ATE: Hey everyone! *Barely dodges tomatoes and flying screetching cats* Okay, okay, okay! I'm sorry for taking so long! But I have an excuse. No wait, a few actually!
(1) I deliberately procrastinated
(2) I dreaded having to write this chapter due to how we all know the episode ends
(3) Playing and getting into Devil May Cry (seriously, I barely even knew anything about the games or anime and then I just got into it when I started playing the HD collection of 1-3 and 4)
(4) Playing Bullet Witch (for the sake of my new story that I recently posted
Of Devils and Witches)
(5)The main villainous culprit is...COLLEGE! Yeah, I was kept busy due to college.
Anyways, big thanks goes out to
Bee4ever, Crystalmaiden62, pokemonjkl, Autobot NightFury, AllSpark Princess, storygirl99210, Autobot-Brefor reviewing the last chapter chapter and for everyone else reading the story in my LONG absence. For those who need a reminder, this chapter will cover the events of Episode 48 (Cramp) from Transformers Armada. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers, Transformers Armada, or anything relating to it. I do own my OCs Valerie and Astera.
Chapter 25 - Cramp
(Starscream)
"Galvatron, why do we have to fight?" Starscream asked, kneeling down before Galvatron. "For just this once can't you put aside your petty argument with Optimus?"
"That's enough!" Galvatron snapped. "How dare you question me, Starscream."
"But if we don't join forces with the Autobots, chances are good that both sides won't survive the wrath of Unicron."
"You're testing my patience!"
Starscream looked off to the side, almost thoughtfully.
"I'm just worried there won't be a second chance before Unicron destroys the universe as we know it."
"Enough about Unicron!" Starscream turned back to face Galvatron when he heard his harsh voice bellow. "I'm sick and tired of listening to your pathetic whining! And the day will soon come when Unicron is defeated!"
"It will be too late!" Starscream stated, crawling forward a bit.
"You simpleton, Optimus and I are sworn enemies!"
"But Galvatron-sir, I don't think Optimus would make this offer unless he truly believedit."
Starscream was taken by surprise when Galvatron hit him, sending him flying and slamming into the side of the ship.
"Let me give you fair warning, Starscream. Don't you dare cross me again!"
"I would never!" Starscream pleaded from where he sat on the ground. "You've got to believe me!"
Galvatron growled. But this did little to make Starscream back down. He was too determined to do so.
"I beg of you, sir! Listen, you and Optimus must put aside your differences right away or there'll be nothing left to defend on either side. Don't you realize the gravity of this?"
The sound of Cyclonus' laughing reached Starscream's audio receptor as he knew the maniacal Decepticon stood with both Demolishor and Tidal Wave to his left
"Would you give it a rest?" Cyclonus mocked. "Galvatron knows what he's doing!"
"Yeah, unless, of course, you're ready to jump ship again, you useless traitor!" Demolishor agreed.
Tidal Wave merely gave of a deep chuckle at this.
"Go ahead and laugh!" Starscream yelled, having turned to address them. "But soon that pea brain of yours will be sorry."
Galvatron smiled smugly.
"Oh, I think Optimus is the one who is going to be sorry, as soon as I defeat him. And that goes for Unicron as well."
However, Galvatron's smug smile soon disappeared as he turned to glare at Starscream.
"Huh?!" Starscream exclaimed in surprise.
Galvatron and the others can be seen overlooking a bunch of Decepticon ships can be seen.
"You see, my dear Starscream, there can only be one supreme commander of the universe. And trust me, in due course, I shall eliminate my competition."
Starscream stood up at this, taking a step towards Galvatron.
"I still can't believe you still think you can defeat Unicron all by your –"
"I don't care what you believe." Galvatron glanced over at him. "I will destroy Optimus first and then I will worry about Unicron."
"That's insanity! The only way we can survive is if our two armies join forces, Galvatron!"
"Enough!"
Galvatron slashed at Starscream with the Star Saber, but he managed to dodge the blow.
"You can't do this, sir!" He protested, all the while with Galvatron pointing the tip of the Star Saber at him.
"But I must give you credit for seeing through Thrust and his attempt to subvert my plans. In that regard, I was quite impressed. However, I require one's full loyalty. Is any of this sinking in, Starscream?"
Starscream knew at this point that it was, in fact, pointless to try to argue with Galvatron. He was too stubborn to listen to his own words at this point.
"I understand, sir."
"Gentlemen!" Galvatron announced. "It appears we have a date with destiny! Follow my lead!"
"Yessir!" Everyone except Starscream responded.
Galvatron walked off while the others followed him. However, Cyclonus decided to stick behind long enough to talk with Starscream.
"What's the matter, Starscream? Are you just going to sit there and mopeor are you gonna join us and kick some Auto-butt?" Cyclonus asked in fake sincerity. "Oh, and you better hurry up and make up your mind or you're gonna miss Galvatron's victory party!"
With that Cyclonus walked off laughing.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"Would someone explain what's going on?" Fred asked, turning to face his friends.
"Get in the game, Fred." Billy scolded Fred. "Optimus is meeting up with the Decepticons."
"I just don't get it." Carlos admitted, his arms crossed. "I mean, I understand what Optimus wants to do and all, but I don't trust that Galvatron one little bit."
"Well guys, I guess we just have to trust Optimus." Alexis stated, causing everyone to look at her.
"I understand you're suspicious." Optimus stated. "But to defeat Unicron, we need everyone we can recruit - including Galvatron."
"There's no way he's gonna buy into your plan, Optimus." Rad stated.
"Well, that goof doesn't have a choice." Billy said, facing Rad.
"But we'll give him one." Optimus said, turning to face Jetfire.
"I've got a lock, sir." Sideswipe said from where he sat at the console. Beside him Blurr looked at the monitor to see what was going on as well. "Decepticons approaching at twelve o'clock."
"Attention, men." Optimus announced, causing the other Autobots to stand up. "It's time to head them off, but remember, this is not a battle. All we want to do is talk to Galvatron. I don't want any Decepticons harmed, so it's imperative that we fire only in defense. Red Alert, you stay and look after the ship."
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
(Starscream)
Starscream gazed up at the statue of Galvatron. Ironically enough, if one were to look at it a certain way it would've looked like he were holding the moon in his hand. But seeing as they had all come to discover that Cybertron's moon had, in fact, been Unicron this whole time, it only emphasized Galvatron's foolhardy ambition to defeat the Chaos Bringer.
"I wish I knew...what to do!" He said to himself, turning away from the statue..
Starscream suddenly has a flashback of Alexis.
It's easy!
Suddenly imagines of Alexis appeared in Starscream's processor as he recalled her words.
The only thing you have to say is thank you.
The more he thought about her, the more his spark ached with guilt.
I believe in you, Starscream.
'I must protect the humans!' He thought before lifting his head up.
"I must!"
His processor was set. Starscream knew what he had to do. He flew off into the sky, knowing that he had to get both the Autobots and Decepticons to unite together to defeat Unicron. He would succeed or die trying.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
(Jetfire)
Jetfire waited with Optimus while waited somewhere else for the Decepticons to arrive. The others would distract the Decepticons (without risking any casualties in the process) while they allowed Galvatron to pass on over so Optimus could negotiate with him.
'I just hope we can convince Galvatron to join forces.' He thought. But it wasn't enough to distract him from what happened not too long ago. 'Valerie…'
"Jetfire?" He heard Optimus ask him. "Are you okay?"
"I can't feel her…" Jetfire said quietly, trying to keep his emotions in check for the time being. "I can barely feel her right now. It scares me not knowing if she's frightened or not. And I have no way of reassuring her that everything's going to be okay."
Jetfire stiffen slightly when he felt Optimus place a servo on his shoulder and he turned to look at his leader.
"I know, Jetfire. We'll save her as soon as we're able to, but for now we need to focus on convincing Galvatron to join forces with us."
"Thanks, Optimus." Jetfire smiled a small smile behind his face mask. "I'm gonna go up to see if I can spot Galvatron coming."
"Good idea."
Jetfire flew up into the sky in order to keep a lookout for Galvatron. After some time, he spotted something in the distance approaching, and fast!
"Optimus! Incoming!" Jetfire warned, and no sooner Galvatron landed on the ground.
"There you are, Prime! It's time to shut you down." Galvatron said before he started shooting at Optimus. However, the Autobot Leader didn't do anything. "So, you want to negotiate, do you? Okay, I'm game. Let's play it your way. Let the negotiations begin!" He fired a blast at Optimus. "What's wrong, you forget your ammo?"
"Guess again, Galvatron!" Optimus replied.
"You fool!"
"Jetfire!"
"I hear ya, sir... And I'm comin' in!" Jetfire answered from where he was in the sky before flying towards Optimus.
Both Optimus and Jetfire Powerlinked together into Jet Optimus, along with Overload combining with them.
"Oh, Optimus... You and your fancy little gadgets." Galvatron said, somewhat amused. "Huh? What the?" Why was his enemy flying away?! "Oh no, you don't. You're not getting away this time." Galvatron flew after him. "What's wrong? I thought you wanted to have a little chit-chat, Prime."
"I do, but only when you calm down, Galvatron." Optimus said calmly.
"You just want to get rid of Unicron. Yeah, right. Nice try, but it's not going to work!" Optimus cried out in pain when Galvatron suddenly fired a black at him. Not only did Jetfire feel the pain as well, but he also felt the pain from landing on the ground hard as well. Optimus managed to get to his knees. Galvatron laughed as he landed on the ground. "I guess this is where it finally ends, Optimus Prime."
"Your lust for power sickens me! Don't you get it?!" Optimus shouted as he glanced over at Galvatron before standing up.
"You're the one that's about to - get it! You misjudge me, Prime. I don't like games. There can only be one leader in this universe, and unfortunately, it's not going to be you. Now do the honorable thing, you miserable coward. Stand up and fight!" Galvatron lunged forward with the Star Saber to attack Jet Optimus, but he jumped into the air to dodge the attack before he, Jetfire, and Overload separated. "Excellent! It looks like we're back in business. Tidal Wave, attack!"
"Attack!" Tidal Wave bellowed as soon as he separated from Galvatron.
"I see you're in need of a weapon, Prime." Galvatron said as he and Optimus faced each other.
"I didn't come here to fight, but if you attack, I'll defend myself." Optimus stated.
"Ha! You're a fool to the end, Optimus."
Galvatron started charging at Optimus, who barely dodged the Star Saber attacking him by jumping. He landed before Galvatron turned around to fire at him, but Optimus managed to counterattack. The impact of both attacks caused a blinding flash of light to appear, forcing Jetfire to raise his arms over his optics on reflex.
"Optimus!" Jetfire cried out.
Upon hearing Tidal Wave yelling out Galvatron's name, Jetfire knew that the oversized Decepticon was doing the same thing he was. Eventually he blinding light disappeared.
"Cannonball!" Tidal Wave yelled as he started firing at Optimus.
"Would you please just butt out of this, Tidal Wave?" Galvatron ordered, giving a quick glance over to Tidal Wave. "Can't you see Optimus and I were right in the middle of our negotiations? Now go play somewhere else!"
Jetfire took this perfect opportunity to fire at Tidal Wave's left optic with his blaster, causing him to yell out in pain. Then again the shuttle mech suppose it did sound painful now that he thought about it.
"Now that's what I call a bull's eye!" Jetfire exclaimed, hovering in place in the air before flying off and tackling Tidal Wave. As soon as this occurred Jetfire activated his boosters as he pushed the large Decepticon away from the area. "I'll take out the trash, Optimus! You take care of Galvatron!"
(Optimus)
"Jetfire..." Optimus muttered as he watched the shuttle mech leave.
Galvatron chuckled.
"Well I guess that leaves you and me. Just the way I imagined it. So let's cut to the chase and get this over with, shall we? You're mine." Galvatron said, before slashing at Optimus' left arm, rendering it useless for now. Galvatron started walking towards Optimus. "How long have we been adversaries, Optimus? It seems like since the beginning of the time. And I suppose I do have a certain respect for you, but I digress. You might have fooled Starscream with your little truce ploy, but I'm nobody's fool. Now let's end this charade, shall we?!"
"It's not a charade!" Optimus argued.
"Enough!"
Galvatron tried to attack Optimus with the Star Saber, but the Autobot Leader blocked the blow by catching the blade between his servos.
"Starscream didn't fall for anything! He just saw the truth!"
"Don't feed me your lies! The Decepticons and Autobots are like oil and water. We could never join forces. You and I both know it's true. That leaves only one question to answered, who will be left to rule the universe?!"
"Don't be a fool!"
"You're in no position to call me names. I grow tired of your mind games and it's time to end this conversation." Galvatron placed his other servo on the hilt of the Star Saber. "It's been a real pleasure knowing you, Optimus Prime. Sayonara!"
Optimus struggled with Galvatron as he tried to keep the Star Saber from damaging him further.
"What's the matter? You're not so tough, are you?" Galvatron seemed to realize something. "Wait, I've got it. You're waiting for the Mini-Cons to save you! Well, you're out of luck, because they aren't coming this time!" He was taking by surprise when Optimus allowed the blade of the Star Saber to damage his shoulder "What?!"
Suddenly a blast went off behind Galvatron and caused him to turn around. Through the smoke both Autobot and Decepticon leader could see the outline of a transformer walking towards them as it started to clear. But Optimus' optics widened when he saw them pull out a red beamed sword.
"It's..." He started.
"I don't believe it!" Galvatron said before growling. And just then the figure used their sword to clear the smoke, revealing a familiar form. "Starscream!"
The game's over, Galvatron!" Starscream said, frowning.
(Starscream)
"I hope you realize you're playing a very dangerous game, Starscream." Galvatron said.
"I've made my choice, Galvatron." Starscream claimed. "There's only one path to survive Unicron, and that's to follow Optimus!"
"Why you..."
"Stay out of this, Starscream. This is between Galvatron and me. Now just back away!" Optimus told the seeker.
"I don't mean any disrespect, Optimus, but I'm not going anywhere." Starscream said.
"Huh?" Optimus was surprised by Starscream's determination.
"You understand you'll pay for this." Galvatron growled. "No one defies my command and gets away with it!"
"Sorry, I don't work for you anymore. I've made up my mind to bring this to an end." Starscream raised his wing sword above his head. "And once all is said and done, Unicron will be destroyed and the universe will be at peace!"
"May I suggest that you have lost your mind! I'll destroy –"
"Come and get a taste of my blade, Galvatron." Starscream didn't let Galvatron finish.
He raised his sword over his head.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
(Alexis - On the Axalon)
Alexis gazed down at the green stone of the pendent she held in her hands. She was worried about Starscream after he had left them again. She knew the others were watching the battle on the monitor and she knew that if she were to look now, she'd just end up getting more worried over Starscream.
"Ooh! I have never seen so much firepower before!" Carlos exclaimed.
"And what happened to Optimus?!" Fred cried.
"Aw man, it looks like his whole strategy has gone completely out the window!" Billy said.
At this Alexis covered the green stone with her hands before turning to face the boys.
"Don't worry." Alexis said, causing Rad to turn to face her. "Everything is gonna be all right, you guys."
'At least I hope so.' She thought to herself.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
(Starscream)
Both Galvatron's and Starscream's swords clash together as they struggled to overcome the other.
"I'll give you one last chance to save your neck, Starscream." Galvatron said.
"My only chance is to see you unite with Optimus." Starscream stated.
"I hope you know what you're doing, Starscream." Optimus said quietly as he watched Galvatron and Starscream fight.
As the fighting continued Starscream ended up getting his chest plate cut slightly before I started sparking. Galvatron laughed at this, but it was short-lived when a cut appeared on his abdomen and sparked as well. But that was the least of their surprise when Lightning suddenly struck down between them. They both looked up and Starscream's optics widened when he saw that Unicron was slowly starting to awaken a bit.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
(Alexis)
"What's going on?" Alexis asked, having seen what was happening with Unicron on the monitor.
"Unicron's starting changing his form again." Rad said before the kids looked over to the Mini-Cons when they started bleeping. "Huh?"
High Wire, Sureshock, and Grindor were waving their arms in the air, almost in alarm or something. The kids turned back to the monitor to see that the Mini-Cons outside the Axalon were flying towards Unicron.
"Look, Rad!" She said. "The Mini-Cons are headed towards Unicron!"
The Mini-Cons gathered together in time to block a lightning attack from Unicron.
"Oh no! The horror! The horror!" Fred cried out in fear.
"No, High Wire!" Rad cried, blocking the three Mini-Cons' way when they tried to leave. "I can't let you out there! It's too dangerous!"
"Just hang in there, okay?" Carlos asked, causing High Wire to glance over at him. "We've gotta give Optimus a little more time."
"And you've gotta tell the other Mini-Cons to stay put." Rad added.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
(Starscream)
"I've often wondered what it'd be like to battle against you, Galvatron, but your words are stronger than your fighting abilities! I'm very disappointed!" Starscream admitted as both he and Galvatron's swords were still locked together.
"Ah, you insolent fool!" Galvatron said. He knocked Starscream's wing sword out of his hands and had lunged forward to swipe at him, but the seeker managed to dodge the Decepticon Leader's attack and reclaimed his blade. Galvatron's optics widened as he watched Starscream come sweeping down from the sky with sword in hand. "Oh, no!" Starscream's attack would've been successful if Galvatron hadn't dodged when he did. Strangely enough Galvatron smirk in amusement. "An 'A' for effort, but unfortunately, your misguided aspirations are about to end in failure, Starscream."
"This battle's far from over, Galvatron." Starscream also smirked as well.
"Oh, right. I've forgot who you are..." Galvatron said sarcastically. "A mere Decepticon soldier whose programming has gone haywire. I admire your moxie, but sadly I must inform you that your brave attempt to overthrow me is about to end in failure. Unless of course you decide to turn and walk away right now. And maybe if I'm still in a good mood, I might spare your miserable life. This is my final offer, Starscream." Of course Starscream knew that Galvatron wouldn't give him enough time to think something like this over and saw his smirk disappear to be replaced by a frown. "All right, then! I believe you've made your final decision, haven't you? Well, now it's time to pay the consequences, soldier!"
"Get down!" Optimus suddenly shouted urgently. It was at that time that Unicron's lightning struck the ground and came dangerously close to hitting Starscream and Galvatron. "Unbelievable..."
The seeker had taken this time to strike at Galvatron while he was distracted, but Galvatron managed to block his sword by using his own arm.
"Oh, I'm impressed, Starscream. But not enough to be worried. So do the smart thing and back down while you still can!" Starscream turned to face Galvatron. "Better hurry and decide, Starscream!" Starscream jumped away from Galvatron when he pushed his sword away from him. "Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha... TIME'S UP!"
Both Galvatron and Starscream slashed at each other at the same time.
"Errugh... You're starting to annoy me - Starscream!" Galvatron growled, with Starscream's sword next to his head.
However, Starscream wasn't so lucky since the Star Saber had stabbed him in the chest.
"It's the least I could do!" Starscream said, as if he hadn't been stabbed at all. But the pain he felt told him otherwise. And so far, he did a pretty good job at hiding it.
"Starscream!" He watched as Galvatron's optics widened in shock before he knelt down slightly, releasing his hold on the Star Saber. "Where in the universe did you get all this power?!"
"Right now that doesn't - matter, does it, Galvatron?" Despite his injuries Starscream smiled as his processor began to register the pain.
"Tell me. Why did you let me run you through like that, soldier?"
Starscream was about to open his mouth to speak, but all that came out was a groan before he fell backwards and landed on the ground. His wing sword flew out of his servo and managed to stab itself into the ground.
"This has all been a complete waste of my time!" Galvatron yelled, turning back to Starscream.
"I remember...a very long time ago... I swore an oath to you, Galvatron... And I can never break that oath."
"You had this planned all along, didn't you?" Galvatron stood up and glared down at him.
"I did, sir. But all of this could have been prevented... if you only had given me some respect."
"Save your breath, Starscream."
But Starscream wouldn't obey Galvatron, not this time.
"I tried to gain favor from you, but nothing was ever good enough... No matter how many battles I fought, you always found fault." Starscream noticed Optimus approaching to where they were, knowing that he had to say what needed to be said, so that Galvatron could understand what needed to be done. "Then I saw how Optimus treated his men... And I realized he was a leader with integrity... Unlike you."
"You were too weak to ever gain my respect."
"None of that matters now..." Starscream struggled to get up, enduring the pain as he eventually managed to stand up. "You must listen! Do as Optimus says and join forces with the Autobots or else every last one of us is doomed!" He tried to take a step forward, but fell to one knee. But all the same he looked up still smiling. "Please, sir. Do it for me."
Starscream's optics locked on to Unicron as the Chaos Bringer started acting up again. He recalled Valerie's last words to him and the request she made to him before she was take. She was still inside that thing! And then he spotted Jetfire in the distance, seeing that both he and Tidal Wave had stopped fighting in order to watch what was happening. He could still remember how angry Jetfire had been when he had found out about Valerie being taken and that he didn't save her. He could only imagine how much pain he was probably in and how scared he was at the moment since he didn't know what would happen to his sparkmate. And Alexis… Primus only knows how much pain she was going to be in from his death which seemed to be unavoidable by this point.
'If only I had told her sooner.' He thought sorrowfully.
If only he hadn't been tricked by Thrust into stealing the Skyboom Shield from the Autobots. If only he hadn't left the Autobots in the first place. If only he knew a lot of the things he knew now back then, maybe then none of all this would've been as catastrophic as it was now. He knew what he had to do at this point now. It was now or never. He placed his servo on the blade of the Star Saber and attempted to pull it out.
"No, Starscream! Don't!" Optimus cried out.
But he ignored Optimus' voice along with his own pain. His chest plate started sparking as soon as he pulled out the Star Saber before tossing it aside. It was at that point that Starscream realized just how close the Star Saber had been to piercing his own spark which could be seen through the tear in his armor.
"It's time to finish this once and for all! Activate proton cannons!" Starscream yelled before shooting a blast directed towards Unicron. "YOU'RE ALL MINE, UNICRON!"
As soon as he fired at Unicron, Starscream forced his Mini-Con partner, Swindle, to eject since he knew that he probably wasn't going to come back. And then Starscream was hit by a blast of lightning Unicron had unleashed.
'I'm sorry, Alexis…' He thought as his body was slowly being disintegrated.'Maybe…in another life…we could…we could be…'
But he never finished his thoughts. His thoughts were no more. All that was left was black oblivion…and the rest was silence.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
(Alexis)
Alexis was shocked when the green stone in her hands suddenly cracked. Why did it crack? What was happening?
"What's going on out there, Alexis?" Rad asked, having turned to Alexis. Something didn't feel right. For some reason Alexis felt as if something was terribly wrong! She suddenly ran out of the Bridge. Alexis suddenly runs out of the room as Rad chases after her. "Alexis! Alexis, wait!"
Despite Rad telling her to wait, Alexis didn't listen. She couldn't stop running! Images of Starscream kept appearing in her head and she had a feeling that this dreadful feeling she had had something to do with him. She ran down the hallway, only to stop in front of a window where she saw Unicron and a beam of purple light heading towards him.
"Alexis, wait up!"
The light almost reached Unicron, but by the time Alexis heard Rad's footsteps the light faded away. She could do nothing but stare at it.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
(Jetfire)
Jetfire watched as Galvatron picked up the Star Saber before heading over to where Optimus stood. They both gazed down at the crater where Starscream had been standing earlier. He was shocked that Starscream was gone. Even though he was a Decepticon, he was still a friend who had given up his life in order to see that both Autobots and Decepticons were united against a common threat, Unicron. Jetfire knew that Alexis was going to be in pain from this, even if she hadn't spent as much time around Starscream as he had with Valerie. Regardless of that he knew she was going to be feeling the pain and wouldn't be able to understand why it was there.
'That could have easily been me if I had been in Starscream's place. And Valerie…!' Jetfire didn't want to think of how much pain she would be in if that had been the case.
"It's over, Swindle." He heard Optimus tell the Mini-Con. "But he fought like a brave soldier until the end."
Swindle bleeped in response to what Optimus said, seeming to realize what was going on. Galvatron lifted up the Star Saber as he gazed down at it and Jetfire could only guess what the Decepticon Leader was thinking at that point in time before he turned to Optimus and held out the Star Saber to him. As soon as Optimus had placed his hand on the hilt of the sword a cloud of nanobots leaped out of the crater.
"What?!" Galvatron exclaimed as the nanobots took the Star Saber away.
To Jetfire's shock the cloud of nanobots formed into Sideways, holding the Star Saber up in the air victoriously.
"Ha, ha, ha! Everything is now in place." Sideways declared.
"Sideways!" Galvatron growled.
"And the mighty Unicron shall inherit the Star Saber Sword!"
"No!" Optimus cried.
Jetfire saw red as soon as he saw Sideways and before he knew it he found himself speeding towards him with the help of his boosters.
"SIDEWAYS!" Jetfire yelled, pulling out his blaster and firing at him as he got closer.
Sideways just stood there, but at the last minute he turned into that cloud of nanobots which allowed his attacks to go through him. But one thing Jetfire didn't expect was for him to slash at him with the Star Saber, sending the shuttle mech to the ground.
"Well, if it isn't Jetfire." Sideways chuckled. "So tell me, Autobot, how does it feel to know that you failed to protect the one you love? It wouldn't be the first time, now would it?"
"Why you…!" He growled, and Sideways knew all too well that he touched a sore topic.
"I'd love to stay and chat, but we have a universe to destroy!"
"Not so fast, Sideways!" Galvatron said, aiming his cannon at him.
Both Optimus and Galvatron started firing at Sideways, but he merely turned into a cloud of nanobots and flew away into a hole with the Star Saber, going underground. The Autobot and Decepticon Leaders ran over to the hole and Galvatron growled in frustration.
"What else can go wrong?! This is a nightmare!" Galvatron said.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Sideways arrived in front of the portal inside the underground passageways that led to Unicron. He didn't waste any time firing at the tunnels, laughing at the chaos he unleashed as he made sure no one would be able to use the tunnels again. At least not anytime soon, that is. As soon as the deed was done he picked up the Star Saber and ran into the portal before he could get trapped.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
(Alexis)
Alexis' eyes widened in shock when she heard Optimus tell them what happened to Starscream on the monitor. Sure the boys and Red Alert were shocked, but nowhere close to how she was currently feeling.
"Starscream, no!" Fred cried loudly, latching onto Billy who was too shocked to react.
Carlos fell to his knees at the news while Rad's shoulders shook. As for Alexis, she couldn't stop herself from crying as soon as the first tear fell from her eyes.
She ran out of the room and back to the window she had been at earlier, the pain in her chest feeling all the more worse than it did before. It felt like her heart had been ripped out of her chest and was being stabbed repeatedly by some sharp object. Why was she in so much pain? Why was this happening? She started banging her fist against the window in her grief, but she stopped when her hand got sore. That was when she remembered the green stone still clasped in her fisted hand and lowered it, opening it to reveal the cracked stone of her pendent. Staring at it made her feel slightly better, but not by much. It help, yet it made the pain she felt become worse.
I'm sorry, Alexis… Maybe…in another life…we could…we could be…
"Alexis..." She heard Rad's voice ask from behind as he took a step towards her.
She turned around slightly to glance at him and she saw the look of pity he gave her when he saw her mournful look. She suddenly turned around to face him with fresh tears falling from her eyes.
"Why?! Why?!" She cried, pounding on Rad's chest before she clutched at his shoulders. "Why did Starscream do that to himself?!"
"I wish I had the answers, Alexis." He answered sadly, and after awhile, he placed an arm around her.
Starscream was gone, and her heart felt as if it had been shattered into pieces.
ATE: Thanks for reading everyone. As you all may have noticed, there's an absence of Valerie throughout the entire chapter and she's only mentioned. That was my intention to show just how much her absence not only affects everyone in the story, but the reader as well since she has been with us since chapter 1. Since I finished this chapter I think writing the others will be a little more easier since I don't have a character death (for the characters we do like) hanging over my shoulder like this one. Again, that was the main reason why I didn't want to write this chapter, but it was high time that I did so, as I should've done months ago. Well, I posted this drawing back in September that I never did get to share with you guys, but I think you'll all like it (without the spaces):
aerith -the- evenstar .deviantart gallery /335 41 58 7#/d 5ew azj
Please Remember to Review! ;D