TF: Solace
Rating: PG-13
Series: G1
Pairing: Thundercracker/Breakdown
Summary:
Warnings: Character deaths
Disclaimer: As per usual, the good things in life are not mine to have, but belong to someone else... in this case Hasbro, Takara and IDW and anyone else I’ve forgotten…
Authors Notes: Written for the tf_rare_pairing prompt - Thundercracker /Breakdown - solace. This is a hell of a lot darker (?) and more emotional than I normally write, so I hope it reads okay.
Feedback makes friends. Flames dealt with by the masters of paranoia and fire, Red Alert and Inferno.
He supposed he should be used to it. He did it all the time with Skywarp. But to do it to someone who wasn’t a member of his Trine? That bit was strange. Yet, it didn’t feel as awkward as he thought it would.
He lay there, one arm around Breakdown as the Stunticon curled closer to him, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like ‘Deaders’.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“We’re under attack!”
“We’re always under attack.” Dead End murmured automatically, despite being hunkered down behind a pile of debris.
“Will you two just shut it and shoot!” Motormaster growled, firing off more shots. The war hadn’t been going their way for some time, and the Decepticon forces were stretched to breaking point. There were barely enough mechs to defend their strongholds, and certainly not enough mechs to mount an offensive. The Autobots had more mechs, just. But even still, the war was still vicious.
“Down!” Breakdown had enough time to shout as he registered the missiles heading towards them. With muffled curses, the Stunticons dived for cover.
When Skywarp had taken the hit to his wing that sent him spiralling down to the ground, Thundercracker followed him, needing to check on his younger Trine mate. What he found wasn’t good. Skywarp had hit the ground hard, damaging himself almost beyond repair. If he could get him to a medic, he might stand some chance. But there was no medic nearby.
“Oh ‘Warp…” Skywarp seemed to know exactly what was happening, and reached out to Thundercracker, not wanting to be alone. Not when his Trine mate was there.
Thundercracker held him long after his frame had turned gray.
By then, the battle had ended and the only mechs left on the battlefield were those who couldn’t walk off it themselves. Most Decepticons didn’t spare much energy in helping injured team mates.
“Deaders, come on…” He heard the voice before he saw the mech. Breakdown. What was one of the Stunticons doing still on the battlefield? They were among the few mechs that would actually help one another. Of course, it probably had to do with the whole gestalt thing, which Thundercracker really didn’t understand.
Reluctantly leaving Skywarp’s chassis, Thundercracker stood up, his own injuries from the battle making themselves known. As he got closer to Breakdown, he could see the mech was trying to pull Dead End along the ground. Or rather, pull Dead End’s grayed chassis along the ground.
“Breakdown?”
“What are you doing here?” Breakdown yelped as Thundercracker spoke, immediately trying to work out what the Seeker was still doing on the battlefield.
“What are you doing here?”
“I need to get Dead End and the others off the battlefield, but they’re not helping.” Breakdown glanced down at the Porsche at his feet, seemingly not seeing the grayed chassis or the blank, lifeless visor.
“Breakdown…” Thundercracker paused. “… they’re not going to help you. You don’t need to get them off the battlefield. They’re gone.” There, he’d said it.
“They’re not gone, they’re right here!” Breakdown pointed, suddenly noticing a large dent and scratches on Dead End’s paintwork. “Oh, he’s not going to like that, he likes to keep himself so immaterial.” Thundercracker was suddenly painfully reminded of how ‘young’ the Stunticons were. Built for the war, this was probably the first time any of them had had to deal with the deactivation of one they knew so well. Especially as they’d had those fancy forcefields.
“He’s not the right color.” Breakdown’s quiet voice brought him back from his musings.
“No, he’s not.” Thundercracker agreed with him. “Our chassis go gray when our sparks fade.” He explained it as simply as he could. In some ways, Breakdown reminded him of Skywarp; both of them naïve in their own way.
“Is that why it’s so quiet in here?” Breakdown tapped his helm and for a moment Thundercracker couldn’t understand what he meant. Then it clicked; the gestalt bond must be something like the Trine bond.
“Yeah, that’d be the reason.” His vocaliser cracked as he spoke. It was quiet for him too. The overwhelming presence that was Skywarp was absent. He could still feel Starscream, but his Trine leader felt so faint that his presence was barely noticeable.
“I don’t want them to be gone. They can’t be gone!” Falling to his knees, Breakdown started shaking Dead End, as though he could rouse him from the dead.
“Breakdown…” The look Breakdown gave him was so reminiscent of Skywarp that Thundercracker was taken aback. Skywarp had always been the most gregarious of their Trine. And the most sensitive. Somehow, he’d always know when another Seeker was upset and would do his utmost to cheer them up. Sometimes it didn’t work and Thundercracker would find himself with a lapful of upset Seeker.
“Come on, let’s get out of here.” He held his hand out to Breakdown, a gesture that wasn’t lost on the Stunticon.
“I don’t want to leave them.” He murmured as he took Thundercracker’s hand, allowing the Seeker to help him stand up.
“We have to leave them. They’re not with us anymore.” Thundercracker replied sadly, glancing in the direction Skywarp’s chassis lay. Breakdown followed Thundercracker’s look, suddenly understanding why Thundercracker was still on the battlefield.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
They didn’t go far; neither of them wanted to leave in reality. They had nothing to go back for. The rest of the Decepticons would have written them off as lost when they didn’t return with the others. That suited Thundercracker just fine. He couldn’t feel Starscream anymore, just an empty ache where the Trine bond used to exist. Part of him wished briefly that the Trine bond was like that between bondmates, where he would just deactivate once his Trine had gone. But it wasn’t.
And judging by Breakdown’s reaction, it was the same for the gestalt bond. The younger mech had simply sat down, hands clasped around his knees and started rocking, muttering quietly to himself.
“Don’t leave me.” Breakdown looked up as Thundercracker heaved himself to his feet.
“I’m not going to leave you.” Whether he liked it or not, the Stunticon was his responsibility now. The perils of being the older and more responsible one he supposed. He could just hear Skywarp teasing him about it now.
“Where are you going then?”
“Nowhere…” Sitting back down, Thundercracker was surprised when Breakdown shifted closer to him.
“Don’t leave me. You can’t leave me. You’re all I’ve got now.” He murmured, resting one hand on Thundercracker’s leg.
“I won’t leave you.” Thundercracker made the promise without even thinking. He knew the pain of losing your team mates, whether they were Trine or Gestalt, it still hurt.
Where that gentle touch turned into more, Thundercracker couldn’t quite remember. All he could remember was the feel of Breakdown’s mouth on his, hands on his wings and then the white searing heat of overload. He wasn’t sure what either of them had cried out as overload hit, but Thundercracker knew that he hadn’t called out Breakdown’s name. And he was pretty sure he didn’t hear the Lamborghini cry out his name. But then, what did it matter? They were both searching for something in the other, and at some point along the way, they found it.
Solace. The knowledge that they weren’t the only one alone now.