Chapter Text
“...ica."
“...Spica...”
“SPICA!”
“Eek?! ... Huh?”
“You little—didn’t I tell you to get up early today?”
Spica rubbed her optics, still half-lost in the haze of sleep.
What a strange dream, she thought.
Strange, indeed. She had dreamed of a towering silver-gray mech, his armor gleaming like polished steel beneath the light. His frame was built with an elegance that bordered on the lethal, every smooth contour sharpened by formidable edges. And mounted on his right arm was something... a cannon? What even was a cannon? How terrifying!
And yet, somehow, she hadn’t been afraid of him.
Quite the opposite, actually. In his presence, she had felt... safe. Comfortable, even.
The enormous mech had slowly raised his hand, reaching out to cup her cheek. Spica had flinched ever so slightly at the unexpected gesture, but she hadn't pulled away. Instead, she had simply let him touch her.
His lips moved, as though he were trying to tell her something.
But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't hear a single word.
And then, just as she was about to discover what he had been saying, her twin brother's incessant nagging dragged her back to reality.
With a sluggish groan, Spica pushed herself upright on her charging berth. She blinked at her surroundings, her processor still struggling to catch up with the world around her. Her thoughts were sluggish, her optics heavy with sleep.
Just a little longer, she thought.
She was about to flop back down when Sirius suddenly appeared right in front of her face, his expression radiating the kind of exasperation usually reserved for particularly troublesome disasters.
Still half-asleep, Spica merely huffed.
And, naturally, Sirius began his morning lecture.
“What is wrong with you? I told you to get up, so get up.” He flicked a finger against her helmet.
Spica barely reacted. She yawned, accepting the punishment as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
“Ugh, what's the big deal? It's still way too early...” She stretched languidly. “A princess needs her beauty rest, you know~”
She draped one arm dramatically over her forehead, striking a pose of tragic elegance worthy of a dethroned royal.
“Stop being ridiculous. You scored thirty on your chemistry exam with Professor Pisces. You ought to be studying harder instead of wasting your time sleeping.”
Sirius was genuinely trying to get through to her.
Unfortunately, getting through to Spica was about as easy as teaching a brick wall to dance.
“Hmph! Well, I'm still stronger than you, aren't I? I managed to lift our MBG supply truck!”
“The truck was full of nothing but food trays. Besides, I could lift it too.”
“Excuse you! MBG costs a trillion rupiah per day. Of course it's heavy!”
Sirius stared at her.
For a moment, he looked as though he were seriously considering whether arguing with his sister was worth the strain on his processor.
Apparently, it wasn't.
With an irritated sigh, he turned on his heel and marched out of the room, leaving Spica behind.
For the first time that morning, her smug expression faltered.
“Ugh. Okay, maybe I went a little too far...”
She scrambled off her charging berth and hurried after him, determined to catch up before he could get any farther away.
Their destination was the training grounds.
Today's training session was being held outdoors, beside a lake.
The grounds stretched out in a broad oval, with the lake occupying nearly a third of the field. Towering trees stood around the perimeter, their dense canopies casting cool patches of shade across the grass. A gentle breeze rustled through the leaves, carrying the fresh scent of the water, while warm sunlight spilled over the landscape like liquid gold.
It was the sort of morning that could coax even the sleepiest mech out of their berth.
And just like that, the last remnants of sleep vanished from Spica's processor.
Sirius was already waiting when she arrived. He sensed her approach but deliberately turned his face away, still sulking over their earlier argument.
Spica hesitated before reaching out to gently touch his arm.
“...Sorry.”
Sirius glanced down at her.
She gave his arm a small, apologetic squeeze, looking considerably less smug than she had a few minutes ago.
He let out a long-suffering sigh.
Then, as if he had long since accepted that having Spica for a sister meant an endless cycle of arguments and apologies, he reached over and patted her helmet.
“Fine. Just don't do it again.”
Spica brightened immediately.
“Hehe. You're the best, Sirius!”
“Don't push your luck.”
Before she could tease him any further, the low rumble of an approaching engine interrupted them.
A small bus pulled up near the lakeside and came to a halt.
Professors Aries and Pisces had finally arrived.
They were rather late by their usual standards. Normally, the two professors would have been at the training grounds at least two hours before the students, ready to begin the moment everyone showed up.
But something was different today.
Neither of them appeared to be dressed for a training session.
In fact, they looked suspiciously prepared for a leisurely day out.
Spica tilted her head.
Wait a minute...
Was that Professor Aries pulling a fishing rod out of the trunk?
“Oh, no.”
Aries reached into the vehicle and began unloading their equipment. First came two enormous cylindrical containers, so wide that even Aries seemed to struggle a little with their weight. Then came fishing nets, additional gear, and four rather massive fishing rods.
Four.
Two for the professors.
And two that were unmistakably meant for Spica and Sirius.
Spica stared at the equipment in dawning horror.
“OH, DON'T TELL ME WE'RE GOING FISHING!”
“More or less, darling,” Aries replied sweetly.
“IH, NO! I HATE FISHING! YOU HAVE TO WAIT FOREVERRRR!”
“Exactly. That's the whole point.” Aries gave her a pointed look. “Today's exercise is about patience. Learning to wait without complaining. So stop whining and pick up your fishing rod.”
Spica looked as though she had just been sentenced to a thousand years of solitary confinement.
Sirius, meanwhile, was already examining his assigned equipment.
The fishing rods were enormous by human standards, but perfectly suited to Cybertronians standing four and a half meters tall. Their smooth surfaces were painted white, fading into delicate shades of red and blue. Under the morning sunlight, the colors shimmered beautifully, making the rods look almost too elegant for something designed to catch fish.
Spica reluctantly picked hers up, inspecting it with deep suspicion.
“Um... about the bait...”
She glanced at the professors.
“Please tell me it's not worms.”
“Of course it's worms. What else would it be?” Aries replied with a dry, sarcastic smile.
Spica's expression twisted into one of pure disgust.
Right. Obviously. What had she expected? Chocolate-covered energon cubes?
“Professor,” Sirius interjected, finally looking up from his fishing rod. “Could you explain how the scoring system works for today's exercise?”
Now that was Sirius.
The moment grades were involved, he became as attentive as a scientist examining a groundbreaking discovery. His earlier irritation seemed to evaporate, replaced by his familiar, almost alarming determination to achieve the highest possible score.
Aries nodded, evidently pleased by his question.
“Very well. Pay attention, both of you. I'll explain the rules.”
The rules, as it turned out, were fairly straightforward.
Catch as many fish as possible within ten hours.
That was it.
No complicated obstacles. No elaborate combat simulations. No physical endurance trials.
Just fishing.
For ten.
Whole.
Hours.
Aries proceeded to explain the scoring criteria in painstaking detail, covering everything from how catches would be counted to how their final scores would be calculated.
Sirius listened with unwavering concentration, committing every detail to memory.
Spica, on the other hand, was already beginning to regret every decision that had led her to this moment.
Ten hours?
Ten hours of sitting still, staring at a fishing line, waiting for some unsuspecting fish to take the bait?
She could barely stay still for ten minutes!
And the worst part?
It was already eight o'clock in the morning.
She was going to be here until six in the evening.
Spica slowly turned her head toward Sirius.
He was already checking his fishing line, looking as though he had every intention of winning.
Then she looked at the lake.
The lake looked back at her in complete silence.
Somehow, she had a terrible feeling that the lake was going to win.
The rules were as follows: they were not allowed to leave their designated fishing spots, take their eyes off the lake, engage in any activity other than fishing, or—last but certainly not least—fall asleep.
Oh, for the love of—
What a load of scrap.
Spica was a mech who thrived on activity. She loved exploring, adventuring, and throwing herself into one thing after another. Sitting still and doing the same task for hours on end was practically a death sentence by boredom.
She wanted to protest. Oh, how she wanted to protest.
Unfortunately, she knew all too well what would happen if she managed to get on Professor Aries's bad side.
Yes. Professor Aries was terrifying.
With no other options available, Spica let out a defeated huff and checked her fishing equipment one last time before turning her gaze toward the lake.
“Well, then. We hope you two can make it through today's exercise,” Pisces said. She turned toward Spica in particular. “And Spica, try not to give your brother too much trouble. Understood?”
Spica nodded with all the enthusiasm of a mech marching to her own execution.
Sirius, however, responded with a smile and gave her back a reassuring pat.
“Look on the bright side. At least you won't have to sit through the mathematics theory exam Aries prepared as your remedial test for last week's spectacular academic disaster.”
You absolute scraphead.
Why, of all the mechs in the universe, did this one have to be my twin?
---
Two hours had passed.
Aries and Pisces had long since departed, leaving the twins alone beside the lake. The morning was slipping away, and there was still no sign of a fish taking the bait on Spica's line.
She began to wonder how much longer it would take before she finally snapped, murdered her brother, and then promptly offlined herself out of sheer despair.
Whoa. Where did THAT come from?
Spica mentally kicked the thought straight out of her processor and forced herself to focus on the vast, tranquil lake before her.
The water stretched endlessly beneath the open sky, its glassy surface disturbed only by the occasional ripple. A gentle breeze slipped through the gaps in her armor, carrying a cool, refreshing sensation that made her want to close her optics and simply enjoy the moment.
Peaceful.
Serene.
Free.
If only she weren't being held hostage by a fishing rod.
“What are you thinking about?”
Sirius asked without turning his head, his attention entirely devoted to the task at hand.
He looked like one of those middle-aged human men who spent their Sundays fishing at a pond because they had nowhere else to hang out.
The only difference was that Sirius had already caught two fish.
Well, at least he had something to show for his efforts.
“I'm thinking about killing you,” Spica replied dryly.
She reeled in her line, replaced the bait, and cast it back into the lake with a flick of her wrist.
“Come on. We've only got six hours left. We're barely getting started.”
Sirius tried to offer his sister some encouragement.
All he received in return was a withering glare.
“Easy for you to say. You've got the attention span of a supercomputer.”
“This doesn't even require that much concentration—”
“Easy for you to say when your genius processor lets you learn practically anything in the blink of an optic.”
“...”
“...”
Sirius let out a long, weary sigh.
He pinched the bridge of his nose, as though trying to prevent a headache from developing, before returning his attention to the fishing line disappearing beneath the water.
Every so often, he glanced sideways at Spica, who had apparently found a way to entertain herself by playing with the worms meant to serve as bait.
He watched her for a moment.
Then he fell quiet.
Truthfully, Sirius didn't entirely mind this side of his sister.
In fact, he liked seeing her like this.
Restless. Unfiltered. Always finding something to complain about, some little thing to laugh at, or some ridiculous idea to entertain.
Spica had a way of filling the silence around her, as though the world itself were too quiet until she came along to stir things up.
And Sirius liked that.
He liked knowing that, despite everything, she was still so full of life. But as he watched her fiddle with the bait, his smile gradually faded.
A thought crossed his mind, leaving behind a shadow he couldn't quite put into words.
For a moment, he simply stared at the lake.
Then he turned back to his fishing line, keeping whatever was on his mind to himself.
Five hours had passed.
Spica had managed to catch a few fish by now, though none of them were particularly impressive. They were all perfectly ordinary fish, the sort one might expect to find in any ordinary lake.
Sirius, on the other hand, was doing what Sirius always did.
Excelling.
His catch had grown considerably, and some of the fish were nearly as large as his palm.
Naturally.
Of course, even fishing wasn't safe from his inexplicable talent for making everything look effortless. Sirius was preparing to cast his line once more when a frustrated growl caught his attention.
He turned.
Spica looked utterly defeated.
“Hey. Don't look so miserable. It's not the end of the world.”
Spica's head snapped up. She shot him a sharp, almost offended glare. Sirius sighed. Patience. He needed patience. Apparently, today wasn't just a lesson for his sister.
Setting his fishing rod aside, he moved over and sat beside her.
“Hey,” he tried again, his voice softer this time. “I told you, it's not that serious. Why are you so upset?”
Spica said nothing.
She stared at the lake, listlessly swinging her fishing rod back and forth before finally speaking.
“...I don't have anything else to be proud of.”
Her voice was quieter than usual.
“I'm stupid. I'm lazy. And I'm not even that strong.”
She lowered her gaze.
“I'm not like you, Sirius.”
Ah.
There it was.
Sirius fell silent.
He had suspected as much, but hearing Spica say it aloud still left an unpleasant ache somewhere deep within his spark. To Spica, it seemed, he was everything she wasn't.
And herself?
She could only see all the ways she fell short.
For a little while, Sirius didn't know what to say.
Then he gently placed his palm on top of her helmet and began stroking it in the same familiar way he had countless times before.
“You're not stupid, Spica.”
His voice was quiet, steady.
“You just haven't found your own light yet.”
Spica remained still beneath his hand.
“You're smart in your own way. You do things because you genuinely want to do them. You follow your heart, even when the rest of us would rather spend hours calculating every possible outcome.”
He paused, He tapped his sister's forehead.
“Sure, things don't always work out the way you want them to. Your grades, for example.”
“...Hey.”
“But there's something you have that I don't, Spica.”
His voice softened.
“And I want you to remember that.”
Spica didn't respond.
She simply lowered her head, allowing herself to enjoy the warmth of her brother's hand for a little while longer.
Sirius always said things she couldn't quite understand.
Sometimes, she wished he would just keep his mouth shut forever.
It would certainly save her the trouble of trying to decipher whatever strange, cryptic wisdom he had decided to bestow upon her that day.
But, oh, how dearly she loved him.
She could envy him. She could get angry with him. She could spend entire mornings arguing with him over the most ridiculous things imaginable. But none of that could ever diminish the love she held for her twin.
Not even a little.
“...Let's make a bet,” Sirius suddenly announced.
Spica lifted her head.
“...Huh?”
She stared at him, thoroughly bewildered.
Excuse me? I was having my emotional crisis, and now you're talking about bets?
“Let's make a bet,” Sirius repeated, a faint smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Whoever catches the most fish gets to claim all the stars on this week's score board.”
Spica blinked.
Once.
Twice.
Then she stared at her brother as though he had just announced that the lake was made of liquid energon.
“...All of them?”
“Every last one.”
“But—”
“Relax. The professors can't do anything about it. I'm the one making the offer.”
Spica studied him for a moment.
Honestly, what is wrong with this mech?
One second, he was giving her a heartfelt speech about finding her own light. The next, he was challenging her to a fishing competition with her entire academic reputation on the line. He was ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.
And yet...
A small smile crept across her face.
She lowered her head, her shoulders trembling with a quiet, suppressed laugh. Then, without warning, she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around her brother, pressing her helmet against his chest plate.
“You're such an idiot.”
Sirius froze for half a second.
Then he smiled and rested a hand on his waist.
“Yeah, yeah.”
Spica pulled away, and just like that, the gloom that had settled over her seemed to lift. She sprang to her feet, seized her fishing rod, and looked at her brother with renewed determination.
“ALL RIGHT! IT'S ON!”
Sirius rose beside her, looking considerably more amused than he had any right to be.
“Fine by me.”
“Promise, okay?! If you break your promise, I won't hesitate to punch you!”
“Sure, sure. Whatever you say.” Sirius picked up his fishing rod. “We'll see who wins.”
He knew his sister all too well.
Spica loved a challenge. Give her something to chase, something to fight for, and she would throw herself into it with everything she had.
Sometimes, all she needed was a reason to try again.
And if a little friendly competition could bring that spark back into her optics, Sirius was more than happy to play along.
Spica raised her fishing rod triumphantly toward the sky.
“LET'S GO FISHING FOR STARS!”
And so, the two of them returned to their fishing spots, chatting and bickering as they cast their lines into the water.
The afternoon sun bathed them in a soft golden glow, while the breeze whistled gently through the surrounding trees. The lake shimmered beneath the open sky, and for a little while, the world seemed to slow down just for them.
There were no exams to worry about, expectations to live up to, to prove who was smarter, stronger, or better than the other.
There was only Spica and Sirius, side by side, laughing beneath the sunlight.And in that fleeting moment, neither of them asked for anything more.They simply wished, somewhere deep within their sparks, that life could always be this way.
Just the two of them.
Together.
Forever.