Chapter Text
The voice of a temple choir echoes within a chamber, as glowing veins lead to a carving on a alabaster wall.
Olim, olim, Deus accelere
Hoc sæculum splendium
Accelere fiat venire olim
Olim, olim, Deus accelere
Hoc sæculum splendium
Accelere fiat venire olim…
Bells start to ring very softly, rising louder and louder as the choir continues.
Soon…a soft, vibrant blue sky looms over a sea of clouds, as a set of towers can be seen in the distance. The choir becomes more louder and grander, stretching in a long note. By the time of the last note, the clouds soon disappear to reveal a street within the city of Iacon. As a Cyber-Rooster gives out its morning cry, a femme throws out bucket from the window of her dwelling. Then, the song of a young bot is heard.
“Morning in Iacon, the city awakes to the bells of Notre Dame
The fisherman fishes, the bakerman bakes
To the bells of Notre Dame”
Near the temple itself, within the town square, the townspeople go about their everyday lives as the bells can be heard above them. The song continues.
“To the bells as loud of the thunder, to the little bells soft as a psalm
And some say the soul of the city’s the toll of the bells…
The bells of Iacon!”
Near a well, a yellow puppeteer entertains a crowd of younglings while the bells continue. He stops for a moment to admire their own song. “Listen…they’re beautiful, no?” the puppeteer, Bumblebee, ponders, “so many colors of sounds, so many changing moods.” He then gives a soft smile to the little ones - who also listen to the bells ringing, “because, ya know…they don’t ring all by themselves.” He then brings out a smaller puppet version of himself. “They don’t?” questions the puppet. “No, silly boy,” Bee responds with a chuckle. He lifts up a curtain, giving the younglings and puppet a good view of the upper half of the temple. “Up there, high, high in the dark bell tower, lives the mysterious bell ringer,” he continues.
He then turned to his audience and asked, “Who is this bot?”
“Who?” the puppet also asks.
“What is he?” he continues.
“What? the puppet asks again.
“How did he come to be there?” he finishes his set of questions.
“How?” the puppet raises his hands, only to be hit with a small stick by his master; the younglings giggle in amusement. “HUSH!” the yellow bot says with a harsh tone, as the puppet mumbles. He then looks at the younglings again, who are now curious about who he’s referring to. “Now…Bumblebee will tell you. It is a tale…a tale of a mech…and a monster.”
He lifts up another curtain as the last word echoes, which then shifts into his story, a story from 25 years ago…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Within the cold months of winter, during one dark night, a boat filled with cloaked Travelers quietly proceed down the city’s river, otherwise known as the Seine. Being one of the tribes emerging after the deaths of the Primes, as a result of winning the war against the Quintessons, they are a humble and hardworking people whose way of life involve traveling from city to city. However, to the rest of the Iaconian population, they are seen as lowly thieves and vagabonds whose lifestyle is seen as inferior to the former’s more “virtuous” living; many have to resort to means such as mining work or street dancing just to live by. Thus, they are unfairly mistreated by both the population and government of Iacon, with the latter imposing oppressive laws to drive them out of the city. Within the covers of the shadows, the group look around for any soldiers who might arrest them while the boatman continues rowing their vessel. Bee starts with his song.
“Dark was the night when our tale was begun,
On the docks near Notre Dame”
Soon…a sparkling in one of the femmes’ arms starts to cry softly, as his mother gently rocks him. His father sighs and looks at her, holding them both close.
“Please calm him down, my love,” he quietly urges her. “We’ll be spotted!” another harshly whisper at her. She looks at their child, who keeps fussing. “Hush, little one,” she keeps rocking him, as Bee continues.
“Several frightened Travelers slid silently under the docks near Notre Dame”
Soon, they reached the shore. They all step out, and the boatman then gives his price, “ten Shanix for safe passage into Iacon.”
Then…an arrow hits the boatman in the chest, as soldiers ran in. The group rush to protect each other from the soldiers, being cornered by spears. A few shield their younglings away inside their cloaks, including the couple clutching their infant close. Soon…the shadow of a tall mech appears.
“But a trap had been laid for the Travelers,
And they gazed up in fear and alarm, at a figure whose clutches
Were iron as much as the bells!”
The father of the sparkling has his optics widen in horror upon seeing who it is, as if he has seen Unicron Himself. “Sentinel Prime!” he exclaims, and the rest soon start to panic. Bee’s tone soon shifts into a haunted one, when a blue and gold mech on horseback arrives.
“The bells of Iacon…”
Kyrie Eleison…
He looks at these frightened people, glaring at them with an expression of disgust and contempt. Bee continues, but with much more venom towards this mech who believes himself as the savior of Iacon.
“Sentinel Prime longed to purge the world of vice and sin”
Kyrie Eleison
He then has his soldiers place chains on the mechs’ wrists, while the femmes and younglings are dragged away into a cart. Some try to hang onto each other one last time. Some of the mechs actively try to fight off the soldiers, only to be shot in the chest by arm blasters. The femme looks around in panic, as her sparkling whimpers and cling to her for warmth. The Prime keeps overseeing the arrests.
“And he saw corruption everywhere, except within…”
He then looks at his Captain of the High Guard. “Bring these people to the Palace of Justice,” he sneers at the bodies on the floor. Then, one soldier notices the femme trying to slip away. “You there!” he shouts. “What are you hiding!?” he grabs her by the wrist, as she struggles to squirm away from him. “Stolen goods, no doubt,” Sentinel responds coldly, “take them from her.” Then, Bumblebee returns with a frightened expression as he returns through the curtains.
“She ran!” he exclaims.
Holding her son close to her chest, the femme ran through the streets of Iacon as fast as she can while Sentinel chases her on his horse. She pants, refusing to stop even with the slippery snow caking the floor and the Prime hellbent on stopping her.
Dies iræ, dies iræ
Dies illa, dies illa
Solvet sæclum in favilla
Teste Alchimista cum sibylla
Quantus tremor est futurus
Soon, she reaches the doors of Notre Dame herself.
Quando Judex est venturus
She knocks on the door desperately. “SANCTUARY! PLEASE GIVE US SANCTUARY!” she tearfully pleads, as she looks at her son. He keeps clinging to her, wondering why she’s scared. She then turns around to see Sentinel catching, gasping softly. She keeps running.
Quantus tremor est futurus
Quando Judex est venturus
Dies iræ
The Prime then roughly rips the sparkling away from his mother, as she tries to reach for him. After back and forth, Sentinel uses his sword to slice her throat, sending her down onto the cement steps. She gasps as blood comes out of her mouth, struggling to move. As she bleeds to death, her little one looks around for her. Upon seeing a stranger holding him, he starts to wail loudly for his mama. The blue and gold mech looks down in bewilderment. “A sparkling?” Sentinel realizes upon seeing the infant wriggling in his servos. He carefully uncovers the blanket, noticing that he’s a bit smaller than normal sparklings. He then gasps upon seeing the middle of his chest, where what will become his transformation cog one day appears to be malfunctioned and shriveled. “A half cogged!” Sentinel reacts with shock, looking around in panic as the sparkling whimpers. A well is spotted within his sight, and he glares at the little one while riding over to the small abyss. He then hangs the sparkling over it by the blanket, preparing to drop him down below.
Solvet sæclum in favilla
Dies iræ, dies illa
The choir’s note ascends, until an elderly priest steps outside and raises his right servo.
“STOP!”
“-cried Alpha Trion,” Bumblebee said.
The Prime scoffs at the older mech, still hanging the sparkling over the well. “This is an unholy demon! I’m sending it back to the Pits, where it belongs!” Sentinel protests. However, Alpha Trion gently holds the mother’s body in his arms, horrified by what Sentinel has done to her. Determined to save her infant, he pleads.
“See there the innocent blood you have spilled, on the steps of Notre Dame…”
“I am guiltless. She ran, I pursued,” the Prime narrows his optics.
“Now, you would add this child’s blood to your guilt
On the steps of Notre Dame”
“My conscious is clear!” Sentinel keeps protesting, as the sparkling keeps wriggling in his arms. The priest angrily looks up at him.
“You can lie to yourself and your minions,
You can claim that you haven’t a qualm”
Alpha Trion then growls.
“But you never can run from, nor hide what you’ve done
From the eyes!”
He points to the statues of the Thirteen Primes, whose glares soon dart upon Sentinel Prime.
“The very eyes of Notre Dame…”
Kyrie Eleison
The blue and gold mech freezes, while Bee keeps singing.
“And for one time in his life of power and control…”
Kyrie Eleison
“Sentinel felt a twinge of fear for his immortal soul”
The statues of Megatronus Prime and Solus Prime especially look down upon the blue and gold mech, with visible rage at him for trying to harm the small, helpless being he placed his judgment on. His breath shakes while the sparkling fusses. “What must I do?” he quietly asks.
“Care for the child, and raise him as your own,” Alpha Trion simply says, preparing to bury the child’s mother in the graveyard. “What!? I am to be settled with this half formed-!?” Sentinel exclaims, only to recollect himself when a thought creeps his face. “Very well,” he accepts, “but let him live with you in the temple.” The elderly mech reacts with bewilderment. “Live here? Where?” Alpha Trion asks. “Anywhere…” Sentinel responds.
“Just so he’s kept locked away where no one else can see…”
He then looks up, where he finds his answer.
“The bell tower, perhaps. For, this child is now my cross to bear. Maybe this is a sign from Primus, as He works in mysterious ways.”
He looks at the sparkling, rocking him gently. He is greeted with innocent marigold optics and a soft coo once the little one calms down, while he smirks.
“See this loathsome creature from whom lesser mechs would leave…
As he may yet prove one day to be…of use, to me”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The yellow bot closes the curtains, as he brings out a puppet of the Prime on his right servo. “And Sentinel gave the child a name…a cruel name that marked him as…half formed. D-16.”
He has the puppet ascend, which then shifts into another puppet of a mech clad in gray and black colors.
“So here is a riddle to guess if you can,
Sing the bells of Iacon
Who is the monster, and who is the mech?
Sing the bells, bells, bells, bells…”
Several years later, we see the same mech now in the flesh, bringing down the bells with his strong, muscular arms. He keeps ringing.
“Bells, bells, bells, bells
Bells of Iacon!”
While the yellow bot hangs onto the last word with a proud range, the choir ascends again. As they finish their last notes, the bell ringer swings down the tower down with grace and agility. He then lands without much of a cry, standing up as several doves flew out the door.