confusion Zippy and his three parents were giving Night, Seemingly baffled by their words. Night had to resist a smirk as they simply turned around and strolled to the door.
Of course they wouldn’t understand; Night had predicted the way their sudden crush on a girl who had just beat the scrap out of them would have both Radio’s and Night’s parents confused. Their feelings on the whole thing didn’t matter though, Night understood how they felt, why they felt that way and what they were gonna do about those feelings.
That’s all that mattered.
“Night, are you alright? That looks really bad! Are you sure you don’t want to stop by a medbay for those dents?”
“Night, I just don’t understand why you said that to Radio and her parents? Are you trying to avoid conflict? I know your previous classmates were really mean to you, but if you want us to talk to Radio further about this, we can! We’re here for you!”
Blitzwing and Lugnut’s constant questions and inquiries were something Night was not looking forward to ever since they had gotten the time to actually examine how hard Radio had beaten down on them.
With a deep breath they simply did as they usually did and tried their best to dismiss their parents worries. “I’m alright, really. I would much rather just take care of it at home, okay?”
“The problem with Radio or the dents?”
“There’s no problem with Radio, dad, I was obviously talking about the dents. I meant what I said about her and I wish you would just drop it.”
Lugnut and Blitzwing looked at each other, both clueless.Night was happy they finally stopped talking, they didn’t feel like trying to explain the way they felt towards Radio right now. They wouldn’t understand anyways, The love they felt for Radio was one so passionate and that Night saw her flaws as things that only made her more appealing… She’s like a beautiful wilting rose; all she needs is a little love and a kiss on those lips of hers… did she have purple or black lipstick on when she had transformed? Oh, what did it matter… She looked lovely either way… Would Radio ever let Night do her makeup? Her eyeshadow was also fantastic… Just the mental image Night had of being above Radio and gently helping her had them giddy and warm in the spark.
“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you smile like that… I’m guessing the day really did go well?” Icey whispered, glancing at Night with a soft smile. Night smiled back, nodding and looking at the bright colors of plants that surrounded them while they walked home. The day truly had gone very, very well…