Author's Note: Woot! 23 reviews! I feel so special!! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter just as much as you enjoyed the last. This one was a bit harder to write since Skywarp is a maniac…I didn't necessarily consider putting him in before, but now that I did, I'll need to put more scenes for him in. I hope I did good in this chapter for that—I don't want to neglect the little guy too much. (sweat)

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers.

Chapter 3: Fragile, Not Formidable

"Skywarp, don't touch that! That could be dangerous!"

"Drop that from your mouth, Skywarp!"

"No! Don't bury it!"

Optimus cursed quietly under his breath. Skywarp, as one could clearly observe, was far more of a hand full than Starscream was. It had only been a few days past their confrontation with the two Seekers, and already, Prime felt like he was dealing with a living cube of energon. It seemed endless—from biting things and/or people, to running into walls, to destroying toys and equipment, to draining poor Starscream to his last wits, to even throwing things across the room which shouldn't be thrown. It was certainly enough to drive Optimus crazy, if not the entire Autobot faction. Thus far, only Ratchet and Wheeljack were left unaffected because they were firm enough to stop the violet Seeker in his tracks before he did something ridiculous in their labs. And it wasn't like they could force otherwise—not giving him energon was out of the question because he was a child and needed supplement and attempting to keep him restrained was like winding up a spring. It seemed futile with every plan they had tried thus far.

A soft tug on Prime's hand made him briefly turn to his side, noticing a certain ivory Seeker at his feet and staring up at him with questioning, innocent optics. "What is it, Starscream?" The small Decepticon raised his arms, motioning a gesture before Optimus retaliated and picked him up, holding the sparkling to him as he gave the other a big hug. "Awww, thanks. That's so sweet, Starscream…"

Of course, it was those moments that brought Optimus back to reality. He was doing it for the sake that they were children, not because they drove him crazy. It was a reminder once in awhile that Starscream offered freely, showing that things were all right. Prime sighed contently, rubbing the little one's back.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!"

Optimus flinched as he was tackled head-on by a bundle of joy, his steps going unbalanced for a moment as Skywarp clung to him, chattering (or clicking) with angry intent at the other. "Ta click! Naka redub ba-ba eh foo! Iku click breep!"

"Yes, I know I'm hugging Starscream, I have to give him a little attention, too," Prime said with a sigh in his voice, hoisting the ivory one onto one arm while he took the other in his right arm. "It's not fair to give it all to you."

Skywarp stuck at out his glossa, an obvious gesture to offend him while adding after he brought it back into his mouth, "Ne poki ogie chitter gup nei fa! BAH!"

Optimus, this time, sighed with a taste of fatigue. Oy, this was getting difficult. His CPU throbbed and his body was unhappy with him as he had allowed the children to sleep with him the previous night, offering little room for any of them; being a father was not easy. Especially not when one was a complete attention seeker, thriving on chaos while the other was quiet, passive and gentle. Starscream as an adult was almost the opposite of what he was now—perhaps it was even the fact that Skywarp took up the slack for gaining attention that he chose to recede. It made Optimus feel like scrap, considering that he was no doubt ignored enough as a sparkling in reality.

A soft touch on his brow made the Autobot leader turn to notice Starscream, who stared at him silently with inquisitive optics. A touch of worry was across his features as he watched Prime steadily, infinite patience in work as he waited for the larger one's response. Optimus let a smile come to his frown of thought before he touched heads with him, saying, "Don't concern your little head, Starscream. I'm just fine."

The answer didn't suffice. The ivory Seeker retained a skeptical gaze on him, completely seeing his guardian through and through. Lips pursued, his head angled so that he viewed Optimus from the side, it showed utter knowledge that he knew something was wrong and he was onto it. Prime had an odd feeling Starscream was growing wiser by the minute—perhaps it was made by Skywarp's energy spasms, nevertheless—either by the fact he was growing older, or even that the 'virus' was wearing off. Speaking of the so-called infection as Skyfire claimed it, he wondered how Ratchet and Wheeljack as well as the old ivory Seeker was fairing on attempting to uncover the reason to why Skywarp had changed, yet none of the Autobots did.

It was a strange approach on how and why Starscream had changed into a child and, from just simple contact, Skywarp had done so as well. One idea was the consideration that the virus only affected the Decepticon protocol; it was clearly understandable, but vague. The other side of the coin was even more far-fetched: it had dealings with the virus being more of a 'wish-granter' more than a 'time-traveler'. If there was something that either of the Seeker regretted in the past that might've made them want to turn back time, then it gave them the opportunity to do so, the price being paid that they remember nothing of their lives beforehand. This had actually come up from Bumblebee complaining about how he had lost the plug to his recharge berth, and had wanted to go back in time to find it and put it in a place where he could've remembered.

That certainly had started an uproar amongst the Autobots. Skywarp had enjoyed it thoroughly.

Nevertheless, it didn't ease Optimus's worry about Megatron's possible attempts on gaining the children to remake them into equally ruthless, less rebellious soldiers for his own purposes. Thundercracker was surely back at their base by now, spilling the bolts of his experience in seeing his ivory and violet Seeker brothers transform into sparklings. It wasn't often that Prime wanted to be in the presence of his age-old arch rival, but see the expression on that silver droid's face would no doubt be priceless at the news of his second-in-command and his henchman being turned into children. For the picture that was brought into Optimus's mind, he spared himself a small smirk of satisfaction.

"Opi?"

The voice made Prime turn to face Skywarp, whose questioning expression made the other ask in turn, "Yes?"

"Papara click num tu cheet?" the violet Seeker inquired happily, bouncing in his arms.

"You want to go into town today?" Optimus asked for the heck of it, in truth having no idea what the child was asking.

There came a bright grin that swept across the sparkling's features. Well that was a good sign.

"What do you say, Starscream?" Prime asked as he turned back to the ivory one, who nodded quietly despite his louder cohort. "Well, let's go talk to Ratchet and see if we can go and see some of Earth, shall we?"

--

"I don't think it's a good idea," the white medical officer murmured, wiping his hands on a rag from excess lubricant and oil from his most recent projects, a funny expression on his face. "I mean, it's hard to handle them in a controlled environment, Optimus, imagine what it'd be like in the city. With humans. That's simply a disaster waiting to happen."

Prime huffed, crossing his arms as if trying to make himself lager to intimidate, all the while forming his defense in his mind with momentum speed. "Yes, but Ratchet…if they don't see the outside world now, what's going to prepare them for it? Sheltering them isn't going to help their situation, either, and it's extremely difficult to keep them occupied here. Besides, we need to pick up Spike and Sparkplug from their home there, don't we?"

"With useful transportation," Wheeljack muttered. He seemed to be a bit busy with the account of a purple ball of energy attempt to decapitate his hand while using his foot to type all over the communications keyboard. Meanwhile, Starscream sat obediently next to Optimus, intensely amused with a Rubix cube and he tried to fix it from Spike thoroughly messing it up, small hands working the corners. He looked very concentrated for his age, which made the Autobot leader consider that he was highly intelligent for where he should've been.

"I'll take Bumblebee with me," Optimus countered, "And Ironhide, if it makes you feel any better."

"You could take the whole squadron, dear leader, and it wouldn't keep Skywarp from destroying half of New York," Ratchet rumbled, shaking his head at him.

"Yes, but if we don't do it, they'll get sick of this place and no doubt find the exit to run away anyways," Prime grunted, standing tall and straight, intimdating, "And it'll allow them a sense of independence. I don't want to be the one dealing with rebellious, futile teenagers that won't listen to a word we say because their reason for not listening to us is 'you never let us when we are young, so we're doing it now'. I'll honestly allow you to deal with such an honorable role."

A steady, sapphire stare hovered in the air for a moment, the doctor's expression clearly thoughtful but all the while staying on Optimus as if he was crazy. His leader gave him a steady look in return, using his trump card, Skywarp, to show his biggest point. The malevolent little cretin had somehow managed to get into the supplies cabinet, away from Wheeljack as he was listening to the conversation, and was now finding heavy thrill in knocking everything off the shelves, saying 'OOT' after every crash. Wheeljack twitched and bolted to his feet, scrambling to catch all of the fragile and expensive equipment that was remaining on the shelves. After a serious scolding, the aggravated doctor plopped back down on the large desk chair with a shamed Skywarp in his lap.

Ratchet sighed. "Fine," the officer murmured, "But I don't want to hear at the end of the day how you wished you wouldn't have taken them."

"Very well," Optimus replied gently, though he felt a surge of victory through his systems, taking this as a chance he could prove Ratchet that he was a good enough leader to control them both.

He could do it.

He knew he could.

--

Easier said than done.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!" Skywarp cried, tugging at Prime's arm restraint while trying to reach the glossy form a building, highly amused. "Keh! Ba-ba, click click toodaboo bleh!"

"No, you can't have the building, let's go over here, where all the pretty houses are," Optimus said in a light tone, finding himself nearly regretting bringing him along. Ever since they had left the base, the leader had attempted to have both children in arms as Ironhide and Bumblebee assisted him, the pair being surprisingly well-behaved as they traversed through the desert and went on to the city where Spike and Sparkplug were waiting for them. Of course, Skywarp's attention on blowing bubbles from his mouth and popping them with his fingers only lasted so long (that and bugging little Starscream), before it was interrupted by the introduction of the automobile interstate, where he found delight in seeing all the tiny moving things zoom beneath them. That's when things started getting difficult.

At first, there was only amazement as the miniature violet creation stared at them, almost afraid of trying to touch or go near them. He glanced at Starscream almost expectantly, who only gave a steady gaze and silent words as his response, before Skywarp turned from fearful to downright bubbly, hopping up and down in an excited manner in Optimus's hold. Prime, of course, really thought nothing of it at the time, being that Skywarp was energetic and lively anyways, it didn't surprise him in the least that he should be doing otherwise.

That was, unfortunately, before the little monster wiggled out of his arms and tumbled down to the Earth below, bringing Optimus on the edge of yet another short circuit. Luckily, he had managed to snag the tiny cretin by his scruff bar before clenching him back into the crooked of his arm, heavily scolding him for such an act. Skywarp glanced down at the ground, sad optics revealing that he truly didn't mean to show such behavior. He only wanted to have fun. Despite this, Optimus wouldn't spare the little one five minutes of 'fun' if his life was on the line. That was just something that wasn't okay, and the leader rightfully told him so. And thus he was quiet. The lecture had worked, miraculously.

For about three astroseconds.

Then, in not getting what he so desired, Skywarp threw a vicious fit right outside the lip of the city. The little ball of soft, underdeveloped armor and wires screamed and cried in octaves Prime didn't know existed, hitting his audio receptors with something akin to an energon grenade (times ten). Hastily, Optimus had handed over Starscream to Bumblebee (whom he had gotten to slowly trust over several days) and attempted to restrain him, only to fail miserably when tears of bright liquid began flowing down the little one's face plates. Fear like nothing else Prime had experienced set in, and he drew a quick breath in, releasing his tension as he let it out and forced himself to take control of the situation. If restraining him wasn't helping, then he would need to use other methods.

"Sh-sh," came the soft whisper from Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots. "Quiet down, little one."

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" the terrible cry echoed, the mini-Seeker curling up into a ball while trembling slightly.

"It's okay," Prime murmured, tucking the violet one into the place of comfort, his neck, all the while thick fingers rubbed up and down the tiny wings. "I'm here."

Spark-wrenching sobs soon turned into quiet hiccups before, through enough cooing and nuzzling, finally transitioned into little sniffles. Skywarp wrapped his arms tightly around his guardian's neck, completely resistant into releasing him, loving that he was having Optimus all to himself. Prime sighed while casting a solemn gaze to Bumblebee. The golden Autobot, though Starscream was a third of his size, held him like he would if he were a big brother to the miniature Seeker, rocking him slightly whilst waiting patiently for his leader to take control of the situation, like he always did. Starscream had curled an arm around the other's throat, his face half open to the world around him as optics shuttered slightly, attempting to rebel recharge.

Poor, poor Optimus. His audio receptors would never be the same again.

Bumblebee couldn't help but feel a bit sympathetic for his elderly and wise leader; he didn't know the first thing when it came to younglings, but he had handled the first fit from the child pretty well. It appeared that Prime would only grow older as he learned from the younglings, Bumblebee knew that he had done so from him. The yellow one had been the last of the children from Cybertron; but even then, he was still older than this. Starscream couldn't have been older than the equivalent of five or six to a human child on Earth, and Skywarp was no doubt three or younger. These were children that didn't even have their second armor on yet.

Glancing down, Bumblebee noticed that Starscream had dozed off from the consistent motion the scout was inducing him in, at last losing the battle to stay conscious. A sigh escaped him; at last managing to relax, he went into a deep state of recharge being held in the golden Autobot's arms, and even Bumblebee couldn't help but feel a bit giddy by the situation.

"A crowd is comin', sir," Ironhide murmured quietly, motioning his leader and friend to proceed to Spike's house. "We should leave before anything else develops, yes?"

Prime nodded quietly and followed after the crimson Transformer, Bumblebee striding in last. Optimus, nevertheless, gave his scout a sympathetic look in attempts to almost ask forgiveness for the situation. Bumblebee merely smiled while pecking the top of Starscream's head, who in turn nestled in closer to his chassis and succumbed to his dreams. Prime smiled, seeing that his little Seeker was happy, it made him happy as well. There was nothing like seeing a content child—especially after such a scene. Turning back to Skywarp, he patted the back as gently as possible, and received a snuggle in return.

A few moments of peace passed through the group, allowing Optimus time to think. Somehow he had to manage it. He had to be able to give attention to them both, or else they would end up hating one another. Prime was extremely aware that their latter years would be the product of what they received now, especially in Optimus's situation. He was like a father to them. So, in a sense, they were like brothers and needed to share whatever they both wanted. Showing them this, however, was going to be a whole other ballpark.

"Spike's house is just right up here," Ironhide murmured, directing their inquires with a finger. "I'd say one of us goes in vehicle form for them. Then the remaining two can take Skywarp and Starscream into the city, if you wish."

"That's sounds like a good plan," Prime agreed, motioning Bumblebee to come closer with a finger, "Bumblebee, do you mind taking Spike and Sparkplug back to the base?"

"It'd be my pleasure," the golden scout replied, offering a snoozing Seeker as a response.

"Thank you; we'll see you at sundown," Optimus said while walking away with his body guard, giving Bumblebee a stout nod while trailing off.

The yellow bot easily transformed and scurried off, down the road in less than a breem. Spike had a strong relationship with the scout and always trusted him; Sparkplug, of course, followed after his son and believed in all the Autobots to be good natured. The two went hand-in-hand when learning about things on Earth, and often enough they would spend time off just to learn more about their own planet. After about a week or so, human time, they would return to pick them up to stay for a month or so at the base. It was a good opportunity for both species; it was a balanced schedule and with things as hectic as they were with the Decepticons, if would usually keep them out of trouble as well. With that taken care of…

"Where shall we go first?" Prime asked, nudging the little ones awake to get their attention.

Skywarp twittered happily, rubbing tired optics and he lifted himself up on the leader's chassis and smiled. "Opi!" he cried, reaching out to take a hold of Optimus's facemask and hugged it desperately.

"Good morning," said Prime in a loving manner, nuzzling the little one. He then brought his attention to Starscream, who decided it wasn't the time to wake up and simply adjusted himself, then sighed quietly and drifted back to recharge. "Come now, Starscream, don't you want to see the city?"

"No…" came the almost silent whisper, "Stay…"

"But I want to see your bright and smiling face," replied Optimus while cuddling him a little bit with the tip of his silver face mask even as he tried to retain his shock of the little one speaking. "Please…?"

Finally, Starscream wiggled somewhat before rising as well, a yawn captivating his features as he looked about to see his environment. Running a hand down his face, he then glanced back at the leader, awaiting for him to continue with why he had so deemed it necessary to take him out of restful state of mainframe. Prime smiled gently while shrugging them up on his chassis, saying, "Would you like to see the museum or the park?"

"Deh 'ark?" Skywarp asked experimentally, turning his head in a confused manner.

"Yes, it's where people go to have fun," the leader said in a light tone, making it appear as wonderful as possible.

The violet Seeker's expression visibly brightened, optics widened as he replied in awe, "Ooooh!"

Starscream, however, looked a little less enthusiastic as he lost interest in his caretaker and proceeded to scan his surroundings, large orbs working to make sense of where exactly he was. Shifting, he leaned out again Optimus's hand while seeming to search for something, optics inspecting before he turned back to face Prime with a strange expression across his faceplates. "What is it?" the leader asked gently.

Even at the question, the ivory Seeker remained still, turning back to face the environment and looking out into the flat distance, seemingly transfixed. He stared at for the horizon for the longest time, Optimus following his gaze and trying to understand what had caught the mini Decepticon's attention so well. It was awfully strange; he usually wasn't so concentrated unless it was something he was interested in: puzzles, games and human books. But here, it appeared that nothing could steal away Starscream's awareness.

"You think he senses the Decepticons?" Ironhide asked, just as perplexed as his leader was about the whole thing.

"I'm not sure," Prime answered truthfully, "But I certainly hope not. What do you say, Starscream? Is it the Decepticons?"

The little bot replied with silence, almost expectedly, but Optimus hoped it otherwise. Why was he too frightened to speak? His mysteriousness caught everyone's attention, and it wasn't exactly…

"Megatron."

The name caught them all totally unawares. All three pairs of optics transferred to the tiny form of Starscream, who had finally pulled his gaze away from the distant land to stare up at Prime with large, innocent orbs. Ironhide was just as baffled; he exchanged shocked glances between the youngling and his leader, trying to remain quiet while Optimus responded. Of course, seeing as that not only Starscream had spoken, but said the name of his hated nemesis, he discovered himself at a loss of words. Shaking his head slightly, Prime forced himself under control before asking, as gently as possible, "Where, little one?"

A finger told the response, exactly in the same line of sight that the ivory one had previously been staring at. "I can feel him."

"How?" Optimus continued, taking Skywarp from his neck and placing him in the care of Ironhide, despite his attempts at resistance.

There was a brief moment of confusion on Starscream's behalf while he took another glance at the horizon, as if it might offer the answer for him. "I don't know," he replied quietly at last, stretching his arms out in a quiet plea for Prime to bring him near. "I just feel this big, black darkness…it's scary…"

"It's okay," the elder mech said softly, closing the distance between them and allowing the tiny Seeker to wrap a quivering arm around his thick neck. "I'm here; I won't let anything get you."

"Okay…" he whispered.

--

A horrific scream woke Optimus from a deep stasis of recharge.

He was upon his feet and out the door before his CPU even recognized what was going on—but his spark knew exactly what was occurring. It beat franticly against his broad chassis, forcing him to pump his legs faster as he burst into Starscream's room, his hand flicking on the light instinctively as his body dove towards the side of the bed. Almost instantly, his mainframe cleared of the sleep his parts begged for, his only awareness on the miniature form of Starscream curled up and crying in his recharge. Prime took the youngling into the warmth of spark, his body, while gasping for the other to awaken, "Starscream, wake up. Wake up, little one, please!"

A breaking jolt sent Starscream into consciousness, terrified and watery optics searching around the room and resting upon the leader. There was a moment's pass of utter silence, the connection between the pair being solidified for a brief instance in time before the expression on the mini Seeker turned from surprised to desperate all in one swoop. Diving into the warm confines of the elder's shoulder, Starscream bawled and sobbed, hiccups scoring in between as he released everything; the sights he saw, the things he felt. Optimus was there. He was always there. Even if he was alone in his nightmares, he would always be there when he woke up. He promised.

"Sh-sh, little one…" Prime whispered while resting upon the soft berth, which had been customized to fit Starscream's body type and to make it soft for his young body. It was durable just in case, and extra fuzzy pillows with a few sheets tossed in, gifts from Raindance, had been given in order to make the living space a bit more comfortable. However for Skywarp, being that he was still so young, remained with a chosen guardian, Ironhide, in order to make him sleep better. Yet, it appeared that Starscream was in need of the most help. Optimus stroked the little one's wings and back, the most sensitive part of his body, while reassuring him with gentle croons and hugging him close.

"It…hurt so badly…!" he continued to sob, gripping Prime so hard that his arm shook twice as much as the rest of his body, "The fist just kept…beating me and beating me…!"

The sound of pain in Starscream's voice and his terrible tremors made Optimus's spark turn, his expression softening moreso before he said quietly, "There is no fist and I am here. No one is going to hurt you while I'm still around, okay…?"

"I was…so scared!" hiccupped the little one, staring up at the larger with fear clouded in his optics, "I was all alone!"

"It was but a nightmare," Prime cooed, kissing his forehead while a thick finger smoothed circles against his head, "And I am here."

Starscream nodded, despite the fact that he continued to cry quietly into Optimus's shoulder. Taking one of the blankets, the elder wrapped it around Starscream to further comfort him, the mini Seeker taking the lip and covering as far as he deemed it, the line where his shoulder and head met, with it. Eventually, soft sobs turned into quiet hiccups and at last faded away, despite the fact that the little one's optics remained watery. When Optimus thought that he would return to recharge, the door swung open, revealing a distressed Ratchet with Bumblebee, Wheeljack and Hoist following in behind. Not even a whisper escaped them as they entered in the room, Starscream whimpering while Prime instinctively tightened his clutch on him. Once they were all in, Ratchet murmured as low as possible, "A nightmare?"

Optimus nodded while continuing to rub Starscream's back, sad optics transferring between the team. No doubt the rest of his soldiers were standing out in the hall, all wondering what had caused their little friend distress. Sighing somewhat, Ratchet wandered over and stuck out a finger, letting Starscream reach out and touch in recognition.

"What was it about?" he asked quietly, glancing at Optimus for an answer.

"A fist of something and it was beating him," Prime replied, holding the smaller close as he snuggled into the warmth of the elder's neck.

There was silence in the room for a breem, sad optics watching the clicking youngling, fear speaking everything for him as he watched all of the Autobots apprehensively, as if they just would up and hit him. A stout sigh escaped Optimus as he nuzzled the smaller, in turn receiving a frightened squeak in return while a tiny hand touched his faceplate. Then, in the very moment, Hoist seemed to go straight as his expression appeared that he just dawned upon something.

"Old memories…!" he gasped, optics wide, "Perhaps he remembers Megatron beating him! I mean, you said that he remembered his name without any of you telling, this could be…!"

"You're right," Wheeljack murmured while settling on the left of Prime, "And it only comes in his dreams."

"Or nightmares," Bumblebee added on a more depressing note. "What're we going to do, Optimus…?"

Guilt and helplessness overtook the Autobot leader, a sad gaze casting to the silver floor as he whispered, "I don't know…"

--

A/N: Daaaaaaaw, poor Starscream! Read and review, please!

Question: Can somebody tell me the personality of Sunstreaker and Sideswipe? And any of the other G1 guys? I'm having trouble putting their personalities down because I don't know what they are!