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Soundwave considered himself to be a noble one.
He did not attack others unprovoked. He stayed to his territory and did not expand its borders without reason. He welcomed others if they posed no threat, letting them keep to themselves in a small corner of his land until they were ready to go. He killed the creatures grazing on the Earth only when hungry, only when necessary.
Soundwave had rules, standards he personally set for himself to follow. After seeing the endless, senseless slaughter fighting brought, he vowed not to repeat those mistakes without a good reason.
He did not, however, know how to feel about what he just found at the edge of his abode.
It started simply. A new neighbor, he could call them, moved into a small cave far away from his main nest and remained there for quite a while. He rarely saw them, and when he did, they either hissed or fled.
He decided not to bother the other. Maybe he should have.
Because they left as suddenly as they had appeared, with no announcement. Not that he was owned one, of course, he knew the life of a lonesome hermit far too well.
Still, he would lie if he said the newly departed mystery didn’t intrigue him. So against his better judgement, he went to check the place where the other had remained for almost the entirety of the past moon.
And Primus, was he lucky he did. The cave was a mess, a nest seemingly destroyed in a hurry to abandon the place left in the middle. Crumpled remains of shells were thrown around the room, some caught up in the leaves and dirt, some ripped on sticks.
Then, right in the middle of it all-
A fledgeling, he thought curiously, carefully itching closer to inspect the weakly chirping thing. It was small, too small for its species if Soundwave was correct, its limbs far more uncoordinated than a freshly hatched dragon’s should be.
Not just a fledgeling, this little one was, but a runt specifically. Left behind by its mother as she took the other siblings, the ones with higher chances of survival.
How cruel the world was, to those smaller and weaker than the agreed upon average. How normal it was too, to leave behind hardships instead of trying to overcome them.
Still, it’s been over a whole day and night both since their parent left. Yet still, the so-called runt left alone to die prevailed, wailing as loud as their tiny little lungs allowed them for to announce their survival.
…
Soundwave never considered himself a caretaker. He lived on his own, alone and away from any herds, and he quite enjoyed this life of solitude too. He never yearned for companionship, more than happy to remain alone forever.
But he had standards. He had rules he set up for himself, that he had to follow had he wished not to fall into the insanity of a boring, repetitive life.
Although maybe… he thought, finally moving close enough for the little one to feel his body’s warmth, immediately reaching out their uncoordinated little limbs in his direction, letting out more of their distressed mewls and chirps when it couldn’t successfully get far enough.
With a flick, he curled his tail around the little thing and brought it closer, tucking it against his side. Feeling as their body momentarily relaxed, chirps calming from distressed to mellow as their body absorbed his heat.
…maybe this was exactly what he needed after all, in this life of solitude.
The second time it happened though, it put him in quite a loop.
He’s just barely gotten used to the first fledgeling - Ravage, as she proudly started calling herself - running around, beginning to grow from a flailing, shapeless blob into a strong being of her own. She was a challenge, by Primus she was. Everything regarding her needed to be thought out ten times more than any of Soundwave's other actions he ever performed, and for the first few moons of having her, it stressed him tremendously.
But it was all worth it, if only for the joy of being able to call the little one his own. To be able to teach her those same principles that kept him alive and sane.
Still, when she flew to him one day, claiming to have seen something lurking within their home, he had to investigate, if only to find whatever it was that stressed her so much to reassure her of her safety.
And find something he did.
Or rather, someone.
This one was bigger and older than Ravage when he first found her. A juvenile perhaps, already with tiny claws and little teeth, bared angrily as they hissed at him. Black with just a little bit of red on them, better for blending in than his own bright blue scales, but much worse than Ravage’s dark as the night sky body.
He was unsure of the species of this little one, but one thing he was certain of.
They were hungry.
It was a little jarring that this, out of everything, would be one of his first thoughts when seeing the tiny thing. Maybe being with Ravage for so long has rotted his brain through with parental instincts instilling themselves deep.
Maybe he didn’t care about that fact as much as he probably should.
He raised his tail and beckoned them closer. They stared at him, distrust clear in their eyes as they refused, tracing his every move with focused precision.
Hm. This wouldn’t be as easy as it was with Ravage. She was too young to refuse when presented with any resemblance of help. This one’s mind was far more developed than that, coherent thoughts already filtering in and out as they analysed their situation.
He needed to try a different approach if he wanted to yield any positive results this time.
With a flap of his wings, he became airborne, looking around to find something suitable for gaining the other's trust-
There. Perfect.
Barely any time later, he returned back to where he saw the little one, this time along with a creature that grazes on the grassland, hanging dead from his maw, tumbling out and hitting the ground with a soft, muffled noise.
The fledgeling's eyes widened, pupils dilating as they stared at the meal presented before them.
Soundwave took a couple tentative steps back, making sure to let them know this was for them, not for him.
After a brief hesitation, they finally came closer, teeth sinking into still warm flesh with a delighted noise. They ate all of it in silence, gaze snapping back up to Soundwave occasionally all through their meal.
He only waited, letting them finish.
Only once they did, he nodded and turned around, his parental instincts sated with the sight of a fledgeling taken care of.
…
Well, and the fact that said fledgeling not-so sneakily followed him back right to his main home may have been a factor too.
Once is a surprise, two is a coincidence, but the third time Soundwave heard, from both his wards this time, that there was not one, but two tiny dragons playing on the edge of his territory, he was ready. With a swift flap of his wings he was off into the skies, letting his smell carry him to where he had to go.
He found them quickly, incredibly so. They weren't so little to be completely helpless like Ravage, nor were they trying to hide like Laserbeak did.
No, they were… right there out in the open. Playing?
Yes, playing, using a small critter as a rudimentary toy, bouncing the dead body one towards the other with their tails. They were screeching loudly and happily, claws scraping against the ground as they jumped up and tried to do the flashes move they could while hitting the critter over.
One upping each other, or at least trying to.
Siblings, definitely siblings. Most likely from the same clutch. Did any other pregnant dragon come to his territory without him noticing? No, that was impossible. Ever since then he was more alert towards what was happening around him.
Just like right now. He didn't believe the two small, nimble dragons didn't notice him. They definitely did, but just…
…ignored him?
How bizarre. We're they not afraid? He knew his species wasn't known for their hospitality, even if he himself rejected his cannibalistic instincts.
They couldn't have known that. Yet they still played away like nothing was wrong.
Peculiar little critters they were, too. Just like the one they played with.
Playing with food… that one could use a correction, though.
He came closer with a hiss, finally making the two small dragons turn to him. Immediately they gathered close together, hissing right back at him, even baring their little teeth in a warning. Soundwave, however, ignored them completely, walking up to the lifeless being on the ground, hooking his claw straight through its body, throwing it up and catching it with his maw.
…mh. A little stale and with a twinge of dirt. But still good. No matter the dual distressed cries of the two new fledgelings in front of him.
Seems like they weren't happy he took away their toy, looking angrily at him as they kept hissing.
Thankfully, he had just the solution to that.
With a harsh noise, he gathered some spit in his maw and spit it out, watching as the substance quickly thickened. Before it could harden however, he started gently rolling it on the ground with the edge of his wing, letting the mass shape itself into first a pebble, then something more round, like the fruits of trees or short eggs.
Soon enough he took his wing away, leaving a perfectly round toy behind. With a gentle kick, he rolled it over to the two dragons, now looking at him in pure amazement before their gazes swept down to their new, shiny toy.
They looked up at each other, then back at the toy.
Before long, just as he was going back to his own nest, Soundwave could hear their joyful cries behind him.
And before long, Soundwave felt two new presences join up against his side at night.
The final time it happened, Soundwave didn't expect it to be one of those times again. When all four of his well-fed, well cared-for wards flew over, screeching over one another about how a strange thing had just washed on the beach, he expected a deep water fish, perhaps an unfortunate water dragon's corpse.
He didn't expect for the thing to be wailing.
The noise was high, scratchy and loud, echoing all through the beach thanks to the cliffs. Soundwave was disturbed, but not deterred, still slowly but surely advancing towards the mysterious object. The noise was familiar, almost like the cries of newborn fawns he'd sometimes see froilicking around his territory.
Was this a fawn? Perhaps. Maybe he could help them, get them to a mother for caring. Eating them now would be wasteful, not when they could grow bigger, maybe even have offspring of their own.
But all his thoughts were swiftly scattered as he came close enough and finally saw what it was.
And…
…
…Soundwave was confused at what he was looking at. There on the beach was a being, an incredibly tiny one at that. They appeared to be bundled tightly in thick, woven cloth, not unlike what the beings known as ‘humans’ would cover their bodies with to keep warm from escaping their bodies. Even like humans they appeared to have four limbs, the lower ones hidden within the cloth but fighting against it, the upper ones free and flailing around. They even had fingers on each paw, just like a human would too.
But this couldn't be that, couldn't be a human. When he looked closer, he noticed one paw had six tiny fingers, the other one five. Clear sign of their inhumanity, from the stories and his own few sightings, he remembered humans having only five on all paws, up and bottom.
Their skin was inhuman too, patchy with lighter splotches on their face and what little he could see of their body, most likely stretching all across their body like the camouflage patterns of a fawn.
Or a dragon, Soundwave thought, curiously reaching to gently nudge the thing with a claw. No matter what they were, they were still in deep distress, their little face scrunched up in a way that looked unnatural, face a deeper red that wasn't anywhere else on their body. And of course the noises they kept making which still echoed all around them.
Clearly, they were a fledgeling of their species, whatever it may be.
So this just wouldn't do. Even with the creature's strangeness, Soundwave couldn't bear to see a fledgeling in distress.
Taking the creature into his hold was his first challenge. His short upper limbs were too little to safely hold the fledgeling, and he needed hisbwings to fly to the top of the cliffs.
That left him with his maw, which to his great relief, turned out to be perfect. He hooked some of the thick cloth on his lower teeth and slowly raised his head, making the bundle dandle from his mouth. Thankfully, the binds holding the little fledgeling were secure and they didn't end up tumbling out.
Even better, their cries seemed to have slowed a bit, sounding more confused now at the change of position and scenery.
Maybe their species liked heights? In that case, once their wings grew in, he'd take them to the highest of peaks to fly from. Or if they were one of the flightless species, they could always sit on his back like a proper fledgeling would on their mother.
Yes… No matter what this little one was, Soundwave was more than ready to care for them.
And as he came back to the best, all his wards already awaiting rich with curiosity, Soundwave felt warmth bloom somewhere deep inside his chest.
With the now-calm bundle safely in the middle, his own body rolled around it for safety and all four of his other fledgelings’ bodies pressed against him, Soundwave found himself incredibly glad he hadn't stuck to the life of solitude.