Title: Second to None

Author: Eiseedoesit

Rating: M for descriptions of sex; sticky

Warning: Slash, Megatron/Starscream and Megatron/Orion.

Genre: Drama, Angst

Status: Complete

Disclaimer: Transformers Prime belongs to Hasbro. I own nothing. This story was written for fun not profit. Game of Thrones is owned by George R.R Martin.

Summary: "Despite what you believe medic, I can appreciate the truth. How it hurts and destroys. I delight in the pain." While being an unwilling patient in the Autobot base, Starscream reveals unpleasant truths about Megatron and Optimus. TFP Post season 1. Slash. Megs/Opt. Megs/Star

A/N: Just a quick one-shot completely unrelated to any of my other fics. Also written blindly without a beta so all mistakes, grammatical or continuity-wise fall on me. Takes place after Season 1 of Transformers: Prime. Starscream may come across as out of character. I have yet to see him display any sort of genuine affection towards…well, anything. And let's pretend that Starscream was present for every battle during Exodus. Ready? Yay! Here we go…

"War had a way of creating paradoxes like that. It could make enemies of brothers, murderers of lovers, heroes of the insignificant, and cowards of the mighty."- Transformers: Exodus (p.172)

"She was a corpse and I was the living girl and he loved her more than me."- Cersei, A Game of Thrones

Ratchet held the last energon line, his servos stiff and aching from hours of grueling work. With rough ease he inserted the line into the access site on his patient's battered wings, promptly ignoring the barrage of curses the seeker spat at him. The medic only shook his head, wondering how in the name of Primus the rogue mech could still function after being beaten a pulse short of death. Even more so, he wondered why Primus didn't just let the seeker's spark snuff out to spare them of his existence.

"Coward." Starscream hissed.

It was not the first time Ratchet saw utter hatred on the seeker's face. But this time was different. This time Starscream's smooth, thin, (and dare Ratchet admit it) handsome face was half gone, scratched away by deep claw marks courtesy of Ravage. Ratchet wouldn't be mending that part of Starscream anytime soon, not while the more vital components were so badly damaged. A part of Ratchet wondered if he should let Starscream live with the disfigurement permanently. There was more than a good chance the other bots would agree. After all it would be a miniscule punishment compared to the countless atrocities the seeker inflicted to his prisoners back in Cybertron. The more Ratchet contemplated the idea, the more appealing it became. At one time he might have spoken against it himself, but that was a long time ago, back when Prime was there to set them all straight. But now he wasn't.

And with that fact, Ratchet allowed himself the joy of finding sick happiness in his enemy's pain. At first it disturbed him to realize how decepticon-like it was, but he couldn't stop himself from feeling a sense of satisfaction knowing that the seeker was disfigured and crippled. He justified his feelings by telling himself it was justice. A small sense of guilt still remained, but even that was being worn thin by Starscream's constant bickering.

"You want to rip these lines off right now don't you medic?" Starscream said, his dented helm barely lifting off the berth, "You want me to die. I can see it. You just don't want to be the one to do it. Coward!"

"The only reason you still function," Ratchet warned, "Is the simple fact that you're more use to us alive than dead. If it were up to me Bumblebee should have just left you in that canyon to rust. The only thing keeping me from disconnecting those energon lines from what's left of your scrapheap body are Ultra Magnus' orders that you be kept alive."

"Desperate. All of you. I know how desperation looks. This place reeks of it. What does Magnus think he can gain from me hmm? Some intelligence perhaps? At what price I wonder? Torture? Bribery?" The words grabbled out from Starscream, sharp and painful, as if all his strength was depleted just by talking. His red optic stared at Ratchet, the gleam sharp, cold, and frightening with all the fury locked within him. His slender fingers, crushed and splintered, clenched against an imaginary foe.

"You will gain nothing from me," Starscream spat. His mangled body contorted as he screamed, ushering a fresh gush of energon from his wounds, "I answer to no one. I belong to no one!"

"You belong to us!" Ratchet couldn't restrain his anger any longer. The tray of medical supplies crashed to the energon drenched floor, their loud clang and clutter masking the faded screams of the seeker. Ratchet grabbed the seeker's helm. His metallic fingers sank painfully against the raw wounds of Starscream's face. The medic's fury was mirrored in his enemy's single bloody optic.

"The Decepticons will win. Nothing you can do will stop them" Starscream bit the words through his pain. His chest plates heaved heavily as he struggled to break free, "Look at yourself medic. Look at your comrades, how easily they've fallen after your precious Prime was destroyed. You're all becoming so much like them…like those low-life cons you so despise. Now I wonder if you were any different from us to begin with—"

Ratchet's fingers pressed deeper into the hideous gash, cutting off the seeker's words. Starscream gasped, vocals numb from the immense pain, his arms trying to flail out of the bonds locking him to the berth.

"We are nothing like you," Ratchet released him roughly, pushing Starscream's head down with so much force his helm nearly bounced against the berth. The seeker hissed, licking the fresh drops of energon dribbling from his own wounds.

"That's right Autobot," The seeker hissed, licking the fresh drops of energon dribbling from his own wounds. Even in his pitiful state the once proud second in command managed to twist what was left of his face into a cruel grin. "Your faction is far worse."

"We do not abandon our cause for our own selfish ambitions," Ratchet snapped, "And we don't send soldiers to kill our deserters. No matter how much they may deserve it."

"You think that makes you better?" Starscream's words were half caught in a sick laugh, "No, medic. It makes you all liars and cowards. At least when the Cons went out to finish me off they faced me without any false pretense. They wanted me dead and they went for the kill. You Autobots hide behind this delusional concept of nobility and compassion, but really all you want to do is slaughter the Cons, to butcher them as mercilessly as they butchered your comrades. I see it whenever your team meets the Cons in battle. They revel in it. They are just too foolish and blind to admit it. Hypocrites to the core."

"Hypocrisy?" Ratchet shook his head in disgust, "Was it hypocrisy that drove Bumblebee to seek out your flickering signal? To bring you back to base and plead for your life when every bit of logic screamed to let you rot away until your spark gave out?"

"The scout is a fool." Starscream said, no trace of his voice revealing any sense of gratitude, "He knew what had to be done. I was drowning in my own energon, vulnerable and helpless. He had a chance to do what countless others have been yearning for. And yet that foolish mechling couldn't kill me."

"That foolish mechling," Ratchet said, his servo gripped around a major energon line, the blaze in his green optics full of warning, "Showed more mercy to you than any of those Cons ever will."

"He is nothing more than a child and yet you put so much faith in him." Starscream observed. The youngling seemed to have a peculiar effect on the rest of his team. The seeker still recalled how a wordless plea from the scout was enough to keep Arcee from killing him in cold blood, "Do you have just as much faith in the others?"

"I trust them with my life," Ratchet replied, meaning every word.

"And what of mine?" Starscream wondered aloud, "Would you put my life in the hands of that blue femme and expect me to live? For all your talk about compassion and mercy, that femme would happily rip out my spark and drench herself in my energon, smiling as I died. And that oversized block head with his pet human…if faced with the choice to follow his commander or save her pathetic skin, which do you think he'll choose?"

Ratchet's resounding silence was met with Starscream's insane laughs.

"You see medic? You only practice nobility and virtue when it best suits you. All of you are blind to how corrupt and easily swayed you are. But I'm not. I know exactly who I am…greater than you! Greater than Megatron! Greater than that treacherous clerk who dared call himself Prime!" His laughter ceased as he spat out the names he despised so much. There was raw pain radiating from him, a pain that reached beyond physical agony; it was something visceral, unchecked, and threatened of violence.

"You're insane," Ratchet shook his head, realizing that despite his efforts the seeker's state was deteriorating at much more deeper level. Yet Ratchet could sense the despair that broke through the seeker, the air was tense with it.

"And you're wrong. This is the most honest thing I've said since this Primus-forsaken war started. I've never been more right." Starscream wasn't even arguing as much as he was pleading. His body tried to curl into itself, his optic looking up at the ceiling like a lost, terrified sparkling wishing to be found again, "I was stronger, faster, smarter. I would have done anything…anything it took to win! I was the greater one. It should have been me…I was the better choice. It should have been me! It should have been me…"

Ratchet looked down on him, his former anger seething with pity. The seeker's face was one erupting with wild, unconstrained emotions. His insanity left nothing hidden, every contortion, every agonized sound revealed the terror, fury, and sorrow the seeker fought so long to hide away.

"Before that gladiator started a rebellion, before that accursed data clerk even knew of the Matrix I was already in a position of power most mechs would kill for. I was an Air Commander! And now it's gone. All gone. Taken from me by lesser mechs! After all I've suffered and worked for…after all I've given up I'm simply thrown away, rejected and reviled!

"It was your choice to endure Megatron for so long. You had countless chances to leave. Yet you stayed. You have no one else to blame for that." Ratchet said, trying his hardest to understand him.

It was question that always plagued their faction. It was no secret that Starscream bore no measure of loyalty or affection towards his tyrannical leader. So why did he stay? Ratchet waited patiently while the seeker trembled, expecting another cynical retort or a barrage of curses. What he didn't expect were the words that actually came from the seeker's own bruised lips.

"I stayed…to torture him deeper than any betrayal ever could," Starscream whispered bitterly, "I reminded him constantly, whether on the battlefield or on his berth…of how much he once had. Every battle we won, any ground we gained I made it my mission to remind him that it all counted for nothing compared to what he lost and could never have again. His pain was so gratifying, and only I could cause it. Only I knew of how much…how recklessly he once loved..."

Starscream stopped, his voice caught by some untold secret.

"He once loved…you?" Ratchet said, completely unprepared for all the seeker was revealing to him. Starscream's mangled helm looked down, unable to meet the medic's questioning optics. The sounds that fell from his lips were more human than mechanical. Ratchet recognized it, having seen it enough times when the humans were severely distressed and needed a way to show their fears and sorrows.

"No. Not me." Starscream whispered, bitterness clung to every breath he took. His broken body shook, not from weakness, but from unbridled hatred. "Never me."

For a moment Ratchet thought there was a trace of regret in the seeker's words, a hushed sob of disappointment. But it couldn't be. Starscream had the kind of spark that didn't know how to love or be loved. He slaughtered countless innocent lives, destroyed once proud cities, betrayed, schemed, and groveled to fulfill his own selfish ambitions. There was no chance someone as soulless and cruel as Starscream would ever grieve over love; it just wasn't suited for someone like him. He tried to convince himself of this and yet Ratchet couldn't ignore the look of defeat on the seeker's face. He felt as if Starscream's frustration and grief latched on to him, dragging his spirit down to suffer alongside the once beautiful commander.

"I had great ambitions," Starscream whispered, "Before the war I was Air Commander, ruling over the finest winged warriors in Cybertron, each one of them loyal to no one but me. But it wasn't enough. For me there could never be enough. I desired the power to change our world into the image I craved it to be, a world free of the castes…a chance for me to break free from the boundaries that kept me from seizing complete control. I wished to be a Prime... a real one, a mighty ruler who would save our civilization from its rotting core and usher in a new golden age, one brighter and grander than the age before."

The hopefulness in his voice revealed how much he still longed for it. Ratchet tried to keep his guard up, weary that this could all be another trick. Starscream stared blankly ahead of him, lost in the haze of memories and regrets that filled them.

"We would all be spared of this war if I kept myself free from Megatron's lies. But I didn't. I allowed that monster to manipulate me, use me for his own gains," Starscream continued, not sparing himself the truth of his errors, "I was too blinded to see him for what he was. I couldn't see the tyrant he would be. I only saw him at the moment when I first heard him speak against the council. I never imagined there could be another so hungry for power, so willing to challenge the system and so eager to inflict violence in the name of liberty. I mocked him at first, thinking him a fool. But as his followers grew, as his voice grew louder and more outspoken, I began to listen. And little by little, as I saw how the council would fail under their corrupt regime, as I witnessed the cowardice of our leaders, I found myself believing in Megatron. To my shame I found myself yielding to the command of another, one from a lower caste…at first I convinced myself it was all for personal gain, that by siding with Megatron it would bring me closer to my goals of claiming ultimate power."

Starscream shook his helm, the movement causing a fresh gush of energon to ooze from his wounds. Ratchet came to his side. With surprising gentleness he wiped the leaking energon away and sealed the cut. Starscream's face revealed no pain, his optic blankly staring into the distance as if his mind were stuck in an entirely different reality.

"I wasn't born to be a murderer or a traitor," Starscream whispered, "But I became one…for him."

Before, Ratchet barely gave any thought to what Starscream's life was like before meeting Megatron. It was as if Starscream never even existed before the warlord started burning their world. Now he tried to imagine Starscream as a young commander, a mech full of dreams with the skill and untapped potential to pursue them. He knew how Optimus once fell for Megatron's impassioned speeches of freedom and liberation. If their noble Prime could fall for such lies what chance did the power-hungry Starscream have?

"You don't understand what he was like." Starscream said, "He could draw entire crowds to listen to him. When he spoke you believed what he said, as if had seen the innermost desires of your spark and spoken each terrible secret aloud. With a simple command he could make you do things you would never dream of committing. He inspired fear and love. He spoke down on his followers and built them up to be stronger than they could ever be without him. And I was captivated by how much power he had over them…over me. I killed for him. I betrayed the Prime I was supposed to protect. I offered my seekers at his disposal. I did everything he asked, carried out his schemes, and hungered for his approval. I lost my pride and dignity in my blind devotion."

Ratchet had no words. He didn't even know how to feel. How long did Starscream keep this hidden? Had he ever confided this with anyone? Ratchet's guess was a resounding "no" judging from the emotional wreck the seeker was reduced to. He administered a mild relaxant to soothe the seeker's trembling frame. Starscream grumbled as his vision faltered and his movements slowed to a slump. But the medication did nothing to dull the anger which fueled him to live.

"When Megatron's forces were driven back by the Autobot resistance I was the one who flew overhead. My bullets darkened the sky as I shot through those rebels like tin cans. When my prized warriors crashed from the skies I fought on, firing madly into battle til my sensors were numb from the noise and smoke. When my wings were blown off I crawled and screamed through the battlefield, wildly tearing out the sparks from nameless warriors until the horror of death and war couldn't grip me anymore. When the battles were over I would always stand in the field, taking in the sights and sounds left behind by war, beholding such atrocities could have broken any mech…but as I felt the energon covering me turn cold and dry I did not regret it. I killed and lived for Megatron. I would gladly kill again."

Ratchet recalled his own days as a medic. He remembered scouting through the ruins of cities during the aftermath of battles. Often he would see seekers flying overhead, surveying the damage inflicted upon them. He wondered if one of them had been Starscream.

"I won him city after city. I gave him Hydrax, Fort Scyx, Polyhex, and Crystal City at the price and life of my own soldiers. I cheered for him when our forces massacred the Autobots who dare challenged our might. I was there when they laid siege upon the Autobot capital itself. You should have seen him then as he commanded his armies to destroy the capital of their former oppressors. He stood tall and proud, his fusion canon held high and reeking of smoke and death, his optics fierce with rage and courage. They looked up and saw not a simple rebel, but their lord, their champion and king, a leader worth spilling their energon and spark for. But my devotion was beyond that. As I watched him rule over his armies I realized that this gladiator turned revolutionary was someone I was willing to abandon all the plans I made for myself. I was willing to compromise who I was if it meant being at his side. Secretly I made a pledge. Not only did I devote my loyalty to him, I committed everything I had, everything I was and could ever hope to be to him. I longed for a chance to finally make it known to him. And after crushing the defenses of Iacon I found my chance."

Ratchet stood back, afraid of what else the seeker might reveal. He wondered if Starscream even realized what he was saying. Why would someone as selfish and proud as Starscream admit to being used by Megatron? Why would the seeker disclose such personal secrets to an Autobot of all beings?

His thoughts were interrupted as Starscream went on, the seeker's optics blazing with newfound fury.

Whatever the seeker said before paled in comparison to what came next.

"When we crushed the Iacon defenses our troops reveled in victory. It was a complete madhouse. No caution or care was given as our soldiers tore through the streets demanding their share of the spoils. Our generals and honored warriors drowned themselves blind with dark energon, their processors drunk with its wild power. They dragged out femmes and mechlings from their hiding places. I stood by as they were ripped opened, raped, then slaughtered. No sooner than their sparks gave out than another batch of prisoners were displayed for the pleasures of victors. Never ending screams filled that night. Screams of pain and pleasure and despair. To those possessed by the dark energon the wickedness gave a sick, gratifying pleasure. And Megatron oversaw it all, proclaiming to every audio in range that this was just a taste of their prize. His soldiers hailed his name like a god, bowing, crying, and throwing themselves like mindless animals before his feet. But I stood firm, seeing him in the terrifying beauty of his victory. His optics locked with mine. Within them I saw all the burning fury and passion I kept hidden within myself."

Starscream's long, sharp fingers dug deeply against the berth. Ratchet reached out to stop him but the seeker hissed and screamed at the touch. The medic jumped back as his patient struggled to force the words to form and leave him.

"He took me," Starscream said. His voice broke. His spark ached, "Like I was nothing more than a whore."

Ratchet listened in shocked silence as Starscream revealed to him what no other living soul knew.

"He didn't even grant me the dignity of claiming me in private, nor the comfort of a berth. He ravished me right there, in the midst of his drunk generals and commanders. I have never been entered before. He knew. It didn't matter to him. When he forced himself inside me I bled and tore. I felt fear and pain unlike anything I've ever endured. He made me ride him, scream and beg for him like a desperate slut! I couldn't look at his face, afraid of what I might see. But I could not ignore his touches, so violent and cruel that granted me torturous pleasure. I didn't care for the vulgar, lust driven mechs watching us. All that existed was him… inside of me, pounding me to the ground, screaming and burning together. When he finished I clung to him. Having tasted his passion I refused to live again without it. Megatron spared no affection. He grabbed me like some broken plaything. He dragged me through the squadrons of generals and troops, displaying my shame and utter submission to him. His perverse attentions didn't end there. He took me to his chambers and continued to do what he wished with me. And I didn't reject him."

Starscream's frame twisted at the memories, disgust threatening to make him purge what little energon he contained.

"I begged. I screamed for him, worshipped him! When his pleasure was spent he filled me over and over again. I gave my entire body to him, I surrendered not only my dreams but my entire life. I was ready to plead with him, beg for him to claim my spark. No one less than the future emperor of Cybertron would ever touch my spark. As he thrust within me I screamed out his name. The happiness I felt when he returned my kisses with such fervor and passion was indescribable. I dared to caress his chest plate, admiring the insignia of our empire, craving for the heat of his brilliant spark…"

Starscream's voice hitched, remembering the dreaded moment that destroyed him more than all his battles combined.

"I touched his chest plates, seeking for his spark. As my lips part again for him, he whispered a name…A name that was not mine. Orion…He whispered it so lovingly, so desperately."

Ratchet stood helplessly as the seeker's whispers grew into a terrible, shattering scream.

"I fought back. Megatron was too strong. The dark energon clouded his mind and strengthened his spark. I felt it reaching out to me, felt its fierce heat even though we still hadn't merged. He ripped open my chassis. In his blind delusion merged that monster our sparks together while chanting that accursed name! Megatron saw everything I was, my ambition, my drive, my love and loyalty for him. He saw how much I worshiped and adored him…how much I was willing to sacrifice in return for his affection…his love. I shared the deepest part of me, my most protected self, my need for someone to recognize my worth, my need to be adored and cherished…to be loved second to no one. "

Starscream's bitterness lashed out in his confessions, the hardest truth not even spoken yet.

"I sought through his spark and I was consumed by the immense hate and anger he had towards the world, towards you Autobots, towards life itself. But I refused to believe that was all there was too him. There had to be something else, something deeper and greater than his cruelty. So I searched into the brightest and most violent part of his spark. When I finally reached it…it was not the emotion I thought I would feel, nor the face I thought I would see."

"Orion…Orion…." Starscream mocked the sweet, desperate way he heard Megatron call him that night. "All the interfacing Megatron forced on me could not equal the love carried by that simple, despicable name. I saw Megatron's most treasured memories and they were filled with nothing but that damned data clerk! His voice, his touch…everything Megatron adored and loved was tied to nothing else except that power-hungry slut who abandoned him for the council! That's when I truly saw Megatron for what he really was…a hypocrite, a traitor, an ungrateful fool!"

"They weren't lovers," Ratchet said. He'd let Starscream go on for far too long, "You were clever to manipulate my emotions, but I won't fall for your tricks. I won't allow you to insult Optimus any longer."

"Nothing you say or believe will change the fact that your beloved leader once belonged to your most hated enemy! It was a secret they would have taken to their graves were it not for me…"

"Do not expect sympathy from anyone of us Starscream. I assure you, you will get none." Ratchet warned. "You say you've suffered? Well what of the ones you killed in cold blood? You murdered Cliffjumper. You almost killed Prime-"

"I would have blasted him to shrapnel if Megatron didn't stop me!" Starscream spat, "Tell me medic, how many chances did your Prime and the oh so mighty Megatron have to kill each other? Any how many times did they let the other escape? Tell me."

Once again Ratchet had no answer. Starscream sneered.

"I don't need your sympathy Autobot. I just need your pain in knowing that your beloved leader is far from being pure and virtuous. When I searched the wildest, burning flame of Megatron's spark it was riddled with chaos...there was nothing there for me. When Orion betrayed him a part of Megatron died forever, the part I wanted but could never have. My former lord felt love once, but he would never feel it again, their separation was too severe," Starscream gave a sick, cruel laugh, "My only delight was seeing how it continued to destroy him. I reminded him how he would never trust or love again."

"I gave that fool everything. I was the one who stood by him while others conspired against him. I was the one who gave him triumph after triumph. I was the one who surrendered everything I was to him. Yet he rewarded me by humiliating me. He dared call me a coward and a traitor…" Starscream whispered, his energy quickly depleting, "After all that time, he still treasured the memories of a dead data clerk over me. He adored him. I was just nothing more than a second option. I was to be his second in command, never his equal, never his mate…I was the living mech. The librarian was dead, and he still loved that traitor more than me."

"My love for my lord turned to hate. Slowly I regained the senses I lost. I saw him for what he really was. He didn't deserve me. I remembered the dreams I had for myself and reclaimed them. I would not simply equal him. No. I'll surpass him! Him and his little Autobot whore!"

"Enough!" Ratchet's patience had finally run out, "Another word against Optimus—"

"Your Prime is nothing more than Megatron's glorified slut!" Starscream snapped. He shouted over Ratchet's threats, wanting him to hear every cruel truth, "You want him back so badly, go ahead, rescue him. But don't be surprised if you find him screaming in pleasure as Megatron frags him to the wall. If Megatron's memories are anything to go by dear, sweet Orion is a wild yet submissive lover, ready to be ravaged anytime, anyplace."

"Stop!"

"But perhaps it's too late. By the time you see him again he'll probably be heavy with sparklings. Oh what a horrible fight that would be. Megatron would never even let you come close if Orion was carrying."

"I said to stop!"

"Unlike what you believe medic, I can appreciate the truth. How it hurts. I delight in the pain it can cause." Starscream pressed on, "The truth is that both of those so called leaders have deceived their factions for far too long. This war will never end unless they are dealt with. Megatron didn't have the strength it took to finish Optimus Prime. I do. And I'm willing to carry it through, every bloody, violent detail of it. And I'm ready to kill Megatron too if need be."

"Do not speak of our Prime—"

"Your Prime is dead! Megatron will destroy every last one of you to keep it that way."

"This conversation is finished!" Ratchet said. He lowered the flow rate of energon to the seeker, "I'll warn the others of your unstable state. Don't play mind games with them. Some of them are not so patient."

"I was not born to be a prisoner!" Starscream screamed as Ratchet tightened his restraints, "If I die I'll die in glory. I'll soar happily straight into the Pit if Megatron and Optimus burn there before me!"

Starscream fought back miserably as Ratchet administered a fresh bolus of medication into his energon line. The seeker's frantic screams slowly turned into pathetic whimpers. The medic sighed, thankful for the peace.

The seeker fought the effects but this time the dose proved too strong. The medic observed how the seeker's optic refused to shut down, forever paranoid of what could happen in such a vulnerable state. In spite of the seeker's cruelty and merciless nature, the medic couldn't help but pity him. He realized that the wretched seeker never really had a true friend, that he probably spent the entirety of his life constantly having to prove to everyone…even himself, of his worth and dignity.

"It should have been me…Me…" Starscream sobbed weakly as he succumbed to tranquil haze of the medication.

Ratchet decided to grant his patient one last act of compassion and tended to his wounds before leaving. As he cleared the seeker's face of dry energon a string of words repeated themselves over and over, growing weaker each second as Starscream's strength faded.

"It should have been me…Just me." Starscream's voice shook from pain and grief, "It should have been me. Why didn't he choose me? Why?"

Both had an answer. Neither wanted to say it.

A/N: Love or hate, let me know what you think so next time I can do better :)

I should be working on my other fic, but Starscream (and the flu) wouldn't cooperate. So during a long road trip with my family, I decided to watch a few episodes of Game of Thrones. That's when a line one the characters said struck me. It was the line spoken by a bitter and callous Cersei in which she describes her disappointment and pain, "She was a corpse and I was the living girl, and he loved her more than me."

After I heard that I immediately imagined Starscream saying it while talking about Megatron and Orion, with Orion being the dead one Megatron loved more than him. And then right after that I watched the "Out of His Mind" episode and a plot bunny was born. Cause really, why didn't Megatron allow Starscream to just kill Prime and be done with it? I know people say it's because of the whole "Only I get to kill you off" mentality Megatron has but couldn't he just like…tossed Starscream aside and go right for Optimus himself right then and there? What better opportunity did he have? Oh wait, that's right, during the season finale! And he still let him live after realizing that Orion returned! Not only that but he took him back! The questions and implications wouldn't leave me alone, plus my growing love for Starscream and my sick obsessesion with unrequited love fueled the fire I needed to write a fic. So yeah, now we have this lol.

I had to give Megatron/Starscream a story. I was so tempted to put a Megatron/Starscream thing going on in "Infinite Night" but it would detract from the Megatron/Orion centric plot. So to satisfy my craving I just did a different story for it. Hopefully that demon will die down now.