A/N: On the subject of creating sparklings: I've seen many people put forth a plethora of ideas on exactly how sparklings are brought into the world, so here's what I think. You can create a spark by either a) going to a clinic and have a medic extract the needed information (DNA for transformers)from a single spark to make a sparkling, or b) you can do it the old fashioned way by a bonded couple. In my little universe here, Nebula and Stealthshadow used option a.

Synopsis: Full circle on why the Seekers look the way they do. Skywarp is still a brat, but he shows that he has his moments of complete clarity. Hints of other characters. Cookies if you can guess who. Not as obvious as it seems!

Disclaimer: Takara, Hasbro et al. owns Transformers. I only make a handful of readers smile and that is reward enough for me. The characters Stealthshadow and Nebula are mine alone. Wraith and Wraith technology are also mine as is the tale of the Seekers in early Cybertronian history.

Notes: Primacron is the name of one of Cyberton's two moons and was given it's most awesome name by Fire From Above. Much love for your creative mind.

As always, constructive criticism is welcomed, reviews given much love. Stealing is not.

Chapter 11 – Of Sparklings and Paint

In the pre-dawn joors when the majority of Iacon was still asleep, Nebula left her house and walked in peaceful silence through the neighborhood. Shadows ruled the streets, with only the faint blue light reflected from Primacron and the few lights in the city keeping the inky black of night from swallowing the area completely. Her light footfalls could barely be registered by even the sharpest audio receptors as she strolled along the sidewalk. Today was the day that she had been hoping and dreading for, and she wasn't quite sure how to feel about this morning as she neared her destination. He wasn't a sparkling anymore, no matter how much she wished he would stay as one. Her shy and quiet Thundercracker was growing up. In a matter of deca-cycles he would be taking his entrance exams, and in less than a stellar cycle he would be at the Academy. Nebula sighed to herself as she stepped lightly on the stoop.

Stealthshadow, true to his name, was standing silently off to the side of the stoop, leaning against the building with his green optics dimmed. He had been outside waiting for Nebula to arrive. "It's not safe for a femme to walk alone in the dark."

She turned and gave him a deceptively sweet smile. "Femmes wouldn't need to worry about the dark if they carried fully-loaded photon rifles."

The black and silver flier stepped out of his shadow with an approving smirk, "My kind of femme."

There was a soft hiss of a subspace pocket opening, "And I'm not afraid to use them."

He backed up slightly with his hands out in front of him defensively, "Careful, you'll wake the sleeping sparklings."

"They aren't up yet?" The subspace pocket closed.

"I thought I'd wait until the last possible moment so they won't understand where we're taking them."

Nebula shook her head, "You're a cruel mech."

"Cruel was my second designation."

They crept quietly into the darkened living room of the small house towards the soundly asleep, and sprawled out in all directions, younglings.

"They look so sweet when they're sleeping," Nebula cooed softly.

The evil glimmer in the black and silver flier's optics could cause frozen high-grade shiver, "Wait 'til you see them awake."

There was only the faintest rumble as Stealthshadow brought his thrusters online. He stomped on the floor in between the younglings, his turbine whirling to life in a roar of pure high-powered destructive energy. His running lights flashed, filling the entire room with sensor-disrupting light as the three younglings leapt into the air screaming. "UP AND AT 'EM, FEMMES! YOU'RE WASTING VALUABLE TRAINING TIME!!" Stealthshadow bellowed at them.

The shrieking trio quickly scattered to the corners of the room as far away from the overwhelmingly frightening noise and the wild light display as they could

Nebula shook her head at the black and silver mech's dramatics and helped the shaky and completely disorientated Thundercracker and Skywarp to their feet. "If you're done playing, Stealth, we have appointments that we're late for."

Chuckling, he hoisted a bewildered Starscream up from his corner of the room, "But you have to admit that was priceless."

"You'll see just how 'priceless' it was when I leave you to care for three sore and whining younglings."

A groggy Skywarp shook the scrambled remnants of sleep away from his processors to form the first coherent question. "Appointments for what?"

Stealthshadow hefted Starscream under one arm and took his tottering youngling from Nebula's safe grasp, "Let's just say it's going to hurt and leave it at that."

--

The three sat between a very calm blue femme and a very bored black and silver mech in a painfully stark white hallway. Other mechs and femmes passed them by without a look, most talking to themselves or reading over data pads. They had no idea what time it was, where they were, or even why they were there. And the entire situation, from being woken up by the wrath of Primus in the form of a jet flier's turbines, to the unexpected trip to the clinically sterile environment, had each of their fuel pumps in a lurch.

Wide and frightened purple optics darted around the hallway. Thundercracker leaned close to Starscream and Skywarp on his left and whispered hoarsely, "Where are we?"

Skywarp leaned over Starscream to answer, "I have no slaggin' clue, but I don't like it."

The red mech stuck in the middle curled in on himself, but took a little comfort that wherever he was, Skywarp and Thundercracker were there with him in this strange and overwhelmingly scary place. They were huddled so close together that Starscream could feel Thundercracker's shaking fear and Skywarp's thinly veiled ire.

It didn't take long before Starscream's inquisitiveness was able to shove the fear of the unknown into the back recesses of his mind and attempt to puzzle out where they were. From the adult's postures, they seemed to be familiar with the place. Nebula sat comfortably in her chair and was casually reading a holopad. Stealthshadow was slouched in his chair, obviously bored out of his processors. He picked at the arm rests, rummaged through the scattered holopads on a small table to his left, stared at the ceiling, fidgeted uncontrollably and sighed every couple of kliks.

Starscream turned his attention on the near constant stream of mechs and femmes walking past them. They were oblivious of the group for the most part; only giving pointed glances at Stealthshadow when his large feet were in the way of the hall. Many of the people were speaking softly as if they were trying to keep from disturbing something or someone. And most were in their original protoforms. There were a handful with short wings or helio-blades; a few more with wheels… and most of them were white.

"We're in a hospital," Starscream breathed quietly to his friends.

"How do you know that?" Skywarp's optics dodged back and forth over the hall.

"Why are we in a hospital?" Thundercracker stared at the next set of mechs as they passed.

Starscream strained to hear what some of the mechs were saying. "I don't know."

"Maybe someone is having a sparkling?"

Two sets of purple optics turned to stare at Skywarp in disbelief. He looked at his friends, "What? That's why you go to hospitals. Either someone is having a sparkling or someone's dying."

The air hung silent between the three for a klik or two, and then as one entity, they slowly turned to look at Nebula. She didn't seem overly anxious as she turned another page in the holopad that she was reading. She was calm, cool and collected – nothing like one would imagine a femme would be if she were having a sparkling.

Nebula noticed their curious gazes and quietly smiled at them.

Skywarp looked back at Thundercracker and whispered harshly, "You never said she was having a sparkling!"

"She's not having a sparkling!" Thundercracker whispered back defensively.

Skywarp glared at his friend, "She's having a sparkling!"

Starscream tried to play referee between the two, "We don't know if anyone is having a sparkling for sure. Maybe it's someone they know who's sick and we're just here to visit."

Skywarp persisted, "Someone in having a sparkling!"

"Well, it's not my creator!" Thundercracker hissed.

"TC. 'Warp. We could be here just to visit…" Starscream's words were completely ignored.

"She's the only femme we know. She's having a sparkling!"

"She is not! Maybe it's your creator that's having the sparkling!"

Starscream gave up.

"My creator can't have a sparkling, you glitch! He's a mech!"

"Then were is your mother-creator, 'Warp?"

Skywarp backed off slightly, "I… don't have one."

Thundercracker stuck his tongue out at the black mech, "Your creator is having a sparkling!"

Starscream leaned back with a soft sigh, "Maybe they're having a sparkling together."

Skywarp and Thundercracker stared at each other as Starscream's declaration sunk into their angry processors.

Thundercracker turned to look at Starscream, "That would make us… brothers, wouldn't it?"

"But you guys are already like brothers to me. If TC and me become like brother-brothers, then what does that make 'Screamer?" Skywarp glanced between his two best friends.

Starscream gave a martyred sigh, "Makes me still stuck between you two glitches. Just because your creators decided to make a sparkling doesn't mean-" Purple optics widened in horror as Starscream squeaked to a stop mid sentence.

"Uh, 'Screamer?" Skywarp waved his hand in front of his friend's optics.

Thundercracker shook his arm slightly, "'Screamer? What's wrong?"

The look of pure horror didn't diminish as Starscream glanced wildly between his two friends. He tried to blank his processors of the disturbing image, and found that it didn't work. "They decided to make a sparkling…"

Thundercracker and Skywarp shared a confused look.

The red mech boggled and tried to spell it out for them. If he was going to be stuck with the disturbing image then he was going to make sure that the others had to suffer with it too. "They made a sparkling. Made a sparkling." He gestured with his hands trying to pull their processors into sync with his. "Made… you know, as in… made it together."

Starscream was certain that he heard the click inside their heads as both mechs finally caught on to what he was saying.

Thundercracker, with a measured amount of sense, whispered quietly, "You mean…"

Starscream nodded quickly.

Skywarp on the other hand…

"EWWWW!"

All attention in the hallway was drawn to the horrified black youngling.

Stealthshadow reached over and thwacked Skywarp in the head with a holopad. "Sparklings."

Skywarp spluttered and writhed in his chair with his tongue stuck out in pure revulsion as he made disgusting gagging noises. "Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew! I bet they did it while we at the recreation center!"

The sound of someone clearing her voice drew Stealthshadow's and Nebula's attention away from the misbehaving Skywarp.

A white femme smiled at them, "Sorry to keep you waiting. We had an emergency this morning and we've been playing catch up since then."

Nebula stood up and shook the femme's proffered hand, "That's perfectly alright. I'm Nebula and this is Stealthshadow."

The white femme shook the black and silver flier's hand and then smiled at the three younglings. Starscream, Thundercracker and Skywarp drew away from the strange femme.

She looked back at Nebula in surprise, "Triplets? We've only had one set of twins created in recent times, but triplets! I don't think there has been a recorded set of triplets since… since the Science Academy was built!"

The blue femme laughed nervously, "They're not related."

"They might as well be," Stealthshadow gave the trio a sharp glare. "They're practically attached by their afts."

The white femme looked highly disappointed, "Single sparked?"

Nebula and Stealthshadow nodded in unison.

The white femme tsk'ed and wrote something down on her data pad. She knelt down in front of Starscream and held her hand out, "I'm Doctor Nova Alert. What's your name?"

The red mech looked at the hand before reaching out and gently shaking it, "I'm Starscream."

"That's a very strong name, Starscream. You know, I have a youngling of my own who's about your age." She smiled warmly at him. "Are you ready to come with me?"

Starscream yanked his hand back. "Come with you where?"

Thundercracker pulled him away from the femme, putting himself between her and his friend. The blue mech's guilty conscience flared at that exact moment and he stood up to the supposed doctor. Stealthshadow said that Starscream's mother-creator was being taken somewhere safe. What if they decided to send Starscream away too? He shot Stealthshadow a betrayed glare before turning his attention back on the femme. He wasn't going to let these people separate them. "You're not taking him anywhere."

A slightly confused Skywarp jumped into aid his friends, crossing his arms over his small chest and glaring at everyone. "Yeah! You're not taking him anywhere!"

The doctor looked up at Stealthshadow expectantly, but was met with an amused smirk. "I take it that you didn't tell them about this?"

He shrugged sheepishly, "Thought it would be funny to see their reactions. Didn't expect this though."

Nova Alert turned back to the defiant younglings, "I'm not going to hurt him. Actually, it might be better if I took all three of you at once. Then no one will be scared or nervous about what is happening. I think I've got a room big enough for everyone. "

Skywarp's optics narrowed, "We aren't scared. We're not some wimpy sparklings."

Starscream looked the doctor dead in the optics, "Where are you planning to take us?"

She laughed and smiled again, "Into the protoform reformatting room."

Thundercracker's protective stance suddenly relaxed and his jaw dropped, "Protoform reformatting? That means… that means..." He looked up at Nebula for confirmation that he wasn't dreaming.

His mother-creator broke into a wide smile with fluid forming in the corners of her optics, "You're getting your wings, dear-spark."

"Wings?!" Skywarp's guard dropped. He whooped loudly, grabbing the arms of the other two younglings and trying to spin them around in his excitement, all the while interrupting traffic in the hallway. "Wings! We're getting our wings! We're going to be fliers!"

Starscream glanced at Stealthshadow and Nebula as he was roughly dragged in lop-sided circles. The black and silver flier grinned and patted his shoulder when it came into reach. "You earned them, Starscream."

--

The three could barely keep still as they sat on the examining tables, gabbering inanely at each other in excitement. Plans were made and discarded as each one animatedly suggested where they should go first with their new wings. Every major landmark in Iacon was thrown into the ring. Every Precinct was named. Then the lesser areas. Then Kaon. Then Vos. Primacron…

Nova Alert prepared the program for the first reformat. She called out over her shoulder, "Okay, who is going first?"

"I WANNA! I WANNA!" Skywarp shook the table he was on while waving madly at the doctor.

"Thundercracker should go first."

Nova Alert looked at Starscream thoughtfully, "You don't want to go first?"

The red mech turned to grin at Thundercracker, "TC has always wanted to be a flier. He should go first."

The blue youngling gaped at his best friend, "Really?"

Starscream smiled back at him.

Nova Alert moved over to Thundercracker's table and started to examine his body, "What kind of flier do you want to be when you grow up?"

The blue mech's greatest ambition came tumbling out in one excited breath, "Guardian Flier - Alpha Class, Flight Squadron AA-17 Air Commander."

The doctor paused in her examination, "That's quite a mouthful."

Thundercracker nodded enthusiastically.

She chuckled and started to take body measurements, "Any special requests for your reformat? Any special colors you want?"

Bright purple optics gazed up at the doctor, "We can do stuff like that?"

"Well, within reason. Your body hasn't grown enough to carry wings like… Was is Stealthshadow?"

"Yes, that's Skywarp's creator."

"His wings are too big for a mech your size to carry, and the aerial combat class wings are too wide for you." Nova Alert looked over at Starscream and Skywarp. "All three of you seem to be the same size and weight. I have three styles that should fit you."

She went back to her computer terminal and brought up the three wing styles and projected them on the main screen in front of the trio. She walked over to the screen and tapped on the first style, bringing the image to the front of the others and showing the logistic data for the wing. "This is the basic leading-edge wing design. It's lightweight and very sturdy, with easy to control ailerons. It allows minimal transformation sequences. It's a good starter wing for new fliers."

Thundercracker's face fell at the sight of the ugly wing design. "That doesn't look anything like a Guardian Flier…"

"Eh. Boring. What else do you have?" Skywarp motioned animatedly for her to move to the next design.

Nova Alert touched the screen again and brought up the next wing. "This is the reverse-angled wing. It curves forward for gliding and needs little rudder control for wide and easy turns."

Skywarp balked, "Please say the last ones are real wings. We're going to be the best fliers Cybertron's ever seen. We need something agile enough for close cornering, with dual directional air intakes, multi-flexing ailerons for minimal yaw, sturdy enough for handling poststall maneuvering and it needs to give us full transformation sequencing. Not to mention they need to be sleek and cool."

Stunned, the doctor looked at the hyperactive youngling, "The three of you are all full of surprises. All right, let's see if some of the wing designs for mechs bigger than you fit your requirements and I'll see if I can make adjustments. I'm assuming you have specific coloring and patterns you want on you wings and upgrades?"

The three glanced between themselves. "We didn't know you could do that."

Nova Alert walked back to the computer terminal, "Why don't you decide on that while I find something that your frames can handle?"

They leaned in to huddle as best as they could while on three different tables.

Dreams of being a Guardian Flier filled Thundercracker's imagination. "We should get the same cadet gray coloring that the Guardian Fliers use."

Skywarp snorted, "Boring! Next idea."

"Just stay the same as we are now with a few changes?"

"Even more boring! Come on, guys! You can think of something better."

Thundercracker glared at Skywarp, "Why don't you come up with an idea, 'Warp, since you don't like our ideas."

Skywarp sat back on his hands and scrunched up his faceplate in thought, "How about… I've got it!" He leaned forward and rubbed his hands together, "You know how my creator has the silver stripes on his wings? Well, we should get stripes like that, except we should use each other's colors! Like TC's wings would be blue with black and red stripes, and 'Screamer's wings should be red with black and blue stripes! That way we look like we're real brothers!"

Starscream glanced between Thundercracker and Skywarp, "I want to be silver and red, but I'll put your colors on my wings."

Skywarp grinned and looked at Thundercracker, "Well? Do you want to do this?"

A wide grin spread across the blue youngling's face, "Yeah, I'll put your colors on!"

"Have you made your decision?" Nova Alert walked back to the main screen and brought up the new design.

Skywarp grinned mischievously, "We want each other's colors striped on our wings!"

"Sounds like a great idea and I think I found something that fits your needs. It's not exactly what you asked for, but it's the best I can do until it's time for your next reformat session." She touched the screen and the wing design came to the front. "Full transformation sequencing designed for a more experienced flier."

Thundercracker's optics lit up, "That's perfect!"

Starscream and Skywarp agreed unanimously with the blue mech's decision.

"Okay. It will only take a few moments to set this up." She moved to Thundercracker's table and brought up another touch screen. While she was entering data for his protoform reformat, worker drones came in with the needed supplies and started to prep the table. They had Thundercracker lay back and Nova Alert showed him the design he had picked with the color scheme, "This is it. I need to know if you are sure this is what you want."

He nodded enthusiastically, his body barely able to hold his excitement.

"All right. I'm going to put you in a light stasis while the process is happening. When you wake up you will be sore. It might take a few solar cycles before your body gets used to its reformat." One of the drones brought over a tray and she picked up a syringe, "We'll see you when you wake up, Thundercracker."

She injected the contents into his main energon line and watched as his optics powered down. A screen with his vital diagnostics came up and she entered a few lines of code. Assured that the youngling was in stasis and vitals were normal, she moved over to Starscream's table.

"I want to be silver and red," He looked up at her nervously.

"I can do that," Nova Alert quickly entered the data and brought up a touch screen for Starscream to use. "Show me what you want."

With a critical optic and a smile, he designed his color scheme to match his mother-creator's and then added the stripes to his wings. He gazed at the image for a moment to make sure it was perfect and then nodded to Nova Alert. "I want this."

"I can do that," She smiled and had him lay back on the table, "Same thing for you that I told Thundercracker. I'm putting you into stasis, and you will be sore for a few solar cycles."

He nodded and eyed the syringe she picked up, "See you when you wake up, Starscream."

He shuttered his optics as she injected the sedative into him. The drones brought the supplies over as she watched his vital statistics. Certain that he was fine, she walked over to Skywarp with a smile. "You know the drill."

"I am so ready for this." He lay back on the table and watched as she brought up the touch screen with the design. The image of his new protoform with black wings and red and blue stripes came up and he frowned. "That looks awful…"

Nova Alert peered at the youngling, "But it's the same thing your friends are getting."

He gave her a downtrodden look, "But theirs looked good."

"Well, I need you to decide what you want to do. Do you want to be all black?"

"Ugh, no." He sat up and poked at the touch screen, flipping the design and the colors around, trying to make them look better. "Oh! I know what to do!" He changed the design and then showed the doctor.

She looked at Skywarp curiously, "Are you sure that's what you want?"

"Yes!"

"All right," She had him lay back and injected the sedative into his main energon line. "See you when you wake up."

--

Everything felt strange. Not in a bad way, but different than it had before. Starscream's optics fluttered open and a painfully bright light greeted him. He moved to block out the glare and was stunned to see a silver and blue arm in front of him. His optics ran down his arm to his chest, appraising his new design with a smile. He sat up and groaned. Nova Alert wasn't joking when she said he would be sore. Slowly he turned his head to look at his wings, but met Thundercracker's sparkling grin. His best friend sported sleek deep metallic blue wings with red and black striping. A black hand waved at him and he waved back. "Do mine look like –"

Thundercracker nodded enthusiastically, "How do mine look?"

"Really good." Starscream had to admit that the wings looked like they belonged on Thundercracker, almost as if he had been lacking them for all this time and now he was finally complete.

A groan to their left drew their attention, and they both turned to see Skywarp's reaction to their new wings.

"Aw slag, I hurt." The once black youngling sat up slowly and put his hand on the edge of the table. A very purple hand.

Thundercracker's optics bulged out of his faceplate, "They got your colors wrong, 'Warp!"

"Hmm?" Skywarp looked at his hand and grinned, turning around to face his friends. "No they didn't."

Starscream gaped, "I thought we were going to use each other's colors!"

He looked his new protoform over with a smile, "But I did."

"Are you color blind? You were supposed to get blue and red stripes!"

"Wow, I am sore." He carefully flexed his arms.

"'Warp," Thundercracker growled. "Why didn't you get our colors?"

"Because it looked awful, so I fixed it." He grinned. "What? You act like it's a bad thing."

Starscream crossed his arms over his new red and silver chest, "And how is that fixing it?"

"You two." He shook his head. "It's still red and blue…. In a sense."

"How?"

"Simple," A perfectly mischievous smirk played across his face. "Red and blue make purple!"

--

"Well, look at you three!" Nebula bubbled as Nova Alert brought the trio out of the reformatting room.

Stealthshadow's optic ridges rose upon seeing Skywarp's new protoform. "Black and purple?"

He crossed his arms over his chest and huffed, "Red and blue make purple."

Nebula laughed, "So you took on each other's colors? That's very sweet. Now everyone will truly think that you're brothers."

Skywarp stuck his tongue out at Starscream and Thundercracker. "See? She understands!"

Nova Alert chuckled and shook her head, "You can take them home now. They'll be sore for a few days, so no flying and I highly recommend that they don't try out their transformation sequencing, but I doubt they'll wait."

"We'll try our best to keep them busy enough so they don't even think about disobeying the doctor's orders," Stealthshadow's words were for the doctor, but his glare was for the younglings.

"If you have any questions, you can call me here at the clinic," Nova Alert shook Nebula's and Stealthshadow's hands. "Good luck with them."

Nebula ran her hand gently over Thundercracker's new wings approvingly, "They look perfect on you, dear-spark."

"Yeah, you three look like you might not be the glitchmice I thought you were," Stealthshadow smirked. "So who's ready to go run the obstacle course for the next five joors?"

"No way!" Skywarp slumped, "Didn't you hear her say we're sore and shouldn't do training and homework for the next few solar cycles?"

"I didn't hear her mention anything about stopping training or homework, sparkling."

"I have a better idea," Nebula put her hands on Thundercracker and Starscream's shoulders. "Let's go get something to eat and then take the rest of the day off. Do something fun for a change."

"I like that idea. We should do that!" Skywarp quickly agreed with her with Starscream and Thundercracker seconding the suggestion.

"Eh, I guess I'm out numbered. Okay, let's go do something fun." Stealthshadow pointed at Nebula, "But you're paying."

"Fine. You get to keep them for another sleep over tonight. Deal?" The youngling trio cheered and drew the attention of everyone in the area to the group.

"You drive a hard bargain, but okay. I'll take them. Now let's find some place to eat. I'm starving."

--

Nebula and the three sore younglings walked back to her house, the trio pointing and examining each other's wings. Thundercracker and Starscream had finally agreed that Skywarp's artistic prerogative was acceptable and that he didn't look too much like a femme for wearing purple. Nebula watched them bickering while she made plans on how to teach them the basics of flying. Stealthshadow had ensured that they had the strength and endurance to withstand some of the rigors of flight. And the three were eager to start right away; they were completely confidant that they would be able to fly with very little training.

She shook her head and smiled as they reached the stoop to her house. They were growing up too fast.

An audio piercing scream and sharp laser blasts stopped all movement on the street. Starscream froze on the spot from hearing the familiar scream. He slowly turned to face his house.

The front door was open.

He leapt off the sidewalk and tore across the street parting the stunned crowd, shoving and pushing everyone who was in his way.

"STARSCREAM! WAIT!" Nebula shouted after the youngling as she brought her photon rifle out of subspace.

The youngling threw the front door open and bolted inside screaming for his mother-creator.

Nebula grabbed Skywarp by the shoulders and shook him. "Go get Stealthshadow now! Teleport home and get him! NOW!"

The stunned youngling nodded and disappeared with a soft swishing sound.

"Thundercracker!" She spun to face her youngling, "I want you to stay here. When Skywarp comes back, BOTH of you go inside and stay there. Got it?" She didn't wait for an answer from him as she pivoted quickly and sprinted through the growing crowd that was gathering in the street.

There was another series of laser blasts as she reached the stoop and the graceful flier saw red.

She was going to kill that slagger.

--

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