PROLOGUE
--Cybertron, before the war--
"...And a mighty warrior came down from the sky... and a rainbow was on his...."
The red and gray bot stopped reading, his face wrinkling in bemusement.
"Sweet spark, who writes this scrap?" He glanced over at the orange bot sitting next to him, who was wearing a look of disappointment. "You really buy into this kind of stuff, huh?"
"You asked to look at it," Scoop said with a huff, taking back the datapad from Windcharger. "Besides, I don't see how you can't at least appreciate the fluency of the prose."
"I'm not much of a reader, to be honest," Windcharger said with a shrug. "You could try showing it to Skids; I'm sure he would appreciate it more than me."
Scoop looked at Windcharger as if he had just insulted his motherboard. "Skids? You have to be joking. He's not a true believer."
Windcharger tilted his head quizzically. "How so? He wears a Matrix tattoo, doesn't he?"
"Yes, but he follows the blasphemous texts of Beta Trion. He believes in the heretical notion of Primus dividing himself into five."
"You don't believe in the Guiding Hand?"
"No!" Scoop snapped, startling his peer. "Primus is one! Primus is whole! All of our gifts come from him: Life, death, change, knowledge, wisdom... to simplify such divine presents is an insult to--"
"Okay, okay." Windcharger held up his hands defensively. "I didn't mean to touch a nerve circuit. See, this is why no one here likes talking to you."
Scoop scowled. "You mean besides the fact that I don't have any powers like you and the others."
"Oh no, not this again," Windcharger muttered. "Look, the Academy is open to all, not just Outliers. Shockwave has made that clear more than enough."
Scoop's scowl deepened but bit back any further retort as the other students filed into the classroom. Windcharger moved over to sit with Skids and Glitch, leaving Scoop to himself. A few minutes later, Shockwave himself walked in, showing off a black and gold color scheme.
"Sorry I'm late," the Councilor said with an apologetic smile. "I had to buy a new can of gold paint; the one I had turns out was susceptible to GPS." His grin broadened as he held up an ebony-coated servo. "I prefer to have both of my hands in one piece."
The class erupted in laughter. Scoop did not join in; he was not much for pre-class banter.
Gratefully, Shockwave quickly cut to the chase. "Now then, yesterday we had discussed the properties of energon and its importance to sustaining our race. Today, I would like to bring up a concern I've had ever since I was a student myself:
"What do we do when the energon runs out?"
Several of the students murmured to each other. Scoop leaned forward in his seat, intent on listening.
"Today," Shockwave said carefully, "we're going to answer that question."
--Cybertron, now--
Scoop screamed as he came back to life.
His inner modules whirred like crazy as it struggled to process the fact that he was back online when he should have been dead. He should have been very dead.
He remembered his death very vividly. He remembered the Decepticons tearing him apart, with one of them holding his spark casing in their claws, slowly crushing it, and then... darkness. And now, here he was.
Is this the Afterspark? he wondered. Was this what awaited everyone after death? If he was being honest with himself, he had been expecting something more... spectacular.
Once his systems had calmed down from the initial shock, he slowly and carefully sat up, brightening his optics. As soon as he did, he saw a small figure standing at the foot of his berth. The purple, box-shaped robot noticed him and raised a clawed hand in greeting.
"Hi, there. I'm Fistfight. Glad to see it worked."
Scoop's mouth fell open in shock. "Are you... are you the Necrobot?"
"Eh?" The robot shook its square head. "No, I already told you who I am. I'm Fistfight."
"Where am I then? Is this... is this the life after death?"
Fistfight hesitated for a moment. "I mean... kinda? You were dead for two years, and now you're alive again."
"Two years?!" Scoop jumped to his feet, forcing the purple robot to back up in alarm. "I've been dead for--?! How am I alive then?"
"Ah, you can thank Ore-14 for that," Fistfight said, sounding almost proud.
Scoop blinked in confusion. "Ore-14?"
"Yup! You have the honor of being the sixth successful test subject. Congratulations on your new lease on life!"
It took a moment for Scoop to realize he was shaking. His processor was still trying to digest everything he had heard. Nowhere in the Covenant of Primus was such a thing as resurrection ever mentioned. It went against everything he had come to believe about life and death. It was reality-breaking for him.
Fistfight did not seem to pick up on the existential crisis Scoop was having as he cheerfully said, "So! You ready to go back down to Cybertron?"
Something in Scoop's processor snapped and he collapsed to the ground in a nervous wreck, murmuring prayers to Primus.
Fistfight stared at the Autobot as he awkwardly fidgeted with his claws. "Huh. That's a new one on me."
DISTANT STARS
Part 1: Second Chances
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