Looking Back

A navy femme with a black racing stripe flashed into the room and slammed to a halt in front of Shade's cell. What on Earth? The thought that the femme was slightly crazy occurred to Shade just as quickly as she dismissed it. The femme didn't have an insane look to her. Her fans were whirring, but it was only from the excursion of racing to the Brig.

"Let me explain," the navy femme stated, "My designation is Electrostar. You were and are my sparkling, Starstrike."

Shade studied her a bit warily. Was this a ploy to keep her as an Autobot if she thought of turning on them? She turned down this thought too. Electrostar seemed to radiate truth as she spoke. Besides, she knew Autobots wouldn't lie. How could this femme be her dani though?

"Shockblade was my 'sparkmate'. I had two sparklings with him. One was the gray mech you met, Shadow. The other was a femme I never saw. I was told she had died. Shockblade lied to me. Both when we were bonded by a quack, and when he said you had died because I was too weak. Then he 'died' when my town was destroyed. I didn't even know there was a chance until now that both of you were alive."

-0-

Star stared blankly across the destroyed city. No survivors. Not one. Even her sparkmate had died. One thing stayed in her mind. Why hadn't she died with Shockblade? She felt the bond die. She knew she only had a minute before she would meet him in the Matrix. Her offlining never came. She kicked a torn metal wall, causing a cloud of metal dust to rise up, causing her to cough.

The bond had been a sham, a fake, all along. She should have known there would have been more of a connection. She should have felt his presence in the back of her mind. The bond had only been a telepathic-like link. Just so he could read her mind. He had been a 'Con all along. The information hadn't done him much good anyway. He was dead.

"Good," she rasped harshly in the still air. All he was to her was an empty shell of what a true sparkmate should have been. He hadn't loved her. He had used her, beat her, and lied to her. Her Starstrike was dead because of him. He helped the monsters that tore apart the city.

The only thing left of the school where Shadow had been that day was the flat metal foundation. She choked at the thought with a heartbroken sob. Her precious, kind, good Shadow was gone. She would never see him again.

Then another thought came. Shadow wasn't dead though. She felt the bond. He was alive. She would see him again, and she would fight with every last ounce of her strength. The Cons would pay for what they had done to her family. They would pay.

She scanned the horizon one last time before making her way out of the rubble and toward the city her sisters lived. They would help find Shadow.

-0-

"But what does this have to do with me?"

"Let me finish," Star replied quietly, and then continued her account of what had happened, "That's why your stepmother, Black Hole, could never bond to you. There was a very small bond to me, from right when you were born. I couldn't even feel it, it was much too weak. Once a sparkling has a bond, no matter how small, to their mother, no new mother/daughter bond can be formed. That's how Shockblade finally realized I was still alive."

Shade began to see the truth in her words. In fact, she remembered when she had finally saw the truth behind the Cons when her father avoided her questions.

-0-

"Hide Shade! The Autobots can't get the information you have," Shockblade warned Shaderacer, "Run as fast as you can, and don't stop until you are sure it's safe." The Autobots weren't attacking, but Shockblade decided to hide his daughter away so she wouldn't get any more ideas about those Autobots. She had been asking too many questions. Why were the Autobots more peaceful? Why didn't they attack the Cons first? Why did the Cons attack in the first place? What was the use in harming humans? And especially this last question.

"Dad, why don't I have a bond to Black Hole?"

"Now is not the time to ask stupid questions!" she hadn't heard that tone of voice from her opi, ever. He had snarled at her. Fear spread through her systems as her optics widened.

"Oh my sparklet, I will tell you later, alright?" He wouldn't of course. She knew it. He knew it.

-0-

It was too late. The damage had been done. Shade saw that she wouldn't get her answers. She was determined to get away from that point on. He had sent Dare after her, hoping her half-brother would be able to convince her to come back. It hadn't worked. The Cons lost their informant when Shade got away and was taken to the Autobot base.

Shade was shocked as looked back at her past. This femme was her real Dani. Her real mother. There was no way she could have made all this up. No wonder Black Hole didn't have a bond to her. She had wondered a long, long time about that. Now she found that Black Hole couldn't have bonded to her "sparkling" anyway. Her own father had lied to her all these years. Her real mother was an Autobot. An Autobot that would give her the answers she needed. Black Hole was only a stepmother. A stepmother that never loved her.

Star then went on to explain what had happened with her life since her town was destroyed. Her part in the war, reuniting with her sisters on Earth, and bonding to Prowl was all explained from Shade's mother's perspective.

"Dani…" Shade finally whispered when she was through, gazing at Electrostar through the bars. She could see the family resemblance now. The optics, the form… and the racing stripe. All these were from her real mother. Star's mouth quivered in a happy sob.

"My sparkling, Starstrike… you're home," Star whispered, and then with a soft, half wry laugh, continued, "You can go by Shaderacer. From what I see, it fits you better…"

"No Dani… at least you can call me Starstrike, I don't mind…"

Both femmes reached out with a bond, finally forming a stronger mother/daughter bond that should have been if it hadn't been for Shockblade's interference and kidnapping of his own daughter.

-0-

Vivi: Surprised? :3 Such a twisted, contorted family history Electrostar has… It may be written in a shorter story to explain more of what she went through. (:

Athena:cuddles rabid bunnies Thanks for the gift! I shall breed them and teach them to make me sandwiches.

Also.

Some shall occupy the space under Vivi's porch.

SHALALALALA LA LA TI DA.

Vivi: XD um, no room under my porch. That's for my wolverines. XD

Athena: OMW. YOU HAVE WOLVERINE UNDER YOUR PORCH?

Vivi: Wrong wolverine. The animal. XD

Athena: I wish hot guys lived under my porch. ):

Vivi: ROFL