Author's Notes- Hi this is an accumulation of two massive AUs I have had in my head for quite a while. Uncensored version will feature rape, scenes of birth (resulting from m-preg sort-of) and various extremes of abuse.

Bold- Comm link.

Italics- Thoughts/memories/link speak.

Pairings- Primarily Starscream with others, both consensually and not. Features slight Perceptor/Beachcomber. Maybe others.

Warnings- Rated M. Nothing really for this chapter just small hints at things. OC sparklings.

Disclaimer- I do not own Transformers or its characters.

Verse- AU.

Units of Time: Astrosecond- 1 second, Klik- 1 minute, Cycle- 1 hour, Orn- 1 day, Decacycle- 1 week, Meta-cycle- 1 month, Solar cycle- 1 year, Vorn- 1 million years.

The sparklings are mine.

Unbetaed.

All mistakes are my own.

Hope you all enjoy it.

Water is Thicker than Energon

Chapter One- Berthtime story

Three Seeker sparklings twirled and dove through the air; the rare sight of a naturally created trine playing drew the optics of more than a few Autobots as they passed, deep within their stronghold grounds.

One, crimson with streaks of white and a yellow mark above his spark chamber, cut through the air with particular skill. He, the most daring and outgoing of the trine, was easily the fastest of them and their destined leader in time. His future second watched on fondly with a quiet confidence, wings flicking in contentment. Primarily white in colour, he was the calmest of them and kept the other two out of trouble. Their third, the shiest and quietest, was almost entirely azure and nuzzled at his brother's neck as they watched the other tear through the sky as if trying to race the wind.

Sunswift, Moonlight and Serenity.

Eventually, the Cybertronian skies beginning to darken, the head of the trine returned to his brothers, colliding with them impishly and wrapping his arms and wings around them. Embracing him back, their bond shimmering with love and affection, they gradually made their way back to the ground.

Landing on a nearby bench to ensure they would not be accidentally stepped on, they waited for their creator to collect them chittering happily amongst themselves. They were interrupted by the sound of an argument nearby and, glancing up, they saw the only mechs even close to them in size apparently on the brink of attacking each other. A normally cheerful yellow mech- their creator had told them he was designated Bumblebee- was speaking quickly, voice higher than normal with worry.

Bumblebee was one of the few around base that the sparklings liked outside of their family, and the older mech was one of the precious few that their creator allowed to look after them. Unbeknownst to them as their creator had only asked it in passing when they had already entered the air; the minibot was currently their watcher, their protector, until their carrier came back for them.

A couple of them managed to shove past their friend, 'we're not going to hurt them. Just tell them a tale or two about their glitched cara.'

Crowding the tiny mechs, the minibots' optics gleamed maliciously. Sunswift stepped in front of his two brothers as their link became tainted with fear, quickly answered with reassurance and the message I'm coming from their carrier, as Serenity buried his faceplates in Moonlight's wing.

The faceplates of the smallest of the Autobots softened slightly, one reaching out to run a digit over Serenity's helm, only narrowly missing having it bitten off by the other two as they perceived the gesture to be a threatening one.

'Want to hear a story?' An orange and green mech, the one who had stroked Serenity, murmured.

'Not from you they do not,' a livid voice hissed dangerously from behind them, 'I will already be speaking to Prime about this, would you like to have to be put back together by Ratchet as well?'

The sparklings darted past the minibots and into their carrier's arms, clicking in upset that their playtime had been ended in such a way.

Starscream, Autobot symbols on his wings reflecting the fading sunlight as the appendages rose proudly, turned on his pede and, with a reassuring nod to Bumblebee, carried his hatchlings inside and to his quarters. Gait swaying with a forced confidence, he typed in his code, careful not to let any other see, and quickly entered his family's sanctuary.

Events had progressed far quicker than he would have liked, he would have preferred to keep things from them for just a little bit longer. He had tried to make sure that his little ones did not just hear and were saturated by Autobot propaganda- the faction being far less noble than it liked to imagine itself- but also his own beliefs as well.

How they would take the news that their creator was a former Decepticon, still one mostly at spark, was impossible even for him to guess. When they were old enough to hear the story in full did not bear thinking about.

Not that they ever would hear it in its entirety, he would never allow such a thing.

Placing them on his berth after their bath not on their crib, which was a noticeable enough break in routine for them to look at him curiously, Starscream sighed softly through his vents, unable to meet their optics for a moment in his fear that they would never look upon him lovingly again. Caressing their energon-warmed frames, he knelt beside the berth to be at their level, digits petting his creation's wings and backs.

'You love your cara don't you?' He asked them in Seeker, a language they were more confident in than standard Cybertronian.

They beeped affirmatives, Sunswift leaping from the soft metal into the larger flier's chassis, the other two following an astrosecond later to be engulfed with their brother in their creator's arms.

Feeling their wings flick into his metal, their trust and affection coming easily in the link, the older Seeker leaned back, just holding them to him.

It was a marvel really, that they could give love so easily when even Autobots sometimes struggled, when even Starscream's own trine had done for their eldest wingmate.

'What do you three… think about the Decepticons?' He whispered, hoping he was not soon to lose them too. Another relatively new link stirred to life, tendrils from the two Starscream shared it with reached out into his spark to fill it with encouragement and comfort.

'The bigger mechs say they're bad,' Moonlight answered in the clicking nature of the Seeker's native tongue, 'they seem scared of them...'

'The Autobots and the Decepticons… do not like each other,' Starscream's optics drifted closed as his voice lowered, 'they hurt each other.'

Serenity twittered confusedly, 'doesn't Op-Op-'

'Optimus,' Sunswift spoke for his brother, small servo reaching out to land gently on his trinemate's wing.

'Doesn't he say it is bad to hurt others?' The smallest look up at his creator, optics glittering questioningly.

'Yes it is and you must not,' Starscream smiled, sending bursts of praise through their link. 'But sometimes adults do bad things that they should not, and when they do it can cause a lot of harm.'

They would find out one orn that their carrier had been one of the most feared mechs on Cybertron, for all he was mocked, that he himself had been what he had told them to never be.

A bully.

But a victim too.

That's why little ones like you have to do better than us; repair the damage we have all done and make sure it is not perpetuated.

Each faction had played its part in the damage done to Cybertron and neither was wholly good or irredeemably evil. Killing was still killing whether it was Megatron or Optimus Prime doing so.

The former Decepticon had heard it so often, like nails down a chalkboard to his audios, that the faction was evil because it had snuffed out the sparks of Autobots. Such a statement was so ignorant and hypocritical it almost made him scream as many Bots killed Cons brutally, openly enjoying it and taunting their defeated enemy as they did so.

Breakdown briefly sprung to processor, voices of perhaps half a dozen Autobots jeering at him as he stood frozen under their avid gazes. Never deactivating him, no, for then they would lose their convenient target given them on a silver platter each battle since the Stunticons were brought into being.

The Stunticons and the Aerialbots…

The perfect example of the factions causing identical damage with the same consequences, to label one as evil for doing so would be unreasonable. The actions of both factions could not be branded so simply as good versus evil; the universe was never so black and white.

But to a sparkling, ones who heard fabulous, but stereotypical, fairy tales of noble knights slaying hideous monsters and saving beautiful femmes. Could he make them see the subtle shades of grey, even on a small scale and without sullying their innocence which yet remained?

'You see, solar cycles ago, long before you were created,' Starscream's expression and tone remained light, hiding the true nature of the time, 'many were very unhappy. There was a mech, called Megatron, who became their leader. There was much boring talking in which nothing was ever done and then the two groups, one happy the others not began to fight over how things should be. They started to hurt each other and everything around them.

I was one of the unhappy ones so I joined Megatron and… his Decepticons.'

'You were unhappy?' Serenity's voice squeaked.

Starscream's optics brightened, 'yes but I'm not now. How could I be when I have the three of you?'

They purred in response, helms pushing affectionately into their carrier's chassis.

Sunswift's servo tapped his carrier's metal, 'cara, you were a D'con?'

'Yes,' Starscream crooned, 'but… Megatron and I did not get along, we could never be friends. We hurt each other often but as he was far stronger than me I always ended up worse. One orn he and two mechs I used to know hurt me very much. As the two mechs were my family then I stayed a bit longer, hoping they would love me again and, for a while, they seemed to. They were only tricking me though so I left the Decepticons and came here. Optimus agreed to let us stay and here we have remained ever since.'

He could feel both their curiosity and their tiredness in their link and he pressed at the latter. You may ask me questions tomorrow, for now it is past your berthtime. Your sires will not be happy if they find you still awake when they get home.

The chirrs of three engines powering down briefly reached his audiosand he sighed in relief, fondly placing his creations in their shared crib, trines always resting better together than separately. They instantly curled up together as he laid a blanket carefully over them, their wings flicking lightly in recharge.

Your sires…

His new mates, both bonded and trine, were his little one's adopted creators. The ones who sparked them Starscream renounced as deactivated, severing all ties with them and forbidding them on pain of deactivation to see the sparklings, their link with the tiny trine being overridden by the ones who had adopted them with the former Decepticon's consent.

Until Megatron was gone, however, his treasured family would never be safe. Not just his mates and creations, but others like Bumblebee, the Aerialbots…

He had somewhat adopted the young fliers since his arrival, caring for them as he had tried to do for his Seekers in the beginning. They had been wary of him at the beginning, all of them had been and some still were. He could tolerate that, understand it, but he would not allow his sparklings to be the target of malicious words and actions.

He tried to avoid the politics of his new faction as much as he was able, though he helped in other ways, trying to pay back a debt Optimus insisted he didn't have. The Seeker needed to feel required, which Ratchet and Perceptor repeatedly assured him he was.

Frag Megatron, Thundercracker, Soundwave… They could all go to the Pit.

Skywarp…

The flier's spark cringed, wings rising in agitation, and his melancholy was answered by two streams of love from his partners.

Slumping into his desk chair, he began to work distractedly at the tasks he was trusted with. As an Autobot medic and scientist, he was seldom permitted into the field, not because the Prime believed he would turn on them, but because there was always the possibility that Megatron would go after him specifically.

And if he fell, his sparklings would lose their carrier.

Blinking back optic fluid threatening to spill over and down his silver faceplates, Starscream leaned back against the supportive metal pondering things. How much would be right to tell the younglings and at what ages had been questions constantly cycling through his processor since the Autobot faction took him in.

Starscream didn't hear the door sliding open, processor full of responsibilities and anxieties, and so jumped when two sets of servos began to caress his wings. Soothed by their touch and the link, he allowed himself to be led to the berth, engines purring as his mates curled up on each side of him, their servos meeting on his chassis, over his spark.

His beautiful mates who had adopted flying alternate modes for him, had tolerated the painstaking process of learning to fly under his tutelage.

For them, he was good enough. For them, he was worth the effort.

Why couldn't he have been for TC and Warp? For Megatron?

Why did it still hurt?

Could it be a matter of wounded pride or the sting of betrayed confidence? Or was he simply glitched like most assumed?

The bond began to grow inside of him, around him it seemed like, cushioning him with its influence. Wings unfurling to protectively cover and warm his mates in gratitude and his own assurance of his affections, he returned the gesture happily in the link.

Beginning to trill softly, he eventually dropped into a calm recharge.

His mates, always there right from the beginning, soon followed.

Thanks for reading and please review.

At the moment, especially as I'm quite tired, I'm just going where my mind takes me. Many things have chapters started (off the top of my head- Regeneration, Misunderstanding, AA2, The Coven and one or two one-shots) and should be updated soon. AR has priority but there is one more verse (the one I mentioned in the ANs of Old Patterns) that may have a starting chapter posted soon.

Also, I'm trying to get into writing slash scenes again (its why some fics have stalled slightly) so if you have any pairings/threesomes/multiples etc, Bot or Con or a mixture of the two, that you want to see, drop me a PM and I'll see what I can do.