Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Beg like the dog you are. Maybe then I'll set you free," Eclipse taunted Sun. "Beg on your knees for me to kill you." Sun didn't move from his crumpled position on the floor. "Did you not hear me?!" A rough kick to the ribs sent Sun sprawling across the room. Eclipse laughed at the agonized scream he let out. 

It hurts so bad. 

Sun trembled like a lamb as he pushed himself up. "Kill me?" He asked sweetly. Hands folded kindly in his lap, knees folded under him properly, with his back straight. "Please?" His eyes were shiny with tears, lips split at the edges from screaming, and his hair was tacky to his forehead from sweat. 

Eclipse laughed. Cackled, really. The sound dripped with hatred and cruelty. "Is that the best you can do?!" He threw his head back and howled with laughter. He heaved as he tried to contain his hyena esk noises. "God you're pathetic. You can't even beg for death correctly! How did Moon put up with you for so long?"

I don't know. Moon had too much patience, even when he hit and hurt.

It was Sun's fault anyway. 

Sun tried, he really did! To keep from crying. He really really did! But his body hurt so badly. His throat was scratched raw, his ribs either bruised or broken, his knee was shattered. He wanted so badly to give in. If only to ease this pain. "Please," he rasped. "Kill me. Kill me. Put me down." 

He really was a dog, pathetic and useless. 

The reminder of Moon, of the twin he lost, of the brother he betrayed, was just too much. Moon would be so disappointed in him. Sun was never known to be the resilient one. That was always Moon, always Lunar, always Solar. 

He'd never see them again, it's okay to give in. 

Tears dripped down Sun's cheeks as he stared up at Eclipse. "Kill me, please!" 

Eclipse's lips split in a taunting grin, "No." 

Chapter Text

Lunar froze. The daycare was still a mess, and Eclipse would be down in less than 10 minutes! He'd been up all night! Trying with all his might to scrub the dried paint and permanent markers off the tables, and floors, and walls, and, and, and! Tears pricked at his optics. 

Would it be better to run? Try to hide and hope and pray that Eclipse wouldn't find him? Or would it be better to be found trying to clean still? 

Lunar scrubbed harder at the permanent marker stains. The paint around his finger joints was flaking off from the cleaner. Eclipse wouldn't be happy about that. Not at all. He hated whenever Lunar needed maintenance he couldn't do alone.. Oh God, what if this earned him a punishment?! 

Time was still ticking down. Lunar whined quietly. The stains mocked him from the table. He looked around quickly, it would be best for him to run wouldn't it? Maybe when Eclipse found him he'd be calmer. 

Probably not, but Lunar could hope. 

He grabbed the bucket of dirty water and the rag. Giving one last desperate wipe down of the table before turning to leave. He could probably go hide in the theater, there were blankets and he could fit into the vents with the Mini Music Man! That sounded like the best bet. 

Except, when Lunar looked up, Eclipse was standing right in front of him. "Lunar," He growled. "Why is the daycare still a mess? Didn't I tell you to clean this last night?" 

"I-" Lunar trembled as he stumbled backwards. "I was cleaning I swear! All- All night!" He showed Eclipse the bucket of water, "See? I promise! I was- I was listening! And being good!" 

Eclipse scoffed. His hands shaped into claws as he crossed his arms, "You really expect me to believe that? I bet you just played all night and hoped I wouldn't realize." His faceplate curled into a snarl. "Do I have to do everything myself? Can you not handle the few tasks I give you?!" 

Lunar stumbled backwards. His legs were tiny in comparison to Eclipse's. Eclipse stomped forward and snagged Lunar's arm, "I can! I can, I promise! I- I was trying I promise!' 

"Trying isn't good enough," Eclipse hissed. He dragged Lunar forward. "If you can't be useless then you have to stay out of my way! But you can't even do that, can you?! Always needing something!' 

Lunar struggled in Eclipse's grip. He was dragging him down the maintenance tunnel 2B, down into Parts And Service. "No, please!" Lunar begged. Eclipse didn't slow down as he dragged him to a supply closet. "Eclipse please! I can be useful! I promise- I swear please!" 

"You've already proved that you can't." Eclipse threw open the door and stuffed Lunar inside. "You're going to stay here in time out until I finish cleaning the daycare." 

"Eclipse please!" Lunar tried to run out only for him to slam the door shut and the lock to click. "Eclipse please let me out!" He slammed on the door. 

The walls were already closing in. The darkness was suffocating, he couldn't breathe. He can't breathe, he can't breathe, he can't breathe, he can't breathe, he can't breathe!

"I'm sorry!" He screamed, "Please! Let me out! Eclipse!" 

His fists slammed on the door. His shaking knees gave out as he continued to try to plead with Eclipse. 

Chapter Text

Solar didn't like mirrors. 

He didn't like reflections, he didn't like glass, he didn't like any of it. He didn't like seeing himself Sun. 

His Moon would always tell him how similar he looked to his Sun. He didn't want to. An egregious amount, considering his Sun was dead. He used to chase Solar for hours, screaming about how it was all his fault. He'd take him to parts and service, trying to remove the parts that looked like Sun. It hurts still sometimes. 

And it was. Solar could admit that. He had been the one that survived the transfer, he had been the one to kill Sun. Thief, murder.

But even still, he didn't like mirrors. 

He didn't like them back in his dimension, when he was always in a state of brokenness. Damaged goods, Moon had called him. He didn't like them when he first came here, working to fix himself with cobbled together pieces. And he still didn't like them now. Even fully fixed. Still broken, still unfixable on the inside. 

He could avoid it though. Wires didn't reflect, code didn't reflect, hell, even their casings didn't reflect if the lighting was low enough. 

He didn't have to ever look at his own stolen face or stolen body. This Moon handled anything like that for him. 

He was.. Nice. Too nice to Solar. 

Unfortunately still, there were times that Solar had to look at himself. Like now. He has managed to jam the gears for his faceplate, and Moon didn't feel comfortable with a screw that close to his wiring. Solar had almost begged but he wouldn't force Moon. 

Understandably. Solar didn't like being close to his friend's celestial wire, and he had far more practice than Moon. 

But that left him here. Staring at the mirror. Trying to fix this damn gear without clawing off his faceplate. He hates his rays, hated the half circle on his face, hated hated hated everything about him. 

He stabbed the screwdriver into his gears with little regard for the damages. The faster he did this the faster he could turn away from the mirror. Oil was slick on the tool as he stabbed it again, and again, and again. 

Pain and system warnings flashed over his optics but he didn't care. He stabbed again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, until the pressure on the gear finally popped free! 

Solar leaned back with a small grin. 

His lower jaw crashed to the ground with a river of oil. 

Oh shit. 

Chapter Text

Eclipse woke up to the new cold of ice water. He jerked, scrambling to get away from the unbearable cold. His systems jump started into action, error after error flashing over his optics from the shock. Moon gave his efforts a cruel chuckle. "Thank you," Sun smiled to his brother. "I didn't really want to have to wake him up." 

"You're welcome." Moon hummed and tilted his faceplate as he watched Eclipse struggle through the errors still bombarding him. 

The prior heat Eclipse had managed to keep was quickly snuffing out. The room had been turned down to practically freezing.. Even without the rude awakening, Eclipse wouldn't have been able to stay warm for very long. His optics flicked over the room. The blinking uncoordinated and out of sync as he tried to take in his surroundings. 

Moon was leaving, waving goodbye to his brother. Sun sat on the other side of the room. Sat. He didn't even stand, didn't give Eclipse the decency of him at least pretending of being concerned about the harm he could do. "Good morning!" Sun chirped to Eclipse. 

Eclipse shivered as he glared. His system blared loudly at his inability to thermoregulate. His joints were freezing, corroding, breaking, as the water dripped down. He could feel as ice crept through his wires. Stabbed through the delicate copper and gold and held him still. He couldn't, wouldn't, justify Sun with a response. 

Sun simply watched. In his arms was a towel; a plush thing that was sure to warm Eclipse should he beg. His silicon faceplate held the slightest hint of a true grin. 

Eclipse hated it. He wished Sun would leave, let him wish he was dead instead of wishing to be in his arms. He trembled and curled in on himself more. Don't break. He reminded himself. Being scrapped would be better than breaking. 

"Would you like to warm up?" Sun's voice rang through the silence. 

"Fuck off." Eclipse shook as he forced his voice box to work. Static rang through his words, making them near intangible. He hated Sun so much. He hated that he wanted the towel; hated that Sun had managed to get this close to making him give in. 

Sun sighed, "You could end all of this by just coming here and asking me to dry you off." His tone was light. A disgusting version of concern. Like he wasn't the one to start this. "I don't like watching you struggle, Eclipse." 

"You did this." Eclipse hissed. He tried to pull his hand off his shoulder to point at Sun. Only for the joint to stick. Frozen to the metal. He couldn't hide the flash of fear and pain in his optics. 

"You tried to kill me," Sun replied airily. He was unamused as he relaxed back to lean against the wall. "I have all day to play this game. You have mere hours before your systems shut down. Do we really have to do this the hard way?" 

Eclipse growled. He couldn't stand as his systems screamed louder. His oil was beginning to freeze in his circuits.. If he wasn't dry and warm soon there was a very real possibility of his systems being permanently damaged. His vocal cords stuck as he opened his mouth. 

Sun's rays tilted a few degrees. He leaned forward and listened silently. 

"Please." Eclipse muttered. His voice barely audible even in the silence of the room. 

"What was that?" Sun's smile slowly grew. It was as cruel as Eclipse used to be. "I couldn't hear you. Speak up." 

Eclipse snarled and tried to jerk forward. His failing heating element nearly cracked with how quickly he moved. Ice crystals brushed over his casings, freezing him from the inside out. "Please." 

"Please what?" 

God damnit. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. "Please dry me off." 

Sun grinned, "Come here." He patted his thigh, coaxing Eclipse like he was a dog. And wasn't that ironic? "C'mer boy." 

Eclipse trembled as he slowly unraveled his arms from his middle. The hydronic piston in his left thigh wasn't responding. There was a good likelihood that he physically wouldn't be able to cross the room to Sun. But.. Eclipse shifted onto his right foot and slowly stood. 

Sun clicked his tongue. "Crawl." 

"I can't." Eclipse whispered. His entire body burned. From the cold, from the rage, from the embarrassment. He tried desperately to bend his damning left leg, only for it to refuse to respond. "I can't." 

"Hm." Sun sighed, "I guess I could come over there, dry you off, and help you warm up but.. You haven't earned it, now have you?" Eclipse stared at Sun in shock. Had he broken him that badly? His mouth opened to beg, but Sun cut him off. "You've been rude, uncooperative, and can't even do the one thing I asked of you." 

Eclipse didn't whimper. He didn't. He was freezing, and tired, and his systems were failing. His leg buckled and he crumpled to the ground with a gasp. "Please." He whispered. "Please, I.. I'm cold." 

"Then crawl." Sun shrugged, "Crawl here and I'll sit with you until you're warm." 

Eclipse could feel his oil clogging in his internal systems. Sluggish as his body tried uselessly to keep himself warm. "Please." 

"No." 

Chapter Text

Sun giggled as he waved away Lunar's concerns, "It wasn't that bad." He placed the crayons where they were meant to go. Moving on to wiping down the barrels in the daycare. 

Sun screamed as Eclipse broke off another one of his rays. He only had two left, and Eclipse had said he'd fix him just to be able to do this again. He didn't know what he was supposed to do with that information.

Did it hurt?

"Honestly I don't even remember most of it." Sun shrugged as he handed Moon the next tool he needed. He rolled his optics at the concern drenching Moon's. 

A dark, damp cage. Crying himself to sleep because he couldn't do anything else he could do in what little space he had.

Did you feel scared? 

"I mean yea, it wasn't fun." 

Ice cold baths where he was forced to stay awake until his battery completely died. Frozen circuits that put in flames as Eclipse burned him.

Were you embarrassed?

"But I wouldn't call it traumatic!" Sun defended himself. He wiped off his arms and shook his head with a huff. Just because the past happened doesn't mean he was crippled! 

Eclipse throwing him to the ground, stomping on his casings until they shattered. Forcing Sun to repair himself over and over. Sneering at him any time he did it wrong, just to be able to punish him again. 

Humiliated? 

Sun hummed, tapping his cheek as his rays twirled. He shrugged, "I was mostly bored." 

There was nothing for him to do when Eclipse abandoned him in Parts And Service. He ripped the casings off his hands, clawed at his faceplate, screamed until his voice box cut out. He had only his thoughts to fill the silence.

Does it still give you nightmares? 

Sunny flapped his hand up and down. "C'mon, there were people that had it worse!" He grinned to Lunar and handed him his bubbles. 

Sun bolted up and nearly sobbed. It was just a dream. He hadn't been saved. He was still trapped.

Did you cry? 

"I don't think I'd choose to do it again but-" 

He was forced under the water again. His circuits screamed as it was electrified once more. His limbs spasming as he tried to get out.

Do you still want to cry?

"-I mean it got me here didn't it?" 

Eclipse was never going to let him go. He would be stuck here, being tortured and hurt over and over until it was no longer fun. Sun screamed as he was forced into the bathtub again. 

Who lied to you?

Chapter Text

Moon was tired. Exhausted, really. Eclipse had escaped again, Sun was freaking out- half disassociated while he obsessively cleaned the daycare, Solar was trying and failing to cope as he fixed the damn teleporter again, and Lunar was distracting Bloodmoon. 

Lunar and Earth, originally, but Moon didn't remember if Earth had gone home yet. Maybe Monty had joined them. Bloodmoon wasn't running around, creating havoc, so something just be going right. 

.. unless they were just were Moon couldn't see them. Not that he'd care right now. 

So yes. Moon was tired. 

He'd tried to make this takedown perfect, he really did. He genuinely, truly, whole heartedly tried. He set up the trap, he protected his friends, he took care of everything. It just..

Wasn't enough. 

Moon sighed and leaned against the wall. He ran a diagnostic check through his systems. Pinging the low battery (2%, he was close to automatic shutdown), the failing coolant system (he'd overheat if he even stood up, wasn't that fun?), the fraying wire in his left hand, and the bent hook on his back (Great. He couldn't even call his wire and fly back to his room. Wasn't today just the greatest?). 

All things that needed to be dealt with. Small problem; he had no energy to do any of it. 

So he was stuck. 

On the floor. 

In the middle of the daycare. 

With no charging cable nearby. 

Now on 1% battery. He sent a quick message to his brother, 'Shutdown.' 

He didn't mark it as important. Wasn't like he would be moving soon. Sun would see it once he felt a bit calmer. maybe he'd forward it to Solar, Moon didn't know. 

He didn't care, really. 

He was just tired. 

0% battery. Engaging automatic shutdown. 

Systems failing. 

Shutting down... 

Shutting down... 

Systems MOON! Offline. 

System error! Restarting...

Systems failing. 

Systems MOON! Unaccessible. Restarting. 

Restart failed. Rebooting... 

... 

Reboot accepted! Systems OLD MOON! Are now reset! 

Chapter Text

He was so cold.. Eclipse glared at the warm, soft, plush towel in Sun's arms. His entire system- his very hard drive burned with embarrassment. His joints were stiff and half frozen from the cold.

"Crawl over here." Sun cooed. Eclipse silently vowed to himself that he'd shut down first. He curled into himself, huddling together his body to conserve what little heat he had left. If felt like the temperature in the room was dropping by the second.

Sun's smile dropped into a cruel snarl. He hummed to himself softly before speaking again. Seemingly collecting himself. "Moon still wants revenge for himself, you know. I could leave you alone with him instead of with me."

Eclipse flinched. He was ever so aware of Moon's hatred of him.

The bot already been torn apart and rebuilt once. Moon ripped out his optics first. Leaving him blind and crying tears of oil- then while he was still off-centered he'd bludgeoned his hands with a sledgehammer. Delicate nerve endings had burst into agony. Carefully calibrated springs shattered.

And even that wasn't enough for Moon's anger! Eclipse had been forced to either crawl or be dragged across the floor to Parts And Services. His interior wiring tearing with every yank Moon gave his failing mech. It was lucky his hard drive still worked! His cooling system has exploded inside his chalice, drenching everything with oil-

Moon had forced Eclipse to attempt to repair himself with his still mangled hands and inoperable optics.

His circuits still sang with agony. Although, the chill from the ice was dulling it out slowly. Hard to feel anything when systems were shutting down to avoid more damage.

What would Sun do if he simply shutdown? Eclipse blinked away the ice crystals in his optics. He'd call for Moon again. He slowly reached a hand out. Dragging himself forward an inch. His left leg wouldn't budge. Whether from the broken piston, or from the ice stabbing him inside and out.

The edges of his vision shifted from focus. Blurry HUDs popped up over his vision, errors clouding over the little view he had left. He dragged his hand forward, gaining another inch towards Sun.

It wasn't like Sun or Moon wanted Eclipse alive. Maybe they'd decommission him the second he broke. A fun toy for them to play with. Steam drifted from his mouth as his heating element attempted to warm him.

Being decommissioned wouldn't be so bad. Away from the cold. Away from the pain. His optics fogged over slightly. Ice creeping over his outer casings. An error message flashed over his screen.

Sun went unfocused in what little view he had left. His optics zoomed in uncontrollably, flicking about as Eclipse tried and tried to drag himself forward. "Ecl-i-i-i?" His audio receptors were inconsistent with picking up sound. "Cmmmm -ere."

The pain was truly the worst part, creeping up through his joints. His hands were nonfunctional as they were stabbed and ripped by his own shortcomings. Soft silicone broke as the macro-pistons failed to fire correctly. Metal warped and twisted.

His vision grew dimmer. Fading in and out now. His left leg fluctuated from online to offline. Every jolt was a new pain as he continued to try to drag himself forward. He could feel his wiring start to spark.

Was his body about to fail? Eclipse curled up as much as he could. Ice crusted his casings- oil dripping out in a half sludge as his reservoir cracked open once more. One last error message filed the screen.

Then his optics went dark.

Chapter Text

Moon tangled his hands into Eclipse's hair and jerked his head back. "Smile!" His grin only grew at the sight of blood dripping down from Eclipse's forehead. The shutter of a camera was heard before his head was allowed to drop.

Eclipse only groaned. His eyes burned, swollen shut from one of the hits he'd had from Sun's brass knuckles. His cheek has split under the pressure- and blood flowed freely from inside his mouth. One of his teeth must've been broken.

Sun only swung another hit at his torso. Earning himself a tortured grunt and a failed breathe from his victim. Sunny groaned, "You're no fun when you're just being quiet! You were supposed to give us fun, fun, fun, forever, ever, ever!"

He turned to his brother with a pout and crossed arms, "What're we supposed to do? All he does is mope and make those pathetic dog-whines!"

Moon shrugged. He grabbed Eclipse's shoulder and jerked him down with all his body weight. The movement dislocated his arm with a fast wet shllopop! That echoed through the warehouse. Eclipse's scream finally rang out, Sun nearly giddy from the sound of his agony.

The lunar counterpart simply undid the knot holding their captive up in the air. He let Eclipse drop to the floor in a pathetic ball of flesh. Moon raised his foot and slammed it down onto the front of his knee, breaking it backwards into a sickening 90° that earned him another scream.

Sun giggled and clapped his hands. The blood from earlier beatings went up back his hands and almost to his forearms. "Yay! Do it again, do it again! Make him scream, Moonie!"

Moon laughed and nodded. He shoved Eclipse to lay sideways, then kicked his injured knee back out. The scream that rang out nearly split the air molecules around them.

Sun stomped on Eclipse's hand, wrist, then kicked against his already aching ribs. Choked breaths and sobs filled the desolate building during the quiet that the captive wasn't screaming.

Moon sneered at the blood that covered his boots. His tibia has ripped through flesh and skin at some point, leaking marrow and blood over the cement and their shoes.

"We need to finish this soon." He addressed Sun, "The police will show up eventually."

"Booo.." Sun pouted. His arms crossed and his cheeks puffed out before he kicked Eclipse once more, "Why can't we play longer? Police are no fun.."

"I know." Moon soothed his brother and cocked his gun, "But neither is jail."

"Do we have to?"

Moon sighed, "Yes." He pulled the trigger and emptied the clip in the victim's head before Sun could complain more. "Now c'mon, we need to leave before they show up."

"Fine..!" Sun kicked the puddle of blood as they walked away from the cooling body. "Can we find another toy later though?"

"Yes we can find another toy later."

Chapter Text

"Its okay," Sun sobbed as he pet his hand over his brother's side. "It's okay, it's okay, it's okay." Tears leaked down his cheeks as he repeated the words in a broken record. "It's okay. I kn-ow it hurt but it's ok-hay."

An agonized wail clawed from his throat. Sinking claws into the muscle and pulling itself up from his chest. Moon's half open eyes only stared back. Glazed and empty.

"Its o-kay-" Sun's voice hitched and he choked on another sob. "Its okay Moonie. You won't h-hurt anymore."

Blood had clotted underneath him by now. Steadily growing colder the longer Sun sat in it.

He couldn't move.

Couldn't leave Moon alone. Not even now that he's.. gone. "It's okay." He took a shuddering breath and swiped Moon's hair to cover his eyes. "Its okay Moon. You're not cold anym-ore. Not hurtin'. It's okay."

Was he telling Moon that, or was he trying to convince himself?  

His hand trembled, his entire body did really. "Its okay Moon." All he could do was continue to hold his brother's cold body. "I'm right here. Its okay. I'm not leaving you alone."

He made the noise of a wounded animal as he bent over Moon. Tears pouring down his face and onto his brother's clothes. "I'm not leaving. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay."

"It's okay."