XXXVII - Answers

"Here we are," CYLAS declared, stepping inside the hangar. The lights flickered and burned to life, glaring down onto the pair of bots. "Establishing ourselves in this location is the safest course of action for the moment, and my men will restore the clones' chassis in no time."

Airachnid cued five of the Insecticons to enter, bearing said Seekers' mutilated chassis. "Then where might your men be at? We need to work swiftly, so we may catch Megatron with his guard down."

"They are in the sublevels of this complex, preparing the needed tools to fix these machines." He replied cooly. "This arrangement will see its purpose soon enough."

"I will decide when 'soon enough' is truly soon enough, CYLAS. If your soldiers come to fruition before the end of tomorrow, we shall strike. If not, well, I'm sure you know that I do not enjoy being kept waiting." The black femme purred, drawing herself up with her spider legs.

The scarred mech drew even with her, "MECH works quickly, my men will not disappoint."

"Then what, exactly, is your idea?" She prodded, examining the hangar.

"I'm afraid you will have to wait and see," he sneered.

Airachnid went over and stopped right in front of him, leaning into his faceplates. "Have you forgotten that I command an army of Insecticon warriors? You will answer my question, CYLAS, while I'm asking nicely. Or I might just become the new leader of MECH."

"Follow me. I'll show you."

Later…

I sat on my berth, lost in thought. Unlike our old base, the Harbinger had plenty of space for everyone in its interior. As such, everyone had their own room, with some to spare. During the night, Knock Out had insisted upon performing a few autonomous scans of my systems for some reason he didn't think worth sharing. I wasn't sure how long I had been puzzling over this, staring at the same chipped spot on the dark wall.

"Something is troubling you," Optimus' deep voice remarked from the threshold of my room.

I started and whirled around. "This is what I get for leaving the door open, hm?"

"I did not mean to intrude. May I come in?"

I nodded, and he took a seat beside me. "That was undeserved," I apologized.

"I'm glad you recognized it," the Prime gave me a faint smile.

"Couldn't recharge?" I asked after a momentary silence, wincing as the silence shattered.

"I wanted to see how you are doing," he replied. "Will you join me outside?"

I cleared my vocalizer, "I don't see why not…" I stood and left my room. We began to walk down the halls together, I had to walk faster to keep up with his long strides. It felt uncannily like I was beside Megatron.

"Might I ask what the purpose of Knock Out's so-called scans on my chassis were?" I asked, wanting to distance myself from unwanted thoughts.

"He did not consider the information to be worth sharing."

"That was a fast answer," my optics narrowed slightly and I slowed my pace.

He stopped, facing me. "Seven, I am not trying to decieve you. The medics have not shared their thoughts with me or the rest of us."

I huffed, "I didn't think that everyone would be kept in the dark on this, whatever it is…" I trailed off.

We emerged from the Harbinger into the cool desert night. The sky above our helms was an inky, midnight blue splattered with stars, the moon a smiling crescent high above. Optimus scaled a stack of boulders off the rear end of the ship and once he got to the top, reached a servo down to me. I was struck with déjà vu for a second, remembering the time when I had been trapped in the rubble of a building and he had extended a servo much like this. Except this time, he was well out of my reach.

I glanced down at my pointed pedes, "These aren't built for climbing." But then an idea struck me. "Backing up might be a good idea," I cautioned.

He stood and took a couple steps backwards and vanished from my view. "I am ready."

With a blast from my thruster, I sprang into the air and landed beside the Prime, grabbing his outstretched arm to steady myself. "Thanks."

Optimus nodded and released me. I took a seat, resting my arms on my knees. He sat beside me, not uncomfortably close, but not too distant either.

"What are your thoughts?" I probed, looking to him.

"Ratchet and Knock Out have led us to believe that there is an anomaly with your spark."

"You said you didn't know anything." I reminded cooly and my wings vibrated.

"That is the extent of what the doctors shared." He added. "They believe that whatever is affecting your spark may well be inside or even a part of it."

I threw my servos into the air, "Why, oh why does this sound so similar to the time you broke the news of the virus to Starscream?"

He laid a large, gentle servo on my shoulder plate. "Seven, this circumstance is very different. No one, not even the doctors believes its presence is necessarily one of malignance."

"It is one thing to believe, quite another to know. And the fact that the doctors are hiding something pushes me to think that they do know, but are omitting it for my sake," I growled. "Do they think I can't take the news?" I shivered, suddenly feeling cold as if a breeze had just rushed past. "I just want answers, is that so hard?"

"We all do." He agreed. "However, if the medics are withholding information, I am sure it is for an important reason. Unless if it endangers you or anyone else, they have a right to keep it to themselves."

I flexed my wings, stretched my arms and laid on my back with them crossed behind my helm, staring up at the sky. The stars and fuzzy smear that was the Milky Way, edge-on, gave the appearance that a sea of bubbling pitch was floating above us. "I suppose they do, but do I not have a right to know about what is happening with my very spark?" I asked pointedly.

"I cannot force them to tell you."

"You're our leader, you can force us do whatever you want!" I burst out.

"If I did, would I be any better than Megatron?" He said quietly.

My wings dropped at the realization. "I'm sorry… there's just so much going on right now."

For a long, silent moment, the only sound was the gentle throbbing of my spark in my audials. It was a daunting task to realize that a simple sphere of energy was what kept me going, all Cybertronians going, and without it, well, we wouldn't be much different than a supercomputer.

Optimus brushed away the silence, "I am planning on having a summit with Megatron at some point this coming day or the next."

My voice fell to a whisper, "You're really going through with it, aren't you?"

"If we want to achieve lasting peace, we have no other choice."

"For once, Prime," I said quietly, revering the silence, "I wish you were wrong."

"I know I said that I would be waiting, but was it really necessary for you to take so long?" I crossed my arms, leaning against an invisible wall as I examined the tips of my talons on one servo.

Seven whirled around at the sound of my voice. "I can't recharge all the time, it will be suspicious, not to mention tiresome. Is there a reason I'm here?"

I frowned, "What, not happy to see me?"

My double mirrored me, something he could do quite well, "You misunderstand, what I mean is that it seems these dreams I'm having appear to occur randomly, unless if you hold some control over them."

I raised my servos, "None that I'm aware of."

"Hm…" he mused, "did you know the doctors are hiding something from all of us?"

I raised an eyebrow, "You are keeping these dreams secret as well, so you tell me."

"They think that some foreign entity is occupying a portion of my spark." He stated matter-of-factly.

I blinked in surprise. "And they haven't said what it is or what it's doing?"

"Either they don't know or think that I will have a meltdown if they tell me."

"Those are not good prospects," I agreed. "Does any of it have to do with me?"

Miffed, he huffed, "Why would it?"

"It's just that strange things have been happening lately, such as the fact that I'm supposed to be dead, but here I am." I waved my arms at my chassis. "In fact, this is probably just a mental projection of what I was used to."

"You think that whatever is in my spark is a part of this mess?"

I shrugged, "It's as good of an idea as any. I did meet my past self again, and I think it is safe to say that that first time wasn't just some–" I waved a servo to help the words along, "one-time occurence."

"Oh, there haven't been many of those," my clone muttered dryly, his wing fluttering. "Well, what happened?"

I smirked, "Allow me to show you."

The blackness of the dreamscape melted away and a scene appeared beneath our pedes like we were watching through a glass floor. I grinned at Seven, my wings fluttering in anticipation. "It's something, isn't it?"

We stood above a dark room which was bare, save for a desk and plain chairs, one behind the desk, two in front. The me from not-so-long-ago leaned against the side of the desk, watching the closed door. Time was hard to gauge in here, I wasn't sure if it had happened hours or days ago.

"It's something," Seven agreed, staring down through wide optics.

All of a sudden, the door irised open and the past Starscream below us stood straighter.

"This happened only a short while ago," I said from beside my clone. "It ended right before I was pulled into your dream."

"Kicking and screaming, weren't you?" he jibed. I pushed him, fending off a smirk. A sudden movement caught our attention below, and a shadow with large wings fell over the floor and waited, giving off the feeling of intense anxiety.

"General, sir? You needed to see me?" The younger version of myself asked.

"Is this one of your memories?" My clone asked, looking to me.

"It resembled one at the time, but no." I answered, gaze unwavering from the scene below our pedes. "Similar things had happened at the Academy, but none resembling anything as weird as this."

The dreaming version of myself stepped over the threshold and the door immediately shut behind him and melted into the wall, leaving no trace of its existence behind. He whirled around, but saw it had vanished. His scarlet optics widened.

"This isn't funny, whoever you are!" he said shrilly, "Stop this nonsense! I'm sure you have better things to be doing!"

The more recent me that was leaning against the desk straightened up and uncrossed his arms, "Actually…" he trailed off, and the other, younger Starscream let out a quiet whimper, backing into the wall as his wings flattened. "You do not."

Seven looked at me, disbelief etched into his features. "Wh-how are we viewing this?"

"They are my memories," I replied. "I'm not sure how it works, but I discovered my ability to do this not too long ago."

"To show me scenes from your memories?" He prodded, catching on.

I nodded.

"So we are watching a dream of yours, during one of mine?"

I blinked, "Well, it… yes. Don't make this more confusing than it already is."

I mentally scrolled though a few files and selected the relevant ones of this dream. On cue, the scene beneath us changed abruptly and now the pair of Seekers were in slightly different places. It took me no time to identify who was who, or more like who was from when. Seven seemed to have a bit more difficulty with it, but I pointed them out and he nodded. The older Starscream was gripping the younger's wrist tightly, stopping his servo and poised talon just above his thigh plating.

"Fine! Fine! Just stop! You cannot fathom how important this is!" He exclaimed, squeezing his wrist.

"Oh?" The younger one mocked, shaking off his grip. "And what happened to me? Start from the beginning, because I deserve to hear every last detail." he growled, wings vibrating with an anger that he didn't try to hide.

Seven shook himself, pulling my attention away from the pair below us. "You didn't tell him what was happening, did you?"

"Watch," I urged.

The more recent me raised his servos slightly, looking apologetic. "I… ah… can't do that."

I gave Seven a look but he was too busy watching the dream unfold beneath us, rapt. "I told you so."

"Shh!"

"WHAT?" The younger me screeched, throwing his servos up in frustration. "You just appear out of the blue, say you're me from the future, drop a few more cryptic bombshells and then beg for my help?!" The other me wilted, beneath his abrasive words, "WELL YOU CAN GO FRAGGING HELP YOURSELF! I HAVE ENOUGH PROBLEMS TO DEAL WITH AT PRESENT AS IT IS!" A servo clenched my spark and I knew full well that the more recent me felt the same way, looking hurt. The younger me's tone dropped to a furious whisper, "So you can go pack up your future aft and jump back into the next millennium! Leave me out of this!"

Seven grabbed my shoulder plate, giving me a sympathetic look.

"Please, Star, you don't understand. I've never been more desperate, and I say that knowing full well what you're going through now—what I went through." Recent me begged, his tone sliding up an octave. "I can't tell you what will happen, but we have to change it. This is bigger than just the shrink ray, or your wings, even your T-Cog!" Older me burst out. "And for the record, the present for me is a year in the future for you." His wings drooped and mine had as well, lubricant welling up in the corners of his optics. He did look just as hopeless as I remembered. "Star," he said hurriedly, taking advantage of the younger's silence, "I don't know how I managed to contact you. It happened once before, and I tried to give you a heads-up. Prove me wrong, and then say I have a screw loose. After all, you're only saying the same about yourself." He was angry now but I was biting my lip, feeling the full weight of everything that had transpired here beginning to sink in. After all, it wasn't too long ago on my side of things. "I don't need you to believe me. I just need you to do what I tell you to do!"

"And why would I ever do that?" The younger me spat, scowling.

"Because the only bot or person you trust is yourself. I am you, therefore: trust me!"

The younger me scowled.

"You have to promise me that you will not, NOT retrieve your T-Cog from Silas, no matter what!"

He blinked, "That's absurd!"

"Promise me, promise me," I whimpered, "just do it you idiot, please…" I fell to my knees and out of Seven's arms, watching in horror.

The more recent me stepped up into the younger one's faceplates, "Promise me. PROMISE ME!" Younger me flinched, speechless. Recent me was panicking, his intakes coming in shallow pants. "Would you rather–"

"Die?" I breathed, knowing that the younger me had just jerked awake. The dreamscape faded, replaced by the same dark void. "I couldn't stop myself from retrieving my T-Cog." My chassis shook, "I-I was so shortsighted. I thought that once I got the shrink ray and my wings back, everything would b-be fine… but it only caused more problems… and I warned myself!" I moaned, "You just saw! I could have showed him what it was like, being stuck on that berth for days, feeling life slipping through my fingers like soup through a fork… and now this void…" I choked and wiped my optics, "How did I expect to save you, to have us save an entire planet when I couldn't even save myself!"

Seven slowly lowered himself down beside me, "Blame CYLAS, blame Megatron, blame me, I don't care. It was anyone's fault but yours."

"If I hadn't lost my T-Cog to begin with…" I trailed off as an idea began to dawn on me.

"What?" My clone prodded.

I wiped at my optics again, suddenly filled with hope. "What if—what if I were to visit one of my past self's dreams and tell myself not to work with MECH in the first place?"

Seven tapped his chin in thought, "That might work, however, if memory serves, you said that you have no control of which dream you drop into on or when you do. Even if you somehow were pulled into the perfect moment, who's to say that you will be able to convince yourself? You failed to do so this time, why would circumstances be any different with MECH?"

"My thanks for the continued support," I growled and felt the tips of my wings brush the floor. "Worse yet, what if my past self's mind simply can't be changed? Getting my size and flight capabilities restored were the main reasons I continued to live then, and taking that away…"

"Lands you here even sooner," my clone finished darkly.

I dropped my helm into my servos, the sudden burst of hope having left as fast as it came in. "Why does everything have to go in circles!? If altering the past can't work, what can we do?"

"If we can't change the past, we have to fix the present. And who knows what will happen, or will have happened if you alter history?" He pointed out. "I have a feeling that we were onto something earlier with whatever is happening to my spark."

We suddenly found ourselves sitting on the edge of the butte that was our old base, except it wasn't in ruin. As I looked around and then down, I saw a throng of bots loosely crowded not far from the base of the mesa. I recognized all of them: Team Prime. And on my right side, Seven's wings had fallen flat.

"No, I don't want you to see this…" he whispered, and the sky seemed to darken.

"What?" I asked warily. I could make out my double sitting on the ground by the red stripes on his large wings, holding… "Is that me?" I breathed. Seven didn't answer, a grim air settling down over him.

A yellow mech—Bumblebee—went over to my double and laid a servo on his shoulder plate, trying to separate him from me by the look of it. I looked at my double beside me, my emotions in turmoil. He didn't meet my optics.

[Sev… ] my audials barely picked up the scout's chirp on the ground. My chassis fell out of my double's arms and Seven stayed on the ground, wings lower than I thought they could go, shaking with silent sobs.

"Sev…" I echoed, facing him. What could I say? I was the one who had died, and that was months ago. "I know you aren't over this and it's been horrible for me as well. You said we can fix it, but only if we stop dwelling on the past."

"What can we do?" he murmured, not meeting my optics. "We're merely a pair of broken bots, one of which isn't even alive anymore."

"I am on some level, how else would I be talking to you?" I retorted, hating how hopeless he sounded. "We have had this conversation before, and I refuse to continue it."

"Primus knows what could be happening," he countered, still watching the scene below us that I had tuned out. "I-I must have faulted some circuitry at the time, because nothing made sense for days, even weeks after you passed. To the others, I looked like I had gone mad. Maybe I did for a time… but what if it persists? What if you're some hallucination that's chasing me, haunting me…" he trailed off and I could instantly tell that all his mental guards were up.

My wings snapped up, "Haunting you, is it now? Then explain how I continue to exist outside of your dreams."

"So, I'm not insane?"

"No." I agreed, "You are a tiny bubble of sanity in a sea of madness."

I turned my attention back to the scene below us and sprang off the butte without a second thought, executing a flip for good measure. "Starscream!" Seven exclaimed.

"Follow me!" I shouted back, using my thruster to slow my fall, and landed at the base of the rock, jogging over to the bots. As I expected, none of them noticed me. I stopped beside Ratchet, who was putting what looked like an AED back into his medical kit.

Seven came up beside me and waved his servo through Ratchet's armor. "Hm, it looks so real."

"Don't all dreams?" I replied, watching as Bulkhead walked straight through Seven, startling him, and over to my clone's past self, still on the ground, staring at my dead chassis. "This is disturbing." I said quietly. "Primus, I look like slag… am I still like that?"

"No, fortunately. The Omega Lock restored your chassis, but when I pulled you out of the dirt, you weren't exactly about to win a beauty contest."

I forced a chuckle.

Bulkhead got my double's past self up, and the present Seven suddenly looked like he had just been struck.

"What?" I asked, nervous.

"I…" his optics widened in amazement, "I… just, no, just watch, I have to confirm this…"

Eyeing him out of the corner of my vision, I reluctantly continued to watch the scene in front of our optics. The past Seven struggled to get out of the Wrecker's hold and Bulkhead let him go, but I couldn't see well from my vantage point.

I skirted around the bots—not feeling comfortable about walking through them—and stopped right inside my dead chassis. I didn't look down.

Suddenly everyone seemed to be staring at me, including both versions of Seven. The past one took a few steps closer to me, looking shell-shocked. "Starscream?" he whispered weakly.

[Is that—his spark?] Bumblebee whirred, starting straight into my optics in disbelief.

It was like they all could see me. I looked to the present Seven, seeing him rendered slack-jawed. I forced my attention off of him and onto his past self, who had his servo reached out towards my faceplates, looking as though in a dream. How ironic.

I reached out and brushed my fingers through his servo, only feeling the air. Something beneath me caught my notice, and I stole a glance down to find that my chest plate was glowing, the warm light emanating right from the center.

The past Seven suddenly collapsed and I loosed a surprised yelp, skittering backwards out of instinct.

"Sev, are you all right?" Smokescreen asked, lending his servo down to the fallen Seeker.

"What kind of question is that?!" Arcee glared at him. Seven shushed them with a servo and got up on his own, looking around. Knock Out pointed at me and my double whirled around, meeting my optics.

"I'm okay…" he said quietly, giving me a nod so slight that I might have imagined it.

Suddenly the ground fell away from my pedes and I saw that the present Seven was with me, fortunately. He'd managed to close his mouth but still looked dumbstruck. I watched the scene fall away beneath our pedes and fade into blackness once again, not knowing what had just happened. My chest plate had stopped glowing, I noticed as I heaved for air, wondering what in Pit had just happened.

"It really was you," Seven breathed, finally finding his voice. "I thought that maybe…"

"What happened to you?" I asked.

"I have an idea," a grin started coming onto his faceplates, "your last words were 'see you later, brother,' as if you knew we would meet again."

"I have no memory of that," my optics narrowed in thought, "and even if I did say that, how could I have known that wasn't the end?"

"Perhaps it is something that you have yet to do in this form…" he suggested, tapping his chin.

"Yes, that may be possible," I agreed reluctantly, "but how? When?"

He raised his servos, "Who knows? But that isn't the only thing I've been thinking of."

"Oh? Enlighten me."

"I remember that on the day you died, I didn't see you as you are now. As far as I know, none of us did."

"Go on," I urged, hanging on to every word.

"We saw you as your spark, but it felt like you could see us as well, somehow. I wasn't sure of it until now… but now…"

The invisible ground seemed to slosh beneath my pedes and I hastily grabbed my double's arm for support. "Then what happened to you, Sev? You fell…" I repeated.

He grinned and held me by my shoulder plates, "Star, I touched your spark–you, frag, I don't know what happened! But we can't forget: I'm your clone!"

"And?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "I don't think either of us has forgotten that."

"You know how cloning works, so think!" He looked ready to burst.

It was infectious. "JUST TELL ME!" I shouted, grabbing his arms and shaking him as if that would make it just fall out of his mouth.

"When a clone is made," he began, taking deep intakes to remain calm, a vain effort, "the original's spark is split and a sliver melds with the clone's spark. But the portion of the original's spark remains dormant inside the host—clone, whatever you wish to call it."

My optics widened and I stepped back. "You're saying that when I died, it woke up? That some part of me lives inside you?"

"That is the only explanation!" he squealed, looking giddy. "I-I need to tell Optimus and the others. That explains why we share this connection, and why you didn't completely die! We can't keep this secret any longer, not when we're so close! I will come back as soon as I can, I promise. And I'll bring real answers!"

Grinning like a fool, I was helpless to watch as he pinched himself.