Chapter 1 - Family Torn
Optimus sat on his balcony gazing at the sunset, as it set on his lovely kingdom. Elita was seated next to him as she had drifted off to sleep after the long exhausting day of to-do lists and going to meetings. Arcee was fast asleep next to her brother Smokescreen, who had snuck into her bed under their parent's radar. Ratchet was in his study, reading his books on surgical care and patient well-being, enjoying the sweet sound of the silence without a care in the world, while Ironhide stood guard outside of the king and queens door. Yes, tonight would be a blissful night, or so they thought. Optimus eventually turned in for the night, along with his wife and while they slept, someone had just gone through their youngest son's bedroom window.
The stranger quietly walks through the room and opens the door just enough to see down the hall, he gestures to one of the animals he had brought, it had run down the hall to scout ahead. A few moments had passed and the animal had run back to report "there are a few guards coming this way and one guarding two doors" they said, the stranger nodded and closed the door to wait for the two guards. Hound and Hot Rod were doing their nightly duties and walked passed one of the rooms when they were knocked out by something from behind. They came to, in a dark room and when they tried to move or talk, they couldn't so, they tried screaming for help hoping someone would hear them.
The stranger had taken one of their clothes to use as a disguise and had the animals hide in the dark so, they weren't spotted. The stranger walked up to Ironhide changing his voice "I'll cover the rest of your shift, so you can get some rest he said, Ironhide looked at him with a raised eyebrow "there's no one scheduled to cover my shift but me" he responded, til' he noticed a panther run down the hall "hey!" he called and bolted after it, the stranger thought to himself " well, that was easy" and slowly opened the door to the parent's room. The parents were sound asleep but the stranger walked carefully so as to not wake them. He walked up to the bed and saw a small child sleeping in between them, possibly a month or two old, he had golden blonde hair and as the child stirred in his sleep, he got a peak of his tiny blue eyes, "come on little on, it's time to go" the stranger whispered, as he reached over Optimus to pick up the child, he stirred more and eventually opened his eyes to see the man, the stranger pressed a finger over his mask gesturing for him to be quiet but the child didn't know the man so, of course, his first and only instinct was to cry as loud as he could, the stranger noticed and pressed his head against his chest to muffle the noise, but of course, it wasn't enough. The whale coming from the child was so loud, it could be heard in the hall and it had stirred the parents awake.
Elita had woken up from her child crying.
She opened her eyes and saw a dark man over her husband, with Bumblebee in his arms, her eyes widened in panic and frantically shook Optimus awake. He had finally opened his eyes to see what was going on, and the stranger had quickly moved away from him, when Optimus finally saw what was happening, he reached over his shoulder to grab his sword from its hilt hanging off of the bed when he finally grabbed it, he leaped out of bed and stood at the ready.
The stranger saw Optimus leap out of his bed, sword at the ready "this was supposed to be an easy job" he thought, the stranger saw his animals come in and were ready to fight once they saw Optimus wielding his blade. The stranger looked around the room, Elita looking at her son, terrified for what might happen, his animals, growling and screeching at the enemy as they tried to defend their master, Optimus, holding his sword as he a holds a "threatening" stance and Bumblebee, the child that wouldn't stop crying until he was safe with his parents. The stranger thought for a second, he then looked down at his animals "Ravage, Lazerbeak, attack" he commanded, they followed his order and engaged.
Optimus used his blade as a shield to fight off the animals now known as Ravage and Lazerbeak, Ravage bit Optimus' leg as he swings his weapon at Lazerbeak who tried to peck at his head. Elita got her sword and knocked off Ravage who then turned to Elita and tried to bite her arm. The stranger ran for the balcony with their son in hand, Optimus saw him run and hit Lazerbeak, knocking him to the floor as he runs to the balcony in following. The stranger was sitting on the balconies edge about to leap when Optimus watched at the doors, they both stare at each other, one with worry and sadness in his eyes and one with greed and sorrow, the stranger mouthed "I'm sorry" under his mask and whistled for his animals, as Optimus never saw what he said and right as he ran towards him, he jumped into the pit of darkness, never to be seen again. The king stood there looking at where they jumped hoping to see maybe a glimpse of his son but nothing can be seen Elita, who had put her sword away, walked over to her husband in tears knowing that was the last time they would ever see their baby boy again.
The stranger ran as far as he could while the child had gone back to sleep after draining all of his energy, he wrapped Bumblebee up in his cloak so, he wouldn't get too cold. They reached Kaon. Where he was told to take the child so, he could get his end of the deal but as he got closer to the meeting point, he looked down at the young prince and started to feel something he never felt before sadness, he was sad for what would happen to the prince if he delivered him to the dealer, the thought went through his head like a song playing over and over, he then stopped in his tracks for a second "I know where to take you" he said to the boy, he then bolted in the opposite direction of the meeting spot. Moments later they were outside of the doors of the Kaon castle, he placed the child still wrapped in his cloak onto the doorstep and banged on the door, loud thuds could be heard from the door as he banged, the stranger then took off running to hide in a bush as he waited for someone to answer. They waited a while until they heard the door open, one of the guardsmen had looked out to see who it was but when he looked down, he picked up the prince and brought him inside. The stranger exhaled out of relief, the dealer would have no way of finding the prince here, he stood out of the bush and went to the back end of the castle, with Ravage and Lazerbeak in tow.
Barricade had taken the prince to the throne room to figure out what to do with him. Megatron was sitting on his throne awaiting one of his guards that had requested he'd have an audience with him, Breakdown waiting at the door for the said guard. A moment passed and finally barricade had arrived, Breakdown opened the door for him and announced to his majesty "Barricade has arrived" he said, Barricade got down on one knee, bowing to his king "my liege, I am very sorry for being late" Megatron gestures for him to continue, "your highness, something was left for us at the doorstep, I and the other guards aren't really sure how to proceed" he holds up the young boy to the king, Bumblebee smiles up at him since he had seen the king in photos on the walls with his father, Megatron never knew this child existed so, he thought it was some peasant child "Have one of the maids raise him, he can be another servant once at the right age" he ordered, Barricade went to do just that.
Soundwave walked into Barricade on his way to talk to his liege, and noticed what he was carrying, he instantly started following "Soundwave? What are you doing?" Barricade asked, Soundwave pointed at the child "oh, are you asking what I'm doing with him?" Barricade guessed, the guard nodded in response, "our majesty has ordered me to bring him to maids, so they may raise him" Soundwave didn't respond and let Barricade go on his way. Soundwave had gone back to his room to meet with Ravage and Lazerbeak, they came running in after him and he had told them to go keep an eye on the young prince, to make sure he stayed safe. This was not going to plan.
10 Years Later
Ravage ran down the hall back to Soundwave room where Lazerbeak was perched on his stand taking a nap, Ravage hid under the bed when he heard footsteps running toward the room, he saw someone come in the room and looked around, then saw them get on the bed and listened to the mattress springs squeak from the person's movement, his ears fold down when he doesn't hear anything, then jumped when he suddenly saw a head appear upside down in front of him, the head giggled at the reaction and fell onto his back from laughing, Ravage came out and started licking the boys face and he giggled more. Soundwave walked down the hall til' he heard laughter in his room, he walked toward the room and peered in, seeing Bumblebee on the floor being licked by Ravage, Lazerbeak is woken up from all the noise and saw his owner standing in the doorway, Ravage saw Lazerbeak and turned around to see what he was looking at, when he saw Soundwave with a small smirk across his face, Bumblebee was still giggling when he noticed Ravage had stopped, he looked towards the door and saw the guard standing there. Soundwave walked over and kneeled down to his height while the little one sat up. Bumblebee hung his head as the guard looked at him, "Bumblebee, you know what you can and can't do right?" the boy nodded, Soundwave placed a hand on his shoulder "then you know, you can't be running around like that, you have to be more careful" Soundwave normally would stick to his vow of silence but in this case, he had to break it for him. Soundwave took Bumblebee back to his room, for it is getting late for the child, Bumblebee held his hand to keep his balance so, he wouldn't trip. They made it to his room and climbed into his bed while Ravage jumped in at the foot of the bed, Soundwave tucked him in and he was about to leave when the young prince grabbed his hand "uncle Soundwave? What if I have a bad dream again?" the little one asked, Sounwave turned to look at him "if you do, I am just down the hall and you have Ravage to protect you" he reassured, Bumblebee let go and dropped his arm as he drifted off to sleep.