I got to the end of the together au fic without realizing I was closing in on the end and now I’m sobbing and thank you for creating such an absolute GEM it’s so good ueueueueueue I wasn’t expecting chapter 20 to go down like that
You're not the first to say the ending took you by surprise, so I think I didn't foreshadow it enough. Perhaps because when I first thought up this story, I always knew that the Darklight was going to fall so it seemed a bit obvious to me. It was the only way to progress to what I want to happen next and there was just no other way around it.
I'm terribly sorry it upset you but I hope it was in the best way possible. Hearing that my writing made someone feel strong emotions is one of the best compliments I can get as a writer and it always makes my day.
Thank you so much for reading! Although I'm on a break right now because of IRL stuff, I do plan on eventually writing the next two parts of the Together AU, so there will be more, even if not right now.
Sunstreaker snorted, shielding his optics as he glared at the horizon. “Says the one who doesn’t know how to read a map.”
“I know how to read the map! The map’s just wrong!” Sideswipe thrust the datapad at his brother, “Why don’t you try to read it then, if you think you can do better?”
The pair glared at each other for a long moment before Sunstreaker snatched the datapad with a sigh and studied it. He reset his optics. “Who the frag drew this map?”
The red twin threw his servos up. “I told you! But did you believe me and my epic map-reading skills? No!”
An optic roll, “Alright, alright. Sorry I offended your honor, your highness.”
“You are so rude today. I can’t believe I’m being attacked like this, after I’ve spent the last three hours trying to make us un-lost.”
“So you admit we’re lost?”
“.....Frag you. I’m trying.”
With a sigh, Sunstreaker dropped the mocking. “You’re right, I’m sorry. Where do you think we are?”
“Hm....” They crowded close to study the inaccurate map, helms bumping against each other. Sideswipe pointed to a spot closer to the Tyrest side of the Wastes. “I think we’re just east of that ridge.”
“How can we be near that ridge? The closest ridges only have two peaks and the map shows three?”
“Artistic license.” He parroted Sunstreaker’s favorite excuse. The glare he got in return was completely worth it.
“Artistic license is for other artwork,” His brother growled, “Not maps. Maps have to be accurate.”
Sideswipe wobbled back and forth on his pedes, optics glancing between the map and the ridges. “Well, we could go north to see if there’s those broken giant statues the map shows. If we find them, we’ll know where we are. At least, I’m pretty sure that way’s north.”
That was a pretty decent idea, or rather, a very good idea. But Sunstreaker had spent half the day out in the dusty grubby Wastes under a hot sun with nothing to distract him from being lost, so he wasn’t about to admit that was a very good idea they should absolutely do. The closest he could make himself get to verbally agreeing was a grumble of “sure”.
Sideswipe seemed to understand, giving a blinding smile before bolting forward and jumping into alt mode. “Race you!”
“Wait for me, you slagger!” yelled Sunstreaker, flooring it after him, “I am not going to be lost by myself!”
It didn’t take long before they’d driven presumably north of the ridges, taunting and yelling insults most of the way. Swerving around an outcropping, they slammed on their brakes to stop from speeding down a sudden incline. There were no giant statues in front of them. With a yell of frustration, Sunstreaker transformed and kicked a rock as hard as he could. Sideswipe stood up and stared at what lay in front of them.
“So..... we’re probably a lot more north than we thought if we’re hitting lakes. Think it’s part of the Rust Sea?”
“Does that look like rust?!” Sunstreaker threw his servos in the air as he paced back and forth. “When we get back, I’m hunting down whoever drew this map and challenging them to a fragging fight just so I can pummel them into the ground! Cannot believe-”
As his brother stomped around in frustration, interspersed with rock-kicking, Sideswipe studied the lake. It glimmered under the sunlight, something the Rust Sea never did. “You’re right, it doesn’t. I wonder what it is.”
He took off down the slope towards the shore, ignoring Sunstreaker’s shouting. Sideswipe knew Sunny would follow him and he was right. He hadn’t even reached the edge of damp ground before his brother was right on his heels, scowling all the while. They slowed to a stop just outside of the waves’ reach and studied the slightly reddish-brown tinted liquid.
“Looks like water.”
As Sunstreaker strode forward, Sideswipe grabbed his elbow. “Don’t just jump in! What if it’s acid?!”
Holding optic contact, Sunstreaker reached out and stuck his hand in the waves before pulling it back out and shaking it with a straight face.
Sideswipe pouted. “Damn. An acid lake would’ve been so cool.”
Before he could do anything, his brother lunged to grab him around the waist and heaved, spinning to bodily throw him into the lake. Sideswipe shrieked in surprise before landing with a splash. “Pit-spawned slagger!”
Sunstreaker was already sloshing his way towards him, smirk widening as he got up and tackled him into the waves. The pair tumbled around, squealing and shouting as they splashed water at each other and tried to dunk each other’s helms under. Slowly tiring, the brothers finally gave it a rest and trudged back onto land as the sun started to sink into the horizon. Flopping onto the ground, Sideswipe cuddled into Sunny’s side, helm cushioned on a shoulder pauldron.
“I like this lake. We should bring Orion here.”
A hum of agreement, as Sunstreaker wondered what they were going to do when it got dark. An idea niggled at him. “We know which way’s west.”
“Uh...yeah?”
“.....Why don’t we just follow the sun that way? Even if we don’t hit the base, we’ll run into one of the patrols if we go far enough.”
They sat up and looked at each other, simultaneously turning to look at the sunset and then back at each other. Sideswipe grimaced.
“We’re idiots.”
“Complete morons.”
“Imbecilic fools not worthy of being called Knights.”
Sunstreaker sighed, dragging his groaning brother up to standing, “Time to go home, as all good Knights should. And no racing this time. I’m tired.”
“Oof, me too. But we are absolutely bringing Orion here sometime.”
Sideswipe stood on his tip toes, studying the new optic. “Well, you do look a bit funny with mismatched optics. But I like the new color. It matches Sunny's paintjob!”
“No it doesn't!” His brother huffed, “My paint job is gold! His optic is yellow.”
Sideswipe pouted while Orion just smiled slightly. Truthfully, he didn't care how it looked as long as he could see. The bickering was amusing anyways. Fingers tightening into fists, Sunstreaker glared at his twin. Sideswipe's pout grew and his optics flicked to Orion meaningfully, optic ridges furrowing. Orion snorted. “I'm not offended and he doesn't need to apologize. You really don't.”
With a sigh, Sunstreaker reached up to gently trace his fingers around both of Orion's optics. He seemed subdued, “You don't look too bad with mismatched optics. Red and yellow would look terrible though, so don't lose your other one and replace it just to match this idiot.”
Translation: I've been terribly worried because having only one optic in a fight isn't good and I'm glad you can see properly now. Please don't lose your other optic. And Sideswipe is a colorblind idiot.
Orion laughed and leaned down to gently bump his helm on Sunstreaker's. “I'll do my best. Love you both too.”
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Intermission One: Two Steps to the Left
An outside view on the Fall of the Darklight and what happens after. Megatron never thought a rebellion would be easy but it's turning out to be more complicated than he anticipated. And he doesn't know how the Autobots are going to affect their plans.
Sideswipe stared at the group of younglings and idly wondered if he was going to survive this.
“So, uh...,” He clapped his servos to get their attention, “What do you guys do for fun?”
A sea of suspicious, bored, and annoyed optics stared back. Some of them just looked empty, a feeling he commiserated with. But his job at the moment was to keep them “occupied” and “out of trouble” which was difficult with regular younglings. Trying to keep Darklight younglings out of trouble was a whole other beast that required creativity, stubbornness, and no small amount of luck.
But he could do this. It was only like twenty or so kids-
Twenty-ish kids out of the hundreds that had died-
Don’t think about it.
“Anarchy.” One of the older ones finally drawled, giving off the aura of general punk attitude with a healthy dash of survivor’s spite. Honestly, he could relate to that too. But it wasn’t helping him in the slightest.
Thankfully, Sunstreaker finally strolled over to join him. After observing the horde of ankle-biters for a moment, and being observed back, he leaned over towards Sideswipe to mock whisper, “If you don’t move, they can’t see you.”
That took a second to process, as his brother’s serious tone conflicted with their situation. “Then why the frag did you move?!” He hissed back.
Giggles burst from the horde, sly smirks growing from the older ones and Sunstreaker. Sideswipe rolled his optics and tried again. “Alright guys, really. What do you wanna do that won’t get us killed or grieviously injured?”
One of them must have decided she did have a speck of mercy in her spark because a chubby orange femmeling piped up, “Tag?”
“Hide-an’-seek.” Another suggested.
Sunstreaker shook his helm. “It’s too dangerous for hide-and-seek or tag in the ruins. You could be injured and lost and it would take us a long time to realize. What’s something we can play altogether?”
“I Spy?”
“Boring!” Another yelled with some nods to back them up.
A mechling thrust his fist in the air, a long length of wire in his servo. “Jump rope!”
That had a very mixed reaction, as quite a few of the kids growled out negatives or noises of disgust. Sideswipe shrugged, “I don’t think everyone likes to play that.”
“Can we explore the ruins if yer with us?” A rather small kid asked. “‘Cause I wanna know what’s in there but all the adults keep yellin’ at us not to go ‘cause it might not be safe.”
The twins shared a look, knowing full well that despite many of the adults yelling-ordering-asking the younglings to stay close to camp and not go exploring, they already had a few times. Sideswipe was surprised they were bothering to ask at all. Tilting his helm side-to-side, Sunstreaker answered slowly.
“I....think that would be alright. As long as we all stay together and check the ground for stability before walking on it. Who knows, we might find something useful.”
“OH!” Most of the kids jumped at Sideswipe’s exclamation, “I have a great idea! We can play Treasure Hunt!”
“We’re treasure hunters?” A rumble of agreement came from the horde. Quite a few faces looked interested. One of the kids, on the larger side and missing an arm, spoke up.
“Can we be Knights? Like the old kind that go on adventures and find treasure to bring back home.”
The rumbles of agreement picked up. Bouncing on his heels, Sideswipe beamed at his brother. Lady Luck still liked them after all. His bouncing paused as another kid yelled out. “Wait! Knights are ‘sposed to answer to the temples! Or the Prime.”
“Or a king.” An older femmeling replied. “Like the City Leaders in really old times. Their knights went and brought back treasure.”
“We’re Darklight! We don’t need a king!”
Oh no. Coughing, Sideswipe quickly interjected. “We’re just playing a game, guys. Since we’re obviously old-fashioned knights in search of treasure, we would need a leader to bring the treasure back to. They don’t have to be a king.”
“Since it’s pretend....” One-armed kid stated slowly, “We can pretend it’s a Darklight King.” Seeing only a few mutinous face, he continued. “I think Orion should be the pretend King since he is the leader.”
Sharing another quick glance, the twins simultaneously raised an optic ridge each. Sunstreaker’s lips turned down. This kid was up to something, some sort of political play, and Sideswipe wasn’t sure he knew where it was going. Trying to work around Darklight authority issues was a problem and a half, even with the younglings.
“He’s kinda scary.....” One of the younger ones whined.
Sideswipe’s optic-ridges furrowed in confusion. Orion wasn’t scary. Honestly, he gave off the whole ‘gentle giant’ vibe way more than necessary. The only time he was scary was when people where trying to threaten them....
“Challenge fights.” His brother murmured. Oh. Oh right, there had been a lot of those lately.... And he probably did look a little scary to the kids with a missing optic.
“Well,” He intervened, “Orion’s only scary when people fight him. He’s actually a bit of a nerd most of the time. Likes to read a lot.”
“Hypocrite.” Sunstreaker coughed.
He rolled his optics again. “And he would never hurt kids. Would you like for Sunny and I to ask him for our quest?”
With most of the horde agreeing, and the non-agreeing at least shrugging like they didn’t care, Sideswipe started to bounce again. “Awesome! Onward, oh Knights-in-Training! To the King we go, to receive our quest and find lost treasure!”
He ignored the warning look Sunstreaker sent him. It was a game for the kids. No one was really taking the ‘Orion is a king’ thing seriously.
“To the One-Eyed King for a Quest!” One-armed yelled, stepping into place beside the twins. There came a scrambling of limbs as the horde moved forward to join him and echoed his cheer.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
And it all falls down.
.
Final chapter of Lighting Fires. Pay attention to the warnings please. And remember, Lighting Fires is the first of the Together AU trilogy, so there will be more to follow.
I just checked your ffn and saw that you're bringing Shay back after you finish your current au- and I have to say I'm super excited about it!! I loved reading about Shay's relationship with the Twins, it brought me back to when I was a kid watching the TF cartoons where human kids had their favourite autobot of the bunch who they were ride-or-die for. I have just one question- will the future fic be a continuation of Rolling Storms or an AU?
Thank you for the high praise. I'm pleasantly surprised by how well received Rolling Storms was, especially since I cringe whenever I go back to reread parts of it. From my view as an author, there are too many plot holes and my writing is much better now.
It will definitely be an AU. Shay and the Twins will still be the main characters but how the three meet and the plot will be very different. I had planned for it to be part of a long series spanning the war but I'm not sure if I have the energy to write the earlier stories so I might just start it on Earth with those three and leave everything else as referenced history. (maybe some oneshots...)
Either way, it'll be a good two years at least before I get to it because I really want to finish the Together AU Trilogy first. Thank you so much for reading my stories!
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
It seems like Orion’s whole world is falling apart and he can only watch it happen in slow motion, making bad decisions when there are no good options and trying to find a way for them all to survive.
Sorry I’m late. Things were happening and I didn’t have a chance to sit down until now. Also, we only have one more chapter to go, so... uh.... be prepared for emotions?
Story snippet for TGAU - we’re taking a break from the Autobots weirding out the Decepticons and stepping back into the Darklight for a day with Sideswipe.
.
.
Lights walked into the room with her arms out wide like she was asking for a hug. “There’s my favorite mech!”
Immediately drawing back with wide optics, Sideswipe asked, “What did Jazz do?!”
“That glitch is dead to me.” Her smiled flipped into a scowl. “He ate the last of my candy without telling me.”
“And Cypher and Stillbite?”
“Helped him find my stash, for a fee of several rust sticks each.”
“Ouch.” He agreed, moving to keep at least one of the club’s tables between them. “Sooooo..... does being your favorite get me out of defense practice for the day?”
“No.” She smiled, pulling out a knife.
Sideswipe grinned back, fake as hell, before bolting out of the room with nervous laughter. Cackling, Lights tore after him.
.
“But imagine! It would be so smooth, gliding around the tables and going back and forth between the bar and-”
“You’re not wearing skates while you’re serving.” Stillbite stated, one optic ridge raised as he cleaned the glasses. An amused smile crept across his face though.
“But it would be cool!” Sideswipe pouted, dramatically sprawling across the counter. Arson trotted over and started sniffing at his helm. He lifted it up enough to see her and start scratching behind her audios.
“Very. But do you know what’s not cool?”
He thought about it. “Falling on my face?”
“And destroyed dishes, damaged furniture, lawsuits from injured customers, and Bass coming over here to complain that we’re copying the Bassjackers thing.” At Sideswipe’s blank look, he sighed. “Most of the Bassjackers use skate mods to get around quickly, remember? It’s their thing. In several of their bars, their servers wear them too, but they also have a floor space designed for people to skate around. The tables here are too close together and to the dance floor. Even if you know how to skate and were a master at it, someone is going to bump into you.”
“Booooooooooooo.” Sideswipe moaned, reaching over to cradle Arson as he gave her a belly rub. “You think it’d be cool, right? I am very cool. Even if I can’t skate on the job.” The cat only meowed at him.
.
“Do you think Cypher can read minds?”
Without even looking up from his datapad, Sunstreaker answered, “No.”
“But he just knows things!”
“Hm.”
Sideswipe scowled, leaning over to see what was so interesting. It looked like that booklet on colors Sunstreaker had gotten from work and a datapad with a bunch of frame designs. Which was interesting. But not as interesting as Cypher potentially being psychic. Narrowing his optics, he continued. “Maybe he has cameras hidden all over the club.”
No response.
“It probably isn’t just the club, I bet he has them all over the Darklight. Maybe in our apartment. Or, he can actually read minds.”
Still no response except for some scrolling.
“And he’s collecting enough blackmail information to build an army of people who have to do what he says so he can take over all of Polyhelix-”
“Who’s taking over Polyhelix?” Orion asked, closing the apartment door behind him.
“Orion!” Hopping up, Sideswipe ran over to give him a hug.
“I’m taking over Polyhelix?” The mech replied, mouth twitching into a slag-eating grin. Sideswipe scoffed, whacking him in the arm as his brother finally looked up to greet their amica.
“How was work?”
“Alright. Nothing interesting today.”
“Can you take that one out for a walk? Glimmer wants me to read through these and he’s incredibly distracting.” Sunstreaker ignored his brother’s exclamation of ‘Hey!’.
“Sure.” Orion agreed before turning to Sideswipe “Feel like bugging Fracture for stories?”
The red mech paused his excitement as he realized Sunstreaker suddenly looked interested and was giving his datapads a long look as if trying to decide if he could put his work off. Grinning, Sideswipe wiggled in place. “Absolutely. I bet he’ll have even better stories than last time-”
“I’m coming too!” Sunstreaker rolled off their couch and stalked over. “Honestly. I just wanted to get my work done....”
“Anyways......” He shared a silent laughing look with Orion as they all stepped outside. “I think Cypher can read minds-”
“You can’t just steal people!” Starscream shrieked, barely resisting the urge to drag his fingers down his face in frustration.
Jazz just cackled, arms slung around Skywarp’s neck as the seeker held him in the crook of his arm. “Yes, I can! Finders keepers!”
“Aaaagghh! Megatron! Do something about this!”
Megatron looked over, optics set to maximum glare but unfortunately both Jazz and Skywarp were immune. Sighing at the twin smug grins, he rolled his optics and looked at Orion to fix it. The Autobot leader shrugged.
“He has a point. Finders keepers.”
With another, albeit deeper, sigh, Megatron pointed a stern finger at Skywarp. “You will show up for your shift tomorrow and I won’t hear any excuses concerning Autobot and parties.”
“But I’m kidnapped right now!” The mech pouted. “What if I can’t escape by then?” Everyone ignored Starscream’s sudden bout of hissing as Megatron turned away with a final warning.
“No excuses.”
Jazz leaned up to mock-whisper in Skywarp’s audio loud enough to be heard by everyone. “The trick to it, is to convince the Boss to kidnap Megs by tomorrow so he’ll be too preoccupied to realize you’re not at your job.”
All optics flickered to Orion’s suddenly innocent expression. Megatron gave him a warning glare. Smiling, Orion shrugged. “Finders keepers.”
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
There are not enough high speed chases in the Transformers fandom, and considering at least half of them turn into vehicles, that is a crime.
There are lots of other problems too, like murder and kidnapping. And people making stupid decisions. Which should absolutely be a crime, according to Orion.
Megatron was ninety percent certain Orion had once again snuck into Kaon.
How? He hadn’t the faintest idea. However Autobots got into anywhere, he supposed. No security had been able to keep them out so far but one would think a large cargo frame like Orion’s would be too big to slip into vents and scurry through tunnels like the rest of those racing-framed lunatics. And the border and gate guards all had pictures of Orion with very clear instructions to let their supervisors know if they spotted him.
And yet somehow, that maniac always showed up without a warning.
But today, today he had a feeling in his tank that said maniac was once again in his city. It started with calling the Autobot base during Orion’s ‘office hours’ to discuss their trade deal, only to be met with Autobot officers who couldn’t tell him anything more than “Orion’s out. Might be on patrol.”
It might be patrol. It might be causing trouble in his city. Again.
With a deeply aggrieved sigh, Megatron wavered on his options. Wait patiently and hope Orion actually was on patrol or look slightly foolish to his people but perhaps catch the mech before he started whatever chaos he was up to if he wasn’t? A difficult decision.
The feeling in his tank said Orion was causing trouble.
/Orion Pax/ He got onto the public intercoms for the main section of Kaon. /If you are currently in Kaon, get out of whatever vent you’re hiding in and join me in the main office. Now./
There. The public would no doubt be making jokes about this for days but by this point they were well aware of Autobot insanity and would hopefully let it go soon. That settled, he pulled out paperwork as he waited.
His gut was right. Not even two breems later, Orion strolled into his office sipping on some energon and looking as innocent as a mech could be. “I wasn’t in a vent.”
“Oh? Do I want to even know where you were?”
“The Pallas Library. I found some old datapads from pre-Unification under the base. They were broken and files unretrievable but I thought they might like them anyways since they’re so old.”
Megatron narrowed his optics at the innocent face, not believing it for a second. “You made the trip all the way to Kaon just to give some librarians ancient artifacts as presents?”
“Librarians are very important people, Megatron.” Orion raised a mock-judgemental optic ridge. “They have all the knowledge.”
“And pirate stories.” He drawled.
A small smirk ticked up one corner of Orion’s mouth. “Those too.”
