This is based both during and after the events of "Transformers the Movie," and involves what exactly happened to at least three of our beloved Autobots: the Lamborghini twins and Hound. Sap ahead, be forewarned!
-/"We know one another's faults, virtues, catastrophes, mortifications, triumphs, rivalries, desires, and how long we can each hang by our hands to a bar. We have been banded together under pack codes and tribal laws." --Rose Macaulay/-
-Homecoming-
It didn't matter. Nothing else did.
Prime could very well be dying right now. Sunstreaker did not care.
Autobots lay everywhere, strewn amidst the rubble, dead and dying, injured and in need of assistance, some beyond repair.
The air lurching through his ventilation system quickened as his optics scanned the destruction for a familiar flash of red, a white shoulder cannon, a face so similar to his own.
He searched for his twin brother, fuel pump constricting painfully in his chest. "Sideswipe!" he finally cried, finding his voice as he stumbled, finding his footing only after a rock gauged a deep dent in his shinguard. He paid it no mind. "Sideswipe! Bro! Answer me!"
He knew what he was afraid of. He was afraid that among the dead and dying would be his twin brother. It was a thought Sunstreaker couldn't bear to allow to remain, but he couldn't quite push it out of his processor. He was afraid of losing Sideswipe... afraid of losing his only reason for staying alive.
His hands tore through the scrap and metal that lay everywhere, and finally, he found who he was looking for. Sideswipe was laying partially on his side, one of his doors and a tire all but ripped off, chestplate mangled and torn. The only sign of life from him was the rapid flow of air from his intakes, ventilating and cooling his systems. Panicked, Sunstreaker carefully lifted his brother's inert form in his arms, giving him a gentle shake. "Sideswipe?!"
Sideswipe twitched at the sound of his brother's voice, his optics flickering to life. He stared at Sunstreaker in disbelief for a moment before a slow smile appeared on his face and his voice came, crackling and soft, as if he was having trouble activating his vocalizer at first. "S--Streaker... bro... you're back..."
Instantly, Sunstreaker felt his fuel pump constrict tightly again. He remembered how angry he had been when Prime had given orders for Sideswipe to stay on Earth while Sunstreaker went to Moonbase 1 with the more seasoned soldiers, there to train the new recruits. Sideswipe's job, of course, was to help the newcomers adjust to Earth life... but it had deeply stricken the brothers to be separated for any length of time. Neither of them had any real friends among the Autobots anyway, and being apart just meant longer stretches of loneliness, even when they did get to communicate.
"Yeah... it's me... I'm right here, bro, don't worry... I'm back." Sunstreaker's optics narrowed. Now more than ever he hated this war. When things like this happened, his brother hurt... and when his brother hurt, he wanted to hurt the ones that did it, but this time, the ones that did it weren't there and he had to fume in silence, cradling his brother's broken body as gently as he could. "How bad are you hurt?"
Slowly, Sideswipe shook his head. "Nothin' serious... I'll live..."
The yellow warrior frowned deeply, his optics scanning his brother's injuries. He was probably right, but that didn't change the fact that he hadn't been there to protect him... like he should have been.
"Sideswipe... you are to stay here and help Hot Rod, Springer, and Arcee get accustomed to their new stations. Sunstreaker, you're coming to the moon base with Ironhide, Prowl, Ratchet, and myself."
Sunstreaker looked as if he'd just swallowed his vocalizer. "What?! Prime, you can't be serious! Sideswipe and I--..."
Prime sighed slightly, interrupting with, "Will function fine apart. It won't be for long... you have my word. We simply need someone with melee combat training to handle some of the new recruits on the moon base. Your experience is more extensive than Sideswipe's."
The twins looked at each other with very apprehensive expressions for a moment. Finally, Sideswipe broke the gaze with a forced grin, reaching out one hand, which his brother took without hesitation. "Hey... behave yourself up there, 'Streaker, or I'll have to come up there and kick your skid across the moons... got it?"
Sunstreaker blinked, then mirrored his brother's smile, giving his twin's hand a tight squeeze. "Likewise, bro. Stay safe, a'ight?"
After a moment, Sunstreaker sighed and pulled on his brother's hand, drawing the other close to catch him around the neck with one arm. Resting their foreheads together for a moment, he gave a little bit of a smile when Sideswipe regarded him curiously. "Bro...?"
"--If you die, Sideswipe, I will find a way to kick your ass... okay?--" Sunstreaker growled, the language he used one only the twins understood. "--Don't get yourself killed...--"
"--...Don't worry, bro,--" Sideswipe assured, not even trying to pull away from his other half's grip. "--Together to the end... right?--"
Finally, Sunstreaker gave a weary smile, clapping his brother once gently on the back before releasing him and drawing back his hand. The twins stared for a moment longer before Sunstreaker turned his back at last, heading towards the quarters they shared to get some of his best weapons from storage.
The last time they saw one another was on the bridge as Sunstreaker boarded the ship bound for Cybertron. One last look, and the twins were separated.
But they were sure they wouldn't be parted for long...
They were sure...
Sunstreaker's mouth drew into a thin line as he thought back on that occasion, standing with his brother held carefully in his arms. He was barely managing to keep from shaking with rage, angry at what had happened, angry at Prime, angry at everyone who had been the cause of this.
And slowly, purposefully, he started making his way back to the Ark.
Most of the remaining Autobots, the injured at least, had been moved to a temporary medical bay, informed as each came to that Ratchet was gone. Sunstreaker vaguely remembered feeling a sudden rise of rage at that. As much as Ratchet had yelled at he and his brother, the medic had been their friend, at least in a sort of distant way. Ratchet never would have let anything happen to either of them, and despite how much he hollered and railed on at the twins, he always put them back together in the end.
Even Prowl... and Ironhide, too. He couldn't believe it.
But even though those losses struck a chord of sorrow deep within Sunstreaker somewhere, nothing compared to how he felt sitting there, holding his brother's hand as he watched his still form in silence. He hunched his shoulders up further when the door to the medbay slid open and Ultra Magnus appeared, looking no worse for wear and worn far thinner than Sunstreaker had ever seen a mech.
"It's Prime, isn't it?" the yellow Lamborghini questioned without even lifting his head.
Ultra Magnus frowned, shifting uneasily on his feet before he nodded slowly. "He... passed on. Just a few minutes ago."
Slowly, Sunstreaker nodded, tightening his grip briefly on his brother's hand before he rested his forehead against the other's knuckles. "...He was a good leader."
"He was."
Another uncomfortable pause. Neither of the two was particularly comfortable with the company of the other. Ultra Magnus did not know Sunstreaker as well as Sideswipe, but from what he had heard from the red warrior, his twin's temper was a force to be reckoned with... especially when he was upset.
"...Where's First Aid, anyway?"
Ultra Magnus resisted the urge to release a sigh of relief when Sunstreaker asked that. Then, he cleared his throat. "He's signing the release papers for you and your brother."
That caught Sunstreaker's attention almost instantly, and he turned in his seat with narrowed optics. "...You're joking, right?"
Apprehension. Sunstreaker looked as if he had just been kicked, and he was ready to fight back. "Not a dishonorable discharge, I assure you. However... from what First Aid told me, Sideswipe's injuries are extensive. It will be quite some time before he can return to battle, and knowing how badly damaged he is..."
"I'm staying with him," Sunstreaker interrupted sharply, looking back towards his brother with a resolved expression. "However... we're not out for good. I have to make those rat-slagging bastards pay for hurting my brother... I'll take a leave of absense until Sideswipe recovers, but... I won't leave the fight."
/Of course,/ Ultra Magnus mused solemnly. /War is all the twins know.../ "But what will your brother say?"
"You can ask him when he wakes up. For now... just... leave me alone with him, okay?"
Ultra Magnus did not question the request and retreated from the medbay without another word.
At one point, it would have been extremely unlike Sunstreaker to skip out on a battle. But this time, as the conflict raged outside, he suppressed the urge to rush into the fray, his hands tightening on his brother's as he leaned his head forward, again resting his forehead against Sideswipe's knuckles. Few Autobots remained at the ruined city, there to do repairs and revitalize what was left of the badly damaged forces.
First Aid and his Protectobots hustled about the city relentlessly, shuffling and repairing and putting things back together. Hound had stayed as well, but he remained silent at one side of the medbay, watching the inert forms of Wheeljack and Windcharger in sullen silence. First Aid had little to say for their wellbeing... neither looked likely to survive.
Late one night, that fear was confirmed. Wheeljack and Windcharger just seemed to fade off, and First Aid softly informed the yellow warrior and the hunter green tracker that they were gone. Sunstreaker sank into a deeper sulk, and Hound withdrew to his own sort of grief, taking to Oregon's forested trails in his jeep form to try to forget all the friends they had lost.
It was long after their friends had returned, led by Hot Rod - now Rodimus Prime - that a flicker of awareness finally returned to Sideswipe. His optics slowly flickered to life, falling on the face of his brother. Sunstreaker was sitting up, but obviously in a restorative cycle, optics shuttered as he leaned slightly forward. His armor was scuffed and dull... he couldn't have seen a wax in weeks.
Weakly, surprised at how difficult it was to get his body to respond, Sideswipe lifted one hand, flicking his brother softly in the forehead.
Sunstreaker started awake, drawing several weapons from subspace as if prepared to be attacked... and then he saw that his brother was awake, smiling quietly at him from the medical shelf, a flicker of that foxlike personality he had missed so much for the past two months showing in his dimly lit optics.
"Sideswipe!" For the first time in a very long time, a broad grin split Sunstreaker's features. "You're awake! It's about damn time!"
Laughing softly, Sideswipe tilted his head to one side on the table, keeping his attention on his twin's smiling face. "Aw, c'mon... you should know better than to think I'd be down and out forever!" He twitched, a brief expression of pain crossing his features before he quickly masked it. "What'd I miss...?"
That question wiped Sunstreaker's face clean of all expression. The yellow warrior sat quietly for a moment before he finally sighed, deciding to lay it to his brother straight. "Optimus Prime is dead." Sideswipe gaped at him, but Sunstreaker continued. "So's Ratchet... Wheeljack, Ironhide, Prowl, Brawn, and Windcharger... and... so many others..."
"Primus," whispered Sideswipe, barely audible. "...everyone... Ratchet and Prowl too?" When his brother nodded, the red warrior looked away, and that expression that Sunstreaker hated replaced the sly half-smile. His brother looked... pained. "Primus, I can't believe it... they killed... everyone. And Optimus, great Primus..."
The two fell into silence for a moment until Sideswipe finally tried to sit up. Quietly, Sunstreaker reached forward, helping him along the way, keeping his hand gently against his brother's back. "Take it easy, 'Swipe... you're still recovering..."
Sideswipe frowned deeply... he had obviously just checked his internal time registry. "...For two months?!"
"You almost didn't make it." Sunstreaker looked down and away, his expression dark. "Do you realize how many times I thought First Aid was going to wake me up to tell me you were gone too?" His brow furrowed, his hands balling into tight fists. "I was af... I mean..."
He stopped, staring quietly at his brother when Sideswipe shook his head. "Sunny... don't."
Close to another week passed before First Aid passed his approval, and Sideswipe was allowed to leave medical. A couple of days spent recharging and a run through the wash rack later, the twins stood before Rodimus Prime as charismatic and nasty as they had always been. Slowly, the new leader let his optics drift from one brother to the other. Then, he slowly smiled. "Now I understand why Optimus had so much trouble with you two... I can almost see the problems with you two standing in one room together."
"We aim to please!" chirped Sideswipe playfully.
Sunstreaker's expression did not change, but Rodimus swore he saw the twitch of a smile at the corners of the sullen mech's mouth. "You wanted to see us for something?"
"Well, I'm putting you two back on active duty - as a pair, mind you - doing recon work. It's simple stuff, but with the Decepticons moving again... well, I'm sure you'll see the battlefield again soon enough. Besides, this will give you a chance to stretch your legs after all the time you've spent in here... after the accident."
The twins looked at each other in mild disbelief, and Rodimus suddenly found himself surprised as they seemed to discuss something between themselves in a language he was pretty sure didn't exist... except for to them, of course. Then, Sideswipe gave his trademark sideways grin. "That sounds like a plan to us, Rodimus."
And so it went. That evening, without the knowledge of a single other Autobot in the city, the twins made their way out. There were no goodbyes, for no one they truly knew remained. Hound... wherever he was now, the twins had a feeling he was happier there. The minibots never liked them anyway.
Sunstreaker looked at Sideswipe. The red twin gave his brother a broad, arrogant grin.
The pair transformed, revving their engines, and then took off down the narrow path leading to the highway. Wherever the road took them wasn't so much a concern now.
They were together again, and that was all that mattered.
-End-