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The battle had been fiercer than usual this time around, so much so that Skyfire had to stick around despite wanting to go back to his lab more than anything. He didn’t like fighting if he could help it.
But this was war, and so he did what he could to help his allies.
Even if the bot he had once loved stared at him with rage from the other side of the battlefield…
And from the opposing side of the conflict.
Skyfire tried not to think about it much: there was no use in doing so. The Starscream he had once adored was no longer coming back. At first, right after he defected to the Autobots, he had held on to the hope that maybe, if the war ended soon enough, he could try and reconcile with him. But as months passed, he had come to realize with an aching spark that Starscream had changed too much; he had done things Skyfire wouldn’t have ever thought possible from him, and even if the war ended tomorrow, there was no going back to the friendship they once had.
And that was probably the worst part—that all they had ever been was friends. Skyfire had wanted to tell him, but he had never been brave enough. If Starscream had felt the same way at any point…
Well, those feelings were surely long gone.
So of course, finding himself fighting against Starscream once again was not his idea of an ideal evening. This time they were on top of a mountain range and snow fell heavily around them, as if everything had conspired to make this day as terrible as possible.
He wanted to go back to his lab so bad…
But instead he was flying through mountain tops, in a snowstorm that worsened by the moment, trying to avoid Starscream’s blaster fire as the seeker shot at him furiously from behind. They were getting further and further away from the actual battle, but Starscream wouldn’t relent. Skyfire could hear him screaming at him, but he couldn’t make out what Starscream was saying over the noise of the wind.
It reminded him of the day he had crashed in the Arctic. But this time he wasn’t just in danger from the storm, and as it got stronger and stronger Skyfire started to panic.
Being much faster than Skyfire, Starscream quickly caught up to him and managed to shoot one of his wings, pain shot through his spinal struts and he started spiraling out of control towards one of the mountains. The shuttle transformed and onlined his thrusters to try and lessen the impact of the incoming fall, but he still crashed hard enough that the glass on his cockpit cracked.
As he struggled to stand back up, he heard Starscream land behind him.
“Hah! Right where I wanted you!” Starscream cackled, still pointing his blaster at Skyfire.
Skyfire turned around, optics wide with terror. This was too much for him to handle; he needed to get away, now.
He didn't shoot to kill; he never did, at least not with Starscream. Even after all this time, and even in his panicked state, he couldn't bring himself to do so.
He had planned this to be a shot to the leg or something similar that would distract Starscream enough to allow himself to escape; instead, he missed and hit the mountain behind him. Starscream was about to laugh at his poor aim, when both mechs felt the ground start shaking.
“What the—” Starscream started, cut off by the realization of what was coming. “Skyfire, we have to go! It’s an avalanche!” He screeched.
Skyfire had little time to ponder over the fact that Starscream had said we, and that he seemed interested in his survival.
Just as he was about to respond with the fact that he couldn’t fly now, a rock the size of his fist hit Starscream on the back of the helm at full speed, knocking him forward and making him fall face first on the snow with a thump.
“Starscream!” Skyfire screamed as he bolted towards his immobile form, more rocks were falling around them and the snow would cover them soon. He had to find cover, quickly.
He grabbed Starscream and ran as fast as he could, away from the incoming avalanche, spotting a cave that he could maybe get to if he was fast enough.
Fueled by panic, he doubled his speed and got to the cave just in time for the avalanche to pass above them. Thankfully, the cave was deep enough that even if the snow had blocked the entrance, there was enough space left for them to wait for rescue, even if it felt cramped.
Once his optics adjusted to the lack of light in the cave, Skyfire turned his attention to Starscream, his body still dangling limp on his arms. Skyfire sat on the ground, carefully cradling the seeker as he started inspecting the damage to his head. To his horror, he discovered that a big portion of it was bashed in, energon trickling from the wound and exposed circuitry letting out sparks now and then.
“No no no,” the shuttle muttered, afraid of moving him more in case he made things worse.
He tried comming anyone who was close enough to receive a call, only to realize that, most likely due to the storm, his communication systems were offline.
“Starscream! Wake up, please!”
He felt guilty, the avalanche had been his fault, if he had aimed properly, if he hadn’t been panicking…
Suddenly, Starscream’s optics turned on, Skyfire was about to exvent in relief, but he saw one of Starscream’s optics was flickering on and off; that couldn’t mean anything good.
“Starscream?” He asked, his voice shaking.
Starscream mumbled something that he couldn’t make out.
“What?” He lowered his helm closer to Starscream, hoping to hear him better.
“After we come back…”
Skyfire was puzzled. “What happens after we come back, Starscream?”
Starscream let out a small chuckle. “He’ll never see it coming.” He was still speaking softly, almost too softly to hear.
“Who are you talking about?”
“I bet he’s gonna cry when I tell him, he’s always… been soft like that.” He was smiling faintly as he talked.
Skyfire wasn’t sure if Starscream was even able to hear or understand him in this state, but he knew he had to keep him awake somehow, so he did his best to keep him talking.
“What are you going to tell him?”
“It’s the perfect plan… I’ll take him to that place… so we can…” He trailed off as his vents became more labored and Skyfire shook him lightly.
“So you can do what?” He asked urgently.
“So we can see the meteor shower,” Starscream smiled a little wider this time. He was looking up in Skyfire’s direction, but he was clearly seeing something different in his processor, he appeared to be lost in a memory.
“If we come back from the expedition in time… it will line up perfectly.”
Skyfire’s optics widened. Expedition?
“Skyfire’s going to love it.”
Skyfire froze as he heard Starscream say his name with such fondness. It had been ages since he had heard the seeker regard him in that way, it made his spark ache.
“I hope…”
The knot that had formed in Skyfire’s throat prevented him from asking any more questions, so he just gripped Starscream’s frame a little tighter.
“I hope it’s enough,” his tone was more serious all of a sudden.
“E-enough?” Was the only thing Skyfire managed to get out of his vocal processor as he tried not to stare at the pool of energon growing beneath Starscream’s head.
“It has to be… If he doesn’t understand it, then he’s a fool.”
Skyfire had a feeling about where this was going, and still, cleaning fluid welled up in his optics.
Starscream went silent and both of his optics flickered off. But just as Skyfire was about to start panicking they came back on.
“Starscream?” He asked, cautiously.
He was silent for a moment, and then, almost inaudibly, he muttered:
“I hope I get to kiss him.”
The tears that had been welling up on his optics started flowing freely as Skyfire let out a sob.
“Starscream, I—” Skyfire started, but he was interrupted by Starscream mumbling again.
“That would be nice…”
Then, with one last flicker, Starscream’s optics went dark.
Skyfire felt his spark go still, and he shook Starscream, at first lightly, then harder after there was no response.
“Starscream?”
Nothing.
“Starscream!?”
Still no response.
As sobs tore through his body, Skyfire started screaming.
“You can’t do this! You can’t do this to me! You can’t say that and leave! Starscream! Star—”
He was crying so hard that he couldn’t get the words out anymore. So he resorted to hugging Starscream’s empty graying frame as tightly as he could.
This was his fault. Maybe if he hadn’t missed the shot, if he hadn’t been in this battle, if he hadn’t left the Decepticons… if he hadn’t lost hope on Starscream.
If he hadn’t gotten lost in that storm all those years ago…
They would’ve probably been able to see that meteor shower, and maybe…
They would’ve gotten to kiss.