"NO! He'll come! For sure! He'll be alive...!" Skye Banes wish she could sound more certain.

The reality was; She wasn't certain that Starscream would make it out alive or not. The planet was being eaten away slowly, teared at by none other than Unicron and Skye, standing in the middle of the destruction in her yellow, purple and white custom-made space suit, was standing her ground confidently as the Autobots began to flee.

"Skye! We must hurry! Please!" Optimus Prime, the Autobot leader, was imploring desperately. He did not want to lose another human friend, especially on a foreign planet to their own.

Skye shook her head vigorously, tears flooded her eyes. Optimus narrowed his bright blue optics slightly as Skye clasped her hands together against her heartbeat, feeling it quicken.

"He'll come..." she whispered,"Optimus... Leave with the others... Save yourself...!"

Optimus took a step forward but was tugged backward by a reluctant Red Alert as a piece of rubble crashed to the ground in front of him. The building they were in was beginning to collapse and the tremors were getting more violent beneath their feet.

"No, Optimus! You'll get destroyed!" Red Alert shouted over the rumbling wildly, keeping a tight hold on the Autobot leader's arm, preventing him from attempting it a second time.

"But so will she!" Optimus argued as more pieces of the building began to crumble in around Skye.

He tried in vain to keep Skye in his sights, but lost her when the building had completely caved in and Red Alert, panicking, had pulled him out quickly. Skye found herself lying on her stomach, grabbing at the ground and legs wedged beneath a large piece of fallen metal. She winced in pain, her tears streaming down her cheeks beneath her helmet.

"STARSCREAM!!" her scream echoed as the quake became more audible.

At that very moment, a large black metal hand scooped her up with ease after flicking away the metal that had crushed her legs. Skye felt the wind against her visor and realised she was moving. Or being moved. The girl glanced up at the face of her savior, her jade orbs meeting those silver optics. All was a blur. Skye felt herself fading from conciousness and her eyes closed, body becoming weak and limp.

-----

"Starscream..."

"Ne, Starscream?"

"Hn?" the Decepticon looked down at the human girl, a berating look on his face.

"What would you do if a human liked you? Maybe loved you?" the girl asked in a sugary-sweet tone.

Starscream's lip twitched and his optics turned bitter.

"How should I know? No-one likes me in that way." he replied flatly.

Skye pouted and her cheeks were painted red instantly.

"I like you in that way." she huffed, folding her arms like a sullen child.

Starscream paused, mouth agape at this comment. Then he tilted his head.

"Why would a human brat like you like me in any way at all?" he queried rather snappishly.

Skye picked up a small pebble and threw it at his head sharply, hitting the target and earning a glare from the Decepticon.

"Don't call me a brat! I have a name, you know!" she shouted savagely, fuming and still pouting.

Starscream flinched at her anger. What a violent kid.

''Fine. Then what, Skye?'' he finally said in a testy tone of voice.

Skye suddenly smiled widely, looking up at him in admiration.

"Hehe, you said my name." she said in a surly voice.

"Tell me why already, fleshling!"

"Okay okay...! Because..." Skye shoved her hands in her pockets, glancing away and kicking at the ground.

"Because?" Starscream's voice rose impatiently.

"Because you're my friend... And I care about you..."

Those words hit the Decepticon like a hammer. His frown softened and he eyed Skye with his optics carefully. After a long moment of silence and hesitation, he opened his mouth, managing to form words of gratefulness that were hard for someone like him to say.

"Thanks. Skye."

Light shone through Skye's eyelids, causing her to groan woefully and peel them open slowly. She blinked a few times to filter out the groggy blur that every morning gave her until finally, she saw the familiar sight of her bedroom. Shocked, Skye sat bolt upright immediately, thoughts running wild.

"Please don't tell me that was a dream..." she muttered sadly, rubbing her head.

Skye took a deep breathe then threw her covers off her legs to discover they were not sore and moveable. Tears sprang to her eyes as she realised she was having another one of her ludacris dreams. She slapped herself irritably.

"You can't cry, girl! Get a hold of yourself... It was only a dream... You've been watching too many cartoons!" she said loudly to herself, grabbing at her curtain of raven and sky-blue hair as though threatening to tear it out in insanity.

"You're tougher than that, human." an icy voice made her eyes snap up and narrow.

"Hey, who are you calli-..." Skye's eyes found those silver optics.

The Decepticon stood outside her window, crouching down slightly to peer through. The girl suddenly felt weak all over again.

"But... My legs... They were crushed..." she mumbled.

"It's been a few weeks. You were out a long time." Starscream replied shortly

"... Oh." That was all Skye could say.

"The damage wasn't that bad." he added quickly.

Seeing a look of sorrow on her face, he drew his head back slightly in question. Skye noticed this and smiled at him, standing up drunkenly.

"You shouldn't stand immediately, idiot." Starscream hissed silkily.

"Starscream..."

He glanced back at her face.

"What?"

"I'm sorry." came Skye's tearful reply.

The robot raised his head slightly to look at her.

"Why?"

The rest of the 5 W's and H's were soon to come, Skye guessed.

"Because... I was reckless... And also... For doing this..." The human tottered over to him.

Starscream thought of retreating but was too late when the girl placed her palms flat on his metallic face and her lips brushed the smooth metal of his cheek. If he were human, he would be flushing to the extent of coming off as a tomato. All he could do was stand there frozen to the spot, his mouth agape.

"Thankyou, Starscream... For saving me. I love you."

Those words glued themselves into the Decepticon's memory banks. Permanently. That female human's smile was all he could think about. All he wanted to protect. To save.