Winds of Absolution

There wasn't much of his early life that he could remember before the war had reached the city-state of Praxus and more importantly his home. And the few things he could remember were nothing more than fragments belonging to a shattered whole that he didn't know how to fix. But that was okay, it was okay because he could still remember the sounds of his Carrier's laughter as she gently plucked the cube of energon from the table where he'd left it after managing to pry off the top that was supposed to be sparkling-resistant. There were also times where if he thought hard enough about it then he thought that he could almost remember the familiar smell that had accompanied her through the dwelling that had been theirs.

Harder still to remember was his progenitor. He held vague, wispy memories that seemed as elusive as smoke in the way that they slipped through his grasp as he tried to examine them. He wanted so badly to remember on his own instead of asking his brother for aid and watching as those blue orbs dimmed with remembered pain from a time before he'd been given to his family by the Allspark. He wasn't nearly as clueless as he knew Prowl wished he was and he was glad that he wasn't because he knew things that others would rather he didn't. Things like the fact that he and Prowl had belonged to the upper echelons of Cybertronian society that Mirage could lay claim to.

What he couldn't figure out was how no else had figured it out yet. It was kind of obvious he thought to himself with a light shrug of his door wings. They were always absent on the same observance days that Mirage himself was but maybe it also had to do with Jazz being there to deflect attention away from them. Okay, so maybe it wasn't so odd considering that Jazz was really good at distracting people when he wanted to and considering who he was acting as a distraction for, it really wouldn't surprise him in the least if those were some of Jazz's best performances. But really, Prowl's battle computer should have been a clue to even the densest of their number because Prowl had been renowned for his battle tactics while he was still climbing the ranks under the Lord High Protector.

Surely they didn't think that Prowl had been able to afford a battle processor of that caliber on his honor alone, did they? Heh, maybe they thought that it was a gift from the Protector before he'd allowed his processor to be corrupted by whatever virus he'd accepted into his firewalls. Prowl had always told him that people believed what they wanted to, especially when the alternative was accepting a truth that they refused to believe. Prowl was… Prowl was always the one of the brothers that understood why people acted the way that they did and why some actions were so stupidly idiotic compared to others. As a sparkling during the few times that his Carrier had managed to sneak him out of the dwelling that they shared with his progenitor, Bluestreak could remember the rarity of Prowl's smiles when compared to his other brother.

Barricade.

Bluestreak really wasn't so naïve as to think that Prowl wouldn't be happier believing that he held no memories of the second of their generation. That he held no memories of the Barricade who would lift him up into the air with gentle movements, his claws turned so as to avoid piercing the thin, fragile sparkling protoform. But he couldn't forget—how could he forget his brother who had rubbed faceplates against his with a deep sadness emanating from every junction of his frame as he wriggled grumpily in his Carrier's arms each time their brief meetings came to an end. The last memory he held of his brother and not of the mech he'd become, was of conflicted red optics staring down at him while he was held close to an energon stained chassis. Later he realized that his brother had fought and killed to keep him safe and had left him in the destroyed Helix Gardens where Prowl had found him cycles later.

Wing flicking behind him as he walked through the hallways of the base leading to the set of quarters that were cordoned off in honor of a tradition that only Ironhide remembered, Bluestreak kept his gaze fixed onto the floor. Hands opened and curled into themselves of their own accord as he moved at an abnormally slow pace, his processor frantically trying to keep pace with the thoughts whirling through him. He'd known that it would happen eventually and he'd really, really known that the arrangement with Prowl and Jazz wasn't ever meant to be permanent but—but he'd hoped. He'd honestly hoped in that small portion of his Spark that he kept hidden away from everyone and at times hid it so well that even he forgot about it.

He wasn't theirs. He wasn't theirs in all of the ways that mattered outside of the obligation that Prowl had felt when he chose to fight Optimus for his custody. He wasn't theirs in the same way that the sparkling was. And if given the choice he knew that he wouldn't want for it to be any other way because for all of the hurt and pain that lurked in his past, he knew that the times of remembering how his brothers had once humored him a sparkling were worth far more than anything he could think of.

WoA

He was tiny, Bluestreak thought to himself as he stared dumbly at the sparkling cradled within the protective sphere of Prowl's arms as the tactician moved closer. Optics focusing as the dim visor began to brighten and the sparkling clicked plaintively for a moment before nuzzling into the grey arm of the mech now holding him, Bluestreak gaped at Prowl. "Wha—why would you hand him over to me? I don't know anything about sparklings. Well I mean I was a sparkling once so I obviously know that much." The gunner babbled as Prowl patiently arranged his arms to better hold the sparkling correctly.

"Ain't no one who knows how t'handle a sparklin' th' first time, Blue." Jazz said good-naturedly as he busied himself with rearranging the veritable nest of soft materials that lined the sparkling's bassinet. "S'why ya got us to tell ya what needs doing' and how t'get th' doin' done."

"But why?" The grey mech asked with hints of panic edging into his tone as Prowl quietly rebuffed any and all attempts at handing the sparkling back over. "I should be out there with the others on shift."

"You are precisely where you are meant to be, Bluestreak." Prowl said as he gently wrapped a well-worn scrap of material around the dozing sparkling. "The tradition calls for those not Spark-linked to the sparkling to remain outside amongst the guard and you are most assuredly not one of those. The wishes of our Creators mattered little to me once I realized that you were alive and I swore an oath upon the Altar of Primus himself that I would see to your care as though you were my own and nothing in the vorns that have passed since then has given me cause to change that."

"We went through the Pit to keep ya, Blue." Visor dimmed as he recalled the earth-shaking arguments between Prowl and Optimus that had preceded the Prime's agreement to allowing the sparkling to remain on base, Jazz pressed the flat of one hand against Bluestreak's trembling arm. "S'like Prowler said, Blue. 'Cept somewhere 'long th' line we stopped treatin' ya like ya were ours 'cause ya were ours an' ain't no one gonna tell us diff'rent cause that's how it is."

"To our sparkling you will be as Barricade once was for you." A deep sadness resonated through the room as Prowl spoke, his door wings quivering with the force of the emotions left unspoken. "Whether there is a True Bond between you like there was between the three of us matters little to me and I will deal with any who dare say different. I do not have so many of our kin left living that I can abandon one like a scrap of metal rejected by the smelter and even were you not my brother I would still refuse to abandon you."

"You kept our Carrier's cloth." Bluestreak said with a tone of wonder in his voice as he absently rubbed one corner of the fabric in between his fingers. "I don't—I don't understand."

White hands gently lifted the sparkling away to place him into waiting arms before sliding over grey shoulders in an embrace as Prowl dropped his helm to rest atop of Bluestreak's. "I will admit that there was much I did not know while raising you but I had not believed that I had left the subject of our relationship so undefined." Arms tightening their hold on the mech in his grasp, Prowl listened to Jazz's humming for several seconds before continuing. "I did not fight with Optimus over the subject of your care only to spurn you once I became a progenitor, Bluestreak. What more must I say or do to prove to you that what I tell you now is true?"

"Why would you… I mean, I'm not even yours." Bluestreak mumbled as he looked down with his door wings sagging behind him.

"You are not mine in only that you were not entrusted to me by the Allspark but in every other way or meaning that could possibly matter you are mine, Bluestreak." Prowl whispered fervently as he cupped the gunner's chin with one hand and gently lifted it up. "I swear to Primus above that you are mine and as such I expect that you will be there for Crescendo as Barricade and I were there for you."

"Promise?"

Prowl's lips twitched into the briefest of smiles. "I promise."

A/N: This is what happens when you let Bluestreak have free rein over a chapter but it's done. Sam now has a name and the issue of Bluestreak's place in the family has been resolved. Once again, thank you to everyone who has reviewed/alerted/faved this story and I hope you continue to enjoy it.