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Taiyoo Soshite Tsuki

(Sun and Moon)

By: Sinead

 

Chapter Fourteen: Hope

Old Cybertronian Year: 5879

New Cybertronian Year: 3

 

 

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Xanthos Rampage paced, wings ruffling slightly. He was waiting outside the hospital, unable to enter, since Cybertronians were still wary of him. Taiyoo turned away from the window, glad that he had kept the information of why he and his wife had come to find secret from the gargoyle. He looked at the Predaconian doctor. “What of this femme?”

 

“She’s dying, but we were able to save the child. She’s premature, and will be weak, but she’ll survive . . . we hope.”

 

Yoake and Tasogare were with their grandparents, out with Xanthos, waiting for the parents to come out. Tsuki also stopped watching her “brother” pacing, and looked at the doctor. “Is the mother still alive?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Can I speak with her?”

 

The doctor nodded, and led her into the room. After barely surviving a vehicle accident, the mother had just about ordered the medical aids to save the child, even if it meant that she would die. Tsuki grasped the dying Predacon’s hand, and the pale femme looked at her. “My baby . . .”

 

“She’s alive, Dawning. She’s beautiful.”

 

“I . . . I haven’t seen her.”

 

Taiyoo walked over, carrying the child, after threatening to rip one of the medical aide’s head off. Dawning reached up, and Taiyoo set the child within her arms. “She is the first orphan.”

 

“Her father . . .”

 

“He was killed immediately,” Tsuki whispered. “It was a merciless death. He managed to turn the vehicle so that you wouldn’t be as hurt.”

 

Dawning’s eyes watered. “But . . . I don’t want her to be an orphan . . .”

 

Taiyoo’s breath caught in his throat, as he looked to Tsuki. She caught the look in his eye, smiled, and whispered to Dawning, “Do you know Xanthos?”

“Your brother . . . I know he has been looking for a child to raise, to repent . . .” she smiled, and whispered, “And it makes us sisters . . . his mother is my mother . . . different fathers . . .”

 

Tsuki sagged. “Then he is this little one’s uncle . . .”

 

“She . . . Dawnblade . . . Dawnblade is my daughter . . . she will be his adopted daughter. I want him in here. I want to see my brother.”

 

Taiyoo ran out of the room. His threats were easily believed, and he was known to carry them out without seeming to care about what the consequences would be. He would be able to bring Xanthos in here without a problem. Dawning looked to her daughter, and smiled. “Tsuki . . . thank you.”

 

“For what?”

 

“I can hold my daughter . . . and see my brother’s face when he is named as her adopted father.”

 

“You have to save your strength, Dawning . . .” Tsuki whispered.

 

“There is not . . . there is little time left for me,” she replied, smiling down at the sleeping infant within her weakened hold.

 

Taiyoo ran back in, with Xanthos hot upon his heels, to rest his hands upon the side of his sister’s bed, and to look down upon her. “Dawning . . . you look like our mother . . .”

 

“I’m glad that you . . . think so, brother . . .”

 

He rested the back of his hand against her cheek, whispering in a scared voice that seemed to cut through everyone in the room, “Your Spark is fading . . .”

 

She nodded, and said, “Take my daughter . . . Dawnblade . . . she’s your niece . . . and . . . soon to be your daughter. Adopt her.”

 

Xanthos had already transformed while outside, and he reached over to pick up the small, bundled child. He looked down at her, at her angelic, almost-too-perfect face, and then closed his eyes, and whispered, “Her Spark is dimmed as well . . .”

 

“Strengthen it, brother. I know . . . I know you can.”

 

Rampage, Xanthos, the once-mass-murderer revealed his own Spark, and whispered, “Will you accept me as a father, little one? Will you allow me to help you live?”

 

The last thing that Dawning saw while alive, was her daughter’s Spark accepting her brother as a father, and brightening, becoming healthy, with a painful donation from one who had once wanted to satisfy the hungers of a burning rage within his own soul by taking the lives of others. Who would have thought that a mere newborn would cause him to give away a piece of himself that he would once have killed to regain?

 

Certainly not Cybertron.

 

 

 

Taiyoo picked Yoake up in one arm, then Tasogare up in the other, letting them cling to him. He looked at his parents, then Tsuki’s parents. Willow ’s husband, Trent, was walking over with Tsuki’s three human siblings. They waved at Tasogare and Yoake, who giggled, and struggled to go to their young aunts and uncle. Katrina and Tamm smiled up at Taiyoo, who lowered the one-year-olds into their arms gently, smiling in return. Tsuki walked out, smiled almost-warmly at her step-father, and then was immediately embraced by Anwara, who said, “You gotta have another kid, sis, so I’m not left out!”

 

Tsuki laughed, picked her sister up, draped her over a choulder, then said, “Are you feeling left out, now?”

 

“Well, it wouldn’t hurt for those two to have at least one more brother or sister . . .”

 

The older sibling chuckled, shaking her head, as she looked to her mother, setting Anwara back upon the ground. “Dawning’s . . . she’s gone, but her child was saved. And so’s my brother.”

 

Anwara blinked at Tsuki. “You have a brother.”

 

“Well, an adopted one. We’ve known each other for the majority of our lives, so I guess that counts.”

 

“What was he saved from?”

 

“Long story, but I’ll let him tell you. Now, mind you, he might seem a bit harsh, but he really isn’t.”

 

“Who is he?”

 

“Xanthos.”

 

Anwara blinked. “You adopted him as a brother.”

 

Taiyoo ruffled the short hair of his young sister-in-law. “How old are you now? Fourteen?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“We were younger than you when we met him. But when you a little older, and more able to understand the politics of this planet, we’ll let him tell you.”

 

“Why not now?”

 

“Because he has a daughter to take care of now. He adopted her not three minutes ago. She’s a newborn, so she will be taking up a lot of his attention.”

 

Depth Charge walked up, and sighed. “Kid, stop looking so down that you can’t be told something. It’s for your own good, believe me. You don’t want to know all of the horrors that these two have lived through. Or Xanthos, either. Here. You want a ride?”

 

Anwara laughed, and Tsuki let her down, smiling her thanks to the dragon. Before Depth Charge could take off, however, Rampage came out with the child, not taking his eyes off of her for one moment. Kelsi smiled at Satsujinhan’nin, who remembered holding his own son like that, when Taiyoo was first born, then remembered a year ago, when his own son was holding his twin children, completely absorbed in just watching their breathing.

 

Willow looked at Wrangler silently, seeing him turn after a moment, to look back at her. She walked away from Trent , and up to the Predacon. Her voice was soft, so as not to let Trent hear what she was saying. “Please, Wrangler, forgive me for everything. I was young and stupid. I should have stayed with you and the others.”

 

Wrangler’s shoulders fell slightly, and he whispered, “But then our Tsuki wouldn’t have three wonderful siblings, who love our grandchildren.”

 

“But I was wrong, Wrangler–”

 

“I never said that you weren’t. It was wrong, that you left, and it was wrong that you had been taken in the first place.” He sighed, and said, “Your husband–”

 

“We were divorced last year, but the final custody battles are still going on. He came with the children today. I’m moving back here to help Tsuki and Taiyoo.”

 

Wrangler looked at her in shock. “You didn’t tell me that, Willow .”

 

“He didn’t agree with the fact that I had left my unborn child back here. He’s fighting for custody over Katrina, Tamm, and Anwara. They’ve made court appearances, saying that if they couldn’t live with me, then they would somehow come here, to live with their elder sister.” Willow sighed, and looked at the ground. “It hurts, Wrangler, and only now do I know how much it must have hurt you for me to leave.”

 

The Predacon rested his hand upon Willow’s shoulder. “Did you tell Tsuki?”

 

“She knew something was wrong right away, when we were talking alone together, two months before her twins were born.”

 

“So you and he separated before Yoake and Tasogare were born?”

 

“Yes,” she said softly, bowing her head.

Wrangler saw that Trent was watching them intensely, while everyone else was marveling over Rampage’s niece, now his daughter. He looked back down at Willow, then ignored Trent, as he pulled her into an embrace, whispering, “Does she know that you’re moving here?”

 

“No.”

 

“She’ll be pleased.”

 

“I hope so.”

 

“I know so. I’ve known her since her birth, and I know that she’ll love this news.”

 

“Wrangler, I have to speak to you in private.”

 

“Soon.”

 

“Now, Wrangler. It’s important.”

 

“Willow, when a child is adopted, it’s like they’ve just been born again, into a new family. We can’t sneak off, and I have to congratulate Xanthos. He’s like a son to me,” Wrangler said, ducking his head down to look into soft brown eyes, framed by blonde hair that was already graying. He saw a sadness in her eyes, that would break soon. “In five cycles . . . minutes, I promise you, we can talk alone. Tsuki will watch her siblings. I can tell that you don’t want Trent near them. Come with me. Xanthos will appreciate your good-luck wishes.”

 

Willow nodded, and they walked over to the leviathan, who smiled at the smaller human, and sat, so she could see the fair-haired beauty of an infant within his arms. “Do you think that she looks even vaguely familiar?”

 

Wrangler’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. “Primus’ creation . . . she looks exactly like Tsuki did on the day when she was first born. She has that same feeling about her.”

 

Willow peered closer, and Wrangler smiled reassuringly to Xanthos, who whispered, “Did you want to hold her?”

 

Tsuki blinked at her “brother,” surprised that he had offered to her mother to hold the child, when everybody else had been turned down with the same indifferent tone. She looked to her father, who shook his head slightly. “Suu, would you mind watching your sibs for a while? I have to show Willow a few of the sights today.”

 

Anwara was holding onto Tasogare’s hand, as he was trying to walk off. She looked up at Tsuki pleadingly, and the older Predacon sighed, then nodded. “Oh, very well. They can help keep my brats in line.”

 

Yoake toddled into her mother’s legs, holding on and giggling. Katrina tickled her niece, then picked her up, as Willow gently held Dawnblade in her arms. She sat and watched, as the infant opened her eyes slightly, revealing them to be a midnight blue. She was unable to hold it in anymore. All the grief, the guilt, the pain of being unable to see her daughter . . . everything came out, as she cried, holding the child close to her. Xanthos smiled at Wrangler, who sat next to the mother of his daughter, while Xanthos rested his hand upon her shoulder, empathically knowing that she needed to hear something reassuring.

 

“You’ve been a good mother, Willow. Look at your other three children. Look at how they react to Tsuki, to Yoake, to Tasogare . . . to Taiyoo, to Kelsi . . . to Satsujinhan’nin . . . to Wrangler, even. They love those about them. They act like Cybertronian children, not like humans, which I don’t think is odd at all, considering who your first daughter is.”

 

Willow kissed Dawnblade’s forehead, and then looked up at Xanthos, who smiled as gently as he could. “Willow, what is that you want to say?”

 

“I . . . I have to say it to Wrangler alone.”

 

Xanthos nodded. “I figured it was something like that. Well? What do you think of my daughter?”

 

“She’s wonderful,” Willow whispered, smiling at the infant. “She really is wonderful. She’ll be as well-behaved as you.”

 

Xanthos threw his head back, and laughed, then grinned back down at Willow. “Of course she will! Tsuki will end up reprimanding her! I know that I’ll be a horrible disciplinarian! After all, your daughter managed to discipline me, and always when I needed it the most!” He sighed, still smiling, and said, “She’s acted like an older sister to me as long as we’ve known each other, even though she’s two years my younger.”

 

Willow reached up to rest her hand upon Rampage’s, which was still upon her shoulder. He moved his hand to rest against her cheek, as he whispered, “You’ve done well, and nobody can say that you haven’t. I’ll threaten them, if they do.”

 

Willow chuckled once, then replied, “Thank you.”

 

He indicated towards his daughter, and Willow stood, to place Dawnblade in her adopted father’s arms. “She’s a lucky girl, to have you as a father.”

 

“I hope she will be,” Xanthos replied solemnly. “Now. Wrangler, show her all those places that Tsuki found beautiful. I think Willow needs that.”

 

 

 

They were watching the sun set, when Willow sighed, and looked to Wrangler. “I wish that I had been here for the Reformatting. Me and my children both.”

 

“What?” Wrangler hissed quietly. “Why? The humans went through pain that rivals what our daughter had to go through, with all those tests.”

 

“Wrangler . . . shut up and let me say this.” Willow moved closer to Wrangler, so that she was kneeling before him, at his feet, since he was sitting with his legs stretched out. “I love you.”

 

He sighed, and moved himself so that he was sitting closer to Willow. He paused, watched her face, then gathered her onto his lap, resting her head against his shoulder. “You have no idea how many nights I’ve laid awake, wishing, hoping, that you’d come back, that you’d say that, and that you’d stay to help raise Tsuki with me.”

 

“I’m so sorry . . .”

 

“No, Willow, I’m sorry. I didn’t try to keep you here, and when you were gone, I didn’t let myself forgive you for leaving.”

 

“Wrangler . . .”

 

“You want to stay here, you can.” He blinked, looked down at the slightly-subdued Willow, and said, “Oh, and I forgot to say that I love you, too.”

 

She looked up at him in shock, saw his tease, and laughed, tackling him, and sitting upon his stomach, while he rested his hands underneath the back of his head, sighing. “I genuinely missed you, Willow. And I would hate to have you leave me again.”

 

“Wrangler, is there any way that . . . never mind.”

 

The Predacon blinked, then asked, “That what? What is it?”

 

“Nothing.”

 

“Willow, please, what is it? Is something wrong?” Wrangler asked, sitting up, causing the no-longer-young human to slide off his stomach, and onto the ground between his knees.

 

She shook her head. “Nothing’s wrong. Just forget that I said that, okay?”

 

“But it’s bothering you, Willow. Bothering you enough that I can easily tell what it is.”

 

The woman looked up at him sadly. “Then what is it?”

 

He smiled, and embraced her. “You want to be Cybertronian.” Nodding, Willow’s tears came free, and she sobbed into his chest, as he played with her straight, straight hair, and rested his chin upon her head. “Willow, you want to really be the mother of our daughter, don’t you?”

 

“I’ve always wanted that,” she sobbed out. “But I don’t want to hurt my other children.”

“I know.”

 

 

 

Tsuki watched from across the clearing, sitting silently under a tree, behind her parents. She saw every movement they made, and heard everything they said. Finally, when she knew things were getting desperate, she stood, and walked silently over to them, to wrap her arms around both parents, and rested her forehead against her mother’s. “There is a way.”

 

Wrangler growled, slightly irritated. “Suu, didn’t I give you the indication that I wanted to be alone with your mother for a while?”

 

“Yes, but I thought that it would be better to ignore you. Me and my warriors are still empathic, and I can’t stand it when someone’s hurting as much as Mom is.”

 

The father chuckled, and kissed his daughter’s cheek. “All right then, my little moon, what is it? What is this way that you know about?”

 

“The Oracle.”

 

Willow opened her eyes, and looked at her daughter. “What about Tamm, Kat, and Annie?”

 

Tsuki blinked, then asked, “What is the age that they have to reach before they are considered adults?”

 

“Eighteen.”

 

“And Tamm and Kat are eighteen, now, and Anwara is fourteen. So that means that the twins will be able to make that decision upon their own, whether or not they want to be human or Cybertronian, and Anwara has four years. I can talk to the Oracle about it, and let you know.”

 

Willow watched her daughter. “You would do this for me?”

 

Tsuki smiled, and replied softly, “You’re my mother, and they’re my siblings. Why wouldn’t I do this for you?”

 

“Tsuki . . .”

 

“You can call me Suu, if you’d like. Hellcat was another of my nicknames.”

 

Willow sighed, then said, “Once the divorce is final, and once everything is moved here–”

 

“You’re moving here?!” Tsuki asked, leaning forward, closer to her mother, face bright with happiness.

 

Her mother smiled, nodded, and said, “So that I can be close to you.”

 

“And Dad. I heard your words to each other.”

 

Willow blushed, and Tsuki laughed, kissing her mother’s cheek, and helping her to her feet. “You tell me what you want to do, and only when you’re completely certain. There’s no way to un-do a Reformatting. I’ve asked the oracle about that. And there’s no way that you can keep a human form. It’s one or the other, I’m sorry to say.”

 

Willow nodded, and the three walked home.