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Ambrosia	By : CGH Category: Transformers > Beast Wars Views: 4288 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers: Beast Wars, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Part 1
- 2-Part 2
- 3-Part 3
- 4-Part 4
- 5-Part 5
- 6-Part 6
- 7-Part 7
- 8-Part 8
- 9-Part 9
- 10-FINALE
- 3
- 4
- 5
A snarl and violent shaking jerked Starscream out of a sound sleep. Unicron had been recharging as well...at least up until that point. Starscream watched Unicron's internal lights blaze at full power and heard the electric buzz of his weapons systems going online. Unicron stayed on high alert for at least two full minutes.
"Unicron?"
Everything gradually relaxed. The weapons retracted and the lights dimmed to a less painful level.
Starscream rolled to his feet and glared impatiently at the wall. "Hey, Unicron! What gives?"
No answer, naturally, because Unicron liked to reply in his own time when they weren't face to face. Starscream waited, trying to tell himself that he asked out of curiosity and not actual concern...and he thoroughly convinced himself that he wasn't actually relieved when Unicron drew him into one of his many constructed realities.
They were on a white miles-high cliff this time. It overlooked a vast gray cloudscape. A yellow-white galaxy's hub rose in the starry blackness like a fuzzy sun on the horizon. Starscream recognized this image. It was one of the space vistas he painted, born purely from his own imagination.
Unicron stood on the cliff's edge with his back to Starscream, the picture of serenity. The shadow his legs alone cast looked like two dark pillars, and his wing array created jagged patterns across Starscream's jet wings.
"Unicron?"
The other mech glanced over his shoulder, a slow, deliberate motion that flowed from his head to his throat. A haunted look shimmered in his ruby optics. Then his shadow vanished. Starscream could only stare at the space Unicron just vacated. It took his mind a few nanoseconds to realize why. He...jumped...
Reality scrambled for purchase in Starscream's processors.
"What the HELL?" he shrieked, "Unicron!"
Without thinking he dove over the cliff and tried not to notice the miles between himself and the rocky ground that surely existed somewhere far below. Unicron hadn't fallen too far yet. He looked up, his face so utterly blank that it opened a blazing hole in Starscream's anger. Starscream fired his boosters and dove like a falcon until he swooped past his golden companion. This catch would be painful, but there was no way around it.
"TRANSFORM!" he cried as he shifted into his jet form and braced himself. Unicron's full weight slammed into his hull, cracking his cockpit and causing him to rock violently in the air. The impact rang across the desolation. Starscream strained his engines to stay airborne. He struggled while Unicron just laid there across his body, motionless.
"Oh, P-Primus," Starscream whimpered. His engines gave out and he started to plummet. He heard himself screaming uncontrollably.
Suddenly, Unicron snapped his fingers and they were back on the cliff again as if nothing happened.
"You can stop screaming now." He said.
Starscream reverted to bot mode and took several measured steps out of Unicron's shadow. He balled his hands into fists. His wings, his engines and his cracked cockpit ached with the stress placed upon them. And for what? To give Unicron a free ride?
"W-what the hell was that all about?" he snarled.
Unicron turned to face him, outlined by the rising galaxy in the background. The glare of the light hid all but his dimly glowing optics. "And why did you go to all the trouble to catch me?"
The question almost derailed Starscream. "That's not the point! You almost smashed yourself to pieces!"
The Chaos bringer lifted his head slightly, looking down his nose. At the same time, he smirked, and something flickered across his red optics. "This is all an illusion. I can't be hurt here. Yet you acted to save me." He looked out across the clouds, "My fall was a question and your response was the answer I predicted."
"You...tricked me..." Burning pokers ignited in Starscream's belly. He thrust an accusing finger in Unicron's face and shouted through clenched teeth, "...how dare you toy with me like this! I should cut you to pieces!"
"I wasn't toying," came the cool reply.
"Yes, you were!"
"No, Starscream." Unicron's voice actually rose just slightly off its usual monotone. A slight rise and fall in pitch, like a verbal shrug. Just enough that Starscream's hand halted without grasping his wing blade. "I have the answer I was...hoping...for."
"I'm getting tired of your mind-games!" growled Starscream. Pride wouldn't let him tell Unicron how scared he was. Unicron proved himself to be many things...and suicidal didn't fit in his description.
"Falling...it's such an interesting sensation," whispered the dark god. He held a hand out to Starscream, "Come, experience it with me."
"Are you--" Starscream stared at Unicron the way someone might stare at a circus freak, "--are you out of your mind?"
"Starscream, there is no ground below. You never painted one."
"B-but--"
Unicron came closer, whispering in his audio sensor, "You have a phobia of falling. It's natural for one who flies to fear falling. You fear the pain of hitting the ground. What if there is no ground?"
"I'd rather face Megatron than fall," muttered Starscream.
"Tch!"
Before Starscream could think, he felt Unicron grab his arm. His world became wind roaring by and the cliff top shrank away against the sky. He tried to fire his engines, but somehow Unicron disabled them so they wouldn't ignite. Blind terror clouded his eyesight and threw his circuits into chaos. He turned and wrapped himself around Unicron, literally cowering. Tears welled in his optics and blew across his face like raindrops blown backwards across a windshield.
Make it stop...make it stop...makeitstopmakeitstop...
No. Your fear is irrational. Unicron turned so they fell upside down, Look.
With no choice, Starscream lifted his head off the other mech's chest. He saw the rock wall passing in a silver blur. Their bodies cast shadows on clouds just before they passed through them. Still, his mind couldn't shake the unrealistic fear that those clouds hid a hard, jagged, rocky ground that would smash him to a pulp. Yet, no matter how far they fell, clouds were the only thing below them. Logic finally kicked in and Starscream wanted to kick himself. He was attached to Unicron with all four limbs. Why would Unicron leave a nasty bit of land waiting if it meant he'd take the brunt of the impact?
The slow realization brought Starscream's intake cycles under control. The impact warnings--all in his mind, he realized--stopped flashing. His vision, which had zoomed to watch for the ground, relaxed.
Good...you're rationalizing. Now, Starscream, is falling really that much different from flying?
Falling was more effortless than flying. It didn't require focusing on engines and defying gravity.
Starscream opened himself to the wind blasting over his face, body and wings. He was built for this. The air moved over, around and across him, sensual, real, warm and cold at the same time. His legs relaxed as he pushed himself a scant foot off Unicron to let the air vibrate his chest.
Of course, Unicron executed a back flip that sent Starscream scrambling back into a choke hold.
"Don't do that!"
"What?" he repeated the motion, "This?"
"ARGH! You're scrambling my equilibrium chips!"
A humorless chuckle, "Good."
"I hate you."
"Oh, he hates me. I'll go cry a river."
Starscream pondered how much pressure it would take to slam Unicron's head down the length of his body and out through his aft. "Stop mocking me!"
Unicron nipped the end of Starscream's nose. "You are so high strung."
"I feel like I'm going to vomit."
"You won't."
Starscream felt wind on his chest and realized that during the whole time they argued, Unicron was inching him away from his body. It felt like someone ripped the bottom out of his fuel tank. He clung to Unicron's hands as if his life depended on it, shrieking, "Don't let go!"
Unicron looked him square in the eyes. "Starscream, trust me. You will be all right. Just treat the air like it's a head-wind in flight. Imagine the rock wall is the ground rushing by."
A new level of fear hit Starscream when one hand let go. He grimaced, trembling, that sick, heavy, cold feeling in his stomach threatening to swallow him whole. "I'm--still falling..."
Unicron's arm extended, pushing Starscream even further away. Now all that stood between him and a death that must await below was the hand clasping his. Dragging air into his intakes, he tried to fool himself into thinking he was flying. Seeing his shadow on the rocky wall helped.
Then Unicron loosened his grip. Starscream clung tighter. He felt bitter tears being wicked away from his face.
"Starscream."
He looked over.
"I'm not asking you to be fearless. I'm just asking you to face it. Getting over a fear means becoming bigger than the cause of your fear is. It isn't the falling itself you're afraid of, it's the impact--the pain."
Shaking his head, Starscream covered his optics, "I can't--"
"Yes, you can." Unicron said, his voice suddenly gentle. "Hold on to me as long as you feel the need."
Then he relaxed his hand completely.
Starscream almost up-chucked everything in his fuel tank. The illogical part of his mind kept imagining he'd plummet even faster if he let go. His rational mind argued back that they were already falling at the same velocity and releasing his grip would cause a minimal change at best.
The wind howled around them. Ever since he first took flight, Starscream called the wind his friend. Once upon a time the wind gave him freedom--it carried his wings, he played in it and he danced in its grasp. He let his hand slip until the only things between him and oblivion were Unicron's fingertips. Oh, mighty wind, will you be my friend again?
Only one way to find out.
Starscream let go. He uncovered his eyes to find no ground rushing up to greet him. There was just...air...the wind hadn't abandoned him.
Now all this terror he felt seemed silly.
"I'm doing it," Starscream whispered. He executed a graceful helix twist and gazed over at his companion. Though he still felt a little scared, he wasn't crippled by it.
"You're over your fear," Unicron said coolly. "I knew you could do this, and it pleases me."
The compliment made his face feel warm.
"It wasn't easy," he admitted.
"Of course not. Sometimes, Starscream, it's not the destination that matters...it's the journey itself. Think of Megatron--him and his craving for war. The war will end eventually. What will he do then?"
"Get bored, I guess. But sometimes when you finish one journey, you just pack up and start another one. No rule in the universe says you have to stay put all the time."
"Interesting answer."
Starscream stared at Unicron. He stared and stared until he burst out laughing at the whole situation. They were falling headfirst through clouds and Unicron talked to him like he did it every day. And it struck Starscream as hilarious.
Unicron looked dangerously close to cracking a smile, but it never grew beyond a stiffness in his lips. Starscream imagined a smile breaking Unicron's face in half.
"Starscream, you have a sick mind."
"I can't help it!" Starscream laughed even harder. Primus, he couldn't remember the last time he had a laugh this good. He calmed down when he felt Unicron drift closer.
"You said you'd rather face Megatron than fall. But you're falling, and you aren't terrified anymore. You'll face Megatron in the future knowing this. How does that make you feel?"
Instead of answering, Starscream smiled and continued to fall unrestrained with his arms outstretched. He flipped and spun like a rookie showoff, whooping in delight at how gloriously free he felt now that fear didn't hold him back. His best friend, the wind, never abandoned him. He was the one who ran away...but the wind forgave him. It showed its forgiveness by returning the freedom he thought he lost.
Then he found himself lost in the Chaos bringer's ruby optics. Reflections of the clouds danced across them, giving the illusion of emotion. He moved closer to Unicron, took his face in his hands and kissed him. A soft kiss without using his tongue or teeth. Once again, he gazed at him. Unicron's eyes had a new depth to them as bottomless as the illusion through which they fell. How they could be so transparent and still remain mysterious puzzled him. He just knew they caused his Spark to do strange things.
The sensation had been going on for awhile...but never had the Seeker been more conscious of it than now.
Starscream touched their lips together again and tasted the wind on Unicron's mouth. He was falling, and not just through the air...but he tried not to think of that other drop. Yet the more he tried to pretend it away, the faster he found himself falling into the dark god's eyes.
.o
Another day, Unicron brought Starscream back into the blank, black room. Starscream praised all holy things that the dark god chose a more suitable hour this time--he hated interruptions in his beauty sleep.
He sauntered up to his golden companion, "So, what are you teaching me this time?"
Unicron faced him, shadowed in the mysterious way that made Starscream's intakes hitch. The Seeker grew slightly jealous of the light clinging to Unicron's sharpest edges.
"I'm reversing our roles this time. You are the teacher today."
Starscream felt his left optic ridge arch up. Was this going where he thought it was going?
"I want to learn..." Unicron indicated the holograms in the distance. They were still there, floating in the darkness. "...that."
On occasion, Starscream hated being right. "Uh...everybody has their own style. All I'd be able to teach you is how to holo-paint the same pictures I do, and I--I kind of have my own style."
"It isn't the images that pique my curiosity." He came closer, gently invading Starscream's personal space without being obtrusive. "What goes on within you that allows you to create?"
Oh. Starscream's annoyed sneer relaxed as if smoothed by Unicron's curiosity. Inwardly, he relished the opportunity to share his old hobby with someone else. Niggling apprehension tapped at his fuel tank when he pondered how to explain where his artistry came from. What if his creation process didn't satisfy Unicron? What if he failed to explain it properly?
Then again--having this seemingly unflappable creature ask this of him was almost too surreal.
"It's music," Starscream began, trying to fit words around something beyond description. "It's music that you can't hear because your emotions are the instruments. You...feel it...and the sound is what you see. One line is a single note, two create harmony. The more lines, the more complex the song becomes. Uhhh..." he rubbed the back of his head, sheepish, afraid to even look at Unicron, "Am I making sense?"
"You have never been clearer than you are now, Starscream," said Unicron, his voice rumbling quietly in the darkness. He held his hand out, "Show me. Guide me."
Starscream stared at the hand in complete shock. Unicron was so aloof and art required emotion...how could he ever hope to create anything remotely artistic? He backpedaled in his mind. Showing Unicron something like this could prove insightful. Maybe he'd see deeper into him and glimpse what he kept hidden behind his stoic demeanor.
"Well, all right. Stick out your pointer finger." When Unicron did so, Starscream moved beside him, cupped the top and bottom of his hand and guided it into the reactive gas. Then he moved it repeatedly up and down in a swishing motion. "It's rhythm, Unicron. Every feeling has one. I'm going to stop moving you--I can't choose the rhythm for you. You have to decide on that yourself."
Unicron said nothing after their hands became still. For the longest time he remained poised. When he did finally move, it was sudden, a harsh, straight, vertical line that slashed the air and painted a brilliant red line in the blackness. He paused to glance at the color still clinging to his fingertip.
"Interesting."
Starscream let go of his hand. "Keep going."
"Hm."
Unicron repeated the motion that tore through the first line. Something in his optics flickered like a flame barely under control. He moved only his arm. Up, down, sideways, diagonal, a mish-mash of burning wounds that developed into a jagged abstract pattern. There were no curves anywhere. Unicron's top lip almost disappeared, pressed tight to his pouty bottom one.
"This doesn't feel natural," Unicron remarked off-handedly.
Starscream chuckled...was it the awkwardness of the moment or Unicron's careless movements that brought about his nervous laughter?
"It--has to flow out of your body. Move with it. If you're painting a harsh line--"
"Ah," Unicron raked his hand left to right, shifting his weight with the motion. His whole body moved like liquid through light and shadow, and Starscream felt his Spark skip a beat. He watched Unicron in awed silence. Watching how he surrounded himself in sharp red stripes. He did not dance like Starscream did--he more or less stayed in the same place--but the movements flowed from his feet to his outstretched hand. His optics narrowed, glistening on the edge of revealing something. Whatever it was sank before it fully surfaced.
Then Unicron stepped back to regard his work. The abstract, sketchy rendition of a ruined building floated eerily in the gaseous air. He made a fist and the picture disappeared in a gray puff.
"Why did you destroy your work?" Starscream reached out in a vain hope to recapture the erased image, but it was gone. "It was interesting."
"Because I'm no artist, not like you," Unicron turned, his optics smoldering, "However, I now understand the process that allows you to create. It's liberating." He stepped through the gas and leaned down, bringing them face to face. "Let's change the rules a bit."
Unicron reached out and left a shimmering purple hand print on Starscream's cockpit. Purple...the color of passion and desire...and one of Starscream's favorites.
"...hey!"
The Chaos-bringer smirked. Starscream didn't need to read minds to see his companion daring him to retaliate. He slapped Unicron's arm and splattered a blue streak from his shoulder to his elbow.
"Hm." Unicron stretched out both hands. Starscream felt cool thumbs painting marks from below his eyes all the way to his chin. Then Unicron waved a hand and part of the floor rose up, liquid, showing Starscream his reflection. Starscream gasped upon seeing Unicron's black stripes on his face. It looked so strange--beautiful--but strange. It got even weirder the moment Unicron's image literally transformed. Starscream's optics widened and he whipped around to look.
"This is just a metaphor," Unicron answered the unspoken questions before they rose. He slid fully into view. Horrible scars covered his form. It looked like somebody took an energy weapon to his eyes. His optics were shattered, leaving just a few scant shards of red glass, and cracks turned his previously smooth cheeks into a multifaceted nightmare. Jagged scratches like the lines he painted earlier criss-crossed his black and golden body. Parts of his wing array were broken off, exposing the circuitry underneath.
Tears sprang from Starscream's eyes. He'd seen wounds like that before--on dead bots. "Oh...P-Primus..." He stretched forth a hand to caress one of the scars on Unicron's chest in a vain attempt to sooth it. Every harsh edge grated across his Spark.
"Am I still beautiful to you like this?"
The Seeker's breath hitched. To see a being he considered beautiful look so broken tore at his mind. He didn't want to look at him, yet at the same time he refused to turn his gaze away. The ruby shards still clinging to Unicron's empty optic sockets glistened eerily. Starscream stepped closer and Unicron followed his movement. Somehow, despite having nothing to take in visual information, he could still see.
Unicron asked, "What if I looked like this, Starscream?"
"I won't lie. I'd be startled...and horrified."
"That is a natural reaction to something ugly. Regardless of species, ugly beings are always judged as disgusting monsters," Unicron said, a mild edge in his deep voice.
"Actions can be uglier, Unicron."
"Yes. Now suppose all of this..." he gestured to himself, "represents my sins."
Starscream traced the bedraggled scars, his Spark and throat aching. For once, he couldn't find anything sarcastic to say about the situation. Unicron had him backed into an emotional corner and the rude escape route wasn't one he wanted to take. He gulped and decided on the truth, "We--we all have scars in some form or another. We all make mistakes, we all do things we aren't proud of. Why should you be any different?"
"You keep me on a pedestal. This is what I look like after I've fall--"
"Enough with the metaphoric crap!" Starscream snapped, his patience wearing thin. He bit his lower lip and brushed his thumb across the ragged space under Unicron's left optic socket, wiping away an imaginary tear. The next words leapt off his glossa before he realized what he was saying, "I don't care if you aren't perfect. Nobody is! Slag it, if someone told me to choose between having you like this or going back to Megatron--who is gorgeous--I'd stay with you. Now shut up with all this! You're making my logic circuits ache."
Unicron's optics--what remained of them--trembled. He lunged and kissed Starscream hard, bringing a surprised squeak from his vocal processor. Starscream arched when large hands screeched across his chassis. Color splashed onto his red hull, painting it shades of blue. Starscream drew back and discovered he just left deep crimson in the scars marring Unicron's face. He leaned up and kissed the horrible wounds, finding beauty in their symmetry.
Time stood still. Starscream's intakes deepened. Unicron's body heated up. They stared at each other, frozen, as the barrier between god and mortal grew almost too thin to stand between them.
A beat passed and the next moment was a hot, maddening uplink. Colors wicked off their fingers as they clawed desperately at one another. In a moment the ugly scars marring Unicron glowed varying shades of arterial red. Starscream watched Unicron create color with his lips, trailing a white streak as he traced a line from Starscream's brow to his mouth.
Starscream glanced down at himself. It aroused him to see the crimson marks he left all over Unicron, but the sight of Unicron's hand prints on his body made his orange optics well over. Fiery orange stripes told him where Unicron's wing array stroked his chassis. White traced every kiss and blue followed each caress. He'd been scarred with the dark god's passion. With every movement Unicron dripped blue on his body--he was painting, and Starscream was his holo-canvas. The realization shoved him over the edge.
"Unicron...oh--OHHHH!" Starscream overloaded hard, clawing, aching, crimson spheres gushing off his fingers and splattering all over Unicron's back. Unicron's full weight pressed him against the ground. Starscream felt Unicron's cheek tremble as he spilled a hot coat of midnight blue on his cockpit. His quaking hands moved, clasping around Starscream's. The red and blue smeared on their bodies slowly turned purple. They were so thickly covered in holographic paint that Starscream couldn't tell where he ended and Unicron began. He smiled, turning his head to nuzzle his lips against Unicron's throat.
Unicron shifted his body and spoke into Starscream's audio sensor, his voice soft, "Thank you."
O--kay, he's thanking me, Starscream raised an optic ridge.
Then Unicron lifted his head and his features melted back to normal. Once again his unimpeachable red optics and smooth, liquid metal skin grazed Starscream's view. He pulled Starscream to his feet. Purple fell away from them like the shell of a chrysalis.
"Look at what we created."
"Huh?" Turning, Starscream beheld a solid purple hologram of himself and Unicron, both entangled in the height of sexual overload. There was something haunting about Unicron's scarred face--he had his mouth open and his fangs bared. Without optics, it was almost impossible to tell what else lied within the obvious pleasure pulling at Unicron's lips. It drove Starscream insane. Every time he came close to seeing an emotion, something pulled it beyond perception.
Reality swam and Starscream would have sank to his knees had Unicron not been holding him. The dark god shot him a mild glare.
"Your energy levels are low. It's a miracle you are even online...when did you last consume energon?"
"Forty eight hours ago," Starscream replied, too tired to make excuses. "Look, my fuel tank has been causing me strange sensations. I wanted it to empty so I could run a clearer diagnostic and--"
He fell into shocked silence when red lasers shot from Unicron's eyes and scanned up and down his chassis. "There is nothing wrong with your fuel tank. No surface anomalies, the pumps are functioning and the inlet valves are intact."
Starscream wavered on the edge of off-lining. He'd never let himself run this low on energon before--his whole body seemed to weigh ten times more than it did a minute ago. The intense overload he had must have drained what little reserves he had left.
"You silly fool," Unicron muttered. He gestured and the room containing his "heart" flickered into being. "You are going to be over energized into stasis after this, but you need to tank up."
Starscream felt Unicron set him down next to the large energon pool in the center of the room. Part of the floor next to it morphed into a square dipper. Unicron dipped it into the glowing violet liquid and raised it to Starscream's parted lips.
"Where does this energon come from?"
"It's part of my digestive process. My body is a giant mining station--I eat a planet, digest it and convert it into energon that sustains me. How much I get depends on the planet. Rocky worlds are best...but I'd rather not go into the details." With that, Unicron tipped the dipper and poured the energon down Starscream's throat. "This...is my blood."
Starscream laughed. On Earth, there was a religion where humans blessed and drank covenantal wine and called it the blood of their One God. Now, here he was, doing something so remarkably similar. He opened his mouth and gulped the phosphorescent liquid.
He expected the energon to burn--energon this pure had to be flavored or else it was too painful to consume. So it came as a surprise when oily sweetness rolled across his tongue. It tasted good enough that he no longer cared how silly he looked lying in Unicron's arms, being practically spoon-fed. Intoxication set in by the third dipper-full...and his memory failed after the fourth. As he drifted into stasis, Starscream swore he felt Unicron press a kiss into his brow.
Twelve hours passed. Starscream woke up alone and remembered everything he said to Unicron about his scars. He didn't realize how much he meant it until he had time to think about the whole situation.
I said I'd rather have him scarred than not at all... and he jerked to his feet as if burned. Dizziness made the room spin. He squelched the next thought before it had a chance to materialize.
"Dammit!" Starscream stomped his foot and staggered away in search of an output station. Maybe a leak and a long walk would clear his head. He needed to get rid of the silly notion that he'd actually developed feelings for Unicron.
.o
"Are you serious?"
Unicron glanced over. They were standing next to Starscream's newest holo-paintings. This one depicted a pine forest under a cloudy sky.
Starscream remained incredulous. "You're billions of years old and you're telling me you've never experienced rain?"
"It has never been necessary. And you are straying from your lesson--"
"Make this image real."
"Starscream..."
"Unicron, you're the one that showed me what I've been ignoring for so long. Now why should I keep it to myself?"
Unicron's expression remained stone. "It's just water falling from the sky. What is so fascinating about that?"
Starscream frowned and bit back the urge to curse. Did Unicron get off on being hypocritical? He tugged on the god's hand while trying not to sound annoyed, "Come on. It's--something you just have to experience."
Not a sound uttered from Unicron's lips. He stuck his finger into the painting and it stretched until they stood in its midst. The smell of wet air and pine surrounded them. Many trees were taller than they were, cloaking them in a ceiling of gray and green.
"No rain," said Unicron simply.
But Starscream could smell it. He saw the blur on the horizon indicating its approach. "Here it comes."
It started as a pattering noise and then, suddenly, the first drops sprinkled across Unicron's shoulder. Not a second later, another bounced off his nose. The dark god looked up with veiled wonder in his red optics and the clouds opened up completely.
Starscream watched the water bead on Unicron's golden armor and form rivulets on his horns and wing array. Unicron spread his array, leaned slightly back and extended his hands. Then his lips parted as he licked the droplets off his mouth, tasting the sky's offering--and for the first time since Starscream met him he looked genuinely peaceful.
"Isn't rain great?" the Seeker grinned. He loved how rain amplified the biting smell of pine. Small rivers trickled down his cockpit and wings, tickling delightful shivers out of him. Standing in rain was like having thousands of fingers caress him at once. It cleaned away the dust and dirt he couldn't reach on his own.
In reply, Unicron sank slowly to his knees in the mud and stared down at the water he'd collected in his cupped hands. Tiny streams skittered down his face like tears. He splayed his fingers, letting the water pour away.
"Even the purest water can't cleanse me," he whispered.
Starscream's smile dropped. He knelt in front of Unicron, hunching over to see his optics. As usual, they expressed nothing but reflections. "We don't have to stay."
"We wouldn't be here if I didn't want to be."
Thunder rumbled in the distance. Darker, jagged clouds moved overhead.
Unicron's gaze shifted back to Starscream in the same moment lightning flashed. Hunger flickered in his eyes and Starscream answered with a silent nod. Without a word, Unicron stood and advanced like the storm. The rain became his kiss, the wind his body, the lightning his energy and the thunder his voice. He was upon Starscream now, leaning him against the tallest tree. Branches snapped under the pressure, though the trunk remained strong. Pine needles mixed into the rain coating their bodies.
Neither spoke, there was only their bodies drawing closer. The storm raged on as Unicron hiked Starscream off the ground and connected their ports. Being wet made their electrical energy flow everywhere. Oh, it felt so good...Starscream could only cling to Unicron. Unicron clutched at the tree, his fingers leaving deep scratches in the brown bark. Wind gusts blew greenery against his face and lips.
Thunder shook the ground.
"Starscream..."
Gale force winds rocked the tree.
"Unicro--mmh!"
More lightning.
Unicron's mouth twitched.
Thunder.
Starscream's hands tightened.
Hail fell like bombs.
"Unh, S-S-Starscream!" Unicron arched up, optics blazing.
Lightning destroyed a nearby tree. Thunder drowned out the boom.
Starscream shrieked. "Oh...OH!"
The hail became torrential rain that doused the burning tree and washed the mud off Unicron's legs.
Seven lightning flashes passed. Each following thunderclap was softer than the previous.
Unicron and Starscream remained poised against the tree. Starscream marveled at the wet patterns on Unicron's cheeks. He gently pecked the dark god's lips and let his head fall back again, orange optics gazing up at the sparkles of sky showing through the pine needles. Surrounding him were the passionate trenches Unicron's fingers dug in the tree trunk.
"Oof, man, Unicron...that was...how was it for you?"
"You put on quite a show." Unicron smirked. He eased Starscream into a standing position. Starscream almost burst out laughing when Unicron walked back into the rain--a pine branch was stuck across his aft!
"Um, Unicron?"
"Hm?"
Starscream plucked up the branch.
Unicron arched a brow. "Ah, I was wondering why that itched."
Starscream smiled and tossed it aside. They sat together in the grass, rain washing the pine needles off as they watched the storm peter out. Their armor sizzled until their bodies cooled to the ambient temperature--though Starscream took much amusement in the steam rising off Unicron's codpiece.
The rain lightened until the only dripping sounds came from excess rainwater falling off the trees. Sunlight emerged between the dreary clouds. The world sparkled, doused in stars, and the sky was still sprinkling. Starscream calculated the nearest forty five degree angle and turned his head. What he expected to see waited right where he imagined it'd be.
"Look," he pointed.
Unicron did so. The corners of his mouth relaxed. "That is..."
"A rainbow, yes."
"...beautiful." When he said it, his voice was ethereal, distant, even dreamy. "Starscream, you're painting."
"What? No, I'm not!"
"Yes." Without taking his eyes off the rainbow, Unicron took Starscream's hand and replied, "Your mind made the ordinary become so much more. I did not bring this illusion to life--you did. That is why it holds such beauty. Everything I see through your eyes is magnificent."
The compliment made Starscream's face hot. "Me? How am I doing this? I thought you--"
"I only brought us here." Unicron said, drawing Starscream closer. He pressed a fierce kiss to the Seeker's lips, "You are bringing it to life. Now show me more."
The corner of Starscream's mouth curled upwards. He showed Unicron how clouds changed color at sunset, recalled how birds twittered in the trees and brought forth the mysterious, yet colorful veil of the Aurora Borealis. Unicron watched it all through indifferent optics...but Starscream knew it was touching him when the hand he still clutched clung on even tighter.
"But Unicron..." Starscream peered up at his golden companion, "Why my eyes?"
"Because I don't see the beauty in things like you do."
"Then what do you see?"
"A reflection of what I am inside." He gestured and the landscape around them became darkened desolation. It looked as if a fire gutted the forest, turning the trees into dead, blackened husks. The ground was hard, cracked ash. Scents of smoke and decay replaced the rain and pine. It was hot, suffocating, the air almost too heavy even for intake valves.
He'd turned a forest of beauty into a landscape of pain.
An indistinct figure appeared on the horizon. At the sight of it, Unicron jerked his arm up and quickly ended the illusion. Everything melted like a dream. Starscream found himself alone in the middle of a four-way corridor. He rested a hand on the nearest wall. It felt like rock, yet had a fleshy give to it, and it trembled against his fingertips.
"Hey, you okay, Unicron?" he asked, concerned.
Cherish your freedom to see all things beautiful, Starscream.
Unicron's lights dimmed after he spoke, an indication that he had nothing more to say.
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