A.N: Yes the story lives! And, this time, I hope I'll remain inspired.
I don't know if people are still following this, but given the big (unforgivable) gap in time between last update and this one, it would be better for you to re-read the story from the start if you want to understand what is happening in this chapter.
Before the end of times, Chapter 6: The second day.
There was a spectacular explosion and an intense blinding light. Its impossible radiance suddenly lightening up the whole of the galaxy.
The next instant, it was dark, empty.
And nothing remained.
The massive black-hole proceeded on, unaware and uncaring of the tragedy it had just left in its wake.
"This was the brightest star in existence." Starscream stated bitterly. "His magnitude was, by far, unmatched. And to say the power of its core was yet to be measured...By anyone, even myself...So much unknown and potentially valuable data and information, forever lost...What a pity!"
Reverently, the ghost-seeker bowed his head, casting optics he no longer had downward. As a meager attempt at comforting the sullen mech, Primus gently extended his energies toward his helm and shoulders in a light caress, which made Starscream's non-existent lips quirk upward slightly. But it was what the God said then, that made him look back up.
"This was not the brightest star in existence." He precised. "not even close to it actually."
That said, the God amused himself with the expression Starscream made as he looked up at him. The billions-years old seeker suddenly looked as hopeful and naive as a new-born. "Really?" He asked, his sound-less voice colored with the same emotions his face reflected.
"You have seen a lot" Primus uttered with a nod and a small, fond smile. "And yet, you have seen nothing." At those words, the ghost's face contorted in displeasure and unhidden offense.
" I have traveled through space- and even through time-for millenniums!" Starscream defended himself. " I have seen a lot more than you can imagine! Billions of solar systems, thousands of galaxies!"
"And what you have seen, while traveling so long, was only but a fraction of the Universe." Primus flashed his energies at his last protege, bathing him with comfort the only way he could provide it, given his own disembodied state.
Starscream welcomed the embrace and thought the God's words over as he basked in the divine essence.
His seemingly endless wandering about had buffed a few flaws away from him, such as greed and impulsive temper. But no expend of time, not even an eternity, could have snuffed Starscream's interest in science and need for always more knowledge, which was just as strong as his thirst for power. All this time, while he had visited many planets, he also had- secretly - infiltrated a fair amount of scientific bases and research facilities.
He had sneaked inside labs and had watched scientists work. He had marveled at their findings and discovered laws of physics he didn't even know of, each professor or scientist he followed seemed better-equipped and more advanced than the last. Starscream learned a lot from them, even if they never knew they had a student. He enjoyed the irony of it and basked in his own amusement.
He no longer had sensors to feel physical touches, but emotions and feelings could sometimes wrap themselves around his spark like tangible blankets, where irony was the softest fabric of all.
From time to time, it happened that one of the scientist he watched came to a point they could no longer proceed in their experiments or theories, because they had reached the far end of their knowledge and understanding. Sometimes, Starscream had the solution to their problem; he knew how to solve an unknown in their equations or which substance they needed to use to provoke the desired chemical reaction. But he never shared these solutions, no. Instead, he amused himself with the scientists' despair and kept his knowledge preciously to himself.
Because of his unchanged condition and his reluctance to start living anew in someone else's body, he never got to use the valuable discoveries he made during that period of time. But that was fine, since he was just content to own the extensive knowledge he had acquired, and which he thought made him the most educated being in the Universe.
And at the same time, the prolonged experience made him realize how ignorant he had been, back when he was still alive and thought he knew everything about everything.
But, despite the sizable infusion of knowledge he had received, there was still something he didn't know...
Although some of the scientists he had followed at that time made discoveries that went far beyond any known level of knowledge, there was still one data none of them had ever been able to measure or transform into an equation. That particular data was...
"...The size of the Universe" Starscream whispered, having finished the tale of his experience to the deity.
Primus smiled lovingly as he listened to the seeker's story. swirling his energies around Starscream gently, he felt the urge to do something for him.
Starscream was the last of his children. And, despite his past actions and unforgivable sins, he still deserved the pride of his father. Perhaps wasn't it too late for the ancient God to share the last morsel of power he still owned? Oh, it wasn't much, it was nothing the seeker could use, but it was a very precious secret. Primus had been reluctant to give it away before, but now he could only admit that keeping it for himself would be a waste. What was the utility of an important secret if it remained forever untold?
"Listen well, Starscream. I have something very important to tell you" Primus started on, in a formal tone, his decision made at last. His energies gently recoiled to preserve the solemnity of the the instant and Starscream was left in the cold of emptiness momentarily.
His spark disapproved of the loss but he paid it no heed; he understood the seriousness of the situation. His optics focused on the God's grave face expectantly and, patiently, he waited. Primus resumed his speech, "What I am going to tell you now is the greatest secret of all, may you use it wisely." He paused for effect and, as Starscream slowly nodded for him to continue, the god indulged him. "There's only one truth that applies to every being in the universe and every world in existence: That truth is-"
"Starscream!"
"Wake up!"
"Starscream?"
He woke up with a start and an abrupt intake of air, feeling as breathless as if he had just resurfaced from an air-tight containment. The other reality vanished from his consciousness like a dream, and Primus' words were lost to him.
Starscream sat up on his berth, confused for the few nanoseconds he needed to realize where he was. He blinked and finally looked up at Skywarp who was staring back at him confusedly.
"What?" He croaked out. "What are you doing here and why did you wake me up?"
"It's the seventh groon already..." The purple seeker replied, obviously feeling ill-at-ease to be alone in his commander's quarters, and more so since said-commander had just been awaken from a too-short recharge. "I knocked but you didn't answer...And the door wasn't locked, so I came in and...Ah..Soundwave sent me to fetch...I mean...pass a message to you."
"What message?" Starscream asked, rubbing the sleepiness away from his face. He stood up and quickly downed a cube of energon, hating to be rushed. He who hadn't slept for eons, wished only for right five additional minutes of recharge. He'd have other occasions to enjoy mornings later on, he promised himself. Or not, but still...possibly.
"He said he's found someone for the spark control. He's waiting for you in your lab." Skywarp watched dumfounded as his Air commander froze and sagged in relief the next instant. He found that weird, which wasn't surprising: 'Screamer' was always weird those days. Yet, that didn't mean his subordinate had gotten used to it.
Starscream grabbed his wing mate by the hand and dragged him along as he rushed out and in the halls. We can't afford losing time, he reminded himself as he pulled Skywarp toward his lab, excited at the discovery. In all truth, he had almost lost hope for Soundwave to find the perfect 'donor' among the troops.
"Did he tell you who that someone is?" He asked the other seeker, who stumbled to follow.
"Ah yeah..." Skywarp gasped, his shoulder-mounted vents panting quietly. "It's me."
Starscream turned around so abruptly at the statement, that the purple seeker couldn't stop himself in time to avoid the collision with his wing-leader. He would have stumbled down and fallen in a very undignified manner if the Air commander hadn't caught him. "You?!"
"Yeah...me." Skywarp shrugged, obviously unaware of what awaited him.
"He picked you, of all mechs, to operate a spark control on Megatron!" Starscream said, his voice rising in anger and pitch. What he had lost in the past, who he had killed in the past and unknowingly given to Unicron so the un-maker could forever deform and disfigure, he was certainly not willing to lose again now!
He was no certified medic, and his extensive repair-skills didn't reach as far as to allow him to operate around a mech's spark. But he did know the theory and was aware of the possible consequences of a failed spark-control. He knew a failed procedure had 78% chance to end up with the termination of both sparks and he didn't want to lose Skywarp and Megatron at the same time.
"Come!" Starscream grabbed his wing mate again, pulling him down the halls without further explaining. "There must be another solution!"
Meanwhile, on Earth,
Hot rod woke up in his own quarters, alone and in the dark.
For a moment, he couldn't remember what happened the night before, and he was about to go back to recharge when the lights automatically went on, just like he had programmed them to, every morning since he was on Earth.
The purple color of the servo his head was resting on reminded him of it all.
The Decepticons, the assault., Megatron...Optimus!
The young Autobot sat up and buried his face in his hands. Optimus Prime! He died...All by my fault!
His hands balled into fists, which he pressed against his helm as if he wanted to pound the accusation into his processor. " All my fault, all my fault!"
He remembered that he had wanted to die for this, not bearing the realization he could never make up for the unforgivable crime, and he had almost succeeded too. The unknown Decepticon seeker...And the pain to be shot at, at least a thousand times over, he remembered it. He could almost feel it on his frame again, within his parts and components, and into every wire of his recently rebuilt body.
Unicron. His broken optics hadn't allowed him to see his savior, but he had heard him, accepted the deal he proposed then, in exchange for survival, in exchange for a second chance to make up for what he'd done to Optimus.
All he had to do was to bring the Matrix to Unicron, which, of course, also meant he had to take it from the new Prime first.
After his miraculous repairs and upon his return to Autobot city, Hot rod had attempted to explain all this to Ultra-Magnus. He had told the Prime everything he knew about Unicron and the dreadful prediction the being had shared with him. But Ultra-Magnus, in all fairness, hadn't been ready to hear about mysterious strangers, senseless predictions or flashy paint job fashion.
"I share your sorrow." he had told Hot Rod with a little pat on the shoulder. "But you needn't worry about the Decepticons, not for some time anyway; their leader certainly has off-lined and his subordinates must be fighting over his throne as we speak."
"And what if he were still on-line?" Hot Rod had retorted, his determination to be heard hadn't faltered yet, then.
"Many liked to compare Megatron with the Fallen..or some other kind of supernatural, immortal monster." Ultra-Magnus said with a sad smile. "But at the end he was just a mech and he died. It couldn't be otherwise, given what was left of him when his soldiers carried him away."
Hot Rod's resolve and beliefs had crumbled under the wise, logical explanation that only competed his own memory of the day's events. He had been close enough to Megatron to see for himself how badly damaged the Decepticon was then.
How could the Decepticons be a menace now that the 'Lord of Kaon' is no longer there to lead them?He wondered.
And then it occurred to him that, perhaps, that Unicron person had worse intentions than Hot rod thought...
"Rodimus Prime!" A voice suddenly spoke, filling his head with its intensity. Hot rod fell back on his berth, feeling like he had just been struck by the lightning. His pain receptors screamed in alarm, but he just whined feebly. Unicron?
"Do my biding, Rodimus Prime!" The voice boomed again. It hurt even more, Hot rod moaned a bit louder, feeling like his helmet was going to crack under the tension the presence in his head exerted.
"Bring me the matrix!" The voice ordered, pushing against the inside of his cranium like an hydraulic spreading machine would. Hot Rod held his head in his hands in a fruitless attempt to relieve the pain and gasped loudly.
"Unicron!" He called. "I...It hurts!"
"Bring me the matrix!" The merciless voice repeated, and this time it felt a lot like his very mind was torn apart. He screamed.
"I will! I will! Please, make it stop!" He pleaded, rolling around on the berth. But it didn't stop and the soundproofed walls swallowed his screams of agony. There was nothing he could do about the pain. It was in his head, eating his sanity away.
"And remember well, Rodimus! You are the only rightful Prime!" The planet-devourer spoke a few last hammer-like words and seeped out of the Autobot's head, leaving burned components and dark codes on his way out. Hot Rod slowly and carefully stood up when the pain subsided, leaving only but a ghost of its presence.
He never saw the light shade of purple his blue optics had taken, and was never aware of how dull they looked as he exited his quarters.
He needed to find Ultra-Magnus, now.
The Autobot base had woken up slowly and reluctantly after what had been a very short night for most, if not all, its inhabitants. Optimus Prime had passed away the previous day. The memory of his death was still fresh and painful in everyone's mind, including those who hadn't been there when the hero had surrendered his spark to Primus.
They had pulled out of what little recharge they had managed to get, with sorrow-filled processor and a heavy spark.
Within the base and outside of it, everyone seemed to walk, work and go through their daily chores and habits in slow motion. The atmosphere was heavy with sadness under a clear blue sky and a brilliant spring sun no one had to spark to appreciate. They were mourning.
No one paid attention to Hot rod as he made his way through the halls, even thought the color of his armor had changed distinctively since the previous day. They were too engrossed in their grieving to notice how different he looked or how strangely he walked, his back-strut rigidly straight and his face, devoid of emotion.
Back on Cybertron, in Starscream's laboratory and Megatron's temporary medbay, an argument was about to take place.
"What is it that I hear, Soundwave? You chose Skywarp for the spark-control procedure?!" Starscream demanded as soon as he erupted in the room, furious, unannounced but very much awaited.
Soundwave had been helping Hook with Megatron's repairs before the seeker's arrival. When Starscream entered, his mood quite stormy and his wings perked up high, the communication officer looked up at him calmly.
The Starscream who stood there, aggravated, fuming and seemingly ready to launch a (loud) verbal assault, was far more familiar to the tape-deck than the strange red seeker he had dealt with the previous day.
"Greetings, commander Starscream." Soundwave nodded, unaffected by the second-in-command's outburst of- obvious- dissatisfaction. " State problem?"
Hook, who had witnessed that kind of exchange on countless occasions and could no longer be bothered by them, resumed his work on the Decepticon warlord, content to be left in relative peace for the time being. Skywarp remained where he was and fidgeted in silence, wondering what he was doing there.
As for Megatron, he couldn't care less about loud noises, so deep in stasis as he was.
"State problem?" Starscream repeated while trying to smother his own anger. "I learn that you have picked a candidate for the spark-control procedure without my assent, that's the problem!"
"Purpose of your presence here: ask for assent." Soundwave explained before starting on what he had been supposed to tell Starscream in the first place. "Skywarp: matches requirement for spark stability; 5/12 with amplitude of 0,18 units away from perfect value."
"Are you certain he is the best suited among all of us? Have you really tested everybody's spark?" Starscream asked. He couldn't let Soundwave know about his reluctance to let his own wing-mate undergo the dangerous procedure. Favoritism was a leader's worst flaw!
"Further testing of troop: No longer necessary." Soundwave by-passed the question skillfully. "Perfect subject: has been found already."
"You have to know one important thing, Soundwave." Starscream letured patiently, his wings shifting back to their default position as he calmed down. "'Good enough' is not 'perfect', and therefore, 'Good enough' is not sufficient." The red seeker explained. The communication officer remarked that Starscream had reverted back to his 'new- confusingly calm-self', which was unsettling, yet highly convenient.
"All officers and patients: Have been tested to one exception." He precised.
"Which is myself, of course." Starscream deduced, aware that he was yet to be scanned.
"Affirmative" Soundwave confirmed. Not awaiting the command, he reached out for his discarded scanner and brought it in front of Starscream's chest.
Hook looked up in curiosity and even Skywarp appeared less bored all of a sudden. After Starscream's tantrum and all that had transpired in the conversation, the purple seeker was no longer convinced of his decision to participate in what didn't exactly sound like a routine operation.
The communication officer held his scanner against the second-in-command's plating but did nothing more, he waited. As nothing happened, he looked up at the seeker. " Assent?" he inquired.
"Go ahead." Starscream said with a light gesture of the hand, not afraid of such a simple and painless test.
When he was done, Soundwave placed the tool back where he first picked it.
Hook, who had been silent since the beginning of the exchange, felt like saying something, so he asked: " How much is he at?"
" Unit of amplitude away from perfect referenced stability: zero-point-zero-zero-one."
"You see, Soundwave..." Starscream said with a barely-there enigmatic smirk. " Why settling for 'good enough' when you can have 'nearly perfect'?"
"Starscream: Willing to participate in spark-control procedure?" Soundwave asked. His processor computed a figure of 5% chance that the seeker would agree. He almost shorted out when, a short moment later, Starscream gave a positive answer. Needless to say, no one had expected it, and the mechs present in the lab stood shocked at the red seeker's quick reply.
"Of course, I will." He said, looking as willing as one could possibly be.
"Fine!" Hook commented, entering the conversation. He cleaned his hands with an overused rack before throwing it into a basket full of dirty pieces of fabric. "Then I suggest we do it as soon as possible. We've already lost enough time as it is."
"When will you be ready?" Starscream inquired. An uneasy feeling crept up along his spinal-strut and his wings trembled imperceptibly.
"I am ready right now." Hook said, gesturing to an empty berth placed next to Megatron's. "Lay down on your back, I'll be there right away."
As he moved to do as instructed, Starscream carefully kept his emotions in check. He couldn't let them reach his face. In all truth, he didn't felt nearly as confident as he wished to appear. He wasn't exactly afraid. After all, why should he be? He already knew that, whatever happened during the procedure, he wouldn't die. But he was apprehensive still, for he knew he would have to cheat somewhat, just like Hook would probably do, when he'd declare he had already done such a procedure before.
Also, there was the matter of the act itself. There would be two sparks involved in something akin to foreplay, and even if the medical procedure wasn't sexual in nature, Starscream couldn't convince himself of that fact. He didn't know how to feel about it either, a little curious, perhaps? Apprehensive, certainly.
"have you read all the details of this operation, Starscream?" Hook asked as he came back with a medical table on which he had placed some instruments and devices. "If you did, then I trust you are aware of the requirements applying to the donor."
"Of course, I am aware of them." Starscream retorted, doing his best not to look as nervous as he felt while watching the medic prepare his tools.
"So? Do you satisfy to the all the criteria?"Hook carefully lifted the seeker's head and placed it on some kind of upraised support. That done, he turned back to his torture table, picked up a probe and connected it to the socket at the back of Starscream's neck.
"I do." The air commander quickly replied. "What's that for?" he asked, wary of the probe and irritated by the touch of it.
For a very long time, he had learned to 'feel' his surroundings without frame-sensor to rely on. He had forgotten how it felt to be physically touched without initiating the contact. having the sense back so suddenly, without a period of adaptation, felt more than a little weird. Every unexpected touch, even the faintest, disturbed his sensor net.
It wasn't exactly unpleasant, but it certainly was uncomfortable.
"Virus scan!" The constructicon explained. "We don't want Megatron to be saved only to die because of parasites."
Starscream only nodded and gestured for him to proceed. To distract himself, he let his optics wander, feeling at least a little secure in the familiarity of his own laboratory. His state fell on Skywarp's form, still standing where he had last left him. "I think you can go, 'Warp" He informed the other seeker. "Your presence is no longer required!"
"It would be better if he stayed." Hook interjected. "My team-mates are still attending the damaged soldiers and I will need assistants for the procedure. Soundwave and Skywarp will have to stay and help me with the operation."
"Alright." The Air commander sighed. "You should get Thundercracker too, if only so he could watch out for Skywarp."
"Not a bad idea." The medic commented. "Hey, Skywarp, go get your boyfriend!"
To Starscream's astonishment, the purple seeker didn't even deny the 'boyfriend' part of Hook's request. He said nothing and teleported out of the lab to do as told. As the red seeker turned toward Hook with an almost cute expression of surprise on his face, the medic chuckled."What? You didn't know?"
"Can't say I did" Starscream muttered his admittance. But he wasn't too shocked either; A lot of unimportant details he had overseen in the past suddenly seemed quite meaningful. He was surprised, but only because his closest subordinates had been having that kind of relationship in his back, and he had never suspected anything before.
The reason behind that oversight was simple: He had been blind and deaf to others all his life.
The only person he'd ever shown interest in had been Megatron, and even then, all he had ever wanted from the warlord was his throne.
His musings had effectively distracted him from the situation at hand, but the medic made sure to bring him back to reality.
"Okay, the scan is done, and you are surprisingly clean!" Hook declared, disconnecting the probe. "Thundercracker has just arrived. So, Starscream, whenever you are ready, we can start."
Starscream off-lined his optics in concentration as he fought his renewed anguish, willing himself to relax and stop being afraid. This is not real, he reminded himself, this is just an illusion...A very vivid illusion!
"I"m ready." He said, steeling himself.
"It shouldn't last too long." Hook reassured the red seeker as he removed his cockpit and armored shields. "You know what you have to do, right?"
"Yes, yes" Starscream nodded quickly. " I have to pull Megatron's spark in an almost-merge, enough so to keep it next to mine and in control while you operate in his casing."
And what if he had never done this before? It couldn't be that hard. Oh dear...
"I see you have made your homework, that's good! And you have merged before, yes? It is important that you know what to do." The medic extended a flexible tube, attached one opening to Starscream's casing and the other to Megatron's. The connections clicked into place, creating a sterilized atmosphere within the tube.
"Of course I have!" Starscream lied, wishing Hook would just get on with it already.
The constructicon medic beckoned his 'assistants' over and gave them instructions Starscream didn't quite catch, too busy as he was attempting to control his negative emotions. "We are opening Megatron's casing, be ready!"
Much by reflex, and because he had studied the procedure so thoroughly that every step of it had become a automated program on itself, Starscream opened his own casing...
There was a sudden flash of light and he was assaulted by raw energy that set all his senses and sensors ablaze at once.
Something very strong and aggressive surrounded him, closed in around him and caged him. The sudden, unbelievable strength of the attack froze his cognitive functions, making him temporarily unable to think. Fear clouded his judgment so thoroughly that, at first, he found himself unable to remember who his assailant was. But the oppressive energies felt very familiar, harsh, raw and determined to smother him in sensations that were more intense than anything he had experienced before.
Utterly terrified by the unexpected turn of event, Starscream realized with dread that there was nothing he could do to keep the other spark at bay. He had lost control before he even had it.
He gasped, panicked, and wanted to scream for Hook to stop it. But, on the outside, nothing visibly happened.
Soundwave, Thundercracker and Skywarp, although supposed to watch over the spark-control procedure, saw nothing of the seeker's inner struggles. they were completely engrossed by the work of the medic as he skillfully operated inside their leader's chest.
The task of removing the broken shard from Megatron's spark casing was delicate, which made the moment quite intense and stressful. Fortunately, everything went smoothly and with little trouble. Soon enough, the casing was repaired and ready to welcome the spark of its owner back within its confines.
When Hook looked up to see how Starscream was faring in the spark-control procedure, it was already too late.
"Oh slag!" He cursed loudly, making the other three react and follow his horrified stare.
Within the translucent tube that connected the two empty spark-casings, and instead of the two sparks that should have been waiting peacefully in the middle, they could see only one spark.
A spark that was big and positively beaming with raw, dynamic energy. Its essences were swirling furiously and erratically, as if a raging storm was taking place inside of it.
"Slag!" Hook repeated bitterly, slapping the bench in irritation. There was nothing he could possibly do for them; it really was too late. He hated feeling so helpless.
To be continued.
Thank you for reading. Once again, forgive me for the long delay. Berate me if you must, and comment if you liked this chapter. This story needs encouraging, or it'll find itself at the bottom of my list once again.
Critiques and words of advice are strongly encouraged.
P.S: Despite some slightly suggestive scenes from the last chapter, which had apparently fooled some of you, the pairing won't be Soundwave/Starscream. I'm sorry to disappoint, it wasn't my intention.