…

warning;

Character death. Slightly out of character characters. Slash. AU.

summary;

Skyfire felt it the moment the moment that Starscream's spark went out.

author's note;

I have always loved this pairing, so when I was searching through the flash drive and found this, I had to post it. I knew just by the title, which had been just the pairing, but then I read it. Remembered it. I didn't want to post it, but it kept nagging at my brain, so here we are. I have no words for why I even wrote it, so don't even ask.

…

It had happened a long time ago. Long before the war and Skyfire's disappearance, they both had needed something to hang onto. Starscream needed someone to care, to understand him, while Skyfire just wanted someone to care about and feel. They'd been the perfect matches for each other so they did it. Even though Skyfire had been lost for so long, Starscream never broke it. Not even after his so-called betrayal and departure to the Autobot ranks.

But today, when Wheeljack had been chattering away about a project he was working on. Something about an energon converter that could cut their uses in half, so they wouldn't have to keep using the Earth's resources. Skyfire was interested. He enjoyed speaking with the other scientists and even the explosive inventor. It reminded him of better days.

Days before he awoke on a strange planet. Days before his views on violence were frowned upon by most of those around him. Days before Starscream wore a Decepticon symbol. When Skyfire wasn't an Autobot. A long time before war and horrifying battles had become a regular thing.

But today, something tragic was going to happen.

Pain tore through Skyfire's spark. He lurched forward and grasped his chamber, optics flaring to their highest setting. Wheeljack stepped forward with wide optics and managed to keep the much larger Autobot steady when his knees became weak and wings trembled. Skyfire knew, he felt it, deep within his spark that something was wrong.

Not with him. There was something wrong with the only being in the universe that he had loved more than life itself. Something had happened to Starscream.

He gripped the wall, barely grasping the words that came flying out of Wheeljack's vocal processor. Something about getting Ratchet, to sit down, but everything seemed blurred together as the pain flared back up again. He did end up on the floor with Wheeljack's help, or maybe he'd finally collapsed, he didn't know. All he did know was that there was something wrong, very wrong, with his bondmate.

He tried to probe at the bond, which had long since been closed off on his part. He sent anything, everything, through it; confusion and concern the most noticeable. But there was nothing so he tried again and still got nothing back. Then it happened.

It was like a crack of lightning hitting him. The pain was unbearable as that fragile bond between them snapped. He threw his helm back and screamed in pure agony, causing the form next to him to jump in surprise. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered but this ache.

"Skyfire," the inventor said, grasping his massive shoulders. Skyfire tried to look at the mech, he really did, but everything was fuzzy and hurting. "Just hang in there, Ratchet's coming. Just try to focus, try to stay online."

Skyfire wanted to tell him that he wasn't sure if he could, but he couldn't even speak. He deactivated his optics and kept grasping at his spark, as if trying to open the chamber and rip it out. He almost wanted to, especially if this pain wouldn't disappear.

Warnings flashed. So many that he couldn't read them all, process them. He felt his systems crashing and his desperately wanted to tell Wheeljack. Maybe he could help, make it all stop, but his vocal processor had already died out.

"-fire, SKYFIRE!"

It happened all too fast but soon there was nothing. No noise, no pain.

He jerked suddenly and stared up at the… ceiling? He sat up quickly, confused and startled, and glanced around the room that he was currently in. If the multiple berths and equipment did not give away his location, the medic that crossed the room was a dead giveaway. The medbay. He was in the medbay and no longer in the labs. Strange, but not unlikely.

"Take it easy, Skyfire," the medic said as he grasped his shoulders and pushed him back down. "Your processor is going to feel fuzzy but that's normal."

"Wh-what happened?" Skyfire's voice startled the scientist. It seemed meeker and lost, and too confused and raw.

"I have you medicated. You were in stasis when I arrived, but the medical overrides to your sensory net and processor seemed to do the trick, since you're awake and all," Ratchet replied, ignoring his question somewhat. "You were lucky that Wheeljack was there."

"I suppose…" he turned his gaze away from Ratchet in thought.

"Your file says you were never bonded."

Skyfire turned his gaze back to Ratchet, spark pulsing in panic, "yes," he agreed, trying to keep the tremors from his voice.

"Yet you were going through the normal symptoms of a broken bond," he replied, voice low but not angry. "The battle, moments before your episode, only lost one life. Seems odd."

"No," he whispered before he could stop himself. His servos trembled and helm turned, dread filling his spark. "… no… Starscream…"

Ratchet gasped. "So it is true," he said, surprise layered over his obvious concern. "Skyfire…"

"Please," he replied, not even entirely sure himself what he wanted from the medic.

"I'm so sorry…"

He lurched forward and curled onto his side, closing his optics. "Me too…" He had known something was wrong, but he hadn't truly expected that the seeker would deactivate. It had been some foolish thought that both of them seemed to share, that the handsome jet was invincible. As it would turn out, he most certainly wasn't.