[TFP] Harder We Fall
Oct. 17th, 2020 09:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dracoqueen22Title: Harder We Fall
Universe: TFP, pre-canon
Characters: Megatron, Soundwave/Jazz
Rating: K+
Enticements: Pre-Canon, Established Relationship, Canon Divergence
Description: There are two roads in front of Soundwave, and while one of them involves betrayal, it may be the only one that doesn’t kill him.
For JazzWaveWeek, Day 7, Legacy
"If they will not see reason, then I will force them to acknowledge it," Megatron snarls, his field a riotous typhoon of betrayal and pain. "The government has stolen enough from me. No more!"
His hand slashes through the air, the other pumping a fist toward the sky, and the roar of the crowd, those he's gathered of like-minds and like-pain, is deafening.
Soundwave has dampened his sensors, but it's still not enough.
So.
It's to be war then. It's to be violence and death. Soundwave is not opposed to either. He has functioned in the trenches for as long as he can recall. He is no stranger to them, but he cannot see a clear line where Megatron's vow of violence will end the cycle.
He understands.
Megatronus had loved Orion Pax. And they, the Senate in their infinite righteous power, had not only taken Orion Pax from him, but had turned Orion against them. Turned Orion into the thing Megatronus loathes most.
And so, his loss is to be everyone's loss.
It is a decision born of anger and pain and regret. It is a tactical error, a mistake.
Soundwave turns from the celebrating crowd as Megatron continues to speak, whipping them into a righteous fury. This is not a reasoned path that will find them the equality they crave. He can see it now, a road unfurling before him, as Megatron refuses to bend, as his actions become unconscionable to those who might have been sympathetic, as the Senate responds tenfold, each action escalating until Cybertron is a ruin.
A broken spark is capable of such terrible and wonderful things.
The decision lies before him. Will he join Megatron in his fight to purge his grief? To strike back against his jailers and those responsible for his pain? Will he fight, side by side, with one of his oldest, dearest friends for a cause that very much affects him?
Or.
A shadow detaches from the ceiling overhead, in between two flickering lights, landing soundlessly on the floor before Soundwave. Pale purple flashes in the dim before it shifts to a pale blue.
"So," Jazz says, falling into step beside him. "It begins."
Soundwave rattles a cycle through his vents. "Yes."
"What are you going to do?"
Soundwave stops walking, and Jazz keeps going, only to spin on a heelstrut, hands on his hips, looking up to face him.
"We," Soundwave corrects. "We> must choose."
Jazz's face and field betray nothing, not to the casual observer, but Soundwave knows him too well now. He can read the indecision in his partner's optics. It echoes the struggle in Soundwave's own spark.
"Optimus is preparing to fight, too," Jazz says, and he stares past Soundwave's shoulder. He sucks on his bottom lip, letting it pop free. "It's hard. Orion Pax is still in there, but he's different. He's not the mech I knew. I kinda feel for Megatron."
Soundwave nods. "Megatron changed also."
"Yeah, the Senate really fragged that up. Or, well, Primus did. Kind of makes you think he wanted this." Jazz's face wrinkles with hidden anger before he looks up at Soundwave. "This is gonna be long and bloody."
"We must choose," Soundwave repeats, slow and deliberate. He would pull Jazz into his arms if they were not in such a reasonably public corridor. It's an announcement neither of them can afford.
They both have enemies on both sides of the line Megatron and Optimus Prime are preparing to draw across Cybertron.
"What side we land on?" Jazz asks.
"Or none," Soundwave says, quietly. Ever so quietly. It feels like a betrayal to even think it, but he sees the road, he can imagine the end of it, and he doesn't know if they can survive this.
He doesn't know if it's worth losing everything for the sake of his best friend's broken spark.
"Leave?" Jazz's smile is big and charming as he steps in, steps closer, his hands curving around Soundwave's waist in defiance of the implied danger. "Just you 'n me? Leave all this nonsense behind?"
Soundwave curls a hand under Jazz's chin, lifting his head up. "You," he murmurs, "and I. Together."
"I know where we can get a shuttle. I know some welcoming corners of the universe. Could be nice. You and me and the bits. Leave it all behind," Jazz says, his glossa flicking over his lips, his visor brightening. "Let the planet tear itself apart without us."
There are two roads in front of Soundwave.
In one, he stays loyal to his oldest and dearest friend. He stands beside Megatron, fighting arm in arm with him, cutting a swathe of destruction against their oppressors and letting no one cage them again. It is a long and bloody road, full of loss. Many will die, on both sides of the divide.
Cybertron will be forever changed. That is inevitable. Whether it be for the better or the worse, it is impossible to tell. This is an inescapable conflict, and Soundwave does not know if there will be a victor.
In the other, he leaves with his lover, the other half of his spark. They abandon the inevitability of certain death and venture into the unknown. Behind them, Cybertron will continue to explode into chaotic madness, but they will be spared the violence, because they will be gone.
Soundwave will be safe. His siblings will be safe. His spark will be safe. Maybe, eventually, he might even forgive himself the betrayal.
“You would leave Optimus?” he asks. Quietly. Subtly. So no one can hear the emotionless mech who is always in Megatron’s shadow actually have a care.
Jazz reaches up, touches the edge of his facemask. “Only for you,” he says, and his visor goes diamond-hard and sharp. “Because if we stay, there’s no guarantee we’ll be on the same side.”
Soundwave’s spark goes cold and knowing in his chassis, because blast it all, Jazz is right. If they stay, they will be separated. Soundwave would fight at Megatron’s side, to the bitter end. He would not join the ilk of Optimus Prime, no matter how much the Prime thinks he can make a difference.
Corruption cannot treat itself, after all.
And Jazz would not abandon Optimus to the whims of the Senate, and the poisonous whispers of those eager to make a puppet of their new Prime. Jazz would fight, he would try his hardest to keep Optimus on the path Orion Pax would have wanted. He could no more lift a weapon against Optimus, than Soundwave could raise a blaster to Megatron.
In that truth is Soundwave’s answer.
“It must be soon,” Soundwave says.
Jazz nods. “Tonight.”
“You must have no regrets,” Soundwave murmurs. His field lays over Jazz in an invisible embrace, a substitute for the kiss he can’t offer here in this too-public corridor. It is a miracle they have not yet been interrupted.
A miracle or perhaps a gift of Ravage who sits at one end, an effective deterrent, while Laserbeak and Buzzsaw perch at the other. Their reputation is arguably more terrifying than Soundwave’s own.
“You, too,” Jazz says, knocking over Soundwave’s dock. “Don’t choose this just for me. Choose it for you, too. I don’t want to end up a century down the line with you resenting me. Got it? Either we both agree or we stay.”
“We go,” Soundwave says.
Jazz doesn’t smile. There’s no joy or relief in his field, just a resigned understanding. He is no more delighted by their choice to flee than Soundwave, but it is the choice they made, and what must be done.
They will not walk away from their loyalties with joy in their sparks. But they will live, and they will be together, and perhaps, a century down the line, they may even forgive themselves for the selfish choice. They will be forgotten, lost to the legacy of the madness Optimus and Megatron will wrought.
“I’ll get the shuttle,” Jazz says. “And supplies. You get anything else you think we might need. You’re better at long-term planning than I am.”
Soundwave sweeps his thumb over Jazz’s chin, reluctant to part, as though separating from Jazz will weaken his resolve. “Be safe.”
Now Jazz smiles, soft and haunted. “Love you, too,” he murmurs.
He draws back and vanishes into the shadows as easily as he had appeared from them. Soundwave has long stopped questioning Jazz’s abilities.
Ravage slinks into view, and the avian twins return, landing on a shoulder each.
“We go,” Ravage agrees, and the twins echo him. “I’ll get Frenzy and Rumble. They’ll agree.”
Soundwave nods. He can’t bring himself to speak. The betrayal stings too freshly. He does not regret the choice he has made, but it will be some time before he can look at himself in the mirror and not see the traitor he has become.
“Come,” Soundwave says to the avian twins as Ravage vanishes, off to find their brothers. “We must pack.”
He’d like to think, in his saner moments, Megatron would have supported him. There is no greater reason than love, he’d say, before that love had turned poison on him.
Megatron before Optimus Prime would have sent Soundwave away with his blessings. Megatron after would call him a fool.
Well, perhaps he is one.
A fool who will live.
***
Universe: TFP, pre-canon
Characters: Megatron, Soundwave/Jazz
Rating: K+
Enticements: Pre-Canon, Established Relationship, Canon Divergence
Description: There are two roads in front of Soundwave, and while one of them involves betrayal, it may be the only one that doesn’t kill him.
For JazzWaveWeek, Day 7, Legacy
"If they will not see reason, then I will force them to acknowledge it," Megatron snarls, his field a riotous typhoon of betrayal and pain. "The government has stolen enough from me. No more!"
His hand slashes through the air, the other pumping a fist toward the sky, and the roar of the crowd, those he's gathered of like-minds and like-pain, is deafening.
Soundwave has dampened his sensors, but it's still not enough.
So.
It's to be war then. It's to be violence and death. Soundwave is not opposed to either. He has functioned in the trenches for as long as he can recall. He is no stranger to them, but he cannot see a clear line where Megatron's vow of violence will end the cycle.
He understands.
Megatronus had loved Orion Pax. And they, the Senate in their infinite righteous power, had not only taken Orion Pax from him, but had turned Orion against them. Turned Orion into the thing Megatronus loathes most.
And so, his loss is to be everyone's loss.
It is a decision born of anger and pain and regret. It is a tactical error, a mistake.
Soundwave turns from the celebrating crowd as Megatron continues to speak, whipping them into a righteous fury. This is not a reasoned path that will find them the equality they crave. He can see it now, a road unfurling before him, as Megatron refuses to bend, as his actions become unconscionable to those who might have been sympathetic, as the Senate responds tenfold, each action escalating until Cybertron is a ruin.
A broken spark is capable of such terrible and wonderful things.
The decision lies before him. Will he join Megatron in his fight to purge his grief? To strike back against his jailers and those responsible for his pain? Will he fight, side by side, with one of his oldest, dearest friends for a cause that very much affects him?
Or.
A shadow detaches from the ceiling overhead, in between two flickering lights, landing soundlessly on the floor before Soundwave. Pale purple flashes in the dim before it shifts to a pale blue.
"So," Jazz says, falling into step beside him. "It begins."
Soundwave rattles a cycle through his vents. "Yes."
"What are you going to do?"
Soundwave stops walking, and Jazz keeps going, only to spin on a heelstrut, hands on his hips, looking up to face him.
"We," Soundwave corrects. "We> must choose."
Jazz's face and field betray nothing, not to the casual observer, but Soundwave knows him too well now. He can read the indecision in his partner's optics. It echoes the struggle in Soundwave's own spark.
"Optimus is preparing to fight, too," Jazz says, and he stares past Soundwave's shoulder. He sucks on his bottom lip, letting it pop free. "It's hard. Orion Pax is still in there, but he's different. He's not the mech I knew. I kinda feel for Megatron."
Soundwave nods. "Megatron changed also."
"Yeah, the Senate really fragged that up. Or, well, Primus did. Kind of makes you think he wanted this." Jazz's face wrinkles with hidden anger before he looks up at Soundwave. "This is gonna be long and bloody."
"We must choose," Soundwave repeats, slow and deliberate. He would pull Jazz into his arms if they were not in such a reasonably public corridor. It's an announcement neither of them can afford.
They both have enemies on both sides of the line Megatron and Optimus Prime are preparing to draw across Cybertron.
"What side we land on?" Jazz asks.
"Or none," Soundwave says, quietly. Ever so quietly. It feels like a betrayal to even think it, but he sees the road, he can imagine the end of it, and he doesn't know if they can survive this.
He doesn't know if it's worth losing everything for the sake of his best friend's broken spark.
"Leave?" Jazz's smile is big and charming as he steps in, steps closer, his hands curving around Soundwave's waist in defiance of the implied danger. "Just you 'n me? Leave all this nonsense behind?"
Soundwave curls a hand under Jazz's chin, lifting his head up. "You," he murmurs, "and I. Together."
"I know where we can get a shuttle. I know some welcoming corners of the universe. Could be nice. You and me and the bits. Leave it all behind," Jazz says, his glossa flicking over his lips, his visor brightening. "Let the planet tear itself apart without us."
There are two roads in front of Soundwave.
In one, he stays loyal to his oldest and dearest friend. He stands beside Megatron, fighting arm in arm with him, cutting a swathe of destruction against their oppressors and letting no one cage them again. It is a long and bloody road, full of loss. Many will die, on both sides of the divide.
Cybertron will be forever changed. That is inevitable. Whether it be for the better or the worse, it is impossible to tell. This is an inescapable conflict, and Soundwave does not know if there will be a victor.
In the other, he leaves with his lover, the other half of his spark. They abandon the inevitability of certain death and venture into the unknown. Behind them, Cybertron will continue to explode into chaotic madness, but they will be spared the violence, because they will be gone.
Soundwave will be safe. His siblings will be safe. His spark will be safe. Maybe, eventually, he might even forgive himself the betrayal.
“You would leave Optimus?” he asks. Quietly. Subtly. So no one can hear the emotionless mech who is always in Megatron’s shadow actually have a care.
Jazz reaches up, touches the edge of his facemask. “Only for you,” he says, and his visor goes diamond-hard and sharp. “Because if we stay, there’s no guarantee we’ll be on the same side.”
Soundwave’s spark goes cold and knowing in his chassis, because blast it all, Jazz is right. If they stay, they will be separated. Soundwave would fight at Megatron’s side, to the bitter end. He would not join the ilk of Optimus Prime, no matter how much the Prime thinks he can make a difference.
Corruption cannot treat itself, after all.
And Jazz would not abandon Optimus to the whims of the Senate, and the poisonous whispers of those eager to make a puppet of their new Prime. Jazz would fight, he would try his hardest to keep Optimus on the path Orion Pax would have wanted. He could no more lift a weapon against Optimus, than Soundwave could raise a blaster to Megatron.
In that truth is Soundwave’s answer.
“It must be soon,” Soundwave says.
Jazz nods. “Tonight.”
“You must have no regrets,” Soundwave murmurs. His field lays over Jazz in an invisible embrace, a substitute for the kiss he can’t offer here in this too-public corridor. It is a miracle they have not yet been interrupted.
A miracle or perhaps a gift of Ravage who sits at one end, an effective deterrent, while Laserbeak and Buzzsaw perch at the other. Their reputation is arguably more terrifying than Soundwave’s own.
“You, too,” Jazz says, knocking over Soundwave’s dock. “Don’t choose this just for me. Choose it for you, too. I don’t want to end up a century down the line with you resenting me. Got it? Either we both agree or we stay.”
“We go,” Soundwave says.
Jazz doesn’t smile. There’s no joy or relief in his field, just a resigned understanding. He is no more delighted by their choice to flee than Soundwave, but it is the choice they made, and what must be done.
They will not walk away from their loyalties with joy in their sparks. But they will live, and they will be together, and perhaps, a century down the line, they may even forgive themselves for the selfish choice. They will be forgotten, lost to the legacy of the madness Optimus and Megatron will wrought.
“I’ll get the shuttle,” Jazz says. “And supplies. You get anything else you think we might need. You’re better at long-term planning than I am.”
Soundwave sweeps his thumb over Jazz’s chin, reluctant to part, as though separating from Jazz will weaken his resolve. “Be safe.”
Now Jazz smiles, soft and haunted. “Love you, too,” he murmurs.
He draws back and vanishes into the shadows as easily as he had appeared from them. Soundwave has long stopped questioning Jazz’s abilities.
Ravage slinks into view, and the avian twins return, landing on a shoulder each.
“We go,” Ravage agrees, and the twins echo him. “I’ll get Frenzy and Rumble. They’ll agree.”
Soundwave nods. He can’t bring himself to speak. The betrayal stings too freshly. He does not regret the choice he has made, but it will be some time before he can look at himself in the mirror and not see the traitor he has become.
“Come,” Soundwave says to the avian twins as Ravage vanishes, off to find their brothers. “We must pack.”
He’d like to think, in his saner moments, Megatron would have supported him. There is no greater reason than love, he’d say, before that love had turned poison on him.
Megatron before Optimus Prime would have sent Soundwave away with his blessings. Megatron after would call him a fool.
Well, perhaps he is one.
A fool who will live.
