Woah! Hey, where the hell did this come from? Well, aside from Two Steps Behind, I intend to finish up this saga during my summer holidays too. I doubt anyone still remembers this fic exists, and I apologise for being such a lazy arse. Sometimes you just lose your creativity, y'know? And that last chapter was a terrible place to leave it! You could've just believed that everyone lived happily ever after, ding-dong the witch is dead! Y'know?
Well that's not how the princess roles, kids. I'm the George R. R. Martin of Fanfiction.
"Him?!," Onslaught snarled. "He is supposed to be Sideswipe's twin, his other half?!" Starscream frowned, glancing at Sunstreaker; the yellow Lambo merely leant against the wall with his arms crossed, one knee bent with the pede propped up behind him, watching and listening indifferently. "Mum, he shot Motormaster! In fact, he shot a damn lot of our troops!"
"So did a lot of Autobots," Starscream pointed out. "And we've shot a lot of them. I'm sorry dear, you can't use that argument in this case."
Onslaught stood up to his full height, clutching his fist and scowling hard at the floor defiantly. The mech on the other side of the room – the bright yellow Lamborgini with the bright blue optics – had shot his best friend. He'd blown open the big lug's fuel tank and left him needing critical surgery which, under normal circumstances, the Decepticons would not have had the resources to pull off. They'd have lost Motormaster because of this guy, and he was expected to forgive him just because he was Sideswipe's twin? "No," He snapped. "I won't have it."
Starscream sighed, understanding his eldest's plight but unsure of how to talk him down. "Ons, darling-!"
"I won't, mum! I won't forgive him!" With a bright flare of his optics, the room went silent. The Combaticons sat in the corner, Sideswipe sat in Vortex's lap with the other three sat around them on a medical berth. Optimus Prime stood close by to Sunstreaker, making sure neither the Lambo or Onslaught went for each other. Speaking of which, the yellow mech clicked his glossa, catching everyone's attention as he raised his slightly bowed helm.
"Would it help if I said I was really, really sorry?" The loud, rough roar of an infuriated engine rang out as Onslaught wrenched towards Sunstreaker. Starscream leapt forward, grabbing his larger son around the waist, and Sideswipe and the Combaticons darted across the room; Swindle and Sideswipe clinging to either leg, Vortex and Blast Off on either arm. The moment Brawl's bulky frame allowed him to reach his family, he swooped his hands under his elder brother's shoulders and lifted him effortlessly off the ground.
"You bastard! Let me go, I'm going to teach that fragger a lesson! He's smirking! Mum, he's smirking!," Onslaught howled as the tank carried him out of the room at arms length, their brothers and mother recoiling away from the flailing navy mech.
Sideswipe turned to look at Sunstreaker, and yes, Onslaught was right; he was smirking.
"Was it something I said?," The yellow Lambo asked, trying to repress that expression as he looked at a very flustered Prime. Optimus scowled at his adoptive son, then smacked his helm fin in scolding.
"Sunstreaker!," He barked.
"What?" Was the defensive reply. "I was only asking!"
"Do you think this is funny, boy?! You put a mech in the infirmary, Motormaster's spark could've easily snuffed at any moment because of you!," Optimus bellowed. Sideswipe peeked between the two larger mechs from behind Starscream's hip, and felt a rising sensation as Prime's rant sank in.
Yes, Sunstreaker did think it was funny.
"Of course not, father," His twin said aloud. "I feel just terrible, but I was distracted at the time, I wasn't thinking!" Sunstreaker glanced at Sideswipe, and a rush of shaky compassion sparked in his crimson chest. There was some sincerity in this conversation, but none in regards to Motormaster's near death. Sideswipe's tiny fingers shuffled uncomfortably on his mother's hip, and he looked down at the floor uncertainly. Should he speak up and tell them that his brother was lying? - What good would that do? - He bit his lip, deliberating.
"... I see." He looked up. Prime let a very tired sigh run through his circuits, shoulders practically hitting the floor as they gradually lost tension.
"He was chasing after his spark twin. Really, nothing else could have been on his mind," Starscream agreed. Sideswipe's optics widened, and he looked at the Combaticons. They were buying it, all of them. He understood that he was the only one connected to Sunstreaker's spark, but surely they must've realised he was lying! It must've been obvious, mustn't it?
"Do you think Onslaught would just need... time?," Optimus inquired, looking at Starscream pleadingly.
"Maybe... it's hard to say, I've never seen him react this way when someone outside our family was hurt." Sideswipe stepped away, shuffling towards the door. No one aside from his twin noticed, but Sunstreaker said nothing. He silently watched the small, red Lambo as he moved towards the door, and Sideswipe watched back. Their staring contest held firm, until the door finally shut and the smaller of the two was out in the vacant hallway.
He stared at the door where his twin's gaze had been moments ago. What had he just felt? Amusement where there should have been remorse, guilt or regret. Sunstreaker had very near murdered Motormaster in an attempt to reach Sideswipe, and no matter what he told outsiders, the yellow half knew what he was doing. He'd enjoyed every nano click of it.
"He's not right in the head, you know." Sideswipe jumped violently, gaze flicking to the pale grey Praxian leaning against the wall beside the door, much the same as Sunstreaker had been. His arms, however, dangled by his sides numbly. The Autobot stared blankly into the far edge of the corridor, head hung and finger trembling. "I bet you can feel it, just like I can feel Prowl and Smokescreen."
"I'm sorry, who...?," Sideswipe mumbled nervously. The Praxian blinked a few times, then rubbed his dampening optics and turned his head to flash the little Lambo a bright smile.
"Oh, sorry. My name's Bluestreak," He supplied. "I was a servant to Lord Sunstreaker and Lady Elita 1 on Cybertron."
"You served under Sunstreaker?," The Lambo gulped, watching the weird young mech carefully. From the looks of it, Bluestreak here was younger than himself and Sunstreaker – of course, with his tiny stature no one would have guessed – his glittery blue optics were ever so pretty, but there was something wrong. Some non-physical fracture ran through those optics, so clearly fragile and ready to shatter.
What had Sunstreaker done to make this sweet looking bot so close to the edge?
"I did. It was a family business, but I'm a pretty sharp shooter, see? So Optimus Prime called me to Earth, to help," Bluestreak slowly returned his gaze to the opposite side of the hall, and that distant glaze hazed over those pretty slides of glass. "And Lord Sunstreaker followed me all the way here."
Sideswipe swallowed, standing to his full height and clutching his fists, trying to keep a stiff upper lip and hold his nerves. He wanted to ask Bluestreak so many questions but none of them would come out of his mouth, not right now. Not here. He did, however, manage to force one crucial inquiry passed his lips.
"He's completely mad, isn't he?"
"Yes," Bluestreak breathed. "And you know, I could so easily blame... everything... on you." Sideswipe's entire frame twitched, taken aback but trying to hold his ground. "But at the same time I can't. I shouldn't. Because you had no idea either," The Praxian sighed, turning his head away to look mournfully down the hall away from Sideswipe instead. "So I'll blame someone else. I'll blame Lady Elita, and your mother."
"Hey!," Sideswipe sprung at the inclination. "My mum had nothing to do with Sunstreaker going mad, that crazy witch-!"
"Everyone knows what happens when you separate two spark twins." He fell silent. "How, exactly, had he expected anything less when he left half a spark alone, galaxies away. Yes, Lady Elita shares a good lot of the blame, but...!"
"Don't say it."
"... But your mother sold his baby." There. It was out, in the open, for the little Lamborgini to chew and fall over. The fact that several vorns ago, two new born spark twins had lain in a crib. Their mother had made a deal, and despite his doubts, he turned away and covered his optics as a powder pink femme plucked one from the white sheets at random. She'd then scurried away, this baby in her arms that was not hers, and Starscream had let her vanish. With his twin.
And it so easily could have been...
"I could have been him." Bluestreak looked down at the shorter Lambo. Sideswipe's wide, petrified stare was unfocussed on the ground, clutched hands trembling and spark pounding. No doubt Sunstreaker could feel it, but that didn't occur to him at that moment. "I could have been... him."
Bluestreak opened his mouth, whether to confirm or comfort him was something Sideswipe would probably never know, as the door opened and the Praxian flew down the opposite end of the corridor just as fast. Sunstreaker bolted out of the door and flung his arms around Sideswipe, easily sweeping him off the ground and against his chest.
"Shh, hey now, what's the matter? Why are you so scared, Sideswipe?," He cooed and whispered as the Combaticons, Starscream and Optimus peered out of the room after the yellow half's sudden exit. "Don't worry, I'm here now. I'll protect you."
Drowning in his brother there-ness, Sideswipe simply went limp and let himself be cradled by Sunstreaker. He rubbed his back and pressed their chests together, and he slowly calmed against his will. He didn't want to be calm, he felt bad for being in a tranquil state after everything he'd just come to realise. Fear was the natural protector; if you were scared, you had your fight or flight protocols to fall back on. But Sunstreaker swept those away, leaving Sideswipe with nothing but a feeling of being safe. He didn't want to feel safe, not in Sunstreaker's arms, but he couldn't help himself. As their chest plates rubbed together, he just could not help himself.
"Wherever I go you'll be behind me. I know that now... always and forever, like, like a shadow..."
Sunstreaker smiled.
"Yeah. And you'll always be the same as me, right, bro?"
Hail to the princess, baby!