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Day 4: An Unexpected Present
In the eons they'd been together the subject of the next generation had come up many times. It was a difficult subject, in that certain cultures and by extension their citizens had all but been extinguished. Seekers and Praxians were too few to rebuild and those that remained lamented their lost cultures anew. There would never be a diverse population, there would never be true Seekers in the skies again. Not as there had been.
When Optimus had started tiring easier, Starscream began to worry. Stress he’d claimed. And while it was true, what with trying to rebuild their entire world, Starscream couldn’t put his finger on what was making him seem...different.
The longer his mate was stressed the worse he seemed to get. Systems demanding more energy, even higher grades. Starscream had caught him grabbing cubes meant for flight frames more than once, saying the other grades ‘just tasted funny’. When he caught his diligent mate sleeping during a council meeting. Optimus firmly denied there being anything wrong, so Starscream arranged an ambush by Ratchet in his office one day.
“You’re sparked, but not only that you’re carrying a Seeker. A fully coded Seeker.”
“Not possible.”
“I’m not wrong, Starscream. Check the readings yourself.” Ratchet stepped aside so Starscream could see for himself. “Maybe it has something to do with the Matrix? It’s from Primus’ very spark, so maybe it has the ability to complete whatever coding it’s given? Like if I were to spark him we’d get a fully coded Medic?” The answering growl from flight engines had Ratchet reaching for his wrench. “I’m not going to try and spark up your mate, you moron. I’m just giving you an example.”
While that conversation devolved into an argument, no one witnessed Optimus closing up his chest and holding his hand over where his spark lie beneath. “Sparked. With a Seeker. Then there is hope for us. You haven’t abandoned us.” Whispered words shouldn’t have carried as well as they did. Starscream’s attention returned to his mate. He crawled into his mate’s lap and rested his own head against the plating about the spark now supporting at most unexpected present.
“Such a wonderful gift. I don’t know who to thank more, you for carrying this for me, or Primus for granting this to us. Either way thank you. It is more than I ever dared hope for.”