The battle had been lost. As she walked through the field full of dying sparks and cold metal, she knew there was nothing left. The ground she walked on died, the grass sustain its life as she passed. Soaked on blood from metal bodies, it turned gray and cracked. She would stay here no longer. The sky was red, dusk was coming to a close. She could feel the sun would appear soon. This was no longer a place for her. The darkness within her was winning; she was so tired of fighting it. Too many times, she'd been covered in the energon of others, laughing as they bled their lives out in her hands. Too often she had walked on, her dark wings clouding the skies of so many worlds. Too many times, she had bathed in the scent of death, her face being the last thing they saw. She shook her head and stepped over another grayed husk, the only light from the red symbol it had been willing to die for. Die, it had, though not for any reason but the darkness within her had to be sated.
Distantly, she heard a soft metal clank and a groan. Turning languidly, she felt one that wasn't quite gone. He was splattered with faintly glowing energon. She sniffed and much of it was his own. He was dying, but stubbornly refused to give up. So many dead. So many sparks gone out like stars from the shadows in her eyes. Slowly, she made her way over to him. This one was no different than the rest. This one...no, this one she knew.
She stopped, her hand outstretched almost to stop him. Her hand closed. There was no life that could not be taken, no life that survived the onslaught of her power. Suddenly, his face lifted and he saw her, broken metal wings outstretched as if to fly, long talons clenched into the ground as if to keep her earthbound. The dark spark was quiet now; there was no more need to feed. He lifted himself higher, slipped and coughed up glowing energon. The light in his eyes flickered and he reached out to a hand; a wordless plea. To her, it would mean nothing. She took a step towards him, but her hand would not drop. He coughed again.
Please, he whispered. Don't...
He couldn't finish and collapsed across the grayed body he'd been trying to fix only a few moments before a shaft of a purple-tinged spear had impaled itself upon his back. The anguish on his face was nothing new to her. She had seen it countless times before her claws crushed their spark to dust. She slowly breathed in the scent of his fading spark. The sparks of others he had saved; they were there, deep within him. Perhaps the darkness would be satisfied with his heart. She stepped towards him, but he didn't move this time. He wasn't gone yet. She took the dark spear and pulled. He cried out in pain and whimpered, gasping raggedly. His white metal was covered in mud and energon. His hands trembled as he weakly tried to keep himself from bleeding. Dropping the spear, she reached out and touched his back softly. Her wings rustled, the sharp metal feathers shrieking against one another as she knelt beside the fading healer. He looked up at her and she was nearly lost within his pale blue optics. Back to before the darkness. Back to when she could feel.
It had been so long since she'd enjoyed a simple fight. Reveling in the success of a good hit on the training field. Grinning at her opponent when she dodged his strikes. He'd been there, watching from the sidelines, making sure if anyone was hurt bad enough he was available. It's the way he had been. Overbearing, overprotective towards the others. But it was his spark that kept him alive. He never took anything for himself, giving selflessly to others all of his life. He had been so kind to her when she cried alone. He had been there when she screamed, ready to chase away her fears. Things had changed so much since then. But he had always stayed the same. When she had been the only survivor of a Decepticon attack, he had been the first one she saw when she awoke. He had nursed her back to health, he had kept her from giving up, from giving in. Eventually, she knew why. She had become different to him. He had become more to her. The light within her had attracted him until his spark had answered. She had fallen for him, but the whispers of the dark taint had begun then. At first it was just a shadow. Shadow could be easily defeated, they touched nothing. But it soon grew and the shadow became brighter. A dark void, enfolding itself around her bright spark until she was walking in blackness. It reveled in the hunt, and the kill was vicious. Too vicious at first. She feared for herself and fled. He tried to bring her home, but she ran. Away from him, away from everyone, hiding amongst the stars.
But the shadow around her spark couldn't be so easily defeated. It tainted her mind and she floated. It made a wound deep within her. She couldn't flee from herself. The darkness crushed her spark slowly, taking its place while she was alone. When it could do no more, it took her in search of life. Its taint needed to be fed. She slaughtered the sparks around her, it grew, giving her wings. She hid, the taint blinded her, taking the only light left to her. Worlds died beneath her touch, and she floated on. Always searching, always destroying. Slowly getting closer to the one thing that kept her spark lit. Him.
When she realized the shadow's direction, she turned. Willing to kill others to keep it sated, if only it kept her away from him. The more light she extinguished, the further it allowed her to go. To keep him safe. But it became easier to destroy. She tried to forget him, to save him from her darkness. She hope time would let his memory fade. Too much time had passed.
And now she was here. The same battlefield where she'd been tainted. He was in her arms, but the light in his optics had faded. She was alone. But the darkness was still there, still within her. Energon seeped from her optics, staining her black face gray. The only thing she had wanted was him. But now she had lost him. Forever. The energon burned as it trailed down her face, dripping to his dirty white face. The taint flickered, burning her spark and she gasped. The sound was loud in the silent air. She clutched his body to her chest, and the shadow flinched away. Her breath grew ragged as it began to pulse.
There was no one to hear her hoarse scream as the shadow erupted from between her broken wings. It pulled at her, drawing her closer, but she couldn't let the body go. It pulled harder, tearing at the tiny spark she had left. Her scream hiccuped as it tore away, leaving a void around her erratically flickering spark. It fled from something it could never understand and she collapsed across his body, the blackness of her optics enveloping the rest of her senses.
It took a long time before she heard it. Beneath her, he tried to push but was too weak. Slowly, she blinked at the dead ground and curled around him. He dragged his arms around hers.
You aren't alone,he whispered. Her wings chinked together discordantly and she opened her eyes to stare at him blankly. Never again, he rasped. Slowly, her hand crawled up to his face in disbelief. He smiled and covered her hand with his own. Carefully, he pulled her closer and she coiled around him again, but this time he held her. Like he always had.