A/N: I know there are other Starscream as a youngling stories out there, but I'll be honest, I've never read any of them. This is still based on the ever lovely Death by Neckties.
"So, what does this mean for us?" Bulkhead looked around at the others as he asked the question. Arcee, Ratchet, Prime, and Bulkhead all stood in the main part of the base for a meeting of sorts.
"I do not know. Ratchet's initial scans tell us that Starscream is suffering from some sort of amnesia." Optimus stated.
"Exactly." Ratchet nodded as he brought a scan of Starscream's processor onto the computer screen. "It would explain why he didn't recognize Arcee—or any of us for that matter."
"But what if he's—" Ratchet cut Arcee off quickly.
"Faking it? The scans say otherwise." He indicated the screen. "The memories are not gone simply buried, this does not however account for his appearance."
Arcee glanced across the base to where to where Bumblebee was keeping an eye on their young guest. They had found some empty energon cubes which the grey and silver youngling was stacking to build a fort of sorts. Bumblebee—who still found the youngling's presence even more odd than the others did—had started off hanging back a bit but had, at some point, been roped into helping construct the fort.
"Strange." Arcee turned back to the others, "So your saying that the memories are still there, well, doesn't that mean they could just rise to the surface."
"I don't know what it would take for this to occur, but that is a likely scenario, yes."
"So we're just going to keep an ambush waiting to happen around the base?" Bulkhead snorted, "He's a 'con. Once a 'con, always a 'con."
"Everyone was a youngling once, Bulkhead." Optimus too threw a glace to where the fort was being built, he continued sadly, "Some of us more so than others."
Arcee sighed, "So we're keeping him."
"Yes." Optimus said softly, "Ratchet, is it at all possible that you could find out what it might take to refresh Starscream's memory. I would prefer to avoid that outcome for the time being."
"It's hard to say, but I'll see what I can do."
Starscream lifted the empty energon cube to finish a wall of their fort, then looked over at the taller bot. "What're they talking about over there?" He pointed over his shoulder at the group on the other side of the room.
Bumblebee shrugged, he knew full well of course, but Starscream didn't need to know that.
"Why don't you talk like the others do?"
"There was an accident." Bumblebee buzzed in response.
"Oh." Starscream looked over his shoulder at the older bots. "They're talking about me, aren't they?"
Primus, did all younglings ask so many questions? Bumblebee suddenly remembered some of the questions he'd asked when he had been younger. So, this is what the receiving end had felt like. He simply shrugged again and put another block on the fort.
"So this place is your base right?"
"Yes."
"You think I'm weird don't you?"
Bumblebee was a bit startled by this question. "A little." He admitted, "It's not anything you did though, mostly I'm just not used to being around any one as young as you." Mostly.
Starscream looked up at him, "Why's that?"
"Starscream." The youngling turned around to find Optimus looking at him. Behind Optimus Bulkhead stood rigidly, further back Arcee leaned against one of the walls, arms crossed, glaring. Ratchet was focused on one of the computers. "Would you like to stay here on base with our team?"
As if there's any other place to go, Arcee thought as she observed the surreal scene taking place before her.
The younling's eyes went wide at the question, innocent, too much so for a murderer. "Can I?"
Optimus nodded, "If you would like to."
Starscream bobbed his head in an enthusiastic nod. "We'll find somewhere for you to stay. In the mean time Ratchet would like to run a few more diagnostics."
"Okay." Starscream started toward the medic but half way across the room he paused and turned back to Optimus, "And sir?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you."
"So," Arcee walked over to the others, "Who's going to explain this all to the kids?"
"He's what?" Jack's question reverberated off the walls. Arcee was glad that Starscream wasn't here while they were giving the explanations.
"Starscream is staying with us." She repeated.
"Uh, like evil Starscream? Second in command of the Decepticons Starscream? Tried to bring a zombie warrior back from the dead but trapped us in an alternate dimension with it, that Starscream?" Miko practically shouted.
"Yes and no." Ratchet answered.
"What do you mean, 'yes and no'?" Raf asked calmly.
"His memories have been buried, he remembers nothing. I believe humans call it amnesia."
"Okay…"
"There's something else too…he's a youngling."
"A what?"
"A youngling." Bulkhead interjected, "Like a kid."
"Wait." Jack said, "Your species has kids?"
"On Cybertron, new life comes from a sacred place, the Well of Allsparks." Ratchet explained. "These new bots are sparklings, like your human newborns and toddlers. As they grow and upgrade they move through being younglings, sub-adults, and finally into adulthood."
"So younglings are children and sub-adults are like teenagers?" Raf's question was answered by nods. "And if you're all adults, you must have been kids once too, right?" He smiled.
"Oh, got any pictures?" Miko asked.
"In a manner of speaking," Ratchet said to Miko, and to Raf, "We're not all technically adults, and not all of us were younglings."
The trio of humans looked at him confused.
Bumblebee stepped forward and raised his hand slightly. Ratchet nodded at him, "Bumblebee is still technically a sub adult."
"Dude, you're a teenager?" Miko looked at Bumblebee.
He nodded, "I always thought it was kind of obvious."
Raf, being the only human who understood was the only one to respond, "In hindsight it makes sense."
"Okay, but what about not having been a youngling?" Jack spoke up.
"Again: Bumblebee." Ratchet said
"When the war started the Well of Allsparks went dry until about half way through when it produced one last generation, the one Bee's from." Arcee explained.
"We called them War Sparks back on Cybertron." Bulkhead put in.
"What's that got to do with being a youngling?" Raf asked
"Younglings," Ratchet said, "and sparklings are not built to be able to fight or even defend themselves. I suppose Primus took that into account. The War Sparked Generation all came from the Well of Allsparks protoformed into frames that resembled sub adults at least, and heavily armored and armed ones at that."
"War took their chances at really being kids." Jack said softly. The humans glanced at Bumblebee who was now staring at his pedes.
"So, why?" Raf asked, everyone looked at him, startled out of their tangent lines of thought, "Why would Starscream be a youngling again?"
"I don't know, but I intend to find out." Ratchet answered.
A/N 2: I took a bit of liberty with the Well of Allsparks which is in part explained in Exodus by Alex Irvine, but I added a plausable explaination for sparklings. Bee never having been a sparkling is based the speculation I've heard as to wether all bots were born in adult frames in G1 or if it was a war time precaution due to the circumstances of the creation of the Arielbots and Protectobots. I don't really want to touch on that can of worms. Please don't kill me.
