Part 2 or 2. After several months, I finally figured out how to end this story. As usual, I don't own Transformers.

Prisoners? You're keeping prisoners now?

Yes.

Sunlight bounced off of the Decepticon's silver armor, burning his eyes.

You have to teach them a lesson about respect. This was just business but now it's personal, do you understand me?

Soundwave laughed, chilling Dylan to the bone. But it had to be done. Inevitably, they would find some way to escape.

I understand. No prisoners, only trophies.

Dylan jerked awake, hitting his head on the wooden carton he had been leaning against. He pushed the snow goggles up to his forehead, letting the blood flow back into his face.

How long had he been asleep? Five minutes? Five hours? The storm sounded quieter than before, so it must have been a considerable amount of time.

His eyes slowly moved to his 'guest'. Soundwave had shifted to lie on his side, but he appeared to still be sleeping.

Dylan was glad that he couldn't see Soundwave's eyes, because he knew they would be the same ones he had seen in the dream or the memory or whatever it had been. He wasn't one to believe in reincarnation of any kind, but this kind of insanity had never happened to him before.

"This is probably all your fault," he said to no one in particular.

Despite the wind, it was surprisingly quiet. Dylan checked the time. Two more hours until his shift ended and the rest of the team would wake up to find a giant robot in the hangar.

Looking more closely at Soundwave, Dylan noticed he was shaking ever so slightly, as if he was cold and shivering. It was warmer now, but Dylan suspected their species was used to climate controlled spaces.

Quietly, he slipped off the crate and made his way to Soundwave hoping to…do what? Dylan wasn't sure but he felt confident enough in his past memories or insanity (neither of which had killed him yet) that he could do something.

He paused a good meter away from Soundwave's head and peeled off his glove. It was warm enough that frostbite wouldn't be an immediate problem.

He stepped forward and placed his hand on the edge of Soundwave's faceplate. It felt cold to the touch. From here he could feel the tremors rocking Soundwave's body.

"It's okay." He whispered, hoping he was being heard.

Consciousness came to him slowly. Error messages scrolled through his systems, warning of system failure if the ice wasn't taken care of. His chest ached as if one of the Autobots had shot him directly in the spark.

The events of the past megacycles temporarily escaped him; he decided it was the fault of his overworked systems. But he was aware that he was in a moderately secure zone which would be safe for a little longer.

Soundwave did not want to wake up. Dealing with death had become second nature for the Decepticon. It felt comforting to think that the end of this was so close, so attainable.

These thoughts floated around his processor. Soundwave was content to let them do just that.

"It's okay."

That voice…it called to him from a place Soundwave couldn't remember. A ruined city. It didn't want to hurt him. Soundwave didn't want to hurt it.

Slowly, he onlined his optics, raising his head slightly. His thermal scanners had been offline until just a second ago – he hadn't realized how close the human had gotten. Although Soundwave couldn't feel it, Dylan was touching him.

Surprised, Dylan jumped, stepping away quickly, and promptly slid on a puddle of frozen water. Almost without thinking, Soundwave reached out and steadied the human, preventing him from falling to the ground.

The human looked at him with surprise written all over his face. Soundwave picked him up and deposited him on the stack of crates he had been sitting on previously.

A notification sent off an alert in his HUD. It was Knock Out.

The groundbridge has just been repaired. We'll be arriving in twenty cycles. Do you need help in…ensuring the silence of the humans?

Now that was a problem. As he scanned the message, Soundwave examined the minimal security of the base and wiped out every virtual indication of his presence. How to deal with Dylan however, was a different problem.

He couldn't kill him unless he killed everyone else in the base, and after that would entail megacycles of faking footage of some kind of accident and distress calls of voices he didn't currently have on hand. It all seemed so tiring.

Soundwave snuck a glance at Dylan, who was staring up at him with a mixture of confusion and concern on his face.

Negative. Reinforcements are not necessary.

Gotcha. Twenty cycles.

Acknowledged.

The transmission shut off, leaving Soundwave alone with the human. He wondered briefly if Dylan had any idea how narrowly he had just avoided death.

Soundwave sat up, shaking the newly formed ice from his body. As the chunks fell, some feeling returned to his body, allowing his self-repair systems to begin working.

How was he supposed to communicate that the human absolutely could not reveal what he had witnessed here? The government, not to mention the entire Decepticon armada would be on his tail without mercy.

"You're leaving?"

Soundwave nodded slowly, guided more by his so-far unfailing sense of déjà vu that anything else. Gently, he picked up the human, holding him carefully with his thin fingers. Dylan didn't seem fazed, but he never had. This whole time.

This piqued Soundwave's curiosity.

"It's okay," Dylan's voice played back as Soundwave plunged into his mind.

Soundwave had scanned multiple human minds before. Typically, they were a mix of want, need and have. Added in was a healthy measure of confusion, fear of what was happening and the sick sense of what they imagined he was doing to their mind.

Instead, Soundwave only sensed that a part of Dylan's brain was inactive. Presumably, the part which contained the explanation of why he was so unbothered by Soundwave. Soundwave probed deeper, feeling Dylan shift in his grip while his mind tried vainly to repel the invading force.

There. The trigger. The repressed memories. Soundwave considered the implications of what he was doing for a full cycle before diving right in.

It clicked. It was the only way Soundwave could explain it. Memories began flooding into both of their minds, Dylan's memories. Or someone who had been Dylan at one point.

He was looking up at Soundwave, or something that was supposed to be Soundwave. Silver armor glinted in the sunlight. They began speeding up, brief flashes of the time spent together, sounds, sights. Those brief moments as their bodies were pressed together and the moment of being perfectly safe. He felt the pure terror as his other self was slaughtered, and the bright pain as Dylan's back hit the pillar.

Dylan panicked, managing to get out of Soundwave's grip. He began tumbling to the floor. Soundwave was quicker, grabbing him again just as he was about to hit the ground.

The human looked up at him for one long moment. Soundwave could not help staring back.

He spoke, but his voice had changed, slightly. It was as if he was waking up from a dream.

"Soundwave?"

Soundwave, again, nodded.

Dylan shook his head and blinked.

"You died! I saw you die and I – what happened to you?"

Soundwave paused. He wasn't sure, exactly.

Dylan glared up at him.

"Don't try and give me the silent treatment, Soundwave. Why am I remembering this?"

"I am…unsure." Soundwave checked his internal timer. Ten cycles to go.

Dylan narrowed his eyes.

"You need to talk to me." the human shifted in his grip, making himself more comfortable.

"I don't know what happened." Soundwave admitted finally. "This was not intended."

Dylan laid his hand on one of Soundwave's fingers.

"You died," he repeated. "I saw you die, but you're here now and that means…"

Soundwave had come up with the same conclusion.

"I must have died as well." Dylan was breathing in short quick breaths. Soundwave was unsure if that was going to be a problem.

"Yes."

"I thought so." He shook his head, then looked up at Soundwave. "What are we going to do?"

Soundwave considered the question.

"Tell no one. I must return to the Nemesis, but I will find a way to contact you."

"O-okay. I can do that."

Soundwave was about to reply when Knock Out opened another channel.

We're waiting outside when you've finished dealing with the problem.

Acknowledged.

Soundwave held him for another long moment before gently placing him on the ground. He stood up, ready to leave.

"Soundwave?"

Almost as a relief, he turned back to the human.

Dylan opened his mouth as is he was about to say something, then shut it just as fast. He seemed to be considering his words.

"Stay safe." Was all he said. Soundwave sensed there was something else that needed saying, but didn't press the human further.

Soundwave nodded and turned back; he could hear Knock Out and Breakdown on the other side of the door.

He opened the door, feeling a cold blast of air on his body.

They were waiting for him, tapping fingers against their armor plating. Waiting to fix him.

He turned back one last time. He was so tempted to break his customary silence, but was unsure what he was expected to say.

Dylan was looking at him with an expression Soundwave knew he had seen somewhere before. He couldn't describe it, but it made the human's aesthetic appearance…different. Soundwave wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing.

He turned back, opening the door and letting the freezing air hit his body. It seemed to clear his mind.

Knock Out and Breakdown stood a ways apart from the building. Knock Out was rocking back and forth on his heels, trying to keep his circuitry online as Breakdown watched seemingly apathetically.

"Everything alright?" the red Decepticon asked, sensing his desire to turn back.

Soundwave nodded and headed toward the ground bridge, finally content to remain silent.

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