"TestingTesting123."
Transformers Fan Fiction by ToniTheTerror / dark--romance.

Title: TestingTesting123: Chapter Three.
Beta: None. Sometimes Emi C:
Warnings: Oh-ho. Depressingness. Funfun. More depressingness soon. Suppose it could be Skywarp/Scream or Skywarp/TC in this chapter. Megatron in the next chapter.
AN: Final chapter is the next one. Then this fic is in the dust. Thanks for all the reviews so far, I'm really really thankful for it C: I hope you enjoy! Reviews aren't necessary, but greatly appreciated, and I would love you lots. –Toni.

DISCLAIMER; I do not, no matter how frequently I wish it to be so, own Transformers and I do not make any money from writing this story.

"Starscream, can I come in?"

The room was dark, and the moment Skywarp spoke, clinks of metal against metal sounded as Starscream fumbled around search for the main lighting core. He blindly powered it up and stood back before his brother. The light was still dim and Skywarp had to intensify the power of his optics slightly to allow him to locate Starscream properly. Skywarp ran at his brother, looping his arms over Starscream's shoulders, across the top of his wings and locked around his back.

"Starscream..." Skywarp said, smiling with relief as he felt the warm glow of his brother's spark against his own. Starscream didn't shift even a nanometre against the other seeker. His optics fixed on the door through which Skywarp had just entered, not moving in the slightest. Skywarp pulled back from his brother and looked at him closely.

"You aren't pushing me away, Star..." Skywarp said, backing from Starscream none the less in case his affection irritated his tired components. "I'm sorry." He said quickly, with a straight back and a small salute. Then, a pause while Skywarp watched Starscream's face. The ever-so-still optics flickered shortly to Skywarp's face, then back to the door once more.

".. Starscream, what's wrong? Surely you should be happy..." Skywarp said, putting a concerned servo on Starscream's arm, just a little from his null ray. Starscream moved away from the touch and looked fully at his brother, optics slightly narrowed.

"Happy?" Starscream snarled, glaring at his brother as though he had just insulted the very being of Starscream. "And just why, exactly should I be HAPPY?" he demanded loudly. Skywarp backed away slightly, staring at the cherry seeker with those terrified eyes again.

".. Star, you're alive!" You could have been dead! By now you would have been melted down into scrap parts!" Skywarp stressed, then pointed to Starscream's spark chamber. "You still have a spark, I can still feel you! Nothing has changed!" he cried, moving close to his brother again.

"Barely!" Starscream barked, pushing the younger seeker backwards toward the doorway. Starscream's optics flared as he watched Skywarp falter and almost trip with the surprise of being pushed backward with such force. "Skywarp, everything has changed! Now leave me!"

"No! I won't!" Skywarp yelled back, equally as irritated by now. "You always close us out. Thundercracker and I are your brothers, Starscream! We care about you! But you always block us out! You never tell us any of your problems; you keep them bottled up inside and they steadily send you insane!"

"I am content with the way I deal with my problems!" Starscream said quietly, refraining from shouting anymore. Skywarp allowed his fans a while to cool his systems, in which time he straightened and looked down, almost ashamed with how he had treated his sibling.

"Perhaps, but... you upset Thundercracker and I. If you could only tell us what troubles you, we would be able to help..." Skywarp said, resorting back to his typical tentative tone. Starscream spun on his heel to look at his brother once more. Skywarp flinched slightly, thinking that Starscream was about to lash out once more, but when Starscream did nothing but look at him, he softened. The SIC's optics were travelling over Skywarp's wings slowly, almost longingly.

"Can you replace something so sensitive, so delicate, and so very useful to a seekers life once the very element of the thing has been destroyed?" Starscream asked, and Skywarp's mouth gaped as he searched for an answer, for any indication to what Starscream was talking about.

"Do not think on it, 'Warp." Starscream said finally, pushing past his brother and out of the door. "I must return to the repair bay."

Sometime later, the door to the very same quarters opened once more. The quarters were now bathed in bright artificial light, each of the light panels fully functioning, opposite to when Starscream purposely turned them to the lowest setting possible to keep his sore optics from any further pain. Sat upon the berth were Skywarp and Thundercracker, the younger seeker curled against the other, frowning, and the older stroking his wings in comfort. Both looked up as the door opened and Hook stepped his way slowly through.

"What is it? Is he alright?" Skywarp asked as he stood quickly. Thundercracker followed close at his side like a protective shadow.

"He wants to speak to you..." Hook said solemnly. Skywarp threw a confused glance at his brother and then looked quickly back to Hook.

"But is he alright?"

"Skywarp, please. He wishes to speak to you, please do not keep him waiting." Hook answered as though each word cost him a great deal.

"Hook! Answer my q-"

"'Warp," Thundercracker interrupted, putting his servo on his brother's shoulder. "Starscream wants to see us. We're wasting time."

Skywarp took a final moment to look in an accusatory way toward the doctor, almost as though he had withheld information that rightfully belonged to Skywarp from him. He then looked down once more, allowed himself to be pulled in to Thundercracker and proceeded to follow Hook back to the repair bay.

Once there, they were introduced to a gloomy room and Skywarp felt an unsteady feeling of nervousness at being introduced to his brother in darkness for the second time that day.

"Starscream, your brothers are here, as you wished." Hook said slowly. The noise of Starscream's twisted vocalizer letting out a low sigh slid through the dark and Skywarp and Thundercracker looked at each other slowly.

"Do you wish me to leave you three alone?" Hook asked the darkness, his optics downcast.

"Yes," Starscream answered quickly. Hook nodded to the other two, placing a supportive hand on Skywarp's arm before leaving the room.

A stifled silence spiralled hazily for a few moments, till Thundercracker spoke.

"Starscream, shouldn't we have some light in here? Your optics won't be as fragile by now."

"They aren't." Starscream confirmed quickly.

"Then can I switch the lights on?" he asked again, slightly quizzical as to why Starscream was being so secretive about what was going on, why he had needed to see them so desperately.

"I suggest you brace yourself if you do so," Starscream answered simply. Thundercracker looked at Skywarp, or more what he could see of Skywarp, and frowned. Skywarp searched in the blackness for any sign of Starscream's optics, but could retrieve none. It seemed that the Seeker had offlined them, or was looking away from the two. Skywarp nodded back to his brother and the cyan flyer onlined the main systems.

The lights took a while to fully flicker on till the whole panel was ignited, but as they began; Skywarp squinted a little and saw his brother. He was facing them now, optics onlined and looking at them miserably. He sat upon the repair berth, beside two panels of metal.

At first, either of his brothers noticed nothing the matter with him. His alloys were smooth, shining and clean, free of dints and completely re-painted. His optics were once again glinting and sharp, as were his face-plates, and his spark chamber looked brand-new.

Skywarp noticed it first.

His brother was complete, aside from the missing wings on his back. The two panels of metal beside him were white, rounded with a thin line of red about the outside. Now, the two seekers noticed that, even thought Starscream's alloys and whole body seemed to be at full-form, Starscream himself did not look so. He was slumped forward, looking at the ground as the two beheld him. The wings at his side had lost almost the entirety of their colour by now, and so had Starscream's face. He looked ill, like he hadn't recharged for cycles. Tears began to fall, once again, from Skywarp's eyes as he stared at his brother's wings lying so painfully far away from their owner's back. Starscream looked up, observed both his sibling's faces and stood. He immediately opened his arms toward them, and Skywarp ran forward, pelting himself at Starscream. The cherry seeker wrapped both arms around the darker one, servos resting on his wings, stroking them soothingly as the owner sobbed into his chassis.

"'Warp..." Starscream cooed as best he could manage, tightening his grip around the other. Skywarp simply continued to cry, his servos clutching onto the casing across Starscream's cockpit.

"Please, don't." The SIC shushed, pushing Skywarp away a little to look straight at him, face to face. He wiped the tears with a single sky-blue servo, then looked to Thundercracker. The middle seeker was standing stock still, either unable to move or simply not wishing to accept what had happened. He shook his head, and looked at Skywarp.

"You look ill," Thundercracker said, aiming at Starscream but not looking at either of them. "I'll go and get some energon cubes." He said before hurrying away.

Starscream sighed, wincing slightly as he backed onto the repair berth and sat straight. Skywarp watched him, willing himself not to tear up again. He stood in silence for a minute, refusing to even so much as look at the two panels that had once been Starscream's wings.

"I suppose it's not all that bad," Skywarp said timidly.

"I will never fly again." Starscream retaliated, watching Skywarp closely. Skywarp stopped and looked back at his brother, almost unable to come to terms with it.

"But, at least you are alive..."

"Your logic is all the same," Starscream commented lowly. "You have told me that being alive is a good thing twice today, and my answer is the same. I am barely alive, Skywarp! You may be able to feel my spark, you may be able to talk to me, but what do I have left other than you and Thundercracker? I have nothing. I have lost my job; I will lose my position, my status, and my reputation. I will no longer be able to do the only thing that I am the best at! There is no hope for me becoming Lord of the Decepticons any longer! I will be no more than a dirt-kissing intelligence droid! I will be useless, I will be unhappy and I will be much better offline!" Starscream shrieked, getting louder and more distraught with each word. Skywarp listened, but was not afraid. He watched his brother silently, watching how each of his limbs twitched with pent up frustration.

"Star," Skywarp said silently, putting his forehead to Starscream's. "I can't replace anything so sensitive, or delicate or so necessary to a seekers life if the element of the thing has been destroyed..." he answered slowly. "All I can do is be your brother, and do all I can for you."

Starscream left a silence to think about Skywarp's words, then spoke.

"Could you do one thing for me?" he asked, pushing Skywarp backward via his spark chamber, but his touch was gentle.

"Anything." Skywarp answered, nodding. Starscream stood from the berth, beside his brother and looked straight into his optics.

"Could you kill me?"

Skywarp took a step backward, staring at his brother incredulously. He found himself wishing that his sound receptors were malfunctioning. Starscream was looking at him so directly that he could never take his request as a joke...

"Kill you..." Skywarp repeated slowly, as if confirming what Starscream had just said to be truth. Starscream nodded gravely, and moved closer to his brother, pleading servos gripping his arm.

"Skywarp, please. I'm in so much pain. Every movement causes my spark immense strain... My connections ache from lack of flying, but I never will again. The circuits connecting my wings to my mainframe were obliterated when the chip was removed before the final test was complete." Starscream said, looking into Skywarp's optics desperately. "Sky, I can't do my job, I'm worth nothing. Please, you have to help me. I can't go on being useless..."

"Useless?" Skywarp repeated, this time pulling away from Starscream himself. He looked at his brother disapprovingly. "To me and Thundercracker, you're the rock, Starscream. You tell us how to improve, you tell us our faults, you tell us our weaknesses and you keep us together. You're our brother, you're our trine leader, but you're a fighter more than that. The Starscream I know, my brother, wouldn't give up on his life so easily. He wouldn't let himself be taken over by this, by anything!"

"But this isn't just anything! This is my entire life! Without the ability to fly, I'm nothing! I'm no longer a seeker. I can't be Second In Command, and... I can't be your brother. I no longer have the right, or the skills." Starscream implored, hanging from his brother. Skywarp threw him off again and turned to leave Starscream.

"Starscream, no matter what happens to you, your spark is still bonded with my own and with Thundercracker's. No matter what, you are still our brother, and our leader. Title or no title. We will follow you." He turned his head once, looking into the Cherry seeker's optics. "Whatever you choose to do, Thundercracker and I stand by you, support you and will appreciate your decisions. But I will not be the one to carry them out. I hope you can understand that."

Skywarp left the room, leaving Starscream with only his aching spark and two sheets of white metal for company.

TO BE CONTINUED---