Hurt: A Symbiote Droid Tale

Bonus Chapter

Ravage sat outside on a support of one of Darkmount's structures. The lower levels of the citadel made up the fodder. Soldiers that would probably never have an actual title/rank. Their designations lost to time when they were snuffed out. They couldn't go to the upper levels without explicit orders. Ravage didn't have that hindrance. She could go where she pleased without question. The perks of being the TIC of the Decepticon Army's symbiote.

Right now, she didn't want to wander. She just wanted to sit and glare at the disappearing starset. Usually stars would explode at the end of their time, go out in a blaze of glory. Cybertron's just seemed to be... fading. Ravage remembered when it burned white almost blue. Now it looked like red embers. It wasn't helping her mood.

When mecha thought about who the oldest being on Cybertron was, they would think of the Elders that made up representatives of the Council. Not actually Council members, but respected by everyone. Though they were long gone. Slaughtered.

Now they thought of experienced warriors. The ones that were fit and smart enough to survive the killings. Kup was respected amongst both factions, being seen as the oldest.

They never thought about the smaller mecha. Only hosts knew the truth. Symbiotes used to be cherished. Even worshipped. Cassettes hold all knowledge. They were the record holders before AI's came to exist. Hosts would rather die before even injury came to their symbiotes. It was still that way. Soundwave believed they needed to live to see peace, to ward off anything like this from happening again. If the Decepticons won, symbiotes and their hosts would never fall out of the high castes. They are the wisdom and warning that'll bring forth a new/different world.

Ravage believed in Megatron. Her loyalty was solidified in the gladiatorial pits. Soundwave had been betrayed by those they thought friends. Their cohort was not supposed to make it. Injustice was supposed to claim them. Ravage has seen great battles before, knew how to survive. Many would loose bets to know that she was technically the oldest Cybertronian to date. Some larger mechs had beat her by millennia, but that was prewar. Even if you didn't count spark transplants (which she's taken part of five times and is still alive to tell the tale, one of Ravages proudest achievements) she would still be the oldest in her newest form. Newest being before the Golden Age.

She remembers all, even if subconsciously. War was not new to her. She could handle herself in the Pits. But her cohort couldn't. Soundwave had been in communications. Her cohort siblings were young for symbiotes, made during the previous Golden Age. War is not something they were accustomed to. They would not stand long in the Pits.

Until Megatronus entered the picture.

If your were outside of the cohort, it was near impossible to gain a symbiote's trust/loyalty. Yet Megatron had saved her cohort. Ravage followed the Old Construct, a code of honor older than her... and forgotten. It didn't matter, not to her, she rather have her recorder break than break the Construct. For saving her cohort, Megatron has earned Ravage. Until the debt was paid (which enlisted a deed of worth for every member of her cohort), Ravage would be bound to Megatron. Only Soundwave could override his orders.

Since then, Ravage has unquestioned the war. It was necessary. That thought was hardwired into her programming. Every death, every extinction during this tragedy was worth it if it never happened again.

...Right?

Ravage... doubted. She hated it. Despised it. This was against everything she knew. All because of the... droid. She had thought they were gone. The newest frame type to be forged in millennia... gone. Hunted for sport. Hidden as drones to protect them. And still destroyed. It was then that Ravage turned cold. She used to feel, to love reacting to everything she recorded. Emotion had been as important as memories. But after they were destroyed she became cynical. Her emotions shoved to the side, her mission the thing keeping her going. Eventually she got her new cohort. They were silent spies for the war, but, privately, they were ... loud and... emotive. More so annoying. Yet her icy surface started to thin.

It shattered when she saw Little Rover.

A mech alive alive when it should have been impossible. And in good shape, besides his recent injuries. Core programming given to her by her beast counterpart had risen up then, urging to keep the droid/cub away from harm.

She didn't get attached, especially to somebot that she hadn't even know a breem. Yet Ravage felt her old self rise up when she saw the droid, juvenile hope flared for the first time in decavorns. It crashed when she saw the droid fall.

Stupid, naïve, irresponsible... grief. For a mech she didn't even know.

Bowing with their dying star, Ravage let the emotion overtake her. The droid's death bringing back other hurt from the her spark's depth. She'd mourn them all, until the star set. Then she'd reseal it, and let it fade like so much of the cannon fodder below.