Disclaimer: Transformers: Animated and everything related belongs to the rightful company Hasbro. I am in no way shape or form making money off this.
Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait, fellow and loyal readers, but here it is! I've been working on this chapter on and off for weeks (weeks? Felt more like months) but I manage to complete it! Now in this one I'm going a bit more into the past of Psyche but hopefully it won't derail you from the original plot. I did this because as I was writing this I unintentionally began creating a backstory for said OC and I think she's showing a lot of promise. I'm hoping when this story finishes I can do a full story about her so you can get a better feel of her character. To cut this short, here is the latest ranking oh who Bee should end up with in the end of the story:
Prowl: 17
Starscream: 14
Optimus Prime: 4
Other: 5 (Bulkhead: 1; Skywarp: 1; Sentinel: 2)
Okay, I went back to count and recount all the votes and reviews and this is the updated tally as of 11/22/17. Prowler is again in first place, Screamy in second, and surprise late entry is Sent! Again, not surprise by Prowl but but Scream is slowly gaining a loyal fan base. Keep your votes coming in, readers :)
"Comm link."
~Private comm link.~
:Seekers speaking.:
"Nightmare"
Written by: Beloved Shadow
Inspiration by: JazzTheTiger
Ratchet stared at the arrangement of his tools, a cleaning cloth off to the side where it had been used just recently. Everything in the medbay was pristine and had been organized and reorganized; the same could be said for his own quarters but he found himself staring at the chronometer repeatedly.
A klik barely passed since the last time he checked and he cycled air through his system slowly and resisted the urge to make a mess just so he had something to do. His servos kept busy, but it was his processor that was giving him a hard time. It had been well over a joor since Psyche had gone to speak with Optimus and find out why he had attacked her but there was nothing from her. Narrowing his optics Ratchet tried to send her a comm but he never received a response. He knew he shouldn't worry, she was capable of taking care of herself and hated when somebot interrupted her time with a patient, but there was nothing from her end. That wasn't like her, what if Prime had tried attacking her again and she wasn't able to call out for help?
'No, Skyfire is with her.' The large shuttle had reacted to her orders when she had commed everyone that wasn't their Prime without any hesitation. No one wanted to believe her but it was hard to ignore the bruised cables and broken wires in her throat or that he himself had a badly cracked optic. Venting he sat back on his stool, rubbing his optic carefully. His self-repair system had taken care of the damage but he had to be careful at least until tomorrow before the nanities in his system were completely done. 'Maybe, I should comm him,' he thought and prepared himself to send a comm to the white seeker but stopped and closed it. No, Psyche was fine. If she was in any danger she could not handle she would comm for help.
… wouldn't she?
He pulled up his chronometer and saw several kliks had barely passed by.
'… slag it.'
A sparkling only a few megacycles old onlined bright blue-green optics. She looked around the darkened room but with no light available and no sign of her creators she was beginning to grow fearful. She was still too young to sit up though it didn't stop her from trying or from letting out worried cries as she longed for her creators. Her cries grew louder as she heard a door open and made out a large form bending over her, reaching out towards her.
"Don't cry sweetspark, your sire's here," the mech spoke softly, brushing a large digit over the soft faceplates, smiling as the sparkling settled. She was so small but if anyone were to ask him, he would say she resembled more of her carrier than himself. He watched as her tiny servos wrapped around his digit, holding onto it with a tight grip. "Don't you want to finish recharging?" he asked but she let out a series of sparkling babble which consisted of rapid clicks. Instead she brought his digit up to her mouthplates and gnawed at it. "I should take that as a no?" He knew they had sparkling grade energon for her but as he gently eased his digit away his optics grew wide when she started to cry again. "No, no don't cry, I'm going to get your energon."
The sparkling didn't understand what her creator was saying but she lifted her servos up to him. She wanted to be held but he was only looking down at her. Why wasn't he picking her up? Didn't he want to hold her? She cried louder, now wanting her other creator who she knew would hold her. Thankfully, she didn't have to wait long as the light in her room turned on and another mech appeared at the side of her enclosed berth. She whimpered softly as servos reached down and lifted her up so she was cradled against a warm chassis; she clicked softly as she "listen" to the familiar spark next to her audio, cooing softly in content.
The larger mech vented quietly and watched as his sparkmate comforted their sparkling with such ease. "I didn't mean to disturb your recharge, Swiftsong," he admitted as he looked down, rubbing the back of his helm. "I thought she was going to slip back into recharge."
"It's alright, Dion, I couldn't recharge once I heard her crying," the slender mech smiled, looking up at him. He continued to cradle the sparkling close, a servo gently stroking her backstrut and listening as she continued to coo softy, tiny servos gripping at him and feeling their sparks pulsing in sync. "She didn't want to recharge anymore?"
"No, but she did gnaw on my digit for a klik or two," he admitted, reaching out and tenderly stroking the back of her helm, aware of how large his servo was compared to the tiny femme. "I can get her energon."
"No need, I have it in my subspace." Turning to face him he made to give the larger mech the sparkling but paused when he saw him freeze in place. "Dion?"
"I-I've never held a sparkling before. What if I drop her? What if she tries to pull away? What if I crush her?" But the slender mech walked up to him and before he knew it, the quiet sparkling was placed into his servos. Once more he was daunted by how small she looked in his large servos. "Swiftsong-"
"Relax, Dion. She's not going to hurt you," he said softly, trailing his own servo over her helm. The sparkling looked up between them, clicking happily as she once more grabbed the servo and gnawed on it, expressing her hunger. Swiftsong chuckled softly, leaning over to press a soft kiss to her forehelm. "Little Lotus…" he whispered softly, easing his digit away as he reached into his subspace.
Dion smiled down at the sparkling and slowly, carefully, brought her to his chassis. She looked at him curiously but her tiny digits reached out, gripping at his plating. The mech moved back until the back of his stabilizers hit something and he lowered himself down onto the seat, settling her into the crook of his arm. He held his other servo out to her, smiling as she inspected his larger digits curiously before bringing it forward and gnawed on the digit.
The sparkling simply known as Lotus by her creators, was happy now that her creators were here and the darkness was gone, but she was hungry. She squirmed when she felt something brush against her stomach plating, but it came again and she released the digit from her oral plates to squeak in surprise. She felt the chassis she was held against vibrate and once more there was a tickling sensation on her plating. She squeaked in surprise once more, trying to grab at the digits as they continued to brush against her.
Swiftsong smiled, watching his sparkmate playing with their sparkling before he moved closer, holding the half-filled cube of a pasty pink energon. "You were worried over nothing, she's still newly sparked, and she wants to know her creators more." The carrier was enjoying the soft squeaks she was letting out as her abdominal plates were being caressed, the way she curled in as she was tickled before her attention was drawn to the cube. He chuckled as she began reaching out for the faintly glowing cube, making eager clicks. He moved closer, easily lifting her up with one servo and the other carefully tilted the cube for her to begin feeding.
The sparkling was happy to begin swallowing the tasty fluids, clutching at the transparent container with her tiny servos. She protested when the fluids were taking away for a bit before returning. She didn't realize her carrier was moving around as she continued to eat, or that her sire was talking to him as his servo came up to rub at her helm gently. She couldn't understand what they were saying but her processor recorded everything and saved it as a file to be viewed later on.
"She's so small right now," the large blue and white mech said quietly with affection in his vocalizer.
"Told you there was nothing to fear," the slender mech answered, smiling at him.
The larger mech smiled at his conjunx endura then looked down at the sparkling in his arm. Their sparkling. "I would do anything to protect you both, Swiftsong, even at the cost of my own spark," he said softly, watching as the optics began to dim as she finished he last drops of low grade energon.
"I pray to Primus that will never happen," Swiftsong said as he handed him the empty cube and held her to his shoulder joint, tapping the middle of her backstruts to help relieve the air bubbles she had trapped in her tank. "You're a Prime, Dion. You have duties that require you to protect not just us but all of Cybertron as well. If anything were to happen to you…" He trailed off but didn't turn to face him as Lotus let out soft popping sounds. "I've heard the council is looking to make you their new Magnus."
"… I told them I wasn't interested in the title or position," he said calmly, watching as his mate turned to face him, blue-green optics wide..
"What? But you've told me that was your dream; why would you say no?"
"Because it would mean more time spent away from you and our Lotus. Song," he crossed the few feet that separated them and reached out to gently stroke the side of his faceplates with thick digits, "you two are worth more than any position the council could give me. I don't want to lose either of you, it would destroy me…"
"Dion…" Slowly he reached up, holding the servo he cycled air quietly before leaning up and kissed him. He smiled at the look of surprise on his broad faceplates and reached up to gently stroke the side of his helm. "Whatever you decide, I will always be there for you. I promise, with all my spark. I love you, Ultra Prime."
The Prime smiled and wrapped his servo around his bonded sparkmate, holding him tightly he kissed him once more and looked down at the now sleeping sparkling between them, systems cycling air softly. She curled against her carrier's chassis, listening to the steady hum of his spark. "I wish the war was over, so Bluestar Lotus can grow up knowing nothing but peace."
"One day it will end, and we'll be together always," Swiftsong said, reaching out to gently trace a cheek ridge with the tip of his digit, smiling as she reached out sleepily and gripped it tightly. "Our little sweetspark…"
'… ca… car-rier… si… si-re…'
Oh Primus did her helm ache something fierce! The first thing that crossed the femme's processor as she entered standby mode was that everything hurt from her struts to her plating. She kept her optics off as she ran a scan over her system and found that she was alright except parts of her protoform had been bruised from a series of heavy dents on her frame, her backstrut was radiating more pain than before, and she felt as though she ran into something hard and said thing then fell atop of her.
'Wait. Something did fall on me,' Psyche thought and brought up the last video feed she had before she fell into stasis. Her processor protested, not wanting to deal with anything but she forced it through and watched as she hit a thick patch of ice and went skidding, somehow managed to continue skidding on her side before hitting a lone structure then having said structure fall and hit her. Oh right, now she remembered. Her logistics were trying to point out something was wrong but she ignored everything and took a moment to take in her surroundings and discovered she didn't like any of it.
For one thing she was in her primary form. She didn't know when it happened but if she crashed badly enough that she was knocked offline, then why did she transform back into her root form? Second, as far as she could tell she wasn't out on the street and didn't feel any ice even remotely nearby, so had she tried driving off, or maybe she transformed and took off before offlining somewhere? If so, why didn't her system record it? Another thing, she didn't feel any heavy dents on her frame indicating she had suffered a crash, which meant someone popped them out.
'Conclusion: someone pulled me somewhere off the main road, and popped out my dents. Either a good bot happened to wander by, or the one who froze the roads decided they wanted me alive than dead. Fan-fragging-tastic.' She allowed her optics to online and waited for the static to clear. She was laying somewhere soft and quiet, but she wasn't certain where. Slowly she forced herself to sit up, backstrut protecting she looked around and saw she was in a small clearing. It explained why the ground was so soft but she couldn't see any sign of her rescuer/attacker. She tried to send out a comm but winced when she opened a channel and received a powerful backlash of static followed by very loud white noise. 'Okay, comms are out.' She tried to give the command to transform but her processor and frame denied the command; her self-repair system was trying to handle the slew of errors that kept darting across her HUD. 'So why didn't I just stay in my vehicle mode?' she scowled to herself. She wanted to bring up the medical lessons she had learned when she had been studying on Cybertron but stopped when her processor made her experience a bad glitch that nearly sent her offline. 'Okay, bad idea. I must have been hit a lot harder than I thought.'
A mech was silently watching her sit in the middle of the clearing, holding her helm in both servos but made no move to let himself be known or assist her. He had been worried when he had approached her, thinking he had nearly offlined her but she had just been knocked out. He then managed to tow her to a clearing thanks to his tank mode and begun repairing what he could and managed to pop out many of the deep dents to try and relieve the pressure. He left her for a few breems to make certain that no other mech was around. He didn't want to fight the Autobots but he especially didn't want to try and explain to Megatron why he had captured the femme but didn't bring her back to their base.
'She is so much like him… I zought, he had survived.' That same bit of data had been running in an endless loop in his processor since the moment he first saw the femme and mistook her for somebot else. Even now he could see a bit of his personality files in her but he wanted to know what happened. He tensed as he watched her get to her peds, looking highly unsteady before straightening but the moment she tried walking she began stumbling and was about to land helm first into a rather thick tree. He moved without warning, wrapping his servos around her waist and using his own mass kept her from hitting the tree.
Psyche stared at the organic material, not wanting to think how much damage her processor would have suffered if she had hit it. Her equilibrium system was trying to readjust but her HUD warned her against any other movement until it was safe. "… thanks," she told her savior and held onto his servos as he helped her stand upright until she do so without falling over. He didn't say anything and he was holding his EM field tightly to himself, but she could tell from the contact alone that it was a mech, he was taller than her and his frame was bulkier, but it was completely unfamiliar. Frowning she looked down and saw that the servos still holding onto her were a dark color. Her night vision couldn't reveal the exact color but she could tell they were not any servos she was familiar with at all. "Decepticon?"
"I'm not here to harm joo, I vant some answers," he said calmly, feeling how tense she had become. She hesitantly nodded and slid his servos from around her and made to step back as she turned but she moved too fast and was pitching to the side. He reached out, intent on keeping her from hitting the ground he nearly missed the fist coming at him, wincing as it struck him in the side of his helm. The femme wasn't that big, but the impact behind her strike was strong and he stumbled backwards. His right optic was badly cracked but it didn't stop him from shifting faceplates to the red tinted mech that everyone referred to as Hothead. "Vhat vas zat for?!" he demanded angrily but the femme didn't so much as flinch.
"You really think I was gonna fall for that? I wasn't sparked yesterday," she hissed as she reached into her subspace and withdrew her hammer, never mind the fact that she was on her side and system errors darted across her display. To be honest, she had wanted to hit him in the faceplates but her frame shifted as she was turning and she wasn't expecting him to try and catch her when she swung. Even now she was bracing herself on one servo as she waited impatiently for her system to recalibrate itself.
"I vas trying to help! At least apologize when joo hit me, Star Siren!"
"I'm not my carrier!" she screamed at him, startling the both of them. Her servo holding her hammer shook but she refused to let it drop. "I'm not him… he, he joined the Well of the AllSpark vorns ago…" she whispered, feeling her optics dim as she struggled not to breakdown into sobs. "He's gone…" It was eerily quiet for several long kliks, turning almost into a full breem when she heard him move towards her. She didn't bother to look up, even as the strength in her servo gave and she dropped the hammer to the ground. She had thought she was over the demise of her carrier, but being with Bumblebee and trying to help him care for the developing sparkling had hit her harder than she had intended. She heard the Decepticon step before her and braced herself for her ultimate destruction, or worse yet, to be taken back to the leader of the Decepticons and no doubt tortured for information. A servo reached out, cupping her chin and gently lifted her faceplates up. She blinked as she watched the faceplates shift to that of the mech she had struck earlier, his optic still badly cracked. He said nothing but he released her chin and grabbed her by the shoulders, pulling her up until she was sitting in front of him but never made a move to disarm her or hurt her. After another tense breem he spoke up and what he said shocked her.
"Joo look so much like him, joo must be his sparkling he mentioned," he said lowly, as though he was talking to himself. "I had zought, he had been rescued. Zere was never anozer sign of him and I had hoped, prayed zat he had made it."
"… you knew Swiftsong?" she asked and he looked at her in confusion. "That, that was his true designation. What do you mean about his sparkling? How did you know he had been rescued? Who are you?"
The mech slowly shuttered his optics but he quietly sat back, looking at her for several kliks before looking away. "I only knew him as Star Siren, wiz a vocalizer zat charmed many bots, including mienself. Forgive me, I am Blitzwing, solider for Lord Megatron."
"Blitzwing… wait, are you the one everyone calls glitched?"
Faceplates whirled as Hothead appeared and looked ready to blow her up on the spot. "Vho calls me a glitch?! I'll turn zem into scrap metal!" The faceplates whirled before coming back to the pale blue faceplates as he calmly sat back down. "Forgive me, I have some issues I am currently handling," he admitted before there was another whirl of gears as the black and red faceplates of Random appeared, cackling loudly. "But I have every issue!"
"… okay…" Psyche blinked, unsure how to process this strange mech she waited until the blue one seemed to reign in some sort of control. "Look, just tell me how you know my carrier and do it before somebot comes looking for us; I rather not play shoot now and ask a hundred questions later."
"Of course. But tell me, vhat do joo know of your carrier." The femme frowned but sighed and admitted that she knew her carrier was a spy who went disguised as an entertainer to gain intel, that he enjoyed it and wanted to see the war end, it was also where she meet her sire. The triple-changer said nothing but unknowingly his servo closed into a fist that he was resisting the pound into the ground. "I only knew your carrier as Star Siren, and he was a talented singer. He charmed many mechs and femmes, but he never pursued anything beyond a casual friendship. It didn't not stop me from trying…"
The silver and dark blue mech looked at him with large optics, the sound of the patrons of the establishment sounded as though it was megamiles away even though they were in the back where his dressing quarters were located. "… what did you say?"
The beige and purple solider crossed the short distance between them, taking his servos in his larger ones and pulled him close, never looking away. "Come vith me. I can give joo anyzing joo vant, treat joo like ze treasure joo are," he said even as he pressed the held servos to his chassis, letting him feel the way his spark pulsed beneath the protective plating. "Be mein sparkmate, mein conjunx endura."
"Blitz…" the singer whispered, unsure what to say and dropped his gaze to where his silver plated servo was pressed into the larger mech's chassis, feeling the emblem's edges just beneath the sensitive pads of his digits. "You're a Decepticon… and I, I cannot become one of you."
"Joo don't have to! I don't expect joo to fight, Siren! I vill protect joo and make sure joo are no vhere close to any Autobots, I vill not even tell Lord Megatron about joo!" he interrupted, knowing that if the warlord ever found out about the entertainer, he would not be pleased and would no doubt order him to get rid of him. Such distractions were pointless in times of war. One of his large servos reached out and gently tilted the silver faceplates up, a digit brushing over the bottom of his lip plate. "Please, say yes."
The feminine mech said nothing, watching as he lowered his faceplates as though he was going to kiss him but he pulled back and slowly turned away, feeling his lip components brush along a cheek ridge instead. "I'm sorry, Blitzwing… I can't accept it."
He was shocked and pulled back, even as he squeezed his servos harder to his chassis. "But why?" Siren couldn't look at him, repeating that he was sorry.
"Even zough he refused, I did not stop trying. I knew zere was another strange mech vying for his attention, I believe he was a neutral but I never bozered to learn his designation. Zen one cycle he told everyone it vould be his last time performing. I tried to find out vhy but he vas gone and I never heard from him again."
Psyche was silent for several long kliks, remembering how she had asked her carrier about the time her sire had asked him to be his sparkmate, how happy he had been to accept it. But was the Decepticon's proposal before or after that of her sire's? Was it really because of their fractions? "The way you called out to me, that wasn't the last time you saw him." She watched him tense and looked away but she wasn't having any of that as she angrily hit the ground with a fist, causing him to look at her startled. "I demand a straight answer and so far you're the only one willing to tell me anything. Why didn't you know Swiftsong joined the Well of the AllSpark? How did you know I was his sparkling?"
"… I… vas the reason he vas injured." Blitzwing explained that the Decepticons had learned of an Autobot spy who had been able to gain sensitive intel that was used against them and managed to capture him, but no matter what was done no one was able to get any information from him despite being beaten and tortured for cycles on end and no amount of hacking was able to break through his firewalls. The warlord was so enraged he ordered his soldiers to deal with the spy however they wanted; Blitzwing was ordered to make certain that any remains were to be delivered to the High Council itself. The triple-changer never expected the spy to be the slender mech he had asked to be his sparkmate himself. Their brief reunion had not been pleasant, and he had let his anger take over, torturing him under the guise of getting information but none of it was useful. The solider shook himself from the memory clip, seeing that the femme was still looking at him, waiting for an answer.
"I found out Siren—Swiftsong, had a sparkling vaiting for him back on Cybertron but Lord Megatron wanted the spy destroyed. I vas given the task of ending his life cycle."
"… how did Swiftsong end up being rescued by the Autobots? All I heard was he was found on an escape pod with his distress signal on," she said coolly, resisting the urge to hit him. When she was old enough she actually hacked her carrier's medical files and found he had been beaten and even raped so badly he had fallen into emergency stasis so there was no way he could have sent out the distress signal much less pilot the escape pod. She had tried bringing it up without revealing what she had done but no one could answer her questions.
"I have done many things in my lifecycle, but no matter how hard I tried, I could not eliminate him," he admitted lowly. "I let him escape and hoped ze Autobots would find him in time." He didn't mention that his plan had almost failed when one of the soldiers had seen the escape pod being launched out and alerted Megatron who immediately sent everyone out, including him. But with the distress signal broadcasting on all channels an Autobot scouting vessel had been homing in on the signal as well. It had been a fierce fight on both sides with heavy causalities—himself included. Nothing else was said but he slowly stood, getting to his peds and looked down at the femme. "I did care for him, I vould have given him anything he vanted, I vould have protected him from all harm."
"But you refused to leave the 'Cons. And, he refused to leave the 'Bots…" she whispered, looking away. She shook her helm, refusing to dwell on that and leaned forward, slowly pushing himself up onto her peds. She managed to stand but once more she felt herself pitch forward and once more she was caught. This time she let him and waited for her gyro-stabilizers to settle before straightening and looking up at him. "You, tried to save him, even if you're part of the reason he did offline. Don't think I'll be forgiving you anytime soon."
"I cannot ask joo to forgive me, not for taking joor carrier avay. But I vill not fight joo since joo are not an Autobot, but I vill not go against Lord Megatron or stop being a Decepticon."
"Fine by me. I'm not an Autobot and I'm not going to become a Decepticon, but I will protect Bumblebee AND his sparkling with my own spark," she pointed out even as she jabbed her digit into his chassis, poking at the purple insignia. "The next time any of your pals come after him, I will not hesitate to turn them into scrap metal. Are we clear?"
Icy blinked, letting he words processor in his helm and with no warning, let out a cackling laugh that was more suited to Random. The femme looked at him in confusion but the laugher didn't last long as he ended in a quiet chuckle. "Joo remind me so much of him. I zink, he vould be proud of joo." His servo came up, stroking the side of her faceplates, looking down at her before slowly pulling back. Without another word he transformed and left, leaving her alone. Psyche watched him go, silently wondered if this had really happened when she heard a sharp burst of static from her comm link.
"Psyche here."
"Where in the Pitt have you been?! I've been trying to reach you for over a joor!" Ratchet shouted angrily, resisting the urge to race down the empty streets.
Normally Psyche would have snapped back that he wasn't her creator and she could take care of herself but she wasn't sure what to say. "I…" She trailed off and found herself slowly sinking down until she was sitting on the ground once more, suddenly feeling very vulnerable and lost, like a youngling who had just lost a beloved creator.
"… Psyche?"
"… I don't know, Ratchet… I don't know anymore."
Blue optics widen when he heard the lost tone in her tone and knew something was wrong. "Lotus, what's wrong? What happened?" he asked, listening carefully to her response.
"… I found out what happened, to my carrier… but I'm wishing I hadn't…" She didn't hear whatever he was saying, didn't even try to transform, so many emotions were running rampage in her processor. She wanted to hit something as hard as she could, she wanted to scream and curse everyone she knew from the High Council to Megatron to Sentinel and even her sire, but she also wanted to cry for her carrier, to feel the love and security she had associated him with. She sat there in the clearing, not hearing the CMO saying he was on her way. In the distance she could hear tires followed by the familiar sounds of gears transforming, her designation being shouted, didn't even look up as a heavy frame found her and servos reached out and gently shook her shoulders. She looked up, not really looking at Ratchet but slowly, as though waking from a deep recharge, lifted her servos up to grip his arms. She couldn't find the words to tell him what happened but he seemed to know as he stood and carefully pulled her to her peds.
Ratchet worked silently, checking wires and circuity. He had already straightened the dented backstrut and was now working on the delicate circuitry. During his time as a field medic he had seen harden soldiers suffer such injuries and though they rarely made a sound they could not help but shift and fidget even with their sensory network completely numb. The femme lying on the medical berth was completely still, never made a sound and never moved. Running another thorough scan he found he had repaired all the minuscule damage and pulled back. "How are your systems?" he asked.
Psyche ran a scan, finding all the errors gone and everything listed as operational. "Fine. That didn't take very long," she admitted.
"Most of the damage had already been repaired, basic field repairs." Closing the back plating and making sure the panels were secure he helped her carefully sit up. Since he had led her back to the factory the femme had been silent, refusing to have her sensors numbed as he went over her repairs, but now he was worried. She didn't even yell at him when he called her by her original designation. "Lotus, are you alright?"
"…" She was silent as she looked down, optics dim. "I think, I understand why you wanted to leave Cybertron so much…" she said quietly, venting softly as she continued sitting on the medical berth, optics dimming even more. "I wish this stupid war never started, all its done is eliminate mechs and femmes. At this rate, even Torkulon won't be safe."
Ratchet wasn't normally optimistic, he had seen too many things that he couldn't forget even if he wiped his processor clean. He called it as he saw it, but Psyche—Lotus, suffered as much as he did, maybe more. Venting softly he reached out, grabbed her by the shoulders and waited until she looked up at him before speaking up.
"Lotus, I call things as I see it, you know that better than anyone, and even when there were no more Decepticon sightings I knew they were out there, waiting for us to drop our guard. I thought I was going to live out my usefulness on a maintenance crew but looking at this team of unruly mechs, I know we'll finally see an end to this war once and for all." She could only look at him, unsure but as her optics began to brighten he leaned forward and wrapped his servos around her tightly, pulling her against his chassis. "I lost everyone I cared about, and I'm sure as the Pitt not going to lose you."
"Ratch…" Part of her wanted to deny what he said, to tell him this war would never end, that they were all doomed from the start but what if he was right? What if, they were able to win this war, and all mechs and femmes would be united as one? Servos came up and wrapped around him, starting loosely before tightening around him as tightly as she could. Memories of being held by her creators came forward and she held on as though her very spark depended on it.
The following morning, Prowl waited nervously, his stabilizer twitching. He was waiting for bumblebee to wake up so he could apologize properly. The other day and then witnessing the unnatural way Optimus had reacted, it was a great deal of data to process. Once thing was certain, no one wanted to tell the minibot what had happened until they could find out themselves. Venting quietly he gripped his stabilizers tightly and tried to slip into a meditative state when he heard voices out in the hall. He slowly stood and moved to his door, listening.
"Are you certain you don't require more time recharging?"
"Yeah… I don't want spent all solar cycle in the berth, either."
'Bumblebee.' He was awake, but he was with Starscream. The Cyber Ninja pulled back from his recently replaced door, torn from going out to greet them or staying in his room and hiding away. He seemed to hold in his vents as he heard them talking and froze when he realized the voices were right outside his door.
"I don't think you should speak with him," the seeker said with obvious distain in his tone.
"Starscream…" Bumblebee moaned lowly as he vented air through his system. "I just want to talk to him, he's still my friend."
"He was suppose to be watching over you. What kind of friend doesn't keep his word of protecting an expected carrier?" he growled lowly. If he had his way no one would allowed near the minibot and the still developing sparkling.
"Because I still trust him." Bee could see the seeker wasn't happy but waited until he was looking at him before speaking up. "I know this is hard on you, but we're not like the Decepticons. Prowl is not only my teammate but he's still my friend and I want to talk to him."
The former SIC growled once more, not liking it but calmed as he reached for him, pulling him into what he had heard the organics call a hug. Personally he would rather take him back to his room and press their sparks together, to make sure the both of them were always protected, but he knew the scout would hate him from denying him his friends. He vented once more and looked down at him. "I'll be waiting in the common room."
"Thanks," he beamed, hugging the seeker but motioning him down he pressed his lips against his in a gentle kiss. He didn't know what compelled him to do that but the both of them had a slight flush on their faceplates. The seeker said nothing as he slowly released him but not before brushing his servo over the warm chassis, feeling the energy from the sparkling as he turned and made his way to the common area. Bee watched him go and once he was alone in the hall he looked at the door. He had been told Prowl's door had been damaged when everyone had been trying to find him. Needless to say, the door had been completely removed and for now it was a nothing more than a thin piece of metal but hopefully the Cyber Ninja would be getting a proper door soon. He hesitated as he lifted a servo up to knock on it but dropped it and used his comm link instead. "Prowl? It's me, Bumblebee… can, can I talk to you?" There wasn't an answer but just before he could get discouraged the door opened and he saw the slender mech standing there. "Um, morning, Prowl."
"Good morning, Bumblebee," he said with a nod and stepped aside. "Please, come in." The door closed behind him once he entered and the ninja moved deeper into the room. He was about to sit down on the floor when he realized the scout was looking around. It took him a klik to realize if he sat on the floor like he was used to, he would have difficulty standing due to his expanding waistline. "I apologize, I don't have a place for you to sit."
"Huh? No it's okay! I just wanted to talk," he quickly said, giving him a weak smile before he looked away. "Prowl… about yesterday, I…" He stopped, looking anywhere except at him. "I… I… wanted to ask… yesterday…"
"Bumblebee, may I say something?" the ninja asked, catching the scout off-guard but he nodded for him to continue. "Yesterday, I had offered to help you with your "situation", and I know I said some hurtful things to you. That was never my intention, I never should have said those things to you, I should have just respected your wishes but-" He stopped himself from saying that he never should have touched him in such a manner but he didn't want him to get the wrong idea. He wasn't sure what else to say but he was surprised when he saw yellow tipped servos reaching out to take a hold of his own servo, squeezing it tightly.
"No Prowl, I should have just admitted something was wrong and returned to the base. I, it was embarrassing and I know I shouldn't have asked you to help me but I… I…" he paused, looking confused as he looked away for a brief moment before looking up at him. "I… trust you."
"Excuse me?"
"I mean it, I trust you. I knew you would help me if I asked, and your words did hurt but it was my fault for putting you in my situation. I'm sorry, Prowl. I promise I'll never ask for your help again."
"Bumblebee…" Saying nothing he pulled his servo free from his but before he could get discouraged he pulled Bumblebee close so their frames were touching and wrapped his servos around him in a hug. He felt him start but he made sure to keep the hug light so if he wanted to pull away, he could and not feel trapped. "If you ever need help with anything, and I mean anything, you are more than welcome to ask me," he said calmly. Perhaps not the best choice of words but should a similar situation ever arise (oh Primus please no!) he would find any way of helping him.
"R-Really?"
"I promise. You're my teammate but most importantly you are my friend, and I will always be there for you and your sparkling." He heard a quiet sniff and looking down couldn't see the minibot's faceplates as he was hiding them in the smooth plating of his chassis but he felt servos come up to wrap around him, hugging him back. Prowl smiled and continued to hug him, reaching up and gently rubbed his backstrut, feeling the heavy sigh and watched as his frame relaxed.
"Thanks, Prowl." The two of them stayed like them for several kliks before Bumblebee slowly pulled away, once more thanking the ninja and convincing him to join him in the common room. Prowl agreed and saw that Psyche was sitting on the couch, going over a data pad in her servo. Starscream was sitting in the chair made of tires, wing tips twitching but as soon as he saw the scout he immediately went over, wrapping his servo around his shoulders and pretty much led him to the couch. Sitting him next to them femme he deemed as safe he withdrew a cube of energon from his subspace and pushed it into his servos.
"You both need this," he said firmly. He wanted to make sure the carrier drank it all but watched the ninja like a cyberhawk as he made his way to where the extra cubes were stored.
Bumblebee giggled softly but slowly drank the cube, feeling the feel of it running through his system. He managed to drink all of it, sighing in relief and placed the empty cube on the table. Looking around he noticed the factory wasn't buzzing with the usual activity of his teammates and the seekers so he turned to the femme next to him. "Where's everybot else?"
"My seekers are doing patrols for your cityscape. Most of them anyway," he said and sat on the carrier's other side, watching with narrowed optics as the ninja sat in the seat he had recently vacated. "I believe your team is doing something similar."
"Translation: Bulkhead is at the island with Thundercracker, Sunstorm, Ramjet, and Skywarp at the island, finishing up preparations; the jettwins are with Slipstream and Sari patrolling New Detroit; and Skyfire is botsitting Sentinel," Psyche said as she scrolled through the data on her pad.
"Oh. Where's Ratchet, and Optimus?"
Everyone froze, unsure what to say. Last night when Psyche had finished speaking with Bumblebee, she had installed the code to help keep his logic circuits in control should he feel overcharged. When she was done she sent a private comm link to everyone to not mention to him what happened to Optimus. She had wanted to block the memory feed of what the Prime had done to him, but without his permission she held back. Slowly she lowered the datapad but didn't look at him. "He's with Sentinel on his ship. Ratchet went to make sure the big glitch wasn't hurt and will be back later."
"Oh. Okay." Reaching for the remote he began to surf through the channels on the TV before setting on a show he enjoyed watching. Psyche smiled at the minibot and went back to reading her data pad, enjoying the quiet of the factory for the time being.
Time seemed to fly by and as it did Bumblebee's sparkling grew as well. In more than one way. He was quickly gaining weight to which Ratchet and Psyche explained was his system creating the protoform from the excess metal he had been consuming. The mechs were also careful not to mention anything about his sudden weight as he began to feel incredible self-conscious about it and nearly started a fight with one of the clones when they mentioned his growing girth.
"Just admit it, I'm fat!" he snapped angrily.
"I-I didn't say that!" Ramjet lied, wincing at the glare the carrier was giving him. He had said it, but he couldn't stop himself before the words were out and he didn't think he would have heard him.
"Yes you did! Just because I'm getting fatter doesn't mean I can't hear anything!"
"B-Bee, he didn't mean anything by it," Skywarp said quietly, flinching when the angry carrier glared at him. "Ramjet just…" He wasn't going to admit the white seeker always lied but that would be admitting that he did call him fat. He looked up nervously as some mech to help him out.
"Bumblebee, have you thought of any designations for the sparkling?" Skyfire asked calmly.
Bee blinked, optics shuddering before he looked down at his expanding waistline. "Not really… I mean, I guess I wanna wait until she's here to name her?"
"There's nothing wrong with that," he smiled. He noted the looks of relief on the faceplates of the others and just smiled. He was more than aware that many carriers experienced mood swings during stages of carrying and knew several ways to calm them down. "Have you been dreaming about her more?"
"Some. I defiantly know she's gonna be a seeker," he smiled, resting one servo on his chassis and the other on his slightly swollen midsection. "Whenever I'm outside, I can feel her spark getting excited and it makes me excited, too."
"Not even in her protoform and she's feeling the sky hunger," Slipstream stated where she was lounging on the tire chair, listening to the conversation with only one audio. She had opted to stay along with her two brothers as the others were finishing up construction on Dinobot Island as well as patrolling the city. It had been strangely quiet as of late and she didn't not like it one bit.
"Sky hunger?"
"Its what seekers experience when they hadn't been flying enough," the large shuttle explained. "If a seeker were to be grounded for long periods of time, they would begin to feel a desire to be out in the skies once more. Sometimes, being outside is just enough to quell the desire but it's not the same. Think of it as though you were unable to drive about your cityscape."
"I think I get it…" Never mind he wouldn't be able to do that until after the sparkling was out of him but he could go without transforming for a bit longer. They all looked up when they heard a ping in the communication center even as Slipstream went over to answer it.
"What?" she asked boredly.
"Gee, someone woke up on the wrong side of the berth this morning," Bulkhead grumbled from his end of the line.
"What do you want, bolts for processor?"
"Just calling to let Bee know we're done here on the island, so he can start moving his stuff in today if he wants."
"Its done?" Bumblebee couldn't help but feel excited and nervous at the same time. Excited because he wanted to see what his new home would look like, but nervous because he would be basically living by himself. 'Do, Do I really have to move?'
The seekers could tell the carrier was uncomfortable and telling the green Autobot they would call him back close the comm link. Slipstream, in an epic rare mood, quietly knelt before him. "What's wrong?"
The scout blinked, looking at the seekers sitting around him and vented softly. "I, don't want to be there alone," he admitted quietly. He learned he couldn't lie to them, they seemed to know his moods better than he did and expressed more than once that they just wanted to help him. "I, really like it here with everyone but over there… I'm not gonna have all of this."
"Bumblebee…" Skywarp quietly sat next to him and slowly wrapped his arm around his shoulders, hugging him to his side. "We want to protect the both of you, and this way, you can enjoy as much sky as you want without any Decepticons around."
"I-I know, but…" He could feel soft sobs started to build, already feeling the crushing loneliness weighing down on him. He wordlessly leaned into the frame at his side even as the femme seeker reached out, rubbing his arm gently. Ramjet said nothing but they all wanted to make sure he was happy as well as safe. Skyfire watched them although he said nothing, thinking that despite the short amount of time he had been here he knew things were going to change; he could see the impact the minibot had on the bots here but he hated to think what the Decepticons had planned. It had been too quiet as of late and what's more, he realized that as of late Starscream had been going off by himself for long periods of time. He had tried following him once but the seeker was built for speed and he lost him quickly. When he returned he waited but the seeker never mentioned having seen him. He kept it to himself, not wanting to cause any unnecessary friction among themselves.
It was later, much later, once Bumblebee had calmed the seekers helped him in packing his things and load them into the cargo bay of the shuttle, Needless to say, Bumblebee had been unsure about it but Skyfire merely said he did not mind and had even subspaced as much as his mass as he could. He also offered to take him to the island as well. Slipstream with a gentleness her brothers had never seen, encouraged him to and promised she would be flying with them. The minibot felt like crying and embraced the femme tightly. For once, the seeker didn't curse or threaten or strike him, she just hugged him back but promised the other two a world of pain if they said anything.
"This is, really weird," the minibot said as he sat into the shuttle's interior. He had never been in another bot before and it was—well, it was weird!
"You are not the first to feel uncomfortable about being transported in such a way," Skyfire reassured him as he flew to the island, Slipstream taking the lead. "My original program was to lead research teams to distant words and even delivery."
"Really? Is that how you meet Psyche?"
"As a matter of fact, it was. I was rarely on Cybertron as it were, I spent nearly all of my cycles leading research teams to different planets and locations. It was simple and enjoyable, but war was coming and I refused to participate in it. Unfortunately, I was not given a choice… if I would not be a soldier, I would act as their transportation." He had not enjoyed that, the soldiers were crude and abrasive, and they did not bother to hold back on their comments of him being a Decepticon sympathizer. "I was ordered to bring in troops for reinforcement on a neutral planet and to take any injured back to Cybertron for treatment, but the comm broadcast was false. I tried to tell the soldiers that something was wrong but they ordered me to take them regardless. When we arrived I refused to land, I saw no sign of Autobot soldiers or anything indicating that they had even been there."
"What are you doing?! The planet is right there, are your optic sensors glitched?!"
"I am functioning at full capacity-"
"Then land, you 'Con sympathizer!"
"With due respect, I am locating any Cybertronium signals on the planet's surface," the shuttle said as calmly as possible. He heard the heavy peds of the soldier moved to the front, leaning none too gently on the front console to peer at his scanner.
"… we still gotta land, the comm link said there were casualties," he said gruffly.
"Even so my scans should still be able to pick up energy residue." However, against his better judgement Skyfire began to slowly descend, circling around as he did so. He ignored the sounds of the soldiers in his bay shouting things, making certain to keep his scanners on full alert for any signal whatsoever. The mechs were ready to jump from the cargo bay but only the stir order from their commanding officer barely kept them from forcing the bay door open.
Barely, being the key word.
The officer looked at the scanner then out of the windows but he saw nothing. "Our soldiers are hiding, and doing a slagging good job about it." Venting harshly he turned to join the others mechs but not before throwing another order. "Just land, you're useless on the battlefield anyway."
'Battlefield…' That was right, according to the comm feed the soldiers were undergoing heavy firepower from the Decepticons, and while the planet wasn't exactly small there was no sign of fighting at all, as though the surface had rarely been touched. Once more he ran his scans but he was detecting no spark signal at all. He wasn't even picking up a distress signal. The realization hit him just as he felt his cargo bay doors opening.
"'Bout fragging time!" one of the mechs muttered as the doors began to slowly open. "Now let's go kick some Con aaaaaahhhhh!" He wasn't the only one to cry out in alarm as the large seeker suddenly increased his speed before taking off, leaving the planet as quickly as he could. The cargo doors closed, catching several mechs just before they were lost in the vacant planet.
"What the frag just happened?!"
"Told ya this glitch is a sympathizer!"
"Skyfire! What is your malfunction?!" the commander shouted, trying to get to his peds but something suddenly strike the seeker in the side, hard enough to not only jar him but everyone else. "What the?!"
"It was a trap!" the transformed mech shouted, trying to out maneuver the sudden increase of seekers that seemed to appear out of nowhere. "I'm surrounded by Decepticons, they were waiting for us to land and no doubt ambush us." He bit back the cry of pain as another strike hit him in the side. He may have not been a fighter and rejected to be outfitted with weapons, his thicker than average plating could offer him some form of defense. For now, anyway.
The soldiers didn't know how to react but immediately they began pulling at the safety harnesses, buckling in as others ran to the bay door and hit the button. It refused to open despite the threats thrown at him so they forced it open and began opening firing at the seekers. Unfortunately it also left them open to being attacked themselves. Through it all Skyfire was determined to lose the enemy soldiers and bring the mechs back to Cybertron, focused on trying to outmaneuver the sleeker jets, he failed to realize one of the soldiers had pulled out a plasma grenade and was prepared to toss it when a laser strike hit him just below his servo. A lucky shot but the grenade was dropped and a few kliks later, it exploded and took out all the soldiers.
Errors flashed across his screen, his systems were starting to fail him, he could feel his processor trying to force him into emergency stasis but he held it back. Thankfully with the vacuum of space any fires from the blast was snuffed out but the cold space was seeing into his still functioning system, causing another slew of errors to pop up.
'P-Primus… Ne-Need to… es-cap-p-p-pe…' he thought then cursed when he felt his thruster stall and go out. 'Fragging Pitt!' His cursing grew when he realized the seekers not had him surrounded and one of them had entered his destroyed holding. He kept silent, hoping that the threat would think he was a space ship and not a seeker.
The soldier looked in, peering at the greying frames scattered about. He moved to the front but there was no one sitting at the controls. "All clear, commander."
Skyfire couldn't hear who the commander was, just that he was inside, stepping atop of the deceased mechs. He quickly ran through his system and found that if he directed all of his remaining fuel and even the emergency energon he had stored into his tanks, it would give him a boost to get away from them. Unfortunately his targeting system and scanners were completely fried which meant once he took out, he would be flying blind. It took him a klik to accept it and gave the command. It didn't take long for everything to empty and giving the command once more, activated his thrusters. Over the roar of his engines coming to life he heard the sudden 'squawk' at the commander was jetted out of his holding, and he winced when his larger frame smashed through the jets still surrounding him but they weren't trying to follow him. He let his thrusters run hot, burning through the fuel more rapidly but there was more and more distance between them. Even as the fuel was gone he diverted his energon reserves. His system once more warned him of his damage and this time he allowed himself to fall into emergency stasis. He never realized where he was going, and never realized he was in a part of the galaxy he had never visited, or that he was heading for a strange looking planet. So deep in stasis he never felt the impact as he hit the ground hard, skidding along and badly damaging his wings. All he knew was blessed darkness.
When he awoke from stasis he was confused but took a few kliks to realize that he was online, that there were several cables and wires hooked up to him in his medical ports, and that he was laying on a strange berth with someone close by. For a moment he panicked, thinking the Decepticons had found him but a servo came up and gently stroked his servo, the touch calm and soothing. If this was the enemy, they would not have tried to soothe him like this being was doing.
"It's okay, you're systems had been shut down until your self-repair has finished," the being said. It was femme, that much he could tell but he frowned when he realized the servo touching him was warm metal. Was he on Cybertron? He tried asking but he flinched as he heard a burst of static. The servo slid down and covered his, squeezing it. He wanted to sob in relief as his own digits managed to curl around hers, squeezing at tightly as he could.
"Just rest, you're safe here. I'll make sure of it," she whispered. Her other servo came up, brushing along an uninjured part of his wing before stroking his forehelm. The touch was soothing he couldn't help but lean into it even as he drifted into recharge once more.
"Is that how you meet Psyche?" the yellow mech asked quietly even as he looked around, trying to see if he could see any sign of damage or repair.
"Yes. She was the first bot I saw when I awoke from stasis. Because of her the natives of the planet were able to repair me and made sure my systems were running properly during my time in stasis," he explained. "I learned that I had landed on a neutral planet called Torkulon, and the inhabitants, organic beings called Torkulii, were more than welcoming to me. Psyche was with me the entire time and in her I had gained a friend."
"I'm glad you two got to meet," Bee smiled, leaning his helm back. "Do you think… I could visit Torkulon one day?"
Skyfire smiled as though it couldn't be seen. "I think that is a wonderful idea. The Torkulii would welcome you with open servos." Banking on the air his scanners beeped and his smile grew. "We'll be arriving on Dinobot Island shortly. Bee didn't say anything but he reached up to gently rub his slightly protruding stomach plating.
Starscream was irritated as he flew through the darken skies of the cityscape, trying hard not to dwell on his latest "meeting" with Megatron. So far the Warlord hadn't had him do anything but he kept stating that he would have him getting things he needed and reminding him if he failed to do as he ordered, he would go through with his threats. It was enough for his null rays to warm up but he just barely managed to keep from blasting him right there on the spot. As soon as he was cleared he opened his comm links and received a message from Slipstream that the temporary home had been finished and Bumblebee had moved in.
"Don't think I haven't noticed you taking off with no warning, or being gone for megacycles on end, and I'm gonna find out if I have to follow you. So stop fragging around before you upset Bumblebee!" she snapped in her message.
'Insolent femme. She's been a thorn in my side since the day she was created,' he snarled but banked on the air once the island came to view. He used his scanners to find the cave and flying in low transformed and landed. The cave looked very primitive and didn't look like it would keep anyone out but as he entered his systems picked up the hum of machinery. He paused as his night vision picked out the curled up form of the aggressive Dinobot called Grimlock taking up nearly the entire passageway. His vents were cycling air quietly as he recharged. And it he wanted to go around the massive beast he would have to press himself along the walls. Snarling silently he do so, wincing as the rough texture craped at his sensitive wings and he froze ever now and then when the beast shifted, bringing his sharp denta much too close for his liking but he was passed him and turned—only to swallow another curse. The femme of the trio was also sprawled a short distance away, on her backplates, also deep in recharge snoring, and perched on a small leverage of rock was the flying mech, his helm hidden beneath one of his wings. They were all in deep recharge but it certainly wasn't making it easy for him to move. He wasn't going to pass the femme on the front end, he didn't want to be stabbed by her deadly sharp horns, but as he stepped over her tail she shifted, rolling onto her front and settled with a heavy sigh. Unfortunately as she turned her tail came up and hit the seeker right in the cod piece none to gently.
The seeker turned an interesting shade of red, one servo clamped tightly over his mouth plates and the other grabbing the injured plating. it hurt, so very very much and he was prepared to scream even insult he could think of but he forced himself to move and waited until he was far enough away from the beasts to let all the air from his system. He didn't shout, didn't scream, didn't aim his guns at the beasts and open fire, but he did mumble a slew of obscenities under his vents and looked down. He didn't appear damaged but he did walk a bit unsteadily as he neared the back of the caves.
Along the way he discovered smaller tunnels leading to other places, such as a small communication center as well as a sitting area with a large entertainment screen on the wall along with some furniture to fill him and his trine, another of storage as well and locked crates he assumed held energon and even oil and jet fuel. He was mildly surprised that they were taking in his needs as well but he noted a tunnel that he detected fresh air at the end. An escape tunnel—no, multiple escape tunnels should the need arise.
'So these Autofools can think ahead.' Now he was a bit more impressed and felt the tug at his spark. He moved down a larger tunnel, feeling the tug grow stronger. There was a door to this end and as he pressed his servo to it it lit up and the door opened. He stepped in but froze at the sight. This time he didn't bother to keep his null rays from warming up as the sight before him.
In the "room" was a very spacious berth, one that would easily accommodate his wings with room left over. Laying in the berth was Bumblebee, systems running low, vents cycling air quietly as he recharged. He was covered with a blanket, feeling at ease but he followed a black and gold servo that was draped over him, followed it up the arm to the mech laying behind him, atop the blanket but was much too close to the minibot's frame than he would have liked. Before Starscream could open fire he watched as the helm lifted up and he knew that he was awake. "You-!" he hissed but stopped when the mech pointed to the other figure sleeping in the berth alongside the carrier. The yellow mech was curled up against the chassis of the femme neutral, who had her servos wrapped around him close. She was also deep in recharge, vents cycling air softly but unlike the mech she was beneath the blanket. Her servos had pulled the carrier close, as though protecting him in his sleep. The seeker halted his words but turned to the ninja and immediately hit him with a comm link.
~What the frag are you during in the same berth with Bumblebee?!~
~We were recharging,~ he said simply but slowly, carefully sat up. ~Bumblebee didn't feel comfortable sleeping alone and asked us to stay with him until he drifted to recharge.~
~The femme I understand, but why are you in the berth with him?~
~He was trying to wait for you.~ The guns began powering down but the wings were stiff and hiked high up on his backplates. ~When Bumblebee arrived he was disappointed that you weren't here. He didn't say anything but we could tell.~ He paused when his teammate murmured something and shifted closer to the femme, who in turn tightened her servos around him. ~Where were you?~
~That's none of your business,~ he quickly snapped and made his way to where the mech was sitting, resisting the urge to pull him from the berth. ~get out, before I throw you out.~
Prowl was not a confrontational mech, he didn't allow his emotions to overrule him, but he stubbornly crossed his servos over his chassis and refused to move. ~No.~
Starscream sputtered before narrowing his optics and pointed at eh door. ~Get out!~ He refused to move and he could feel an optic twitching. ~Now!~
~Make me.~ There was no denying how amusing it was to watch the former SIC of the Decepticons turned almost violet in rage, how his entire frame twitched as he tried to keep quiet. But before he could even think of laying back down he winced as he felt something equivalent of a servo striking him in the back of his helm sharply. He saw the seeker pitch which only meant he felt the same thing.
~If you two want to act like sparklings take it outside,~ came a very irritated feminine tone. Both mechs turned to see watch as one blue-green optic opened, glaring at them in warning. When they tried to argue that they were not acting like sparklings she quirked an optic ridge at them. They immediately fell silent and Prowl stood from the berth. Psyche vented softly and moving slowly and carefully, removed her servos from the minibot. Bumblebee stirred in his recharge, reaching for her but she pressed a soft kiss to the top of his helm and tucked the blanket around him. He settled with a vent of content which allowed her to slip from the berth. Looking at the mechs he jerked her helm to the door and the two had no choice but to follow, looking like two younglings ready to receive a scolding from their creator.
~Listen you two, you don't have to like each other, you don't have to patrol together, but by Primus' will you will get along at least in the presence of Bee!~ she hissed angrily. ~I am not going to make him chose who to side with and if I have to I will even weld the two of you together until you are forced to get along. Are we clear on this matter?~
~Crystal. Ma'am!~ They quickly added when she narrowed her optics. Venting once more she opened the door and waited for Prowl to leave before turning to the seeker.
~Bee was waiting for you, next time don't make him worry.~ With that she closed the link and left, the door closing silently behind her.
Starscream thought the only mech he was (secretly) fear was Megatron, the warlord who was impossibly to destroy. But this femme was so fierce, so unpredictable, he secretly wondered if perhaps she could take him down herself. Shaking his helm from the idea he moved to the berth, slipping beneath the blanket where Psyche had vacated. Almost immediately the carrier pressed into him, seeking the warmth of his frame. Angling his wings behind him he held him close, gently stroking claws along his bright frame. Once more he wanted to tell him what he was doing, why we was away for cycles on end, that he was doing this to protect them, but if he did and Megatron found out, there would be no stopping him.
'I refuse to lose either of you,' he murmured, pulling him even closer. He was too wound up to recharge but it didn't matter as he felt a small yellow tipped servo stroke along the bottom edge of a wing. His wing pressed into the touch and he could tell by the gentle hum of systems starting up that he was awake. "I didn't mean to disturb your recharge," he said lowly.
"So 'kay, was waitin' for 'ou," Bee murmured sleepily, optics opening then onlining. Tilting his helm back he smiled up at him, ready to tell him the good news. "Psyche an' Ratchet checked on our sparkling. She moved to the protoform an' they said she's growin' bigger every solar cycle."
"Really?" Seeing him nod he watched as he took his servo and pressed it to his the protruding plating, he gently pressed down and sure enough he could feel a thick mess down there. What's more, he could feel warmth that hadn't been therefore. But the longer he felt around the strong the tug at his own spark. In the non-existence light of the room he could see a very faint light coming from the bump and he didn't need his night vision to see it. Starscream felt his optics widen and now he was both servos pressed to the mound, gently pushing the carrier to lay on his backplates so he could hover over him. Without realizing his chamber split open and for every pulse of his spark, the faint light did the same. It was as though their sparks were communicating with one another. Smiling he leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to the malleable mesh. "Our sparkling," he whispered, pressing another kiss but he moved upward, placing more kisses as his servos moved to stroke the minibot's sides, feeling him shifting beneath him. He could hear his fans kicking on with a low hum and continued moving up; soon he was faceplates even with the brightly shining spark, the soft blue light shining brightly. He could make out a thin tendril going down which no doubt led to the sparkling's own spark. He moved over so he was straddling the smaller mech, enjoying the dark blush staining his faceplates and the growing hum of his cooling fans. He didn't have to ask him if he was enjoying this but he continued to move slowly as he lowered himself down, being mindful not to rest his entire mass down and moaned as their sparks reached out to one another.
Bee couldn't stop the moan and he didn't bother trying. He had missed this closeness, the pleasure, missed everything about this. The urge to interface wasn't as strong as before but it had been a while since Starscream had touched him and he missed it. He slowly lifted his servos and wrapped them around his neck cables, lifting himself up to pressed their lip plates together. ~It's been too long,~ he moaned to him, arching into his touch as he continued to feel the powerful pulses from his spark.
~I'm sorry I kept you waiting,~ the seeker moaned back, deepening the kiss he gently nudged his stabilizers open and knelt between them, trying very hard not to wince as he still sensitive cod piece rubbed against the heated armor plating. he broke the kiss with a quiet gasp, his vents struggling to keep the air cycling through his system as he slowly pushed himself up onto his servos, their sparks pulling back into their respective casings. "I truly am sorry, for not being there for you," he admitted quietly.
"Starscream…" he wanted to ask if anything was wrong, if he could help, but the last thing he had asked (nagged) him about it nearly led into an explosive argument. The seeker had left and didn't return for nearly a full solar cycle, leaving Bee alone and he hated it. He had honestly thought he had abandoned him and when he returned he promised the seeker he wouldn't ask him anymore as long as he didn't leave him. The seeker said nothing but he did hold him tightly, nearly locking them in his old room. They didn't do anything except letting their sparks mingle. Shifting so he was sitting up on his elbow joints he smiled up at him, optics darkening in rising arousal as he hugged his pelvic armor with his bent stabilizers. "You can, make it up to me," he said softly, feeling just a little bit embarrassed.
The seeker felt the energon rush through his cables and even though he was still sensitive down between his stabilizers, he wasn't going to deny his sultry little carrier what he wanted. "Anything you want, my sweet little Bee," he murmured and leaned down to kiss him once more, licking at his lip plates before darting in for a taste, growling softly as he let out an eager moan. The distinctive sound of plating opening was like music to his audios as he brought incredible pleasure to his sweet carrier.
Starscream used a corner of the berthsheet to clean the two of them up, resisting the urge to use his glossia. Bumblebee was already deep in recharge, a satisfied smile on his lip plates. Covering them with the cleaner part of the sheet he lay down but smiled as the mech turned to face him and snuggled up close to him, wrapping both stabilizers and servos around him, holding him close and tucking his helm under his chin. He didn't hesitate to wrap his own servos around him, holding him just as close but he had a nagging feeling that they were being watched and it send an icy chill up his strut. He didn't like this feeling but why would the Autobots place a hidden camera here?
'They still do not trust me,' he thought bitterly but hearing the gently rumble of the frame pressing into his own, the steady rise and fall of his chassis as he vented air, the pulsing sensations coming from not only the Autobot's spark but that from their developing sparkling, made him relax just long enough for his recharge cycle to start up. It didn't matter if the Autobots still didn't trust them, he never gave them a reason to but as long as Bumblebee trusted him, he would do everything to protect the both of them. They, were all he had life thanks to this horrible war.
~I swear on my spark and on the AllSpark itself, l will do anything to protect you both,~ he vowed as his optics dimmed before closing, soon falling into a deep recharge himself. In the darkness of the room the fragment said to made from the spark of Primus himself pulsed softly before dying down, leaving the two mechs to sleep peacefully.
Author's Notes: This is a day, 2 days late as I really wanted to post this in time for New Year's but it just wasn't happening. So first, good-bye 2017 and welcome 2018! (whistles as she pops firecrackers). Unfortunately I don't celebrate New Year's like I used to when I was younger/little, and due to the major increase of hours at work I got home, ate a late dinner with family, and I was out like around 8-8:30 in the evening. I know, I'm such a party pooper but I really wanted to sleep.
To make up for the lateness I added some glorious smut (depending on where you're reading this) and added an interesting backstory on Skyfire. I kinda wish they would have included him in TF: Animated as I always liked him, a mech who refused to fight regardless of what side he was on unless he was really pushed into it. Oh! I also recently finished watching TF: Prime and TF: Robots in Disguise on Netflix and I loved them both! What I didn't like was that Netflix doesn't have the final season of TF: RID so have to look for it somewhere. And needless to say I have been inspired to write a TF: P story but that won't be coming up until this story is finished.
Oh yeah, one more thing I just wanna mention. If I thought writing how the jettwins speak and Jazz's accent was bad, Blitzwing is the worse! I do not like writing accents or trying to write them as I hear it and had to refer to favorite fanfics and even inline to get an idea of it! It's so freaking annoying and even reading it I had to stop myself from going in to correct it. So if you are having trouble understanding it, I apologize and hope it is still legible.
Alright my fellow readers/writers, I am going to draw this chapter to a close. I hope you enjoyed the latest edition to "Nightmare" and I hope you will continue to stay with me as I continue to update this. Just to let you know, next chapter Starscream will find out what Megatron wants him to retrieve, stuff and certain bots begin to go missing New Detroit, and loyalty is tested in ways the Autobots never saw coming. Least, I'm hoping to cramp that all in the next chapter. See y'all later!