Cybertron, 9 lunar cycles after Thundercracker's return:
Starscream steps through the door to Ratchet's medbay, optics scanning the dimness of the large room. The room he always has felt safe and secure inside is filling him with dread as wary optics follow the walls, scanning for any life sign.
The door to the CMO's office opens and out steps…
First Aid.
"I'm sorry, Hound. There is simply nothing I can do," the medic sighs to the other occupant of the office as they leave it, both their statures slumped.
"There must be something we can do. We can't let him die like that. Optimus needs him, we all do, or we are going to be wiped out," the tracker protests weakly.
"If just Ratchet…" The younger medic sighs and shakes his helm in defeat. "I'm not as skilled as he was – is." First Aid catches his phrase before Hound even has the chance to protest against the use of past tense. But they all know it is just a matter of time.
"I wonder how Starscream is doing. Does he even know how we fare here on Earth?" Hound wonders out loud as the two Autobots walk to the only berth currently occupied.
"His bond with both of you is severed. He doesn't feel anything from you. That much, Ratchet told me." First Aid answers dejectedly.
"I know." Hound whispers. While Ratchet suffered greatly both physically and mentally, Hound only felt the emotional backslash.
He deeply regrets having distanced himself from Starscream over the time of the seeker's maturity among them, but when it had happened, nothing could be done to fix it. Ratchet had become the center in the seeker's life and Hound had kept his distance, watched, but not truly participated in the seeker's life.
They stop at the berth. Starscream walks up behind them to look at the occupant, and then looks away. His optics offlined in grief at the sight of Ratchet – his creator – laid up with countless monitors connected to his frame, spark, and processor, showing the unstable and weak spark rate.
"I'm so sorry, Starscream. I'm just not good enough," First Aid whispers, as if he can feel Starscream is there with them.
Starscream onlines from the nightmare to the dark night sky high above, calmly glittering with millions upon millions of stars.
It is just like the other nightmares that have haunted him during the last few solar cycles, and they are becoming worse and worse with every time he enters recharge.
Before the nightmares began to haunt him, Ratchet had been completely forgotten in his new life among his people. Now it all resurfaces and disturbs him in his recharge.
He untangles himself from Thundercracker's protective wing and sits up, rubbing his faceplates in frustration. A tiny sound draws his attention, and he looks down, opening his cockpit and withdrawing his little creation.
/Hungry? Or did my nightmare wake you as well?/ he murmurs to the barely one-lunar-cycle-old seekerling, nuzzling the small translucent wings before offering a feeding line.
He looks up at the stars again, while the seekerling latches onto the offered fuel line with a small chirp and begins to drain him. His thoughts wandered back to his creator and the nightmares about what might be happening on Earth.
Is it just dreams, or reality?
Is his creator truly dying, or is it his mind playing games?
He has been wondering why none of their seekers has detected any return of the Autobots to Cybertron.
Why aren't they returning?
But even as he asks himself that question, he is aware that one of the reasons might be that the seekers would fall upon them if they did.
Cybertron is ruled by the seekers now. The grounders are still being hunted as prey, but even if Starscream can't get Thundercracker to stop it, he at least has managed to get Thundercracker to understand that he is never going to feed from a frame showing the Autobot sigil, and that the prey needs to be dead when it is presented to him.
He shudders at the memories of the first Autobot that had been dumped in front of him, struggling and pleading.
At least it hadn't been someone who he recognized and who recognized him, or the whole ordeal would have become that much more worse. But just hearing the pleas and understanding them had been horror enough.
It had been his first kill, and feeling how it tore him apart from the inside, Thundercracker had understood and accepted his demands and not pushed him further.
The tears flowing from his optics as he had looked at his energon splattered frame and the greying Autobot had caused the dominant to hold him tight and rock him soothingly, whispering apologies and promising to never put him through anything like it again. If he didn't want to kill, he didn't need to. Thundercracker would do that for him.
He lets go of the memory with another shudder and turns to look at Thundercracker and Skywarp still soundly in recharge.
He is torn between the need to know and the fear of disobeying his Winglord. But now is the best chance he has, and something tells him that if he doesn't do something soon, it is going to be too late.
The seekerling releases his feeding line and enters a fitful recharge again, curling into a small ball in the center of his palm. Placing it back into the cockpit, he secures it safely before rising and leaving the resting area.
He tells himself that he is just going for a walk to get his thoughts straight, but soon he is at the edge of the resting area and looking towards the direction of the ruins of Kaon and the spacebridge.
Do or don't?
His mind is in uproar and he glances nervously back towards where Thundercracker is.
The Winglord is going to be so enraged when he realizes what he is doing.
Hopefully it will then be too late for the dominant to do anything.
"Ratchet. I'm coming," he whispers into the silence of the night, taking a few more steps. He is out of sight of the members of the clan before he ignites his thrusters, transforms and blasts towards the ruins of the grounder city.
As he travels outside the forest and over hulking ruin after ruin of the once great grounder city-states, he detects the movements of the surviving grounders milling, rising during the only time on the planet where they can be somewhat safe.
His presence clearly startles them and causes them to scatter for shelter, but he carries on. He isn't a killer. He isn't there to feed.
He doesn't see them scurry from their meager protection as he passes, curious optics following the unusual sight of a lone seeker as if they can feel the change to come and ruthlessly reform their existence reverberating in the air.
Soon Kaon is ahead, the countless toppled towers strewn all over the place telling the tale of all the horrors the citizens has experienced during the seekers reign. But even here Starscream senses them, the weak spark signatures.
He lands in front of the entrance to the spacebridge and gently pries the door open.
A small gasp sounds from within and he freezes. The spark signature within the building enters his awareness and he hesitates for a few astroseconds before taking the first step inside. Of the two of them, it is him who is the largest danger. He has nothing to fear from whoever it is that is inside.
Hurried scurrying sounds, and as he walks further into the room, whimpers follow the movements.
"I'm not going to hurt you." He speaks carefully, and the sound and movement stops for a moment before something moves to his right and he turns, coming face to face with the other.
"Oh Primus. No, no, no!" the scientist screams, momentarily deceived by the words in his own language to reveal himself, only to see the deadly sight of a seeker standing there, closing off the only escape from the room.
"I'm not going to hurt you." Starscream repeats firmly, seeing the scientist jolt at the words once again, the red optics widening.
"J-just do it! Don't play with me! Kill me. Do it!" Starscream stares, shocked, as the words slowly sink in. Once again the memory of the Autobot surfaces.
"I'm not going to," he answers adamantly, taking a step further into the room and away from the scientist, his optics glancing to the deactivated spacebridge. "Do you know how that one works?" he asks, hoping to calm some of the fear in the other.
The question seems to take the grounder by surprise, and after almost a breem of silence, Starscream turns to regard the scientist.
"Do you?" he asks, unable to hold back the small growl in his vocalizer.
The small threat is enough to make the scientist cower, but he nods in affirmation.
"I need you to activate it. When you have done so, I suggest you stay far away from this area for a while. Tell those you reside with to move out of Kaon. My presence here is not healthy for any of you," Starscream explains, aware that Thundercracker, if necessary, is going to rip the whole area apart to get to him.
With frenzied nodding the grounder moves to comply. The energy from the grid surges through the room, activating the light, and brings the machinery to life in a flash of light. The spacebridge whirrs to life moments later and the purple vortex swirls calmly.
With a deep sigh, Starscream looks at the beautifully entwining colors before preparing to step into it.
::STARSCREAM!:: Thundercracker's furious roar through the bond startles him, and with a spark pulsing in fear at the sheer intensity of the anger, he hesitates. Base coding warns him against defying his dominant, and more importantly, his Winglord.
The punishment is going to be severe and painful. More than the one he experienced when he stepped in-between Thundercracker and Ratchet. Back then he didn't understand what he did, now he does and Thundercracker isn't going to show any mercy.
::Starscream, where are you?:: Skywarp's unsure and fearful voice almost breaks him, but ignoring the continued pleas, aware that both his mates can sense his feelings and intentions he steels himself and steps through the purple light.
Thundercracker's spark-chilling enraged roar follows him into the nothingness of space.
The bond thins to almost nothing as distance stretches it wide and far. He can no longer sense any of them, and he feels how the emptiness hurts in his spark.
Then his optics looks up into a bright sky and a young yellow sun.
He is back on Earth.
From the ethereal plane two celestial beings are watching the lone submissive with rapt attention. This is what The Sky Above has waited for to happen, and Solaris shares in his intense pleasure at seeing Starscream follow the path destined for him.
Soon everything will be uncovered and no more wars will wage among his creations.
The time nears for the forgotten ancient knowledge to be unlocked.
Their attention turns towards Cybertron and Thundercracker. The Sky Above has no doubt that the Winglord is going to pursue Starscream, and this is all part of his great plan.
Just like the nightmares he has sent Starscream during the last few solar cycles to get the seeker to leave Cybertron for Earth to uncover the forgotten truth.
A special thank you to T'Reilani for betaing this chapter.