WARNING: CONTAINS SLASH.

Note: Been cooking this in my head for quite awhile. Takes place after Ambrosia. Pairing is UnicronxStarscream.

Enjoy.

.o

Eyes of Truth

.o

"If you understand, or if you don't.
If you believe, or if you doubt.
There's a universe of justice...
And the eyes of truth
are always watching you."

--Enigma, "The Cross of Changes"

.o

He'd planned a simple visit to Cybertron. A hop down to look around, see the progress of those he left behind and then a quick return. Unfortunately for him, his temper turned his entire day inside out, and he had no one to blame but himself.

Starscream flinched as he came back online to dim lights recessed into a dark ceiling. He turned his head to look around. His eyes beheld a long, triangular room full of windows and electronics. Every surface was black. He groaned and shifted heavily, his sluggish mind recalling the events leading up to this.

It started out so well. Unicron dropped him off on Cybertron and headed out to consume the molten planets in a doomed solar system a few light years away. That gave Starscream a full day to sight-see. Starscream had a great time--even spotted people he knew from afar, though he feared approaching them. After all, legally, he'd been declared dead on Cybertron, and showing his face would just create a stir. He didn't feel like braving crowds or answering endless questions about how he rose from death.

"Hi! Oh, where was I? It's nothing big. I just faked my death and started hanging around with a gorgeous gold bot the size of a planet. So, what have you been up to?"

Yeah, Starscream knew that explanation had no chance of flying with anybody.

Funny thing was...nobody really recognized him on the streets. The only person who gave a second look was Megatron--he'd walked right past him, realized who it was and dodged behind a taller mech. He glanced back to see his former leader shake his head and keep walking.

That evening, just a scant four hours before Unicron arranged to pick him up, Starscream decided to visit Twister's bar. Twister was a yellow drill mech who happened upon a rich energon mine that propelled him from nothing to one of the richest bots in Iacon city. Everybody with money went to his place, and it was the first bar he went to when he first met Megatron so long ago.

Starscream seated himself in the same booth Megatron took him to just as somebody else walked by. Paying no mind to the other patron, he ordered the silver soup--exactly what he had the first time he came here--and nibbled a rust stick while he waited. Silver soup was a bowl of energon and oil with silver shavings sprinkled throughout for flavor. These memories, the ones from before the rape and terror, were nice to relive.

He'd been young then--relatively speaking, not much older than Rad, Carlos and Alexis--and completely oblivious to the fact that Megatron was grooming him. Looking back, Starscream could see why he fell for it so easily. He lived on the streets. He had no money. He was so shy he couldn't handle crowds. And then Megatron entered the picture, treated him kindly and became somewhat of a hero. Had he known then what he knew now, Starscream would've run far, far away.

Starscream nodded with a smile, his silver optics glowing--

--and then his order arrived, dispelling the past. One thing Starscream liked about this place: the service was always prompt. The soup's delicious aroma wrapped around his olfactory sensors like teasing fingers. He plucked a rust stick from the jar on the table and used it to stir the steaming concoction while he blew on it, hoping to cool it faster. When stirring didn't work, he got up to ask the bartender for a drum of coolant.

Something flashed in and out of the dim lights pointed at the bar top. The shadow of a hand picking up a drink. He smelled the icy tang of an Iceberg--a drum of energon served with dry ice. Starscream never liked those. Fizzy cold drinks made him gag. Even worse, he saw evidence of a recently consumed Fireball--a very hot beverage served boiling. Who drank hot and cold drinks one after the other? Last time Starscream tried that, he ruptured a fuel line. Yet this mech didn't appear the least bit bothered. How queer!

The shadow returned to plunk down the misty concoction. No, not a shadow, a pitch black hand possessing unnatural claws three times the length of normal fingers--so long they had four joints. The armor plating on the hand appeared to absorb any light in the area.

Starscream let his gaze follow the hand to a pair of narrow purple optics. Was it Sideways in another form? No, no, Sideways' optics were almost the same color as energon, and these were more like dark amethyst. They seemed familiar, somehow.

Where have I...

His mind flickered over memories of long, shadowy fingers holding a Spark and tracing tiny silver lips, and the realization crashed into him like ice down his chassis.

What is HE doing here?! Wait, slow down, hold on. What if it isn't? Don't jump to conclusions.

But Starscream found his curiosity piqued. He ventured away from the bar, heading towards the waste disposal room. This would let him slide casually past the dark figure without arousing suspicion. From the door to the waste room, he had a clear view of the stranger.

He was built willowy and delicate--his body shape most definitely that of a Seeker--except nowhere on his form did he have a single curve. He was all angles and points. Starscream couldn't guess at his size while he was sitting with his legs concealed by the bar. His wings seemed unusually short. They protruded as two triangular points from beneath a cape made of...Starscream couldn't even guess at the material, but it didn't look anything like cloth. The figure turned his head to regard the bartender, revealing an angular face with a pointed nose, two spikes on his cheeks and a long silver stud jutting like a dagger from his chin. A purple jewel exactly like Unicron's adorned the crown-like crest on his brow. The gem, his chin stud and his optics were the only surfaces on his body that reflected light. Everything else...he was as lifeless as the darkest corners in the universe.

Hmph! Starscream just couldn't be sure. He knew he'd love to paint that figure--he was certainly unusual enough to document in some form or another. Guess I should just ask. Can't hurt, can it?

"Excuse me," he stepped out of the waste room.

The black mech swiveled on his stool and stood up. Despite his long legs, he was only Sideway's height, his head barely reaching Starscream's chest. Oh, there was no way, but asking would certainly be amusing.

"Are you addressing me?" he asked, his voice a low, hissing rasp.

"Yeah." Starscream approached him. He placed his hands on his hips, hoping his size intimidated the smaller mech. "Your name wouldn't happen to be Primacron, would it?"

The mech's purple optics flickered in amusement. Nothing resembling kindness or gentleness existed within them when his thin, pointed lips twitched in a smirk that bared one dagger-like fang.

"Why, yes it is." He said without so much as acknowledging Starscream's posture. His voice never rose above a whisper, which made him hard to hear over the traffic sounds outside. He wrapped his creepy fingers around his Iceberg and brought the drink to his lips. Then he set it down again and caressed his own chest plating. His claws made a sickening creaking sound that set Starscream's teeth on edge. "Though Ancient speakers sometimes call me Obscurum."

The reply ran Starscream's pumps cold. Nobody except for the gods themselves and Ancient speakers like himself knew that name! He dared to inch closer, if only to hear the other mech's words more clearly. "For real?"

"Mmhmm. How may I..." and his tone turned mocking, "help a such a lovely jet like yourself?"

That was Primacron? That was the person responsible for Unicron's pain, loneliness and scars? That was the face Unicron had nightmares about? He was tiny! The way Unicron described him gave Starscream visions of a mech the size of Tidal Wave. No. It didn't matter anymore. Knowing he cycled the same air as Primacron just boiled the energon in Starscream's fuel pump. His body clenched tight in preparation for his next move.

"Oh, no real reason." Starscream shrugged, smiling despite his anger. What came next was something he would regret for the rest of his life. "Just wanted to make sure I had the right mech. Now I can give you this."

He punched Primacron in the face. It was the hardest he'd ever hit anything in his life.

"That's for Unicron!" Starscream shouted as Primacron flew back, smashed into a barstool and collapsed from the blow. He crumpled and lay still under the bar. Offlined by one punch? What kind of a god couldn't handle a simple punch? Starscream spat on him and tossed the shocked bartender some credit chips for the damaged barstool.

Slag it. Starscream rubbed his fist. His pointy nose scratched my knuckles!

He started towards the door. Something behind him swished, and the next thing he knew, he was waking up to the dim ceiling of the room he now occupied. What in Primus' name happened? Where was he? He stood up off the long, narrow black berth he'd been lying on and found himself staring into a pair of purple optics. Their unexpected presence yanked a startled yelp from his vocal apparatus.

"Goodness, are you always this excitable when you first wake up?" Primacron grinned, and even his smile seemed pointed. "So, your name is Starscream, and," he stretched out his clawed hand and laid it over Starscream's chest--over his Spark, "you're bonded to the pest I thought I was rid of. I see he's named himself. Amusing."

"How did you--"

"How do you think?" Primacron grinned coyly, tapping on Starscream's cockpit canopy.

Starscream batted the hand away. Knowing those same claws mutilated Unicron's Spark made him sick inside. Oh, Primus, I should've just left him alone! Unicron! Can you hear me?

"Oh, don't worry so much. Stress gives you dents." Primacron brought his hands together, "And it's no use calling out. He can't hear you."

"Where am I?"

Primacron rasped, "We're aboard my ship, and we're far from Cybertron."

Starscream wished Primacron would back up out of his personal space. Primacron gave off a strange, chilling aura, almost like a bad smell, and it made Starscream uneasy.

"Mm, little Unicron--my little pet--those were the days." Primacron finally backed away. He walked, almost flowing, to the window on the other side of the room. His cape slid against his frame like liquid that seemed to dance around his ankles even when he stood still. "He was such a pathetic creature. Always underfoot. Always stupid. Heh, heh, it's almost impossible to fathom what he's become."

"Grrr...let me go, now!" Starscream didn't want to stand there and listen to Primacron insult Unicron. He had to get out of here and warn Unicron somehow.

"Let you go? Or what?"

"I'll crush you!"

Primacron shrank against the window and cupped his cheeks in his hands. "Oh, no!" He gasped in mock horror, "He's going to crush me. Oh, help me, someone! The big, bad Starscream is going to crush me!" Then he straightened with a laugh that sounded like a file over metal.

"Don't mock me!" Starscream snarled. There were too many memories attached to Primacron's behavior. Forgiven or not, it made his own scars ache when reminders slapped across his mind.

"I think I like you." Primacron said. He returned his focus to the window. "Come here, boy. There is something you need to see."

Starscream inched closer. For now, he figured it was safer to cooperate until a better opportunity to escape presented itself. Surely Unicron would know something was wrong when he realized Starscream wasn't on Cybertron.

Raising a jagged hand, Primacron pointed to the solar system not far away. Then he looked to the left. "Observe the view screen."

Turning, Starscream saw a zoomed in image of the star. Twelve planets orbiting a blue super giant star in the prime of its life. It was an inhabited system. Starscream saw ships zipping about, artificial moons and even data about the techno-organic inhabitants.

"Now look out the window."

Starscream did so, grumbling to himself. Now he knew where Unicron learned how to be so annoyingly cryptic.

Primacron pointed again at the star, which was just a speck of light among many.

"Bang," he said.

The star onscreen exploded in a brilliant flash. The planets, ships and people were vaporized. It would be several years before light from the explosion reached the ship.

Starscream's jaw dropped and a cold fear crept into his circuits. Primacron just blew up a star like it was nothing. He could do the same to Unicron!

"Isn't it beautiful? All that work they put into their society, and it's gone in an instant." He made a sweeping gesture and the whole area erupted in supernovae that left the view screen white. In seconds Primacron transformed the peaceful star cluster into a wasteland of cosmic radiation. The gamma rays alone would destroy worlds too far away to see from here.

"Stop it!" Starscream looked away, biting his lip hard. "You're disgusting."

"Oh, what? It's no different when Unicron eats a planet."

Starscream bristled. "It's way different when he does it."

He could remember feeling sick when he first saw Unicron consume an inhabited planet. Except Unicron explained he only went after worlds so highly advanced they were destroying themselves and likely to prevent others from reaching their full potential. That didn't make watching it any easier, but Starscream comforted himself in knowing Unicron regretted doing it.

Primacron, on the other hand, had no regard for the lives he just took. He was smiling.

"Unicron will come for me," Starscream growled.

"Mm, yes, you're a delicious piece of bait. You see, my dear Seeker pet," Primacron turned from the window and once more invited himself into Starscream's personal space, "I don't like it when I lose my toys. And going to him is no fun...so I'll make him come to me. Oh, stop, I'm not going to just blow him up like a star. That isn't any fun either."

Starscream didn't realize he'd been backing up until his aft bumped into the table he woke up on. He brought his hands back to grip it and glared down at Primacron.

"Don't think I'll make this easy on you, Primacron." Starscream sidestepped the table and hastily put it between himself and the god of Darkness. He wrenched his wing blade free and ignited it. The red glow reflected in his silver optics. "I don't care if you're a god. I won't let you hurt Unicron anymore!"

Primacron sighed, smacking his face with his palm and rubbing downwards, gazing at Starscream from between his claws. "You can't be serious."

"Grr!" Starscream launched himself over the table and at Primacron.

.o

Unicron was worried.

Starscream had a tendency to be late on occasion, but never two hours. And he never closed off his side of the bond.

When two hours became two and a quarter, he sent Sideways to Cybertron to investigate. He had to, because radiation from the star Cybertron orbited interfered with his ring array, making it impossible to scan the surface for Starscream's unique energy signature.

Sideways, report.

"I got nothing. Relax, Unicron. I've only been here for thirty minutes. I'll report back again in sixty if I don't find anything."

Unicron growled to himself. Why would Starscream pull something like this?

Search everywhere. Leave no stone unturned, no alley unexplored. I won't rest until he's safe and back with me.

"Will do. Sideways out."

Unicron let his consciousness fade into the vast darkness where he let Starscream paint. All around him were images of color and feeling, but at that moment not even Freedom brought him comfort.

Starscream, Unicron gazed up at their joined hands in the image. He didn't doubt his bond's faithfulness--he knew Starscream desired no one else. But what if the worst happened and he wasn't there?

Starscream, wherever you are, please be all right.

.o

Empty air met the tip of Starscream's blade. He jerked his head up to find Primacron landing in a graceful crouch several paces ahead. Kneeling made him seem tiny and unassuming. He stood up so smoothly it was like watching a black pool of shadow rise from the floor.

"So, it's a fight you want?" Primacron licked his lips. Even his glossa was pointy and black.

Starscream brought his wing blade forward and widened his stance, guarding himself for whatever came his way. The longer he kept Primacron busy, the more time he gave Unicron to find him.

Primacron brought both arms across his body without breaking eye contact with Starscream. His short wings tilted up and he lifted them off his shoulders.

Two wing blades! Starscream leaned back to recalculate his strategy. He'd never seen a Seeker wield both wings before. Primacron's wing blades reached only three quarters the length of Starscream's, but they were perfectly straight and glowed the same eerie purple as his optics. Their light did not catch on his armor at all. Starscream noticed they had flat handles, but even then Primacron's eerie fingers wrapped at least twice around them. His knuckles resembled barbs, and suddenly the scars once present on Unicron's Mini-con body made sense. All Primacron had to do was backhand somebody, and he'd leave marks.

Without wings, Primacron looked even smaller. He eased into a fighting stance, holding one blade straight out and angling the other above his head. His optics gleamed.

"Do you dance, boy?"

"Yeah," Starscream smirked, bending his knees, "Unicron says I'm pretty good at it."

"Good." Primacron gave his blades a twirl. "Let's dance."

Starscream had no time to think. He'd only taken a breath when Primacron charged. Spinning away, he ducked the first slash and brought his sword back to parry the second. Primacron was fast!

He pivoted and fended off two more blows. Each strike created tiny explosions in the heated air.

Primacron pinned Starscream's sword to a wall, looked him in the eyes and grinned. Snarling, Starscream kicked his leg out, but Primacron hopped nimbly away. It gave Starscream leverage to free his weapon. He faked a jab before leaping over Primacron and slashing downwards, and was surprised to feel an impact. Primacron faltered and grunted, holding his side. Starscream smiled smugly. He wanted to cause him pain.

"Nice slash," Primacron said. He held his swords down at his sides, but his feet were moving in small sidesteps. Suddenly, he charged!

Starscream braced himself and the battle continued as if the lull never happened. They flitted about the room like dueling wasps, ducking, leaping, swiping and dodging. At one point, Starscream thrust and Primacron leapt up onto the tip of his blade. He darted forward like a feline on a fence and--

WHAM!

Starscream reeled from a kick delivered to his head. He swung blindly, but Primacron had already jumped out of reach, whirling his blades so fast they were violet blurs in the darkness.

He moves like a ninja, Starscream thought dazedly. His processors lagged and it took all his willpower to stay conscious. Dizzy, with static in his ears, he staggered backwards into the table.

Primacron advanced with a snicker. Starscream dove aside as a purple blade cut the table in half. He scanned the area. Electronics everywhere, and for all he knew a blast to the wrong set would destroy the ship.

Slag! I can't use my cannons in here! Starscream cursed. He shook his head and regained his balance.

"You're good," Primacron's voice oozed across the silence. "Let's up the ante, shall we?"

Something crackled.

Starscream looked up to see a chunk of table rushing at his face.

.o

"I got something."

Unicron jerked out of his reverie. Normally he barely noticed the passage of minutes and seconds, but the past thirty minutes ticked by slower than an eon. Every word, every breath cycle, every Spark-beat, hung on this communication.

Report.

"I'm at Twister's bar. Starscream was last seen here. Uh, Unicron? I hope your avatar is sitting down."

Don't toy with me, Sideways! Unicron growled. Sideways never hesitated unless he had bad news. Tell me!

"Twister says Starscream approached somebody sitting at the bar, asked for his name and, when the name was given, punched him out. He collapsed when he turned to leave." Sideways paused, and through their link Unicron felt a quiver that heightened his own tension. "It was Primacron."

The worst nightmare imaginable couldn't bring forth the cold terror Unicron felt. It coursed through his fuel pumps in sickening waves. He wanted to vomit. He wanted to scream. Visions of Primacron's disgusting claw fingers on Starscream's body flashed across his mind. He felt like his entire reality had stopped around him and he stood alone in the middle.

To save Starscream, he'd have to face Primacron again. Facing Primacron meant pain, suffering and terror. It meant facing death.

Save Starscream.

Nothing mattered beyond Starscream. Unicron clenched his teeth when he gazed up at Freedom. He refused to let his own fears stand between him and saving the one he loved. His desire to protect his bond became a shield against the terror. No matter what happened, no matter what Primacron did or said to him, he could not, he would not, take away the freedom he found in Starscream.

The resolve snapped around Unicron like a steel trap. He lifted his head, his face rock hard with determination.

How long ago did they leave?

"Three hours ago, going by what Twister said."

Unicron cut off communications without saying goodbye. He backed away from Cybertron's central star and began scanning all visual and audio frequencies. His processors crackled from the influx of data. Nothing within ten thousand light years moved without being detected.

Starscream... He reached out through their bond, Starscream, if you can hear me, I will find you.

He cut power to all but a single quadrant of his ring array and increased his scans to one hundred thousand light years. One quadrant at a time, he scanned until a sudden burst of radiation and gravity waves bombarded his sensors. It was coming from a mass of three neutron stars orbiting two black holes. The black holes were colliding, causing the gravity waves, and the X-rays and gamma rays came from the materials accelerating and falling into the hungry singularities.

Unicron could remember when, long ago, he looked up and saw many stars shining brighter than normal. Over the years those bright lights faded into lifeless clouds. Primacron was always fond of causing supernova storms that left radioactive nebulae deadly to all but mechanical life forms. Seeing the same thing all over again chilled Unicron's Spark, but his own fear didn't matter. He'd take Primacron's abuse again if it meant Starscream didn't have to.

His scanners penetrated through the radioactive haze. Primacron's ship was gigantic, a black, matte triangle as large as both of Unicron's hands. It was a moving fortress built to survive having several chunks blown off. He could remember traveling about the universe on the bridge--a giant room that concealed the immense vessel's true size.

Steeling himself, Unicron transformed and set a course for the ship.

Primacron...you won't like it when I get there.

.o

Starscream threw himself to the side, not looking back when he heard the piece of table crash into the ground.

"You certainly have a lot of spunk." Primacron propped his swords on his shoulders and walked casually towards Starscream. This whole fight was nothing more than a game to him, Starscream realized. He could end it any time he wanted.

But I'm not giving up, Starscream told himself. I could forgive Megatron because he knew he was wrong. He changed. Primacron never will. I can't let him go unpunished!

Starscream regained a vertical base just as Primacron reached him. His silver optics glared into the smaller mech's purple ones. He hadn't felt vengeful hatred this deeply since he escaped Megatron.

Primacron was a very attractive mech whose frail beauty literally ran armor-deep. Underneath it all, Starscream could only see a twisted, hideous monster incapable of anything resembling love and compassion. His soul was a black hole, unreachable by light or warmth. Just looking at him made Starscream's servos crawl in disgust.

Unicron said I should never become a black hole. Now I know why. I'd be just like Primacron.

A clawed hand, one that still clutched a purple wing blade, reached up and a single fingertip caressed the side of his face.

"You're so very striking. Those optics of yours...I can see my reflection in them. Fascinating." Primacron mused.

Starscream grabbed Primacron's wrist and moved it away. "I'm sure you do, and I'm sure it's uglier than sin."

"Oh, no. Stop it. You're hurting my feelings." Primacron's fangs peeked out when he smiled.

Silently, Starscream moved his wing blade and measured the distance up to Primacron's chest.

"Ah-ah! Sneaking around with your blade now? Foolish boy." In a fluid motion, Primacron knocked Starscream's hand back. He did it before Starscream even realized he'd moved. "You're sneaky, I'll give you that much. Too bad it wasn't sneaky enough."

Starscream's optics flared as he glowered at the god.

"Now," Primacron kicked Starscream in the stomach, doubling him over. Then he pushed him down onto his knees. "I want you to worship me."

Through the corner of his eye, Starscream saw something silver appear. Anger poured across his processors and sent his fuel pumps racing. It was nothing more than an uplink jack sparking in obvious arousal, but what it represented and what it did to Unicron in the past, turned it into an evil, distorted reflection that glistened in Starscream's optics.

At the same time, Primacron's arms were at his sides, his weapons nowhere near a ready position. He'd left himself completely open!

"You want worship, Primacron?" Starscream bent closer to the jack, pretending he was going to take it into his mouth. His blue armor shone brilliant and shiny next to Primacron's matte blackness. He tightened his grip on his wing blade, steeling himself. "I'll give you worship. DIE!"

He drove his sword deep into Primacron's torso. His thrust had such force he lifted Primacron off the ground. The god's face twisted in pain. He dropped his wing blades, where they clattered to the floor and stopped glowing. No sound came from his lips. No whimpering, choking or groaning.

Starscream swung his weapon in an arc above his head, flinging Primacron off his wing blade and onto the floor near the wall. The dark mech lay utterly still, tangled in his cape.

Turning away, Starscream replaced his wing blade and walked towards the control panel in the front of the room. Surely he'd find a communications array of some sort near the view screen. If he could just broadcast his coordinates to Unicron, or--

A sudden force slammed him facedown onto the floor. He felt like a thousand atmospheres pressed his body against the ground. Armor groaned in protest. His servos strained when he tried to push himself up.

Primacron's pointed, diamond-shaped feet appeared in his peripheral vision.

"Tell me something," the black Seeker knelt and grabbed Starscream's chin, forcing his head painfully sideways until their eyes met, "When Unicron is afraid, does he still wet himself like a leaky fuel line?"

"Get plugged," Starscream spat.

"Don't tempt me."

Starscream jolted when Primacron slapped his aft. He could hear those disgusting claws scraping his armor, marking him with the same scratches he'd waxed off Unicron's Mini-con body. Then the hand moved away, as did the force pinning him to the floor. Starscream sat up, gasping, his cockpit canopy cracked from the pressure of his body.

"Why," Starscream looked over at Primacron's retreating back. "Just tell me why."

Primacron scooped up his swords and replaced them in their housings on his shoulders. The stubby wings did little to broaden his narrow frame. "Why what?"

"Why did you hurt him?"

"Oh, that question." Primacron wiped imaginary dust off his arms. The wounds on his body--both the slash and the hole where Starscream stabbed him--were gone. No marks, no scars, it was as if he'd never been in a fight.

"Answer me, Primacron!"

"Because he destroyed my destiny," Primacron replied. "So I made him pay. It's that simple."

"What?" Once again, Starscream boiled in rage. The riddles were getting old. "Stop being nonsensical!"

Primacron glared at him. It was just a look, but it almost pinned Starscream to the floor all over again.

"Then let me clarify."

He approached Starscream and pulled his chest plates open. Darkness resided in the hole where a Spark should have existed. The inky blackness seemed to suck on his mind, pulling him in towards a horror unseen by anything since time began.

No Spark! Starscream stared, wide-eyed, feeling waves of cold terror racing through his chassis. Ever since I was young, I was taught that Sparks are the seat of all love and compassion. Hmph, no wonder Primacron has none. He's a soulless bastard!

Yet, for reasons unknown to him, Starscream looked a second time. The hole in Primacron's Spark chamber was exactly the same size as...

"Unicron said you built him..."

"Yes, because I told him that when I realized he could do more than follow simple commands. You see, my brother Primus is a tricky fellow." Primacron closed his chest plates, and the mysterious grasp on Starscream's mind vanished. "At the moment this universe came into being, my dear, loving and ever-concerned brother feared I would grow out of control. So he took a fraction of my power--what would have been the antithesis of the Allspark--and turned it into another life form. Then he returned years later and gave it the Spark, and thus the power, that was supposed to be mine. I still lament that I fell for his trickery. Permanent energy source my aft." He met Starscream's optics again and simpered, leaning back, "I should have known when Unicron proved nearly indestructible by normal means. He was destined to become a giant. What a pity...I should have chosen a world with a molten core. Instead of killing him, I gave him the materials to become what he is. What I should have been."

What Primacron said rolled around in Starscream's processors like puzzle pieces. Why was Primacron telling him all this? Perhaps he figured Starscream wouldn't live to tell about it. Either way, the jealousy and bitterness bled through each word like a foul odor.

"And that is why you're such a delicious twist of fate, my little Seeker pet. Let me simplify it into organic terms. You've been to Earth, right? So have I. Therefore..." Primacron held out one hand, "You're the worm, and Unicron is the fish." He closed his fist, "I catch the fish, gut it and do what I want. And tearing apart his Spark will give me great pleasure."

"You're sick!" Starscream gasped, "I'll never let that happen!"

"Oh, boo-hoo. Must we repeat this old song again?" Primacron waved his hand, his long fingers creating shadows on Starscream's face. "Do me a favor--just stop talking. Your voice is annoying. Do all Eastern bots have voices like that? Oh, don't look so surprised, Lacrimosidus. Your accent is a giveaway. So is your face. Classic, pretty Eastern features. Pity your voice ruins it."

"Oh," Starscream bit back a derisive laugh. He did everything possible to not look afraid. There was no telling what would happen if Primacron's plan succeeded. "Well, sorry about the voice. All the great sex Unicron and I have--it leaves me a bit hoarse."

"I'm sure it does," Primacron licked his lips. "But are you sure he truly loves you? What if he just likes a pretty little pet who dances at his command?"

Could Primacron be any more insulting?

"Hah! You wish." Starscream freed his wing blade once more. "Say what you want, but one thing I'll never doubt is that Unicron loves me. If you weren't such a disgusting glitch, I'd pity how you'll never know what the word 'love' means."

Laughing, Primacron waved his hand and reached for his own swords. "Love is a disease of foolishness. It makes you a liability...and creates situations like the one you've landed in right now. It's the perfect emotion to use against people. You would know, wouldn't you? Poor little Starscream, a victim of molestation and--"

Starscream lunged and smashed his fist into Primacron's face. "SHUT UP!"

Primacron recovered with a snicker. "Oh, dear, did I hit a sore neural line?"

"My life with Megatron is none of your business. As for Unicron--he isn't stupid. He'll find a way to stop you."

"Oh. Oh my goodness!" Primacron touched the back of his hand to his forehead like a human about to faint. "What was I thinking? I'd better pack up and leave right now, before the big, bad planet eats me alive!"

Starscream stood there, letting Primacron get his dramatics over with.

"Are you done, yet?"

Primacron snapped out of his dramatic pose and steepled his fingers. "It doesn't work for you?"

"Tch."

"Drat, then it's back to pornography for me. Anyway, my point is love makes fools of everyone," the dark Seeker grinned. "So much so that I look forward to your expression when Unicron dies before your eyes. After that...after I see you break from the loss...you will live to be my pet. Mechs like you are too pretty to destroy quickly. So I will keep you around, listening to you beg me to end your worthless life, and I'll laugh each time I deny your request. Ooh," he rubbed his hands together, "It'll be exciting, making you dance for--"

"You make me sick, Primacron!" Starscream cried. He wanted to vomit. How disgusting would Primacron get before someone shut him up?! "Shut up, or I'll--"

A sudden flash overwhelmed Starscream's optics. The ship juddered violently and he lost his balance, tumbling backwards into the control panel. Silver plating replaced the stars in all the windows on one side of the ship.

Primacron advanced on Starscream. Then, suddenly, he turned towards a second flash behind him.

"My, my, you've grown." He said. "Nice projection you have there. Now I see how you and Starscream can plug like animals."

Starscream pushed himself up. Reflections of a golden figure glided across his optics. Did his eyes deceive him? "Unicr--"

His voice faltered at the look on Unicron's normally impassive face. The expression was absolutely glacial. Whatever blocked their bond before no longer had an effect, and the emotions passing through nearly froze Starscream's fuel lines.

"Primacron," Unicron's voice chilled the air.

.o

Eons had passed since he looked into those purple eyes outside of his own dreams. Except in his nightmares, Primacron had always towered over him. Now, here, in the waking world, the source of his suffering barely reached the bottom of his chest.

Unicron relished being the larger mech for once. Now he could loom menacingly over the one who once made him cower in dark corners. The raw hate he felt looking into Primacron's eyes made it nearly impossible to keep his hands at his sides. He wanted to reach out and break him in half.

"Primacron," Unicron kept his tone controlled. "Step away from Starscream."

"Ooh, now you're giving orders?" Primacron's voice washed over and through Unicron like a needle and thread of horrible memories. Just the sound of it made his servos crawl in fear, but he didn't let his emotions show. Primacron had always used fear as a means of controlling him, and with Starscream's life on the line he couldn't falter.

He stayed still when Primacron glided across the room to stop in front of him. Primacron's graceful movements were a dark parody of Starscream's, their beauty choked by his cruelty.

"Unicron! Be careful!" Starscream shouted. "It's a trap!"

"Oh, darn!" Primacron sighed, "Your loudmouthed lover gave away the surprise. Really, Unicron, what do you see in that annoying whelp?"

"What do I see in him?" Unicron allowed himself a small smile, "Everything you'll never be."

"Mmhmm, well, I see you've become as eloquent a speaker as myself." Primacron smiled, his fangs gleaming between his lips. "But I do wonder, my pet..."

"Yes?"

Primacron's purple optics narrowed and shimmered in sick amusement. "Did Welder's little neck squeak when you broke it?"

Rage swirled under Unicron's armor. He wrapped his huge hand around Primacron's head and tossed him halfway across the room. Primacron slammed into the wall like a rag doll, denting it.

Unicron stalked forward and pinned his former master with both hands, glaring down at his flickering optics. Seeing Primacron in pain gave him courage, and everything he ever wanted to say flooded up in a single rush of fear and anguish.

"I'm more than a sex toy to this universe, Primacron. Someone does care about how I feel. I am worthy of another's love. You made me to be nothing, but I've made myself into something. I'm not the weak little Mini-con you once knew. You aren't my master anymore. You are nothing more than a small, loveless creature living in darkness. You have no power over me. I am free."

Denouncing every single thing Primacron made him believe--and doing it to his face--felt like flinging a weight off his shoulders. He quelled the emotions rushing forth and went on, "You've had your fun with Starscream. Now, it's time to deal with me, and I'm going to make your life a living Pit."

Primacron snarled, "You--"

Unicron slammed his fist into Primacron's midsection, shattering his tiny cockpit. With no effort, he flung him into the opposite wall and relished the clank his body made on impact.

"Unh...you'll regret this." Primacron clutched at his torso, groaning. Then he collapsed and lay still.

"Hmph. The only thing I regret is not doing this sooner." Unicron scoffed. He let his gaze drift to Starscream's frightened expression, and all his hatred melted away like ice in sunlight. "Starscream..."

Starscream reached out his hand, the very part of him Unicron equated with creation and beauty. Unicron forgot about Primacron as he moved towards Starscream, took that hand and gently kissed its palm.

"Are you all right, Starscream?"

"I am now." Starscream leaned up and Unicron met his kiss in the middle. Kissing him chased his fear away. Nothing Primacron said or did could ever erase the freedom Starscream let him feel.

Then Unicron picked his beloved up bridal style with a teasing smirk. "Let's get out of this dump. I've said my piece."

"I'm with you on that--wait." Starscream looked around, frowning, "Where's Primacron?"

"What?" Unicron whipped around to find Primacron had all but vanished. A hatch in the floor was open. Something about that didn't feel right, so Unicron warped his avatar to his giant body's core. "This is about to get ugly. Stay here."

.o

Starscream was still reeling from the ruthlessness he saw Unicron display against Primacron. He himself battled Primacron blade to blade, but Unicron knocked him out with almost no effort. And then those same hands had carried him to safety. Unicron said things were going to get ugly.

How ugly?

"Why are we taking off now? You aren't going to finish him?"

Unicron shook his head. "Primacron isn't as easy to kill as you might think. And killing him would leave behind a singularity that even Primus couldn't stop. Light and Dark balance the universe. Without one or the other, all expansion will stop and everything you see will slowly collapse into nothing. No more Primus, no more Primacron, no more anything."

Vibrations raced along the floor as Unicron's giant body shifted positions.

"Primacron wants to destroy your Spark and take your body for himself. Can...can he really do that?"

"Not if I can help it. I was his puppet once. I will not let it happen again." Unicron growled. He stared off into space for a moment, then relaxed and refocused on Starscream. "I've just created a program tied to my Spark. If it is extinguished by Primacron's energy, my body will self destruct. Starscream, if it looks like I--"

Starscream pressed a hand over Unicron's mouth. He remembered the promise Unicron made shortly after recovering from his cadmium exposure. "If it comes down to that, then I'll stay right here."

Unicron's hands trembled, "Starscream..."

"Now, what else is going to make this mess ugly?" Starscream smoothed the moment over with the situation at hand.

"I was able to download everything on the ship's computer when I arrived. It's mean to fly even if chunks are missing, but there's something else."

"Don't start this nonsensical slag again, Unicron!" Starscream's temper flared. "Spit it out!"

"Primacron is trying to replicate the means in which I attained my giant self, save he's using his ship. No, correction...he was working on the technology before he threw me away. It was his to start with, but I succeeded first. The only difference is he seems able to disconnect himself and walk about without using an avatar. He has no Spark to tie him to the same fate as myself." Unicron looked pointedly up at his Spark, which was so massive its energy filled the glowing chamber.

"Yeah, about that, Unicron..."

But Unicron froze.

"I must go. I was right. Starscream, stay here!"

The avatar vanished before Starscream could squeak out a word. For a moment he pondered telling the golden ball on the dais--Unicron's true Mini-con body--but changed his mind at the last second. If Unicron was about to fight, he didn't need his mind spinning out of focus with the truth of his existence.

A monitor descended from the ceiling and expanded into a panoramic view. Everything Unicron's forward sensors detected were fed as visual input Starscream could understand.

The size of Primacron's ship made his jaw drop. Unicron's massive hands were wrapped around the it like a child clutching a captive frog. Their size gave a false perspective; his fingers alone were large enough to flick planet Earth like a marble, and the triangular vessel fit perfectly between his palms.

And the ship's smooth edges were turning jagged. Changing.

Transforming.

Unicron's hands were literally forced apart. He let go of the shifting vehicle.

Its back half appeared to liquefy into a cape. The rest twisted, re-configured, unfolded, rotated and retracted until a giant replica of Primacron floated in the blackness. He was only as long as Unicron's forearm, but when he lifted his head and his violet optics came online, both Starscream and Unicron felt a chilling dread pass across the bond.

Primacron wasn't playing anymore.

.o

Sickening chills trickled down Unicron's massive chassis. Primacron was still so small compared to him--a total reversal of their size difference as he remembered it--yet the sight of him using his ship that way still scared him. Large or small, the god of darkness was always stronger than he appeared.

"My goodness." Primacron stretched his arms and his wings began to shift upwards, "I remember when you barely reached my knee."

"Funny, so do I." Unicron bared his fangs as if the memory itself became a foul odor. He loved being the bigger bot for once, but hated how his old master could still intimidate him with a simple, coy look. Primacron's gaze was tangible, a teasing caress Unicron did not want.

"It's a shame." Primacron said. "You were so much prettier as a doll."

Unicron barked out a harsh laugh. "You haven't changed at all, Primacron."

At that, Primacron twirled his left hand, brought it to his chest and dipped forward in a polite bow. A flicker of movement was the only hint Unicron had that he'd reached for his wing blades. Primacron straightened and held them at his sides. Against the void of space, the twin swords gleamed a passionless, eerie violet. Primacron's optics brightened to match his weapons. His smile melted into icy indifference.

"This time," he whispered, "I will rip you to shreds."

Again, Unicron suppressed a shiver of dread. Primacron's voice promised darkness, despair and desolation. This fight would resurrect every demon he spent his life trying to escape. There was going to be pain and suffering regardless of who won.

I could warp away from here now. Unicron thought to himself as Primacron's dark reflection shone in his red optics. But if I run, he will find me. I can not hide from Darkness, and I can not run forever. I must face him. He needs to know I'm no longer the weakling he knew.

"Well?" Primacron spun his swords. His optics narrowed and his lips twitched in a mocking smile. "Oh, fine then. If you're just going to float there and gawk at me, I might as well make it worth your--"

Unicron bellowed a wordless curse and unleashed a torrent of missiles from his legs. His former master vanished in a chrysalis of smoke and light.

Primacron glided out of the chaos completely unharmed. Smoke slid over and around his angles like fog over mountains. A faint, silvery shimmer surrounded his body. He met Unicron's optics and laughed.

"Now I see what you're missing. You're all about your size. All bulk and no speed...and no protection. You forgot the shielding. Tch, you always were a stupid, useless toy."

Drawing back a few hundred meters, Primacron slid the edge of his left wing blade down the length of the right. A tiny energy wave flew off the point of impact and Unicron reeled in pain, grabbing at his side in a vain attempt the soothe the sting.

A large, hidden port opened just above Primacron's cockpit. Unicron's sensors detected nuclear weaponry capable of destroying a planet ten times Earth's size. His mass and gravity would draw it towards his body. There was no way he could dodge that!

Primacron arched his back as if in ecstasy and fired.

The next few nanoseconds passed like hours. Unicron's processors calculated the trajectory of the missile and gave him a list of counter measures. All only offered ways to take damage that wouldn't involve his most vital systems or Starscream.

With that, Unicron jerked himself sideways and the missile crashed into his left shoulder. The blast knocked him backwards. Chunks of his armor went flying. They glittered like golden mirrors bearing incomplete images before they vanished into the distance. He clutched his ruined shoulder, hissing at the searing sting racing over his arm. The heat of the explosion actually melted his armor! His body immediately went to work repairing the damage, but half-liquefied plating took far longer to re-grow than blown-off chunks.

"You always find ways to disappoint me, my pet. Look at you. So huge. So powerful. Yet you've developed all your weaponry for distance combat." Primacron landed on Unicron's wing array, causing the golden mech to freeze in place. "What good is incredible power if you don't even use it to its full potential?"

"What good is incredible power if you destroy everything?" Unicron growled back. Then he electrified his wing array. Primacron's body convulsed with a hoarse, choked cry. His face...eons ago...once looked like that during overload. Now, Unicron gave it to him in doses of raw pain.

Unicron rolled again, flipping Primacron off his body. He spun to face him and his red abdominal plating swung open. Concussive energy blasts swirled towards Primacron at nearly light speed.

Primacron still wormed out of the way.

Unicron sensed movement near his wing array nanoseconds before shocking, blinding pain surged over his entire body. He couldn't see, he couldn't think, he couldn't even scream. Every servo within him burned. He reached back to cradle the wing digit Primacron injured--

--except it was no longer there. It floated a few meters above him, lifeless, sparks and energon sizzling around the cleanly cut end where it once attached to his body.

No, not my wing array! Don't leave me in the dark...

"Oh, don't worry..." Primacron's voice was in his ear, "I'll make sure this won't hurt--much."

Unicron's laser pods raced to the offensive, pelting Primacron with a torrent of laser fire. Primacron immediately clutched at himself. He writhed, groaned and...swatted them away like flies.

"Oh, stop, that tickles!"

Snarling, Unicron snatched Primacron in his fist and brought him close to his face. "Your petty games grate on me, Primacron!" He boomed. His working sensors quickly assessed the space around them. A comet field existed not too far away. Likely they'd been tossed away from their orbiting star by the stellar chaos Primacron caused. They were huge comets the size of planets, and the perfect obstacle course in which to slow down a fast-moving mech.

Unicron hurled Primacron at the comet field and fired his boosters to follow.

.o

Starscream hated being on the sidelines. He hated it, loathed it, DETESTED it! Unicron came and talked Megatron off his pedestal long ago...and Starscream felt he should somehow return the favor. Yet the scale of this battle--the scale of the very beings engaging in it--were almost beyond his comprehension. Compared to them, he was no larger than a microbe.

Unicron can handle himself. Starscream thought. He didn't build himself so huge and powerful just to be defeated by that bastard.

Then a whole quadrant of the screen suddenly vanished into static.

"Unicron! Are you okay?"

He cut off part of my wing array. Unicron responded without emotion.

"Will you--"

I can handle this, he cut him off, his voice taking on the icy edge Starscream only heard the one time he sleep-overloaded him.

Flinching, Starscream leaned his forehead on one of the screens giving him a view of outside. Through the bond he could feel Unicron's anger. It wasn't a hot flare like his own--it simmered and froze and left a chilling sting somewhere in the center of his Spark.

He fled away from the screens and picked up the golden ball resting on the dais. It gave no response--Unicron's mind focused only on the situation outside--but Starscream had to hold him.

This time, Unicron wasn't facing Primacron alone. Starscream wouldn't let him. If just his presence helped, he planned to press that advantage.

"Kick his aft, Unicron," he whispered to the Mini-con in his hands.

He felt the smirk in Unicron's reply, Don't worry. I have everything under control.

The umbilical tubing connected to Unicron's real body pulsed faster, pumping nutrition and wastes at a phenomenal rate. Starscream clutched the Mini-con to his chest and looked up. His silver optics shone with reflections of Unicron's Spark. The dark scars raced in blackened bands around its surface like the windswept clouds of Neptune, and the Spark itself roiled, a self-contained sun fighting to glow in the grip of darkness. Great coronas of energy spiraled off its outer edge to fill the room in a glowing mist of radiation capable of vaporizing anything organic.

He'd never seen Unicron's Spark do that before, and it frightened him.

.o

Just entering the comet field threw the icy rocks into chaos. Unicron relished his massive size then, because it didn't even dent him when a few comets crashed into his body and shattered into a million fragments. He only felt pain when one grazed the stub where Primacron sliced off a wing digit. But that was all right--he still had the other three, and they were enough to let him see in almost all directions.

Primacron wasn't faring so well. Some of the comets were nearly half his size--forcing him to dodge or chop them apart with his wing blades and lasers.

"Interesting tactic," Primacron purred from the comet on which he stood balanced on one foot, as if taking a break from evading them. "But you know I can destroy all of these with a thought if I so wished it."

"Yet you do not," Unicron said back. "I thought you were finished toying with me."

"Oh, I am." Primacron casually sliced another comet in half. The ice ball split and passed on either side of him, where he swept his blades sideways to cleave them again. Bits of frozen matter drifted past his purple optics. He grinned, flashing his fangs, and his voice dropped into an ominous whisper. "But I also want to see just how powerful you are. You're a god now. Don't you see? Why live in the universe when you can mold it to your will?"

This old song and dance again? Unicron rolled his optics and snorted in disgust. "I rather like things the way they are. The universe has enough with you and Primus in it. I simply keep things clean."

"Garbage eating garbage is what it is."

"Enough!" Unicron growled. He gathered the growing anger in his Spark and focused on the comet field around them. One by one the icy bodies swerved from their current trajectories and hurtled at Primacron.

The comets stopped, suddenly, frozen in time. They veered inward and congealed into a massive, deadly ball several hundred miles above Primacron. The god of darkness sheathed his wing blades, lowered his claws and smiled. "You aren't the only telekinetic here, my pet."

And not far away, the comet sphere grew to a size spanning Unicron's shoulders.

Unicron's lips twitched in a smile that bared one massive fang. "I can do a lot of what you can."

He met Primacron's chilling eyes, facing down the black hole of pain he almost let consume him so long ago. Except it hadn't. He'd been saved from that fate by the hands of a bot whose dreams eclipsed even the blackest void. That same mech held him now, he could feel Starscream's comforting hands around his truest inner self. Those hands and the Spark to which they belonged lifted the veil from his eyes and let him once again see the light and beauty of the universe, and he wasn't about to let Primacron take that away.

Primacron lifted gracefully off the comet on which he stood. His cape flowed elegantly around his legs with the motion. Unicron caught himself wondering if a tiny part of his love for Starscream came from that illusion of perfection he once saw in Primacron.

Except that's all Primacron ever was. Illusions. Smoke and mirrors presenting an image that never existed. The reality of it all hurtled at him along with the icy ball. It was something he'd been aware of ever since he realized he didn't like how Primacron touched him. Yet, somehow, here and now, the anguish that he'd been hurt by his own maker welled up in a fountain of betrayal.

Unicron jerked his head up. His optics flashed brilliant red. The icy planetoid exploded into jagged pieces. Primacron only had a moment to gasp before hundreds of thousands of projectiles battered his body. His shimmering shields only took the first volley, and failed during the second. Unicron saw sparks, a clear sign the comet shards were hitting their target.

Primacron snarled and the flying debris exploded into a dusty mist, but the damage was done. Parts of his jagged armor were dented or torn open. Faint blue electrical discharges zapped across his wounds. He was holding his wing blades again, and the barbs on his knuckles dug into Unicron's memories. The hideous look in his eyes--Unicron remembered seeing it when he cut off his jack so long ago--hinted at a monster barely contained in a veil of sanity.

Emotionlessly, Unicron unleashed his missiles again. Primacron waved his swords and sent them back, forcing Unicron to detonate them.

Enough of this! Unicron thought to himself. He charged forward and his swinging fist missed its mark.

A sound resonated against the far reaches of the universe. It wasn't a physical noise--sound didn't exist in a vacuum--yet the universe became like a pond rippling with its effects. Unicron's optics glinted when he sensed it in his mind like an echo.

Primacron's optics widened. He clutched at his audios and doubled over. "That music...make it stop! Now!"

Something flashed seconds before the space around them was filled with glowing, twinkling green stars dancing like fireflies. Neither mech could look anywhere without seeing Mini-cons floating in the surrounding blackness.

Of course they'd come here. They saw the truth when Unicron bonded to Starscream, and they understood now who Primacron was and what he represented. Unicron knew if he failed here, he would not only fail himself and Starscream...he'd fail them as well.

"Primacron," Unicron boomed, "Meet my children."

"Mere baubles without souls or hope of an afterlife." Primacron said while still doubled over. "How quaint, my pet. How so very quaint."

Welder flashed in Unicron's mind. A life ended too soon with nothing after. Nothing to dream or experience. His optics misted as the old wound threatened to bleed anew.

"See? You are too weak to handle what you are." Primacron lowered his hands. He bared his fangs in a sneer. The monster he was revealed itself when he charged blindly at Unicron, his purple eyes alight in a murderous rage. "Give me what is MINE!"

Unicron swung his fist, and this time connected solidly with Primacron's face. The energy of the blow traveled in a visible wave down the length of the dark mech's body. He pulled back and saw he'd caved half of Primacron's face in and shattered one optic.

The punch flung Primacron backwards. Primacron still had his wits about him; he righted himself and shook his head to clear it.

This time, Unicron charged. He took another swing that missed its nimble target. His foot, however, did not. He felt rather than saw the impact and whirled down to grab Primacron in his hand once again. The god of darkness was so lithe he looked like a child's doll in Unicron's grasp. Unicron's fingers pinned Primacron's arms to his sides. And this time, he started to squeeze. Something dark and cold inside him longed to see Primacron suffer for his misdeeds.

"You wanted my wrath. Now you have it, and something tells me you feel everything your giant body does. Therefore..." he hissed as plating bent and vibrated in his grip. "...suffer, Primacron."

How many times had Primacron snatched him up and shaken him for some vague mistake he made? How many times did those wretched claws scrape over his frame in pretended caresses? How many times was he thrown against a wall and left to lie in pain for days? How many times did he imagine doing the same if he ever gained the size and power to do so?

Every sick fantasy Unicron entertained flashed within his mind like a nightmare. In his hands, Primacron writhed, jerked and wrenched himself to each side, but Unicron held him fast and knew the smaller mech wouldn't escape until he let go. Primacron's face twisted, yet he didn't scream despite his obvious agony.

"Why?" Unicron sneered. "Tell me."

Primacron's body twitched with spasmodic laughter. "Because of what you are."

Unicron squeezed tighter, causing his old master to throw his head back with a soundless cry. His eyes stung, and for a moment he wanted nothing beyond seeing Primacron's optics fade into death. He could do it. In his Spark, he knew he was strong enough to destroy Primacron and Primus if he felt so inclined, but what good would it do? Why destroy the entire universe just for revenge?

Another raspy laugh escaped Primacron's lips. "Go ahead. Finish me. Kill me. Give me the pain I gave you all your life. My only regret would be missing the fireworks."

Unicron's hands tightened. He felt his fingers sinking into the plating. Something in Primacron's body exploded in a flash of heat.

"I always swore you wouldn't like it if I ever found you," Unicron glared down at him. "I hate you, yet it's because of you that I exist."

Primacron said nothing. He simply stared up at Unicron, his face as dead as stone. Even in his giant vessel body, he seemed small and fragile in Unicron's burly silver hands. Unicron growled and squeezed even tighter. Primacron suddenly jolted with a sharp cry and went limp.

Unicron did not let go. He held on tightly still, a flood of distant memories rolling over inside his processors. Memories of times between the horrors--when those claws offered caresses instead of pain, when that voice offered comfort instead of fear, and how he'd tried so desperately to please a being whose moods were as random as weather. There were those good days, even if they were all illusions...and no matter how hard he tried Unicron could not forget them. Back then, he believed his master hurt him to protect him from something far worse. It took him millennia to realize Primacron was that something worse. So terrible he was that his Ancient name, Obscurum, had been blotted, carved and burned out of every Ancient Cybertronian text for fear that even reading it would summon his wrath.

Unicron's armor felt suddenly too heavy for his frame. Like the outer layers of a star collapsing inward in an impending supernova. He flinched at a pain in his very Spark--he didn't know what it was, but something inside him struggled for dominance. Logic over emotion, justice over murder, Light over Dark...

He had Primacron in his hands, wounded and helpless the way he'd been for so long. And for all that...his anger dissolved into despair. There had to be a reason Primacron treated him so badly. No being was evil simply for the fun of it.

Lowering his head, Unicron projected himself towards Primacron's energy. The core set-up was similar to his own, albeit Primacron appeared strung up in wires connected all over his body instead of just in his back and limbs. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of black, snake-like wires everywhere. Primacron himself hung limp like a being crucified by his own darkness.

A reflection, Unicron realized.

It was the one part of Starscream's past he could never understand. How was it that he could look upon Megatron with such love? In looking at Primacron's almost peaceful expression, he realized what it was Starscream must have seen.

Primacron was not an ugly mech. His features were jagged, unusual, not even his mouth had a curve to it. The way he hung left his head thrown back, and the tips of his fangs twinkled, just barely visible under his top lip. His body looked so...so...frail--even his hands with claws three times the length of normal fingers didn't look so dangerous.

Unicron reached into the wires and lightly touched Primacron's face.

And reeled in pain as sword-like claws plunged through his chest plates and wrapped around his Spark. Using his avatar did not prevent Unicron from feeling the agony of his impalement. Even his Spark, though only a replica, felt pain like the real thing. It was blinding, horrid, all-consuming--his avatar, his truest self and his giant form all screamed simultaneously.

Primacron gripped Unicron's Spark and yanked him forward again, and within the haze of pain Unicron heard his old master growling in his audio, "Your penchant for mercy sickens me." He tugged again on the Spark and familiar burning ripped over Unicron's body. The sting of tearing, dread and impending darkness gleamed on the ends of monstrous fangs. "Give me what is mine."

"No..."

The tears Unicron almost shed froze somewhere behind his optics. He should've known Primacron would betray him again. Even now, in this moment where he'd been willing to offer his maker the tiniest ounce of love, he saw it all spit back in his face.

Oh, Primacron, are you truly the black hole I nearly became? Are you--

A flash of blue caught Unicron's eye. Starscream emerged from the warp gate behind Primacron, leapt up and latched onto the black mech's back. He wrapped one arm around Primacron's shoulders while his other hand gripped his forehead.

"Let go of Unicron. Do it, or I'll snap your neck!" Starscream hissed.

"Starscream! No! Don't--" Unicron choked as Primacron's fist tightened on his Spark.

.o

Starscream fell back, clutching at his chest. Something horrible just happened, if the way the Mini-con in his hands transformed and doubled over wasn't enough. Through their bond he felt an awful sense of doom.

It was too much to bear. Hearing Unicron scream like that...a sound that shook the universe...and seeing his swirling Spark gush plasma like a solar flare as a new, black scar opened wide along its upper hemisphere was just too much.

Starscream raced to the warp gate inside Unicron's body and found another warp signal inside Primacron's giant frame. When he arrived, saw what just happened...he felt a rage he hadn't experienced since Megatron mistreated him over a century ago. The sight of those disgusting claws buried up to the wrist in Unicron's chest set his senses on fire. Could Primacron kill Unicron through his avatar?

He wasn't going to wait and find out.

"Primacron!" Starscream yelled. He dug his fingers against the darker mech's armor, teeth bared in a snarl as every servo twitched with the urge to end him. This whole situation is my fault. We wouldn't be here--Unicron wouldn't be suffering right now...except for me and my big mouth. Now is my chance to fix this. I have to!

"Go ahead," Primacron said softly. "It takes a lot more than a broken neck to kill me."

"Maybe," Starscream ignored Unicron's attempts to stop him, "But that doesn't mean you won't feel pain."

And then he twisted as hard as he could. He felt the wires in Primacron's neck snap one by one. He heard the mech's low groan of pain. He saw his head jerk suddenly free and swivel loosely, no longer attached by anything beyond a few bearings and wires. He relished knowing how much that hurt.

Primacron's body convulsed and relaxed. Starscream jumped off and pulled the god's clawed hand out of Unicron's chest. It took some work; Primacron's barbed knuckles did more damage coming out than his fingertips going in. Unicron fell back the moment he was freed, and the wound vanished instantly.

At least, it did on the surface.

And after that struggle, the only thing they had to show for it was the purple energon clinging like dew to Primacron's fingers. A single droplet rolled along the length of his middle fingertip, dangled for a moment on the pointed claw and finally dripped onto the black floor with a soft ker-plunk. More followed, creating a morbid, ichorous rain.

Starscream turned away from it and threw his arms around Unicron's neck, bestowing offerings in the form of kisses. "I couldn't just sit there. It's my fault we're in this mess. I had to get us back out. Now c'mon! Let's go before he wakes up!"

"You go."

"Yeah, now let's--huh? Wait? What the frag?"

"Starscream." Unicron pinned him with a new seriousness in his red optics. Something trapped between pain and anguish and a million other things that never broke the surface. Once, he'd mistaken that look for complete indifference. Now, in the presence of his greatest agony, indifference was the furthest from the truth. It was Unicron's nature to freeze over when his emotions were in pain. "Please. You've done your part. Now let me do mine."

A little stung, Starscream kissed Unicron's mouth once more and backed away. Primacron hadn't moved. Starscream punched his midsection, testing for a response, but none came. He was truly offline this time.

Ugly bastard, Starscream thought to himself. He couldn't believe he once thought Primacron looked pretty. Well, he did...but Starscream had learned that looks weren't everything. That lesson came to him when he made Cyclonus overload and pushed him at Demolishor. From what he knew, they'd been happily bonded for at least a century now.

At the warp gate, he glanced back. Unicron was cutting Primacron out of the wiring binding him upright. He paused to meet Starscream's eyes.

"I'll be all right. I just have to take care of this."

"What about your array? He cut--"

Unicron tried to chuckle, but it only came out as a sigh. "I'll be fine. First things first. Now please, Starscream..."

Something about Unicron's eyes made Starscream comply and leave. But the guilt, the knowledge that he caused this whole situation, followed him all the way back to Unicron's huge body.

What if Primacron hurt him again?

.o

Starscream worried too much. Breaking Primacron's neck severed his sensory circuits. God or not, it'd take him time to get himself running again after an injury that grievous. On one hand Unicron was grateful that Starscream shut him up. On the other...he wished his hot-tempered bond would've stayed out of it. Primacron hadn't told him why.

Perhaps there was no answer.

He gathered Primacron up bridal style and warped out into the void where the blackness seemed all-consuming. A single, intact comet drifted in a lazy orbit around his giant self. He stopped it with his mind and melted a good sized hole into its surface. Just large enough to lie Primacron down inside. Then he looked off into the blackness. The Boötes void seemed like a good direction to aim. It was a supervoid of nothing stretching two hundred and fifty million light years across--an area of space so vast and empty that only a handful of brave galaxies drifted alone in its expanse.

Unicron looked down at Primacron again. His head was twisted at an odd angle, but Unicron didn't make any attempts to right it. For all he knew, Primacron had yet another dirty trick up his armor--something that meant pain or anguish. Because pain and anguish were all a god of darkness like him knew.

But Primacron gave him life. Twice--though the second time was an accident.

Turning away, Unicron dispelled his avatar. He reached out to flick the comet with his fingers, but a glimmer of light flew between his hand and the comet. One of the Mini-cons broke away from the rest. And how odd that this particular Mini-con glowed white instead of green.

Unicron watched the white sphere flit about Primacron's face. He saw the comet suddenly surge into motion, accelerating until it shrank into the distance. The sprite shot towards Unicron and stopped just above the tip of his nose.

"I don't like him. He wasn't shiny like you."

Unicron's eyes widened in recognition.

"Wait!"

But the little form somersaulted and vanished with a giggle.

Unicron stared at the empty space for ages, wondering if he'd hallucinated the whole thing. He shook his head--he'd ponder this matter more thoroughly later.

He focused on the ruined shell still caught in his hands. It hung limp and lifeless like a corpse, the cape and limbs drifting towards the gravitational pull of his gigantic body, and the rage he held back throughout the whole incident exploded.

"Primacron," he growled, squeezing with all his might until the husk broke in half. The arms and legs went next, torn violently off and discarded into the cosmos. Madness overtook him--that felt good--and the millennia of frustration he spent his life repressing vented themselves on the helpless hull of Primacron's giant avatar. Unicron caught what remained of the torso, crushed it like a can and ripped the flattened mass to shreds, ignoring the hot sting prickling around his optics. Blackness and bits of purple swirled in an accretion disc of mixed emotions. Shed mech tears joined the debris slowly falling inward towards him. That's all Primacron ever was, Unicron realized. He gazed at the shattered remnants of tears, pain and hate. That used to be his life up until he saw Starscream for the first time.

But not anymore.

Unicron swatted the pieces away with his mind--he wasn't a black hole anymore--and focused inward on the reason why.

Starscream was draped across the replica of Megatron's throne that somehow became a fixture in the chamber beneath his core. He looked up at Unicron when he appeared. The sight was so humorous that Unicron couldn't avoid an amused smirk. Starscream was everything Primacron wasn't. He became the soothing balm over an aching wound as large as his lifetime.

"Hey," Starscream stood up. Primus, his eyes were so gorgeous in the low lighting, "Listen, Unicron...this's all my fault. I was an idiot--I hit him first. I thought--"

"Starscream, don't."

"No! Look at you! Your shoulder's a mess and you lost part of your sensor array! You're injured because I had to play hero! Don't you get it? I...I hurt you."

Unicron stopped Starscream's tirade with a kiss. "What's done is done. Learn from it and move on. Dwelling never solved anything."

He moved to keep kissing him, but he felt Starscream pushing him back. This really had to bother him if he wanted to interrupt what might have dissolved into a raucous, spontaneous uplink.

"Primacron told me something. I asked him why...I guess he figured I wouldn't survive to tell you."

Unicron's Spark almost froze. So his chance to find out why hadn't been lost after all...

"You know the creation tale of Et Universum?"

Unicron shook his head. "I've heard of it...but I haven't read it in a long while."

Starscream gazed at his own hands. "I did while I was on Cybertron, and it's exactly like the story you told me about how the universe was born. Except for one part--the ending. When Light and Dark separated, Light stole a piece of Dark and replaced it with a piece of a dream. Unicron, I think that dream was you," he pointed overhead, "and the stolen piece of Primacron was the that Spark."

Unicron had to sit down and take that in. Now Primacron's demands for what was his made sense. The truth filled him with wonder and fear. The Spark Primus gave to him--the Spark pulsing above him now--was supposed to be Primacron's. He didn't simply learn the powers of Primacron--he always had them, and the only learning he did was how to use them.

"I should be completely evil then, because Primacron is Dark."

"Maybe." Starscream leaned over, and Unicron saw himself in the Seeker's silver optics, "But, Unicron...Primacron can't love."

Then he spun on his heel and strutted out of the room before Unicron could formulate a reply. The dark god could only sit there, watching those gray legs walk away. Starscream had such an attractive swagger that Unicron rested his cheek on his palm and followed him with his eyes.

His mind shifted then to all those other selves he could reach--each of them cruel, and one was even Darkness in his universe--and none of them were ever touched by love. None had a single thread of goodness offered to them in all the time they existed.

Unicron frowned.

And he wasn't assembled...he was born. He was literally a piece of Primacron. Now he knew why the Spark didn't just kill him outright. Placing a living Spark in a protoform to build a new body was one thing, but to place it in another mech's body would extinguish the Spark immediately, such would be the violent rejection.

That explains why Primus left me there. Painful though it was, my time with Primacron let me witness for myself what I would someday be capable of. Without that knowledge, without seeing those plans for a giant body, I would not have survived my metamorphosis. And Starscream...where would he be if we hadn't met?

Impulsively, Unicron warped to where he knew Starscream went--the blank, dark room where he painted. He didn't make his presence known. Starscream was a short distance away, sit-spinning furiously in mid-air. He uncurled until his body formed a spiral to create the image of a Spark surrounded by dark bands. His movements were anguished, frightened and confused, but gradually smoothed as he worked out his frustration through art.

If they hadn't met, Starscream's talent would have died, choked to death by Megatron's oppression.

"Starscream..."

Startled, Starscream halted mid-spin and leapt out of the glowing image he was working on. A graceful front-flip later, he stood before Unicron. "I didn't see you pop in."

"I know," Unicron smirked. "I didn't want you to stop on my account."

"Tch. Whatever. What can I do for you?"

Unicron hesitated, measuring his answer before he offered it.

"I want you to paint Primacron."

.o

Unicron asked for many nonsensical things during their long relationship. But this had to be the most insane yet. Starscream made him repeat himself just to be certain his audios weren't scrambled.

"But why?" he asked.

"Because everything is beautiful in your eyes," Unicron answered, his voice as deadpan as his expression. "Now that I realize what you saw in Megatron...I suppose there are some illusions I wish I never had to see through."

Oh.

Oh.

Now it made sense. Starscream chewed on his bottom lip as he recalled the days when he believed Megatron was the most attractive mech he'd ever seen in his life. Except Megatron regained that ideal beauty...Primacron never would.

Still, Unicron wanted to see the idealized image of him from his youth. The Primacron he knew before he fully understood his master wasn't the protector he thought he was.

"Once, I tried to call him 'father,'" Unicron looked up and his optics suddenly misted over in a rare display of emotion. His voice actually cracked, "He told me I had no father, and 'master' was what I should call him. So...when I made Welder...I swore I'd never hurt him that way. I swore..."

He turned away, a hand over his eyes.

Starscream reached out, "Unicron..."

Unicron faced him again as the tears formed golden trails down his cheeks. The rest of his face was deadpan, but the mech fluid said it all. "I...I had hoped he'd changed. A foolish hope...I just wanted..."

You just wanted to forgive him, but he didn't let you.

Starscream saw Unicron dip his head in a vague nod. He reached out and brushed the tears away, then kissed the next two that slipped free after his thumbs made their pass. They tasted sweet against his lips.

"I'm so sorry."

Unicron's expression remained like stone. He whispered in perfect Ancient, "Libera me de Obscurum aeternus, Lacrimosidus."

His avatar was gone before Starscream could reply. Starscream hated leaving him alone in such pain...but sometimes the dark god needed his space, and Starscream respected that.

Plus, plus, the Ancient words he just said hung, echoing, in the still air. A silent plea for something the dark god couldn't find within himself.

Deliver me from eternal Darkness, Starscream.

Unicron couldn't escape his fear until he faced how Starscream saw it. His words suddenly crystallized, a rippling lake becoming ice. Unicron viewed the universe through him. He always had.

Where would they be, had they not met? Starscream knew where he'd be right now--he would still be taking Megatron's abuse, there would still be a war, and he would never know freedom existed in the eyes of a beautiful golden god.

Funny...we both find freedom in each others' eyes. Starscream pondered, his blue body shimmering as he shifted his weight. He faced the darkness and mentally ran through his knowledge of Primacron's physical appearance. It was clear as day in his databases...but how could he paint someone he hated so much without making it ugly?

Then don't hate him, he told himself. Easier said than done.

Or was it?

He remembered how it felt to look at Megatron like that...and immediately, it came to him. It wasn't Megatron's physical appearance so much as what he once represented--and that brought forth the silent song he painted to.

Raising his arms, Starscream let his mind become music and twirled into the void.

.o

Unicron rested while his children drifted about his body in space, tending to the wounds his self-repair systems couldn't. They sang constantly and it reminded him of the days, so long ago, when he first began his transformation into what he was now. Back then he didn't know why something compelled him to become a god--at least not beyond his fear of suffering Primacron's abuse again.

Starscream's words still haunted Unicron's mind.

The Spark I own, the life given to me, was once Primacron's.

It hadn't been him who killed Welder...it was the Darkness lashing out in inky, blind blackness for a fraction of a moment and retreating again in time to let him see the terror he wrought. Like a void, it grew within him, consuming him slowly a piece at a time, and might have succeeded if not for the visions of silver twirling inside crimson. He'd felt the one thing Dark could never take away, a freedom worth waiting for no matter the cost.

Unicron shied away from the memories of days where he actually felt safe sleeping in those clawed hands. He hated wondering what they did to him while he lay insensate and unable to fight back.

His thoughts turned forward to what he witnessed when he tried to send Primacron away. It didn't seem possible--his children had no Sparks of their own. They had nothing to continue after their bodies ceased functioning.

Yet, he'd seen another truth that made him wonder.

It wasn't ME...

If the universe had any justice, Unicron hoped his vision of Welder hadn't been just a hallucination. After all--it occurred to him--how did his Mini-cons know where to find him? He'd accidentally opened himself to them while bonding with Starscream, but during his battle against Primacron, he voluntarily kept his mind as far from them as he possibly could. He feared what Primacron might have done to them through him.

Therefore, how did they know?

The conclusion Unicron came to drew a rare smile on his lips.

Nothing truly ended.

"Unicron?"

He looked up towards the rasp of Starscream's voice.

"I'm finished." Starscream said.

"Already?"

"I didn't need a lot of color."

Of course.

Unicron took the Seeker's hand, caressed it with his thumb and thought of where he wanted to be. He felt rather than saw the colorless room appear around them. Starscream led him by the hand to a dark area where he hadn't painted anything, and gestured to the small, life-sized holo-painting rising like a shadow in the stillness.

Primacron's likeness stood straight up at attention, gazing off into the unknown. One hand rested at his side and the other grasped a pillar hidden mostly in shadow. His cape seemed to drift off his shoulders and around him--Unicron's eyes followed it to where Starscream painted it dissolving into the void where stars and galaxies peppered the expanse like diamonds. The image looked so regal, serious, but not frightening...just like he remembered before.

Starscream did it exactly right. Unicron stood in awe at his bond's ability to take his greatest fear and make it exquisite. He couldn't believe how small Primacron was--tiny and delicate and terrifying...especially the icy purple of his eyes. Starscream even captured their cold, swirling gleam--yet in it there was a sadness. The pain of being alone.

Unicron gathered himself and stood in front of the painting. It was so lifelike he almost expected it to acknowledge him. Primacron could have been so beautiful...

"Some say the Dark always longs for the Light." Starscream spoke in a low tone that didn't disturb the quiet. "And the Light--"

"--will always embrace the Dark." Unicron finished the proverb. "And you, Starscream...you're my Light."

Starscream bit his lip, smiled slightly and wrapped his arm around Unicron's waist. "No slag-eating Dark bastard is going to bother you while I'm around. I know I did a stupid thing out there, Unicron, but..." Then he shook his head, sighing, "I'm sorry I dredged up muck from your past."

"I've run long enough." Unicron said back. He dragged his fingertip slowly along the bottom edge of Starscream's left wing, knowing that caused chaos in his flight sensors, and Starscream stiffened exactly on cue. "And this time, I did not face him alone. That made a difference."

.o

Listening to Unicron while having his wing caressed didn't make it easy to focus on the dark god's words. He finally slapped the hand away, playfully, and flirted back by stretching the tensor belts in his arms and legs.

"You know, Unicron, you're kinda lucky." Starscream relaxed again and smirked at the hungry look in Unicron's red optics. "I...I was an orphan. I spent my Spark-ling days in an orphanage. Nobody wanted to adopt me because I kept running away. I never wanted to be tied down. I always had to fly. And the second I got into my adult body, I struck out on my own. The rest is pretty much history. So the only father figure I can really name in my life was Megatron." He faced the Primacron painting and voiced the foolish desire pooling in his mind. "I'd love to talk to him now, while his head's clear, but I know that'd just send him over the edge again."

"Indeed."

Starscream would have said more, but Unicron kept staring off into space. He leaned back and studied how Unicron's armor and serious features glistened in the unseen light source overhead. The inspiration for Primacron's slightly sad eyes came from the look he saw in Unicron now--that invisible, unfulfilled longing he understood all too well.

"Starscream, what if my own Spark corrupts me?"

A question so out of place in their conversation...it hit Starscream like a slap and sent his processors spinning for an answer.

"What if..." Unicron went on, his expression unreadable, "...a situation arises where you have to kill me?"

"Don't talk like that!" Starscream grabbed Unicron's arms and shook him, trying to shake those very thoughts out of his horned head. "It's never going to happen. Not while I'm around to keep you in line. You know what Darkness can do, you've seen it. Just don't become it. You have Primacron's Spark, but you aren't him. Everybody has a little Light and Dark in 'em, Unicron. If there's anything I've learned hanging around you, it's that we all walk a fine line." He glanced down at Unicron's massive silver feet, stifled a snicker and looked up again. "Now shut up about this corruption garbage. I'll keep you walking the straight and narrow."

Unicron's lips quirked in a half-smirk that bared one fang. "Good to know. Now come with me, my repairs are complete, and I have something to show you."

Before Starscream could reply, a flood of glowing green lights poured into the room. Every time the space seemed at capacity, still more came, until the entirety of the dark room shimmered in emerald light. Starscream looked across the floor where he saw Sideways sitting on the ground with an elbow propped on his bent knee. The motorcycle mech raised his hand in a half-hearted wave. He seemed tired--probably from running around Cybertron looking for him.

Starscream asked, "What's all this about?"

"Doing your art justice."

Unicron walked into the center of the room, stretched out his large hands, and the Mini-cons erupted into song. Rippling arpeggios and harmonies filled the empty space. Then Unicron joined them with his own Mini-con voice, it became the most beautiful music Starscream had ever heard. It sounded just like his mind when he painted--how did the dark god replicate that wondrous song so perfectly?

Starscream mentally batted away his thoughts. This was a time to listen, not ponder the great unknowns. He gazed through the cloud of Mini-cons as his bond-mate's impassive face melted into a brilliant smile.

And Starscream stood in awe. Inspired, he jumped up and began to dance, painting this spot in time he saw before it passed. The music went on for hours--for days--or even eternity--he did not care. There was only sound and color and his body in motion on top of the unseen force dancing with him. He finished when the song did, and Unicron joined him to admire the fruits of his creative madness.

"Oh, Starscream...is that how you really see me?"

Starscream quirked his lips. "Yeah. It is."

"You...amaze me," whispered Unicron. He took Starscream's hands, kissing them.

"That music was incredible," Starscream replied. He cupped Unicron's face in his hands and watched the reflections of Mini-cons dance across his ruby optics. "Are you gonna be okay?"

Another quick smile, there and gone like the sun amidst storm clouds. "You make everything 'okay,' Starscream."

"Good, because I get tired of mopping you up when you mope." Starscream kidded. "Now make me some oil truffles."

Unicron snickered at that-- "First things first--" and pulled Starscream into a deeper, servo-twisting kiss.

Mm, Starscream mused, Maybe the oil truffles can wait a few hours.

He laid back as Unicron guided him down and assaulted his throat with delicious lips and fingertips. Above him, his newest painting loomed like hope.

Unicron's Spark might have carried Darkness, but, in that moment, his smile shone brighter than Light.