Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers.

Author's notes: I still don't know how long this story will be... Anyway, thanks so much for all your wonderful reviews, you've made me a very happy author :)

The Awakening

'Why were we with the Autobots?!' Starscream's spark was still pulsing very fast, he was scared out of his wits.

'I don't know. Thundercracker and Skywarp must have brought us there.' Hellscream answered.

They stared down from a cliff.

'What are we gonna do now? We can't go back to Nemesis.' Starscream was on the verge of tears.

'No. We can't. But I know who can.' Hellscream took control and jumped off the cliff. He worked their thrusters, slowing down their speed before they hit the ground. He began to walk back toward the Autobot headquarters.

'Wait! What are you doing?!'

'I'm going to get some paint for us.'

'Paint? Paint?! How the hell is paint gonna help us?!'

'Trust me, it will.'

Cautiously they stepped inside the med bay again. Ratchet was still lying on the floor, unmoving, and there was no other Autobots around. Hellscream moved across the room to the medic's drawer. Hellscream opened a few drawers, then went to the main storage. The door wasn't even locked.

Hellscream snorted as the door hissed open. 'They really have crappy security systems...' Hellscream stepped in and looked around himself, a smile beginning to form to his lips. 'Bingo...'

There were alot of different paints, from black to yellow. Hellscream picked up the yellow paint.

'This should be enough...'

'I still don't understand your plan.'

'Patience. You'll get it soon enough.' Hellscream walked out the med bay and took off.

'Now, let's find a hiding for us, dearest.'

XXX

'Well, what do you think? A masterpiece?' Starscream glared at their new paintjob. 'I get it, you painted us yellow so that no Decepticon will recognize us. Clever. There's just one little thing... We don't have a Decepticon insignia anywhere. What ever happened to my insignias?'

'I don't know but does it matter? We can always say that we haven't earned our insignia yet. Now we need to think of a fitting name for a yellow Seeker.'

'I think I know one. Sunstar. In the Academy I knew a yellow Seeker called Sunstar, he never earned his insignia. We could act as if we were him.'

'Good thinking, honey. What about our cover story? We should be able to explain why we're here and not on Cybertron.'

'We could say that Shockwave sent us to get energon.'

'Wouldn't they check that?'

'Megatron or Soundwave would, but we are not trying to fool them, right? Now, if I could only remember the monitoring shifts...'

'All you need to remember is when Soundwave is in shift, so we won't rush in when he's looking at the monitors.'

'I don't know... I don't even know what date it is today, my inner clock systems are damaged or something.'

Hellscream rubbed their chin. 'What about the underwater entrances?'

'That's it! Now why didn't I think of that? There's no surveillance cameras there. All we need is the code, and that I have carved in my processor. The times when our takeover plans went wrong, I really needed those entrances to get in. No one raised the docking tower for me...'

'Yes, I remember. But now the paint is useless.'

'No it's not. If we bump into someone, we have a disguise and a cover story to back us up.'

Hellscream sneered. 'Excellent. Let's go, it's getting dark.'

'Right. We have a long way ahead of us...'

XXX

Thundercracker smiled in afterglow as Skywarp carried him in the air.

"Wanna land, hun?" Thundercracker shrugged. "Land if you want..."

Skywarp smiled down on him. "The Autobots can't see us like this, dear. If we land, you'll have to get off." Thundercracker puckered up his lips.

"Alright, you tyrant." Skywarp laughed.

They landed near the med bay. Skywarp put the blue jet down and they walked in.

Thundercracker kept staring at his mate, happy that they were finally back together. Skywarp stopped dead in his tracks.

"What is it, 'Warp?" Thundercracker's gaze followed the direction Skywarp was looking at.

"Dear, Primus!" Thundercracker let out and ran to Ratchet, who was lying on the floor.

"Ratchet! What happened here?" He asked and shook the medic. Ratchet slowly opened his optics. "S...Star...Scream..." He rasped. He had a gaping hole where his stomach should have been.

"Starscream did this to you? Where is he now?"

The medic moaned in pain and coughed up energon. The Seekers smelled the fried circuits and melted wires.

"Leave... Bef... Before others... Come back..." Ratchet managed to whisper. Skywarp winced. "He's right! If we are still here when the Autobots come back, they will think we did this!"

"No! I won't leave you, Ratchet! You were so nice to us..." Thundercracker had tears in his optics.

"No... You can't... Help... Anymore... Too much... Damage... Done... I am going... To offline soon..."

Skywarp grabbed the blue jet's wing. "We have to leave now, Thunder'. You heard him, we can't help. Come on, hurry up." As Ratchet's optics went offline once more and his systems stopped whirring, Thundercracker let go of him. Skywarp dragged the blue Seeker after him.

"Into the air, TC! Now!" They took off and flew far away from the Autobot headquarters.

"We're on the run again, TC. And this time we have no place to go. Not to mention that there's an unstable Starscream's on the loose. What do you think, why he attacked Ratchet?"

Thundercracker sobbed. "He was my friend..." Skywarp glanced at his mate. Thundercracker needed rest. Skywarp searched with his sharp optics for a safe place to hide.

"See that mountain? Let's land over there and rest a while." The black and purple Seeker said. Thundercracker nodded.

They landed on the mountaintop. Skywarp found a crevace on the mountainside a little lower. "Come. We can hide in there." Thundercracker obediently followed the black and purple Seeker into the small cavern and sat down.

"What are we gonna do 'Warp? We can't go back to Nemesis, we can't go to the Autobots', we can't go anywhere! We're doomed..."

Skywarp pulled the desperate Seeker closer to himself. "Nonsense. We're not doomed, I know a place where we can go." Thundercracker looked up at his mate.

"Where?" Skywarp smiled. "We can go to Cybertron. Shockwave won't report to Megatron, he owes me a favor."

Thundercracker peered at his mate. "For what?" Skywarp shrugged. "That information is between me and the guardian of Cybertron."

"Oh, come on! Would I tell anyone?" Thundercracker pouted. Skywarp laughed at his face.

"Don't you think I've forgotten about your little gossip column. You would write it all down and send it to everyone in Nemesis. The last time I told you someone else's secrets you did just that. Remember? Motormaster almost ran me down. He would've if I couldn't teleport..."

"Awww, please 'Warp! How could I write my gossip column when I can't even go back to Nemesis? I have all my note pads in our quarters..." Skywarp gave a kiss to the pouting jet.

"I know, honey. I know. Alright. Remember that one time, when we brought that high grade energon to Shockwave?" Thundercracker nodded.

"Well, after you left, Shockwave approached me. He asked for a favor."

"What favor?"

"Aren't we curious?" Skywarp smiled. "Shockwave wanted me to bring a present to Soundwave."

"To monotone? Why on Cybertron?" Skywarp sneered. "You just think about that..." Thundercracker grabbed Skywarp's wings and shook him.

"Tell me, tell me! Or else I go crazy!" Skywarp laughed.

"Alright, alright! Shockwave has a crush on our telepath."

"Whaaat?! On Soundwave?? On the boring monotone?? He's not as good-looking as I!"

Skywarp laughed. "Listen, dear, not everyone find Seekers appealing. Besides, you know what Shockwave is like; 'this is logical, that is illogical.' That's the story of his life. He even chooses his mate by that logic-rule, I'm sure of it. So, he's looking for a mate who's smart."

"Are you saying that I'm dumb?!"

"No, dear. I'm just saying that Soundwave is smarter. He would be the perfect mate for Shockwave."

Thundercracker sneered. "Yeah, no kidding. They would be the most boring couple in the universe. I mean, a mech who doesn't get Seeker-beauty?! Come on, he must be out of his processors."

Skywarp rubbed his chin. "Maybe it's because he only has one optic. Maybe he can't see that much. I mean, if he could, he would definitely have a crush on a Seeker. There's no fighting our beauty, we beat everyone."

Thundercracker smiled. "Yeah. Just think about it; even Megatron wants Seekers. He fell for our Screamer big time and I've heard that he's had more Seekers in his lifetime that there's ever been in the War Academy. We are so beautiful..."

"Not to mention easy..." Thundercracker snickered at his mate's comment.

Skywarp pulled the blue jet onto his lap and they fell silent.

"'Warp?" Thundercracker broke the silence after a while.

"Yes, honey?"

"What now?"

Skywarp sighed contently. "Now, we go to Cybertron and find a place to live. Shockwave won't tell anyone about us."

Thundercracker shifted on Skywarp's lap. "What about Starscream?" Skywarp rubbed his chin.

"I don't know. We can't do anything about him. We've already done all that we can. There's only one place in the universe where Starscream would go; Nemesis. And that means that he's either going to attack our leader or crawl back to his favor. I want no part in that."

"There's still alot of things I don't understand. For instance, why would the sparkling Starscream attack Ratchet? It makes no sense."

Skywarp shrugged. "I don't know... Maybe Ratchet repaired him, maybe he was back to normal? You know how Starscream would react if he woke up in the Autobot med bay. He would shoot anyone near him. So he must be back to his normal self."

"Maybe we should just forget about him. He's too much trouble and we couldn't help him, not even if we wanted. We should just go to Cybertron and forget about everyone else. I have grown tired of this war..."

Skywarp smiled.

"All I really want is to be with you. And I'm sure Starscream is completely safe with Megatron. If the old warmonger really loves him, he will take him back. Anyway, that's not our problem anymore. Are you ready to leave everything behind, dear?"

The blue jet nodded. "I'm gonna miss Reflector and my gossip column but... I'm ready."

"Good. Let's go. Shockwave awaits. And once we're on Cybertron, there's no going back."

XXX

Optimus couldn't help it, he was depressed. They had failed miserably and the humans were mad at them. He completely understood their anger; he would be mad too. After all, the Autobots had promised to protect the humans against the Decepticons.

And no one answered when they called for help.

Tomorrow he would have to apologize the humans, appease them. And he had done nothing wrong.

Sometimes he wondered if his brother was right, that the humans were primitive creatures with only basic instincts. Still, he didn't share Megatron's loathing for the humans. If only they could protect themselves...

"Prime!" Hoist ran out from the med bay and towards him. Optimus transformed. "What is it, Hoist?"

"Ratchet is dead! I found him lying on the med bay floor! And the Seekers are all gone!"

"Primus..." Optimus muttered. "They betrayed us. Is there anything you can do for Ratchet?"

"Negative, Prime. He's gone."

Optimus sighed and placed his hand on Hoist's shoulder.

"We'll have to get him to Cybertron tomorrow. As for now, I am here for anyone who wants to talk about it."

"I'm gonna kill those three lying bastards! I told you we couldn't trust them, but you didn't listen!"

"Calm down, Ironhide. Your anger won't help at all. First we need to take care that Ratchet is buried properly on Cybertron. You can have your revenge later." Optimus sighed.

Hoist looked up to his leader. "Wheeljack is devastated. He's sitting in the med bay, holding Ratchet. He hasn't moved a servo in hours. He could probably use someone to talk to."

Optimus nodded. "It's not easy to lose a mate... I'll go talk to him."

XXX

'This is it, Hellscream. No going back.'

They stared at the removable plate on the bottom of a floor of Nemesis.

'Then let's go in.'

Starscream punched the code in and the plate moved aside. He climbed in and glanced around him in the corridor. No one there. He put the plate back in place and locked it.

'This entrance is the nearest to our lab. Let's hurry.'

Starscream tiptoed in the silent corridor, his spark beating fast. They were lucky. The lab was just ahead and there was no one in this wing. Quickly Starscream punched in the code and entered the lab. He locked the door carefully and then put the lights on.

Everything was in place, the lab was just how he had left it. No one had been in there.

'Where is it?' Starscream asked, looking around himself.

'It's in the storage room. Get it out here.'

Starscream went to the storage and punched in the code. The door hissed open and on the floor...

'It's enormous!'

'Of course. I wanted a strong body. Now, get it out.'

Starscream grabbed the huge inanimate body by it's arms and dragged it in the middle of the floor.

'It's heavy too...' He complained and rubbed his wrists.

'Sit down Star. This is going to hurt.'

Starscream sat on the floor.

'What are you going to-' The Seeker let out a scream. Hellscream cut his mind apart from Starscream's. The smaller Seeker collapsed on the floor and began to sob.

'I'm sorry, dear.' Hellscream then remembered that Starscream couldn't hear him anymore. The little Seeker whimpered in pain.

While Starscream cried on the floor, Hellscream decided to act.

His soul travelled like a small summer breeze towards the body he was about to inhabit. He glared at it for a while. His body. His body, he had built for himself with Starscream's hands. It was ready to give a home to his quickly cooling soul. Hellscream aboarded the body.

He felt his lifeforce seep into it, travelling through every circuit, putting them online. His soul twisted and turned inside the empty spark casing. It slowly turned into a warm spark. And it felt good.

In the darkness of the former Air Commander's lab, two ice blue optics flashed to life and a big, black and red Seeker stood up, testing his joints, like he had just woken up from a long recharge. His systems were all online and his engines worked perfectly.

"I am complete." Hellscream rumbled to himself, his voice demonic and strong. He looked at his arms and chest. In reality, he was much bigger than Megatron himself. "There's only one thing missing... My crown. But it will soon be right where it belongs."

He glanced at the whimpering little Seeker on the floor with genuine compassion. He kneeled beside Starscream and lifted him onto his big arms.

"Don't worry, my love. I will make you feel better. Then we'll overthrow Megatron together, and you will become my queen. In a place of one tyrant, there will be two."