Okay this is rated M, basically because I have no clue exactly what the restrictions of each rating are and M can get away with almost everything, so there you go. My first Transformers fic based in the Prime universe after the end of the series, my version of how things turned out.

I do not own Transformers Prime or the characters within the Transformers Prime Universe although I intend to invent my own.

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Time had changed a lot, Arcee couldn't dispute that, the scars of the war could still be found on countless parts of the planet. It had been only yesterday that a group of sparklings had managed to stumble upon an undetonated Decepticon bomb. Luckily the bomb had been ancient and un-operational but it only went to show how the signs of the war still remained, although the war itself was long done with.

Ten years… it seemed like so much longer… ten years since Optimus gave his life so Cybertron would live.

Not a day passed when Arcee didn't at least think back to the Prime and thank him for his sacrifice for his people, his planet and for the rest of Team Prime, which had since officially disbanded.

Ratchet remained on Earth, as the ambassador between the people of Earth and Cybertron as well as someone to keep an eye out for Decepticion activity on Earth, there had been plenty, but not how anyone had expected. Arcee assumed Megatron must have sent out some kind of message, for within days after the rebirth of Cybertron many Decepticons had appeared but, instead of causing trouble, had offered their help in the rebuilding of the planet. Their marks had been wiped away and replaced with that of the Autobots and then they had set to work together fixing the planet.

Megatron himself had been silent ever since his departure ten years before. No one had heard a whisper from him since his abrupt departure and Arcee could only assume he was out there in the universe somewhere brooding over his mistakes of the past.

Bulkhead had been head of the construction crews on Cybertron, remaking many of the old buildings and quarters that had otherwise been forgotten about. The Nemesis had acted as the Autobots home until the first few buildings had been made and, as comfortable as the Nemesis had been, it had felt wrong to rest in the ship that had once been the headquarters to their wartime enemies. Bulkhead and his group of constructers had received much praise in their work, the work force had only grown as more and more Cybertronians had been spurted out from the spark in the centre of the planet, the population grew larger and larger by the day and thousands were now in the workforce to rebuild the cities. Wheeljack had stuck with Bulkhead for the most part, helping with the directing and reconstruction of the city.

Ultra Magnus had been the one to establish a command system and order. He had immediately establish Team Prime to be the ones in charge so as to straighten out Cybertron and to get it back on track. When it was obvious that Cybertron was getting back on track the group had been disbanded and replaced by the Primus Council. The Primus Council held the members of Team Prime and other individuals voted in by the populace, they met once every month and talked about issues, otherwise the Primus Council rarely met unless an emergency meeting was called for by one of its members.

Ultra Magnus was now the leader of military missions regarding Cybertron, there hadn't been anything major yet other than the slight aggression with the Predacons but that had been resolved quickly enough. Arcee, Bumblebee and Smokescreen had remained with Magnus, taking major points in the chain of command in the military. All three of them were Commanders now in the military and although there were no Primes left everyone called Ultra Magnus, Ultra Prime, although he protested to it whenever he heard it.

Arcee had decided to take a rest from the field and had taken interest in the subtler and less violent part of military actions, she'd seen enough hadn't she? She almost had a desk job now, filling out forms and having meetings with young individuals eager to rise up in the ranks of the military, sometimes it was more exhausting than the active job Bumblebee and Smokescreen had.

She had seen Jack once or twice since the end of the war, but she had little time for it, she hated the fact that she had no time to check up with her human partner, but she had a lot of work to do here on Cybertron and some problems were becoming very demanding.

The Predacons and the Cybertronians had come to an agreement in relation to their differences. It had been feared there'd be another miniature war but Bumblebee had managed to appeal to Predaking successfully. After soothing the aggressive Predacon he had managed to establish peace, the Predacons would live alongside the Cybertronians and they would be one single society, so far it had worked surprisingly well… there had just been one small problem… a problem she'd been landed with.

Thanks, once again Bee.

This particular job she'd avoided for almost an entire vorn now in the faint hope that she wouldn't ever have to attend to it, but it was not to be. Ultra Magnus had sent Arcee a memo asking her for the report and now she had to attend to the individual she never wanted to meet ever again. A whisper of the past.

It was a grim fact, but they had tried to hide the war. The new cybertronians had no idea there'd ever been a war, no one had realised it until Bulkhead made a joke about it to Knock Out and one of the new Cybertronians had been completely lost. They had hidden the war away, in the fear that the people would distrust one another, this was a new time and a new world, and they couldn't afford distrust between the new people. Especially when it didn't need to occur, better to hide it away. It was cowardly… but right.

Knock Out had redeemed himself in her optics, becoming the leader of the Medical Profession and now renowned as the greatest doctor on Cybertron. He'd had his hands full in the early days when construction work had been dangerous but he'd pulled through with a smile, like the rest of them…

Arcee sighed and rubbed her helm as she passed cold steel doors. These were the main cells underneath the capital and they were secure, only the most trusted guards were allowed down here, Arcee hadn't been down here since their initial construction.

"Commander," nodded mechs as she passed and she nodded briskly to them, used to her title now, as she rounded corridors and proceeded down more and more halls. Behind some doors she heard cackling, behind others screaming but behind most there was nothing at all. She hated this place.

Eventually she came to the last door in the corridor, right in the centre of the corridor with a guard to the side. This was the most isolated and secluded cell in the entire complex.

'Commander," greeted the guard before using his hand to unlock the door and she stepped in with a narrowing of her optics. A single light shone into the room through the roof exposing the figure before her.

His silver armour seemed more grey and mudded and his long wings spiked nastily in the sharp light. His armour was covered in scratches and dents, courtesy of the Predacons. His optics illuminated the floor with their red glow as they turned up to hers. His long arms were locked behind him and his chains held him back against the wall around his chest. As his eyes fell on her a small smirk came to his face.

"Commander," spoke the screeching voice of Starscream as he bowed low, his eyes keeping locked on hers. She slammed the door shut and glowered as Starscream rose, the decepticon symbol on his chest glimmering slightly.

"Don't mock me Starscream."

"Me, mock? I'm insulted commander."

"Judging by your current holding I don't have many problems with your feelings Starscream," snapped Arcee nastily, she would not be kind to this filth, "I would keep your trap shut if I were you."

"If you were me," Starscream said in a drawl, "then you would no doubt be in much the same state of mind as I am now."

"Which is?"

"Hopeful," Starscream spoke trying to move but the chains rattled and held him in place, "hopeful that maybe finally I'll be free."

"That won't happen," Arcee snapped and watched as his optics narrowed, "not while my vents are operational."

"Why?" snapped Starscream in a growl, "you let Knock Out join your little group."

"He's different."

"How?"

"He's good," she watched as that small smirk returned.

"Right… and so are the vehicons I suppose… and all the others who came running and bowing after Unicron left… in fact literally every other fragging Decepticon but me!" the chains rattled dangerously as Starscream shouted this last bit but she was not to be provoked.

"That's different, you were Megatron's second in command."

"So I suppose you have Megatron then?"

"Well…"

"No. You don't. In fact I would bet you're not even looking for him are you?"

"That's not you're-"

"Exactly," snapped Starscream with an odd gleam in his optics, "whilst you're chaining me up in here for my sins you're allowing Megatron and the other Decepitcons to skip around and do what they want. That's injustice."

"What would you know of justice?"

"Enough to know that if you're excusing Knock Out, by all rights, you should be excusing me."

"No. You're different."

"Why's that?"

"You killed Cliffjumper," she narled and suddenly she was scared. She was that small autobot she had been when Optimus had been with them and she was scared, scared of Starscream and all Decpeticons. Even as she watched Starscream's face smirk very slightly.

"Oh… I get it," he hissed venomously, "and I suppose… no other Decepticon other than myself has ever killed another Cybertronian?" she just looked on as he mapped it out, "I don't suppose… that you've ever killed another Cybertronian even a vehicon? Not once? If you deny it I know you'll be lying. I've watched you rip them down."

"That's not the same," she quivered finding it difficult to seem strong as Starscream's red optics continued to bore into her.

"Why not?" he shouted angrily and she hit him, hard, across the face. He fell to the floor in a flurry of chains and for a moment she wasn't seeing Starscream as she knew him he was… cowering… glancing briefly at something he feared, truly feared, the look in his optic was terrified and scared before suddenly it was gone and he was rising up again a look of fury in his optics.

"Cliffjumper was my friend."

"We all had friends, Arcee," he snarled darkly, "that was the price of war. Megatron and Prime are to blame, not I." Then her composure was back, she wasn't a sparkling, she was a fully-grown femme.

"Cybertron is doing fine, Starscream," she said simply, "all the better without you." She turned to leave.

"You're blinding them," she stopped moving as she heard him, "blinding them from the truth… from the past…"

"The past is what we tell them," she turned as she heard him laugh, literally laugh.

"You're telling them what you want to hear," he said with a mischievous look, "you're feeding them lie upon lie just so you can have your own paradise. The reason you can't have me wondering around is because you can't explain my attitude, or me but you'll loose them. Lying to them will only land you in a worse place than where you begun." Arcee stared at the decepticon… officially the last decepticon thought to be alive. Who would of thought it would ever be Starscream?

"If we tell them about you, if we release you, then people will ask questions. They'll want to know who the strange mech is with the odd symbol on his chest. If we tell them of everything that happened Megatron, Prime Unicron, all of it. If they knew then there would be radicals, bot would ask questions, they'd start applying ethics that didn't need applying. If they knew the war existed what would stop another person taking Megatron and restarting what he left off? The other decepticons agreed to our terms and have kept the peace. Their insignia's were removed and they have been in our society ever since. You mentioned Knock Out? He's now the most renowned medic on Cybertron. He hasn't caused one problem or mishap, he's acted like a true autobot and brought peace. I'm not releasing you because you can't be redeemed. I know even if we removed your mark you'd spread rumours and stories, you'd deceive until there was trouble again. Tell me I'm wrong and I'll reconsider." Arcee finished her small speech and glared at Starscream who was still in his chains, his smirk was gone and his expression was deadly serious, Arcee already knew the answer.

"You're wrong." Arcee almost couldn't believe those words, let alone when his expression stayed so serious. She glared slightly.

"Am I?"

"Yes. You're wrong about a lot of it actually."

"I wasn't talking to you about the entire situation, I was talking about you, Starscream."

"I was aware," Starscream stated smiling very slightly, "but you're wrong about that most of all."

"You say you'd keep the peace?"

"Even better, I'd enforce it."

"Why would you do that?"

"I know it might be hard to acknowledge but Cybertron was home to both Autobot and Decepticon alike. All I want is to live in my home, it feels rather depressing knowing it's barely a small stroll away and yet it's beyond my grasp." Arcee was suspicious to say the least.

"You'd loose the insignia?"

"It's caused me more trouble than its solved."

"You would never, not once, mention the war to anyone?"

"It's all in the past, why bring up bad memories?"

"How do I know you're not lying?"

"You don't," Starscream confessed sitting back and his smirk fading, "but consider this. One day someone else will come down here, a little sparkling or a cleaning bot perhaps, and they'll find me. It might be tomorrow or a thousand vorns but it will happen. When that happens they'll want to know who I am, what the strange mark is on my chest, why they've never seen another like me, and I'll tell them. I wouldn't want to lie would I?" Arcee glowered, there was no guarantee of this ever occurring… but it may happen… it was very possible. There were plenty of commanders that weren't ever part of Team Prime, new commanders born from the planet… if they ever explored down here and found Starscream… he could tell them everything… in any perspective he saw fit. Starscream would lie if only to cause chaos before he passed away.

"So I either let you out and know you'll tell everyone or lock you away and hope you tell no one."

"I won't tell anyone if I can stand on firm ground again with my people around me."

"The decepticons are defeated."

"I meant cybertronians." There was silence for a long time as Arcee studied his optics. They seemed honest to her but she knew Starscream was extremely deceitful, extremely dangerous. Yet somehow she understood his longing to only be alive again, to experience peace.

"If I do this, I need your word."

"I give it happily."

"If you dare break it I'll hunt you down and by Primus I'll shut you down too."

"I wouldn't dare."

"I'll have to run it through Magnus… but I don't think it'll be a problem… you owe me Starscream." And she left feeling a sense of regret in her processor but a sense of accomplishment in her core.

...

Please read and review, tell me what you think, do you like it or not? This is the first fic I've done like this but I wanted to give it a shot, if you like I have more where it came from. Thanks for reading :)