4GUYS. I'M NOT DEAD.
I am so utterly sorry for making you guys wait for literally a year. I just finished my junior year of undergrad as a computer science major. Only one year to go! But yeah, I was absolutely swamped with homework, projects, tests, quizzes, etc.
Also my girlfriend of 3 years cheated on me with some douche at a party, so I was emotionally devastated for months. I'm doing much better, but my motivation to write was just…gone for a while. But that is no more. Updates might be somewhat infrequent, as I have a summer internship, but I fully plan on being much more consistent with this story.
This chapter has some deeper insight into Jazz's current state of mind, and also introduces…CONFLICT.
*DUN DUN DUN*
I hope you enjoy Chapter 3! Leave your thoughts and feelings in the reviews. Reviews are love, and enjoy! :D
Cybertronian Units of Time
A nano-klik is approximately one Earth second
A klik is about 1.2 Earth minutes
A cycle is about 1 hour 15 mins
An orbital cycle is 24 hours (one Earth day)
A mega-cycle is about 93 hours
A deca-cycle is approx 3 weeks
A stellar-cycle is 7.5 months (there or thereabouts)
A Meta-cycle is about 13 months
A vorn is approximately 83 years
After Jazz watched Celestia drive away, he took a deep cycle and began walking back towards the Autobot base. His processor worked hard as he slowly traveled, as so many questions crossed his thoughts.
What is this that Ah'm feeling? Why am Ah so wrapped in this femme so soon? She's just a normal femme…right? Ah literally met her less than a solar cycle ago. Ah danced with her once. Ah got a kiss on mah cheekplates. That's it!
So why is she on mah processor like glue?
Jazz sighed again, shaking his helm in acceptance. Prowler was right…Ah got it bad.
He chuckled lightly at the thought, and strolled along the streets, simply doing what he did best. Let life carry him wherever it wanted to. Jazz had always been that way, a free spirit who didn't conform to what anyone thought of him. That was what Jazz loved about his life more than anything. He was in control, and he was able to do what he pleased. But that had all changed during the war. When he signed up to be an Autobot, he was a lowly recruit with no idea how to take orders. He rebelled, to say the least. But as time went on, he had gone on to grow up. He had met some of his closest friends throughout his years as an Autobot, and they had gone into battle together to fight for the fate of their world. Some of them had made it through, but many of his brothers had lost their lives in the constant fighting. Jazz felt his spark drop as the memories came flooding back to his processor. He remembered all the time he had spent in the beginning, crying and grieving for the loss of his brethren. But then he had been transferred to Prime's unit, and he had become close to all of his teammates. They had gone through the most dangerous of missions together. They had never lost a single member…until that fateful mission into the heart of Kaon.
He had watched his friend die. Megatron had grabbed him by the helm, lifted his cannon, and blown a hole the size of his torso into his chest like it was nothing. But the mech had simply smirked at Megatron, and told him to go frag himself in his last few moments. Jazz chuckled darkly at that. Even in the face of death, he had laughed at it and flipped the bird in its ugly Decepticon face. Even as he had laid there on the ground, his spark fading away to become one with the All Spark, he had looked at Jazz, and smiled weakly, and gave him a thumbs up, only for his servo to fall limply to the cold metal ground. Jazz remembered everything about that horrible cycle. He had dropped to his knees and yelled his despair into the air of Kaon, screaming as he slaughtered Decepticons with a ferocity that rivaled that of a Prime. Ever since that night, he had never truly been the same. He put up a face for his friends, but everyone saw through it.
Then came the fall of Cybertron, and the Autobots had scattered to the stars. Jazz remembered his time in space being filled with regret and self-loathing for allowing his friend to perish. Ever since then, he had carried the guilt on his shoulders. Even now, in a time of peace, it haunted him to his very spark. Sure, he had tried to shake off the loss with his usual upbeat and carefree attitude, but his friend's death had rocked his entire existence. At one point, Jazz had considered terminating himself because no mech worth his spark would just watch his best friend die and not kill the mech responsible. Jazz shivered as he remembered just how close he had come to pulling that trigger. But he had chickened out, and he had been found in his berthroom, crying tears of hate and despair. For many cycles, Jazz had mourned. Slowly and surely, he began to heal and not dwell in his feelings of guilt so much. He had his bad days, but he had pulled through for the most part. Life had begun to really look up for him as time moved forward. Even the Decepticons had taken a less active approach to hunting down the Autobots. Megatron had mysteriously vanished, and even though the fighting had continued, it wasn't enough to set back either side.
But then…word traveled that Megatron had returned, and was now locked in close combat with Optimus Prime on a small planet known as Earth. After that, the fighting throughout the universe increased in ferocity. Jazz had seen many planets during this time, and had come to love them all, fighting for them as if they were his own homeworld. This was where his love of culture came from, as he saw all the differences and similarities between so many societies. It was fascinating to him, and gave life such a renewed purpose and reason to fight. Jazz rose all the way to the position of third-in-command of the entire Autobot faction. He was immensely proud of it, and fought like a true warrior. Was he by the book? Course not, Jazz smiled. Ain't no need for a book. Ya either do it with style, or you just don't do it all. That's a fact. Sighing, Jazz realized he should probably freshen up before going to see Celestia that night. He broke out of his thoughts, and transformed quickly to head back to base to get cleaned up.
Jazz was not a fussy mech, but he was immaculately polished and washed by the time he was ready to leave. He looked around as he slowly tiptoed out of his berthroom, hoping no other mechs were around to question and tease him. Alas, Jazz would have no such luck. He rounded a corner quickly, and bumped into the chestplates of a taller mech. Jazz slowly looked up and groaned internally.
It was Ironhide, chief weapon specialist of the Autobots, and a firm believer in shooting first and asking questions later. But he was also legendary for his ability to see right through anyone.
"Where ya goin', Jazz?" questioned Ironhide.
"Out" said Jazz quickly, hoping that would be enough to appease him. Of course, it wasn't even close.
"Uh huh…out where?" Ironhide questioned, leaning down and peering directly into Jazz's visor with a hint of a smirk on his faceplates.
"Just out, 'Hide. Nothin' too fun or anything like that." Jazz began to move around Ironhide, and hoped he would take the bait.
Ironhide laughed and grabbed Jazz before he could get away. "I don't think yer all polished up and shiny just to go OUT, Jazzy boy", Ironhide snickered.
…slag, Jazz thought as he realized he had no excuse for that.
"Alright, ya got me, big guy. Ah'm going to see a femme tonight." Jazz said.
Ironhide smiled, "I knew it. I'm happy for ya, mech. You better not bring her back her and get to bonding or nothing like that, the whole base would have a field day with that one!"
Jazz scoffed, looking away to hide his embrassment. "That ain't gonna happen, 'Hide! Now I gotta go, I'll see ya around, big guy." And with that, Jazz began to walk away.
Ironhide grinned and yelled at Jazz's retreating form. "Chromia calls me that all the time…big guy."
Jazz froze and cycled air, and without turning around, flipped Ironhide the bird and quickly strolled away.
The drive wasn't too far, as Jazz commed Celestia to let her know he was on his way. When he arrived, Jazz transformed and walked down her street. However, something felt…off. He quickly reverted to his scouting days and moved swiftly and silently towards her home. As he approached a corner, he heard Celestia's voice, but it was agitated and sounded…fearful. Jazz looked around the corner slowly. What he saw shocked him. Jazz saw a mech roughly gripping her arm, and the energon in Jazz's fuel lines began to boil in anger.
"HEY!" he shouted. The mech quickly turned towards Jazz, and let go of Celestia. From the looks of this mech, Jazz could tell he thought way too highly of himself. He was a dark blue mech with golden trim, a stocky grounder who had probably never done a day of labor in his life. The mech scoffed at Jazz.
"And who might you be, peasant?" asked the mech, and Jazz had resist the urge to punch his smirk off of his faceplates.
"The name's Jazz. Third in command of the Autobots. I saw ya botherin' the little lady here, so ah suggest you shove off before Ah haul ya off to meet a couple of friends of mine who don't take kindly to mechs who think they can handle femmes any ol' way, slaghead."
The mech reeled in surprise, and angrily exclaimed, "HOW DARE YOU! DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?!"
Jazz simply winked his visor and leaned against the wall. "Frankly, glitch, Ah couldn't give a rat's ass about who ya are. So Ah'm gonna say it one more time." Jazz pushed off the wall and grabbed the mech's shoulder plate in spite of his protests. His visor brightened, and Jazz's voice darkened as he unsheathed his energy blade in his servo.
"Leave. NOW."
The mech angrily gasped, and turned to Celestia, who had moved behind Jazz cautiously. "This isn't over, you filthy Autobot service bot." He shot a glare at Jazz, who smiled and pointed towards the end of the street. The mech angrily stormed off, muttering curses under his breath.
Jazz turned towards Celestia, and lightly pulled her into his embrace. "Ya alright, sweetspark? Did he hurt ya?"
Celestia slowly nodded, and wrapped her arms tighter around Jazz. "I think we should go inside, Jazz. There's…something I think you should know about who I really am."
Jazz nodded. "No prob, Celestia. Lead the way, sweetspark."
The two walked into her home, and Jazz was impressed. It was rather spacious for having only one resident. It was white with all purple furniture, and the main room was bathed in a soft bluish glow. Jazz whistled lowly in surprise. He turned towards Celestia to speak, but she was sitting and clasping her servos together nervously. Jazz slowly walked over to her, and sat next to her, waiting for her to speak.
Celestia finally looked up and turned to Jazz. "Jazz…what I'm about to tell you…I…I understand if you don't want be near me anymore after you hear it…"
Jazz looked up, surprised. "I ain't goin' nowhere, sweetspark. Jus' tell me what ya wanna say, no matter how it might feel…Ah won't judge ya. Trust me."
Celestia smiled meekly, and curled up next to him. "Alright…if you insist…but don't say I didn't warn you."
She turned to look into Jazz's optics, and softly smiled at how attentively he was looking at her. "It all began before the war…"
That's Chapter 3!
Evil cliffhanger, I know. But you gotta come back for Chapter 4 to hear Celestia's story. I'll start writing that sooner rather than later, so just watch your notifications, my friends. Until we meet again, stay safe and blessed! Jahn Davis, out!