Epilogue
Rule the World

"People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us."
- Iris Murdoch

It was a beautiful summer day in Tranquillity. The scorching sun burned down from the clear blue skies, throwing the grassy field into golden glory as the rays touched the ground and warmed the armour of the six vehicles parked beneath it. Blinding light reflected off their painted bodies and made the seats inside of them so hot to the touch that they would burn the skin of any unsuspecting passenger.

The sleek Camaro let out an expulsion of air in a contented manner as quirky, summery music played from the radio. “This is the life,” Bumblebee sighed, enjoying the feel of the air conditioning inside of him. “I love this planet.”

“Primus, where are they?” a grouchy voice complained, ignoring his comment. “They got outta school half an hour ago.”

A colossal Peterbilt semi rumbled gently. “They will be here soon, Ironhide.”

Indeed, the anticipated voices came sooner than they thought – they soon saw the small figures rushing through the meadow towards them, all screaming and shouting to each other excitedly as insects and airborne seeds floated around their heads. Sam Witwicky was the first one to make contact with them directly – he threw himself onto the hood of the Hummer, positively insane with excitement as he thrust a piece of paper towards Ratchet’s windscreen. Ratchet jumped in surprise at his movement but inspected the sheet.

“Look at that!” Sam yelled, his eyes round with joy. He stabbed at the text with his finger. “Freaking A- in calculus! That’s all down to you, Ratch’ – I freaking love you, man!” He bounced up and down excitedly on the hood, and Mikaela suddenly appeared too.

Draping her upper body across the front of Ratchet’s hood, she beamed at the windscreen. “Ratchet, transform so I can give you a hug!”

“Get off me, boy,” Ratchet sighed in agreement, and Sam slid off of him obligingly. All of the gathered vehicles began to transform then, and the humans were suddenly surrounded by their robotic friends, who looked down at them as they ran around in circles, shrieking and hugging each other and jabbering madly about their results. Mikaela and Sam promptly threw their arms around one of Ratchet’s legs each, and he raised his optic ridges. But… he could not help but allow himself an affectionate smile. “Let me see then, Mikaela,” he said to his charge.

She smiled proudly. “They’re not… amazing,” she admitted, “But all things considered, I think I did okay.” She handed him the miniscule slip of paper and he held it up, scanning it carefully with his optics. Sam, in the meantime, was still jumping around excitedly and had run over to Bumblebee to show off his grades.

Ratchet looked over the letters printed beside the names of the subjects she took – they were a mixture of A, B and C, but he was delighted to see that the A appeared three times, and all the others were B but for biology. “This is wonderful, Mikaela!” he said sincerely and she smiled bashfully. “Congratulations, my dear.”

“Thanks,” she laughed. “I’ve got to say, I was expecting to do crap… but you guys helped us out so much.”

Upon their glorious return from the battle, the teenagers had realised with some horror that their Finals were mere weeks away. With the assistance of the Autobots, particularly Ratchet and Optimus, they had undergone the most intense course of revision they had endured – Sam had spent days in isolation with Ratchet improving his algebra and math, whilst Mikaela and Carlos had fled to Optimus for help with their history revision. Even Ironhide had lent a hand, agreeing to help Rad with his biology.

Rad himself was whooping and positively strangling Carlos, who was yelling as his head was thrust under Rad’s arm and his wiry hair was ruffled. “That was sweet!” Rad was grinning. “Jeez, we defeated the crazy alien robots and then managed to scrape a handful of excellent grades!”

“Yeah, estupendo,” Carlos groaned. “But the get the hell of my hair, dude!”

The boys had explained to their stunned comrades that they had been training with the army for a long time – Carlos had spent years training with his father, and Rad had expressed an interest in joining him to keep his fitness levels up. When Lennox and Figueroa had been summoned to assist the Autobots, Carlos had insisted on going with his father, and Rad, who had been overwhelmed by guilt at leaving Jade in such danger, had deemed to go too. He was glad he had, for Jade was alive and well now.

The blonde let go of his Spanish friend with a grin, punching him playfully on the arm. “Why don’t’cha go and chat to Seraphim?” he suggested pointedly, cocking an eyebrow and Carlos reddened when he spotted the femme. “Go on, man. Go whoo your senorita.”

Having taken rather a liking to each other after the battle, Seraphim had requested that she become Carlos’s guardian, to which both Optimus and the boy had readily agreed. Now the two were inseparable, and she had modified her Vespa form so that it was a less feminine colour – now her armour was as electrically blue as her eyes, and she looked prouder and stronger than ever. The young drone had also become quite attached to Jade, who she admired for her pluckiness during the battle.

As Carlos grinned and ran off to his protector – crush, thought Rad with a smirk – he wandered towards his own guardian. Optimus Prime knelt down and looked at him with interest, extending a hand. “Let’s see yours then, Rad,” he murmured, and Rad nodded, handing him the page with a slight smile. Upon seeing the scattered A and B grades – mostly A, admittedly – Optimus nodded and smiled. “You have done well.”

“Uh-huh,” Rad agreed cheerfully, stowing it away in his jacket. “All down to you, Optimus – well, and Ironhide.” He paused. “D’you know where Jade and Alexis are?” He had not been able to keep from worrying a little when neither of them had come out from school with the group.

“I expected Jade and Skyfire to come here directly,” Optimus admitted. “But I imagine that Skyfire has taken Jade to celebrate in his own way. As for Alexis… well, I am sure that she is alright. I imagine she is at the lookout, or perhaps…” He gestured towards the brilliant blue sky and Rad nodded understandingly. “They will come in their own time, Rad. You must not think that Jade has forgotten you, young one.”

Rad nodded. “Yeah, I know. I left her… she’s got a right to leave me for a bit, I guess.” He looked up to the sun. “I just hope that she’s happy.”

“I can assure you that you should sleep peacefully on that matter,” his guardian chuckled. “I have never seen Skyfire so happy in my life, and I can tell that Jade is very much in love with him. Speaking of which, do we have yet another romance developing between two of our friends?” He nodded towards where Carlos was eagerly showing Seraphim his grades.

Laughing, Rad watched them with interest. “Maybe.”

Optimus nodded. “It is wonderful to see our two worlds coexisting so well together,” the leader said as Seraphim ruffled Carlos’s hair affectionately and the tall, dark boy grinned sheepishly at Rad. “If there is one thing that I desire more than anything in the universe, it is peace… and at last, here, we seem to have achieved that aim.”

It was a deep feeling of profound relief that surged through Optimus’s spark as he said those words to his charge. He knew that Earth was only one planet amongst billions upon billions of stars in space, but it still felt wonderful to have helped bring about peace here. It alleviated the feeling of responsibility that it had been their coming to Earth in the first place that had disturbed the tranquillity. Looking upon Jade when she was with Skyfire made him feel something special, and he held that feeling close to his spark.

“I’m happy for you, man,” Rad smiled, his blue eyes twinkling in the brilliant sunlight. “And, weird as it is, I’m starting to get used to the whole thing with my friends falling head-over-heels in love with giant alien robots.”

“So you should,” Optimus chuckled. “In all seriousness, Rad, it does not matter if we are races apart. Emotions and friendship run deeper than appearances, and love such as Skyfire shares with Jade is something to be revered, not feared. Love such as theirs is a precious thing, and the first step to universal peace.”

Rad could not help but concur with his gargantuan friend. When the battle was over, it was decided that Rad, too, should be assigned a guardian, in case the lurking Decepticons in the galaxy ever did attempt an act of revenge. And given the fact that Optimus had taken a liking to the boy during his time with the Autobots, he had been happy to take up the position. The two of them were kindred spirits, in a sense – both wise beyond their years, and Rad enjoyed having somebody he could always talk to.

The boy grinned easily and folded his defined arms. “Yeah. Well, maybe some hot femme will arrive for me, huh?”

“Perhaps,” the commander smiled. “But perhaps it would be preferable to seek love amongst your own kind first. Do you have anyone in mind?”

A heavy sigh was expelled from the boy’s mouth before he could stop it. “She's taken.”

Optimus knew exactly who that Rad was speaking of, and he lowered his optics for a moment. “Yes… I fear that Alexis is ‘off-limits’, as you humans say about such things,” he said, and Rad smiled slightly. “I understand why, of course. Alexis does have a certain appeal about her… in her eyes. And you enjoy her company immensely.”

“I’ve always loved her, in a sense… I've seen her around at school at lot,” Rad confessed, flushing a little and putting a hand to the back of his head. "She’s just so vulnerable and cute, y’know?" His eyes dulled and he pursed his lips. “But… guess that’s no good.” Looking up at Optimus, he managed another small smile. “Ah well, being single’s fun. You got a girl, Prime?”

“I…” Optimus managed briefly before a horrific flashback assaulted his vision and a sharp pain went through him. “I did once.”

Oh, my Elita…

Sensing that it was not a matter to push, Rad nodded. “Guess it’s you and me as the bachelors, then,” he jested lightly and Optimus smiled. “Well, and Ironhide. And Ratch’… okay, maybe we’re not so alone…” He turned when he heard Sam calling for him and gave Optimus a thumbs-up. “Talk to you later, big guy.”

Having enjoyed his charge’s conversation, Optimus sat back and watched as the young man ran off to rejoin his friends – he and Sam began to talk animatedly and wave their grades at Arcee, who was smiling. She caught his eye and winked at him, and he knew that she would fit in wonderfully on this planet now that she had learnt to love its natives. Arcee had sworn herself in as a secondary guardian to Sam, and preliminary guardian to his best friend, Miles. She was growing close to the boy and to the others, and he knew that she was going to do fine.

Ratchet briefly looked at the boy as he passed and began to talk to his friends, before he returned his thoughts to Mikaela.

He was so proud of her for all that she had done for him. Her actions at the base – the way she had withstood torture because Thunderblast had degraded him, and the way she was so interested in what he had to say. It made him feel a little… wistful, he had to admit. Mikaela was happy with Sam and he would never dream of disturbing that joy – he was delighted for her – but still, so many years of being ‘married to his career’, as she had once put it, were certainly taking their toll on him now.

Yet even in his self-pity he could not help but be painfully aware of Ironhide, sitting alone and a little way apart from the others.

“Ironhide.” The black soldier looked up inquiringly, optic ridges raised. “Is there something troubling you?”

Ironhide sighed deeply and shifted his optics towards where Mikaela was now chatting to Carlos and Seraphim about their history grades. “Not really,” he said aloud in a low voice, and Ratchet tilted his head slightly in inquiry. “Just…” He bowed his great head, staring somewhat absently at his plasma cannon and allowing it to spin slowly. “Pitiable as it is for an old warrior, I feel… alone, all of a sudden.”

“It is not pitiable, my friend,” Ratchet sighed. “My thoughts were following the same bleak pathway.”

A bitter chortle was his initial response, and at first, the medic thought that it was all he would get. Then Ironhide said, “Maybe it doesn’t hurt so much for you, Ratchet… no offence, but the only femmes you’ve seen are the ones in the medbay.” Ratchet chuckled. “But… it’s just…” He sighed. “Something about Alexis stirred memories of…”

Ratchet nodded. “You are still in love with her.”

Ironhide clenched his jaw and his optics shuttered. “Yeah,” he muttered. “Stupid…”

“How so?” his friend demanded, folding his bulky yellow arms and glaring at Ironhide. “Chromia was your spark mate, Ironhide. Missing her and loving her are not things to be ashamed of. Although… I am curious as to how a little human femme could possibly stir such memories.” His statement was obviously pointed, and Ironhide knew it.

“It was… that day when she tried to commit suicide. Chromia once did that. We were fighting Shockwave together and I fell – my sensors were completely busted. Y’ remember fixing me afterward, no doubt.” Ratchet hummed disapprovingly. “But I remember lying there, mute and paralysed, and she put her blaster to her head… screamed at Shockwave that she’d sooner die than carry on without me at her side.” He looked directly into Ratchet’s eyes. “Nobody ever gave a damn about me… beyond the call of duty. Not so much that they’d die for it.”

Ratchet nodded slowly. “Yes… it was a strange feeling to me when Mikaela was willing to undergo the electronic torture for me. It is a feeling like no other when somebody is willing to be hurt for you…” He looked across the sky at a single, wispy white cloud on the horizon. “Or lay down their life for you.” A brief look of sorrow crossed his wizened features. “I, too, wish for that.”

Ironhide looked at the medic seriously. “It’ll happen, Ratch’. When you actually pay more attention to a female than a slaggin’ wrench.”

His friend smiled slightly. “Perhaps. But sometimes I fear that I am doomed to eternal solitude when it comes to the spark.” His optics followed the solitary white blemish on the blue sky and he reflected upon how he was quite like that cloud, in some respect. Surrounded by other clouds most of the time but, when it came down to it, floating alone in the sky.

“Rubbish,” the warrior grunted in response. “Mark my words, Ratchet - she is out there. Right now, she is living and breathing and not knowing that you exist.” Ratchet listened with an odd expression on his face. “And one day… one day she’ll come to you, and you won’t remember how you feel right now. You won’t remember what it was like to live without her.”

Then he stopped, his eyes coming to rest on the lonely cloud.

The two of them sat in a thoughtful, understanding silence, just watching the sky and listening to the enthusiastic babble of their friends and comrades – comrades that had battled alongside them, fought against their enemies with them, and loved them, as they were loved in return. They both looked up when they heard the distant roar of an aircraft in the distance, and they chuckled when they saw Skyfire’s enormous, dark form on the horizon. “There they go again,” Ironhide chuckled. “One day he’ll do a Starscream and fly her out to space.”

“Ah well,” Ratchet smiled. “They are young. They can fly as high as they like… and higher.”

Jade pouted slightly as she listened to her headset distractedly. She knew that Skyfire had been engaged with the Autobots during the day on some sort of reconnaissance mission – or something along those lines – but now she was getting worried that he was not going to come. Her papers were in her hand, all ready to be shown off to him, and he was not turning up to see them.

Sighing, she put her chin in her hand.

Her fears evaporated when she heard the sound of thunderous footfalls and a grin broke out across her face when she spotted her gargantuan guardian. “Jeez, took you long enough!” she complained playfully, planting her hands on her hips. “What were you doing, having some sort of mission after-party with Optimus and the others?”

Skyfire chuckled. “My apologies, Jade. Did you receive your examination results?”

“But of course,” she smiled, holding them up for him to scan. His navy eyes roved across the page several times before he raised his optic ridges, looking rather impressed. “I mean, I could’ve done one hell of a lot better in language – God knows, Carlos should have been able to teach me a few things, and I do know some Spanish, but that exam was hard.”

“You cannot expect to excel in every subject,” he reminded her comfortingly. “And the rest of your results are very good. My congratulations to you, my jewel… considering what you have been through in the past few months, you have certainly exceeded expectations.”

Laughing, she watched him seat himself. The clearing they were in was certainly familiar to both of them – the same clearing that they had shared their first kiss in, a perfect place for post-examination celebration – and the hot midday sun burnt down upon Skyfire’s dark armour through the gaps between the leaves. Jade passed a hand over her forehead, her cheeks warm, before she stepped up into his outstretched hand. “I’m so hot,” she grumbled. “I love summer and all, but this is just ridiculous.”

Skyfire smiled. “Would you care to take a ride to cool down, then?” he asked and she nodded enthusiastically. “Daredevil.”

“What?” she giggled. “I like flying. And it’s hardly dangerous, with you as my guardian.”

He nodded his agreement. “That is true.” Casting his eyes around the clearing, his smile widened a little. “I remember this place… very well.” He looked back into her brown eyes, seeing whether the environment was having a similar impact upon his charge. “Jade, I must say now… that I am thankful that we met. And thankful for all that has happened between us.”

Jade mirrored his expression, beaming so widely that he thought her face might crack with joy. “Me too.”

She sat in his hand for longer than she kept track of, enjoying the feel of the occasional ray of sun on her skin as she curled up in his palm comfortably. If there was one place in the world that she truly enjoyed being in, it was in Skyfire’s hand – or being anywhere that Skyfire was. A vague thought came to her mind, but he voiced it first. “How did the others do with their examinations?”

“Okay,” she nodded. “Sam was practically fitting over his calculus result – he swore he’d kiss Ratchet when he saw him. I thought I’d better get the hell out of there before he did… God only knows what Ratchet would do if he did.”

“Indeed,” he concurred, looking more than a little worried at the thought. “I imagine young Mr. Witwicky would find himself in a very grave position.”

Jade smirked at the sudden mental image of Ratchet slamming Sam into oblivion with a wrench, or some other large, hazardous tool. “The others all did great, given the circumstances. Ironhide really helped Rad with his biology, and I don’t think Mikaela would have passed history without Ratchet. And Alexis…” she trailed off, frowning. “I don’t know. She left straight after school.”

Skyfire nodded. “Understandable. She would have gone to see… Starscream.”

“Yeah.” She looked up at the blindingly blue sky and bounced in his hand, impatient. “So, can we fly now?” she begged, turning her brown eyes on him and using their full, doe-like power on him. Much as he tried to resist, he found himself melting under her gaze and sighed, smiling in spite of himself. “You know you can’t resist.”

“No, I can’t,” he rumbled, before he put her down. “Come then, my dear… let us take to the heavens.”

Almost a minute later, they were outside of the clearing and near the cliffside – he in his Spirit form, and she in his cockpit. “Go on then, big guy,” she grinned, her long hair tumbling about her shoulders as her eyes seared across the sky, rising to the challenge it presented. “See if you can scare me… not that you ever will, but you can try.”

Skyfire laughed. “Oh, not to worry… I will.”

Jade’s heart pumped with adrenaline-induced fury as Skyfire rose in all his glory, and she could not help but spread her arms with him. “Can you take me higher,” she sung in a sweet voice, “To a place where blind men see… can you take me higher, to a place with golden streets…?” The clouds rushed past his magnificent, streamlined body, and he listened raptly to her gentle voice, entranced by it.

“You have a beautiful voice, little one,” he commented softly and she blushed profusely, having been singing without realising it. “You must sing to me again one day… perhaps in the not-too-distant future?”

And, much as she was bashful about her voice, Jade smiled willingly. “We can do what we want with the future,” she said softly. “It’s ours.”

A fragile rose was held in a frail, white hand and looked upon by a pair of bright green eyes. The palest shade of pink that eyes had ever beheld – the colour of a soft blush on pale cheeks – it was perfectly formed in every sense of the word. The petals were soft and stunning, spiralling into a tight centre, and the long stem was free of thorns that might prick unwary fingers. Only a single leaf extended from it, a leaf of dark green with slightly jagged edges.

Alexis Paxton sighed as she looked at the delicate flower in her hand. Despite the fact that the rose was beyond divine to look upon, it signified something markedly less pleasant. Kneeling down at the roughly cut headstone, she reached out her free hand to touch the Cybertronian markings on the grave. She could not read them, but she knew what they said.

Death was a silent stalker. It hardly mattered that all things had their time on earth, and that life was as fleeting as a cloud on the horizon… it was inequitable for the reaper to snatch life so quickly after it had begun.

Her fingers traced carefully over the whittled words, carved into the stone by blades that had once been used to carve out flesh and armour. It was strange what death did to people, and to the world around them – strange too that it had touched such an unlikely character so deeply. But then, life was strange by default… she knew that better than most. And she was more than aware of the prices that had to be paid for freedom and prosperity… only the highest prices could yield such results.

“Alexis.”

She remained kneeling, but a warm glow stabbed at her chest for an instant when she heard that familiar voice. Turning her head slightly, she smiled when she saw him watching her and wondered how long he had been there. His arms folded across his bulky chest, his head was slightly tilted and his slanted eyes burning as he looked at her. Eyes that were the same colour as the rose she was holding between her fingers.

He came forward, his footsteps making the earth beneath her shudder under the weight. She watched him as his eyes roved over the headstone, reading the language of his planet with ease. “It is a pity,” he admitted. “But the All Spark’s decision is final. And, as you humans would say, the ‘end always justifies the means’.”

She sighed. “Maybe. But… it’s still sad. For Barricade, if not for anybody else.”

The emerald around her neck glinted in the warm, coral radiance of the setting sun as she spoke. The fragments infused into the precious stone whispered to her, comforting her and explaining, in a language unknown to her, that it had all been for the best. She could feel the regret, despite the fact that she could not decipher the foreign tongue that she would never be able to master. Behind her, he nodded his agreement and knelt down beside her, analysing the flower in her hand.

She frowned up at him bemusedly and he indicated the rose. “What is the purpose of leaving that here?” he inquired. “My scanners tell me that it is a flower of the genus Rosa. Why would you leave such a pretty plant here, in this place of death?”

“It’s a rose,” she corrected, slightly put out by his superior knowledge. She shrugged her slender shoulders then and laid the rose carefully across the grass below the gravestone. “Roses signify many things, depending on what colour they are. Pale pink signifies admiration or sympathy – in this case, sympathy. For Barricade… for his loss.”

“But it is a plant,” Starscream frowned. “It cannot be a sign of sympathy.”

Alexis rolled her eyes and smiled fondly at him. “You’ve still got a lot to learn about us, Starscream,” she laughed softly. “I wonder if you know what a red rose signifies? I’m sure you can find out, with your super advanced Internet access and all that.”

She let the wind tease at her hair as she watched him, her eyes wide and her eyelashes flicking up slightly to frame them charmingly. He paused for a moment before he nodded. “According to one of your encyclopaedic websites,” he stated, “A red rose signifies the deepest love and affection for another person, and giving them expresses this love.”

Nodding, she touched the headstone one last time. “Yes,” she breathed. Then she looked down at the rose. “Goodbye, Bloodbringer. Rest in peace.”

Starscream extended a hand to her and she grasped his finger, allowing him to pull her up. The necklace felt heavier than ever around her neck, and cold against the thin skin of her chest, exposed by her low-cut shirt for the heat of these long summer days. Even now, at sunset, the air was thick and balmy around them at the lookout, where Bloodbringer had been laid to rest by Barricade.

When all hope had seemed lost for Starscream, Alexis’s rage and grief had prompted the All Spark to unleash all of its potentially deadly power upon Thrust – and when she had made contact with Starscream’s spark at the same time, it had sucked all of the life from Thrust and into Starscream, like a vacuum. At the same time, a dazzling light had illuminated the warehouse, for a life had been saved and taken – something the All Spark required its full power to do. The light had driven away the darkness, repairing every light in the room before disappearing.

Although the All Spark had drawn Thrust’s energy into Starscream, it had, for one reason or another, decided to snuff out Bloodbringer’s life force, too. When they had counted their numbers later, they had found the corroded drone on the ground, unresponsive and empty. She had wondered why – sat for hours and wondered why, in fact – but she realised that she would never know the intricate secrets of the necklace she carried, no matter how much she might want to.

Now he gently scooped her up in one hand, and she leant gratefully against the cool metal, pressing her hot forehead against the armour of his chest. It was odd, but whatever she needed, he seemed to be able to give her. When it was cold, he was warm, and when it was warm he was cold. It was a mystery that she knew would never be solved.

“Look,” she said suddenly, pointing.

He turned and spotted the police car in the distance, and he lowered his eyes for a moment. Alexis looked upon Barricade with deep sympathy in them, before she tentatively raised a hand in greeting from her position in Starscream’s hand.

For a moment, Barricade did nothing. Then he flashed his lights and his siren whined briefly in a wordless salutation before he reversed and drove away, back towards Tranquillity’s town centre.

They watched the black-and-white Mustang until it was out of visual range – for Alexis, at least. “I wonder where he’s going,” she said curiously, glancing up at Starscream. “I mean… he hasn’t joined us, but he won’t fight us… where’s his place now?” Her eyes sought his, seeking some answer that she was desperate for. There were too many unanswered questions for this one to be added to the never-ending list. “He needs somebody.”

Starscream shook his head, very slightly. “I do not know. But I do know that we, as Decepticons by our birthright, will always be different from the others. We have always lived by the rules of survival of the fittest, and if Barricade’s spirit tells him to remain away from the Autobots… then that is his choice.”

“He’ll stick around, though,” Alexis said firmly. “For Seraphim.”

Reluctant though he was to admit that Barricade – the great hunter of the Decepticon force – had finally found a place in his spark for someone other than himself, Starscream was, once again, forced the conclude with the young woman against his chest. “Perhaps,” he murmured to her and she smiled softly. “In fact… I believe that is exactly what he will do.”

He lowered her to the ground again and she carefully stepped down from his palm, the wind blowing a strand of hair across her eyes. A few months had lengthened her locks to just past her shoulders, and Starscream for one thought that she looked even more beautiful for it. His crimson eyes, still unchanged from his Decepticon years, followed her as she stretched her arms a little and winced slightly when her back ached – she had suffered with random pains since the battle, although neither of them knew why.

“You’re hurting,” he stated simply.

Humans were painfully fragile, and he was more than aware of this. The others had been injured too, but the All Spark jewel had healed them easily. Yet Alexis, despite the fact that she was eating more and had, for a little while, begun to develop a fuller figure, seemed to be more and more drained by the day. He was suspicious of it, and disliked what he saw.

She grimaced. “No,” she lied before her eyes fluttered closed for an instant. “Well… maybe a little. I’m fine, Starscream.”

When he looked disbelieving, she sighed and glanced down at her neckline. The emerald was lying against her chest, and she slowly wrapped her slender fingers around the elliptical gem, feeling it warm very slightly to her touch. A relief indeed, for it had felt icy cold against her flesh for the many hours that she had been wearing it.

“Why wear it, if it pains you so?” Starscream asked, and she bit her lip. “Alexis?”

At his speaking of her name, she let her lip roll free of her teeth before she looked back into his eyes. “I can’t,” she whispered. “I… I’ve tried. Since I put it on after the fight, I haven’t been able to take it off again.” He was uncertain, but he thought he might have seen tears in her eyes before she looked away. “And it’s getting heavy.”

Concerned, he activated his holomatter generator and the tall, muscular blonde man appeared behind the thin, ashen girl. Much as it still confused him how he could be so worried for her health, and how he could depend upon and – dare he say it – love her so much, he had reflected upon what he might do if she was gone. After hours of meditation on the matter, he had come to the straight conclusion that if Alexis died… if her life was snuffed out like a candle flame, like the drone’s… he would terminate himself.

Why exactly was a different matter. Much as he had tried to work out what it was that called him to the skinny human female, he had been unable to draw a simple answer from the sea of his thoughts. Certainly her eyes were stunning – more so than the stars, even – but even now, he could not discover the reason for his addiction to her.

She gasped very softly when she felt his holographic hands at the back of her slender neck, and he inspected the clasp of the necklace. When he tried to unclasp it, he found that it did not move – the jewellery was locked around her without a key, and he sensed that even he would not break it.

He ran his hand down her back instead, and felt the gentle shudder of her warm, organic body.

“It’s okay,” she sighed. “I’m probably just imagining it.”

“Perhaps,” he agreed, and she turned to face him, lacing her fingers through his. “But I sense that there is more to this… perhaps more than meets the eye.” She tilted her head to one side. “Promise me that you will tell me if anything strange occurs, Alexis.”

Her brow creased in perplexity. “Like what?” she asked confusedly, and he saw the fear lurking in her eyes. “Nothing’s going to happen to me, Starscream. It’s only a necklace… it can’t do anything to me, All Spark or not. I don’t think it wants to hurt me, somehow – it did exactly as I told it to when we were in the base.”

Starscream cupped her chin in his hand, lifting her face to his. “That is the point. The All Spark does not like being commanded… it never did.”

She blinked, her eyelashes fluttering. “I don’t – I didn’t think I could – I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that I ‘commanded it’ – I just –”

“I am not going to attack you for daring to imply such a thing,” he smirked and she flushed. “You ought to know that by now. I may still crush Sam Witwicky for that ridiculous prank that he masterminded against me with the bumbling idiot, but not you.” His hand strayed from her chin to her cheek and her eyes followed it.

“I know,” she said softly. “But still… it was wrong of me to suggest it. I know how you guys think of the All Spark… your creator. Kind of like how we think of, say, God.” She gestured briefly towards the darkening sky and he nodded. “But I know you wouldn’t hurt me, Starscream.”

He looked into her eyes for a while before he wound an arm around her waist and drew her into him, letting her huddle against his chest. She felt so fragile against him that he began to worry again, against his better judgement. She may have claimed that she was all right, in a sense, but he was sure that he could feel her wasting away again. Her waist seemed to have become thinner, and her arms felt brittle around his torso. He could hear the solid pulse of her heart and allowed it to calm him, its steady beat soothing his fears, if only a little.

Her heart was still beating. As long as it did, he would remain composed, if not entirely content with her health.

"This is not over..." he muttered nonetheless. "I assume you noticed whose corpse was missing from the battle."

Alexis bit her lip, wondering when he would mention the missing Decepticon. "Yes... Sideways," she said in a hushed voice, pressing herself up against his chest. "But he couldn't possibly do anything without the other Decepticons... could he?"

"Who knows," Starscream murmured, breathing in the scent of her. "But we should not worry about tomorrow... we should treasure today." She smiled, nodding her agreement and letting him nuzzle her hair, her eyes drifting closed.

They heard the sound of a plane in the sky and they both looked up to see the enormous Spirit bomber crossing the sky above them. Alexis smiled slightly, knowing that Jade must be sitting in the cockpit. And now that she was with Starscream, she felt that she could finally be happy for the girl – be happy for her, without the edge of envy breaking in.

Starscream’s chilly breath tickled her neck as he leant his head on her shoulder. “The stars will be out soon,” he said softly against her ear.

“Yeah,” she nodded, a smile teasing at her lips. “And I suppose you want to follow them up to see them.”

“Well, Jade has never seen the Earth,” he mused, and she imagined that he was communicating with Skyfire via his radio link. “And we have not beheld it for far too long. And this time you will be warmer,” he added, “Since the medic installed a heating system within me. Perhaps he is not such a useless fool after all… perhaps.”

Alexis nodded, feeling the anticipation well up inside of her and fill her up when she remembered the first time they had flown. “Just perhaps,” she agreed teasingly. “You’ll never learn to be nice, Starscream.” She drew him down to her level and briefly touched her lips to his. “But I must say, if you weren’t a mean, spiteful old Decepticon, I wouldn’t like you so much.”

His red eyes flashed and he smirked. “Indeed you would not. Just as I would not like you so much if you weren’t a puny, fleshbag human.”

He kissed her again, pressing his lips tightly against hers and drawing her closer to him, breathing in the light, floral scent of her perfume. As she hungrily returned his kiss, she heard the sound of his transformation behind her and glanced over his shoulder as his mouth moved down her neck. His jet form was waiting for her, and his hologram diffused into nothingness as the cockpit opened, inviting her into its warm interior.

She smiled and moved towards the Raptor, climbing up and seating herself before the green screen. “Where to, then?” his voice inquired, although he already knew the answer.

“To the stars,” she whispered, leaning her head back as the glass closed down over her head.

She felt the familiar vibration beneath her, and the feeling of speed that she was so familiar with now. And as he took to the heavens, his jets blazing and his wings stretched far and wide above the world, she kept one hand around the necklace and one on the side of the jet. The cold, dark stone that she now feared, and her saviour – her embodiment of everything good about her world in the crimson eyes and dark demeanour of her beloved Starscream, the one she was now unable to live without.

As they broke through the thin layer of cloud and the dark sky revealed itself to her, he asked her one more question. “If someone were to ask, upon our return, how you spent tonight,” he murmured, and she tilted her head, “What would you tell them?”

It was a thoughtful enquiry, much as she was mystified by it. But he was a mystery, and he always would be. A mystery made up of screaming stars, and bloody eyes… a sinful ambiguity that she loved, and would not love without every elusive part of him. He was a remedy for destruction, and an angel sent from heaven. Her angel, her heaven, her star.

“I would tell them…” she whispered, her eyes reflecting every star in heaven. “I would tell them how we seared the sky.”

- Fin -

Chapter Fanart (Farewell Rose): www. ninjalala. deviantart. com / art / Farewell - rose - 83736264
Thank you so much to Ninjalala for this final piece of fanart for "How We Seared the Sky" :)

Author's Note: To all my readers and reviewers - thank you so, so much for all your support on this story. Your favourites, reviews and alerts mean so much to me - so thank you again! Deux Claret's second part, "The Day We Hailed the Heavens", is now up and available from my profile. I hope you enjoy it just as much as you enjoyed this one! Blackwing x