"And when we meet, which I'm sure we will. All that was there will be there still. I'll let it pass, and hold my tongue. And you will think that I've moved on..."
Dido
"I don't know if I care. I'm the jerk; life's not fair. Fighting all the time this is out of line. She loves me not. Do you realize I won't compromise? She loves me not...life's not fair!"
Papa Roach
"I know you'll come back someday. On a bed of nails awake I'm praying that you don't burn out or fade away. All we are is all so far. You're falling back to me, the star that I can't see. I know you're out there, somewhere out there. You're falling out of reach, defying gravity. I know you're out there somewhere out there."
Our Lady Peace
Blaster had played CCR for Bumblebee, "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" for Ironhide, Rammstein for Sideswipe, and was finishing up "Every Breath You Take" for Red Alert when the Dinobots started screaming for the unthinkable.
"NEVER!" The bright red boom box looked over at the howling Dinos. "I'd rather die!" He played "You Spin Me Right 'Round" instead, which caused the Dinobots to dance eagerly, but not with skill. This trend continued with Trailbreaker demanding Nirvana, and Bluestreak wanting Bush, and Jazz requesting NEIL DIAMOND, of all things. Blaster had Jimmy Eat World cranked when the Dinobots again demanded the impossible.
"I SAID NEVER!" This time he received backlash.
"Let 'em hear it!"
"Maybe they'll shut up!"
"Cliffjumper wanted Outkast, so I'm playing that first."
"Blaster!"
"How about Billy Joel? The Shirelles? Isaac Hayes?" There would be a mutiny in five seconds.
"Play it," ordered Prowl from his spot by the energon table.
"You guys don't get it! This is an insult for me! It will forever tarnish my reputation as a music lover!"
"PLAY IT!"
"Fine," he sighed. "Go ahead, Code Red." The hacker had replaced Chip at the computer for a few hours. He laughed more often. This had him shaking with mirth.
Blaster sighed and resigned himself to the orchestral hook stolen from Primus-knows-where. The Dinobots were shrieking in ecstasy. Everyone else was snickering.
"Baby can't you see, I'm calling, a guy like you, should wear a warning..."
Code Red patted his shoulder. "It could be worse. It could be Ashlee or Jessica."
"I wish it WERE!" Blaster looked over to the group by the bonfire who were casting amused insults at him. "Why Britney?"
"Play Mya, Blaster!"
"No! Christina!"
"Chris Issak!"
"U2!"
"Tina Turner!" They were laughing themselves sick.
Nightbird looked at Lyra, puzzled. This noise was enjoyable? Strange. She preferred the lull of the ocean hitting the piers around the dock in the morning. It was one of the few pleasant sounds she'd heard while locked in her prison. Lyra caught her expression and shrugged.
"I don't know this stuff at all; I just try to find something likeable in each one." She looked over at the forlorn Blaster. "Hey, Blaster? What's a good song to hear?"
He sighed. "The Beatles. Try "Taxman." Wait, I thought you knew hip-hop."
"I thought I would expand my paradigms." Code Red nodded. The heavy bass wasn't bad. Nightbird still didn't like it. Lyra walked her to the laboratory to find Perceptor. She found him in microscope mode, inspecting the cerebroshell in absent-minded wonder.
Nightbird banged on the wall, making the scientist jump.
"What! Oh, hello." He transformed quickly and smiled at the two females. "Are you here for another charge, already, Nightbird?" She shook her head.
"The music is getting to her."
From far off they could hear "Northern Girl." Dylan and Cash together mourned lost love like two drunken war veterans. Perceptor waved the cerebroshell at them.
"Well, you are welcome here. I admit this is not as exciting." True...there had to be a way to entertain at least one of them. Lyra recalled the training facility they passed on their way here.
"You know, Nightbird is an amazing fighter. I bet she could teach you something."
Perceptor shook his head. "I am not a fighter, I am a scientist." The ninja looked at him, pleading. He sighed, and smiled gently, putting his tools away. "Although I suppose it would never hurt to gain more knowledge."
He glided down as though there was no impending disaster in his arrival. Skyfire watched him land, Blaster's music starting an old rap song as accompaniment. "Mama said knock you out!" hollered LL Cool J.
"What is that noise?" the visitor screeched.
"Human music. What are you doing here?" He saw Starscream had a few blaster marks on his chest from Megatron's ion cannon but refrained from commenting.
"I desire many things. A conference with Mishap will have to do." Starscream sat on the sand, in front of a rock, arms crossed in front of him. The night was almost over. Tomorrow Megatron would be slamming anyone in his path against a convenient wall. It was always a good idea to avoid him the week after he lost a battle. Skyfire stared, hearing the cause of most of his angst tell him that although there had been so much bad blood between them, there was still a place for him in the Decepticons, if he were willing. Skyfire was not willing, unless...
"I will go if she does." He would retrieve Lyra, but not aid Starscream in any other way.
"Bring her but leave us alone. She will tell you her decision." Starscream was relieved. This would be easier than he thought if Skyfire put that kind of proviso on his offer.
The bass line pounded against the mountain, reverberating throughout the desert. How can they stand it? Discord! It blared into his audios as unwelcome as a bad screw would be for the Constructicons.
"Starscream?" whispered a voice. The Air Commander hurried to stand. She appeared before him, like a vision only his dreams had seen.
"Mishap? Did Beachcomber paint you?" The bright blue stung his optics, even in this little light. It was the only thing he could say to her short of 'I want to throttle you until you turn putrid.' Without a retort she rushed into his arms and he held her to him, refusing to relinquish. In all of the times he had been near her, this was one of the few Starscream was glad she touched him. It felt nice. She was right about his personality in that it made him unreachable. He was tired of being alone, and for the first time since Skyfire he would make an exception. She finally freed herself from his affection by accidentally hitting a sore spot.
"What happened to you?" she asked.
"Discipline." Whenever they lost, Megatron went trigger-happy. This was normal in the Decepticon ranks for all of the seasoned vets, but one warrior had not anticipated such brutality within the army itself. Starscream had been forced to watch his leader deal with a shocked Nova after the ion cannon had been turned away from him. Mishap did not need to hear about that. "That is unimportant. I am here on business. Usually I have an ulterior motive."
"That's true."
Starscream ignored her. "But today I do not. I have come here to bring you home, not as a Decepticon..." Why was this so hard? "...but as my...friend."
He had never used that word before. The music continued behind them as she thought. "Welcome to the planet. Welcome to existence. Everyone's here, everyone's here. Everybody's watching you now. Everybody waits for you now. What happens next? What happens next?"
Somewhere in her empty, fuzzy life force Lyra wanted to go with him. The internal debate raged as former details predicted the future. She would not have to prove herself, he already accepted her. To spend the rest of her existence invisible, evading Megatron and his desire to pull her to pieces. Flying above him as invisible protection, the Air Commander's most trusted associate. To emerge only when Starscream had no one else to talk to, when a need wasn't being met. Late nights lying on his recharge plate secure in his arms. A life of hiding from robots who were finally beginning to accept her. She'd continue being the shadow, for better or for worse, with the Decepticon who'd saved her life so many times she'd memorized his repair method. Free from being a painful reminder to Skyfire of the past and to Mirage of disappointment. To be shot in the snow and abandoned the moment she disagreed. No. It couldn't be borne, even if it killed her, no matter how bad she wanted to be with him. The space between them had grown insurmountably.
"No," she said, shaking her head. "I am already home." She heard a noise behind her. It must be Skyfire.
"You will throw away power and glory and me for a bunch of nauseating hypocrites who barely hide their contempt for you?" Mishap was not coming, Skyfire would not accompany him without her, and Starscream was again stuck under Megatron and running out of options. So much for another chance. Nova would be more receptive, he supposed, as anger and resentment overtook him. He should have stuck with her and let Mishap die if this was the gratitude she returned. The hideous blue creature did not answer his question, merely shaking her head as her scarred face crumpled.
Lyra's cloudy fuzzy life force didn't dull the sharp jab of misery that seemed to be trying to maim her from the inside. In the expectant air she could barely see him in front of her. Her olfactory senses picked up the smoke from the bonfire upwind of her. The song Blaster played was overwhelming. "What happens next?"
Starscream glared at her, red optics on fire as she slowly backed away from him, refusing to meet his gaze. "Then the dream is dead. We are enemies." He aimed his null ray at Lyra in time to see her disappear.
"I did not want to end it like this, Starscream." Her voice was maddeningly untraceable in the dark, but this time she did not reach out for his hand.
"No," he returned sarcastically. His voice shook as the melted lines around his eyes strained under the pressure. "I am merely supposed to let you go like this, allowing you to hide in the shadows without a fight?" He was not satisfied with her lack of response. To his irritation, the Autobot alarm went off over his curses but the song continued. "Maybe redemption has stories to tell, maybe forgiveness is right where you fell. Where can you run to escape from yourself? Where you gonna go? Where you gonna go? Salvation is here."
The wind blew around him as he made his pronouncement. "You have made a fatal error, traitor! Nobody refuses Starscream the Almighty! I will make you suffer for this!" He transformed and took off before any Autobots arrived. Trembling, Lyra watched him climb the heavens, alone, until he became a speck of light.
"I dare you to move, I dare you to move, I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor, I dare you to move, I dare you to move, like today never happened. Today never happened before." And just as suddenly as it had begun, the music of the night was over. In the dark someone reached for her hand. Only one mech knew how to find her as an invisible being. Mirage. Lyra leaned back on the wind, hitting the sand as she dragged her brother down with her. He sat up next to her, trying not to laugh in delight. Although he didn't want to admit it, there were times when he wondered who she really associated herself with. Relief flooded his whole being after he'd witnessed her turning Starscream away.
"You got him out of your system, I see." This innocuous comment cracked her up. Although he did not know the significance of what he said Mirage snickered. He'd missed this casual mirth he had with her. The easygoing sweetness war had stolen from both of them had taken only five million years to get back. "We're going to Cybertron and you'll never see him again."
"That's fine with me," she lied. Her face wasn't visible, so she could get away with that.
The alarm had caused a fleet of cars to zoom by them. Lyra was tempted to flag them down and explain he was gone, but that would entail getting up. When was the last time she really had time to sit outside and look at the stars with her brother? Mirage radioed Optimus Prime and informed him Starscream was gone. Skyfire asked Mirage where Lyra was.
"Lyra's here, with me." Oasis no longer. Mirage squeezed her hand as she finally allowed herself to relax. She was here with her brother. That sounded good.
THE END