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niyazi-a.livejournal.com) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
shadow_vector2010-10-20 06:49 am
Pieces
Bayverse, Sky and Ground AU
Barricade, Skywarp, Starscream, Thundercracker, Soundwave
no warnings
Soundwave smirked. His monitoring showed that everything was going exactly as planned. The seed of doubt had been planted. It didn’t matter if Skywarp believed the story in its entirety. It was enough to know that Skywarp had doubts, knew that Barricade was holding something back from him.
The chaos would be delicious, Seeker tearing at Seeker, the grounder destroyed between them, and Megatron would have complete control of his forces once more. And Soundwave would…strengthen his own hold, his own reputation, his own worth to Megatron.
However, it would also be dangerous. And Soundwave was no warrior. And he knew better than to stay too close: some explosions were safer, better enjoyed from a distance. He headed for the hangar with a sense of expansive relief, as though the broad swath of space was already reaching out to him, opening for him, enveloping him with its dark safety. His world. His place.
[***]
Barricade hunched on the chair, hunching deeper—if that was even possible—as he heard the door open. The bond told him already that it was Skywarp. This was the moment that terrified him. That had kept him up during the recharges of the jets’ absence. Skywarp knew. Or knew enough. Knew that Barricade was weak, and helpless and the whole Quaterne was vulnerable through him.
He heard footsteps approach, behind him. His window wings tightened, rigid.
“Little spike?”
Barricade tried to say something, but his vocalizer choked. He couldn’t even think of what to say, a word big enough to hold all the remorse and despair.
Skywarp moved past him, walking to the far corner of the room. Barricade dropped his head, staring at his lap, dully listening to Skywarp move around the room. Until the sounds approached him, and the hiss of hydraulics lowered Skywarp down in front of him, legs folding flat, foreknees on either side of the chair. “Room’s jammed now. No one can hear us.”
Barricade felt the optics searching his face, intently. He forced his head up. “Sorry.”
“Tell me.”
“Can’t.”
“You can. It won’t change how I feel about you, Barricade. It won’t.” Skywarp’s voice was raw with sincerity, pushing gently, humbly, against the bond.
“Can’t. I mean…literally.” Barricade curled lower down, compressing his talons between his knees. “Programming block.” He looked…in pain, fighting against the programming and failing.
Skywarp’s hands clenched into fists. Soundwave was aft deep in this—if he had had any doubts. Any anger he had at Barricade’s reticence evaporated. His spark ached, looking at the miserable face of the grounder, his face taut and stricken. Terrified.
Skywarp grabbed for Barricade, hauling him forward on the chair, scooping him against him, not trusting his own words, either, to convey what he wanted to say. Not trusting his rage to stay quiet. Soundwave was going to die. As slowly and painfully as Skywarp had the patience for. He felt a dark roiling in him, flickering up like flame at the thought. He forced that urge away from the bond, trying to sieve it so that only the compassion and love made it through, as he carried the stiff, rigid Barricade to the berth.
“It’s not your fault,” he said. Knowing, immediately, that that was just about precisely the wrong thing to say.
“Is,” Barricade muttered, pressing his head into Skywarp’s chassis, his optic cages grinding against the armor. “Should have known better.”
Skywarp’s larger hands curled around him. “No, you shouldn’t.” A flare of anger across the bond. “Don’t blame yourself for this. I will not let you.”
“I shouldn’t have—“
“No regret,” Skywarp said, determinedly, fiercely. “Listen to me.” He hesitated, his spark burning with frustration and love and anger, mixed. He wanted to go tear Soundwave’s panels off; he wanted to crush them while the satellite watched. He wanted to cause every pain he knew how to cause. Even knowing that the worst his brutality could wreak would not lessen one iota of Barricade’s damage.
It would come. Starscream hated it: Thundercracker was beside himself with rage. They would not let this pass. And they were cooler heads than his: he had to listen. But right now: only he could do this, could offer some measure of comfort to Barricade. “Listen to me.” He pushed against the bond. Barricade yielded, hesitantly. “You’re one of us. You’re part of the Quaterne. They attacked you to get at us. All of us. If we give into regret, and shame and anything like that, we destroy ourselves.”
He felt a tiny nod against his chassis. He felt along the bond, feeling a tremulous response, like a quaking, timid creature. “Look, little spike. I’m…no good at this. I’m sorry.”
Skywarp felt the hands clutch around his armor, a small whine from the vocalizer. “No good at this either,” the soft voice drifted up to him.
A bitter laugh. “Let’s be…not good at this together, all right?”
Barricade lifted his face, optics trembling and wide. “Yeah.”
[***]
Starscream stopped Thundercracker in the corridor outside the recharge room.
“They’re talking,” Thundercracker said.
Starscream nodded. “Skywarp will keep himself controlled,” he said, answering the other unasked question. “He knows what is at stake.”
“And he’s counting on us. Trusting us.” Thundercracker waited for Starscream’s assenting nod. “Good. Finally.” Thundercracker’s voice cracked. “He trusts us.”
Starscream reached one hand to Thundercracker, a comforting gesture, that froze halfway. Unsure if the gesture was welcome or not. Thundercracker took the hand in his, forcing himself open. Forcing himself to accept the gesture. He was so used to taking, demanding. So unused to trusting that what he wanted or needed would be offered. He needed to trust as much as Skywarp.
“This will change all of us,” Starscream murmured, curling his talons around Thundercracker’s. “But if we are careful, it can change us for the better.”
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I agree with Star; if they play their cards right (and catch a bit of luck, please? ^_^) this will work out for the best in the long run. But damn, it sucks that growing pains are so aptly named.
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this made me wiggle with anticipation and a whole lot of ...something. >.> i need better words when i'm tired!
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