#seekerling

"Alright" Megatron gave a pleased hum as he finished installing the last soft padding. After a quick scan of the training room he returned his back to Starscream who was standing on a small pillar. "We can now begin your flight training"

"Sire, I'm scared..." Starscream whined refusing to come down. The jump seemed like a long way down and despite all the padding the fear of getting hurt kept his pedes frozen in place.

"Nonsense, you're my heir this shouldn't shake your nerves" Megatron huffed, he never knew what to say to sparklings let alone how to comfort them. "Just take the leap and I'll catch you"

Starscream narrowed his optics before holding out his arms. With a deep vent he jumped and quickly transformed into his alt-mode. Instead of flying upwards, he quickly barrelled right into his sire's chassis knocking the warlord off his pedes. "Sire?"

"Well, I did say I would catch you" Megatron gave a wheezy laugh despite the air being knocked out of his vents. Sitting up he carefully picked up the seekerling who quickly transformed back into root mode with a giggle. "Let's try that again, shall we?"

"Okay, sire!"

-💙

My fic RISE UP has updated, (last week, hopefully that's enough time for this not to be too spoilery,) so I decided to make an attempt at drawing a neonate seekerling Sunstorm sittin' in a cube 'cus he's that tiny. Basically, he's the size of a fully grown - albeit somewhat vertically challenged - human in comparison to an adult seeker.

Sunstorm's claws are supposed to be transparent 'cus of his newness but I was not really into the extra work of trying to portray that properly in cell colour after the cube. Also he can't retract them yet, so Starscream gets to be tortured by how hideously sharp they are for several vorns! (Not that he will notice but his trine sure will.)

(Please note that RISE UP contains mature themes of a graphic nature including war - complete with war details, concentration camps, murder, assassination, and scenes of explicit nature. Read the tags before reading the story!)

How to prevent mystical MacGuffins from accidentally reviving Megatron or idiot organic savants repairing the selfsame rusted old fool.

Megatron never planed on having sparklings during the war. Leading an army and defeating Optimus Prime was his main goal after all, yet one late night patrol would change everything. Soundwave had picked up a strange signal coming near Vos, recent gossip and news said that the young prince had been kidnapped and murdered by a intruder one night. Megatron couldn't stand those who harmed sparklings and was now on the hunt to track down this sparkless-mecha. Call it justice or rage.

It didn't take long for him to track down the mecha he was after. Cornered and bleeding they didn't last long when the ex-gladiator got his servos around their neck. Once he was finished and the bots frame was now turning grey, a light confused squeak got his attntion. Turning around Megatron came face to face with a sparkling, Starscream the so called 'dead' prince of Vos.

As he gently picked up the seekerling scanning for any injuries, Starscream began to fuss. The young mech kicked out his pedes and tried to swipe at Megatron's optics with a hiss. Good he's feisty and despite a few little bruises he's healthy. Megatron knew what had happened here, the kidnapper had planed on holding Starscream hostage while his family's uncle claimed the sparkling had perished leaving no heir for the Vossarian throne. Royalty and their never ending chaos.

"Well, I'm not taking you back to your terrible family and I'm not leaving you here..." Megatron took in a deep vent. Surely a few Decepticon seeker trines would be willing to adopt a sparkling. "Alright, you're coming with me wherever you like it or not. Hopefully we can find you a better family to care for you, little prince"

How amazing that plan went.

Yup.

He ended up with a true gremlin sparkling he planned to leave his throne and a son that both loved & hated him that came with two brothers he didn’t know about….

It was late into the night and Bumblebee had found himself walking the halls alone. The sound of his pedes hitting the floor made a eerie echo as he slowly walked further down the long hall, Bee always hated to be on night shifts the quiet just made him feel uneasy. Taking a left he began speed-walking hoping to reach his hab quicker, not noticing the two red optics watching him from the shadows.

Bee had only made it half way when he spotted them. He barely had time to whip around to face the intruder before one servo covered his intake while another grabbed his arm pulling him into a small dark storage closet. Bumblebee thrashed wildly while he angrily yelled muffles curses and threats to the intruder, however they didn't budge instead they seemed to pull him closer to their frame hugging him tight while they finally spoke.

"Keep your voice down, someone will hear us" A familiar voice whispered. Too familiar.

Feeling his energon boil Bee wanted to bite down on servo right there but he slowly sighed and stopped his thrashing. He might as well hear the seeker out. Once fully calm the seeker removed his servos allowing Bumblebee to turn around to face his former conjunx.

"You have 5 klicks to explain to me, why on Primus's name you're here?!" Bee hissed as he flared his plating while he started into the seeker's optics.

"My little bug, I-I wanted to make amends..." Starscream flicked his door wings as he lowered his height to look the yellow mech in the optic. "I...wanted to speak to you one last time... before-"

"Oh that's rich, coming from you!" A low growl escaped Bumblebee's intake as he crossed his arms. "You want to say sorry now? After all this time, after all these years...you now want to say sorry for leaving me behind?" A mix between sorrow, anger and grief washed over Bee as he struggled not to cry right there.

Starscream just lowered his gaze as he struggled to find the right words. "I...I am sorry. For leaving you for...everything!" He then reached out grabbing a-hold of Bee's shoulders in order to keep him still and avoid looking away. "You have no clue how it pained my spark with regret when I-"

"When you shot me..."

A cold chill filled the room as Bumblebee looked at the seeker with blank, tired and lifeless optics. His frame was also rigged and stiff as he gazed into Starscream's optics. "You shot me...then left me to die. Do you really think I'd just...forget and forgive you after that?" A cold laugh escaped Bee's intake as he shook his head. "No...I'll never forgive you for that..."

Starscream felt any and all hope to re-kindle his bond with the yellow mech shatter into pieces. With a deep guilty look he let his servos go while his arms fell to his side limp and numb. Still holding onto a single string of hope he allowed to speak one last thing, one last confession. "I really did love you...more than anyone"

"Yeah, me too"

Feeling that his time was up Starscream rose to his full height again giving one last pleading look before he finally made his way towards the closet door. He knew he only had a sort window until someone noticed that the cameras would be down, so with one last glance behind him the seeker gave a soft smile before slipping into the hallway.

Bumblebee watched the seeker leave and for once he was thankful that he was some place hidden as he finally allowed himself to quietly cry. After a couple of klicks Bee finally returned to heading back to his hab, this time holding his own frame as he kept both arms wrapped around his frame. Once finally inside his hab Bee let out a shaky sigh hoping some recharge will make him feel better. Just then the sound of lighter pedes could be heard as someone shuffled into the room still yawning.

"Carrier, is that you?" A pale white and gold seeker sparkling stumbled into the living den still rubbing one sleepy blue optic with their servo.

Bumblebee gave a soft smile as he walked over before pulling his bittie into a warm hug. "I'm sorry I woke you up little firefly. I was trying to be as quiet as possible"

The sparkling just gave a sleepy smile as they returned the hug with their own. "Its okay, but are you okay?" They looked up with worried optics. "Your field is all...wonky"

Bee just softly sighed as he petted their helm with his servo. "Yeah, I'm fine just...tired" Then an idea popped into his helm hoping to distract his current thoughts. "How about I make us some warm energon and read you a story?"

The sparkling flapped their wings as a small smile found itself on their face. "Yeah! I love your stories!"

Bumblebee chuckled as he already found himself walking towards the kitchen. "Alright, go grab some blankets and pillows, I'll have the warm energon in a couple of klicks"

"Okay!" The young sparkling was already running towards their rooms looking for the items requested. And for once Bee couldn't help but be proud that they were growing so fast. But that old sense of worry washed over him again not doing any better tonight thanks to what happened earlier. That thought was simply... 'How am I going to tell them about their Sire...about Starscream?' But that thought would be for another day, not now...not when they are both so tired.

This is the perfect set up, the perfect emotions, the perfect angst and drama. The reveal of the sparkling shocked me and i’m so happy it did.

I love every single thing about this from the way Bee didn’t forgive Starscream to the way they have a sparkling Bee probably knew about on the day of their wedding or learned after. And it burned a hole in his spark even more at being abandoned.

Starscream you idiot! How could you shoot him?!

Smh.

Rodimus ends up having a sparkling but when he sees them for the first time he panics when sees them as a seeker. Of course he's sure he didn't interface with any seekers or jets, so he quietly panics that he'll be seen as a cheater by his crew or conjunx.

Thankfully Ratchet comes to the rescue when he runs a CNA test on of Rodimus and sparkling to find out where this coding came from. That's when Rodimus finally discovered his seeker heritage and it turns out his sparkling had inherited this coding despite it being a small % chance.

After coming to terms with his hidden heritage, Rodimus starts to relax knowing that his sparkling is okay and healthy despite being the complete opposite of their creators. Its a lot to take in but he knows they will be just fine.

Poor roddy getting a scare like that.

(ART CONTAINS SPOILERS IF YOU AREN'T CAUGHT UP WITH THE STORY)

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