Never Again

17

~Enjoy ❤️
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"Daddy? Can you help me with this?" A small voice called out. Footsteps sounded from the porch, before a handsome, tanned face peeked around the house.

"What is it, sweetie?" He replied. The little girl frowned and pouted, feeling tears in her eyes. But she wiped them away as her father approached.

She wanted to be strong, like him. Her daddy was a builder, and she wanted to be just like him. She didn't want to be a disappointment.

Her father noticed the hammer and nail in his daughters hand and tilted his head to one side. A frown formed onto his face. "Honey, what are you doing with those? You know to ask daddy for his tools before you use them."

Without looking him in the eye, the little girl placed the nail in her hand down to the wood laying before her, and then lifted the hammer up.

"I want to be like you, daddy." She said sadly. Her tiny hand, which was barely able to even hold the hammer up longer than a few seconds, wobbled before coming down.

It barely hit the nail, and hit her small finger instead.

The father rushed forward at his daughters pained cry. "Honey, are you okay? You know better! You should have asked for help, what were you thinking?"

He lifted his little girl into his arms, and stared down at the pile of wood oddly nailed together. It resembled a birdhouse. Slightly.

He cringed before bobbing the girl up and down in his arms as she cried out again. "Calm now, love. It's okay. Let's get you inside."

The girl sniffled softly as he brought a bag of peas from the kitchen and walked to where she sat in the dinning room. Her finger throbbed painfully, and the tears fell harder.

"I just w-wanted to make you proud. And it wouldn't work!" She sobbed. For an entire hour she had been working hard to make that tiny house. All for nothing.

A large hand cupped her little chin and made her look up. Bright, smiling eyes stared down into her own.

"You make me plenty proud, sweetie. Don't ever think I am disappointed in you." Her father whispered to her.

He brought her finger to his lips and kissed her now forming bruise softly. "There. All better, right?"

The little girl nodded shyly, still frowning. But then, two hands reached her sides and began tickling her. A series of giggles filled the air as her father picked her up and swung her around in the air.

When she came back down, he smiled. "Now, I say we go outside and make that birdhouse, huh?"

The little girls head nodded quickly.

"Okay daddy."

Sleep came a lot easier to her that night than it usually did. There was no screaming. No crying.

There was no laughter in the back of her mind when she woke up and no trembling at the memory of her previous nightmare.

Because it wasn't a nightmare.

She'd stirred awake in almost a peaceful way, blinking away any sleep from before and smiling. Actually smiling. As soon as she'd woken up, she tucked the memory into a little corner in her mind.

Then, out of habit, Lynlee reached up to grasp her necklace, only to find that it wasn't there. At first, she felt panicked. Confusion filled her thoughts as she tried to fight off the sleep she still whole-heartedly wanted to cling to.

But then, as she looked around the dark, cold room she lay in, everything came back to her. The pain in her side that she hadn't noticed until that point immediately flared up again, and a soft cry left her lips.

Oh, yeah. Kidnapped by a huge alien robot. Right.

She'd forgotten about that.

As she squinted around the dark room, she excepted to find herself alone. Instead, she found herself staring at the blank screen of a familiar, intimidating robot. Soundwave.

He had been sitting there, watching her recharge those last few hours. His optics never left the small body that seemed to be breathing shallow, but resting peacefully.

She flinched upon his gaze, and scooted backwards. "Y-you're back."

Silence.

"W-what are you going to do with me?" Lynlee questioned. But she felt strangely calm when asking. If the robot hadn't killed her already, then there was hope she could still survive, right?

"Excuse me?"

Silence.

A frustrated puff of air escaped her as she laughed bitterly, one hand to her injured side. "I know you speak. Please, can you tell me why I'm here?"

Soundwave stared at the little fleshy for a moment, hesitating. Megatron still hadn't found out about the little insect, and over a day had passed since the order to execute the human took place.

Instead of recharging, like he yearned to do, Soundwave instead walked the halls of the Nemesis, thinking his options through.

They were quite simple, really.

1- Kill the girl as Lord Megatron ordered.

2- Keep the girl locked in his private chambers for a reason unknown to him until he was finally caught and most likely executed.

A simple decision, really.

If he'd actually chosen the first one.

For some reason, he felt conflicted. The thought of killing her brought an unfamiliar amount of grief to his spark.

Strange.

Completely unfamiliar.

Unreasonable.

If only he knew why.

"Hello? S-Soundwave?" Lynlee tested the name before continuing on. "What am I doing here? Can you please tell me? Please?"

Or let me go?

"Begging-is... usless.... irrelevant... Soundwave is superior... fleshy is inferior..."

The voice brought chills down her spine and she shuddered. He tilted his head as she tried back away against the wall. But the pain was too great.

Tears filled her eyes, and she choked on a sob. "I just want to go home."

She winced as she tried to hug her legs, and Soundwave narrowed his optics on her. The human would not last without the required medical treatment.

Knockout was not an option, unless Soundwave wanted Megatron to know that he'd directly disobeyed the warlords orders. Besides, the medic wouldn't know much on human biology anyway.

Without a second thought in his processor, he stood onto his pedes and made his way towards her. Lynlee's cowered.

"N-no. What are you doing? Please, get away."

He ignored her pleas and bent down to get a better look at her. The tears fell harder and she squeezed her eyes tightly shut, waiting for her utter demise.

"Medical attention, required."

If the human was going to stay, then he needed to get supplies.

A groundbridge opened, and Lynlee furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as the robot stepped into the swirling mass without a word.