Greetings and Salutations! This is the first chapter of my very first Transformers story. I wrote this during the July session of CampNaNoWriMo and decided to post it here. As this is my first attempt at writing Transformers, please note that while I do as much research on the canon characters as possible I may not have them down completely quite yet. Also, I try my utmost to ensure that any words used for Cybertronians and their customs are common ones and not something made up from any one fan fiction author. So hopefully I will not be 'stepping on anyone's toes' so to speak.

If you happen to be a reader from my other story A Strange Pikachu in a Strange Land don't worry, I am not abandoning it and should have another chapter finished relatively soon.

Copyright Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers, Transformers fandom terms, Doctor Phil, or any other references to various continuities that may appear here. The only things I own are my OC's and the plot.

Chapter One: How Things Were

A song, if done correctly, is like an audible extension of the soul. Sadness or happiness, tragedy or good fortune, every song has a story to tell. Even if that song did not have words to go with its melody, it was the melody itself that mattered most. Words could be misinterpreted, twisted, lost. But the internal voice of the song could not, it always sang true no matter what key it was played in, or where it was heard.

Perhaps that was why her parents had named her Melody, to remind her that even if she changed on the outside, or said words she didn't mean, her own actions would show just what kind of song she really danced too.

Of course, she enjoyed dancing to many songs, such as the one she was currently pirouetting to in the small, well cared for back yard of her home. The battered and well loved stereo perched on the back porch began trilling high notes as the female singers lead up to the climax of their song.

With perfect timing made possible only by a thousand and one repetitions, eighteen year old Melody Travers leaped into the air, legs performing a perfect split just as the stereo blasted out the highest climactic note, her arms extended to the sky, hands held in delicate positions. The song faded away as she returned to earth with a soft thump and slid into a ballet-style bow.

"Bravo Madam! Bravo!" Melody jumped in surprise and whirled to face the porch.

Upon seeing who was clapping and cheering her face lit up into a smile, "Michael! You're back!" Melody practically flew up the steps to bodily tackle the tall, broad shouldered twenty-one year old.

Michael laughed and returned to enthusiastic hug, "Hey Melody, miss me?"

Melody laughed and pulled out of the hug to lightly smack him on the arm, "Of course I did! Do you have any idea what's the twins are like when you're gone? It's worse than handling a pack of mini-cons!"

Michael raised his eyebrows, "Oh, so, you only miss me because I can entertain the twins? I guess you won't be interested in what I brought you then." Melody crossed her arms over her chest and mock-pouted. Her two different colored eyes growing wide and babyish in an attempt to soften his mood. Michael chuckled and covered his eyes, pretending to be mortally affected by her 'puppy eyes', "Okay, okay! I'll give it to you! Just spare me from death by cuteness!"

Melody ceased her pouting and smiled timidly at her best friend, lightly brushing a strand of honey blond hair from her face as she watched him dig through his pockets for something. With a triumphant noise, Michael pulled a small package from his inner right jacket pocket and handed it to her, "For you, my lovely femme friend."

Melody giggled at his use of a Cybertronian term as she carefully unwrapped the mystery packet. The paper wrapping fell away and she gasped, "Oh, Michael, it's beautiful..." With gentle hands, Melody grabbed the slender chain and lifted the deep blue stone into the air.

Michael smiled at his adopted sister's wonder as she examined the small trinket he had found during his business trip. The engraved chain glinted with a dull copper-gold sheen that accented the rough sky blue stone clasped firmly in its middle. Reaching out, he took the necklace from her hands and motioned for her to turn around. She did, and he gently lifted her blond curls out of the way and began to fasten his gift around its recipient's neck, "I'm glad you like it, Star. I may not be able to buy you a dance studio or a karaoke machine, but I figured this beauty would look real nice around your neck at the recital tomorrow."

Melody turned back around and lightly touched his gift, "I love it Michael. But are you sure it wasn't too expensive?"

Michael laughed, "What? You say that like a board-member's secretary's assistant's assistant doesn't get any pay at all. Please, it wasn't any trouble as long as you wear it with pride."

Melody rolled her eyes, "You do realize that Zip and Track are going to murder you if you didn't get anything for them, right?"

Michael wrinkled his nose, "How dumb do you think I am?" She opened her mouth to reply and he added hastily, "Don't answer that. Where are the twins anyway?"

The unmistakable clatter of sneakers against wood and a youthful scream of outrage had both of them groaning and running for the far right corner of the back-yard fence. A wild brown mop of hair appeared over the top of fence, followed swiftly by bright blue eyes and a muddy face as its owner scrabbled madly to get over to Melody's side of the barrier, "Hurry, hurry! He's almost on us!"

The dirty eight year old cried out in triumph as he managed to swing a leg over the fence and perched on top of it. Melody watched with dangerously narrowed eyes as the mischief maker reached down and began pulling his accomplice to safety. Soon, two identical boys were perched on the fence, calling insults and jeers to someone Melody couldn't see. The first boy called down, "Not so tough now are you? What's the matter? Can't take on a pair of real warriors?"

The second boy piped up unhelpfully, "Yeah! A steak will make those go away no problem!"

Melody growled upwards, "Skyler and Samuel Travers, get down here right now or I'm pushing you back over that fence to face Matthew."

Both boys started guiltily and looked down at her, Skyler grinned shyly, "Oh, uh ... hi Melody! Hope we didn't, uh, interrupt your dance practice or anything."

Samuel nodded in agreement before waving to the glowering Michael, "Hi, Hardwire! When did you get back? Did your trip go well?" Michael merely crossed his arms over his well toned chest and glared silently.

The twins glanced at each other, "w' bi tro?" asked Skyler.

Samuel nodded his head, "tely."

Melody rapped a fist lightly on the fence to get their attention, "None of that. Climb down before Matthew's parents see you, or worse, call ours." Knowing that trying to run would only make things worse, the two identical trouble makers clambered down to stand in front of her, their hands automatically linking for comfort as they stared up at her with puppy eyes.

She stared at them for several seconds, ignoring the sounds of chaos emanating from the neighbors' side of the wooden wall. Finally, when she had decided that the twins were squirming enough, she asked, "What did you two do this time?"

They glanced at each other briefly before Skyler muttered, "Ma tr' cap So an hu hi. S be hi up."

Michael held up a hand, "Ah, ah, ah! In English you two, not twin speak. What did you do to Matthew?"

Samuel scowled and blurted, "He started it! He came over and captured Soundwave and threatened to take him apart!"

Skyler added stiffly, "Yeah, so we staged a rescue mission." As proof of his words, Skyler held up the small, battered Transformers toy that had been the pairs' pride and joy for years.

Melody felt some of her anger wash away at the sight of their loyalty to the toy and crouched down in front of them, "Is that all you did?" She asked softly.

There was a pause that told her everything she needed to know. She sighed, "Guys, I thought we discussed this. Just because Matthew is a bit of a..."

Skyler supplied flatly, "Slagging spawn of a glitched scraplet?"

Melody shot him a stern look and pointedly ignored Michael's snicker, "I was going to say, 'a bit of a trial' but that doesn't mean you two get to lash out at him or be just as much of a problem as he is. You are better than him, and being better means you can't simply march over there and beat him up for taking something that isn't his."

Skyler puffed out his chest, "Hey, Matthew threatened to hurt Sound, so we returned the favor."

Oh, for the love of-! Melody looked up helplessly at Michael, silently pleading for him to talk sense into their little siblings. Michael nudged her gently out of the way and crouched down so he was at eye level with the twins, "Could you two have gotten Soundwave back without hurting Matthew?" He was answered with a petulant shrug and a reluctant nod. Keeping his voice soft, he continued, "And what does Optimus Prime say about Autobots and violence?"

The silence seemed to drag on for an eternity before Samuel muttered apologetically, "He says that Autobots only use violence as a last resort for when nothing else works."

Skyler sputtered indignantly, "But, but he also does anything it takes to rescue a teammate!"

Michael stared levelly at Skyler, "Yes, but no more than what is necessary. You could have gotten Soundwave back without getting into a fight, but you beat up Matthew anyway. You two intentionally broke one of the most important rules of the house and now you are going to have to be punished for it." Standing to his full height, Michael held out his hand, "Give me Soundwave."

Skyler scowled and clutched at the toy, "No! No fair! Not gonna!" Seeing his twin putting up resistance to their fate, Samuel immediately started shouting as well. Melody, knowing what would come next, dived for Skyler. The muddy child dodged her tackle and ran for the house, his sibling hot on his heels.

Melody spared just enough time to glower at Michael, "Nice try, Doctor Phil. But they're Decepticons this week."

Michael shrugged, "It was worth a shot anyway. Let's get them before they leave muddy footprints on the ceiling or something." As they ran after the twins into the house, Melody mused silently, Why do I get the feeling that we're going to wish they did? Then again, what could they do that would be worse than that?

The answers turned out to be, yes, muddy footprints on the ceiling would have been preferable and yes, two eight year olds trying to escape punishment could do much worse things than mud on the carpet or walls. All four of them stared down at the broken antique porcelain teapot in mute horror. The twins had smacked into the shelf holding it in their mad scramble for the hall and knocked the old work of practical art off of its home and to an untimely demise on the floor.

After what seemed like forever, Skyler whispered fearfully, "Mo' i' go t' ki' u' is sh?"

Samuel nodded slowly and whispered back, "May w ca fi i' bef sh com ho?"

Melody swallowed tightly, her mind too occupied with the clay corpse to chastise the twins about using 'twin speak' when others were present, "I don't suppose you bought a replacement hundred year old family heirloom teapot on your trip?"

Michael stared grimly at the million pieces of brown pottery, "Nope." The silence that followed stretched for a long time, nobody wanted to say anything that might make the situation worse somehow.

Samuel looked up at the 'adults' in the room, "What do we do now?"

Michael sighed and ran a hand through his shaggy brown hair, "Start cleaning up I guess. Twins, you two get a broom and a dust pan. Melody, can you help me sweep up the pieces?"

Melody nodded and crouched down to carefully begin gathering the larger pottery shards into a pile for sweeping, "How long before she notices it's gone do you think?"

Crouching next to her, Michael shrugged slightly, "No idea. With her instincts however, it probably won't be long. Maybe long enough to run for our lives … possibly."

Melody could help but giggle at that, "Laura goes bowling every Tuesday remember? She's got a killer aim."

Michael gingerly placed another piece on the growing pile and pretended to consider this, "You're right. In that case we might have just enough time to beg for mercy by offering ourselves as eternal servants to do her laundry washing." Melody gave a weak smile at his joke.

It was almost amusing to talk about Laura Travers that way. Not because she was cruel or nasty, quite the opposite, their foster mother was a very kind and caring person, if a little bit odd. Normally, Melody wouldn't have been too worried about the twins breaking something in their mad scrambles. Sure, they would be scolded and punished, but it would be a guaranteed fair punishment. But Laura's heirloom pottery was different, the pottery had always been off limits.

The one time previously that the twins had almost broken one of the delicate tea cups, Laura had thrown a fit of cataclysmic proportions. After that, none of them had so much as looked cross-eyed at them for fear of what the action might spark. Now they were going to have to find out what happened when one of her priceless antiques was shattered into a myriad of irreparable pieces.

Michael's puzzled voice broke through her thoughts, "The twins are taking an awfully long time getting those cleaning supplies." Melody looked up in mild surprise. It was true, they were taking a long time.

She stood up slowly, feeling strangely worried, "Zip? Track? Where are you two?"

The answer came faintly from the kitchen, "We're in here, Star! Trying to figure out the funny smell!" Funny smell? Something unidentifiable began gnawing at her stomach as every primal instinct in her body screamed, 'danger!' She hurried to the kitchen, dimly aware that Michael was following close at her heels.

The twins were standing side by side in front of the gas stove, noses in the air and sniffing curiously. They had the cleaning tools in hand, but had obviously been too puzzled by the 'funny smell' to continue their original task. Skyler looked up at her, "Smell it? I think it's coming from the stove. It's making a hissing noise too." Melody lifted her nose slightly in the air and sniffed, noting the afore mentioned hissing sound as she did. An heavy sweet smell hit her nose, bringing with it the unconscious image of a car or truck. What in the world?

Horrid realization struck her just as Michael ran forward and grabbed Skyler, yelling, "Gas leak! Everyone out! Outside now!" Melody felt adrenaline jolt through her system and her heart pound as she immediately grabbed Samuel and ran for the front door. A tiny part of her mind tried to remain calm, it's only a leak, no need to panic just yet. Just get outside to a safe distance and call 911. Don't panic, stay calm, the twins need you to stay calm!

Just as they reached the front door and Michael was yanking it open, Samuel stopped, "Wait! Prowl is still in my room!" He turned and started to fight Melody's grip, "I've got to get him!"

Michael reached out and yanked Samuel through the door, "No, you need to get outside to safety!"

Samuel and Skyler both began fighting, they loved the small police car transformer almost as much as Soundwave and refused to leave their 'comrade' in danger. Melody abruptly shouted over the noise, "Stop!" Crouching swiftly down in front of the twins she said urgently, "Where is Prowl?"

Michael was giving her a 'don't you dare' look that she promptly ignored. Samuel stammered out tearfully, "On-on the d-dresser! P-please! I h-have to-!"

Melody cut him off, "No, get to safety, I'll get Prowl and be right back." Without waiting for Michael's yell of protest, she was on her feet and running back through the house, trying to ignore the steadily increasing smell of gas filling the house. Running upstairs with a natural grace and speed, she burst into the twins shared room and immediately spotted the troublesome toy sitting innocently on the dresser as promised.

Grabbing it, she ran downstairs again, heart hammering in her chest like a drum as she made for the door. Almost there! Melody burst out the door and started sprinting across the yard towards the whimpering twins and an outraged Michael. Almost safe, almost safe, I'm going to be okay, we're going to be okay.

However, fate apparently had other plans for them. Just as Melody reached the group, she heard the unmistakable scream of a vehicle engine gone wild. The driver of the Chevy pick-up, drunk and speeding well over seventy miles per hour, screeched around the corner, jumped the curb, and flew straight for the evacuated house.

The world became unbearably slow for Melody. She could hear every pound of her heart as it jumped against her ribcage, see clumps of turf fly as the kamikaze truck headed unstoppably for the home she'd lived in for twelve years, and know exactly what was about to happen. Yet, despite how much her mind screamed for her body to run away, it refused to respond. She simply stood there as the vehicle rushed past her and through the wall of the house. The world didn't even speed up as the gas, volatile enough as it was, started to explode.

As she watched to wall of fire roll towards her in slow, almost frame by frame motion, she found that her last thoughts weren't about her impending death, or whether it might hurt. Her only thought was, at least the twins won't get in trouble about the broken teapot. Then, everything was searing hot and totally dark.