Transformers: A Matter of Fate

FEELINGS

CHAPTER 4

Feelings

Hound arrived back in the theater the following morning with a breakfast meal from McDonalds. To his surprise, Mark actually was still there, laying across three seats and snoring away. He carefully dropped the bag of food onto the boy's lap as Mark jolted awake upon impact. He groaned, and sat up, first looking at the bag in surprise then up to see Hound. "You actually came back?" Hound inclined his head, Mark was silent "I don't get you, Hound..." He noted "Why are you helping me?"

Hound was silent, taking out another cigar. He looked at a wall thoughtfully, and shook his head. "You remind me of someone I once knew very well." Hound explained sadly "A long, long time ago..." He paused.

"If it's yourself, I already got that. You ran away when you were my age, but-."

"My son."

That made Mark frown in response, surprise in his eyes. Autobots had children? Just like humans? Or was it somehow different? The questions swirled around in his his head in a mass of confusion. "You guys can have... Kids?" Mark asked, sitting up slightly in surprise "But you're machines, aren't you just, y'know, built?" He asked curiously.

"Yes, we are machines, but not in the way you think." Hound nodded his head "We live not unlike you humans. We live, we love, we get bonded, the equivalent to your marriage..." He paused a moment "... We have sparklings we hope to teach about the world, love, and protect..." He felt towards his spark chamber slightly "Unfortunately, I lost both my bonded and my sparkling to the war... Both in the very same raid."

Mark felt an overwhelming feeling of sympathy for the mech. He almost felt as though for a moment, they were cut from the same cloth. Though he could only imagine just how horrible it felt to lose a child. "I'm sorry." Mark told him quietly "I didn't mean to be a jerk like that..."

"You're fine. Eat. You need nutrients." Hound noted, watching the boy open his food and begin to do so "You couldn't have known anyway, I hardly tell a soul about old Coldsteel." He noted, his optics softening "I lost him when he was about the equivalent of yer age. But right now he'd have been thirty vorns, or just thirty by your standards." He shook his head "Hit me right where it hurts the most when he died."

Mark nodded his head. "My mom died when I was four." Mark told him, as Hound looked at him slowly "I felt like the same thing, even though I was too little to really "get" it, I think." He took a deep breath "But now I really know what that feels like. Figures since my dad raised me after that, and well, he and I were tight." He held up two intertwined fingers for emphasis "But it's even worse because I don't feel like I ever really knew him. Or at least what he really was."

Hound took a deep intake at that, unsure of how to respond. He shifted, and seated himself on the ground with his hands rested under his chin. "I know how you feel in some ways." Hound admitted finally "I was an orphan too, although my grand-creators raised me from the time I was about... Five vorns." He explained "Wasn't there any family to take ye in?"

"If there was, I never met them. And social services didn't know about them either." He then added "I mean, the only family I knew about was my aunt. And she died during Chicago." He explained "Our family hasn't exactly had the best luck if you haven't figured it out." He added through a mouthful of pancakes "At this rate, I'm almost betting I'm next."

"Yeah, well don't take it personally." Hound noted "This war has torn apart many families. And wiped out countless others." He then added "I highly doubt you'll be next, though. You're too resilient of a little guy to let that happen." He noted as Mark finished his food "So how long are you planning to stay in Texas?"