Alternative Path
He remembered
"I said don't come any closer to me!" The squealing voice came again and the red optics' light which could be seen in the darkness got somewhat dimmer. Then, they got smaller for a second, before they got bigger again and went back to the young femme's purple optics. She flinched.
The young, thin Autobot put her claws on her face and looked at her palm, realizing she was leaking energon.
"B-But… You're the only one who can help," she whispered and knelt down, "there is literally no one who could help me right now. My comrades were all captured and I was left all alone. I'm still weak and was never meant to be anything special… I mean, look at me! I look pathetic with those stick legs and …"
The red optics in the distance shone brighter and got to a higher position, meaning that the Decepticon stood up. Soon, she heard steps from the 'Con coming closer to her, so she lowered her head.
"You impotent, childish fool…" a dark, sinister voice came into her audios and her spark started to race. She knew it was a bad idea to go searching for him.
The young 'Bot didn't want to respond.
"Your words fill me with anger and a kind of pain you could never even imagine... To try to convince me into helping you and your "comrades"?! I can't blame you, you probably never heard of the things they had done to me in the past…"
"I did, sir! And… I'm sorry. But they didn't mean it! No, I heard you even got accepted into the team and had a Spark-"
"Silence!" The Decepticon yelled and stopped walking. He was silent for a cycle.
"Silence," he quietly repeated, "I do not care for your comrades in the slightest bit. Actually, I hope they all perish at the hands of that wretch and the know-it-all one-eyed freak! Why did you come here, child? To give your life to me? Does your existence mean that little to you?" His voice sounded like he was mocking the scared Autobot, "After all of this, I would actually join them rather than you."
"Yes!" The Autobot yelled, "Yes, it does!"
The red optics widened.
"Without them, I don't have anything to live for! I remember my parents dying when I was at a young age. I was primarily raised by two medics, who were always fighting, a wrecker, who couldn't stand me at all, and a tall wannabe Prime, who was obsessed with rules and lessons! But still, they are my family. I was always different and always stood out, as I wasn't able to transform into a car, or a truck, or a motorcycle. They mocked me for my tiny being, for my skinniness… I knew I didn't belong there, and so did they. I'm probably the weirdest Autobot ever alive, so why would I matter?!"
"Aaargh!" The mech hiding in the shadows shouted and the silvery colored Autobot heard a strange sound, so she looked into the direction where the Decepticon was. The Decepticon's optics' light went out for a moment as he crashed to the floor. He soon reopened them and faced the Autobot. Energon was leaking down the Con's right faceplate.
"Lies… all lies," the 'Con sinisterly said and snuffled, putting his big servo at his forehead, "why didn't they tell you…? Why…?"
As the 'Con began whispering, the young femme realized he really was crazy, like they said he would be.
"I should have known from the start! I should have… should have," he eyed her again, "Don't you know who you are?! What you are?! A person like you should stand tall against everyone and anyone, and should definitely not be playing a weakling!"
"Why does that matter?" The Autobot calmly replied, which made the 'Con in the shadows even angrier.
"Because you matter! Why won't you understand?! Not knowing one's fate is one thing, but not striving towards it is another! Are you that foolish not to understand the clear, laid out pattern for you?! Use that big brain of yours!"
"Sir, I-"
"Don't you sir me, child! If you could only see that-"
"You don't even-"
"That I'm trying to show you-"
"You will never be able to-"
"That I'm not just an ordinary-"
"How could you know?! Who are you, and why are you trying to reason with me if you clearly-"
"Now will you stop cutting me off, you punk, I'm your elder and also-"
"I just wanted you to help my family! Th-They were always there for me after my biological mother," she waited for the sinister Cybertronian to cut him off, but continued as soon as she realized that he wasn't going to, "passed away in front of my very optics… I was just a helpless sparkling, I couldn't… I couldn't prevent her from…"
The Autobot stopped, bent over and burst into tears which were illuminating the dark room they were in. Steps came closer to her, but she didn't watch out. The deadly Decepticon came in front of her, but much to her surprise, the mech fell to his knees. The room got silent again.
"Her death was not your fault, fool. No one ever told you, correct?" The Decepticon quietly and sadly asked, putting his big servo at the Autobot's shoulders, "Well, if you believe in the words I am saying, raise your head up and look at this spitting image to feast your eyes upon the person who is responsible for your mother's death," he purred and the Autobot gasped and widened her optics. The Decepticon stood up as he realized that the Autobot's body was getting tense. Just as he did, he received a cold glance from the young 'Bot, who immediately after seeing the 'Con widened her wet optics.
Stellar cycles before that…
"I still can't believe you actually remembered... I thought you didn't care for human stuff, yet you did remember to count the fragging 365 Earth days just to prove that you won't forget about the day you became an Autobot", Arcee happily said and snuggled closer to him.
The silver seeker wrapped his servo around the small femme and smugly smiled.
"It's for you, Arcee. I would never hold back when it's about you," he purred, "also, I hate to break it to you, but it's actually 365 days, 5 months, 48 minutes and 46 seconds."
The blue femme lowered an optic ridge, but smiled at him.
"You smartaft", she sighed and he chuckled.
"Your language, Arcee. It's not even funny anymore", he said and she smirked.
"Then why are you still smiling?" She asked and made a snowball from the snow she was sitting on.
"Smiling, frowning, it's the same thing", he said and faced her, only to get hit by a snowball right into the center of his face. He growled and pushed her with his shoulder so she fell on her back, silently yelping. He put his long, thin servos left and right from her body and then knelt above her to make sure she wouldn't stand up. He wanted to get closer to her to kiss her, but she playfully pushed him away and smiled even wider.
"Come on, Scream. I'm not in the mood for your games right now."
"I know. You're never in the mood", he said and looked away from her optics, shrugging his broad shoulders. Then, he smiled showing his dental plates and faced the wonderful blue femme who was lying on the floor. Her optics were even more illuminated than usual by the few stars which weren't covered by huge clouds sailing through the black night sky. Small, fragile snowflakes were dancing with the wind and landing on top of them to decorate them a little, as they were the only things that weren't decorated that day.
"Christmas", Starscream suddenly said and Arcee looked at him, "I finally remembered that word again", he said and she sweetly smiled, "happy Christmas."
"Merry Christmas", she corrected him.
"Close enough", he said and fell to the side so he could lie next to her.
"How did you make them let you travel back to Earth?" The femme silently asked while looking at the few bright stars above them. She remembered the moment they confessed their love to each other and sweetly smiled. It was at the exact same spot they were on right then. She had never been that happy with another mech and she was sure he loved her just as much as she loved him, although they were picking fights all the time.
The seeker widened his optics, put his weigh on his servos and sat up to look at the cityscape.
"Oh, look! The puppet shop! Want to go steal some of them?"
Arcee narrowed her optics as she realized that he was trying to avoid the conversation. She sat up as well and looked at his long, nervous face.
"We both know you're afraid of them, Starscream. What are you trying to hide?" She asked and Starscream realized that her tone was getting angrier.
"Remember the time we first kissed? Well, you kissed me, of course, I was just like 'what are you doing' and you were-" he looked at her angry face and dumbly smiled, like he always did.
"I love you, dear", he purred.
Her lips were hung and one of her optic ridges was up.
He heavily sighed before starting the quick explanation: "I wanted to surprise you by getting at this planet just at Christmas time, as I know how much you love this blue, weird planet. I wanted to take some time off as I am on probation since the last Christmas now, but Ultra Magnus said no, so I had to ask Knock Out to open up the Space Bridge for me, but he was too busy grooming himself so I sneaked by him and opened the portal up by myself. Of course, I told Ratchet about this but he didn't want to approve it, so I walked back to Knock Out and told him to cover for me. He was once again busy with… whatever, but he agreed to help me anyways. Then I dragged you into the portal without telling anyone we were already gone, so, yes. We are here right now, and you, my dear, are looking at me with a really, really angry face."
"You are such an idiot. Why did I ever agree to come with you?" She asked and turned away from him, making him mad.
"See? That's the kind of behavior I can't stand. You always complain about me and the things I do for you, even if you do like them."
"Of course," she turned back to face him, "you can't do that! They worry about us!"
He narrowed his optics.
"No, they just don't trust me enough. You don't have to hide it from me if it's obvious."
"Why are you always so negative? Screamer, I just…"
His optics suddenly turned sad and, for some reason, cute. She bit her lower lip and heavily sighed.
"They can't trust you if you keep running away all the time. It's not like they get a chance to trust you. They only see you when you're on your shift."
He frowned and looked away from her. He watched the snowflakes falling for a moment. He knew he wasn't the greatest part of the team, but he did do everything he could. It's just that he couldn't get used to the environment he was living in as it was nothing like the Nemesis.
"I can't get used to it. If I don't get punched three times a day, I just can't do well. They got me messed up, back at the Nemesis."
"Are you still thinking about the past? Starscream, it's like you enjoyed being a Decepticon, while we all know you hated being part of it. Megatron beating you up, tossing you around and using you as a floor mat, being spied at every second of your life by Soundwave and being mistreated by Shockwave and his Predacon pets? It must have been a dazzling experience."
"Interesting choice of words, dazzling… I still see stars in front of my optics every time I open them."
"I mean, if you want to return to being a Decepticon, you are free to go. Perhaps you'll be happier when you won't have to do anything what we say. Just know that I won't follow you, then", she stated and attempted to stay up and leave him alone, but he pushed her with his shoulder again and thus she ended up on her back once again.
"You really are a persistent and somewhat pessimistic femme… I never got what I liked about you," he said and got above her again, looking into her bright blue, scared-looking optics, "or loved about you," he purred and sharpened his claws, putting his index claw under her small chin, so that she wasn't facing him anymore.
"Maybe it's that charming smile of yours… maybe the perfect structures or the arrogant, deceptive behavior. Whatever it is, I feel compelled to stay here, with you. So don't you go into that direction."
"You'll never change, am I right?" She silently asked and he petted her right faceplate with the same claw.
"You know your life would never be so interesting if you didn't have such a cunning, deceptive and intelligent Decepticon in it."
She pushed his hand away from her face and clenched it. She looked at him once again and he smiled adorably, like he knew what she wanted to say.
"I still don't believe you about that scientist thing", they both said in the same time and smiled at each other. They were looking into each other's optics for a moment, but soon, their smiles started disappearing. The silver mech got closer to her face and gently smiled again as the blue two-wheeler froze completely. He chuckled.
"Are you feeling helpless?" He asked and she widened her optics.
"What the frag are you talking about again?" She asked and rolled her optics, looking away from the mech whom she loved. He seemed way too passionate for her taste while asking that question.
He suddenly burst into laughter and touched her forehead with his. Surprised, she overheated a bit.
"Scream? You alright?" She worryingly asked and cupped his face. He slowly opened his optics and smiled even wider.
"I just got the most brilliant idea ever."
She was just staring at his weird behavior.
"I love you", he purred, slowly blinked and touched her lips with his, but parted from her immediately. She just kept staring at his adorable, overjoyed face that was making him look much younger than he actually was. As he just kept looking into her optics, she pulled him down and returned the kiss, much to his surprise. Not seeing in front of himself, he accidentally cut her servos as his claws were still sharpened, but that didn't seem to bother her at all. However, it bothered him. Starscream suddenly pushed her away and quickly got up at his knees. A slight blush was on his faceplates. He wasn't used to this as he rarely got the chance to touch her lips. She looked at the confused mech and he cleared his throat.
"This was… something… Let's just… move on", he said and she frowned.
"What is it this time?"
"The fact that I'm still no Autobot, perhaps?" He asked and lowered his optic ridges, "We shouldn't be doing this. It's… not what I was hoping to do today. Or anytime soon."
"Or ever?" Arcee asked and he chuckled to confirm her statement. She rolled her optics but smiled as she knew the seeker was secretly extremely shy to begin with anyways.
He helped her get up and they both sat at the edge of the metal ledge, holding servos and watching the few stars that weren't covered up by the light clouds, which were slowly passing through the landscape. After a minute, Starscream looked away from the beautiful landscape and got his optics locked at the two-wheeler, whom he wasn't sure if he hated for many stellar cycles, or loved for many stellar cycles before the event X. He never cleared it out before.
She suddenly looked at him as she realized that he was awkwardly staring at her with his mouth half-opened, but she just sweetly smiled and turned her head towards the church of the city again, though she was still looking at him for some time.
"Seriously, why do I like her so much? It's against the Decepticon codex to love someone like this and I thought I had love out of my head, yet still she managed to destroy my ego. How? Why? When you think about it, it's so dumb and frustrating, but I can't keep myself from looking at her. Just… a few more seconds."
He didn't stop staring at her.
JUHB YV JUDB