Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.
The lullaby was soft and slow, crooned into a new audio. Claws held and gripped lightly, smoothing over new armor, glittery and shiny under the dim lighting of the Vos Palace Nursery. The newborn Seekerling grunted and mewled, turning over in her carrier's arms, wings shivering lightly as they unfolded.
Megatron smiled down at her, puffing up like a bird. "Look at her. So perfect. So beautiful. So much like you."
Starscream's wings flicked as he acknowledged the praise. Yes, the little sparkling was beautiful. Yes, she looked to be perfect. No, she did not really resemble him...only in her attitude. She was gunmetal grey and not the sleek silver her carrier sported. Her claws were short and thick, not long and thin. Her peds weren't heeled either. Thank Primus for that. Instead of toddling around on thin heels, she would strut around with her sire's peds. And she would strut. That was a given.
Her siblings, who had taken more to their carrier than their sire, were sleeping contentedly in their cribs. They did not have nightmares to keep them awake. Why was this little femme dreaming such awful dreams so early?
Starscream rocked in the chair, rubbing her helm lightly. "She's my precious little star." He sang the next few lines of the lullaby, soothing her little fussings.
When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.
Megatron was about to open his mouth when a glint caught his optic. The red orbs narrowed and he walked to the window, pushing the curtains aside. "Starscream."
The Seeker got up and watched as the glint on the horizon came clearer. Fire. Illuminated was half the population of Kaon, Tarn in the lead. The Pet pranced beside him, Kaon not far behind. The JD were coming.
"By Primus," Starscream whispered.
"Stay with the babies," Megatron insisted. "Let me handle this."
Starscream stayed in the nursery, wrapped in the light purple light, while his mate led the Elite Guard down to meet the JD at the gate to the palace.
The sparkling began fussing again. Starscream sang with a wavering voice, hitched with anxiety.
Then the traveller in the dark,
Thanks you for your tiny spark,
He could not see which way to go,
If you did not twinkle so.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.
The JD arrived. Tarn stepped up, his faceplates cold and unfeeling as they always were. His red optics shone with the lust for bloodshed. Six million years of war filled with pain and death and still the mech was not satisfied.
Starscream opened the doors to the balcony, standing on it when Tarn and Megatron started talking.
"-know why we're here, Megatron," Tarn said, his voice dripping with honey and deceit. The sound set Starscream's denta on edge. "It's because of that Seeker whore you have stored in that palace. What are you doing in Iacon, my Queen?"
Starscream's right to the throne dictated he was to be crowned King. They had not expected him to choose a mech as a mate, and so the title of Queen always threw bots when they saw Megatron. He had hardly batted on optic lid, but when Tarn sneered it, he visibly jerked. The Elite Guard bristled, but Megatron lifted a servo a fraction and they settled, if only slightly.
"Duty calls me here. What about you, Tarn? What business do you have in Iacon, stirring up trouble where there is none?"
Tarn tilted his helm. The Pet snarled. Kaon's dark sockets were locked onto Megatron. "You gave me the position of enforcer. I'm enforcing Kaonian law. Only Kaonians mate with Kaonians."
"Times change."
"Ah, but rules do not. Do they, Lord Megatron?"
The grey mech bared his denta. Starscream could see their glint under the dancing light of the fire. "Do not call me that."
"That is what you are. Not a pretty Queen with a precious crown!" And with that, Tarn snatched it off the mech's helm, crushing the band of gold and gems in one servo.
The Seekerling in Starscream's arms wailed suddenly, alerting the JD to Starscream's presence on the balcony.
"SIEZE HIM!"
Starscream backed into the nursery, soothing his creation with urgency. The next lines of the lullaby were rushed. He locked the door to the balcony and drew the curtains.
In the dark blue sky you keep,
And often through my curtains peep,
For you never shut your eye,
Till the sun is in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.
But he continued to watch. It all happened so fast.
Megatron revolted, as he always did. He grabbed at Tarn.
Tarn flung his arm out and shouted a cry into the warm air.
The Pet crouched. Latched itself onto Megatron's throat. Disarmed the former warlord of the Decepticons.
Tarn drew a sword from nowhere and before Starscream could open his mouth to shout a warning, the blade sought and found the grey mech's abdomen. It plunged in as though the mech was butter and the blade was heated.
Megatron howled his pain to the cold stars above and the sky ignited with fire and cannons. Vos was being leveled once again.
Starscream ordered the remaining Elites to get the rest of the Vosians out of the city. He turned to his boys and he reached for them, but before he could cross the room to save their lives, a burning ball of metal coated in fuel broke through the window and smashed the cribs. Starscream wailed and drew his servo back, staring at the curling paint on his claws. His daughter wailed and he mumbled soothing words to her, tucking himself into the back of the room as he gagged. The position of the ball of metal blocked him from the door and though the window was open, he couldn't transform and save himself. He still had his precious Seekerling. His only Seekerling.
He looked down at her, wondered if she was small enough to hide in his spark chamber. She watched him with anxious optics, blue stretched wide.
"Hey, pretty baby..."
The fire caught and spread. Curtains shrivelled. Outside the room, Starscream could hear the Elites shouting.
"I'm in here!"
"Starscream! Hold on!"
The Seekerling wept into his chest and Starscream looked to see grappling hooks latch onto the balcony railing. He tucked her closer and he sang lightly as the JD crept closer. The Pet's jaws were smeared with Megatron's Energon and it spattered on Starscream's face when the beast roared. Starscream continued until the last note before a blade and latching jaws twisted his life to an end.
As your bright and tiny spark,
Lights the traveller in the dark,—
Though I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.
The Palace fell when the JD left, and when the rubble was burning down, a stranger to Vos crept forward, pausing in each burned room of the palace. He cast his gaze around, gazing down at the bodies of pets, maids, brave Elites that begged for their King to return their calls until they heard his scream and they knew they were too late. A Palace of the Dead, but there was something stirring ashes with a breath, faintly and quietly. Why else would Primus send his favorite servant?
He found Starscream curled up, burnt and dead. He knelt, touching the cooling armor. He sighed and looked down between his arms. There, barely alive, was his only child.
"Hello, little star," he breathed. He smiled a little and he took the baby into his arms, soothing her cries. "I knew your mommy. Yeah..." He walked out of the palace, touching her helm gingerly. "Solus will get you all better again. I promise..."
As Vector Prime walked away, he faded, as though he had never been there.