14 vorns previously…

Then , the strange feelings began.

After hours of lying there and thinking, finally wondering why he was so worked up over a dream, he'd drifted into a light recharge which soon became a deep one. This recharge was nothing like any recharge before, because as he slept, his mind, body and soul were being consumed, and all it took was this one sleep for it to happen.

Just as abruptly as he'd gone into recharge, he woke back up, only hours had passed and he didn't feel right at all. He had a killer headache and his spark chamber felt like it was on fire. Every single joint and servo in his body ached as if he'd bent improperly or crash landed really hard. He considered seeing Hook, as maybe the blast from the space bridge hurt him more than he thought. Groggily, he sat up. As he did, he felt extreme dizziness – so bad he almost fell off the berth. Holding on as his world spun, he took a moment to collect himself. He turned to stand, trying to shake off the ugly feeling that hounded him as he looked for the time. It was nowhere near the time he needed to be awake and he sat back down, realizing in that moment he was extremely weak and tired. Giving the feelings time to calm and possibly go away, Starscream laid back down. He ended up going back to sleep, but the feelings never completely disappeared. He slept, wondering if the fiery sensation correlated with that dream – if it was a dream.

He didn't wake again until he had to. The seeker sat up, noticing the fiery sensation in him was gone, but the headache and dizziness remained. He knew he had to go see Megatron. He was supposed to bring him evidence of the space bridge functioning, but obviously that idea was scrapped. Instead, he would bring him a piece of it that he'd taken with him. He was pretty sure he would be in trouble for blowing it up, too.

Megatron wasn't as angry as he thought he'd be. He demanded he build a new one and continue where he'd gotten blown up. Starscream was leery of the idea, as what happened with the last one scared him a bit . As time progressed throughout the day, he became fidgety and he wasn't entirely sure why. As the day continued on, he found himself feeling hungry – a sensation alien to himself, since when requiring energon, it didn't feel like this, yet he somehow knew it was a crave. The longer he tried to ignore it, the more persistent it became.

Time went on and he'd privately asked the medic about it, but the medic told him not to worry about it and whatever it was would pass, but it did not. He'd ended up telling him it was a virus. Starscream was no medic, nor was he an idiot... this wasn't a virus.

Something was obviously terribly wrong. Was it because of that 'dream'? Having lost his confidence in the medics after several visits, he began to simply ignore it and the subtle changes. This gave little relief and he soon found himself in pain beginning in his chest and soon throughout his body. His problems only worsened when the urges began. They were odd ones too. Urges for sustenance that did not come from seeking energon. It went on for days like this. Sometimes the pain would be so unbearable the seeker would curl up tightly and whimper to himself. Skywarp and Thundercracker told him to see a medic, but he refused, telling them that the medics had no idea what was wrong with him. They were concerned for him the more they found him like this. He hadn't told them about his dream, either.

Strangely enough, a new symptom arose. It happened when he spoke to others. His optics constantly went to their chest from a distracting small blue light that persistently stayed. It intrigued him because with different mechs, came different colors or brightness of lights and… like a whole other sense, he could read scents from them. He didn't notice his watching, but others did. However, their view of it was that Starscream just didn't want to look them in the optic – so it was passed off as nothing.

He then became annoyed because he could not sleep and that something was getting stronger, yet he still could not define what it was. Lying awake one night, he decided he'd figured it out. It was a hunger. One he could not place.

8 vorns previously…

It was the irresistible scent of Spark Energy that triggered him and finally, he'd snapped. A fight had broken out and the one who'd lost the fight had taken an alley where Starscream happened to have been. He wasn't hiding, he'd been wandering, trying to figure out what was wrong. He had no control over himself and what happened next, and since the lights were dim to begin with, no one saw the drastic change. Overcome by whatever was building, Starscream savagely attacked the bleeding mech, tearing at him, ripping at him until his Spark casing had cracked, and that was when he'd found it. Starscream was out of his mind. He stared hungrily at the dying Spark and he reached down and touched it. His hand contracted and something very weird happened. His optics changed drastically, and a look crossed his features of pure malice. From there he proceeded to bring the spark casing to his face and sucked all of the energy out of it.

A few moments afterward, he came to his senses, a residual feeling of numbness going through his body, wondering what had happened. The last he knew, he was in the alley with a mech, one that was obviously in need of a medic. He glanced around quickly, but his attention was soon brought on himself. Looking down at his chest, he saw energon spattered over him. He lifted a hand and looked at it. This energon was fresh. Frightened by it, he leaned to look down the alley for clues and that was when he saw what appeared to be the mech in a puddle of energon. He made his way to the body, feeling like he'd been hit by a starship. The closer he got, the more horrified he'd become by what he saw. There was just something wrong with how this mech looked. It was obvious he was dead, but it was nothing short of disgusting on how he'd been killed. His body was torn by what seemed to be some feral creature. His chest looked as though it had been the target of the attack. Oddly enough, the spark casing was completely removed from the body, lying further away.

As Starscream glanced over him, he got flashes of memory, showing him what had happened to the mech. He had killed the mech. It took him a moment to grasp what he'd done, he broke down with confusion and horror. Quickly backing away and looking around himself with paranoia, he wondered… Did anyone see this? He panicked, shuffling to his feet, he took off. As fast as he could and as far as he could, he flew, wondering what he was going to do and what had happened.

He'd made his way to the outskirts of the Decepticon territory, where he knew no one often went. The mech rested, slunk against a rock wall, happy to be away from where body of the mech he'd killed lay. The mech looked to this his hands once again. What was happening to him?

What WAS Happening?