(no subject)
The city was silent, as it always was, now. Indeed, the shattered corpses of beings who had once been friends still littered the streets, for even the mutants feared to tread here. It was a wasteland, rumored to be haunted. The effect was not helped by the strange mists which rolled across the landscape. The moisture made him itch, getting into his joints, fogging up his optics.
His stabilizing servos crunched over the shattered crystal that littered the pavement - fragments of what had once been great spires, beautiful towers. There, the broken bits of a hard drive which had likely come from the university library, still clutched in the servo of someone who had been crushed by a falling pillar.
In one servo he carried a bunch of crystalline objects. To someone from Earth, they might have looked like flowers - common flora on Cybertron. They chimed softly with every step he made.
There'd been a time he'd been unable to come here at all. It had been too much. The memories had flooded back, and luckily Soundwave had been stalking him that day to make sure he didn't do anything stupid, otherwise he likely would never have been found, his body nearly stasis-locked from sheer despair.
The despair remained, even if he could walk. But he owed them this much.
He reached the great plaza outside the Academy of Sciences. Once, the place had been lined with flora, great crystal trees and long waving stalks of something a human might have likened to bamboo. Now, nothing grew there. The land itself seemed blighted, poisoned, even though his sensors indicated no radiation.
His brother's body was mercifully gone, taken away by the other Decepticons and interred in one of the mausoleums. The stains of energon had never quite been scrubbed out, a dark green splash around what had once been a monument to learning.
The very monument to which he'd been tied.
He lay the flowers at the base.
Not very like you, that...
He froze. Had he even heard that? No... no. It must be a glitch, something in his systems...
"I can't stay long, brother," he whispered, touching the stain with one servo. "I'm sorry. I miss you. I love you. I'm sorry..."
Who are you even talking to~?
... he'd definitely heard something that time. He turned up his audio sensors to full, straining.
Silence.
"I'll be back next stellar cycle. Same time and place. As always..."
After all, you never believed... why would you bother? In your mind, Skywarp is dead. What does he care if you leave flowers in his memory~?
Starscream whirled, shouting into the foggy gloom.
"Who's there?"
No response.
His ember burned in his chest, his coolant fans working overtime. In the silence all around they seemed far too loud, the sound echoing off the buildings. It was all he could do not to simply transform and fly off as fast as he could.
No... no. He would respect this place and not flee like a coward.
"Aww, Stars, I'm hurt... flowers for your brother, but none for me...?"
That whisper had seemed to be almost right next to his head. In one motion, he drew his sword and slashed at the air... only to meet nothing at all.
The voice came distant now, from high above, as if it were from one of the ruined buildings nearby.
"That's how you greet old friends now? And here I thought you Decepticons were all about peace? Oh, Stars..."
Starscream slowly lowered his sword, his optics widening.
"No... no, that's impossible. You're dead."
His stabilizing servos crunched over the shattered crystal that littered the pavement - fragments of what had once been great spires, beautiful towers. There, the broken bits of a hard drive which had likely come from the university library, still clutched in the servo of someone who had been crushed by a falling pillar.
In one servo he carried a bunch of crystalline objects. To someone from Earth, they might have looked like flowers - common flora on Cybertron. They chimed softly with every step he made.
There'd been a time he'd been unable to come here at all. It had been too much. The memories had flooded back, and luckily Soundwave had been stalking him that day to make sure he didn't do anything stupid, otherwise he likely would never have been found, his body nearly stasis-locked from sheer despair.
The despair remained, even if he could walk. But he owed them this much.
He reached the great plaza outside the Academy of Sciences. Once, the place had been lined with flora, great crystal trees and long waving stalks of something a human might have likened to bamboo. Now, nothing grew there. The land itself seemed blighted, poisoned, even though his sensors indicated no radiation.
His brother's body was mercifully gone, taken away by the other Decepticons and interred in one of the mausoleums. The stains of energon had never quite been scrubbed out, a dark green splash around what had once been a monument to learning.
The very monument to which he'd been tied.
He lay the flowers at the base.
Not very like you, that...
He froze. Had he even heard that? No... no. It must be a glitch, something in his systems...
"I can't stay long, brother," he whispered, touching the stain with one servo. "I'm sorry. I miss you. I love you. I'm sorry..."
Who are you even talking to~?
... he'd definitely heard something that time. He turned up his audio sensors to full, straining.
Silence.
"I'll be back next stellar cycle. Same time and place. As always..."
After all, you never believed... why would you bother? In your mind, Skywarp is dead. What does he care if you leave flowers in his memory~?
Starscream whirled, shouting into the foggy gloom.
"Who's there?"
No response.
His ember burned in his chest, his coolant fans working overtime. In the silence all around they seemed far too loud, the sound echoing off the buildings. It was all he could do not to simply transform and fly off as fast as he could.
No... no. He would respect this place and not flee like a coward.
"Aww, Stars, I'm hurt... flowers for your brother, but none for me...?"
That whisper had seemed to be almost right next to his head. In one motion, he drew his sword and slashed at the air... only to meet nothing at all.
The voice came distant now, from high above, as if it were from one of the ruined buildings nearby.
"That's how you greet old friends now? And here I thought you Decepticons were all about peace? Oh, Stars..."
Starscream slowly lowered his sword, his optics widening.
"No... no, that's impossible. You're dead."