Once in 50 Vorns
It had been a catastrophe. The attack was too quick for them to have even been able to react in time- whoever it was had disappeared in a matter of moments, but they'd done enough damage, that was for sure. He and his friend had been descending towards an uncharted planet, curious, since it was solid and not comprised of gases – perhaps it hosted life forms they'd never seen before – but as they'd descended through layers of its atmosphere, Skyfire's sensors began to go off, little red flags, text scrolling quickly from the bottom of aqua optics. He hadn't been able to aerobreak in time – had stopped in mid-flight, shouting suggestion that they should turn back, they wouldn't be able to reach their targeted landing location without the possibility of crashing. Going any further could be fatal.
The runway served true; he'd been wrong, being so negative. But there had been a problem. His systems had shut down – his internal clock fritzed – it had to have been for a long time that he'd gone without reboot, because the clouds around them, an awkward mix of sunny and black, rolling over this strange land, lit up Starscream's body.
Starscream's body.
He wouldn't forget how the seeker looked when he'd glanced him over that first day – his processors froze, taking in the sight.
The orange-glass cone of Starscream's frontal section had cracked deeply, purple sparks radiating from time to time – a faint, green glow pulsating gently from its confines. One of his wings had been shattered and lay in tattered red and white shards beneath him, scattered around him – the other cracked straight through the middle of its cross-section, bent awkwardly so that he lay at an upward angle off the diamond-black dirt that supported them. Several dents marred his normally scowling face plate and one of those scarlet optics – opposite from Skyfire's – had been broken open, obviously useless.
…He looked so helpless.
The only damage that Skyfire had taken, as he ran a diagnostic, came up vertical stabilizer's shot, cracked nozzles, and a reduction in energon. No wonder he felt so weak. He needed to forget about himself, though – he was worried about Starscream – worried that they wouldn't be able to survive here, no, because they'd never been here before, it was dangerous, and by the looks of it, they had foolishly collided with a Primus forsaken desert of a planet. That meant they wouldn't be able to recharge.
His circuits jolted at the thought, and with a sliding motion, the ground rumbling slightly in shockwave from his heavy weight, Skyfire carefully approached his fallen friend, segmented fingertips, cool to the touch, tracing his lips. How ironic. The "mighty" Starscream, brought to his knees by some unknown source with what had probably been some sort of electric storm instead of a rogue Cybertronian or beast…
"Get off of me, you MORON!"
He lurched back, blue brightening in surprise. Starscream's audio had crackled to life, shrieky as ever.
"…What happened?! I can't move. WHY CAN'T I MOVE!? I WANT TO KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON! WHERE ARE WE?!"
Something familiar caught Skyfire's attention when he looked back to the crack in the other's chassis – and he felt himself sink, inside, lights dimming.
"What are you looking at NOW? And why aren't you answering me?!"
"Please calm down. I'm trying to figure out what went wrong. We came here to scale this place – but on our way down, we somehow offlined and ended up…" his arms stretched with a clank, gesturing around. "I don't know if this is the same planet. But by the looks of it, I would say so."
…
A pause.
"We need to get away from here. As soon as possible."
Starscream grunted from the back of his throat, impatient with the pain sensors that were ringing angrily from his internals – annoyed, demanding. As usual.
"If you haven't NOTICED," he spat, "I'm IN PIECES HERE."
"…I can see that."
Right. So the first thing they would need would be a shelter of some sort; when Skyfire had glanced back up to the ceiling height above them, the earlier ominous cloud covering had darkened, threatening and green instead of its warm colour before. He squinted, a palm lifting absently over his forehead. Between two cliffsides 100 meters from them, there lay a dark opening, tucked away between several large boulders.
"There's a cave not too far from here. Is it okay if I pick you up?"
"Whatever. Just do it. I'm already tired of being here and we haven't even been online for a cycle."
Suddenly--
…No. No, no, no. What was with that wavering quiver in his voice? There had to be a reason why Starscream sounded so tired. He must've been deteriorating too quickly for Skyfire to keep up. He was convulsing and didn't even seem to realize it. It'd been a problem before when Skyfire had noticed the dimming of his spark. But now it pulsed in irregular beats. He leaned shakily back over Starscream, eyes burning.
"…just… j-just keep still."
The jet's optics slanted in confusion. "What-…?"
"Do you remember… that time we found X9 in that unknown sector?"
Starscream's cooling vents began to thunk noisily to life, venting a sigh over the smooth, metal surface of his body. "I don't see what that has to do with this, but yes, I remember."
"They were so angry. We returned long after our promise." He forced a small smile.
"Only because you took too long to start up. Your propulsion system had shorted unexpectedly. Maybe if you hadn't been dawdling, we would've been out of there in time."
"You nearly abandoned me."
"THAT ISN'T MY FAULT," he erupted scathingly. "IT WAS YOUR FAULT! YOURS! You had to stay behind and try to smuggle that creature back with you! It was an interesting specimen, I'll give you that, but you could've gotten us KILLED. SO QUIT COMPLAINING ABOUT THE PAST. Besides! YOU STILL HAVEN'T TOLD ME WHY WE'RE STUCK IN THE MIDDLE OF FRAGGING NOWHERE, OR WHY I LOOK LIKE THIS, OR WHAT IN THE—!"
The scientist gripped his friend's chin and forced him to shift north.
"Look," he murmured.
Blue, purple, and green lights flashed in a certain section of the mottled sky across from where they lay. Starscream's pulse began to weaken even more as time passed, and his normally vibrating engine had dulled to a faint tremble. Ghosted pants escaped parted tiers. He was suffering and there was nothing Skyfire could do about it; except for let the transmission fluids from his wounds drip down his own white-painted legs, energon dribbling from the corner of his mouth in a trail down his chin and neck.
Skyfire lowered his head, chest tightening. He seized up.
Starscream was dying. Dying in his arms.
And as the display flickered before the two of them, a noisy crack of lightning split yonder over terrace and mountains.
Silence pierced his audio receptors. Finally, he lay motionless.
"You always were stubborn…"