Chapter three – Reunion

Starscream gasped when he felt arms encircle him and gently lower him to the ground. He could feel the energon flowing from the wound he had received from Megatron and knew that this time his leader had aimed to kill.

He gasped, coughing up energon and offlined his optics. Not wanting to see the sneer on his leaders face. All around him he heard voices, that of his leader, cruel as always, Prime's voice questioning him for his actions. He felt the sudden presence of the other seekers as they flew towards him. But surrounding him, soothing him was the presence of his trine.

After what seemed vorns to him he activated his optics and saw Megatron flying away with just four other mechs. 'Where is the rest? Are they hurt? Or are they waiting to execute me?'

A gasp made him look up and straight into the optics of Skywarp. "What…?" He voice gave way and cracked making Starscream wince and switch off his optics again.

"STARSCREAM!!!"

Skywarp's frantic cry startled him and his optics flickered.

Locking optics Starscream smiled weakly at his trine mate feeling stasis lock coming closer and closer "Will you take care of me again, Warp?"

Skywarp looked confused but didn't hesitate in the slightest. With his optics leaking he replied, "Sure will do, Star."

"What about TC? Will he do the same? Will you look after the others until I can do it again?" Starscream gasped in pain when his processor almost crashed.

Thundercracker was suddenly next to him and cradled his face in his hand, "We will stay with you, Star. And we'll take care of the others!"

Seeing the truth on the faces Starscream continued, "Promise me you won't stay with the Decepticons"

Skywarp chuckled weakly, "I don't think that should be a problem, Star. When Megatron shot you all stopped fighting. And only Cyclonus, Astrotrain, Blitzwing and Octane followed Megatron back to the Nemesis."

Relieved Starscream felt weakness overcome him, "Good. He would only turn on another…"

Puzzled Thundercracker asked, "What do you mean, Star?"

Starscream turned his face away before mumbling, "He hurt me so bad, that's why I wanted to kill him so bad…"

"What did he do?" Both Skywarp and Thundercracker feared the answer but had to know.

Not replying Starscream used his last reserves and send them memory files which they reviewed quickly.

Gasping in disbelieve both turned startled optics back to the quickly fading Starscream, "THAT BASTARD!" Skywarp shouted and looked as if he wanted to follow Megatron to tear him apart.

Thundercracker's optics flashed bight red before they returned to normal, "Optimus Prime leader of the Autobots, my trine is seeking asylum with you. We are hereby cutting all ties to the Decepticons!" TC announces loud enough for the Decepticons to hear.

Optimus looks at the fallen seeker and saw the care with which he was held in Skywarp's embrace "Granted. Ratchet!"

Ratchet, just finished with treating Ironhide hurried over to the seekers. Quickly assessing his condition his movement slowed down until he looked at the fading seeker motionlessly.

Turning his optics to the remaining trine Ratchet locked optics with them, "I'm sorry, he lost too much energon. There is nothing I can do. It would only prolong his suffering."

Thrust, Ramjet and Dirge let out shrill cries of disbelieve. Skywarp and Thundercracker remained still before looking at him gravely, "Don't worry, we know what is about to happen…"

*But knowing and living it is a difference,* Thundercracker received Skywarp's distraught thought over their bond.

*We can't have him worry about us, Warp. We have to show him that we can survive this.*

Nodding to TC Warp hummed lowly as he continued rocking Starscream soothing him, "It's okay, Star. We are here. You can let go now."

Weakly gasping in pain Starscream replied, "I can't wait to be with you again…hopefully you'll have less problems with me next time around…" Optics flickered before darkening.

Feeling their bond tear TC and Warp let out harsh cries of grieve. They didn't see the blue light suddenly springing forth from Starscream's spark-chamber, nor did they hear the commotion of the others scrambling back, away from them.

The other Autobots hastily retreated looking at Ratchet questioningly, but the medic looked just as surprised.

Optimus gasped as the shard of the Allspark and the matrix removed itself from him and flew over to Starscream. Both flickered and the blue pulse of the seeker's spark was collected and sent back. The light resulting was too bright even for their optics.

Once it dimmed they saw Skywarp sitting there without Starscream's corpse and TC crushing down to embrace him. Lightning suddenly crashed into the ground next to them and all were surprised when a sparkling lay in the crater.

It began chirping nervously and when nobody replied it began to softly whimper and cry.

Skywarp and Thundercracker gasped when the bond that had been broken beforehand flared back into existence "What by Primus, TC?!"

Both looked at the little sparkling and felt the connection strengthen. Skywarp rushed over and cooed at the sparkling, while lifting it up he saw the tiny wing-nubs on its back and knew that it would be another seekerling.

Optics watering he looked at his bondmate and smiled. Lifting the sparkling up to his face and making sure to keep his voice soothing he whispered, "We will keep you save this time around, Starscream!"

tbc