Ravage's Return

Torn Between Factions

(A/N: Ravage's Return has 3 more chapters planned after this one, so I should be able to complete it soon. I thank everyone for all of the follows/votes/reviews and ask you to stick with it for three more chapters! <3 ya all.)

Jack lay in the room he'd been given, facing the wall to avoid looking at Bumblebee or Smokescreen, the other two mechs he had to share a room with.

The base was huge for humans, but for the autobots it was a little crammed, so they had to make due. Arcee, Ratchet and Optimus were the only ones that had assigned rooms solely for themselves. Bulkhead shared with Wheeljack whenever his friend showed up, and from what Jack was learning Ratchet tended to spend a good bit of time in Optimus'.

Jack vented a little, trying to keep from crying. He'd been raised thinking he was a normal boy, only to be thrown into a new world when first introduced to the autobots. That had all changed again with his reversion back to Ravage.

How was he going to stay here? With his friends? Without Soundwave?

Feeling down the bond, Jack found that each of the connections he shared with his siblings were muted. Good, they were sleeping. Frenzy shifted on the other side of the bond, Jack sending soothing pulses to keep his brother from waking up.

Jack waited for a bit before gathering the courage to nudge at Soundwave's side of the bond. It was unresponsive, and the young mech assumed his creator was recharging when he received a short pulse. Patience-love-patience.

Yes. Soundwave still planned on rescuing him.

But that was just the thing... Jack wasn't sure he wanted to be rescued. Why would he when he was amongst his friends? When Megatron would no doubt be waiting to obliterate him for his disobedience of the warlord's orders to kill Ratchet.

You should've killed him. Ravage hummed spitefully, Jack shutting his optics tiredly, curling up a little tighter beneath the cooling blanket.

"Can't sleep?"

Jack half rolled to look over his shoulder, blue optics shimmering faintly in the darkness over by Smokescreen's berth. "No." He responded in a whisper, not wanting to wake up Bumblebee.

There was the sound of shifting as Smokescreen got up, moving over to drop himself down on the edge of Jack's berth.

"What's going on, teach?" Smokescreen asked, a little smile touching his lips in the dim light from their optics. "Is it the berth? I told Ratch we needed better berths." The praxian joked, doorwings flicking slightly in jest.

Jack smiled faintly up at the other mech. "No... I just. Miss Soundwave." He hesitantly admitted, averting his optics from Smokescreen's, the young elite guardsmen frowning a little as he tilted his head. "What's wrong with that?" The tricoloured mech asked quietly.

Turning his helm to look back at Smokescreen, Jack frowned. "Because he's a decepticon. I-I worked with you guys. The decepticons were the bad guys! Now I find out I've been one of them the whole time! Find out that Ratchet killed me. That I almost killed Optimus."

Smokescreen nodded seriously. "He is your creator, Jack... You share a bond with him." He stated, the other shaking his helm. "So? I share a bond with my mom... But I don't miss her as much as I do Soundwave. Does that make me bad?" Jack asked, voice breaking.

"No, Jack, it doesn't make you bad." Smokescreen responded in a low whisper. "See, the bond you share with Soundwave is much different than a bond two humans share. Think of it this way," the larger mech thought for a moment how to best explain the bond. "For humans, think of an apple tree. The apple and the tree both share something in common, and they are connected by the stem of the apple."