He was being followed.
Starscream walked faster through the streets of Iacon. He felt the air shift and warp behind him as two heavyset frames walked after him.
It could be his paranoia. But it could also be a pursuer.
Starscream grit his dentae and walked even faster. He just had to make it back to the Academy and to Skyfire, and then everything would be okay. He kept his wings tucked low and pointed downwards so as to not draw attention to them.
He walked under a streetlight and for a single luminous moment, a ray of light shone over his wings and made them shine. Two pairs of blue optics stared at him from the crowd of bots and in that moment a cold sense of dread settled in his tank.
They weren't just after him. They were after his wings.
He walked faster and so did his pursuers. He turned a corner and so did they. Starscream skidded around the street and broke into a run. He could fly away to safety, he could, but flying wasn't allowed here and he couldn't afford to have another run-in with the Enforcers—not again. He couldn't allow that to happen ever again for the rest of his function.
"Oh, Seeker!" a voice laughed. It wasn't a happy laugh, but was instead a malicious one, the kind of laugh a mech makes whenever they're about to make a cruel joke that will only make themself laugh.
He looked up longingly into the sky as he ran. Hot acid rain fell from the sky and made his vision blur and static out. He could do it, just spread his oh-so-hated wings the grounders loathed so much and he could take off into Iacon's starry sky—
He was slammed against the wall. The bright glow of the streetlight shone behind the backs of two grounders that stood in front of him. All Starscream could see of them were their bright blue optics and their distinctive wheels on their frames.
"What's your problem?!" Starscream snapped.
"We don't have a problem with you," the grounder said. He leaned in so close that his breath brushed across Starscream's audial. "But the Council does."
Starscream froze. "The Council? What, but, why?!"
"Why not?" The grounder gritted out. He slammed Starscream into the wall and kicked the Seeker to the ground as the acid began to fall harder. The other grounder came from behind and grabbed one of his wings tightly in his servos. They dragged Starscream out into the road and into the acid rain.
"You know, so many Seekers have attacked Vos, do you know that?" said one of the grounders. He knelt down and held Starscream's faceplate in his servos.
"That was so long ago, though!" Starscream sputtered. "During all of the old w-wars! Vos hasn't had any problems with Iacon for vorns—"
"Lies. All lies," the grounder hissed. The second grounder came up behind Starscream and put each of his servos over each of his wings.
A cold chill shot through his frame as he felt the servos on his wings tighten. Whoever it was who had their hold on him had very, very, very sharp digits.
The first grounder leaned in close and pressed his forehelm to Starscream's.
"Sentinel sends his regards," he whispered.
Then the pain began.
It was sharp and swift and all-consuming. The grounder behind him dug his sharp servos into Starscream's wings and cut deeply into their delicate sensornet. Starscream wailed and tried to kick his way free, but that only made the two grounders hold him down even tighter.
The street had been packed with bots moments ago, and now it was empty—all except for two grounders and one screaming Seeker. He was alone, completely alone there in the acid in the middle of nowhere in Iacon. The golden spires of the Academy rose up dizzyingly high over his helm, so close and yet so far.
"Stop, stop stop stop!" Starscream shrieked as his attackers dug into his wings. Hot pain flares across his sensors and the acid fell down from the sky and dripped into the new cuts in his wings. His vision blurred and staticked out as all of his senses were consumed by the knife-sharp pain that stabbed into his wings over and over again. He fell forward and saw something blue shine on the ground below.
It was his own energon.
"Oh," Starscream moaned numbly. The sight of spilt energon made his tanks lurch. He wished he'd never have to see it ever again. "Oh, t-that's mine—"
"Shut up!" one of the grounders said as he dug his digits in tighter.
The pain flared white-hot and sharp, another rivulet of energon dripped down from another cut, another cut was sliced into his wings again, and then another again and again and Starscream screamed—
He was dropped to the ground. He fell into a puddle of acid and shrieked as it splashed up into the new cuts made into his wings. Long rivulets of energon snaked their way down the planes of his wings and dripped into the acid-filled streets below. The two grounders loomed over him in the middle of the street and watched him silently. The first one just stared at him, but the other grounder—the one with Starscream's blood all over his sharp servos—just smiled.
Starscream wasted no time.
He clambered up the wall of a steep building and ignored the way the hot acid made the cuts in his wing sting. Enforcers drove around the streets below and shone searchlights out into the air and across the walls. Starscream flinched and held perfectly still as the sweep of a searchlight shone across the wall he clung onto.
He hoisted himself onto the roof and fell with a clang onto the hard surface. His energon mixed with the acid rain and sluiced down onto the ground in a puddle of bright blue and yellow around his knelt frame.
"I can do this," he mumbled blearily. He had no idea if he was talking to himself, to the Enforcers, or even to Primus. The only thing he still knew of was the pain, the hot stinging pain and nothing else.
"It's nothing," Starscream sobbed to himself. "The p-pain is nothing, I can e-endure it, I've endured so much worse, so why can't I h-handle this?"
If he told himself that enough times, then maybe one day he would believe it.
Two shadows blocked out the light again.
"Why are you still following me?!" Starscream shouted as he whirled around and pointed a shaky servo at his two attackers. They climbed up and hoisted themselves onto the acid-covered roof as their fields fizzled with malicious glee.
"Why are you still in Iacon?" one of the grounders sneered back.
Hot shame flooded Starscream's field. He should be able to fight them off, but he had completely and utterly failed—and now, he was alone, surrounded, drenched in acid.
"I don't, I don't—" Starscream sputtered.
A dark shape blotted out the golden glow of the Academy and a shadow fell over the roof.
A heavy frame slammed into one of his attacker's and sent the mech through the air. Starscream stumbled back to the roof's edge as far as he could go as a new and enormous mech rose to his full height in front of him. The newcomer swung his fist out and sent the other one of Starscream's attackers to the ground. The two grounders shakily rose to their pedes and looked up at the massive black silhouette of the large mech who had beaten them.
The attackers glanced at each other and then climbed down the roof and down the side of the building. They hit the street in a run and transformed before they then drove off into the acid-filled night. Starscream's vents breathed heavily as he watched his two attackers peel off into the darkness at full speed.
He looked up at the large silhouette of the mech before him and his spark froze in fear. It couldn't be one of those insane rebels he'd heard about in the news, right? He dreaded the Enforcers, but he also couldn't help but dread these new and insane "Decepticons."
The mech walked into the light and—
"Oh, Skyfire!" Starscream shrieked as he threw himself at the shuttle. Skyfire caught him and held the shaky Seeker as more acid poured down over their frames.
"Starscream… what is this?"
The hot acid poured over Starscream's frame and made his vision static until everything looked blurry and smeared.
"Who did this to you? Who were they?" Skyfire pleaded with him.
Starscream offlined his optics and tried to pretend this wasn't happening. He wanted nothing more than to fly home to Vos, except he couldn't do that because he'd been exiled from his own home and he couldn't fly anymore thanks to the cuts in his wings. He had nothing, absolutely nothing—except Skyfire.
"Aren't you going to make fun of me?" Starscream said softly as the acid pittered and pattered around them.
"What?!" Skyfire gasped. He recoiled as if he had been the one who had been struck. "Never, Star! Never! Who did this?"
"I… I don't…"
"Who?!"
"I don't know!" Starscream shouted. He lifted his helm up into the light and Skyfire froze. The shuttle slowly and carefully reached forward and wiped coolant off of Starscream's faceplate.
"Do… do you want to talk about it?" he asked softly.
Starscream bit his lips and clenched his fists as he ignored the hot sting of pain in his wings. It'd be so easy to just throw himself at the shuttle and pour his spark out—but he just couldn't do that. Maybe it was the way Skyfire looked at him or the sense of shame in the Seeker's spark, but for whatever reason he just couldn't tell Skyfire just what had happened.
"Oh, Primus, they… they carved words into your wings!" Skyfire gasped as horror bloomed in his field. He twisted Starscream around and made a pained keened noise at the sight of all of the cuts and blood on Starscream's wings.
"What… what does it say?" Starscream said softly.
Skyfire grimaced and remained silent.
Starscream narrowed his optics and glared up at the shuttle. "What, you're not going to tell me?!"
"I don't… I don't want you to get anymore upset—"
"I'm not upset! I've been dealing with this discrimination for years now, okay? I can handle it, I can—"
Skyfire pulled Starscream close and held the bloodied Seeker against his chestplates. Starscream began to shake harder and began to pound his fists against Skyfire's massive plating. Skyfire didn't even feel it.
"I can handle it, I can, I can—"
"No," Skyfire said as he pulled back to look Starscream in the optics. "You can't. Let's just clean up the blood and go back to my dorm."
Starscream sniffled. "Your dorm?"
"Of course! I'm staying by your side!" Skyfire laughed. He tried to put a smile on his faceplate, but even Starscream could tell it was fake.
Here was this shuttle, the only one who stepped forward to defend him, the only one kind enough to wipe the blood away—and Starscream couldn't even bring himself to look his rescuer in the optics. He couldn't allow himself to grow vulnerable, to grow weak, because opening himself up meant he was just opening himself up to failure.
Starscream stumbled back from Skyfire. "And—and what makes you think you can stop something like this from happening again?" he shouted. He held his wings down low by his sides and tried to cover the bloody cuts in them with his shaky servos.
Skyfire's field gave a massive pulse of grief that sent out a wave of static that completely smothered Starscream's own field. For a single moment all Starscream could see and feel was Skyfire before him.
"Star, I can't…" the shuttle began. More acid poured down and sluiced down his frame, but he had no reaction to it—all of his attention was on Starscream. "I can't stop something like from happening again."
"See?! So then—so then don't promise to be able to stop this!"
Skyfire shook his helm and knelt down until they were optic-level. The searchlight of an Enforcer down on the street below shone into the air. The beam of light shone against the back of Skyfire's helm and silhouetted the shuttle and his massive wings. Starscream stood under Skyfire's massive shadow and for just a split second, the hot pain in his wings faded away.
"Starscream, I won't promise to end these crimes because I know that I can't stop them from happening. But… I canpromise to stay by you and support you when these crimes do happen."
The shuttle's wings blocked the falling acid and shielded Starscream from it. "You...you'll be there for me?"
Skyfire leaned forward and pressed his forehelm to Starscream's.
"Of course! We'll be together forever. We can endure any storm."
Skyfire grabbed his medkit from his subspace—this wasn't the first time he'd patched Starscream up after an attack—and sat behind Starscream as he began to patch the Seeker's wings. He tried to hide the way his servos shook and tried to wipe away the coolant that prickled in his optics as he set to work on Starscream's bloodied and cut wings.
The words SENTINEL SENDS HIS REGARDS were scratched deep into them.
"How much of him is left?" Optimus asked. His midsection was patched over and he leaned slightly to one side, but he noticed none of this. All of his attention was centered on the screen before him.
The machines of the medbay beeped and whirred around them, but the only thing Optimus could hear was the quiet beeps of the machine that kept track of Bulkhead. A schematic of Bulkhead's processor spun round and round on the screen.
"About 72%," Ratchet said. "But that number is dwindling."
Optimus leaned over the computer console and stared at the bright blue image of Bulkhead's processor. He clutched the edges of the desk tightly in his servos and the metal creaked from the sheer force of his grip. His entire back tightened and his field grew cold and hard around him.
"I cannot lose him," he said after several moments.
"We won't," Ratchet promised. It sounded weak even to his own audials.
Optimus continued to stare at the spinning image of Bulkhead's processor. "I do not think I could bear to lose another soldier."
"We won't lose him. Bulkhead will live."
Optimus leaned his forehelm against the top of the screen with a clunk. "His frame will live, yes. But his processor? My old friend, I do not think I could bear to stare into the optics of yet another dead mech walking. A mech whose frame lives on, but who is mentally dead inside due to the horrors of war. I would not be able to bring myself to look at him."
"You were able to bring yourself to look at Starscream," Ratchet said softly.
Optimus slowly turned around and looked at him. "What do you mean?"
Ratchet sighed. "What I mean is that before he defected, Starscream was… somewhat physically fine, but was mentally a dead mech walking. He was miserable. But then you brought Starscream out of the cave and into the base with us and he… he came alive again. When you were in that cave with him, you were able to look that dead mech in the optic, slaggit! And you saved him!"
Optimus grimaced. "Perhaps I will be able to get used to Bulkhead's new state. But I do not know if Starscream will."
"He'll be sparkbroken."
"I must admit, I am curious as to whose logs Bulkhead keeps repeating over and over again. Why would the Ancients hide logs amongst the data?"
Ratchet slammed his wrench back onto his table in frustration. "I don't know! It makes no sense at all! And what will we do once he finally loses the last of his processor?! Optimus, how will the loss of Bulkhead affect the team?"
Optimus sighed heavily and leaned against the wall. "Deeply. He will be completely lost within the equations and logs of the Ancients. He will be as dead as…"
"Cliffjumper?" Ratchet finished.
"It seems that Starscream is deeply invested in listening to these logs. I wonder why."
Ratchet frowned. "Starscream isn't telling us something, isn't he?"
Optimus sighed. "Yes, he is obscuring something. I can only hope that he will reveal to us what he knows about the logs in due time."
"'In due time'?! Bulkhead's helm is rotting away, and you're worrying about preserving Starscream's health?"
Optimus frowned and nodded. "Yes. I worry deeply about how Bulkhead's mental death will affect Starscream and what the Seeker's reaction will be. The two of them have been becoming close lately," he sighed.
Ratchet grumbled and dragged his servos down his faceplate. "Yes. Far too close."
"What's wrong with that?" Bumblebee trilled as he and Arcee came into the medbay. Their fields pulsed in grief at the sight of the schematic on the screen.
"Starscream has just acquired a new brother for himself... and he is now on the verge of losing that brother," Optimus said as he looked and into the base. Somewhere, Starscream was hiding in those halls. He wouldn't be in his room—Optimus could tell that it felt too much like a cell to the Seeker—so where would he be?
No. He already knew the answer to that question. His spark pulsed in pity.
"Ratchet, are you sure you can repair him?" Bumblebee beeped.
"I can fix Bulkhead, slag it! I couldn't fix your vocalizer, I probably won't be able to fix Starscream's spark damage, but by Primus—I can fix Bulkhead's processor!"
Bumblebee's vents hitched at the mention of his vocalizer. He held up his servos. "No, no, don't think like that! Processors are complex and strange things, you can try to fix his—but please don't kick yourself if you fail! Wait a second…"
Ratchet's optics widened. He should not have said that. He'd let private patient information slip away from him. "No. No. You heard nothing—!"
"'Spark damage'?" Arcee asked. "So wait, Starscream really does have actual spark damage?!"
"Not the metaphorical kind? As in, real actual damage to his spark chamber?"
"Well, he does definitely have emotional spark damage, but—Gah, you heard nothing! Hep hep, out of my medbay!" Ratchet shouted as he picked up a wrench. Bumblebee and Arcee glanced at each other before they left the medbay.
Ratchet leaned over his desk and sighed deeply as Optimus came up behind him.
"How do we tell Starscream?" Prime asked.
Ratchet glared at the schematic on the computer screen. "Should we tell him?"
Optimus blinked. "Why would we not tell him, old friend?"
Ratchet scoffed and pointed at the screen. "We have a highly unstable Seeker on base who already nearly lost one of his brothers—imagine how he'll react when he finds out he's losing the other one! I'm sure I can cure Bulkhead's condition… I think. He can't be allowed to know what's going on. Not until I find a cure."
Optimus sighed. "I question the wisdom of this. But I do agree that Starscream's reaction to Bulkhead's deterioration will be… negative."
"Where is that blasted Seeker and Bulkhead, anyway? Did those two scuttle off again?"
Optimus frowned and walked off into the base. Bulkhead and Starscream were nowhere to be seen. He strained his audials and heard the sound of a voice echo through the concrete halls.
A light shone from a side room and laughter echoed out of it. Familiar laughter.
He walked up to the doorway and peered inside. Bulkhead sat seated on the floor with Starscream in front of him. He waved his servos around and his optics shone bright blue as he spoke a mile a minute.
"Do you remember, Star?" Bulkhead laughed. "Do you remember the looks on their faceplates when those grounders saw that their top two students were fliers? Do you remember?"
"Hah!" Starscream laughed as he fluttered his wing. "I'll never forget!"
"Starscream," Optimus said.
"Are you sure you don't wanna hear a Wrecker story?" Bulkhead asked. "Wrecker stories are the best stories. I had this one good pal—his name was Wheeljack—and wow, he had quite a few bolts loose, let me tell you! You wanna hear 'bout him?"
Starscream grimaced. "Eh…"
Bulkhead's faceplate fell. "Oh. You just want more Skyfire, is that it?"
"Ah, well…" Starscream wrung his servos together. "...Yes."
Bulkhead nodded and kept the hurt out of his field. "Sure, sure, I get it. Which log is next? Hmmm…"
"Starscream?" Optimus repeated. He stood in the doorway and waved Starscream over.
Starscream whined and took one last look at Bulkhead before he ran up to Prime. A deep sense of concern inundated Optimus's field and he squinted down at Starscream. "I worry for you."
Starscream blinked. "Uhh, don't you always?"
And wasn't that strange? That there was a bot out there, a friend, who did not think or worry about what Starscream could offer them, but who instead worried about him as a person. Somebody who thought of him as something worth worrying over.
He looked back over his shoulder at Bulkhead.
Maybe he even had two friends.
"I believe that you should spend more time with Bulkhead," Optimus asked. Grief pulsed in his field.
"I'm doing so right now!" Starscream scoffed.
"No, I mean…" Optimus let out a deep and heavy sigh. "Spend time with Bulkhead while he is Bulkhead. Not anybody else. He might not always be here."
Starscream frowned. "'He might not always be here?' What is that supposed to mean?"
Optimus opened his intake to respond, but then slowly turned around to look behind him. Ratchet stood out in the hall and stared at Optimus with a stern look on his faceplate. He shook his helm and then walked off back to the medbay.
"Whose logs are he reciting?" Optimus asked.
Starscream's armor locked up. "Um… just… they were made by somebody I knew. Nobody important." Another brother. Somebody so, so, so important.
Optimus sighed yet again and placed a servo on Starscream's shoulder. "Please just appreciate Bulkhead at the moment."
Starscream nodded slowly. "Of course."
Optimus frowned and then walked off. He listened to the Prime's pedesteps vanish into the distance before he ran back over to Bulkhead. Bulkhead stared off into space and his jaw shook slightly as he muttered the logs over and over again.
"I am ready to hear Skyfire's next words!" Starscream said as he clapped his servos.
"Subspace… log… my end is near…" Bulkhead mumbled.
Starscream frowned. "Ugh, don't tune out on me again!"
"And I worry that my end will bring about yours…"
Starscream froze. "Well, that's morbid. Where did that come from?"
Bulkhead jolted and shook his helm. "Gah! What happened?!"
"Um, Prime came and you tuned out," Starscream sighed. Optimus's earlier words rang through his helm and he took a deep vent. "You're still here though, right? Right?" Starscream asked as he looked up at Bulkhead.
Bulkhead smiled and twitched. "O-of course, Star. Of course I'm still here! Why wouldn't I be? Um.. I need to ask you a favor." Bulkhead looked off to the side and wrung his servos together.
Starscream sighed impatiently. "Ugh, yes?"
"Star, be serious for a moment here! Now, y'know how war is… bots protect each other, but when they go offline, they can't really protect each other anymore…"
Starscream blinked. "Uh, I've been fighting in the same war as you for over a thousand years now, Bulkhead."
The Wrecker held his servos out placatingly. "Just stop the sass and listen, okay? Something might happen to me—"
Starscream's armor tightened up.
"—and if something does, then… then I need you to watch out for Miko for me."
Starscream stared. And stared.
And stared.
"Wrecker?"
"Um, yeah?"
"Is there something wrong with your processor—"
Bulkhead froze for a moment.
"—or are you just insane?" Starscream asked.
Bulkhead let out a nervous laugh. "Oh, er, so you don't know about my… processor situation… um, anyway, yes, I really am asking you to keep an optic out for my lil' Wrecker if something happens to me."
Starscream recoiled. "But… why?! Why me? Why not one of the other fleshie-lovers on base, like Bumblebee or Arcee—slag, even Ratchet would make a better choice than me! Are you seriously asking me to become Miko's guardian in the event that you… that you…"
Bulkhead sighed. "Yeah. That's kinda what I'm asking ya."
Starscream sputtered. "But… why?! Is this some prank?"
"No prank. Just the truth. Skyfire downloaded more than just logs into that cylinder. He downloaded a few batches of memories—-and I saw all of 'em."
All of them. The words echoed in Starscream's helm.
All. Of. Them.
"Starscream you were so… you were so different back then! You liked organics and lil' sparklings! Miko is both of those things!"
Starscream grit his dentae. "I do not wish to talk about the past, I want to talk about your harebrained plans for the future! Me? Protecting a human?!"
"Hey, you seem to like Raf just fine!"
"Because he's like a little fleshie Seeker! Miko is like a little fleshie… scraplet!" Starscream whined.
"Woah, she is not!" Bulkhead scoffed. His optics widened and he stared off into space. "Well… now that I kinda think about it…"
Starscream dragged his servos down his faceplate. "Don't ask me to protect anybody. Please. I can barely handle myself."
"You can protect her! I know you can! Besides, you two are a good match. You're crazy, and she's crazy too!"
Starscream moaned. "Oh, a match made in heaven."
"See, I knew you'd warm up to the idea!"
"I am warming up to the idea of fleeing from the base and never returning because you don't seem to understand sarcasm."
Bulkhead sighed. "Please, Star, just… keep an optic out for her, okay? Don't let herself get crushed under some Con's pede. Please?"
Starscream opened his intake to deliver some retort, but the look on Bulkhead's faceplate made him freeze. For several moments the Wrecker and the Seeker just stared at each other.
Bulkhead's optics were so blue.
Just like Skyfire's had been.
And Starscream had never been able to say no to those bright blue optics.
He rolled his red optics and fell back onto the floor with a clang. "Fine…" he moaned.
Bulkhead smiled as his optics began to twitch again. "Thank you. Now for the next Skyfire log. Subspace Log 78: You need to learn to let go sooner or later, Starscream…"
Starscream fell into recharge. His helm was propped up by his servo and his engine hummed quietly as he slept away. Bulkhead stared at the Seeker for a moment before he slowly rose to his pedes and tip-toed out of the side room.
Bulkhead slipped away from Starscream and wandered off into the base. Every strut in his frame told him to run back to Starscream, to hold him tight and tell him every last word of every single log.
But he couldn't do that. He had a log of his own to record.
He crept past the medbay and snuck into the empty main room before he transformed and drove out of the base. A cold blast of dusty desert air hit his frame and he drove deeper into the desert until the Autobot base was a black monolith against the night sky. The faint echoes of the distant highway drifted through the air as he drove up to a high cliff with a view of the road below. Cars and trucks drove down the two long lanes in a glittering procession of yellow and red lights. He transformed and swung his legs over the edge of the cliff as he watched the road down below. If he offlined his optics, he could pretend it was the whir of Iacon's highways he was listening to.
Bulkhead looked at the thousands of stars above. He blinked and the constellations shifted and changed in front of his optics. The stars rearranged themselves and for a split second, he saw the night sky as it appeared on Cybertron. He blinked again and the silhouettes of the soaring spires of Vos flashed across his vision.
"Slag," he swore as he rubbed his optics. Not only was the dead mech's voice ringing around in his helm, but so were his last memories. Skyfire had inserted not only his voice into the data cylinder, but all of his visual memories too—every planet he visited with Starscream, every fantastic sight, every horrible sight, every single smile Starscream made—it was all there in his helm. And soon there'd be nothing else left.
"I wonder which star is Cybertron…" he muttered to himself. It didn't matter. He'd soon forget much of Cybertron even existed. He wouldn't remember his days as a construction worker in Iacon, he'd only remember being a scientist in the Iaconian Academy. He wouldn't remember meeting Optimus for the first time, he'd only remember meeting the wrath of Sentinel Prime. He wouldn't remember any of his Wrecker bros—just Starcream.
He activated his microphone and reset his vocalizer. Slag, Skyfire had made it seem so easy. Skyfire had made many things seem easy... but Bulkhead could tell that he had struggled to keep Star safe in his final days. Being the bot to keep everybody grounded wasn't easy—but somebody had to be that bot. Skyfire knew that well.
Bulkhead reset his vocalizer again and began to speak. "Hey Star, this isn't one of your old buddy's logs, this is one of your new buddy's logs. I—I worry about what you will do when I am no longer here—"
He swore and punched the ground. It was time for his logs and it was time for his words to be recited aloud, not Skyfire's. It was getting harder and harder to tell which words were truly his and which were the shuttle's.
"Anyway, Scree, I worry about ya. You're cold and mean to everybody you don't like, but when you do like somebody… you kinda get too attached. So when your friends fall, you fall with 'em. So when my processor is all gone, don't spill your bolts, 'kay? My end is near. I don't think my processor will last much longer. I can feel it. You've still got Prime to stick by ya and 'Bee, and even Ratch! He doesn't really show his concern for you that much, but he does care. And I worry, y'know? So don't go coo-coo for coco puffs and go running back to Megs cause it's the only thing ya know. Cause Megs knows you, but I've gotten to know you even better, and I know you're not worthless—slag it, you're too good for Buckethead, okay? You gotta wake up n' see that. So don't let my end… make you go crazy, okay? 'Cause Optimus has helped mechs before, and he'll keep on helping you, and I know that his awakening will bring about yours..."
He opened his intake to say more, but then his vision swam and sparked with static. Vos's towers reared up into the sky and stretched far off into the distance. He blinked. He swore he was in a desert on some organic planet somewhere… except no, maybe not. He was a scientist at the Iaconian Academy and he was… yes, he was trying to talk to his friend Starscream. Starscream. Everything else was blurry and confusing, but Starscream was there in the base, sharp and crystal clear. Except for some reason, Star seemed sadder—well, sadder than usual at least. He'd fix that. Shuttles and Seekers had to stick together in such an anti-flyer city.
He reset his vocalizer and spoke to Starscream.
"Oh, Starscream, I worry about what you will do when I am no longer here. My end is near. I can feel it. And I worry that my end will bring about yours… yours… yours… Oh, Starscream."
Skyfire continued to recite the logs deep into the night.
"There's a whole world down there for us to explore," Skyfire said.
Starscream flew up into the deep black night sky and watched a thousand stars shine up far above. He transformed out of his alt-mode and spread his arms and wings out wide as if to embrace the sky. Skyfire flew past the stars above him. His massive silhouette blocked out the bright starlight and cast a deep shadow onto Starscream's frame, but he wasn't scared. Skyfire would never hurt him.
"I'm still upset!" Starscream whined as he transformed back into his alt-mode. He flew up to Skyfire and the two of them flew in and out of the deep cloud layer over and over again.
"We'll find a place to hide the cylinder, I promise!" Skyfire said. He flew below the cloud layer and his massive frame completely vanished into the rolling clouds. That was fine. Starscream knew he'd always be able to find Skyfire again.
"I wish we could just destroy the stupid thing," Starscream grumbled as he flew in lazy circles throuh the sky.
Skyfire reemerged from the cloud layer and flew back up into sight. "It's got the synthetic energon formula on it, Star!"
"Yeah, yeah, but still! It just doesn't seem worth it."
Skyfire dipped back into the cloud and his frame vanished amongst the fog again. "It will all be worth it. We'll come back for the formula when Cybertron settles down, you'll see."
"Maybe one day, Sky. Maybe one day."
He watched Skyfire's frame dip back into the clouds. As he waited for Skyfire to reemerge, he just hovered there and looked out into the stars. Starscream hummed and wondered which constellation Cybertron was in.
A new purple star appeared in the sky and began to shine brighter and brighter. It was the strangest comet Starscream had ever seen. A sense of unease began to work its way through his struts and he flew down and into the cloud layer Skyfire had vanished into.
He sent a ping out across their comms and received—nothing.
Starscream flew out of the cloud and hovered above the vast rolling mountains and valleys below. A stream wound its way through the valley and reflected the bright purple glow of the strange new star in the sky. Skyfire was completely gone. Fear pierced Starscream's spark. Skyfire didn't get lost in the cloud, did he? He didn't know what he'd do if he lost the shuttle. Something terrible, probably.
Skyfire flew out of nowhere and transformed back into his root-mode. Starscream laughed and transformed as he wrapped his arms around the shuttle. Skyfire was just messing with him, right?
Cold fear washed through Skyfire's field. All of the mirth within Starscream evaporated and he looked up at Skyfire.
"Don't panic," Skyfire said. For a split second the two of them just floated suspended in the air. Starscream looked up into Skyfire's optics and he thought he'd see the same usual warm and kind look Skyfire always had on his faceplate—but instead, all Starscream saw was raw panic.
Gravity pulled them down again and they plummeted into the cloud layer. Skyfire transformed around Starscream as something purple ripped through the sky above their helms.
"Sky, what was that?!" Starscream shrieked. He ran up to the windows of Skyfire's cargo bay, but the shutters on them drew shut. The last thing Starscream saw through the window was a sharp violet silhouette sitting amongst the stars. The shutters shut and left Starscream in darkness.
"Nothing," Skyfire said. There was a hitch in his voice.
Starscream growled. "Nothing?! Nothing? I know what's out there, Sky!"
A shockwave ripped through the air and rattled Skyfire's entire frame. Starscream fell to his knees as Skyfire lurched and flew off in another direction.
"Skyfire," Starscream whimpered as a sense of cold dread descended upon his frame. "Are we being chased?"
Skyfire's field shook with grief. "Star—"
Something slammed into Skyfire's side and forced him to revert to his alt-mode. Starscream looked up and saw something dark and violet sharply cut across the stars before blazing towards them. Skyfire's arms closed around the Seeker and his massive wings blocked Starscream's line of sight.
Skyfire hit the ground in a roll with Starscream tucked tightly into his arms. They tumbled down a cliff and down into a thick cluster of trees to a stream below. Something whizzed through the air above their helms and cut across the canopies of the trees. Tree branches fell down and scattered all over Skyfire's frame.
Starscream laid in the running water of the stream and stared up at Skyfire. The shuttle leaned over him with his wings spread out wide to protect Starscream below. A thin line of energon trickled down from Skyfire's neck. Starscream let out a high-pitched keen.
"Oh, Star," Skyfire said as he blinked down at him. "You're okay."
"Are you okay?! They just shot you! Come here, come here—" Starscream shook as he sat up. He gently held Skyfire's bloodied helm in his servos and whimpered at Skyfire's energon as it flowed over his talons. A familiar tight feeling wound itself around his spark. The Council had done this, for who else could it be? They had come in, blasters blazing, and they hurt Sky, they hurt him—
"We've got a whole beautiful world to explore," Skyfire breathed out shakily as he drew Starscream into a hug. Starscream squirmed against his interstellar-grade armor and leaned back to look at Skyfire with wide optics.
"What?! You just got shot out of the sky and you just wanna enthuse about how pretty this b-backwater world is?"
Skykfire nodded and dug his helm into the crook of Starscream's neck. "Yes. I do."
"Wha—why?! ! Don't you wanna panic or something?! I'm panicking!"
"I don't… I don't want our last moments together to be sad."
The air shook and rumbled. Starscream wiped away the energon from Skyfire's neck cabling and whimpered when more trickled out. "First of all, this is not our last moment together! And second of all… Sky, it's already sad."
"I know," Skyfire whispered. "We're going to have to run. I don't know if they'll shoot me again, I'm a bigger target—"
"Stop talking like that! Stop talking like that!" Starscream snarled as he lightly beat his clenched fists against Skyfire's armor. Something landed on the ground not far from them and made the entire forest shake.
"—but if they do shoot me again, and I go down, I want you to remember what I said. What did I say earlier, Starscream?"
"You…" Starscream began. The trees shook and more branches fell from the canopy as something heavy stomped towards the two of them. The ground began to shake and the water of the stream began to ripple and shudder as their enemy stomped closer and closer.
"You're not going to die," Starscream said. Even he could hear the doubt in his own voice. "I'Il protect you, I will! We can fly off into the sky and—"
A blaster bolt shot into a nearby tree and made it explode. "Listen Star, we can't go into the sky, that's where they know we'll go."
"What?!" Starscream shrieked. "So what, we need to hide in the woods like rats?"
"That's all that we are to them, Starscream," Skyfire said as he pulled Starscream to his pedes. "Rats. Nothing more. But we are something more than that—don't let anybody tell you otherwise, okay?"
Skyfire shared one last look at him before a blaster bolt in the stream exploded behind him. A wave of water crashed over their frames and Skyfire yanked Starscream forward through the stream as more blaster bolts slammed into the water behind them.
"Faster, Starscream, faster!" Skyfire shouted.
"I'm trying!" Starscream shouted. His frame was built for navigating the violent currents of Vos's dizzying spires, not for running through thick organic muck and foliage. Another tree exploded behind them as the Council's drones drew closer.
"I can't keep this up much longer," Skyfire wheezed as a bolt nearly shot him in the wing.
"No, no, slag it, hold on!"
The two of them ran through the stream at full speed as the drones fired volleys of blaster bolts into the water behind them. A massive cloud of steam hissed up into the air and completely obscured Starscream's vision. Skyfire's silhouette vanished into a cloud of steam and the last thing Starscream saw were his two blue optics shining in the gloom.
He reached out for Skyfire's servo and fell forward into the open air. A red light shone from over his shoulder and he whirled around to come faceplate-to-faceplate with a Council drone. It stood over him and its red visor shone a beam of red light out into the cloud of mist.
Starscream clenched his talons and felt something hot and vindictive rise up within him. He rose to his pedes and looked right down the barrel of the blaster pointed at his chestplate. He just had to be fast, he just needed to leap forward and slash out with his talons and spill this harlaton's energon and then—
"Starscream!" Skyfire called. His voice echoed through the rolling mist before it vanished.
He rapidly glanced back and forth between the drone and the trees in which he'd heard Skyfire's voice. He could go to Skyfire, or he could rid them both of this threat for once and for all.
Starscream froze. He made a promise to Skyfire. He promised he wouldn't kill anymore. There would be no spilt energon there in that stream—he'd spare the drone, just for Skyfire's sake. For Skyfire. For Skyfire.
He ran out of the cloud of mist and narrowly dodged a blaster bolt that sizzled past his leg. A large waterfall stood before him, but there was no sign of Skyfire. Starscream stared into his own dirtied and frightened reflection in the curtain of falling water. The drone stomped towards him and the image of its sharp violet reflection shone in the water right beside Starscream's.
"No, no, please don't—"
A servo shot out and grabbed ahold of Starscream's wing. He yelped as he was pulled into the waterfall and the last thing he saw before the water overwhelmed his vision was the sight of the drone reaching its spindly claws towards him.
"Oh, Starscream, oh starscream! Just let me hold you. Just… just hold on," Skyfire gasped.
He pulled Starscream up to his pedes and tightly clutched his soaking wet frame to his drenched armor. The two of them held each other behind the waterfall and hid there amongst the roar of the water and the hissing spray.
Skyfire choked back a sob. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry I failed you—"
"No! No! You didn't fail me! Not at all, Sky, not at all. Let's… let's fly, Skyfire. I'm tired of hiding," Starscream moaned. The water from above fell down onto their frames and made the spilt energon on Skyfire's neck sluice down and fall between their pedes.
"There's a storm coming. I'm not good at maneuvering. I can't handle bad weather, Star. I could crash one of these days!"
"No. I won't let you!" He couldn't control who got to keep the synthetic energon formula, then he couldn't control their awful mission gone wrong. Starscream was rapidly losing control of the situation and he hated that. He gripped Skyfire's drenched servo and promised himself he would prevent the drones from getting to the shuttle. He didn't know what he would do without Skyfire.
"Oh, Starscream." Skyfire smiled sadly. "You can't control everything."
"Just… just let me hold you." Skyfire tightly held onto Starscream as the shadows of the drones passed over their frames. "I don't know how much longer I'll be able to hold you."
The drones lurked outside the waterfall and they could both see the drone's silhouettes through the curtain of water.
Starscream's wings fluttered. "Don't talk like that!" he snapped.
"I might have to face them," Skyfire said grimly. He looked at the waterfall and his field briefly flared with fear.
"No," Starscream ground out. "You won't, I'll be there with you!"
"You're too small, Star!"
"I'm not small. I can protect you!" Starscream snapped.
"Oh, Starscream," Skyfire laughed. "You can't protect me from everything."
"I can, and I will!" Starscream said as he flared his wings.
The ground shook and thudded as another drone landed. The shockwave from its impact made Starscream fall over onto the ground. Skyfire's servos shot out and caught him just in time.
He stopped Starscream from falling into the rushing waters below. Starscream just hung there, held up only by Skyfire's servo. He gently pulled Starscream's frame back to him as fear pulsed through his field.
"What? What is it?" Starscream asked.
A violet shape shone behind the curtain of water. The bright red glow of the drone's visor glowed through the waterfall and moved from left to right as it looked for Skyfire and Starscream. The two of them held still and watched the violet shape just stand there outside the waterfall, only feet away from their shaking frames.
The drone turned around, took one last look towards the waterfall—
And then walked away. The ground shook and thud as more drones fell down onto the ground and began to search the forest outside. The sharp clicks and whirls of their Iaconian drifted through the roar of the waterfall and pierced Starscream's audials.
"Go to sleep, Star," Skyfire said.
"I can't, not when they're out there waiting for us."
"They don't know where we are! We just need to lay low and hide—"
"Like rats. We're worthless to them, worthless!"
Skyfire leaned back and looked Starscream in the optic. "You're not worthless. Not to me."
Starscream just stared at him with a slack jaw.
"Go to sleep, Star," Skyfire said as he stared out into the falling water. The violet shapes of the drones outside continued to shine through the waterfall. He watched the blood-red glow of their visors flicker and pulse.
He felt pure exhaustion in his entire frame, from his crest and all the way down to his pedes. But Starscream couldn't allow himself to recharge, he couldn't, he couldn't. Skyfire rubbed his servos in warm circular motions on Starscream's back.
Skyfire rumbled his engine and listened to Starscream's systems as they whirred down into recharge. The Seeker's optics dimmed and his helm fell against Skyfire's chestplate. He looked down and saw that Starscream's bright blue optics were shut.
He smiled and quietly turned on his microphone. "Subspace Log 52… I worry about what you will do when I am no longer here. My end is near. I can feel it. And I worry that my end will bring about yours…"
"Maybe one day the discrimination will end… maybe. We're paving the way forward, Starscream! It may not seem like that at times, but believe me—by just attending the academy, we're making progress!" Bulkhead mumbled. He recited the log while he stared deeply into space in the middle of a corridor.
Starscream leaned against the wall beside him and rested his helm against the concrete wall. He offlined his optics and listened to Bulkhead drone on and on. If he vividly pictured the view from his and Skyfire's dorm, then he could almost pretend he was back on Iacon with the shuttle.
Almost.
"I worry about you, y'know. More than I let on," Bulkhead said. He turned and looked at Starscream with the exact same compassionate look on his faceplate that Skyfire had had whenever he was concerned for him.
Starscream's wing flared in surprise. "More than you let on?" he mumbled. His optics widened and he buried his faceplate in his servos. "Oh, Primus, what is wrong with me? You're not Skyfire, you're Bulkhead—why do I keep forgetting that?!"
Tiny pedesteps shuffled around the corner. Starscream sighed and rolled his optics.
"Do all humans eavesdrop this much?"
Miko came around the corner and crossed her arms. "No! Only I do!"
Starscream sighed and stepped in front of Bulkhead as the Wrecker continued to mutter on. He wasn't sure why, but the sight of Miko made his spark freeze for just a split moment. If Bulkhead saw the human, he could get distracted by her, and if he got distracted then that meant he would no longer recite the logs—and that meant that Starscream would never hear Skyfire's final words. He grit his dentae and glared down at the tiny human. So small, yet so potentially destructive. A hot burst of shame rose up within him. He was scared—of a human, of all things.
Bulkhead looked at him. His frame shook and his field sent out smooth and calm waves—the exact same kind of waves that Skyfire had sent to Starscream whenever he got stressed out. Bulkhead shakily reached out a servo to place on Starscream's shoulder, but Starscream flinched out of the way. Bulkhead's optics widened and he took a step back. Miko's jaw dropped.
Starscream rubbed his servos down his faceplate. "And what is oh-so enthralling about listening to your guardian read out old logs?"
"You don't really care for Bulkhead, you just wanna use him!" Miko shouted.
"Oh, we're fighting about this? I want nothing to do with your attitude!" Starscream scoffed.
"I want nothing to do with your attitude! Drop the shtick and spill the beans—we both know what you're really up to!"
"Ooh, really?" Starscream hummed as he leaned down onto a single knee and looked Miko in the eye.
"You're fooling Bulk into thinking that he's your brother!"
He scoffed and turned away. Bulkhead began to shake harder and began to anxiously wring his servos together as he stared at the two of them."I don't want to deal with this," Starscream said.
Starscream got up and grabbed ahold of the shaky Wrecker's servo as he stomped down the hallway. Miko slammed her foot against the ground and shouted at him.
"You're walkin' away 'cause you know it's true!"
Starscream grit his dentae and walked down the hall even faster with Bulkhead in tow.
Bulkhead stroked his wing as they walked along. "I'll never leave you, never forget that, okay? The Council will try to tear us apart—"
"Get away from Bulk!" Miko shrieked.
"They will try to tear us apart, yes they will—"
"You're just using him! You don't deserve him!"
"So many bots will say that we don't belong, they will try to separate us—"
Starscream arrived at an intersection in the corridor. He froze in the middle of the hall and held his throbbing helm in his servos as Bulkhead's and Miko's voices rang together and echoed around and around in the hall.
"Quiet," Starscream hissed. It was too much noise, too much emotion, too much anger from the human and too much grief from Bulkhead—
Miko ran up to his pede and banged it on with her little fists. "I'm talkin' to you, so don't you walk away! He's my big brother, not yours!"
"I worry that my end will bring about yours…"
"Be quiet!" Starscream grumbled under his breath. His helm began to throb even harder and his spark began to pulse even more and—
"Shut up!" he shouted.
"Together, forever, oh Starscream, oh Starscream…"
"You're pretending to be his brother!" Miko shrieked.
Starscream slammed his fist against the wall and sharply turned around. He dropped to his knees and loomed over Miko below him as he hissed down at her.
"Did it ever occur to you that maybe I'm not pretending?!"
Miko looked up at him with wide eyes. "...What?"
Starscream froze. What had he just said? He shouldn't have said that, no, not at all. He couldn't afford to spill his thoughts out again like that, he couldn't afford to be so weak—
"I—I—you heard nothing."
"No, wait, what? Screamer, what are you talking about?"
Starscream sighed and looked up at Bulkhead, but Bulkhead didn't look back at him. Bulkhead stared into the darkness of the halls and continued to mutter on.
Miko stared at him expectantly. Starscream rolled his optics and his entire frame drooped. The human would never stop pestering him, ever. All he had to do was toy with the fleshy for a little while and then hopefully she would back off and leave him alone. He wished for a moment that Raf was there.
"What do I have to gain by pretending to be his friend?" he snapped.
His bright red optics cast a red glow all over the hall. Miko stepped back and glared up at him.
"What. Do I. Have to gain?" Starscream grit out. They didn't have time for this, especially Bulkhead—
"You… you're getting all buddy-buddy with him so you can stab him in the back!"
Starscream recoiled. "Stab him in the back? Why would I do that?! Why?"
"Because… because you're you!"
"You know nothing about me. Absolutely nothing!"
"I know that you got Skyfire killed!"
Bulkhead stopped muttering and went silent.
Starscream's optics widened. "How...how?"
"You talk in your sleep about him," Miko said quietly.
"Oh, Primus. Listen, you didn't hear anything!"
"But I did hear you—I heard every. Single. Word!" Miko shouted.
"What did I even say?"
"You said that Skyfire came to an end 'cause you failed to save him."
Bulkhead tipped his forehelm forward and pressed it up against the side of Starscream's scarred helm. He began to stroke Starscream's back. "My end will bring about yours, my end will bring about yours—"
"Quiet, you!" Starscream snapped.
"Oh!" Miko snorted. "All you wanted was to listen to his logs day in and day out, and now you want him to shut up?!"
"I want you to shut up!"
"'Cause I'm speaking the truth?"
"Yes?! Okay, yes! You're right! Are you happy, little human? You got the biggest liar around to stop lying to himself and tell the truth! Happy?"
Starscream breathed heavily.
Miko stared at him.
Bulkhead stopped stroking Starscream.
Nobody said anything and the only noise came from the gasps of Starscream's vents.
Starscream bit his lip and began to shake. The overwhelming urge to leap to his pedes and just run suddenly overtook him. But he couldn't move—Miko stared at him with wide and shocked eyes and he found himself unable to look away from the little human.
"...Would… would you go into the blizzard for him?" Miko asked quietly. Her voice was softer than he had ever heard before.
Starscream sighed. "What are you even talking about—?"
"Would you?! If Bulk got caught in a blizzard the same way your buddy did, would you go after him?"
"I worry for you so much. Hopefully these logs will guide you back to reason," Bulkhead whispered as he began to stroke Starscream's back again. "Someone has to. I'll go into the storm to protect you because I know that nobody else will."
Starscream bit his glossa and felt energon well up in his intake. "I…"
"Don't worry for my sake, okay?" Bulkhead said softly as he stroked Starscream's helm.
"Um, is that Bulk speaking or your deady buddy?" Miko asked.
Starscream took a shaky vent. "I...I don't know anymore."
Bulkhead stared at the wall. His optics flickered on and off and he quietly mumbled as he continued to recite the logs.
"Subspace Log number… 14…. Subspace log number….35… 36...37—"
"Stop," Starscream snapped. He whirled around to look at Bulkhead, but the Wrecker continued to ignore him.
"Subspace… log... "
"Shut up! Stop that, okay, stop it!" Starscream shouted.
Bulkhead's helm shot up and he looked Starscream right in the optic. "Subspace Log 98…"
Starscream blinked. He hadn't heard that log before.
"...Star, I just wanna say that I'm so sorry. I am so, so, so sorry…"
"What?" Starscream scoffed. Heavy pedesteps resounded behind him and a warm field fell over his own—but he noticed none of that. The only thing he could focus on in that moment were the strange words coming out of Bulkhead's intake.
"I am sorry… so so so sorry…"
"No, you have nothing to be sorry for, do you understand? Do you?" Starscream said. This was way too much way too fast. He needed to escape, he needed to flee these claustrophobic halls and the surprised human and Bulkhead's grief, and Primus, there was so much grief in the Wrecker's field—
He stomped away. He turned around and briskly walked down the hallway as he tried to desperately ignore the stares he felt on his back.
The Autobots looked up as Starscream stomped into the main room in a daze.
"Oh, Starscreammm…" Bulkhead laughed. The bright glow of his two blue optics shone in the gloom of the hall and grew bright and brighter as Bulkhead stumbled after him.
"No, no, I have had quite enough of you for now!" Starscream shouted at Bulkhead. Bulkhead ignored him and continued to walk towards Starscream with his servos outstretched.
Starscream backed up and away from Bulkhead. His back ran into something hard and solid and he shrieked and turned around, ready to fight off whatever he'd run into.
Optimus stood right in front of him and watched him with wide optics. He grabbed ahold of the Seeker's servo and gently guided him to a corner of the main room.
"What is wrong?"
Starscream shook his helm and sputtered. Bulkhead walked into the main room and scanned it for Starscream.
"Him!" Starscream shrieked as he pointed his talon right at Bulkhead. Optimus frowned and moved to block his view of the Wrecker.
"Is Bulkhead's situation growing to be too stressful? Do you want to talk about it?" Optimus asked.
Starscream refused to make optic contact with the Prime. "No. I really don't."
"I know that he was a dear friend to you—"
"What?" Starscream interrupted. "You talk about Bulkhead as if he's dead or something!"
Optimus shook his helm. "I apologize. I meant to say that I know Skyfire was a dear friend to you. And had I known that those were his logs and that you had such a deep friendship and—"
Starscream froze.
"—brotherhood, I would've—"
"Oh," Starscream scoffed. "You would've what?"
Optimus was silent for a moment. "I would've helped you."
"Helped me with what?"
"Subspace log 47…. Oh, Starscream…" Bulkhead muttered as he stumbled through the room in circles.
"I would've helped you move on from Skyfire's death, Starscream," Optimus said.
"Oh, my dear Star…"
Starscream grit his dentae. "I already have!"
"No," Optimus shook his helm. "You have not."
The rest of the Autobots watched Starscream stare down Optimus with wide optics.
"Starscream," Optimus began to say as he knelt down. "I know that this is difficult—"
"No, we're not doing this! Not here! Not now! This isn't the time for some big emotional chat, okay?"
"And why not?" Optimus said calmly as he continued to stare at Starscream with his blue optics, his blue blue optics, blue like Skyfire's—
"Because… I'm just not ready."
"Nobody is ever ready to face the truth."
"How did you find out about Skyfire?"
Optimus sighed heavily and looked at Starscream. Frustration blared up in Starscream's field and he groaned.
"I mentioned Skyfire aloud in my recharge, didn't I?"
Optimus reached his servo out to put it upon Starscream's shoulder, but Starscream flinched and stepped back. Optimus's servo froze mid-air and a twinge of hurt entered his field.
Starscream's wings drooped. He'd made Optimus feel bad for just a split moment, this bot was just trying to help him, and he'd gone and hurt his feelings, oh Primus.
"No, don't… don't look at me like that!" he scoffed.
"Like what, Starscream?"
"I worry that my end… my end… my end…" Bulkhead rambled on. His voice grew in volume and he stood up and reached his servo out, almost as if he was placing it upon an imaginary shoulder. He stared into the air with a look of pure compassion on his faceplates.
"Like that, Starscream?" Optimus said as he looked back and forth between Bulkhead and Starscream.
Bulkhead was so caught up in the memory he'd lost all awareness of his surroundings. He lovingly looked into the air at whichever imaginary bot he was envisioning in his helm.
"He is reciting the memories of Skyfire, yes?" Optimus said.
Starscream nodded and stared warily at Bulkhead. "Wrecker, what in the slag are you staring at?"
Optimus sighed deeply. "And much of these memories involve you, is that correct?"
Starscream nodded and stepped in front of Bulkhead. He waved his servos around in front of the Wrecker's face, but he continued to lovingly stare into the open air.
"What are you trying to imply, Prime?" Starscream scoffed as he tried to ignore the growing sense of dread in his tanks.
"Starscream…" Optimus began as he stepped up and stood beside the Seeker. The two of them watched Bulkhead stare deeply into space as he gently stroked the invisible shoulder of the mech in the memory he was reliving.
"He's looking at you, Starscream."
"What?" Starscream yelped. "No, there's no way he's pretending to be Skyfire and pretending to comfort me!"
"Subspace log 47… subspace log 47…. Starrscreammmm…" Bulkhead moaned. "Go to sleep, Star," he said.
Starscream's jaw dropped. "No. No. There's no way the logs could be infusing his memory that much, right?"
Optimus opened his intake to respond, but then Ratchet grunted. He looked hard into Optimus's optics and for a moment the two mechs just stared at each other. After several moments Optimus sighed and looked back at Starscream.
"We… are still looking into that."
"But he'll be fine, right?" Starscream said. He wasn't sure why, but the uncertainty in the Prime's voice made his spark pulse in his chestplate.
"Well…"
"Go to sleep, Star," Bulkhead muttered again.
"He's not feeling well," Starscream snapped. "He clearly just needs to go out and… wreck… something… or whatever it is that you grounders do to calm down!"
Ratchet stepped forward. "Going on a mission could possibly jog his memory."
Optimus sighed and looked back and forth between Bulkhead and Starscream. "Yes, perhaps going on a mission and doing a familiar energon run could help him slip out of this trance."
"Yes, please, just make him stop!" Starscream whined.
Arcee scoffed. "I thought you wanted to listen to the logs."
Starscream's wing fluttered. "I do, I just…" he bit his lip and trailed off. He'd spent years wondering what Skyfire didn't say to him, and now he had the perfect opportunity. But there was something strange about the way Bulkhead stared into space with his cold and unfeeling stare that made Starscream's struts lock up. A part of him wanted to just hold Bulkhead close and listen to him speak with Skyfire's voice for hours. If he slipped out of this trance, if he stopped reciting the logs—then Starscream would stop being able to pretend Skyfire was beside him again.
"Should Starscream go on the mission, though? I mean, after what happened last time…" Bumblebee whirred.
But if Bulkhead continued to recite the logs, Starscream would accidentally mistaken him for the dead shuttle more and more and more. His sense of reality was already shattered, he couldn't possibly allow him to mistake dead mechs for living ones.
Optimus nodded. "We cannot allow you to fall prey to a hologram again."
Starscream grimaced. "I won't fall for a hologram again!"
"I saw you reach for his servo," Optimus said softly. All of the Autobots turned and looked at Starscream—even Bulkhead.
"I… I didn't… Who are you talking about?"
"Bulkhead shared with us the images he took of your encounter with the hologram. For a single moment, you thought the hologram to be real and…"
Realization dawned in Starscream's field. "I reached for him," he whispered shakily.
"Hey Star, it's okay to be scared!" Bumblebee beeped.
"Wha—I am not scared!"
"If you don't think you can handle the image of your dead buddy again, then you don't have to go with us."
"Well, I...I…"
"Is that why you wanna go with Bulkhead? Because you feel like he's Skyfire, and by leaving Bulkhead behind you're leaving Skyfire behind again."
"Shut up!" Starscream hissed. "I refuse to listen to these ridiculous allegations! For that alone, I am going to stay here at base, just to prove to you that I am not delusional and that I do not think that Skyfire is Bulkhead—er, Bulkhead is Skyfire. I just… want to avoid that pesky flying rat and her holoforms. That's all. I can't go out there, I can't, not when they're out there waiting for us."
Bulkhead's helm shot up and his optics flared. That final sentence Starscream just said—
"I can't, not when they're out there waiting for us—"
That wasn't the first time Starscream had said that. He'd said that sentence so long ago, back when Bulkhead—or was it Skyfire? He couldn't tell the difference anymore—were hiding behind that waterfall, yes, the waterfall, and it was wet and cold and bloody and Starscream was so scared, his little Seeker was scared, and there Enforcers prowling around outside and Starscream's nightmares were prowling around in his helm and—he'd protected Starscream.
Bulkhead stared right at Starscream. His optic twitched.
He'd protected Starscream.
And now it was time to do so again.
Starscream wanted to leave his side, wanted to stay here in this base away from him, and he could not protect Starscream if he was not by his side, and—
Bulkhead's servo shot out and he grabbed ahold of Starscream's talon. He gently but firmly pulled the Seeker close to him until they were faceplate-to-faceplate. Bulkhead's blue and entranced optics stared into Starscream's frightened red ones.
"Stay. Come with us."
Starscream blinked. "Is… is that Skyfire speaking, or you?"
His grip on the Seeker's talon tightened. Why did Starscream just not understand? The Enforcers—or was it the Decepticons?—were a threat, a dangerous threat, and he needed to be protected, slag it!
"Both," Bulkhead said. He pulled Starscream even closer until their frames were pressed together.
"Um," Starscream whimpered. "Please let me go."
"Come with us," Bulkhead repeated.
Optimus and Bumblebee tried to pull Starscream away from Bulkhead's grip, but the Wrecker's grip on the Seeker only tightened. The metal of Starscream's arm warped slightly under the sheer pressure of Bulkhead's grip.
"Come… with us," he repeated. His optics flickered and twitched.
"Do something, Autobots! Get your Wrecker under control!" Starscream yelped.
Bulkhead dragged Starscream to the groundbridge and fumbled the lever with a shaky servo. He held Starscream to him so closely that Starscream could feel Bulkhead's cold and chilly vents wash over his frame. Bulkhead was hardly venting at all—just like a dead mech.
Optimus grabbed ahold of Bulkhead's shoulders and began to pull him back and the sound of the deep thrum of an engine vibrated through the air. Bulkhead's helm whipped around and he looked at Optimus with cold and bright optics.
Optimus raised his servos and backed off.
"Wha—he's going to kill me!" Starscream yelped.
"No," Optimus began as he watched Bulkhead with wide optics. "He is going to protect you. Separating you two could anger him and somebody could get hurt if he gets angry. It would be best if you came with us on the mission."
"Come with us," Bulkhead said. Starscream wasn't sure, but for a single moment he swore he heard the rich timbor of Skyfire's voice hidden in the syllables of Bulkhead's words.
Ratchet looked between the two of them and sighed deeply. He activated the groundbridge and Starscream felt pure panic leap into his throat.
"No, wait—"
Bulkhead grabbed onto Starscream's arm and dragged him through the bridge.
The air shifted and a cold blast of air washed over their frames. Starscream stumbled out into a river and fell to his knees in the cold water. Bulkhead pulled him back to his pedes and tromped on through the rocky rushing river.
"Oh, you imbecile!" Starscream shrieked as Bulkhead yanked him along through the water.
"They don't know we're were! We just need to lay low and hide," Bulkhead mumbled. Another cold blast of wind came out of the red sky and made the entire forest shake and shudder around them.
The rest of the Autobots emerged from the bridge and watched the two of them stumble through the river.
"Starscream, try to pull him out of his memory!" Optimus shouted.
"Bulkhead, you slagger!" Starscream yelped as he fell to his knees in the river again.
Bulkhead stared into the red sky with wide optics and pointed his servo at a cluster of stars that was beginning to appear in the gloom. "C-Cybertron…"
"For the love of Primus, please see reason—I've had to deal with Megatron's insanity for years now, and I don't want to have to deal with yours! Surely you remember the times we had together, right?" Starscream said as he tried to pry his servo away from Bulkhead's grip.
The air grew colder and the sky grew darker as the sun set. "Yes," Bulkhead said slowly. "Back in the labs of Iacon…"
"What? No, we didn't know each other on Iacon!"
"Back in the skies of Vos…"
"You never… you never visited Vos."
"I did. With you. You showed me your home and you showed me why your family exiled you from it."
Starscream's jaw dropped. "How… how do you… how many of his memories do you have in your helm?"
Bulkhead titled his helm back and offlined his optics. "My end is near."
The rest of the Autobots walked along through the river and watched Bulkhead and Starscream fight up ahead.
"Don't say that!" Starscream whined. "Stop being so creepy and ominous, okay?"
"My end…. Is near. It is near."
Starscream stood up on the tips of his pedes and pulled Bulkhead's faceplate down until they were faceplate-to-faceplate. "No, it's not!"
Bulkhead's optics widened and he stared at something behind Starscream. "Near… something is… near… my end will bring about yours… your end… near…. Something is near…."
Starscream took a step back. "What?"
Bulkhead grabbed ahold of Starscream and threw the Seeker behind him. Starscream slammed into the river and water splashed everywhere as he rolled across the ground and into Optimus's pedes.
"Danger is near!" Bulkhead shouted. He transformed his wrecking ball and swung it back—
—he swung it forward and it collided with Breakdown's hammer just as Breakdown jumped from the woods.
Optimus's battle mask snapped shut over his faceplate. "Autobots, prepare for battle!"
Breakdown and Knock Out waded into the river up ahead. Knock Out activated his electroprod and it glowed white-hot in the gloom as the sky grew darker and darker.
"The Big M has a message for you all!" he laughed as he spread his arms. Breakdown glared at Bulkhead, but Bulkhead didn't glare back. A look of confusion passed over Breakdown's faceplate and Starscream felt his spark freeze in his chestplates. They couldn't be allowed to know about Bulkhead's condition—he was weak and vulnerable and just one wrong move could get the Wrecker killed. A dark sense of irony descended upon Starscream. The memories of his dead brother were going to get his new brother killed.
Optimus helped Starscream to his pedes and out of the cold river. "Optimus," Starscream breathed as the freezing water sluiced down his frame. "They can't know about Bulkhead's state, he's too vulnerable! I'm worried for him!"
Optimus looked at Starscream with wide optics. "So you finally admit to caring for him."
"I… what?"
He pushed Starscream behind him and pointed the blaster of his barrel right at the two Decepticons. "Autobots, call a bridge and get Bulkhead and Starscream to safety."
"I can fight!" Starscream hissed.
Optimus continued to glare at the Decepticons and held his arm out to stop Starscream from moving forward. "If you are lost, then Bulkhead will be lost as well. And if Bulkhead's end comes about… then it could bring about your end, too."
"Ooh, a brotherly spat!" Knock Out laughed. "Autobot domestic drama is the best drama. Anyway, our Lord has a message for you."
"Oh? And what does he have to say?" Arcee snapped.
Lightning crackled and sparked across the electro-prod and lit up the whole river in bright white flashes. "He would like to tell you in person."
A new groundbridge appeared over the water and Megatron stepped through it. The dim red light of the setting sun washed over the sharp curves of his armor as he stomped out of the bridge and into the river. The rocks and the trees all around them shook with each one of his massive pedesteps. His red optics shone like searchlights as he tromped forward and his gaze settled upon Starscream.
"So, the brothers have made their debut once again."
"Megatron, stop this nonsense. Your fight is with me, not with them," Optimus said as he moved to block Starscream.
"On the contrary, Prime. My fight is with mainly Starscream now—you and I have always been foes, that is nothing new—but my second-in-command is now my main true foe. He is the epitome of everything that must be purged from the world. His treachery, his betrayal, his false lies of brotherhood—he is manipulating you, all of you!" Megatron hissed as he continued to stomp forward. "What I do not understand is why he has not killed you all yet. What stills your servo, my second?"
Starscream remained perfectly silent and hid behind Optimus's back. He offliend his optics and prayed to Primus that his shaking frame would go unnoticed.
"I see your reflection, my little traitor. And I see a new bit of red upon your frame… is that…?" Megatron's optics widened and he stared harder at the reflection. "Did you get a new badge?! You dared to brand yourself with the Autobot badge, the symbol of everything wrong with this universe? Do you know what that badge truly represents, my little Star?"
Starscream held his helm in his servos and prayed to Primus that Megatron would just shut up.
"Do you? It represents the lies of brotherhood!" Megatron shrieked as his optics flared violet.
"Subspace log 47… subspace log 47…" Bulkhead mumbled. He stared wide-eyed into the distance and blearily stomped forwards through the river—right towards Megatron. He walked right past Knock Out's electro-prod and Breakdown.
Breakdown leaned over and looked at Knock Out. "What's up with him?"
A smile spread across Knock Out's faceplate. "Ooh, looks as if we've found out where the data went!"
Bulkhead continued to mindlessly walk right towards the warlord. Arcee and Bumblebee darted out in front of him and tried to pull him back—but then Bulkhead swung both of his arms out in a wide arc and sent the two Autobots into the river.
Megatron watched Bulkhead approach him with an air of amusement in his field.
"No, no, Bulkhead, refrain, refrain!" Optimus shouted. He transformed his other arm into a blaster and pointed one at the warlord and another at Knock Out and Breakdown. If he dared to move the blaster away from Knock out and Breakdown, they could attack vulnerable Starscream and Bulkhead. If he pointed his blaster away from Megatorn, the warlord would lunge and Bulkhead would be dead.
"And so we will be together, forever, you and I, exploring new worlds in the stars, my Star…" Bulkhead moaned.
Megatron laughed. "Oh, if only you had a third blaster to point at your true enemy, Prime—the one cowering behind you."
Starscream was completely frozen. He covered his Autobot badge with his servos and looked up with wide optics at everybody as panic welled up in his field.
"And so we will be together—forever—my end will bring about yours—"
"Wrecker, what is it that you are trying to say?" Megatron growled. "Bold of you to assume you could approach me with such disrespect!"
Bulkhead continued to tromp forward. "Starrrscreammmm…"
"Bulkhead! Cease this instant!" Optimus shouted.
Megatron laughed and transformed one of his servos into a blade.
Arcee and Bumblebee rose from the water, but Breakdown and Knock Out stood right over them. Breakdown kept his hammer raised above Arcee's helm and Knock Out pointed his electro-prod directly at Bumblebee's wide optics.
Optimus tensed his frame, but Megatron just laughed.
"You can save your Wrecker, but at the price of your other two soldiers. Or you can save your other two soldiers at the price of your Wrecker! One swing of that hammer, and your two-wheeler's helm will be caved in. One good shock with an electro-prod, and your little scout is little more than a crisp!" Megatron said as he threw his arms wide open, almost as if he was trying to welcome Bulkhead.
"The Council is cruel, but one day someone will throw them down and we will have peace, Starscream, peace, peace, peace—"
Megatron snarled. "I will give you peace if that is what you desire, Wrecker," he said as he raised his blade. It glinted bright red in the dim sunlight.
"Bulkhead, listen to me! Ignore the logs! You are walking towards Megatron, not Starscream! Megatron! Cease your walk forward!"
"Together. Forever. Endless starlight. Do you know how to find Cybertron in the event that I die, Starscream? Do you?"
"Bulkhead, no!" Optimus shouted. He aimed his blaster downward and fired a volley of plasma bolts into the river. A cloud of steam hissed up into the air and filled the air with a thick layer of mist.
All of the Autobots stared breathlessly at the cloud of steam as it rose into the air. All was silent.
"The mist… the mist will stop him, right?" Bumblebee whimpered.
Two red lights shone in the darkness. Megatron waved his sword and made the mist disperse around him. Bulkhead continued to stomp forward.
"Bulkhead, stop!" Arcee screamed.
Bulkhead ignored her. "Together. Forever. The Council is so cruel, oh, look what they did to your wings, Starscream!"
"Stop, Bulk, stop!" Bumblebee whirred in alarm. Knock Out slammed down with his prod and electrocuted Bumblebee. Currents of electricity flashed through the stream and lightning sizzled and hissed in the water.
Starscream watched the lightning jump and hiss across the bubbling water. He slowly turned around and looked at Bulkhead.
"No, Bulkhead!" Starscream shouted.
Bulkhead ignored him and moved even closer to the warlord. Megatron was now within striking distance of the Wrecker. A fanged smile spread across his faceplate, and he raised his sword high—
Starscream took a deep vent.
"Skyfire, stop!"
Bulkhead stopped walking. He turned around and looked at Starscream.
"Stop what?" he said.
Starscream darted out from behind Optimus and ran forward and through the river. Each one of his rapid pedesteps made a new wave splash up into the water and he leaped into the air and slammed right into Bulkhead just as Megatron's sword swung down and into the water.
The Seeker and the Wrecker fell down into the river Starscream's helm hit the bottom of the riverbed and he was completely submerged underneath Bulkhead's frame.
He scrambled to get out from under the Wrecker's heavy frame. Megatron stood upon the surface of the water and began to stomp towards Starscream.
Two large servos hooked themselves under Starscream's arms and pulled him free. He was dragged into the woods and could only squirm helplessly as he was yanked away from Bulkhead. Megatron watched him vanish into the trees with wide optics.
His rescuer dragged him onto the bank—but didn't stop. Starscream was dragged farther and farther and farther away from the river and into the woods until soon the sound of the water was gone and only the sounds of the deep woods remained.
Trees snapped and twigs crunched underneath his frame as he was harshly pulled along the forest floor. "Stop it, stop it, Prime, you've saved me!"
The pair of servos let go and let Starscream fall to the ground.
"Oh, Starscream. Why would you call me a Prime? I'm nothing like Sentinel!" Skyfire said.
Starscream whipped around and stumbled to his pedes. Skyfire stood in the woods before him with a disappointed look on his faceplate. The rays of the sun shone behind Skyfire and cast the shuttle's frame into deep shadow. Starscream stood under the shuttle's shadow and looked up at his hidden faceplate. The only part of him that was visible were his two bright blue optics.
"You're… you're not real!" Starscream sputtered. Water dripped down from his frame and formed a puddle around him. He jumped into the air and tried to leap over a log—
A large servo grabbed ahold of his wing and slammed him back down. "Starscream, Starscream, how can I protect you if I am not with you, hmmm?"
"The only bot I need protection from here is you! Stop pretending to be him!"
Skyfire tilted his helm and hummed. "Well, don't you need protection from him?"
Starscream blinked. "Who's 'him'?"
"I will not be rejected yet again! You fled from me once and this time you will not be so lucky!" Megatron shouted. The entire forest shook and boomed as Megatron ran through the trees at full speed. His two bridge red optics shone from within the woods as he tore down tree after tree.
"Oh, no, no no no no!" Starscream shrieked. He stumbled back to his pedes and broke into a run. Skyfire tried to grab him again, but Starscream lashed out with his talon and swiped the shuttle's servo. Energon dripped down from the slash marks in his servo and he looked up at Starscream with pain in his optics.
Starscream ran and ran. He couldn't turn around, he couldn't bear to see the pain in Skyfire's eyes, he couldn't he couldn't he couldn't—
"Oh, Starscream!" Megatron shouted. His voice echoed through the trees so much that Starscream couldn't figure out where his voice had originated from. "You cannot flee from justice forever!"
Starscream stumbled over a fallen log and frantically looked around for the river. He heard the distant sound of water splashing off in the distance.
"How could you abandon me?" Skyfire's voice cried. "After all that I did for you?"
"Wretch! Give yourself to me at this very moment!" Megatron's voice echoed through the dark trees.
The sound of the river was louder now. He continued to run and run as their voices travelled after him. Any moment now he'd see a flash of red and blue armor, at any moment he'd see Optimus and the others there in the river—
He looked ahead and saw only more trees.
"Oh, Starscream. My end will bring about yours," Skyfire's voice echoed after him. Something blue shimmered in the trees.
"I will bring an end to this brotherhood and all that it stands for!" Megatron's growl travelled across the breeze.
"Subspace Log 47!" a new voice shouted.
Somebody grabbed Starscream. He shrieked and spun around—
—and came faceplate to faceplate with Bulkhead.
The Wrecker stared at him with wide optics. "Star! You alright?!"
"I… uh… you're yourself again?!"
Bulkhead nodded shakily. "Y-yes, for now the logs have left my processor. F-for now. I guess you knocked em' right out of me, hah!"
"Bulkhead, Megatron, and Skyfire, they're all here, and, and—"
"Calm down and follow me!" Bulkhead said as the voices of Skyfire and Megatron echoed around their helms.
"Do you know where the river is?" Starscream whimpered.
Bulkhead bit his lip and his optics flickered. "Um."
"What?! Don't tell me you got lost!"
"I got lost."
"Oh, you little—!"
"Hey, hey," Bulkhead breathed. He gently grabbed ahold of Starscream's shoulders and held the shaky Seeker steady. The two of them stood alone in the midst of the dark forest. Trees towered over them and shook and moaned in the breeze. The distant sound of Megatron's growls and Skyfire's laughter echoed through the dark green leaves.
"We can make it, okay, Star? I know we can. I dunno how we will find the rest of the team, but, er, I'm sure we will. I'm s-sure of it!"
Starscream leaned forward and pressed his forehelm to Bulkhead's. Bulkhead's optics widened and surprise flared in his field, but he leaned into the touch.
"When I called you Skyfire back there… I meant it, Bulkhead."
Bulkhead blinked. "What… I don't understand…"
"Yes, you do. I've made you into a replacement for him!"
"No, no you haven't! Er, well... okay, you totally have."
Starscream whined.
Bulkhead tilted his faceplate up so he could look the Seeker in the optics. "But hey, that's not an insult, okay? That's fine. I'm repeating the last words of your old buddy for Primus' sake, of course you're gonna feel like I'm him! I just…" Bulkhead bit his lip.
"What do we do?" Starscream asked softly.
Megatron roared off in the distance. Skyfire laughed.
"I… I don't know. And that's where Skyfire and I are different—he would know what to do. But I don't know," Bulkhead sighed. Skyfire's cries echoed through the air.
Pedesteps sounded behind them.
"Do you remember when we flew through the spires of Vos together?" a new voice said. It echoed off from deep within the shadowy woods and rang around in Starscream's helm. This was not the quiet timbre of Skyfire's voice, the warm laugh of Bulkhead's, or even the guttural growl of Megatron's—this was the voice of a different mech.
Another dead mech.
"Do you remember, do you? Do you? Do you?" a second voice laughed off to his right. Starscream whirled around to see who was speaking, but saw nothing except for endless trees that stretched off into the dark distance.
Starscream clutched onto Bulkhead's arm so tightly that his talons left faint scratches in the Wrecker's armor. "Do you hear that?!" Starscream yelped. "Do you hear the voices? Do you? Tell me, tell me I'm not going sane—"
"Oh, you are already insane, my dear Star," Skyfire's voice laughed. "But we can fix that, can't we?"
Starscream's optics darted around as he frantically looked for the voice's sources. Bulkhead grabbed ahold of his helm and turned his faceplate so that he could look the Seeker in the optics. He gently pulled Starscream close until Starscream could feel each one of Bulkhead's shaky vents wash across his frame.
"Starscream," Bulkhead began to say.
The three new voices spoke all at once and from all directions, until soon all they could hear was a cacophony of the cries of bots who had died thousands of years ago.
"Star—" Bulkhead grit out as his grip on Starscream's faceplate tightened.
"You let us die once, so don't let us die again," Skyfire said.
"—Starscream, we need to—" Bulkhead tried to finish.
Bulkhead suddenly transformed his arm into a blaster and pointed it right past Starscream's helm and into the woods. Starscream turned around just in time to watch a sizzling hot blue blaster bolt pass right through the frame of Skyfire. Skyfire's entire frame shuddered and flickered as the bolt passed right through him. Two more bots walked into sight. Starscream felt his spark freeze.
"...Brothers?" he whispered.
Thundercracker and Skywarp stared back at him.
Bulkhead grabbed ahold of his helm and turned Starscream around until they were optic-to-optic again.
"Starscream, we need to run."
He could feel them behind him. He could feel the way the edges of his trinemate's EM fields brushed against his and he could feel the pure grief in them. It would be so easy to just turn around, to just turn around and to see the faceplates of the two mechs he'd wanted to see again for so many years now.
If he turned around to look at them, he wasn't sure if he'd be strong enough to look away again.
"Do not look," Bulkhead said. "Do. Not. Look."
He didn't give Starscream a choice. He tightly grabbed ahold of Starscream's arm and broke into a run through the trees and practically dragged him through the woods. Entire trees fell flat behind Bulkhead as he ran along. Starscream struggled to keep up with the Wrecker's massive hurried pedesteps. He turned around and briefly caught a glimpse of his trinemates and Skyfire watching him from the trees. Skyfire had a look of pure grief on his faceplate, Skywarp had a grimace, and Thundercracker—
Thundercracker smiled.
Hello, I just wanted to clear up the timeline really quickly. The entire story so far has taken place between E20 "Partners" and has now moved into E21 "T.M.I." I will be following the timeline of the show more from now on and will rewrite the events of the entire series all the way through to Predacons Rising. I'll still make Starscream and the gang go on adventures of their own that take place between the episodes, though. Thanks for reading and thank you so much for your kind words, I deeply appreciate every comment!
