Title: Trinity
Part 2: Thundercracker
By: Ceris Malfoy
Summary: The truth behind the Command Trine. Currently: Thundercracker loves Starscream and pities Skywarp.
Inspiration: Thundercracker strikes me as a cross between a hopeless romantic and an abuse victim – he knows that Starscream is wrong for him, but he still loves him and keeps coming back even when Starscream hurts him. I hope I've managed to convey that properly here.
Continuity: G1, some subtle references to the 1986 movie.
Status: Part 2 of 3
Thundercracker will never forget the first time he met Starscream.
Despite popular theory, Thundercracker is actually the youngest of the trine. Starscream is the oldest by two decavorns, the product of a rather indiscrete affair between his and Skywarp's code-writer and Starscream's carrier. Consequently, Thundercracker had never met his older half-brother until one fateful day when he had given his creators and Skywarp the slip and had gone exploring. Being so young, it had not been surprising that he had gotten lost.
In the slums of Vos.
He remembers being curious and fascinated, too young to understand that the slums were no place for a youngling; too young to be afraid. He had wandered around absently, not really paying attention to where he was going, and had run into a group of over-charged seekers. He had also run into an almost fully-grown seeker, a really pretty tri-colored one. He remembers how the over-charged seekers had begun to harass him, had attempted to pick him up and take him with them (possibly for ransom purposes, possibly for …darker purposes), when the tri-colored seeker moved.
The fight was a brutally vicious one with various body parts flying around (he distinctly remembered someone's disembodied wing ending up embedded in a wall not far from where he had been standing). Nevertheless, it was over quickly, and the only one to walk away from that fight had been the slim, tri-colored seeker with blazing crimson optics and a look of proud superiority. Starscream.
Thundercracker still remembers that proud, deadly creature turning its equally deadly gaze onto him; still remembers how at first he had been afraid, but then how his spark had actually clenched in both recognition and longing; still remembers the way Starscream gave him a wicked grin full of dark promises. Thundercracker remembers how gently Starscream had picked him up – he had just seen those clawed-servos shred multiple seekers, yet despite his much thinner armor, he felt nothing more than the firm grip of heated metal and the slightly sticky glide of cooling energon.
He remembers Starscream taking him out of the slums; remembers Starscream stalking down the streets of Vos' higher-end neighborhoods like he belonged there; remembers the reception Starscream received when he returned him unharmed. He remembers listening to his creators yelling at Starscream while he watched from the safety of Skywarp's grasp, and not understanding why. Thundercracker remembers the way Starscream had looked at him and Skywarp, but mostly at him; remembers how with that single look the gentle seeker that had carried him home vanished and became the energon-covered God that had taken on six fully-grown seekers and won. He remembers the way Starscream had laid into his creators then, voice too soft for him to hear what was being said, but knowing that whatever was being said scared his creators.
He remembers how, despite his very young age, he knew Starscream would claim him and Skywarp as his trine. A small part of him had been scared – he was not blind, no matter what Skywarp thinks, and Starscream has clearly never been altogether there – but most of him had anticipated what it would feel like to be claimed by such a powerfully capricious being.
He likes to remember how excited he had been when his creators finally caved and Starscream moved in with them. He likes to remember how proud he had been when it was discovered that despite the fact that Starscream had never had a formal education, he was still more than intelligent enough to score very highly on the entrance exams to the Iacon Science Academy. He likes to remember how Starscream's optics had always watched him as he grew.
He does not like to remember just how badly he had torn into Skywarp when the purple jet mentioned how relieved he was to know Starscream was out of their lives for a long time. He does not like to remember how long he had to wait for Starscream to come home; does not like to remember the oddly silent Starscream that returned to him.
Thundercracker loves Starscream, and he knows that Starscream loves him back as much as he was capable of it. Thundercracker is well aware that there is something not quite right about his half-brother, but that is partly what draws him so intensely to the seeker. Honor and pride has been coded within his very spark – it thrills him to join with a seeker who had chaos and mayhem written within his the way Starscream does.
That being said, he knows Skywarp doesn't understand; can't understand. Skywarp has never had all that beautiful danger wrapped around him, clawed servos trailing gracefully and ever-so-carefully across his frame; has never had all the fierce passion and processor-blowing lust buried deep within him and moving. Skywarp never will, either, because Skywarp is afraid.
He is, admittedly, right to be afraid – Starscream is frightening and even Thundercracker fears how far their trine leader is willing to go to further his ambitions.
But no matter how bad things get – and they've gotten pretty bad ever since crashing on Earth - no matter how bitter the betrayals and hurtful the lies, there is no denying the way Starscream is written across his very spark. Even when he's finally gotten tired of putting up with Starscream, all it takes is one little gesture – an appreciative glance, a rare word of praise, a gentle servo brushing carefully against his wing, that playful little purring tone that Starscream uses when he wants to 'play' – and he remembers.
He remembers that Starscream isn't quite right, but that it's hardly Starscream's fault. He remembers that in the past several million years (not counting the ones they spent in stasis lock), he is the only one privileged and trusted enough to share Starscream's berth. He remembers that he is the only one that Starscream has ever bared his mutated spark to; the only one Starscream has truly claimed as his.
Sometimes he feels pity for Skywarp, because were it not for Skywarp's all-consuming fear of Starscream, the three of them probably could have been a trine in the truest sense, and not this quiet mockery of one. Instead, he ends up playing mediator between two opposing forces seeking to claim him totally. He pities Skywarp too much to break the purple jet's hope that he can still save him from Starscream, because no matter what stunt Starscream pulls, or how much Skywarp pleads, Thundercracker still loves Starscream, and will always love him.
He knows that Starscream will be the death of him one day, but as long as it is by Starscream's servos, Thundercracker doesn't think he'll mind. After all, while Starscream will most assuredly feel neither guilt nor regret over the deed, Thundercracker knows that Starscream will remember him long after all other victims become soundless and faceless ghosts.
And that is enough for him.
So? How does everyone like T.C.'s part? One of the main things I'm trying to do with this three-shot is explore the different 'voices' of the characters, and how they view each other. Perception is reality, and no one perceives the same things the same way, after all. And yes, I went against conventional fandom and wrote T.C. as Starscream's bonded instead of Skywarp's. I think it's a little cuter, myself. XD
The next part is probably not going to be posted for awhile - Starscream's section is giving me fits. There are just so many angles I could take it, and I'm having a hard time trying to figure out just how psychotic I want to make him. XD