Requiem of the Primes

Chapter 3

Elita sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose and closing her optics, "And understandable as that is, I am afraid to tell you this kind of behavior cannot go unpunished. I understand you don't know all the rules yet and I thank you for being honest with me, but I think you know as well as I do that this kind of thing can not be encouraged."

M's helm fell in shame but he nodded, "Yes ma'am." He said softly.

"I have to agree with Elita there," Optimus nodded, making the mechling wince slightly at the disappointed gaze he was being held in, "Nothing too harsh, but enough to let you reflect on your actions.

M looked up nervously, "And that is...?"

——————

"Frag it all," M muttered in annoyance, letting his helm fall with a thunk onto his desk littered with datapads and books.

Not only did he have a test to study for already, but Elita had given him extra homework from the lessons he'd missed to complete as punishment for bunking classes.

He groaned and turned his helm sideways, rubbing his face as he looked at the mish-mash of scribbles that were supposed to be his notes.

"It would take a philologist to decipher these," He muttered, trying to read his own handwriting.

In the end, the purple mech just sighed and let the pad fall to the desk, stretching as he pushed his chair away from it and stood up. He rubbed his optics, the only light coming from a small desk lap already making him feel like he was staring at the sun.

He turned and almost groaned when he saw it was almost midnight.

He was nowhere near done!

"Stupid mech making stupid choices," He grumbled angrily and his the palm of his servo against his helm.

The youngling just turned and opened his sliding door, walking out onto the platform and looking around. Everyone else's cubicles were dark as they recharged, his was the only one lit up.

"You lucky bots," He sighed, not even bothering to slide the door closed as he went over to the ladder and slid down it, landing lightly on the floor.

Deciding he needed some fuel, M yawned widely as he stumbled through into the dark common area, though paused in the archway.

Three young bots were gathered around one of the small side tables, a single dim light on it that only just illuminated their faces as they sat in a circle on the plush chairs.

They spoke in hushed whispers so M dulled the brightness of his optics, melting into the shadow of the entrance and shuffling closer to hear, curiosity getting the better of him.

"You really think our teachers would hide something like this from us?" The smallest asked softly, a short and bulky mech with grey plating.

The red mech to his left nodded with a grim expression, "Yeah. They've been trying to hide it since the beginning. They think we won't notice 'cause we're kids."

"To be fair, none of us would know if you hadn't decided to sneak out and try to steal energon goodies from the cafeteria," The light blue one piped up, the higher voice telling him she was a femme.

"Yeah, but I didn't think I'd overhear that!" Red defended himself, "Trust me Moony, I would've stayed ignorant if I had the choice!"

The femme, Moony as he called her, rolled her optics and crossed her arms, "Really? You would rather live like an idiot than pay attention to the fact there's a secret war going on right now?"

M blinked at her statement.

There was a war going on right now?

"To be fair, we should have seen it sooner," The grey one said, leaning back, "I mean after the whole defeat of Sentinel, an entire evil faction is formed and then just disappears? That don't sound right."