Chapter 11
Hours passed. Several long hours that dragged on endlessly for Luna. She spent those hours, sitting on the couch in the Autobots' base, chewing her nails in nervous and fearful anticipation. Once she was quite literally worried sick.
Ratchet had been working on Starscream for most of these long hours, much to his dismay. At first he flat out refused when the others had told him that the former Decepticon needed repairs. The medic had been completely shocked when they brought him in along with another human. Bulkhead had the seeker slung over his shoulder and he slammed him down on the medical berth. They had to convince him once the human was out of sight that they needed answers from him and that Optimus would not leave any bot helpless. Ratchet regretfully complied.
Everything had been difficult for the Autobots without their leader. They had been so lost without him and this little inconvienence didn't help the situation at all. Ratchet felt disgusted with himself for helping this murderer. For fixing up the one who had taken one of their own comrades and he had the audacity to inquire to join their side. Why this little girl seemed to be fond of him, he could not fathom and it sickened him to try. Fortunately and/or unfortunately this despicable slagger would pull through and explain himself. Ratchet had patched him up quite nicely, though he hated to waste their limited energon on the seeker. He was pretty stunned, though he suppose he shouldn't be, to find that a large amount of dark energon had been in Starscream's system. He might go through withdrawl upon his awakening, though only time would tell. It was only a matter of time before he came out of stasis.
The medic asked Arcee to tell the girl so her worry would ease. Arcee wasn't too thrilled to have Starscream in their base either. She had to stop herself from running into the med bay and pulling the plug on him so he would never wake up and hurt anybody ever again! She sauntered over to the new human, whose head turned in her direction upon hearing her clanking footsteps.
"Hey," said Arcee. The blue femme bit down her bitter words, still hurting from her previous encounter with the seeker. "He's gonna make it." Luna's face lit up with excited relief.
'Really?! Can I see him ?" she was about to hop off the couch, but Arcee stopped her.
"He's still in stasis, but he should wake up soon. He did lose a lot of energon. Don't worry, Ratchet's the best medic I know." After the Autobot's explaination, Luna let out a huge sigh, however she couldn't shake the jitters.
"Oh man," Luna exclaimed, running a hand through her unruly hair. "He almost died protecting me. Why isn't he an Autobot anymore?" Her question left the femme completely dumbfounded. Protecting her? Starscream? Autobot? What the frag is going on here? she wondered. She didn't want to overwhelm the human, so she decided to play dumb for now until Starscream could fill in the blanks.
"Um, I'm not sure."
"He was a little reckless, but I can be too," Luna laughed, lightly. "Though, for the most part he did a good job. He promised he wouldn't let anything happen to me. Thank you guys for sending him." Arcee's confused gaze met hers. The girl's eyes appeared very sincere. It didn't come as a surprise to the femme that Starscream had lied through his dentals to this human, but the question was 'why?'
"You're welcome," Arcee awkwardly acknowledged.
"If it weren't for him, Megatron would have me by now," the girl continued, shifting her position. "He shouldn't be looking for me anymore, right? I mean he already has loads of dark energon now. Why would he want me?"
Whoa, wait! Megatron? Dark energon? Starscream definatley has some explaining to do, Arcee thought through her racing processor. Did the girl have a stash on her property or something? Arcee was really becoming weary of this corrupted substance.
She fought against telling Luna right then and ther that this sick slagger was nothing but a murderous, lying, coward! She held back. No, let Starscream tell her himself. It would be cruel, but she needed to hear the truth from the deciever himself. He needed to grow some ball-bearings and own up to all he had done. Arcee would make him. Starscream would be forced to tell the truth for once in his pathetic life.
...
After a few more hours, Arcee returned to the old sofa to find Luna sleeping awkawrdly on it. The stress must have tired her out. She lightly shook her shoulder with her large finger which caused the girl to wake with a yawn.
"He's out of stasis," Arcee stated without emotion. Luna didn't notice for she had jumped off the couch and made a mad dash to the med bay before Arcee could protest. She slowly followed behind her.
Luna's heart pounded as she ran to greet her friend. Her feet skidded to a stop at the sight before her. He was laying on a metal slab with strange tubes attached to certain parts of his body, optics dull. They widened at the sight of the girl. There was a patch over his wound which would be touched up later along with a few scars present all over his armor. For a while they remained still, eyes locked. Ratchet stood off to the side, watching with disturbed curiostity. Something seemed to pass between the two of them.
To both bots' surpise, the girl ran up to the seeker, and climbed up the berth and onto his chest. Starscream silently winced as she accidentally hit a sore spot on her journey. She latched both arms around his neck, and buried her face into the crook of his neck and his shoulder. Slightly embarassed, he awkwardly returned her embrace by covering her back with his hand. He felt her trembling and a warmth overtake him.
Slowly his optics rose to meet Ratchet's and the newly arrived Arcee. He tried to hold back a flinch, recalling the last time they saw each other. By the looks of it, she hadn't forgotten it. She sported a death glare and Ratchet had a look of disgusted confusion. Starscream really wished Luna would let go. She wasn't exactly helping his ego right now. Thankfully she released her hold and slid down to his chest to look him in the optics.
"I'm so glad you're okay," she said on her knees. Following her statement, she lay down on his chassis, resting her head on her folded arms. The warmth of his spark pulsed underneath her; comforting her. Starscream shamefully looked back up to the disturbed Autobots. Arcee especially looked sick, so she looked away before she lost control and engaged him in another battle. However, she remained fully alert in case the seeker tried anything. Ratchet silently remained, eyeing the former Decepticon suspiciously. Arcee had already informed Ratchet of her plan before the seeker had awakened.
Starscream wouldn't allow his humiliation to shine through, so he let a smirk pull at his lip plates as his optics bore into the medic's. He used his talon to stroke Luna's hairline, like she was his pet.
"How kind of you to worry, my dear," Starscream said gutturally. Luna felt his words rumble beneath her. She barely let out a noise of acknowledgement. His spark heated her and made her sleepy, along with the long, stressful day that was now behind her.
Arcee clenched her fists. Ratchet didn't like that smug look the former Decepticon was giving him. His red optics were clearly trying to send a message, as if he were saying, 'you Autobots are not the only ones who can aquire human pets.' Ratchet broke his own trance to address the girl.
"Uh, Luna, is it?" Ratchet cleared his vocalizer. "I think you should leave Starscream to recover. The only answer he recieved was a light snoring. Starscream chuckled while brushing his thumb over her temple.
"Come now, doctor. She's had a long day and so have I." Starscream knew all to well that once Luna was out of the base, the Autobots would attack him with questions. If only there were some way for him to escape.
The grogginess faded away and he became competent enough to try and save his sorry aft. He still felt weak from great energon loss and the pain in his side wasn't as potent. There were still ghosts of it beneath the patch as well as a small craving in his system.
A feeling of dread crept over him as he came to in the Autobot base. He didn't quite know what they would do to him. Surely not too much, he hoped. They claimed to be the good guys, as if the Decepticons didn't care about Cybertron at all. He found that quite insulting. They must want something from him; why else would they not leave him for dead? It must be explainations for the girl he was currently embracing. How much did she reveal to them? They seemed to have kept her in the dark.
How extremely unfortunate that he wasn't concious on the way in. Such valuable information could buy back his position as second in command. Am I really going there again? he asked himself. It would seem old habits died hard, if he even desired to give them up in the first place.
"If she needs rest, she can do so at her own home," Ratchet spoke up, not about to let Starscream play his games. They needed to get her out of the base so they could interrogate the seeker and then force him to tell Luna the truth. The medic approached the seeker and plucked the girl from his chest. He recieved a small whimper of protest before he set her down on her feet. Such a rude awakening!
"What?" she yawned.
"I'm going to bridge you home now," he told her. Luna opened her mouth, but Ratchet answered her question before she could ask it.
"Give Starscream some time to recover and then once I make sure he's stable, I'll bridge you back to see him. Arcee will guard you until then."
"What?" Arcee responded indignantly. She wanted to pummel the answers out of him herself.
"Please, Arcee." Ratchet gave her a look. He thought it would be best to keep her as far away from Starscream as possible. Arcee grumbled, rolled her optics, and went out to wait in front of the ground bridge. Bulkhead and Bumblebee came to take their place to watch over Starscream.
"Okay," Luna reluctantly agreed. She turned to her friend to say goodbye for now with a pang in her gut, and headed toward the ground bridge. She had been through it once and it left her with an odd vibrating sensation. Hopefully it wouldn't be so bad this time. She gave Ratchet her address and he punched in the coordinets.
...
After Arcee had left with the human, Ratchet returned to the med bay to find the three bots locked in a stare down. It was broken upon the medic's entrace.
"So tell me doctor," Starscream spoke up. "Where is your leader? Is he leaving his dirty work to his subordinates?"
"That is none of your concern," Ratchet returned. "Now, if you cooperate with us, we just might let you go."
"And if I refuse?" As a response, the green wrecker pounded his fist into his hand. "Right," Starscream gulped. He desperately wanted to get out of here, but he had used his missiles. Add that to the fact that he was out numbered and not currently in the proper condition to fight.
"Tell us what you've been up to. What have you been doing with that girl?"
...
Luna stumbled out of the ground bridge with Arcee behind her. She looked down at her tingling fingers while the light disappeared. She turned to face the female Cybertronian.
"Your name's Arcee, right?" The femme nodded. Luna wan'st sure what to say to her. "Um, Starscream used to stay back in those trees." She pointed and Arcee's optics followed. Right, she would have to go back into hiding.
"Just," the femme started. "Come get me if you need anything." Arcee would be lying to herself if she didn't think this was a complete waste of time. Her thoughts continued to race through her processor as she walked to the edge of the woods. She seriously doubted the Decepticons would be after her.
Luna headed toward her house, checking the time on her phone. Five o' clock in the morning. She entered the building and turned on the light. Looking down at her muddied pants, she stripped them off and tossed them in the washer, then decided she really needed to clean herself up. The whole time she was in the shower, the hot water easing her tension, she debated going to school in just a few hours and thought about Starscream.
What happens now? Did she need him anymore? Would he leave? Would she ever see him again? Well, he must have other duties to fulfil. This was just something on his checklist, as much as she didn't want to admit it. But she couldn't deny there had been something special between them. She would miss him.
After she was out of the shower and in her pajamas, the headlights in the driveway caught her eye. She recognized her mother's car engine. Before she was even in the front door, Luna burst out and enveloped Stevie in a tight embrace nearly knocking her over.
"Glad to know I was missed," she said, returning the hug.
"I'm sorry, Mom. I love you and I did miss you so much." Stevie pulled away after a moment and held up a letter from Crane School of Music.
...
"Get that girl back here now!" Ratchet's alarmed voice over the comm. startled Arcee out of recharge.
"What's wrong?" Arcee asked, fully alert.
"Dark energon. I don't know if he's lying, but we can't risk it. It's supposedly embedded in her. I need to run some tests. I'm sending a ground bridge."
"Wait, let me go get her."
"Hurry!" Ratchet exclaimed.
No. This was not possible. Starscream had to be lying. Arcee could not believe this could be a reality; this just couldn't be. She couldn't even begin to fathom how the science would back up these proposterous claims. No. It wasn't true. Nobody seemed to be able to detect it when she was in the base. Even now Arcee couldn't sense anything now that she was informed of it, but like Ratchet said, they couldn't risk it.
She ran up to the human dwelling, peaking in every window until she found the correct one. The girl was brushing her hair, her back to the femme. Arcee tapped the glass and she turned around to the sound with a start. She approached the window and opened it, the question expressed on her face.
"Ratchet needs to look at you. I need to take you back to base," Arcee explained.
"Waddaya mean?" Luna inquired, trying to fathom a reason. The Cybertronian reached her hand in to pluck the girl from her room.
"He needs to run some tests on you. Now, Ratchet!" she activated her comm. link.
Luna suddenly had an epiphany. Dark energon. That's probably the cause of such concern, but why now? If they were so worried wouldn't they have wanted to examine her earlier?
"Is it the dark energon? I thought you knew?" The mechanical sound ripped through the early morning, followed by the rotating green light.
"Hopefully I will soon," Arcee remarked before stepping through. That left Luna in a questioning haze.
...
Such extraordinary alien technology that greatly advanced her own species. She could barely comprehend how exactly they all worked. Her eyes scanned over all of the foreign machines as the Cybertronian medic had taken a sample of her blood. They now awaited the results.
Luna stole a glance at Starscream in the med bay and gave him a questioning raise of her eyebrow. He merely shrugged, playing dumb. She found it quite odd that he appeared to be guarded by the yellow and green aliens.
After a fair amount of time, Ratchet turned to address Luna with a contemplative look on his face plate.
"Well," the doctor began. "It would appear Starscream has been telling the truth. There are very few traces left that should dissolve through your system in a few days, but the majority of it is all gone. You should be fine."
Starscream had to hold back his relief; Luna would not die after all. He would have to leave her, but he wouldn't have to live with more weighted guilt. She would be able to live her life, albiet a very short life compared to the lifespan of Cybertronians.
But wait. The doctor had said the dark energon had left her system. How? He answered his own question with a theory that popped into his processor. Luna had transfered it all to him. He had taken it all from her and perhaps that whole ordeal with Unicron, the Autobot's had infomred him of contributed. So Luna's assumption was correct. Now Unicron was dormant once more, but his blood still lived before his awakening. So Starscream was sure he had purged the substance from Luna when she kissed him. In a weird twist of irony, through Stasrcream's selfishness, he had saved this girl's life.
"Wait," Luna replied to Ratchet. "Telling the truth? What's going on?" Following her question, dread replaced Starscream's ease. Ratchet moved his helm in Arcee's direction, who had been watching silently. She nodded to him.
"I think Starscream has something to tell you," the medic stated and rose his optics to the berth-ridden seeker. "I think you should try standing up now." Starscream glared at him, and Bumblebee and Bulkhead seized each of his servos. They forced him off the slab, not sparing him the rough handling and brought him before Luna, stepping back a bit but not too far.
"Easy!" Starscream complained. "I'm in no condition to..."
"Tell her, Starscream," Ratchet interrupted the bemoaning seeker.
"Is this how you want to go about this?" Starscream asked, almost rhetorically. He held himself high, refusing to let them humiliate him. "In front of all of you? How low of you to reduce to public shaming."
"We want you out of here as soon as possible," Arcee piped up. "Tell her everything you told them and we'll let your despiciable aft go." The femme gritted her dentals and clenched her fists. She really hated him. He caused so much damage to them and they did not want to clean up this new mess he made. "It's time you stopped taking the cowardly way out, Starscream."
The former Decepticon's optics burned into Arcee's, fueling her abhorrance to dangeroulsly high levels. If she couldn't terminate him for killing Cliffjumper, then stripping him of his pride would at least provide her with some sort of revenge.
"Just get it over with," Bulkhead told him. During this confrontation, Luna's head ran wild with questions that desperately needed answers. What the hell was going on here? She wondered in anticipation. Tell her what? She suddenly had a very bad feeling. The way they all looked at her friend with such contempt. She was being kept in the dark and she did not like it. Was Starscream really keeping something from her? Waiting for the answers nearly killed her as she looked up to meet his optics, pleading for him to release this dread.
"Tell her!" Arcee exploded, tired of waiting. Sick of his very presence in their base. Despising his energon for offlining her partner. She needed the reminder to gone for good.
There was a throaty noise in Starscream's vocalizer as he perked up his slightly drooping wings and straightened himself up. If the dark energon didn't kill Luna, this surely would. He was about to shatter whatever had built between the two of them. A few months ago, he would not care that he betrayed any false trusts he made with any human. This, however would be very difficult. The seeker kept his composure. He would not swallow his pride in front of these accursed Autobots. He would give it to her straight.
"Megatron was never after you," he began, servos behind his back. The room fell deathly silent. "The Autobots never sent me. You never needed to be guarded. I've detected the dark energon within you and decided it could benefit me. I had concocted a plot to overthrow Megatron with the aid of the substance in your very veins. If I failed to defeat him, a second option presented itself to me. I would offer you up to the Decepticon leader to earn back my position as his second in command." Shock could not even begin to describe what Luna felt right now. Starscream continued at the sight of her wide-eyed expression upon his reveal.
"Yes, I was a Decepticon and I was ranked just below Megatron. But the fact that I am now neutral remains genuine. You were never in any danger of the Decepticons and it isn't likely you will be. I lied to you, Luna. For my own personal gain." He said it all so coldly like it didn't even bother him, though inside he was deeply ashamed. Millennia with the Decepticons had beaten that out of him, funny it should return now. Starscream waited for a response, not expecting a good one.
The silence hung in the air like a plague as the words sunk in. Disbelief first came to Luna, then anger. This time it was justified. He lied to her. Outright deceived her. How could he? He'd spent all of that time with her and her percieved friendship with him turned out to be false. Of course, he was a Decepticon. It all made sense. She felt absolutely betrayed, sick to her stomach.
Finally she gathered herself enough to respond. She furrowed her eyebrows at him in repulsion. She shook her head in absolute distaste then turned to Ratchet.
"Take me home," she demanded, making her way to the ground bridge. Arcee was completely shocked and disturbed herself. This was her first time hearing it as well. The others had already been informed of his demented schemes, but they still appeared disgusted with the seeker.
"Aren't you going to say anything?" Starscream boldly asked. Luna spun around in a firey rage. How dare he speak to her like that!
"Yeah, I never wanna see you again! I hate you!" By the time she had finished, Ratchet had fired up the ground bridge and Luna ran trhough it after giving Starscream the most searing glare of pure hatred. It stung his spark.
...
Luna sat almost zombie-like on her bed. It was past seven in the morning now and her debate to attend school that day had ended. She was far too exhausted to go today. Physically and emotionally.
She did not cry. It almost seemed like she couldn't. Of course the devastation hit her like a truck, but it was as if her body refused to shed a single tear for that traitor.
He never cared about her. She completely deluded herself into thinking he did. She was nothing to him. Just a pawn in this stupid game of the waring Cybertronians. Only Starscream wanted to stack the deck in his favor. To fill his own agenda. He used her. Used up what she had to give to fulfil his own selfishness.
And now it seemed like a complete waste because the dark energon was gone now. And she was glad. All that shit did was get him high and drain her energy.
She felt empty inside. He betrayed her. He gained her trust through manipulation and now she hated him. Only hours ago she was concerned for his life. Her heart would have been broken should he had died. Well, it now seemed it would have been inescapable either way.
Luna shifted so she was laying on her back, staring up at the ceiling.
He did save her. This suddenly struck her. Megatron had her in his grasp and that was Starscream's Plan B, right? To sacrifice her to the Decepticon like she was a piece of meat?
He saved her instead. Could that mean...?
"No," she said aloud. There she goes again, deluding herself with childish fantasies. "Grow the fuck up!" she yelled at herself, not too loudly for her mother was sleeping in the room across from hers.
Maybe he did feel some guilt, that's why he didn't let Megatron have her. That didn't mean he cared about her. He used you, remember? She berated herself. It doesn't matter anymore. She probably would never see him again and she tried to convince herself that she had no desire to. Forget about him. Move on with your life. If you dwell on him, you let him win.
She battled with her feelings. Luna ached, though she wanted to tell herself she shouldn't. Don't you dare feel pain for him! But she couldn't deny it any longer.
He hurt her. She trusted him and the fact that she had grown so close to him only buried the knife deeper. So this is what it must be like to be deceived by a Decepticon.
Well, former Decepticon. It's not like it mattered anyways.
...
After much debate upon his release from the Autobots, Starscream flew to the familiar location he knew he shouldn't be. They had ground bridged him three states away from Luna's location. He had to convince them he would leave her alone. What would he want with her now that the dark energon was no more? They also informed him that they gave her their comm. lines so she could alert them of danger. Not that she would be in any.
But for some odd reason, he convinced himself to go see her one last time. Call it a need for final goodbyes. He couldn't stick around. She probably wouldn't want him to, also energon deposites were getting more and more challenging for him to locate.
He wasn't sure how she would react. He knew she despised his very energon, yet he felt he needed to talk to her without the nuicence of the Autobot's watching. Normally he would have left her and forgotten about her. He couldn't, and he wasn't completely sure why. He didn't want to admit it, but he did care for her. He felt legitemately bad for what he did to her. Maybe in some small microscopic way, she had changed him.
Starscream landed in his usual spot, scanning the area to make sure Luna was even home and home alone. Luckily for him, she was. He braced himself to approach the trailer.
After a long day of school, Luna pulled a rootbeer out of the refridgerator and plopped down on the sofa. Picking up the remote, she flicked on the television to try to numb her mind. Three days had passed and she thought she had been doing a decent job of forgetting him, though spikes of hurt would twist her gut every time a plane flew over her house.
Yesterday, she had written a full page letter of apology to the maanger of the record store and those customers she took her anger out on. She begged for her job back, claiming everything was her fault and owning up to everything. In case they didn't take her back, she had picked up a few other job applications from other establishments.
She told her mother how sorry she was for snapping at her and agreed to take her yoga classes. Luna would work on her anger issues by trying healthy alternatives.
And she had been accepted to her college of choice. Of course she was happy, but she didn't feel like celebrating, due to a certain seeker. She managed to fake a smile for the night. Now she was over joyed. She had been accepted to college. She would get to work on her one true passion everyday. For the first time in three days, she smiled.
She gave a coo of delight at the discovery of "The Twilight Zone" in her channel surfing, so she sat back and cracked the can of soda open and took a sip.
The smallest sense of peace had been inturrupted, for a familiar and all too dreadful red eye peaked in the sliding glass door. Her heart skipped a beat. The hurt came back then it was replaced by agitation.
"Go away!" She shouted at him. He could hear the spite in her voice. When she made no move to leave the piece of furniture, he slid the door open himself with his finger. Luna scowled at him for this.
"I'd like to say a few things,' he said to her.
"I don't wanna hear it. You've said all you need to say."
"Actually I have not. I promise I will leave you alone for good if you let me explain." Growling in her throat, the girl stormed over to her false friend and stood at the door, level with his face which was framed by the doorway.
"You've already explained," she asserted. "I don't want to hear anymore of your lies. I know it's a habit of yours. Don't give me anymore broken promises!" Starscream, was almost offended by her remark.
"If you recall, I have not broken any promises," he snarled at her, narrowing his optics. Luna opened her mouth to retort, but he spoke first. "I promised to keep you and your family safe. In case it's escaped your notice, you are both unharmed, are you not?" A response struggled to find its way into Luna's brain, so she merely glowered at the crouching Cybertronian in contempt. Damn it, he was right. It still didn't change the fact that he was a dirty liar. Starscream chuckled at her body language. "I've stumped you, haven't I?"
"Shut up!" She stated, immaturely crossing her arms. Finally, she let out a sigh. "What do you want to say?"
"Come back to the woods." Reluctantly, she did so. She didn't think he would try to hurt her. Just in case, she had her phone ready to call the Autobots if need be. They were in their usual spot, though it looked much different to her. She waited for him to begin, arms still folded.
"I have deceived you, I won't deny that," he said, looking down at her. "But know this. After the storm I had decided to give up my scheme. I planned on taking you home and leaving you. I did not tell you this, but that substance was slowly eating you away from the inside out. You were going to perish." Luna gazed up at him, stunned. Then more anger rose.
"So you would have left me to die?" she demanded. Starscream bowed his head and shuttered his optics. Why did he feel guilt for a flesh creature? He perfectly knew why.
"Yes, I would have. Just know that I would have felt... terrible about it, " the seeker forced out, opening his optics. Luna cocked an eyebrow. "Yet, I am the very reason you are alive right now, and I'm not saying this out of pride." But maybe there was a tiny bit. "You have transferred all of the dark energon to me during our fusions. I've taken it all from you and I'm suffering for it. You're welcome." Luna snickered a half-hearted 'thanks.' So it would seem he had saved her twice. Once without even knowing it. The seeker continued.
"Over the course of our interactions, I have grown quite fond of you for reasons I'm not sure I want to comprehend. Perhaps it is your immaturity. It reminds me a bit of Skywarp." The girl rolled her eyes at this, proving his point. The reminder of the seeker's lost comrades pained her a little. "I don't expect your forgiveness. I just wanted you to know before I left. And if it's any consolation, I will be having a few rough stellar cycles to cure myself of the addiction. My circuits are frying as we speak."
Luna pondered his words thoroughly. How could she be sure he wasn't lying to her now? She didn't know she could forgive him for decieving her, even if he did suppossedly admit he had a liking to her. Some of the hatred she had towards him had eased a bit. It also surprised her to hear him admitting his addiction. He planned on bettering himself in that department.
"Where will you go?" she asked him.
"Where ever I can find energon," he answered. "Locating it has become more difficult. I can only hope for another oportinity to cross my path."
"Opportunity? Will you rejoin the Decepticons if you get the chance?"
"I don't know," he was honest for once. "I really do detest both factions. But I will do what is best for me." He placed a hand on his chest. Luna swallowed, not completely in favor of his answer.
"I don't know if I can forgive you today," she told him, eyes downcast. "But maybe I can in time. You really hurt me. You still lied to me." Starscream crouched, lowering himself so they could be face to face. He pulled her chin up with his finger to look him in the eye.
"I know. I'm sorry." His own words took him by surprise. It had been far too long since the last time he genuinely apologized to anyone. Starscream could not deny it any longer. This little human whom he deemed to be inferior, had found her way into his spark. And she would stay there.
Despite her best efforts, a tear rolled down Luna's cheek. He moved his finger from her chin to catch it. Then he lifted his finger to his optics to examine it. Both species had a similar reaction to sadness. Their tears were made up of entirely different compostitions, but each resluted from the same things.
For the last time, he scooped the girl up in his hand, she knelt on her knees in his palm. They gazed at each other, intense emotions passing through them. Their realtionship had been damaged. They could tell in each other's eyes that what fragile thing they had between them still remained.
Starscream lifted the girl closer to his face and he gently pressed his lip plates to her forehead. Luna closed her eyes as he lingered for a bit, feeling every last emotion she felt from the moment she had met him until now. The uncertainty, warmth, the friendship; the pain, the betrayal, then caring. The hatred lowered a little more. After the gesture of affection, he placed her back on the ground.
"Farewell, Luna," he bid goodbye.
"Farewell," she quietly said back.
Starscream stood back up, looked at her for a short moment, then he transformed and flew off into the afternoon sun.
A sad sigh escaped from Luna's soul. She still felt bitter, but she did still care for him. This was way too confusing. She knew in time the pain would lessen. Perhaps she would forgive him sooner than she thought. But for now, she could dislike him, not hate, and wish him the best.
Yes, she would miss him. And he would miss her.
The End.
A/N: Done, phew! Well, thanks for sticking with me through all of this. I might wright a little one-shot follow up to this, but I'm not sure when I'll get it out. I really enjoyed writing this and I tired myself out doing it. Thank you to all who reviewed and gave me some advice. I have a feeling some might not like how I finished it, but I'm happy with it. Peace out people!
Edit: Forgot to mention. I think "Sweet Dreams(Are Made of This)" The Marilyn Manson Cover goes with this story. I don't know why, but it's just been stuck in my head.
