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The Beast Wars didn’t end, but they ended for Rampage. Depth Charge made sure of that.
There wasn’t much left of his ruined ship that was salvageable, but he picked through it anyway, carefully extracting anything that could be of use. Rampage was his shadow, watching the process carefully. Depth Charge handed him pieces to hold and take back to the beach.
They lit a fire as the light of Earth’s star began to disappear, and Depth Charge fiddled with the parts long into the night.
“What are you doing?” Rampage finally asked. Depth Charge had pushed him aside multiple times for getting in the way of his light.
“I’m trying to make an energon converter,” Depth Charge answered. “It would be easier if someone hadn’t wrecked my ship.”
He glanced up in time to catch Rampage squinting at him in amusement. “I just didn’t want you to leave me,” he said.
“Well, you got your wish. Now we’re both stuck here,” Depth Charge grumbled. Of course, Rampage was completely unrepentant. He shifted, laying on his front so he could see more closely what Depth Charge was doing.
“Where did you learn this?” Rampage asked.
“Omicron,” Depth Charge answered. “We were a long way from Cybertron, and things would break. You had to learn to be creative with repairs.”
Rampage fell silent at the mention of his former prison. Depth Charge followed suit.
They hadn’t talked about it yet. Sometimes the weight of it burned, filled him up to overflow with loathing—at himself, at Rampage, at those Maximal scientists and leaders, at Megatron—but no. Not yet.
Depth Charge got the small machine working. It wasn’t pretty, but it functioned, which meant the only thing keeping them close to the Ark and the Maximals and the whole ridiculous war was no longer relevant. The two of them stood on the beach as the sun’s rays just barely reached over the horizon, turning the sky pink and orange. Cybertron had its beauty, but it had nothing like this.
“Pick a direction,” Depth Charge ordered.
Rampage hesitated for only a moment before pointing out across the ocean. Depth Charge nodded, and walked into the water.
They swam together for a long time, and rarely went to the surface. Their aim was not to rush— just to put distance between themselves and what they were leaving behind. Occasionally they stopped to rest, and Rampage would find a crevice in the ocean floor to hide in, and Depth Charge would put himself in the openings, wedging Rampage inside, and they would doze. But mostly they swam, headed in a straight line, waiting for something to pop up.
And eventually, something did. A string of islands, each one plenty large enough to set up shop.
Depth Charge didn’t have Rampage’s twisted gift of empathy, so it was sometimes hard to tell what he was thinking. He thought he was getting better at it. Now, standing on this new beach leagues away from any hint of another Cybertronian, Rampage took it all in slowly, with wide eyes. He looked hungry—or maybe it was something more like wonder.
“We’re staying here?” he asked.
“For as long as you want,” Depth Charge confirmed. As long as the Maximals and Predacons stayed far away from here.
Rampage turned that look on Depth Charge. He never knew what to do with that, but Depth Charge was not one to back down from a challenge. He met Rampage’s gaze.
For one long drawn out moment, time was at a standstill, but then Rampage let up, his expression morphing into something a little more playful. “Want me to build you a house?” he asked.
“You wouldn’t know how,” Depth Charge said.
“I’ll figure it out,” Rampage said. He sounded awfully confident. “How hard could it be?”
“Be my guest,” Depth Charge said, gesturing out at the uninhabited island. “But I’m not living in something that looks like it’s going to come down on top of me.”
Rampage chuckled. “Of course not,” he said. “You deserve the finest of luxuries. Like your starhopper.”
The starhopper had been the farthest thing from a luxury. He’d had a nicer ship, until X had stolen it and crashed it into a mountain while they were still playing their game. It had been a sore spot for a while after that. “I’m hearing a lot of talk, but I don’t see any building going on.”
Rampage took that as all the permission he needed, and ran full tilt to the middle of the island to start exploring. He disappeared from view moments later.
Depth Charge took his time. He walked the perimeter of the first island, looking for a place to set out his energon converter where it would be safe from the ocean and the rain, and then set about searching for energon crystals to feed it with.
He found Rampage first, who had found a spot he seemed to like and had started to dig. Depth Charge sat and watched him for a while. Birds flew overhead, undisturbed by the trespassers. There were ground creatures, though, that Depth Charge watched poke their heads out of the cover of bushes, trying to ascertain whether they were a threat.
A thought struck him, or maybe it was more of a feeling—acceptance. He could see himself living here, he realized. And why not? There was nothing on Cybertron waiting for him. Without the Maximals and Predacons, this planet wasn’t so bad. And as for Rampage…
Well. He’d caught him, hadn’t he? Rampage wasn’t going anywhere without Depth Charge ever again. There would not be another Omicron or Rugby.
And if that meant living out here, undisturbed and far away from the nearest sentient creature, there were worse fates.
Rampage had been busy.
He liked the digging. It felt right. He dug a big hole and then covered up the mouth of it with branches so that it was practically undetectable unless you were looking for the entrance.
“I’m not living in a hole in the ground,” Depth Charge said when he’d shown it off.
“It’s a nice hole,” Rampage defended, and jumped down into it to demonstrate how cozy it was. It at least had to be better than recharging on the beach, right? “Try it.”
“No,” Depth Charge said, and walked away.
So, okay, fine. It couldn’t be a hole in the ground and it had to look structurally sound. Picky. But Rampage wanted this, wanted to make something for Depth Charge that he would like, so he tried again. He left the hole as it was, though, because he liked it.
The next house he made by knocking down trees and positioning them leaning against each other to make a triangle. That one was alright, and Depth Charge agreed to go inside it, but it leaked when it rained no matter what Rampage did to try fixing it. Not that the water harmed either of them, but it was annoying. Still, it was a decent shelter and a place to recharge.
And there was a lot of recharging. He thought it was just the luxury of it all—nothing to do, nowhere to run to, nothing to fight. And for Rampage, much of the luxury came from having Depth Charge available, always within arms reach, and when he did reach for him, Depth Charge didn’t pull away. Rampage would inch closer and closer until they were practically on top of one another, and Depth Charge would rest a hand on his back or his head, and they would doze. It was the most at peace Rampage had ever felt, and he was slowly getting used to it.
There were bad days. There were days Rampage woke in Depth Charge’s arms and could taste loathing so thick and heavy it filled his mouth with it. Those were the days he remembered Depth Charge could change his mind at any time—could decide that what Rampage had done was unforgivable after all, could unsheathe an energon blade and plunge it into his spark chamber while he slept and finally have a chance at offlining him for good.
The thought didn’t bother him too much. He was always going to die by Depth Charge’s hand.
There were better days, too. Days where they swam together. Days where Depth Charge took Rampage’s hand in his own, unprompted. Days where Rampage could taste emotions from Depth Charge he couldn’t quite name, but they were sweet and made his mouth tingle.
The good days outnumbered the bad. For the first time in his life, Rampage was content.
Shortly after they’d arrived, Depth Charge had established some rules. There were really only two—the islands were fair game but neither of them could swim beyond certain landmarks without the other, and there would be no killing.
“There’s only animals out here,” Rampage pointed out, a bored tilt to his mouth. They were wedged into the crude house he’d built, barely enough space for both of them to sit up straight. Part of Depth Charge thought the hole might have been more spacious, but he was sticking to his principles.
“And they’re all going to die of natural causes,” Depth Charge said, staring him down. It didn’t matter that they were animals. They were alive, and Rampage had a high enough body count.
“Like killing and eating each other.”
“Yep.”
Rampage shrugged. “Alright,” he said, and Depth Charge hoped that would be the end of it.
They found a slow rhythm, without anything pressing to accomplish. Nothing in Depth Charge’s life had prepared him for this level of idleness. There had always been a job to do, a goal to accomplish, even if that goal was just to earn enough to survive. Now… All Depth Charge had to do was make sure there was enough energon to feed the both of them. The rest of his time was open and free. He was slowly figuring out how to fill it.
Rampage was better at this than he was, frustratingly. Rampage was on his third attempt at a reasonable shelter. He took breaks to climb trees or dig on the beach or pull Depth Charge out swimming with him. Maybe that was more for Depth Charge’s benefit—he could always tell when Depth Charge was feeling particularly restless.
It took time, but Depth Charge started to settle down. He found things he enjoyed. He liked swimming for swimming’s sake. He liked the satisfaction of having a nicely sized stock of energon crystals. He liked sitting on the beach watching the sun paint the sky on its way out, and watching the stars wink back into existence one by one. And if Rampage used the last of the light to burrow and get sand everywhere before ultimately coming to rest in Depth Charge’s lap, that was fine. The grains of sand getting into his joints gave him something unimportant to complain about.
There were bad days, but most of them were alright.
This looked like it was shaping up to be a bad day.
Depth Charge hadn’t been in the best mood anyway. He’d gone looking for energon crystals due to boredom and hadn’t found any. Eventually this island and the surrounding water would run out, and then where would they go? Did Earth have enough to sustain them for the next few million years? Were they changing the timeline simply by living here?
Rampage had no such concerns. Depth Charge found him on the beach, taking a break from the construction work. This one was taking a little longer than the previous one. He’d picked a spot already dense with tall palm trees, and was making walls out of rocks from around the islands and the ocean floor. He hadn’t come up with a plan for the roof yet. Depth Charge let him be. He could have offered some assistance, but these projects were important to Rampage, and Depth Charge didn’t want to get in the way.
Now, Rampage was huddled down on the beach in his beast mode, facing off against a group of much smaller crabs. He was nearly surrounded by them, and they all looked ready to fight. Depth Charge could only guess what he’d done to upset them.
He watched from a distance. There wasn’t a lot of movement—just crabs waving claws around threateningly, until finally one lunged, pinching Rampage's arm.
Instinctively, Rampage brought his own claw down on top of it. There was a loud crack, and Rampage froze as the rest of the crabs scurried this way and that to escape. Moments later, the only figures on the beach were Rampage and the still, broken crab shell.
It was clearly dead. Watching Rampage slowly lift his claw and peek underneath, Depth Charge felt—
He walked over. Rampage flinched away from him.
“I—it attacked me—” Rampage tried.
“You’re bigger and stronger,” Depth Charge said. “It never could have hurt you.”
Rampage transformed and took another few steps back as Depth Charge advanced on him. He wasn’t sure what Rampage was running from, wasn’t sure what he himself was liable to do. His chest felt cold, oddly detached from any emotional reaction. The chill was seeping into his limbs.
“Stop moving,” Depth Charge ordered, his voice quiet. Rampage did as he was told, frozen and wordless, waiting.
Where to even start? “You agreed to the rules,” Depth Charge said. “No more killing.”
Rampage seemed to be trying to shrink away. Why? “It was an accident,” he mumbled.
A flash of anger hit him, white hot—Depth Charge grabbed the upper edge of Rampage’s chest plating. “You can’t have accidents with a history like yours,” he ground out. “Not with people who were never a threat to you.”
It wasn’t about the crab. Depth Charge knew that. He couldn’t have cared less about the crab. Maybe that was wrong of him.
Rampage, for his part, was quick on the uptake. “Never a threat?” he repeated, disbelieving. “You saw what they did to me.”
“I saw what a small handful did,” Depth Charge said, shaking him. “But you couldn’t leave it at that. You had to kill everyone.”
Rampage had the gall to laugh. “If I’d stopped at them, that would have made it okay?” he asked. “I can only imagine how that would have gone. ‘Congratulations, X, you’ve killed your tormentors. Now you’re free to go!’”
“They were innocent!”
“They all let it happen,” Rampage said, clearly frustrated. “No one did anything!”
“Including me!” Depth Charge shouted. And that was the crux of it, wasn’t it? Depth Charge had been guiltier than most of Omicron from the start. He’d allowed Rampage to be hurt, and everyone else had died because of it. It had been so much easier to blame Rampage for the whole thing than to confront that. “Most of them didn’t know you existed. But I’m still here, and they aren’t.”
Rampage had stilled. “You were different,” he said. “You talked to me.”
“You can’t kill people for not talking to you,” Depth Charge snapped. “Or for making you feel jealous. Or for pinching you.”
It felt strange, to be fighting Rampage with words and not weapons. Depth Charge’s arm itched to throw a punch—he released Rampage and took a few steps back, to take away the opportunity. That was the last thing he wanted right now.
They should have talked earlier. He shouldn’t have waited until he was ready to blow up.
Depth Charge sat down on the beach facing the ocean, digging his hands into the sand and squeezing to give himself something else to do. In the corner of his eye, he watched Rampage slowly get on his knees and crawl towards him. He reached out, taking hold of Depth Charge’s arm—Depth Charge flinched, half expecting him to initiate the fight, but no blow came, and Depth Charge did not look at him or pull away.
“I didn’t mean to kill the crab,” Rampage said, slowly, like he was grasping for the right words to put in the right order. The ocean waves had begun to darken as the sun made its way toward the horizon. “I can’t make it not have happened.”
“I know,” Depth Charge said. Rampage couldn’t change the past or take back anything he may have regretted, and neither could Depth Charge. They were stuck in the present, beyond the point where blame or grudges were useful. “Promise me you won’t do it again.”
“I promise,” Rampage said, and he sounded sincere this time.
“Okay,” Depth Charge said. And it would be—would have to be. Rampage crept closer, settling himself against Depth Charge, and Depth Charge extracted his hands from the cool sand to pull him closer. Together, they watched the evening turn into night.
There were more good days, after that, and far fewer bad ones. Rampage stopped thinking about Depth Charge killing him. Depth Charge had only asked one thing of him. It may have been a lot to ask for, but Rampage would do it for him. He’d do anything for him.
Rampage started sneaking off to one of the other islands when Depth Charge was doing other things. At first, he was able to pretend nothing was going on, but before long he had to ban Depth Charge from this island entirely. He had big plans, and he didn’t want the surprise to be ruined.
The third house had been alright, and more structurally stable than the second, but it wasn’t perfect. Depth Charge deserved more, and Rampage wanted to give it to him.
It had come to him while exploring. He’d found a cave that led to an internal pool of water, crisp and clear. All it needed was a little natural light…
From there, the project had just grown. Basic furniture, a porch, a door. Rooms carved out of the mountain that wouldn’t get wet no matter how hard it rained. He found a few cool rocks and shells to decorate with. He found some energon crystals and swiped them before Depth Charge could complain. He did his best to make a soft space big enough for them both to recharge in, and he dug a hole next to it, just because he could.
He worked tirelessly. It was very hard keeping the whole thing a secret. Depth Charge had relented and stayed off the island, but Rampage wanted very much to show it off.
Finally the day came.
“I don’t like this,” Depth Charge said bluntly, his optics off, as Rampage led him along by the hand.
“You will like it,” Rampage insisted.
Depth Charge stumbled over a small rock Rampage hadn’t led him around. “Not if I break something on the way.”
Rampage laughed. “Don’t you trust me?”
Depth Charge fell silent at that. Was that good or bad? Probably good, Rampage decided. He didn’t taste any outright hostility. He was more careful to steer Depth Charge away from small obstacles as they got to the base of the mountain.
“Okay, you can look now,” Rampage said just as they stopped in front of his creation. Depth Charge’s optics came back online, and he took it all in. All that was visible from the outside was the awning built around the cave’s opening, a roof made of overlapping pieces of palm tree bark held up by tree trunk pillars, and the door that covered the cave’s opening to keep out the wind. Depth Charge took his time studying it.
Finally he looked at Rampage. “Is this another house?” he asked, stunned.
Rampage nodded. He tasted a hint of something, and wanted more. “Come inside,” he urged, pulling on Depth Charge’s hand.
He was proud of the space he’d managed to create in the cave without causing structural collapse. It had been decent to start with, but he’d expanded it, evening out some edges, making room for everything he could think of a house needing. Not that he’d ever lived in one. He used the Darksyde as a basic template—there was a place for them to recharge. There was a place for refueling, with a crude table and two rocks they could sit on, and a counter for Depth Charge to put his energon converter. Then there was the hallway leading to the pool.
Depth Charge said nothing as Rampage showed off his hard work, silently taking it all in. The something grew stronger and stronger, unidentifiable but intoxicating. And then they got to the pool.
Rampage had taken care to do this at the right time of day. Sunlight streamed in through the skylight he’d made and lit up the energon crystals under the water, which caused the whole pool to glow and threw reflected sunlight onto the walls of the cave. It was beautiful, even Rampage could tell. Sometimes he’d taken breaks to sit by the pool and just watch the gentle waves of sunlight on the walls. The effect was mesmerizing, even calming.
Rampage led Depth Charge to the edge and then turned to look at him, almost nervous now. He still hadn’t said anything.
Depth Charge seemed to realize he was waiting for something. “Did you punch a hole in the side of the mountain?” he asked, squinting at Rampage in disbelief.
“There was some punching involved.” There were also some bullets. It hadn’t been easy. “Do you like it?” he asked, hesitant.
“It’s incredible,” Depth Charge said, and his voice, his tone… Wonder? Pride? Something else? Rampage didn’t know, but he knew he liked it.
An urge overcame him, to be closer, and he was not one to deny himself—he pressed in to Depth Charge’s side, hands searching for a good place to hold on to. “You said I wouldn’t know how to make a good house,” he said, proud that he had proven Depth Charge wrong.
“It did take you four tries,” Depth Charge pointed out. He wrapped an arm around Rampage’s waist and rested his head against Rampage’s, their foreheads together, letting his optics shut off again.
“And they were all good,” Rampage insisted. He still hung out in his first hole sometimes.
Depth Charge chuckled, and it always made Rampage feel so victorious, getting a laugh out of him—it was better than winning any battle, better than their game had ever been.
“Wanna try out the berth?” Rampage asked, hopeful.
“Mm... Why not.”
Rampage tugged him along, back down the hallway and into the room he’d made just for recharging. It was much more spacious than his previous attempts at shelter—this time Depth Charge didn’t have to pull his wings tight around him to fit into the room. It was less a berth and more a pile of soft things Rampage had found, but he thought it was good enough. He pulled Depth Charge down on top of him.
“Why is there a hole here.” It was less a question, and more a resigned acknowledgement.
“That’s for me when you’re not around,” Rampage explained.
“Someone’s going to fall into it,” Depth Charge said. He shifted, adjusting until he found a more comfortable position to recharge in.
The thought made Rampage laugh. He was nearly giddy—his best house yet was finished, and Depth Charge liked it, and Depth Charge was here with him, holding Rampage close and covering him with his wings—it was good. It was all very good.
They drifted off together. When Rampage awoke, he didn’t taste the sticky bitterness of loathing. The sweet something stayed. Rampage wanted to taste it for the rest of his life.
He was off to a pretty good start.