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DecepticonFlamewar — Set on a Hill (Transformers: Prime 4F)
Published: 2013-09-14 23:01:03 +0000 UTC; Views: 1299; Favourites: 22; Downloads: 0
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This story contains spoilers for the first season of Transformers Prime and implied spoilers for the rest of the series. It also spoils whatever piece of media Raf watched, which may not be the one you think it is. You've been warned.

“Ratchet?”

“Yes, Raf?”

He looked down at his tiny companion. Raf’s glasses glinted up at him in the moonlight, his tiny lips drawn into a hint of a pout.

“What are the odds that two intelligent races on two different planets would both have two arms, and walk on two legs?”

Ratchet looked up at the sky at the stars, away from the desert. “I’m not really sure. I suppose they’re probably not good.”

“I wonder what planet we’re from,” the boy mused.

“This one.”

Raf placed a warm little hand on Ratchet’s leg. “Maybe not. A kid at school said our circadian rhythms are 25 hours, but the day on earth is only 24.’

“Yes, I ‘ve seen those studies. Apparently they didn’t account for artificial lighting.” Ratchet looked down at the boy again. “You’re from Earth, Raf. You’re related to all other life on Earth. Your DNA is the same.”

“The more I think about what happened, the less I want to be.”

“You’re not going to let something like that destroy your self-image, are you? Do you hold any other humans accountable for their ancestors?”

“I don’t,” he offered with a shrug. “But people do. And don’t you guys have something like genes?”

“Yes, you could say that.”

“So is it like ours?”

“There are certain similarities, but it isn’t as if we had no similarities to him, either.”

Raf pulled his knees up to his chest, looking skyward, away from Ratchet . “I want us to be like you.”

“You are. If anything, wouldn’t you be greater than us? After all, we were created to do good. You may have done it in spite of your origins.”

He shook his head.

“What prompted this, Raf?”

“I watched a movie that was about how life was seeded on Earth by aliens.”

“And what happened?”

“…They didn't like us."

Ratchet rested his head on his own hand. “Art imitates life.”

The child sighed.

“You know, I’ve been looking at paintings that one of the engineers on another Autobot team created,” Ratchet offered. “He’s found a great deal of natural beauty in this planet of yours.  And without our help, your people have created technology, language, society… a society more free than ours was.” He looked away, thinking. “Don’t your own creation myths say that God breathed life into the soil?”

“So?”

“If Unicron could transcend physical form, why couldn’t Primus? Maybe your people and your transmissions were a beacon. Maybe you were meant to draw us here.”

“Do you really think that, Ratchet?”

“I’m starting to. It was inevitable that we would find you. It was… it was inevitable we would care.”

Rafael leaned on his leg, warm and quivering. “About humanity?”

Ratchet reached down and delicately wrapped his hand around the boy. “About you.”

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."
Matthew 5:16



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Comments: 20

MagentaCooly [2013-10-04 05:31:17 +0000 UTC]

This is SO cool

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DecepticonFlamewar In reply to MagentaCooly [2013-10-04 05:34:54 +0000 UTC]

Thank you! I tried to do something optimistic with the whole thing.

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RobotProphet [2013-10-04 04:49:12 +0000 UTC]

oh...my...god....

I'm like crying!!!!!!!!! <(O0O)>

This is amazing! Beautiful analogy! This is NOT an offensive thing. Thank you for writing this. You are a blessing ^-^

p.s. I felt the same freaking way after I saw Prometheus.

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DecepticonFlamewar In reply to RobotProphet [2013-10-04 05:06:08 +0000 UTC]

Thank you. I'm glad it had the desired effect. I just found the idea of humanity as demon spawn so offensive. I had to recontextualize it, and make humanity strong and different for surviving on Unicron instead of a sort of garbage accident.


I was prepared for the ending of Prometheus after reading some Arthur C. Clarke, sadly. 

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Foxbear [2013-09-20 02:46:41 +0000 UTC]

Sweet.

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DecepticonFlamewar In reply to Foxbear [2013-09-20 02:56:24 +0000 UTC]

Thank you! Sweet is the only way to counter cosmic horror. :3

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SingingFlames [2013-09-17 03:05:57 +0000 UTC]

I love how you interpreted the theme. And this is a great way to fix things. I like it!

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DecepticonFlamewar In reply to SingingFlames [2013-09-17 03:09:28 +0000 UTC]

Thank you! I have a really strong aversion to retcon fixfic in a series like this, so I decided to go with the convoluted explanation style and really get to the heart of why I wanted to "fix" it in the first place. We'll see if I've convinced myself to go back to watching.  

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SingingFlames In reply to DecepticonFlamewar [2013-09-18 03:10:49 +0000 UTC]

Oops. I'm glad you got over that aversion and were able to come up with this. I'd be interested in whether or not you decide to watch it again, but it's understandable if you don't.

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DecepticonFlamewar In reply to SingingFlames [2013-09-18 03:13:18 +0000 UTC]

Right now I'm working on catching up on Criminal Minds and Castle. I think when I get one of them down, I might try to pick up Prime. 

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SingingFlames In reply to DecepticonFlamewar [2013-09-18 03:17:04 +0000 UTC]

Very cool. Second season was my least favorite. I began enjoying it more in third. It has bits I don't like, but overall I enjoyed it. I just tune out (or laugh off) the stuff I dislike. At least, I try to.

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DecepticonFlamewar In reply to SingingFlames [2013-09-18 03:20:18 +0000 UTC]

I watched the finale of Season 3 and I was kind of unimpressed.  Before I quit watching, though, I really liked Jack and Raf, and Knockout. My Transformers faves collection is like, all Knockout. >.>

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SingingFlames In reply to DecepticonFlamewar [2013-09-18 03:27:40 +0000 UTC]

I do love Knockout. He has such character. One of my favorite episodes was his introductory one. I also love Soundwave. His presence is chilling. I love it. I have a thing for silent power.

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DecepticonFlamewar In reply to SingingFlames [2013-09-18 03:36:49 +0000 UTC]

Knockout is just so interesting! He reminds me a little of what I liked about BW Megatron. It's like, I know I shouldn't like him, but I do. 


What little I've seen of Prime Soundwave seems more interesting than any previous incarnation of him, at least from waht I've seen. (Bayverse soundwave is a disgusting pig). I was also mighty impressed with what little I saw of Prime Shockwave in S3.

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SingingFlames In reply to DecepticonFlamewar [2013-09-18 17:34:01 +0000 UTC]

Agreed! How can a person not like him?

They gave Soundwave a lot of personality, especially for a character who doesn't speak. He's so intriguing. And Shockwave was definitely a good addition for season three. He made up for some of my disappointment in season two.

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DecepticonFlamewar In reply to SingingFlames [2013-09-18 17:36:30 +0000 UTC]

I gotta get back to this show now that I can consciously ignore the thing that ticked me off.

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SingingFlames In reply to DecepticonFlamewar [2013-09-18 18:08:04 +0000 UTC]

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AsherTye [2013-09-15 04:02:27 +0000 UTC]

I'm usually not a fan of fix fics, but this was very well written. Kudos to you.

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DecepticonFlamewar In reply to AsherTye [2013-09-15 04:05:05 +0000 UTC]

Thank you! I'm glad you took a chance on it. This was written for the weekly challenge over at #LiteraryFanFiction ; we have pretty high standards over there, and I'm not the only TF author there. If the mood ever strikes you again, I'd recommend checking that group and its founder out.

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AsherTye In reply to DecepticonFlamewar [2013-09-15 16:49:47 +0000 UTC]

Ooo. I'm going to have to check it out. Thank you.

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