Chapter Text
It… it can’t be, can it?! What is he doing here?! How is he here?!
I- I need to get him out. How do I get him out?!
Please, please still be alive, Skyfire!
…
Skyfire’s systems slowly came online, one by one.
At first, all he could feel was freezing cold in every inch of his chassis.
Then, he heard the sound of laser fire nearby, and a mech’s heavy, labored intakes before him.
At last his optics finally opened, and he viewed his surroundings with blurry vision. He could tell this wasn’t Cybertron at all.
How long had he been in stasis for?
His optics adjusted and he found himself in a cramped room, maybe some sort of alien science facility. Scattered on the floor were chunks of the ice that had been containing him, and standing in front of him was a familiar silver seeker.
“Starscream…?” Skyfire wearily asked. Starscream’s intakes became faster, lubricant welling up in his optics. The large mech glanced down and noticed a pair of stasis cuffs binding the seeker’s servos together. “Star, what happened?” he asked. He was only met with a whimper. He effortlessly broke off the cuffs, and with that, Starscream threw himself into Skyfire’s chest, sobbing.
“I thought- I thought you were dead-” he choked out, pressing himself closer to the shuttle.
“I’m so sorry, Star… I didn’t mean to worry you…” Skyfire said quietly, hugging the smaller bot close. Starscream must’ve been alone for so long not knowing where he was. At least now they were finally reunited.
He wasn’t going to let himself be away from his partner for that long ever again, not if he had anything to say about it.
Something crashing into a wall outside broke the silence and made Skyfire jump. He felt Starscream huddle closer to him again.
“What was that? What’s going on?” Skyfire asked, glancing down at Starscream.
Starscream took a deep, shaky intake and looked up at the white bot. “We’ve been at war for 4 million years…”
Ah. Right. He forgot about that.
“Wh- 4 million years?!” Skyfire stuttered. “Last I remember, the war had only been going on for a couple hundred before-!”
He cut himself off. The last thing he remembered before ending up here was climbing into a ship like the rest of his crew when they were being attacked by a handful of Decepticons. He got shot down during the escape and went into stasis, presumably crashing onto this planet eons ago. They were probably thousands of lightyears away from Cybertron, weren’t they?
“…where… are we? What happened to Cybertron?”
Starscream stared down at the floor. “Cybertron’s been dead for a long time… We’re on Earth now… Resources are low, our numbers are dwindling… I don’t know why we’re even bothering anymore…”
Skyfire hugged his partner close again. There was so much he had to process, so many things he had missed while he was trapped in ice. His home planet was uninhabitable, most of the people he knew before and during the war were probably dead, and what was left of both factions were now fighting on an alien world. At least he was with Starscream again…
A red and blue mech suddenly crashed through a wall and landed on the floor in front of the duo, prompting Skyfire to instinctively jump into a protective stance in front of Starscream, transforming a servo into a blaster. He quickly realized the mech in question was Optimus Prime, then looked up to see a large blue seeker approaching from the outside. Skyfire glared at him. He KNEW him.
“Ah, Dreadwing! Long time no see!” Skyfire greeted in a fake cheerful tone. Dreadwing’s gaze narrowed at the white mech.
“Skyfire. I thought I shot you down eons ago. Seeing you still online after all this time is rather… unexpected. It’s as if your battalion refuses to die.” Dreadwing replied.
“Well, us wreckers don’t go down easily.” Skyfire shrugged. He aimed his blaster at the other bot’s helm, his faceplate twisting into a snarl. “How bout I return the favor for you?”
Dreadwing dodged Skyfire’s first shot at him and the two launched into battle, lasers singeing the battlefield. Optimus watched the fight with wide optics. He hadn’t seen Skyfire since the beginning of the war, before Cybertron went dark. To find him here on Earth after all this time was quite the surprise.
While the fight continued, Optimus realized Starscream was nowhere to be found. Had he escaped while everyone was distracted? He stood up and was about to search for him, but his attention was pulled away from that issue when Skyfire was sent flying backwards into a wall. The shuttle groaned in pain, still glaring at Dreadwing as he approached.
“Tch, pathetic.” the blue seeker scoffed. “Though I will admit, you put up a good fight.” He prepared to deal the finishing blow, and Optimus was about to step in and put an end to the battle, but fast, heavy pedfalls began to approach, and before the Prime could turn to see what it was, a silver blur sped past him and slammed into Dreadwing, knocking him away and protecting Skyfire. All three mechs in the area stared in shock at Starscream, encased in the Apex Armor. He was EXTREMELY upset.
“STAY THE FRAG AWAY FROM MY CONJUNX OR I’LL TURN YOU INTO SCRAP METAL!” Starscream shrieked. Dreadwing backed away slightly before snarling.
“I’ll terminate you myself next time, traitor! Mark my words!” With that, Dreadwing turned and transformed, rocketing off into the sky. Starscream stood glaring in his direction when his attention was pulled away by Skyfire laughing.
“‘Conjunx’?” he asked, amused. Starscream turned away, blushing.
“Heh, perhaps I was a little caught up in the moment.” He helped Skyfire to his peds, then deactivated the Apex Armor, hugging his partner again once he was free. “You have no idea how much I missed you.”
Skyfire laughed again, Starscream joining in as his partner lifted him into the air and playfully spun him around. Optimus stood off to the side, still trying to process what just happened. On top of Skyfire showing up out of the blue, Starscream had taken the Apex Armor, rammed into Dreadwing with it to protect Skyfire, and had just tossed it aside once all that was well and over with.
It was… confusing to say the least.
Optimus cautiously approached the couple, retracting his mask. “Skyfire.” Skyfire turned to him, gently set Starscream down, and saluted the Prime.
“Optimus Prime. It’s an honor to see you again.”
“It certainly has been a while.” Optimus replied, smiling. “I am glad to see you are safe.”
“Well, as safe as one can be in a 4-million-year coma.” Skyfire shrugged.
The Prime nodded, his gaze off in the distance. “This war has been difficult for all of us. Losses have been had on both sides. As much as I’d like for this war to end quickly, it seems that is unlikely…”
Starscream, who had inched himself to hiding behind Skyfire, muttered under his breath. “It would be over by now if you just killed Megatron and got it over with.”
Optimus’ gaze narrowed. “I understand where you are coming from Starscream, but I would prefer to bring this war to a close without further casualties.”
Starscream hissed in response. Skyfire placed a servo on his shoulder, a concerned expression on his faceplate.
“Woah, Star, calm down.” Skyfire turned back to Optimus. “So, I presume your base is on this planet then?” Optimus nodded in response, resulting in a mild chuckle from the shuttle. “Lucky that I wound up frozen here, huh?”
“Fortunate indeed, Skyfire.” Optimus smiled. “Are you willing to join me and the rest of the Autobots to fight for this planet?”
The shuttle thought for a moment, his optics meeting Starscream’s. The small seeker had a sad look on his faceplate, obviously not wanting to be separated from his partner again. But then again, he didn’t really want to go rogue. What were the chances he would run into the Autobots again? As much as he missed his partner, he missed his fellow Autobots too.
Hmm…
“Can I bring Star with me?” Skyfire asked.
Optimus blinked in surprise. Starscream was dumbfounded.
“What?!” the seeker blurted out after a few moments of silence.
Skyfire gave him a pleading look. “As much as I don’t want to lose you again Star, I wanna see the others again. It’s been 4 million years, we have so much to catch up on!”
“I- I can’t- I can’t just join the Autobots, Sky! Half of them want to kill me!”
Optimus stepped in. “I believe it may be possible to make accommodations for Starscream, though I worry about how the others will take to it.”
Skyfire beamed excitedly, while Starscream’s expression fell to that of dread. The shuttle lifted Starscream up into his arms, hugging him close.
“Don’t worry Starlight, I’ll protect you. What good of a partner would I be if I didn’t?” Skyfire reassured. The silver mech whined in response.
“That’s only partly what I’m worried about…”