Eee! Baby fishie!

May 15, 2009 17:55

Title: The Nine Rings of Vos
A Transformers G1 Fanfic
Author: Sanjuno Shori Niko
Summary: What people fail to realise is that twins are rare for a reason.
Timeline: I tend to write out of order, so those who like to read chronologically should like this.

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(In which the Battlechargers are adopted.)

Thundercracker looked up from his reports as the sound of music wound its way through the rooms of his home. For a few breems, he allowed himself to be distracted by Skywarp’s practice. The black and purple Etesian Seeker danced through their quarters, movement and song translated into light by special armour attachments. Things always seemed brighter when Skywarp danced. And not just because of the light show he put on.

Reluctantly turning back to his reports, Thundercracker sighed. The market was bad, and getting worse with every passing orn. The city-state Vos was mostly self sufficient, and so far that had saved them when the army was downsized. Most Seekers had other professions then the Council-enforced soldiering, and the vast majority were pleased to be able to take up those professions full time. According to the talk Skywarp - Unofficial Gossip King of Vos - had overheard, the Seekers had every confidence that the Winglords would see them safely through the economy crash.

Even though the responsibility was daunting, Thundercracker could not deny the happiness that filled him when he considered his lot in life. Skywarp and Thundercracker had met in the Flight Academy, and had quickly become a pair in the usual whirlwind fashion of Seeker romance. The pair-bond had deepened into the permanence of a mate-bond as they reached full maturity and went on to the War Academy, expecting to find their third just as easily as they had found each other. Vorns passed, they graduated top of their class from the Academy, Skywarp pursued his artistic career and Thundercracker became a moderately successful trader, eventually building up his own small company. They were happy, but never stopped waiting, watching, searching, hoping, seeking - their third had to be out there somewhere… didn’t he?

Then, the every megavorn Celebration of Winds, and Starscream had entered their lives in his usual dramatic fashion. The red, white and blue Euroclydon Seeker had been angry, hurt, bitter and not at all disposed to go looking for trinemates. The courtship had been brutal, not one of them taking ‘no’ for an answer and challenging all the way. Looking back, it still sent a thrill of exhilaration through Thundercracker to remember when Starscream had finally, finally begun to let them in and courted them back. It still awed him, to have a full trine-bond, so strong it stalled his engines, and everything he could ever want out of this life. Skywarp was joy, Starscream was passion, and Thundercracker could no longer imagine living without either of them.

It still blew his mind that he was a Winglord now, living in the High Tower of Vos. It was what every Seeker youngling dreamed of, and learned to put away with the rest of their immature fantasies when they fledged. To be Winglord, you needed the kind of spark that could handle being the Eye of the Storm, and so did your trinemates. The chances of that happening were literally one in every generation. Thundercracker still wondered how he of all mechs had what it took to be Winglord.

Still, the Winds of Primus blew as they would, and the best a Seeker could do was fly his path truly.

Warm amusement flowed over the bond, and Thundercracker looked up again to see Skywarp smiling at him, wings fluttering gently as he stood beneath the elegant archway’s that defined the boundary between Thundercracker’s home office and the rest of their suite.

“You aren’t even reading those datapads, are you ‘Cracker?” Skywarp snickered, turning off the music and putting away his gear as the blue Seeker ducked his head guiltily.

“Ah, no.” Thundercracker admitted sheepishly, “I was thinking about things.”

“What things?” Skywarp asked, irrepressibly curious as he seated himself on the edge of Thundercracker’s desk, “You were pretty well distracted.”

“How much I love you.” Thundercracker smiled happily, wings preening just a little, “How lucky I am to have you and Star.”

“Mush.” Skywarp teased, sliding over to wrap his arms around Thundercracker’s shoulders, nuzzling the other Seeker’s helm and sending agreement over the bond, “You’re a hopeless romantic.”

It was lucky that they had found each other. Starscream had graduated from the Flight Academy early, and gone into the Science Academy while still a youngling. From there, Starscream and his partner had spent much of their time off Cybertron, exploring space and other worlds. Although he was sorry that losing his lab partner had hurt Starscream, Skywarp was glad that it had happened to bring Starscream back to Vos. If the Accident had never happened, Skywarp hated to think how long it would have taken them to find Starscream, if ever.

*Pain/Helplessness/Sorrow*

Sudden anguish ripped across the bond, toppling the shields and filters that allowed the trine to function individually and shattering the cozy atmosphere. Skywarp and Thundercracker looked at each other in mute horror as Starscream’s distress tore at their sparks.

=Starscream! Are you damaged? What happened?= The two Seekers sent out the comm. together, shades of worry and protectiveness colouring their voices, =Answer us love, please! Where are you? What’s wrong?=

=Calm down.= Starscream’s side of the bond was heavy with weariness and pain, =I’m on my way back home. Stay there and you can fuss to your sparks content in less than a breem.=

=We’ll be waiting.= They were silent for a moment, sending *comfort/love/devotion* over the bond, =Love you.=

A dramatically weary sigh, but still Starscream accepted and returned the feelings that rippled along their bond, =I love you both too. I’m completely unharmed, so stop worrying.=

Thundercracker and Skywarp stood on the balcony half a breem later, optics on the sky. Their vigil was rewarded when Starscream descended towards them, a little scorched, but to his wingmates relief, for the most part unharmed.

Starscream landed, adjusting the two tiny flightless Seekerlets he carried, their Newspark protoforms still mostly grey.

“Screamer…” Skywarp said softly, not wanting to wake the recharging sparklings, “Why do you have a pair of winglets?”

“Fallout was caught in one of the Polyhex riots.’ Starscream’s optics were bleak and apologetic as Thundercracker made a pained sound. Fallout had been one of Thundercracker’s better procurer’s in addition to being a friend. Quietly, Starscream continued to speak, head lowered, “His trinemates felt him terminate and… Divebomb just... stopped. Fell over and went grey. Rundown tried to hold on - he knew he had to for the sparklings - but the shock sent him into Rejection. It was… all we could do to save the newspark. The poor thing split halfway through, and I have no idea what sort of effect the trauma will have on them.”

“Oh Starscream.” Thundercracker pulled his wingleader into their home. Rundown and Divebomb had been working with Starscream in the labs for several vorns. A notable achievement - it was difficult to find mechs that could both withstand Starscream’s temperament and keep up with his intellect - those two had also managed to become something like friends with the bitingly sarcastic Seeker. Their latest project had been located in Research and Development as they worked on refining the energon converters to make their stores stretch farther. Losing mechs he had often worked with like that - with no warning, and just when he was unbending enough to admit that he might just enjoy their company - it had to have hit too close to home, “Are we keeping the sparklings?”

“Rundown asked me to.” Starscream still had not lifted his head, instead keeping his saddened gaze on the little forms in his arms, “He didn’t even get the chance to name them. They’ll never know what their winglet’s colours are.”

“We’ll take care of them Screamer.” Skywarp said, cuddling into Starscream’s side, “You’ll see. We’ll be the best damned Caretakers ever.”

Seeing Starscream smile, even faintly, felt like a minor victory. Sometimes Thundercracker felt like tracking down every single being that had even made his wingleader afraid to care and rip them into tiny little pieces with his bare hands. Still - best put his murderous impulses aside for now - there were other matter currently demanding his attention, “Should we find out their names?”

“Now?” Starscream asked, startled into finally looking up, “I suppose we could…”

“Better now than later.” Skywarp said with cheerful pragmatism, scooping one of the tiny forms up out of Starscream’s hold, “We can introduce ourselves at the same time!”

“It will either establish or cement the Imprint bonding as well.” Thundercracker said wryly as his wingmate cooed shamelessly over how tiny the scraplet was, “If we intend to keep them…”

“I do. I made a promise.” Starscream said, and that was that. An oath made to family could not be rescinded.

Thundercracker nodded, “Then let’s do this. Come over here Warp.”

“So, uh, how exactly does this work?” Skywarp asked, curling up with his trine on their berth, the two sparklings in the centre of the triangle.

“We just…” Starscream reached out through the bond to his mates, “Do as I do.”

Something shifted and the trine could feel the tiny little sparks reach out for theirs.

*lost/alone/cold/notwanted*

The newsparks did not know how to filter their feelings, not yet old or strong enough for understanding, but they knew emotion. They knew Rejection.

*Wanted!*

The adults pulled closer, protecting the sparklings in a circle of wings as they directed a far more coherent pulse along the fledgling Imprint bond.

*Loved/Wanted/Ours/Loved.*

The newsparks chirped softly, optics brightening as they gazed up at the adult Seekers.

*love!/wanted/joy*

Smiling at the unfiltered affection coming from the sparklings, the adults prompted gently, humming encouragement.

*Who are you?*

*who?*

Tiny digits closed around far larger claws, and little heads tilted in confusion.

*who?*

*Who are you, little ones?*

The adults smiled and sent to the sparklings their own identities.

*The echoing cry of the void/A twisting dance through space/The song of the storm.*

Sensing the little ones understanding, they asked once again.

*Who are you?*

A jumble of impressions came back, tumbling over and together like overexcited turbofox pups.

*boundless energy rushing to and fro/gleeful abandonment to motion*

The newsparks clicked happily.

*we/us!*

“Ah.” Starscream smiled warmly down at the sparklings, a smile free of any shadow of pain. It struck his wingmates dumb, and Starscream was uninterrupted as he lifted up the sparkling that was now obviously darker than his brother, “This one is Runabout, and the other is Runamuck. Fitting, I think Rundown would had liked them.”

“The names are perfect, Star.” Skywarp said, leaning in to steal a kiss, “Fit ‘em just right.”

“Skywarp’s said it already, but the names suit them well.” Thundercracker gave Runamuck his finger again, amused when the mechlet tried to stick the blue talon in his mouth, “Twins are rare, right?’

“Not so rare as you would think.” Starscream sighed through his vents, pulling closer to his mates as they lay down together on their berth, “But split-sparks like these two are usually the result of trauma, and unison sparks tend to put a significant amount of stress on the carrier spark. Many don’t make it to protoform. In the case of unison sparks, one or both will self extinguish, and split sparks are even more at risk because of the way they form in the first place. Twins sparks also tend to start detaching earlier than most newsparks, because of the strain on the carrying spark, and in some cases detachment starts before the bitlets have fully stabilized. We were lucky with these two. Rundown was getting overdue for detachment anyway, so they were strong enough to integrate with the shells even after splitting.”

“Oh.” Skywarp mumbled, reaching up to pet the nearest sparkling, “So a surviving set of twins is rare. Lucky us.”

“Mm.” Thundercracker crooned gently, a soft sound promted by his nurturing programs, “Let’s hope that luck holds, and rubs off on all of us. We could use it, the way things are going.”

“You mean the restrictions, and the ration.” Starscream said knowingly, rubbing a careful claw over Runabout’s sensor-stubs, “I have a plan for dealing with the ration. If nothing else, Vos will not have to suffer famine.”

“And the restrictions?” Skywarp asked, looking at his wingleader.

Starscream sighed again, shifting even closer to his mates, “There is little I can do about that for now, Emirate of Vos or not. Interceptor is in Praxus, trying to fight from the inside, and there is talk of rebellion in Kaon. But for now…”

“We roost.” Thundercracker said calmly, soothing his wingmates agitated minds with calm certainty, “We ride out the storm. As long as we can get energon, and stay within the borders of Vos, we won’t have to worry about the Council. They never stir themselves out of Iacon, and the Peacekeepers know better than to try anything in Seeker territory. The Guardians deal with the trouble Outsiders make in Vos, since Seekers don’t cause the kind of trouble that needs policing.”

“Cracker’s right.” Starscream murmured sleepily, optics dim, “I’ll send out teams to gather energy. The sooner we start stockpiling the better. We’ll need to hide the caches though, to keep the meddling Council from thieving.”

“Where from though?” Skywarp asked, tucking his head down by Starscream’s vent, “The energon mines are all used up.”

“Exploration Scientist.” Starscream razzed, looking smugly pleased, “I found many energy rich planets during my surveys. And since our loving government saw fit to deny my reasonable request for aide and then relieved me of my position at the Science Academy, I never told them about the deposits I found.”

“Serves ‘em right for kicking you out.” Thundercracker sneered as he folded his wings back and shuttered his optics, “I’m going to point and laugh when they starve.”

His mates snickered softly, agreeing with the sentiment, then fell silent as their systems powered down into recharge. As the Elite Trine slept, Runabout and Runamuck cradled safely in their wings, the Imprinting bond deepened and the twins colours filled in.

(Word Count: 2329)

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There. A nice long part to make up for not posting for a while. So what does everyone think? We're starting to get deeper into Seeker society exploration now, is anyone's interest peaked? XD

In recent news, my cat got bitten by the dog next door badly enough to need stitches, I am pondering my future career choices, and I actually managed to save one of the babies from my Molly's latest brood before the mommy fish ate him. Yay me. XP

Also, I'm back in the dragon game, so click my eggs please. ~*~
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~*~ If you do I'll love you oodles and oodles.

Ran all over the place getting my passport application in. As it is, it'll come in June 1st. Seeing as I'm leaving on June 3rd to go to Indiana, I'm thinking I may have cut it a little bit close. What do you think? XP

fish tales, transformers fanfic, fanfiction, transformers, series: nine rings of vos, dragons

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