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Chapter 8; the past we forgot

"What do you mean you didn't find anything? I was able to track your energy signature, the radar pointed you directly at the scene where I also saw the unknown signature," Megatron smiled at Knockout, knowing he had the mech cornered.
"I'm afraid I didn't see anyone, lord Megatron," Knockout bit down on his bottom lip, it would be hard talking his way out of another confrontation, part of him had given up completely.
"I can look past your refusal to co-operate if you get back to work in restoring my loyal second in command," Knockout knew Megatron was referring to Soundwave.
"But the energon, we don't have the supplies,"
"We hit a vein while you were gone," Megatron murmured, narrowing his optics, waiting to hear the mechs next excuse.
"Permission to resume my previous post, Lord Megatron?" Knockout was being unusually humble,
"I said get out!" Megatron hissed violently.

Bumblebee went for a drive, he still had a few hours to kill before he would need to pick Raf up from school, so he used this time to clear his head.
Magpie was back, but he had seen this scenario before, he had even played it out in his processor, hoping that something would mean things had changed since their previous encounter.
Bumblebee and Magpie had been young on Cybertron, although they were adults, it was clear now that they had jumped into the deep end, both trapped on a fighting planet, Magpie belonged with the Decepticons on Cybertron, her abused past caused by the caste system had scrambled her processor into a desire for chaos and power. While the caste system had been kind to him, he was treated well by superiors just for living in Iacon, he knew it wasn't fair.
When Magpie first joined the Autobots on Cybertron, he had no reason to believe that she would turn and have other intensions, but her confusion was caused by the friendship they had formed. Bumblebee couldn't help but to blame himself for her troubles, maybe if he hadn't of befriended her from the start, she wouldn't have had a reason to help the Autobots, and therefore her spark would have been out of harms way…

"Magpie, tell me where you have been," Ratchet was measuring her wings and sighing from disappointment, he didn't have such spare parts to offer her, she would have to remain flightless for the time being, but in spite of what's happened, he didn't think it would bother her…
"Ouzel is so sweet," Magpie sighed,
"Where is he?"
"He's gone for a fly, he said he needs to clear his processor before he can hear any more explanations,"
Ratchet nodded in an understanding manner, "You left him with Channel," Ratchets voice was stern, but he didn't mean for it to be, but he was trying to steer Magpie back to the topic of conversation, he needed answers.
"I had to,"
"Why?"
"It's a long story,"
Ratchet sat himself beside Magpie, putting away his medical tools as there was nothing else he could do for her, he placed a servo on her knee, "we have nothing but time," this thought was reassuring, it was his way of telling Magpie that she could stay there, forever, with the Autobots and they would promise to keep her safe.
"When I left through the space bride, I didn't know that my spark bond with Starscream had done anything, it happened between us before the war, but that infusion of dark energon…" Magpies optics glistened as she became lost in her memories, "the dark energon did something to my spark, it made me stronger and then I realised my spark was splitting,"
"What did you do?" Ratchet asked, shocked that such an occurrence happened so suddenly,
"I went back through the space bridge, before it closed, back to Cybertron, I needed medical attention and I knew there was no hope of finding it unless I went back into Kaon,"
"But everyone had fled?"
"Not everyone," Magpies optics went empty and her voice was hollow, "the rogues remained, they were Decepticons, but they refused to follow Megatron, and decided to be left behind,"
"But that's a death wish?"
"They became scavengers, I found a group of seekers that I once knew, they took sympathy on me and took care of me below Kaon, scavenging energon for me, and then Ouzel came along. I nursed him with energon and all the spare parts he needed for growing into a strong mech, but then one day, I travelled to the surface again, and what I saw of Cybertron wasn't how I had remembered it. It wasn't where I wanted Ouzel to grow up. Amongst scavengers and savages, ripping one another apart for territory."
"That's what Cybertron was like before it became a barren waste land?" Ratchet listened with sympathy and interest, hurt to hear what had become of his home planet.
"So when Ouzel started becoming aware of his surroundings, he was even picking up habits from the other mechs, pushing and scratching, so I took a journey that was unspoken of on Cybertron,"
"To Channel?"
"Into the heart of Iacon, I thought that passing the boarder of Kaon was my biggest challenge, but I was wrong,"
Ratchets brow furrowed, he had heard of what Arcee and Jack had seen on Cybertron when they went back, but he didn't hear anything of his once beloved Autobot city; Iacon, "Surely Iacon was still safe?"
"That's where you're wrong. I entered the capitol and I saw the same thing I saw in Kaon, death and destruction. My hope of finding a better start for Ouzel vanished, when I was approached by a mech I had never seen before, he was an Autobot, or at least he bore the insignia. He said to me…"
*Magpies flashback*

"What are you doing around here femme?" the large mech stood there, proudly showing of his Autobot insignia like it was a symbol of authority,
"Please," Magpie pleaded, "I'm looking for someone,"
"Leave. We don't need Decepticons around here infusing our Autobots with dark energon," the mech shoved Magpie back,
"Please, I have a sparkling," Magpie begged as she took hold of young Ouzels servo and gripped it tightly,
The mech looked back and forth from the two, the sparkling was wasn't even old enough to fly,
"Who are you looking for?"
"A medic, his name is Channel, I knew him during the war," Magpies optics glistened with tears, "please, I just want my sparkling to be safe,"
"I know him, I can take you there," the mech was taking pity on the young sparkling, "what's his name?" as the mech picked Ouzel up by his waist and examined him,
"His name is Ouzel," Magpie gasped from relief, "thank you so.."
"Just him, not you," the mech glared,
"What, but why?" Magpie frowned,
"You're useless to us," the mech saw how exhausted Magpie looked, even the Autobots left on Cybertron had to pick their followers wisely,
"But he's my only sparkling, you can't…"
"It's him alone, or he goes back with you, your choice,"
*end flashback*

"So you left Ouzel, hoping that this mech would take him to Channel," Ratchet concluded, realising Magpie was too torn up to continue her story,
"Yes,"
"What happened to you?"
"The seekers I was staying with, they caught me in Iacon, called me a 'traitor'," Magpies optics glistened with tears, she looked directly into Ratchets gaze, "they took my wings, Ratch," Magpie broke down crying and Ratchet held her close,
"Shh," he reassured, "it's over,"
"Tell me what happened to the others," Magpie choked through her tears,
"Others?"
"The other Autobots from our base in Iacon. Ironhide, Jazz, Landmine, Spitfire…" Magpie's list could have gone on, but Ratchet interrupted her,
"Ah," he wasn't prepared to ever have to tell this story to anyone, but of course, Magpie had been with the Decepticons during the last surge of the Cybertronian war, she had no idea.
"When we passed through the space bridge, the Autobot's regrouped. Which is why we lost Jazz and Ironhide from our ship and we gained Bulkhead and Arcee. It was a case of matching up strengths and weaknesses, we knew Megatron would be following Optimus, so we sent the rest of our team out to pick off the other Decepticons one by one, but we haven't heard back from any of them…"
"Landmine stayed on Cybertron, didn't he?" Magpie smiled, Landmine always had been loyal to the planet, she never saw him leaving it, he probably fought long after the war had ended, "and Spitfire?"
Ratchet sighed; this had been so long ago. What could he tell her now that wouldn't bring back the memories to himself, he decided to ease her in gently,
"Magpie, do you remember the battle on Protihex?"
"Yes, that was where the AllSpark was ejected from Cybertron, to try and put an end to the war,"
"You were captured by Megatron,"
"And Bumblebee lost his voice," Magpie concluded, remembering how her spark had sank, thinking Bumblebee had been killed during that cycle,
"Spitfire fought for us too,"
"I saw him," Magpie smiled, "he was good, for a medic," she laughed to herself and nudged Ratchet playfully, waiting for him to perk up, but he didn't,
"When he got to the base, it turned out he had a punctured energon line, Landmine did his best to help but it was too late,"
"What happened?" Magpies smile had turned into a frown,
"Magpie, don't make me say it, I tried to save him myself, you think I like remembering this?" Ratchet gritted his denta together, allowing his head to fall into his servos.
"Spitfire…" Magpie whispered…
Ratchet knew this wasn't the right time to bring it up, but what he said just slipped out, "he left something for you," he wished he could take back that sentence; he thought it may have sounded as though the gifts left from her deceased friend would bring closure.
Magpies optics welled up with tears, Ratchet wasn't sure what she was thinking, but she shook her head constantly, as if she were trying to deny what had happened, but before Ratchet attempted to comfort her, he heard a faint whisper come from Magpies dipped head,
"What?" she choked through her tears,
Again, Ratchet didn't know what she was referring to, was she asking what he had left her, or was she asking him to repeat his last sentence. There once was a time where he could read every expression from Magpie, even when she was unconscious on a medical berth, he could somehow tell what she was thinking about, her dreams and nightmares used to be so vivid to him, but now there was a distance between them that he hoped time would repair.
"I'm not sure if they are significant to you, but he left a rather advanced set of combat blades, they used to be embedded in his forearm, I didn't see them until the incident at Protihex…" again, Ratchet felt sparkless, but it was surely justified, he had done his mourning for Spitfire eons ago, back when the mech actually died, it seemed impossible to bring those emotions back up again after so long, even if he tried.
Magpies brow furrowed, and she appeared to have replaced her solemn expression with curiosity, "combat blades?" she appeared to have an idea of what was to be expected.
With a hint of relief at having an opportunity to change the subject, Ratchet busied himself from the room to fetch the box which contained the blades, along with a few other personal effects from Cybertron.
Magpie was waiting for him at the door, Ratchet had barely entered the room when Magpie snatched the box from him and immediately dug out the blades, she held them against her forearm, and frowned as she noticed some dried purple flakes of energon peel away from the tip,
"is that his, or someone else's?" Magpie asked in a voice that sounded as upbeat as she could have possibly managed at that time.
Ratchet inhaled from the relief, Magpie no longer seemed emotional, he watched as she examined the blades against her forearm, as Spitfire was roughly the same build as Magpie, so they would fit her perfectly, but then he remembered, he never quite worked out the origin of the blades, and why they were so special, "why did he leave them for you?" Ratchet regretted asking as soon as he saw Magpies optics widen and twitch from side to side in frenzy,
"You don't know?" Magpie gasped,
"I don't know what?"
"They used to belong to Megatron,"
Ratchets spark stopped, his breathing turned into rapid motions and his servos began to shake. So many more questions just roused in his mind, he was battling with which one to ask first.
But then he remembered, he had been told this before, eons ago, why hadn't it been such a shock then?

Description
Chapter 8; the past we forgot

"What do you mean you didn't find anything? I was able to track your energy signature, the radar pointed you directly at the scene where I also saw the unknown signature," Megatron smiled at Knockout, knowing he had the mech cornered.
"I'm afraid I didn't see anyone, lord Megatron," Knockout bit down on his bottom lip, it would be hard talking his way out of another confrontation, part of him had given up completely.
"I can look past your refusal to co-operate if you get back to work in restoring my loyal second in command," Knockout knew Megatron was referring to Soundwave.
"But the energon, we don't have the supplies,"
"We hit a vein while you were gone," Megatron murmured, narrowing his optics, waiting to hear the mechs next excuse.
"Permission to resume my previous post, Lord Megatron?" Knockout was being unusually humble,
"I said get out!" Megatron hissed violently.

Bumblebee went for a drive, he still had a few hours to kill before he would need to pick Raf up from school, so he used this time to clear his head.
Magpie was back, but he had seen this scenario before, he had even played it out in his processor, hoping that something would mean things had changed since their previous encounter.
Bumblebee and Magpie had been young on Cybertron, although they were adults, it was clear now that they had jumped into the deep end, both trapped on a fighting planet, Magpie belonged with the Decepticons on Cybertron, her abused past caused by the caste system had scrambled her processor into a desire for chaos and power. While the caste system had been kind to him, he was treated well by superiors just for living in Iacon, he knew it wasn't fair.
When Magpie first joined the Autobots on Cybertron, he had no reason to believe that she would turn and have other intensions, but her confusion was caused by the friendship they had formed. Bumblebee couldn't help but to blame himself for her troubles, maybe if he hadn't of befriended her from the start, she wouldn't have had a reason to help the Autobots, and therefore her spark would have been out of harms way…

"Magpie, tell me where you have been," Ratchet was measuring her wings and sighing from disappointment, he didn't have such spare parts to offer her, she would have to remain flightless for the time being, but in spite of what's happened, he didn't think it would bother her…
"Ouzel is so sweet," Magpie sighed,
"Where is he?"
"He's gone for a fly, he said he needs to clear his processor before he can hear any more explanations,"
Ratchet nodded in an understanding manner, "You left him with Channel," Ratchets voice was stern, but he didn't mean for it to be, but he was trying to steer Magpie back to the topic of conversation, he needed answers.
"I had to,"
"Why?"
"It's a long story,"
Ratchet sat himself beside Magpie, putting away his medical tools as there was nothing else he could do for her, he placed a servo on her knee, "we have nothing but time," this thought was reassuring, it was his way of telling Magpie that she could stay there, forever, with the Autobots and they would promise to keep her safe.
"When I left through the space bride, I didn't know that my spark bond with Starscream had done anything, it happened between us before the war, but that infusion of dark energon…" Magpies optics glistened as she became lost in her memories, "the dark energon did something to my spark, it made me stronger and then I realised my spark was splitting,"
"What did you do?" Ratchet asked, shocked that such an occurrence happened so suddenly,
"I went back through the space bridge, before it closed, back to Cybertron, I needed medical attention and I knew there was no hope of finding it unless I went back into Kaon,"
"But everyone had fled?"
"Not everyone," Magpies optics went empty and her voice was hollow, "the rogues remained, they were Decepticons, but they refused to follow Megatron, and decided to be left behind,"
"But that's a death wish?"
"They became scavengers, I found a group of seekers that I once knew, they took sympathy on me and took care of me below Kaon, scavenging energon for me, and then Ouzel came along. I nursed him with energon and all the spare parts he needed for growing into a strong mech, but then one day, I travelled to the surface again, and what I saw of Cybertron wasn't how I had remembered it. It wasn't where I wanted Ouzel to grow up. Amongst scavengers and savages, ripping one another apart for territory."
"That's what Cybertron was like before it became a barren waste land?" Ratchet listened with sympathy and interest, hurt to hear what had become of his home planet.
"So when Ouzel started becoming aware of his surroundings, he was even picking up habits from the other mechs, pushing and scratching, so I took a journey that was unspoken of on Cybertron,"
"To Channel?"
"Into the heart of Iacon, I thought that passing the boarder of Kaon was my biggest challenge, but I was wrong,"
Ratchets brow furrowed, he had heard of what Arcee and Jack had seen on Cybertron when they went back, but he didn't hear anything of his once beloved Autobot city; Iacon, "Surely Iacon was still safe?"
"That's where you're wrong. I entered the capitol and I saw the same thing I saw in Kaon, death and destruction. My hope of finding a better start for Ouzel vanished, when I was approached by a mech I had never seen before, he was an Autobot, or at least he bore the insignia. He said to me…"
*Magpies flashback*

"What are you doing around here femme?" the large mech stood there, proudly showing of his Autobot insignia like it was a symbol of authority,
"Please," Magpie pleaded, "I'm looking for someone,"
"Leave. We don't need Decepticons around here infusing our Autobots with dark energon," the mech shoved Magpie back,
"Please, I have a sparkling," Magpie begged as she took hold of young Ouzels servo and gripped it tightly,
The mech looked back and forth from the two, the sparkling was wasn't even old enough to fly,
"Who are you looking for?"
"A medic, his name is Channel, I knew him during the war," Magpies optics glistened with tears, "please, I just want my sparkling to be safe,"
"I know him, I can take you there," the mech was taking pity on the young sparkling, "what's his name?" as the mech picked Ouzel up by his waist and examined him,
"His name is Ouzel," Magpie gasped from relief, "thank you so.."
"Just him, not you," the mech glared,
"What, but why?" Magpie frowned,
"You're useless to us," the mech saw how exhausted Magpie looked, even the Autobots left on Cybertron had to pick their followers wisely,
"But he's my only sparkling, you can't…"
"It's him alone, or he goes back with you, your choice,"
*end flashback*

"So you left Ouzel, hoping that this mech would take him to Channel," Ratchet concluded, realising Magpie was too torn up to continue her story,
"Yes,"
"What happened to you?"
"The seekers I was staying with, they caught me in Iacon, called me a 'traitor'," Magpies optics glistened with tears, she looked directly into Ratchets gaze, "they took my wings, Ratch," Magpie broke down crying and Ratchet held her close,
"Shh," he reassured, "it's over,"
"Tell me what happened to the others," Magpie choked through her tears,
"Others?"
"The other Autobots from our base in Iacon. Ironhide, Jazz, Landmine, Spitfire…" Magpie's list could have gone on, but Ratchet interrupted her,
"Ah," he wasn't prepared to ever have to tell this story to anyone, but of course, Magpie had been with the Decepticons during the last surge of the Cybertronian war, she had no idea.
"When we passed through the space bridge, the Autobot's regrouped. Which is why we lost Jazz and Ironhide from our ship and we gained Bulkhead and Arcee. It was a case of matching up strengths and weaknesses, we knew Megatron would be following Optimus, so we sent the rest of our team out to pick off the other Decepticons one by one, but we haven't heard back from any of them…"
"Landmine stayed on Cybertron, didn't he?" Magpie smiled, Landmine always had been loyal to the planet, she never saw him leaving it, he probably fought long after the war had ended, "and Spitfire?"
Ratchet sighed; this had been so long ago. What could he tell her now that wouldn't bring back the memories to himself, he decided to ease her in gently,
"Magpie, do you remember the battle on Protihex?"
"Yes, that was where the AllSpark was ejected from Cybertron, to try and put an end to the war,"
"You were captured by Megatron,"
"And Bumblebee lost his voice," Magpie concluded, remembering how her spark had sank, thinking Bumblebee had been killed during that cycle,
"Spitfire fought for us too,"
"I saw him," Magpie smiled, "he was good, for a medic," she laughed to herself and nudged Ratchet playfully, waiting for him to perk up, but he didn't,
"When he got to the base, it turned out he had a punctured energon line, Landmine did his best to help but it was too late,"
"What happened?" Magpies smile had turned into a frown,
"Magpie, don't make me say it, I tried to save him myself, you think I like remembering this?" Ratchet gritted his denta together, allowing his head to fall into his servos.
"Spitfire…" Magpie whispered…
Ratchet knew this wasn't the right time to bring it up, but what he said just slipped out, "he left something for you," he wished he could take back that sentence; he thought it may have sounded as though the gifts left from her deceased friend would bring closure.
Magpies optics welled up with tears, Ratchet wasn't sure what she was thinking, but she shook her head constantly, as if she were trying to deny what had happened, but before Ratchet attempted to comfort her, he heard a faint whisper come from Magpies dipped head,
"What?" she choked through her tears,
Again, Ratchet didn't know what she was referring to, was she asking what he had left her, or was she asking him to repeat his last sentence. There once was a time where he could read every expression from Magpie, even when she was unconscious on a medical berth, he could somehow tell what she was thinking about, her dreams and nightmares used to be so vivid to him, but now there was a distance between them that he hoped time would repair.
"I'm not sure if they are significant to you, but he left a rather advanced set of combat blades, they used to be embedded in his forearm, I didn't see them until the incident at Protihex…" again, Ratchet felt sparkless, but it was surely justified, he had done his mourning for Spitfire eons ago, back when the mech actually died, it seemed impossible to bring those emotions back up again after so long, even if he tried.
Magpies brow furrowed, and she appeared to have replaced her solemn expression with curiosity, "combat blades?" she appeared to have an idea of what was to be expected.
With a hint of relief at having an opportunity to change the subject, Ratchet busied himself from the room to fetch the box which contained the blades, along with a few other personal effects from Cybertron.
Magpie was waiting for him at the door, Ratchet had barely entered the room when Magpie snatched the box from him and immediately dug out the blades, she held them against her forearm, and frowned as she noticed some dried purple flakes of energon peel away from the tip,
"is that his, or someone else's?" Magpie asked in a voice that sounded as upbeat as she could have possibly managed at that time.
Ratchet inhaled from the relief, Magpie no longer seemed emotional, he watched as she examined the blades against her forearm, as Spitfire was roughly the same build as Magpie, so they would fit her perfectly, but then he remembered, he never quite worked out the origin of the blades, and why they were so special, "why did he leave them for you?" Ratchet regretted asking as soon as he saw Magpies optics widen and twitch from side to side in frenzy,
"You don't know?" Magpie gasped,
"I don't know what?"
"They used to belong to Megatron,"
Ratchets spark stopped, his breathing turned into rapid motions and his servos began to shake. So many more questions just roused in his mind, he was battling with which one to ask first.
But then he remembered, he had been told this before, eons ago, why hadn't it been such a shock then?