Chapter Text
Thundercracker never cared much for painting, but he admired Bulkhead's works for what they were. Despite his lack of interest in the craft, when Bulkhead invited him to paint—and bring Soundwave along—he agreed. He missed Bulkhead, so he would take any excuse to hang out with him. Even if it meant doing something he wasn't particularly fond of.
So, when he got up and called for Soundwave to come with him, it was with a lightness in his spark that he hadn't felt in a long time. But of course, as he reached the door, an extra set of pedesteps joined them. Thundercracker turned, wing twitching, as he faced Starscream. Kas wings were low, optics wide, gaze almost pleading.
Thundercracker sighed. The Autobots may have allowed them to stay in the base, but they still didn't trust Starscream and Skywarp as much as they trusted him. Besides, Bulkhead had asked him to only bring Soundwave.
"Starscream," Thundercracker said. "No."
Starscream's wings drooped. Anxiety seared the air.
"I—"
"It's just painting," Thundercracker said. "Why do you always want to come with me? You weren't following me around like this before."
Starscream stiffened, joints locking up. Ka jerked, letting out a few quiet, interrupted growls. Thundercracker waited until ka finally forced a word out.
"I'm your Claw," ka said. "I need to protect you. Who knows what those Autobots will do?"
"'Those Autobots' raised me," Thundercracker said.
Starscream growled. "I know!"
"Then you know they won't hurt me," Thundercracker said.
Starscream stamped kas pede. "Just—let me come with you!"
Thundercracker hadn't been around many petulant sparklings—Soundwave and Windshear were very well-behaved—but he watched enough shows with them to find Starscream's behavior reminiscent. Rather than point that out and risk angering Starscream further, Thundercracker kept his voice level.
"I understand you're anxious—"
"I'm not!" Starscream hissed.
Thundercracker glared at kan. Starscream shrank.
"Maybe I am," Starscream mumbled. "But it's my role to guard you. I can't do that if you're all the way on the other side of the base."
"You can guard Skywarp," Thundercracker said.
Starscream growled again.
"I don't need to guard Skywarp!" Ka said.
Thundercracker turned toward the door. He stepped out, Soundwave following him. Before Starscream could do the same, he stuck out his arm, preventing kan from breaching the doorway.
The anxiety on the air grew stronger. Starscream's composure transformed.
"Please," ka said. "Don't leave me."
Where was this coming from? Starscream normally had to be dragged into affection. Unless…
Thundercracker would need to take kan to Ratchet later. There was definitely something wrong. Ka rarely admitted to pain or fear. When pressed, ka got irritated, claiming ka could handle it. Ka didn't… do whatever this was.
Gently, Thundercracker grabbed kas shoulder. Starscream averted kas gaze.
"I'll back back," Thundercracker said. "You don't need to worry."
Starscream mumbled something he couldn't catch.
"What?" Thundercracker said.
Starscream backed away.
"It's nothing," ka said quietly. "Just go."
That was more normal.
"We'll talk when we get back, okay?" Thundercracker said, shutting the door.
!!!
Bulkhead greeted him warmly, patting him on the back with his usual zeal. Despite his immense strength, Bulkhead was a very gentle bot. Thundercracker muffled a purr, joy rising in his spark. He smiled back at Bulkhead.
"It's good to have you back," Bulkhead said.
"It's good to be back," Thundercracker replied. "I missed you and the other bots."
"We missed you, too," Bulkhead said, leading him inside. "We were worried, but we knew you were doing important work. None of us expected you to show up with an entire flock of Seekers!"
Thundercracker shrugged. "Well, my mission wasn't exactly well-defined."
It was simply 'learn about the Seekers and find any way to aid the war effort.' That That quickly corrupted into 'find any way to stop the fighting' the moment he spoke to Skywarp for the first time. In many ways, Seekers and Autobots were the same.
Bulkhead chuckled. He stopped before a large canvas hung on the wall. Buckets of paint were scattered below it. Splashes of color morphed together in something vaguely reminiscent of a landscape, but the details were missing. A large portion of the canvas was blank.
"This is what I've been working on for the past few orns," Bulkhead said. "It's nowhere near finished, but I'm finally getting somewhere."
"It looks nice," Thundercracker said.
He didn't have the vision Bulkhead did. Somehow, Bulkhead could take basic shapes and keep adding until it turned into a beautiful landscape. It was like the mech had some special sense that Thundercracker lacked.
"Thanks," Bulkhead said. He leaned down, a warm smile on his face as he stared at Soundwave. "What do you think?"
Soundwave glanced between the painting and Bulkhead. Na stayed silent. Bulkhead's smile fell, but he forced it back onto his face.
"Quiet one, isn't he?" Bulkhead said.
"Yeah," Thundercracker said.
Soundwave usually at least responded when someone else talked to him. Why was na completely silent now?
"Well," Bulkhead said, shifting awkwardly. "I set up the canvases in the back. Fresh paint for all of us. Come on."
Bulkhead led them to the back of the room. They quickly began painting. Well, more like Bulkhead began painting while Thundercracker floundered. He did his best to copy Bulkhead's instructions and paint the set of mountains he was painting, but each of his strokes went slightly off, and he almost never had the correct amount of paint on his brush. Still, whenever Bulkhead walked around the other side to check, he said something positive in what Thundercracker was certain was a strained voice.
He tried not to let it get to him, but frustration was building. Aside from a lack of interest, difficulty was another reason Thundercracker never learned to paint even when Bulkhead offered to teach him. It would be so easy to give in to his anger and sink his claws into the canvas. Wouldn't it look better ripped apart?
Soundwave drew a long, solid black line down nas canvas in a single swipe and hadn't drawn anything since. Bulkhead cajoled nam, trying to get nam to follow his instructions or at least draw more, but na just stared at him silently. Thundercracker still didn't know why na was acting like that. Though na was quiet, na was perfectly capable of responding to others when asked questions. So why didn't na talk now?
"Why not make another line?" Bulkhead asked softly.
Soundwave stared, just like the several other times Bulkhead asked. Then, finally, na spoke.
"I don't like painting," na said.
Bulkhead frowned. But there was no sadness or irritation or other negative emotions on the air. Despite his massive size (for an Autobot, anyway), Bulkhead was an immensely gentle and patient mech.
"What do you like to do?" He asked.
"I sing sometimes," Soundwave said.
Na did, though not very often. Thundercracker hadn't paid much attention to it, and now a small wave of guilt washed over him. He should be engaging with Soundwave beyond basic skills like hunting more.
"Oh," Bulkhead said. "That's nice. Would you like to sing now?"
"No," Soundwave said. Na turned toward Thundercracker. "Can we go?"
Thundercracker tried not to show any signs of irritation. They came here to spend time with Bulkhead! But he placed himself in Soundwave's pedes for a moment. Na didn't know Bulkhead. Na didn't even like painting, apparently. When na had been with Autobots, they had mistreated nam.
Thundercracker should've known this wouldn't end well.
"Okay," Thundercracker said. "How about we get some fuel? Then we can head back."
Soundwave nodded. Thundercracker turned back toward Bulkhead, his wings lowered.
"I'm sorry," he said. "We'll have to paint some other time. Do you want to come with us?"
Bulkhead scratched his helm, a bashful smile on his face.
"Ah, no thanks," he said. "It's alright. I know how sparkling are."
Thundercracker dipped his helm.
"Thank you," he said.
Even when things went wrong, he could always trust Bulkhead to be understanding. He led Soundwave out the door and into the hallway, heading toward the mess hall. Na tugged at his elbow.
"Not energeon," na mumbled.
Thundercracker sighed. "We're with the Autobots, we drink energeon. When we stay with the Seekers, we can hunt."
Soundwave's shoulders lowered.
"Why can't we just catch something and bring it back?" Na complained.
Thundercracker's processor summoned his older memory files. In particular, one of him bringing a freshly caught scraplet to Prowl and being chastised for it.
"Autobots don't hunt," Thundercracker said.
They entered the mess hall after a long silence. The mess hall—which was normally empty—was strangely crowded. Mecha clustered together, taking up many of the tables. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe caught his optics. Sunstreaker waved at him. Thundercracker waved back. But as he stepped toward them, something tugged at his arm.
He turned toward Soundwave. Na inclined nas helm toward the other side of the room. Ahead of them, Sunstorm, Bitstream, and Hotlink sat at a table. Two petrorabbits were laid out on top of it, steadily leaking energeon. All of the tables surrounding them were empty. The mess hall wasn't actually crowded—the Autobots present had compressed themselves into the other half of it. They stared warily at the Seekers, tension hanging on the air.
Thundercracker wanted to sit with Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. But he couldn't neglect his duties. He waved to them again and headed toward Sunstorm and nas trinemates. As he approached, they raised their wings in greeting. He raised his back.
"You're here," he said.
He hadn't expected Sunstorm to come this soon. Na was so reluctant. But he had requested Bitstream and Hotlink work with the Autobots like they asked, so maybe Sunstorm had given in and went with them.
"Yes," Sunstorm said. "That dirtkisser is… certainly something."
Soundwave reached for one of the petrorabbits. Hotlink slid it toward nam. Taking the offering for what it was, na severed its fuel line and drank.
"You're already spoken with Deftclaw?" Thundercracker asked.
Another thought occurred to him: Sunstorm could speak with Ratchet. That meant na also had a Common language packet. Did na get nas from the same place Starscream got kas?
"Yes," Sunstorm said. "Na gave us some disappointing news."
Hotlink paused in the middle of prying a scute of plating from the petrorabbit in waz claws.
"It's only disappointing if you let it be," wa said.
Sunstorm closed nas optics and sighed. Curiosity bit at Thundercracker's plating. Sunstorm had wanted to know what would prevent a Seeker from carrying a newspark. Vorns ago, Starscream mentioned nam when ka told Thundercracker about Seekers falsely kindling after Data Hunger. Was Sunstorm not able to conceive? Was that what Ratchet confirmed?
"What was it?" Thundercracker asked.
Sunstorm's wings lowered. Hotlink laid the scute wa had finally pried off on the table and leaned forward.
"I'll put it this way: Bitstream will be our trine's dam," Hotlink said.
The mentioned mech's wings fluttered, a tinge of excitement on the air. Ka smiled.
"Isn't ka a Claw?" Thundercracker asked.
All Seekers could both sire and carry, but so far, Thundercracker had only seen Sparks gravid. Sunstorm emphasized Sparks as dams so strongly that Thundercracker assumed carrying litters was reserved for only that role.
Sunstorm's wings flicked.
"Sparks are the ones who usually carry seekerlings," na said. "It… pains me that I cannot. But a gravid Claw is not unheard of."
"In my birth flock, Claws were the ones who carried most," Hotlink said. "Imagine my shock when I got to the Decepticons and Sparks were the flock's primary dams instead!"
Thundercracker hummed. It only confirmed what he realized about the roles before: they were constructed and learned rather than being innate. Different flocks had different expectations. If only he could meet those flocks…
Maybe someday, when all of this was over. When there was peace and no one had to worry about being shot down when going for a flight. Then, Thundercracker could visit the other flocks and learn about their traditions. Maybe there would be Seekers of multiple or no roles like him.
The air shifted. Thundercracker's wings twitched as he searched for the source of the shift. Prowl stood a short distance from the table, arms folded. How did he get there without Thundercracker noticing? Was he that stuck in his own thoughts?
"Hey, Prowl," Thundercracker said.
Prowl dipped his helm. "Thundercracker. Can you tell your… subjects to take this elsewhere? It's causing a disturbance."
"Disturbance?"
Sunstorm's voice cut through the air. Nas accent, like Starscream's, was thick.
"Yes," Prowl said, grimacing. "I was paged several times."
Sunstorm gestured to the partially dismantled petrorabbits. "This disturbs you?"
"Enough of us for it to be my problem," Prowl said.
"Why?" Sunstorm said. "It cannot be because of the spilt energeon. You spill enough of it. It cannot be because of the dismantlement. You dismantle us enough. It cannot be because of the death. You kill us enough. So why does this disturb you?"
"It's barbaric," Prowl said, furrowing his brow.
"Barbaric," Sunstorm said. "What a special word. It is barbaric to fuel? It is barbaric to kill with purpose? To use what is killed? Or is it because we are Seekers and not petrorabbits that we enjoy your cruelty?"
Prowl's doors twitched. Irritation rose in the air.
"You don't need to kill to live," he said.
"We must fuel to live," Sunstorm said. "Energeon alone cannot sustain us like it sustains you. Or do you not know this?"
Energeon alone… Thundercracker knew the energeon he drank while he was with the Autobots was enriched, but he assumed that was the case for everyone. Was it not?
"I know," Prowl said.
"So, you would rather we starve than fuel just because what we must do to live disgusts you?" Sunstorm said.
Prowl frowned. "That isn't what I said."
Sunstorm tapped nas claws on the table.
"What else am I meant to assume?" Na asked. "You tell us this is where we fuel and then you tell us we cannot bring our fuel here."
Thundercracker leaned in, placing himself between Sunstorm and Prowl.
"Prowl, please," he said.
Prowl looked his way. His gaze softened.
"Fine," he said. "I will allow it. But clean up after yourselves. There's line energeon all over the floor."
Sunstorm hummed. Nas gaze didn't leave Prowl even as he turned away.
"Thank you," Thundercracker said softly.
With a brief nod, Prowl was gone. Silence settled over the table. Sunstorm and nas trinemates returned to eating. Something nudged Thundercracker's arm. He accepted the scute of petrorabbit Soundwave offered him.
"They're all like that," Soundwave said.
Na could hear what the Autobots refused to voice. Thundercracker didn't want to believe it, but he knew it was the truth. As they were, the Autobots wouldn't accept Seekers. He had been pulled aside and scolded for things he learned were natural too many times to count.
"I know," Thundercracker said.
A commlink required connection from both sides—sending and receiving. If one side refused to receive, the other's messages would never go anywhere. If one side refused to send, the other would never hear from them. Mending the relationship between Seeker and Autobot was the same.
The Seekers could forsake their biases, sure. That would allow them to mend ties. But those biases arose for a reason. Autobots had harmed many Seekers, and killed many more. The hatred and revulsion Seekers held toward Autobots wasn't blind—it was a matter of self defense. Individuals like Megatron took it too far, but it came from real harm done to them.
The Autobots had experienced cruelty from Seekers, but it wasn't on the same scale. There were many mecha stationed at this very base who had lost loved ones to battles. But the Autobots attacked as often as they were attacked, if not more. The things they hated about Seekers were things they couldn't change, like their diet. The Autobots' goal wasn't self-defense—it was eradication.
If they wanted peace, it was the Autobots who would have to change the most.
!!!
Thundercracker heard it before they had even reached the hall—a familiar screeching. It was accompanied by howls, and as he drew closer, hisses. Thundercracker's spark froze. With Soundwave at his side, he sprinted to the door and pressed the button. It flew open.
Magenta and purple blurs zipped around the room, the occasional sound of thrusters activating consuming all other noise. Scorchmarks and scratches were littered around the floor, accented by splashes of energeon. Whatever had caused this, it had been going on for a while.
With a yowl, Starscream stuck Skywarp in the face. Wa yelped and struck back, but ka dodged it with ease. Skywarp turned and fled, but Starscream grabbed wan by the wing and dragged wan back. Whipping around, wa bit Starscream's bad arm. Starscream released wan with a hiss.
Wa struck Starscream, but as quickly as wa gained the upper hand, wa lost it. Starscream charged forward with a growl, slamming wan into the wall. Ka raked kas claws down Skywarp's chest repeatedly, growling all the while. Wa struggled, but was unable to get free. Fear consumed the air, turning it cold and biting.
Thundercracker had enough. Launching himself forward, he slammed into Starscream. Ka yelped as kan was pinned. At first, ka didn't struggle, going completely limp. Thundercracker pushed ka into the floor with as much force as he could muster.
"What's wrong with you?" He hissed.
First, refusing to leave him alone this morning. Now, attacking Skywarp. Something was deeply wrong, but Thundercracker was starting to suspect it wasn't anything he could have guessed.
Rather than replying, Starscream let out a series of high pitched whines, struggling beneath him.
"You attacked Skywarp," Thundercracker said. "Why?"
Again, Starscream didn't respond, struggling in vain. Thundercracker pressed kan harder into the ground to cease the squirming. Ka closed kas optics. Kas wings quivered, plating rattling as kas entire frame shook.
"Starscream, please," Thundercracker said. "What's going on? Why did you hurt Skywarp?"
Starscream went limp again. Slowly, Thundercracker released kan. It proved to be a mistake. The moment Thundercracker's grip loosened, Starscream pulled kaz free and shot out the door. A small trail of energeon was left in kas wake.
What was Thundercracker supposed to make of that? Why wouldn't Starscream explain?
He sighed. Starscream was always closed off. Whatever the issue was, he would need to find kan later. He turned his attention toward Skywarp. Wa was frozen, staring at the doorway as wa clutched waz injured chest.
Wa flinched as Thundercracker approached. Tension hung on the air—anxiety was present, but the all-consuming fear Thundercracker had walked into was gone now. Thundercracker knelt in front of wan.
"What happened?" He asked.
Skywarp's wings twitched as wa hesitated.
"We had an argument," wa said softly. "I don't like how ka has been acting, so I told kan how I felt and… I didn't expect kan to do that."
Thundercracker wouldn't have, either. Ka was snippy, but ka hadn't actually hurt either of them until now. Quite the opposite, actually—ka helped and protected them. If Starscream had attacked anyone else, Thundercracker would have assumed ka was provoked. But Skywarp? Wa was always soft-spoken and sweet. What could Skywarp possibly have done to elicit such a response?
"Ka broke the rule," Skywarp said softly.
Thundercracker's wings twitched. "What rule?"
Skywarp's claws traced the wounds on waz chest. "Claws aren't supposed to hurt their trinemates."
The scratches on waz chest were easy to see. They leaked small beads of energeon. Thundercracker wrapped his arms loosely around Skywarp and pulled wan up. Wa leaned into him. Despite the smears of energeon everywhere—the walls, the ceiling, even the nest—Skywarp had few visible injuries. But Thundercracker knew these things could be deceptive.
Ratchet always told him to visit the medbay when he was hurt. If it was minor, the worst he would get was a stern lecture or an exasperated sigh. If it was something worse, Ratchet would fix it. So, that was where he took Skywarp. Soundwave trailed after them.
The medbay was quiet when they entered. The other medics were on break, but Ratchet never was. When Thundercracker was younger, he used to think Ratchet slept in the medbay because he never saw him leave it. Though he later learned that was false, there was a spare berth hidden in the back of one of the storage rooms. No one could prove Ratchet hadn't recharged in it at least once.
To his surprise, it was not red and white plating that greeted his sight but yellow. Sunstorm stood beside Ratchet, the two huddled in front of a monitor. Na was the first to notice their entrance.
"Thundercracker and Skywarp," na said—in Common—as nas optics scanned their frames. "What happened?"
Ratchet frowned, his brow setting sternly. He motioned toward one of the berths. Thundercracker led Skywarp onto it. Sunstorm immediately got to work, examining Skywarp's frame. Ratchet handed nam a cleaning pad, which na used to gently scrub away the energeon that coated Skywarp's frame.
With it washed away, Skywarp's seeming lack of wounds became more apparent. There were thin scratches on waz chest, and one from when Starscream grabbed waz wings, but little else.
"An awful lot of energeon for such shallow wounds," Sunstorm said. "Who did you fight and where are they now?"
"Starscream," Thundercracker said. "I walked in on it and broke it up. He ran away. I don't know where he went."
Starscream protested against being referred to kan as small, so Thundercracker went the other direction and referred to him as large. He didn't care, but the crease of Ratchet's brow told him the choice was noticed.
Sunstorm hummed. "My sibling has always been prone to fits."
"Fits?" Thundercracker repeated.
Sunstorm began cleaning Skywarp's scratches. "You have seen her. She has always been like this."
Thundercracker noted the use of small. He didn't know if Sunstorm heard Starscream's protests. Na wasn't in the room when they were made, so na would've had to hear them secondhand. But still…
Starscream was foul-tempered, but ka hadn't hurt him or Skywarp until now. Ka showed immense patience with Soundwave and Windshear, despite kas initial disdain for the former. When in pain, ka tended to get grouchy, but the only times Thundercracker saw Starscream throwing anything resembling a fit were after interacting with Sunstorm or Megatron.
"Don't worry," Sunstorm said, pausing between applications of salve. "Ka will come back eventually. Ka always does."
Starscream was out there somewhere, alone and injured. As upset as Thundercracker was that ka hurt Skywarp, ka was still his trinemate. Something was wrong, and Thundercracker hadn't even had the chance to find out what.
He left Skywarp and Soundwave back at the room, but not before an intense cuddling session that his processor spent the entire duration of worrying about Starscream. He knew he should have been concerned for Skywarp—wa was the one who was attacked—but Skywarp was here, and Starscream was who knew where. And Soundwave had seen the whole thing! He should've been angry with Starscream. Part of him was.
But as he searched the clearing the Decepticons had made their temporary home in and didn't see kas distinctive magenta plating anywhere, worry continued to eat away at his frame. One of Skywarp's remarks from before came back to him—ka had broken a role related rule. Starscream valued kas role highly. It was the reason for their recent argument. This just wasn't like kan at all.
Thundercracker felt Blast's presence before he saw nam. Nas hand hovered near Thundercracker's shoulder, quickly withdrawing as he turned toward nam.
"What's wrong?" Na asked.
Thundercracker closed his optics, his wings drooping. "Starscream is gone. We don't know where ka went."
He forced himself to open his optics, watching Blast's face. All he was rewarded with was a small frown.
"We haven't seen kan," Blast said. "But we'll keep an optic out."
It was the most he could ask for.
Thundercracker flew. When he didn't see Starscream anywhere, he called. As the sun fell below the horizon and his voice grew further and further coated in static, he had to admit defeat. Any messages in the trinelink received no response.
He would just have to wait.