Sunset and New Dawn
Chapter 11: Questions and Facts
Starscream was sitting on the edge of the cliff at the meeting place he and his mate visited so often. The sun was already halfway down. The Seeker smiled and caressed his abdomen. He was due any day now and as far as he knew the sparkling was healthy and strong.
The jet-former flinched when he heard the sound of ped-steps. He looked over his shoulder and his anxiety faded instantly.
Optimus smiled at his mate and sat beside him. "Sorry I'm late Love. Prowl wanted to show me something."
"It's okay."
Starscream snuggled into his mate's side as he wrapped an arm around his waist. He sighed contentedly. Optimus had awoken from his coma a few days after the Decepticons had surrendered. He had been thrilled with the news that he would soon become a father.
The mech nuzzled the Seeker's helm and stroked his abdomen.
"I love you," he whispered against his helm. Starscream smiled and looked up into his beautiful azure optics. "I love you too."
Optimus cupped the Seeker's cheek and stroked the line that went from the bottom of his optic down to his chin. He leaned toward him and the jet mimicked his movements.
Before their lips could meet, Starscream was suddenly yanked to his feet. "So this is what you were hiding from me all those years!" a horrible, cold voice roared menacingly in his audios. Starscream looked at who had grabbed him horrified.
"M-Megatron?" he stammered, "But how? I killed you. I threw your body into the sun."
"Then how is it I'm still here traitor?"
The silver mech put stasis cuffs onto him and threw him will all his strength. Starscream cried out in pain as he landed on the hard ground and hit his helm against a boulder.
"Starscream!" Optimus got up to help his stunned and frightened mate. Just as he came to the Seeker's side, he was shot in the back by Megatron's fusion canon. He fell to the ground hard.
"Not so fast Prime."
"Optimus!"
Megatron chuckled evilly at the look of fear in Starscream's optics. The Seeker watched in horror as he stalked toward him and his unconscious mate. He tried to move, tried to do anything, but the stasis cuffs prevented him from doing so.
The silver tyrant grabbed Optimus' shoulder and picked him up easily. He held him before Starscream's gaze before impaling him with his bare fist. Optimus screamed as Megatron's fist went through his chest.
"Optimus!" Starscream yelled as his mate's energon blood splattered all over his body. He saw that Megatron had Optimus' golden spark within his fist. With one powerful squeeze, he crushed the semi's spark, killing him.
He threw the dead husk that was the Matrix bearer's body to the side, but not until after extracting the Matrix of Leadership from his chassie. "With this, I will destroy the Autobot filth," Megatron stated smugly admiring his prize, "Yourself included Starscream. But…" He put the Matrix in his subspace and pulled out an energon dagger before continuing, "Not before I have your sparkling."
"My sparkling?" Starscream asked in a panic, "What do you want with my sparkling?"
Megatron kneeled down beside him, draping his arm lazily over his knee, "You're the genus Starscream. You tell me. Exactly how many Primes have had children?"
The Seeker thought for a moment. There had been hundreds of Primes in the history of Cybertron. He knew them all from the first Prime down to Optimus. But he had never heard of any having bondmates or sparklings.
"None," Starscream stated, panic still decorating his tone. Megatron smirked and answered, "Very good Starscream. No Prime, other than your beloved Optimus, has ever had a sparkling."
"What does that have to do with anything? It doesn't explain why you want mine."
Megatron sighed, feeling quite bored. "The Matrix is one with a Prime's spark, correct?"
"…Yes."
"When you and Prime spark-bonded, did you ever see memories that were not yours or his?"
"That's none of your business."
The truth was he had occasionally skidded across a memory that looked like it had taken place in ancient Cybertron.
Megatron smirked, seeming to read his mind. "Those memories belonged to the Matrix. Ever Prime's memories are stored within it, to teach future Primes of how far we've come as Cybertronians. But along with the memories, something else is stored within the Matrix. Power. Every time a Prime dies or gives up the Matrix to the next generation, a fraction of their power is stored within the artifact and is then given to the next Prime. However, a Prime is always taught to only tap into that power in dire emergencies. Now, can you tell me how powerful a mech would be if he accessed the full power of the Matrix today?"
"…He would be…unstoppable."
"Exactly. But when your sparkling was created, it received some of the Matrix's power. Your offspring is not only a child of a Prime…But a child of the Matrix. Raised in the hands of Autobots, it would be a powerful source of good. But raised in my hands, it could be a weapon of mass destruction."
Starscream's optics widened in horror. Megatron chuckled evilly at the look. The Seeker found the strength to fight off the effects of the stasis-cuffs and thrashed about wildly, trying to free himself.
"I won't let you have my sparkling!" the jet-former screeched at the top of his vocalizer.
Megatron threw his head back and laughed at him. "You don't have a choice." He used on hand to stop Starscream's struggling and brought the other holding the dagger toward his abdomen.
"No! You can't have it!"
"Oh do shut up Starscream."
The Seeker wailed in pain as the dagger pierced his stomach. "And stop thrashing. We wouldn't want to harm the little one, now would we?"
The dagger shank in enough to get past the reproductive chamber but not harm the sparkling. Tears streamed down Starscream's face and he continued to scream and wail in pain as Megatron cut his abdomen open.
"No!" he shrieked in misery, "Please stop!"
Megatron only laughed and continued.
Finally, Starscream heard a cry as his sparkling was taken from him. Megatron swiftly cut the energon line that kept the infant attached to its carrier.
The sparkling thrashed and wailed as Megatron held it. Starscream turned his head in an attempt to see his offspring. He could only see the tyrant, who was obscuring his view.
Megatron smirked at the still wailing infant, then looked at Starscream and smugly stated, "Your brat has Optimus' optics."
Tears continued to flow from Starscream's optics. "Please…" he begged weakly, "Let me see my sparkling."
He was dying. He knew it. His chassie was sliced open and he was losing mass amounts of energon and other vital fluids.
Megatron chuckled evilly before stating, "Sorry, I don't want it to have any memories of you…Here Starscream. Let me put you out of your misery!"
Megatron raised the dagger over his helm and brought it down toward Starscream's spark. Before it reached its mark, the Seeker heard a loud cry.
It was louder than the sparkling's wails and it sounded like a child's voice. A child that was only a few vorns old and it wasn't crying.
It was talking.
Screaming.
"DADDY! WAKE UP!"
Starscream screamed as he bolted up from his berth and sat straight up. He on-lined his optics and looked around his environment rapidly.
He was in Autobot City.
In his berthroom.
He continued looking around to be sure of where he was. When his gaze came to a clock by his berth, he looked at the date.
He sighed with relief when he did. He was only five months into the carrying process. Megatron was dead, and Optimus was still in stasis-lock.
Starscream realized he was shivering, and he was covered in cold sweat, he was also taking in great gulps of air. That had to be one of the worst dreams he had ever experienced.
He began to feel very nauseous and the room looked like a blurred mess. He got up from his berth and slowly made his way to the wash-racks. He entered the room and turned on the shower head, making sure the water was at its coldest setting. He stood under the cold spray for several klicks, before he fell down on his hands and knees and threw-up on the tiled floor.
He coughed for several nano-klicks after he had emptied his tanks of all its contents. When he had caught his breath he shook. He stared at the glowing purplish-pink gooey looking substance on the floor as the water washed it down the drain.
He never wanted to experience that nightmare again. But he realized that his dream, while horrible and terrifying, raised several questions in his mind.
Mainly if what he and Megatron had discussed was real?
It appeared he would be keeping himself busy in the Autobot City library, now that they had more reading and research materials available. And it wouldn't hurt to talk to Ratchet about it either.
Starscream got up and turned off the showerhead when it had washed away the remainder of the foul smelling substance. As he watched the last of the goo travel down the drain, he began to think about the many changes Cybertron had undergone in the course of the past three months.
The council and senate members had been kicked out of their offices and positions. Some quite literally. And were replaced with more open minded mechs, femmes, and there were even a few Seekers on the council as well. Things had gotten so much better for Seekers everywhere in so little time. It was almost unbelievable how well things were getting.
Starscream smiled a little as his infant shifted in his reproductive chamber. He still didn't know its gender, but he would in a few mega-cycles. It had finally finished its body and was already putting it to use. He thought it enjoyed kicking, since it did that particular activity to his tanks and energon lines on a daily basis when it completed that part of its body.
He put his hand on his abdomen and could've sworn that he felt a smaller one against his. He was proven right when the tiny hand started stroking his palm through his reproductive tank.
He was too shocked by the gesture to pull away.
No sparkling was that aware of everything while still in the chamber. All sparklings were aware, some more than others. They could also feel the carrier's feelings and distress.
Suddenly Starscream remembered the last part of his dream. He remembered what had caused him to wake up. The voice that had shouted, "Daddy! Wake up!"
"No," he whispered to himself. "It couldn't have been…Could it?"
The sparkling shifted again before going completely still. He shook his head to clear it and left the wash-racks. He went to his living room and filled a cube with energon before sitting down on the couch. He turned on the T.V. and changed it to the weather channel as he drank his energon. He wanted to know if the weather would be good for a little walk before he went to the library.
It wasn't.
According to the human, it would be raining for most of the morning.
There was a loud buzz in his head as someone tried to com. him. He answered it. "Starscream here."
"Star!"
The Seeker jumped when Skywarp shouted his name over the link. "Skywarp, what is it?" he asked, mildly irritated. "It's Skyfire!"
"Skyfire?"
Starscream was on his peds at the mention of his friend's name. "What's wrong? Is he okay?"
"He's just gone into labor! Get down to the med-bay quick!"
Starscream was already out the door when the word "labor" left Skywarp's vocalizer. "On my way."
Several mega-cycles later, several Autobots were outside the med-bay. Wheeljack was a complete wreck because not only was his mate in labor, but Skyfire had been hurt beforehand. Starscream had been filled in about what happened as soon as he had arrived.
Apparently, Skyfire had been walking down some stairs when he tripped and fell down the rest of the way. When he reached the bottom, his energon broke and he went into labor. It was a good thing Blurr had been walking with him, or else who knows what else could've happened.
There was a loud cry Starscream recognized as Skyfire. He wasn't sure what to make of it. He didn't know whether it was a good or bad thing.
Screaming usually meant that someone was in pain or frightened. But in this case, screaming meant the sparkling was being born. Another mega-cycle later there was another loud cry from the shuttle-mech. First Aid came out and motioned for Wheeljack to enter. He moved with speed that matched Blurr's.
Starscream chuckled.
The main reason Wheeljack was allowed in first, was because it was tradition for the creator to cut the energon line that kept their offspring connected to their mate.
A moment later, everyone heard crying as the sparkling took his first breath of life. Ratchet came out with a small smile on his face.
"How's Sky?" Skywarp asked the medic. Ratchet chuckled and answered, "He and the sparkling are just fine." Starscream leaned back in his seat and asked, "His little tumble didn't do anything to harm the infant?"
"No. He's a tough little guy. Now, all of you scram. Skyfire needs his rest."
Everyone obyed immediately, except Starscream. The medic stared at him and asked, "Something I can help you with?"
"…Yes…There is. I have a question I need to ask you…In private." Ratchet quirked an optic ridge. "What sort of question?"
"…One that involves my sparkling."
The medic crossed his arms over his chest. 'What in the name of Primus is he going on about?'
"Alright," he answered aloud, seeing the look of uncertainty and worry in Starscream's optics. "Follow me."
Starscream got up and followed the CMO into the med-bay. As they walked towards his office, Skyfire greeted his friend, "Hey Star." Starscream paused and looked at the exhausted shuttle-mech.
Wheeljack was sitting by his mate's berth, the most loving and proud gaze in his optics. Starscream smiled a little and greeted. "Hey Sky. How are you?" Skyfire laughed tiredly, "I'm great. Never been better."
"You look like you've fought the whole Decepticon army on your own."
"Falling down a flight a stairs then having a sparkling isn't exactly an easy task…Speaking of which…" Skyfire looked down at a small bundle he now held in his arms. The bundle moved and the shuttle-mech smiled before returning his gaze to Starscream again, "Would you like to see him?"
Starscream's smile grew. He looked at Ratchet to be sure it was okay. The medic sighed and answered, "Go on. Come into my office when you're done."
Starscream walked the short distance to Skyfire's berth and sat down. The shuttle-mech uncovered the infant's head. The sparkling's optics were off-lined and his tiny chest rose and fell as he recharged. The tiny mech looked more like his carrier than his father, but he had Wheeljack's coloring.
His face was a light shade of grey and the rest of his body were different hues of green, white, light grey, and a splash of red here and there. He would definably grow to be shuttle-former. He was a bit larger than the average sparkling.
A few moments later, the infant yawned as he awoke from recharge. His optics sparked a few times before they on-lined. The sparkling rubbed his optics then stared at Starscream. The Seeker was stunned by his optics. They weren't blue or azure, like most Autobots. They were pure aquamarine.
"Skyfire," he began awed, "He's beautiful."
"Thank you." The infant looked up at his carrier and cooed curiously. Skyfire smiled at the newborn. "That's Starscream," he informed him, "He's our friend." The mechling looked back at the Seeker and cooed again.
His father gently caressed his helm and stated, "He'll know you soon enough Starscream." The infant squealed happily and attempted to snatch his father's finger. Starscream and the new parents laughed at him when he captured and stuck Wheeljack's finger in his mouth.
"So, what are you going to name him?" Starscream asked. Skyfire looked at Wheeljack. The mech nodded to his mate. "We're naming him after my father," Skyfire answered, "Auron."
"Auron." Starscream smiled liking the sound of the name. He looked at his friend and continued, "I think it suits him." Skyfire chuckled and asked, "What are you going to name your sparkling?"
"…I don't know…I haven't really thought about it." He rubbed the back of his helm while looked away from the new family. His gaze rested on Optimus' form. His spark froze in his chest as he remembered his dream.
And his reason for being here.
"I've have to go…Sorry." Skyfire watched as the Seeker stood to leave. "That's okay," he stated, "See you soon?"
"Yeah…maybe." Starscream waved good-bye as he walked towards Ratchet's office. His gaze lingered on Optimus as he walked through the door.
"So," Ratchet began, "You came to me because of a dream?"
"Correct."
"Why?"
"It's got me wondering about something."
"Starscream, I'm not a shrink, I can't tell you what your dream means."
"I'm not asking you to."
"Then what are you asking?"
"…To find out more about the Matrix. Prove to me whether my dream is wrong or not. That there was or wasn't one other Prime besides Optimus that had a mate and sparkling. That the Matrix couldn't or could have collected all the power my dream says it has…Prove to me whether the Matrix did or didn't give my sparkling some of its power."
Ratchet gave Starscream an understanding, but concerned look. "And what happens if I prove your dream right?"
"…"
Starscream placed his hand on his abdomen. And once again, he felt a smaller one against his. "If you prove my dream right…then we may be dealing with one of the most powerful Primes this 'verse will ever know."
"And…is that a good or bad thing?"
"…I don't know…I think…it's a little of both…"
Ratchet stared at Starscream for several klicks. He sighed and stated, "I'll see what I can dig up. And, if you don't mind, I'd also like to talk to Perceptor, Wheeljack, and Skyfire about this. They might be able to find more than I can."
"Okay." Starscream caressed his abdomen as Ratchet continued to stare at him. "If you'd like," the CMO began, "After I get Skyfire's sparkling checked out and I get the new family out of here, I could do an ultra-sound for you. See the gender of your little one and see how it's developing."
The Seeker smiled sadly. Every time he pictured having a sparkling, he always pictured his mate being by his side the whole carrying period….And seeing their child for the first time together.
"I'd like that. When should I come back?"
But he couldn't wait for Optimus to wake up forever. He had to move on and live…For his sparkling's sake he had to.
"I'd say about two mega-cycles. Think you can make that?" Starscream nodded then got up from his seat and left the medic's office. He looked toward Skyfire and saw the new family, peacefully recharging.
He chuckled quietly at the sight.
He looked at the berth that Optimus still occupied and felt his spark sink. He had been waiting for him for three months. He wished his mate was awake. Awake and with him. He really wanted Optimus to be there by his side. To comfort him when he woke up screaming in the middle of the night covered in cold sweat. To tell him that everything would be okay.
He still had hope that Optimus would wake up. It just appeared he wouldn't be around to see the birth of his sparkling for now. Starscream's dream made him realize that he had to be strong for his sparkling. Because he might have to raise it by himself for a while.
'Primus Optimus. I miss you so much." Starscream walked to the berth and bent down. He placed a gentle kiss on the mech's warm lips, then nuzzled his cheek. "Optimus," he whispered, "Please come back…I need you…Our sparkling needs you."
Hi people! Here's chapter eleven sorry for the long wait. I promise I won't be as long with the rest of the story. And for those of you I scared with the beginning of this chapter, I'm sorry. I just felt the need to put some sort of plot twist. Did I do a good job?