Taiyoo Soshite Tsuki

(Sun and Moon)

Chapter One: Vision

Year 5853

The boy’s screams were heard throughout the base. Loath heard them, and grinned, then looked over his shoulder, at a shadowy bot there. "See? He’s alive."

The shadowy one was silent, as he watched the boy writhe against his bonds, trying to get away from the pain, but he was too young to understand that the pain was caused by his own Spark. A hand rested upon the clear steel, and he looked at the boy’s face. He said not a word, but turned, and left. Loath thought that he understood the silence, and called in through a microphone, "You stay still, boy, you might stop the pain."

Loath turned, and left as well, then entered a darkened room. "X is stronger. His bonds will not hold."

"I don’t see the purpose in a Predacon witnessing this," a disembodied voice replied.

The blood-colored bot stood in a circle of light, and said, "They are doing experiments concerning cross-breeding of our species, and the humans."

"And you know this how?"

Loath grinned. "Instinct."

"Who was the Predacon," another voice asked.

"One by the name of Satsujinhan’nin."

"They’re using Japanese names again? Odd. One would have thought that they would have chosen from a different language this time."

"This time may be different. They never got past the first stages of their other experiments."

A door opened, and the first voice said, "So be it. Leave, and say nothing of this to anyone."

Loath nodded, bowed, and left.

Little did he know, that he was expendable. He was dead before the next morning, never to spread the rumor of what the Predacons were doing.

Little did he know, that he was correct.

The boy twitched, and his optics activated, to see someone above him. It was another Maximal, one who was kind to him, and who stayed by him in his pain, during the nights. She was the one who had also put him through this torture, the one who had given him over.

She was his mother.

"I thought that you had to leave."

He surprised himself, by speaking like he did. Never before had he spoken in a complete sentence. He was simply too young. Then again, he was also an experiment, so he was always going to be different than everyone else.

His mother smiled. "I will have to, soon. But not now. You’re still too young."

"I don’t want you to leave."

She rested cool fingertips upon his forehead, and whispered, "Remember me, my son, when all else fails. When everything else is dead, when everyone else fails you, I’ll still be here, in your mind and Spark, with you. Remember my voice . . ."

He fell asleep, and his mother left. The Predacon was waiting outside for her. She went with him, and they went to one of the Predacon’s moons, not saying a word the whole way. The silent one opened the door, and walked out first. The mother followed him. His crimson optics were cold and glittering, like any true Predacon warrior’s should. He was the Captain of the Guard, and there were none fiercer. Nor were there any who could beat him in one-on-one combat. He had seen this mother’s son, and she knew that he had. He turned away, snorting at her weakness of showing her tears. She glared at him, and said, "You have no children. You don’t know the pain of seeing one being tortured before your own optics."

He replied with an odd voice. She thought that it was because of some past injury, since it was so gravelly, yet it was natural, and it ran from father to son in his family. "I will have a child. And I will not weep at the hardships that lay before that youngster."

The door opened, and they were joined by another Predacon, one who seemed more Maximal, and he had passed for one many a time. He bowed slightly to the Captain of the Guard. "Sir."

The Captain nodded once, and two humans were brought in, both female. One looked meek, the other fierce. The meek one was about five-foot-three, and had straight, platinum-blonde hair that ended half-way down her back. Her eyes were soft brown, and to a male’s eye, she had just the right curves, in just the right places. She wore long jeans, and a loose top, that fluttered at the tiniest breeze. She stood with her head down, hiding behind her hair.

As for the fierce one, she had her hair hidden behind a royal-blue bandana, oddly enough, nearly the same shade of the Captain’s main coloring, but parts had fallen loose since she had put them up, declaring her hair dark brown, and quite curly. Her eyes were also a dark blue, but hard, glittering. Instead of ample curves, she sported well-toned arms and legs, as she was wearing a sleeveless shirt, and somewhat short jean shorts. Freckles dotted her cheeks, and a scar ran across her left kneecap. With a glare, she stood tall, crossed her arms over her chest, and leaned against the wall, by the meek one.

The Captain looked at them both, then at the other male Cybertronian. A silent agreement was made, and three scientists walked in. One said in old Cybertronian, the language of the Deceptacons, "Captain, you choose first."

"Already did," he said in the same language. "The bold one."

"Do you accept his decision?" they asked the other male.

"Of course. Why should I choose one who I would only bicker constantly with? Pardon my saying, Captain, sir, but those two can have the privilege of killing each other first."

The Captain grinned, and cracked his neck lazily. "Better me than you, you’re saying."

"With all due respect, sir, yes."

With a nod, the decision was passed, and the attention was turned upon the Maximal. She looked at him, and said, "My son . . ."

One of the scientists nodded. "We can ease the transition pain of his Spark, but you have to stay close to him for a time, and report upon the tiniest change."

"Please. Anything."

One of the three scientists handed her a package and a recording device. "You know what to do."

She nodded, and left. The attention was returned to the other four, and they followed, the meek one with the second Predacon, the bold one with the Captain. She looked up at him. "Want to tell me what you were saying in that other language of yours?"

He looked at her. "Hold your tongue until it is time for you to speak."

"Really. Wanna make me?"

He spun, wrapped one arm around her waist, and lifted her up to his waist, carrying her with his other hand over her mouth. "Bite me, and you’ll wish that you had never met me."

I already regret that! she thought with a mental growl.

Within the hour, they had the samples from the two humans and two Predacons, and the originals had been cloned, then frozen. The four were then dismissed to their quarters, as the humans would be staying, until the experiments had succeeded. The meek one spoke. "None of us know each other’s names, and I can tell that we’ll be here a while."

The Captain snorted. "Bah. Why bother?"

He was hit over the head by the aggressive human. "Because we should know what you’re called, so we can scream at you for when you’ve ended up screwing something up."

She found herself gripped between his hands, and was lifted to his eye-level by her shoulders. Her bandana fell off, and her curly hair fell forward into her face. "Did you want to hit me again? Hm? How about it? I can kill you easily, fleshling. It is nothing more than a glare at you, and your head would be replaced by a charred, burning lump."

"Try it. I dare you. Those scientists need what I can give them. Although, you never know, tin can, that you, yourself, could end up producing the female’s reproductive cells, by the PMS-ey way you’re acting." She grinned nastily up at him.

He dropped her, and sat again. "Touch me again, and nothing can stop me from killing you."

The other Predacon blinked once, then said to the female he was paired with, "Name’s Wrangle."

The meek one smiled, blushed, and replied, "I’m Willow. That’s . . . oh. She might not want me to tell you her name."

The other female snorted, and pulled her hair out of her face, and pulled it into a ponytail at the base of her skull. She said, "I’m Kelsi."

The Captain looked at Kelsi again, and then realized that neither of the two could have been over nineteen Terran years. They could even be as young as sixteen. He sighed, and started to leave the room. However, before he had closed the door, he said, "I’m known as Satsujinhan’nin."

Kelsi walked into the suite the four were staying in. She had just taken a walk, exercising sore muscles, and had seen something. Quietly, she went over to Willow, and asked, "Are you sure that we’re the only ones here?"

Willow looked up from the book she had been reading, and gaped at Kelsi. "What."

"I saw four pairs of humans. All female. They were also paired up with male Predacons, like us. My only question, is why."

The quiet human whispered, "How old were they?"

Kelsi sat across from her. "The oldest I saw was only about twenty-five. I think we’re the youngest in this group."

Wrangler came in, and blinked at Willow. "Something wrong?"

The human looked up at him, and shook her head. "Why?"

"Well, we’ve known each other for three weeks now. I can tell your emotions easily." He looked at Kelsi. "And you might want to see the Captain. Well, you won’t want to, but he said he had to speak with you."

"Pompous tin can idiot, isn’t he?" Kelsi growled. She walked out of the room, and knocked on the door for Satsujinhan’nin. The door slid open, and he indicated that she enter. She did so, and he shut the door. With a glare, she went over to a window, and looked out at the world beyond. "Why did you demand to see me."

"They succeeded with the experiment."

Kelsi looked up at the Predacon, and asked, "And?"

He sighed, and stood next to her. "Forgive my actions over the past three weeks. I was under stress from not only this experiment, but from knowing that if it succeeded, I would have to resign from the Guard."

"It’s been your life, hasn’t it."

"Yes."

Without wanting to, Kelsi started to see this bot from a different perspective. He was someone who, like her, had faced a load of hardships from life, and didn’t know where to turn. He didn’t look at her, but she put her hand on his arm, then embraced his waist, crying into his torso. Satsujinhan’nin looked at her in surprise, then allowed himself to embrace her, although awkwardly. She managed to calm down, though, and say, "I never wanted to be a mother this early."

"You won’t be carrying the boy."

"Boy . . . he’ll be male?"

"Yes. It was planned by those infernal scientists."

Kelsi looked up at him, and then rested her cheek against his torso again. "So did you want a daughter instead?"

Satsujinhan’nin nodded. "Yes. Females, no matter the race, the species, are twice as fierce and ruthless as males in battle. The males in my Guard are outnumbered two-to-one by females at the current. You, yourself, have proven that human females are no exception to the rule."

"I would have liked a daughter as well."

He paused. "Sometimes, Kelsi, things are meant to be a certain way."

There was silence, and soon, the sun set. Satsujinhan’nin looked at the human again, and saw that she was falling asleep, even though she was still standing. He picked her up, and lay her on her bed, in the room that they shared. She looked up at him, and he whispered, "They’ll be giving me an alternate mode soon. It’s so that I can train our son in alternate forms of fighting. He’ll have the same beast mode as I will."

"Can you choose what it will be?"

He pulled a holographic projector out of his sub-space pocket, and turned it on, showing her the creature that he would be taking as a beast mode. "Velociraptor mongoliensis. A pack-hunting predator from prehistoric Earth."

She smiled, and said, "The name means ‘Speedy Hunter of Mongolia.’ I did a report upon it for eighth grade."

He pushed her brown hair out of her face gently, for one of such strength, and asked, "How old are you, Kelsi?"

She looked up at the ceiling. "Sixteen."

"Primus . . . you’re not much more than a child."

"I know," she replied softly. She placed her arm over her eyes, burying her nose in the crook of her elbow.

Satsujinhan’nin took it away, and wiped her tears gently. "And for me to think that I would try to kill you. I never knew that . . . that I would ever . . . that I could . . ."

Kelsi didn’t need to hear the end of the sentence, as she wrapped her arms around the previous Captain of the Guard again, and sobbed into his shoulder. He held her back, and sighed, stroking her hair. It was going to be a long time, before either of them would feel as if they were back to their old selves. Maybe even never again . . .