Title: Gladiator

Timeline: Before the war starts.

Main characters: Starscream, Thundercracker, Skywarp

Summary: Starscream and his Trine are very low on credits, and it will not be long before they will end up in the streets. As the Trineleader, Starscream choose to abandon his dream in order to protect his Trinemates.

Klik – Second

Breem – Minute

Joor – Hour

Orn – Day

Cycle - Week

Orbital cycle – Month

Vorn – Year

I stared into the air in front of me, thrumming my digits against the table.

'This won't do. All of us can't take the courses we want if we want to survive. I need-'

A light gray servo came into my view and started to wave in front of my optics. I blinked och followed the arm up to a marine blue and light gray seeker.

"Cybertron to Starscream! Have you landed or are you on another planet and exploring again?" Skywarp said and I rolled my optics but a small smile was on my lips. Skywarp sat down next to me and leaned in closer.

"Where was you this time?" he said with a flutter of his wings. Curious.

"Nowhere Skywarp." I said as I pushed Skywarp's face away from me.

"Come on! Tell me!" he said as he struggled against my servo and I smiled.

"No." I simply said and took back my servo as Skywarp stopped to struggle.

"Meanie." he said with a pout but his fluttering wings told me what I already knew. Enjoyment. We looked at each other for a moment before both of us began to laugh. We soon calmed down though.

"Seriously, what were you thinking on? Another project of yours?" Skywarp said as he leaned back in his seat. I sighed and turned away from him. I didn't answer and my wings dropped a little.

"Starscream?" Skywarp said worriedly and I felt a gentle touch on my wings. The sounds of footsteps interrupted whatever Skywarp was about to do. I looked up to see a moss green and white seeker coming towards us, carrying three cubes of energon. I noticed how Skywarp's wings perked up at the sight of fuel.

"Thanks TC." I said as Thundercracker handed me one of the cubes and another to Skywarp before sitting down with the third cube. I bit off the corner of the cube and took a sip before I frowned.

"TC. Where did you buy this?" I asked as I looked over to the moss green seeker. A small tension in his wings before they relaxed. Busted.

"At the Rygar's." Thundercracker said and my wings tensed and gave an angry shake.

"They are expensive there Thundercracker! Why had you to buy there?!" I hissed angrily as I rose up from my seat. Thundercracker mirrored my actions.

"They are the only ones that sell energon around here! And this was their cheapest!" he hissed back and he strengthened his words with angry shakes of his wings. We stared at each other, none of us planning to back down.

"Um... Guys... Please calm down." Skywarp said as he tugged at my arm. I glanced down at Skywarp before I closed my optics and sat down with a sigh and a drop of my wings.

"Sorry TC... I just..." I said and made a motion with my servos before they fell down onto my lap. Thundercracker sat down too and shook his head, his wings relaxing.

"It's okay Star... It's about our credits isn't it?" he asked with a soft expression and I nodded. I looked down to the ground and I noticed in the corner of my optics how Thundercracker reached over to me. I felt his touch on one of my wings and how he began to rub the base of the wing the best he could from his position. ~Forgiveness~ I looked up and met Thundercracker's optics for a moment before I looked away.

"I'm sorry. I'm not able to bring in more credits than I do at the moment. I'm sorry." I said as my wings dropped lower. Ashamed. I heard some movement and I saw in the corner of my optics that Thundercracker moved around me to get better access to my wings. Then I felt two sets of servos stroking along my wings, first the top and then the side. ~Comfort~ My wings quivered a little but the servos didn't stop.

"It's not your fault that the energon prices have risen Screamer." Skywarp said behind me as he touched one of my wings.

"You are doing the best you can. Maybe if we drop out a few of our courses-" Thundercracker began but I didn't let him finish as I suddenly spun around in my seat and threw them a glare.

"No. You are not dropping out of your courses." I said sternly, my wings struck up high. Determination. Thundercracker and Skywarp glanced at each other before they looked at me again.

"It's the only way Starscream. We have have to." Thundercracker said and shook his head slowly. I shook my head furiously.

"No. You are not dropping out. You have already dropped out of enough courses. You have fought enough to stay in those you are in now." I said and gave them a glare that told them I would not sway on this. I sent both of them a wave of determination over our Trinebond to reinforce my words.

"But what are we going to do then?" Skywarp asked carefully. I sighed and closed my optics.

"I drop out. And find another job to get some more credits." I said slowly and I could hear them splutter. Then one of them grabbed my shoulders and I opened my optics to see Thundercracker's face not far from my own. Rage filled his face.

"Are you fragging nuts?! You have fought long and hard to get into the science class and the intergalactic exploration class! They are your dreams! You fragging can't give them up!" he yelled angrily.

"And you are my Trinemates! I'm supposed take care for you!" I hissed back, my wings gave a shake to strengthen my words. Thundercracker froze and stared at me with wide optics.

"My courses are the most expensive ones, they require a lot more material than yours. If I drop out, we will save a third of what we are paying now. And if I take another job, then we will get even more credits." I said, not looking Thundercracker in the optics. I didn't want to do this, but this was the only option left.

"But jobs are hard enough to come by... And even if we will get some extra credits, that might not be enough. We are after all behind one cycle with the payment for the rent..." Skywarp said and I looked up at him.

"I... I figure something out. Promise." I said and reached out with my servos to their wings. They leaned forward so I could touch their wings and I traced the edges of their wings. ~Protection~ They stood there and let me traces their wings for a little while before they sat down in their seats and we slowly drank our energon.

'I will find something that pays good. I will make sure you two are safe. I promise.'

AN: I couldn't resist any longer :P I had to post this. This is the first part of Gladiator. The rest will come when I have finished the story(or when it takes too long for me to finish the story).

Sorry for the coloring of TC and Warp... I had no idea what colors I would have put them in so ^^' If you have better suggestion: bring them up!

And do anybody have a good name for a cybertronian week?

I hope you have enjoued this as much as me! :)

EDIT: If something is unclear: This is a Shattered Glass universe. That means that TC and Warp will have different colors than usual(even Starscream has different colors). They will also have a bit different personalities than in the series. What I meant before is that does anyone have a better color combination for SG!TC and SG!Warp? I know their true color combination but not sure on their SG counterpart.

IMPORTANT:

Before Earth is a serie of stories in my Shattered Glass version of the Prime series. They will not follow in line so keep an eye on the timeline in the first chapter of each story. I'm writing Before Earth so I can get a feeling for the characters and then I might be able to continue to write on my other story, Something Wrong. Megatrouns from that story comes from this universe.

If you have something you want to see/read about, say it. I might or might not write about it. We'll see, no promises.