Title: A Different Beginning

By: Ceris Malfoy

Summary: In which Starscream is older than dirt, and a young Megatron is his ward.

Inspiration: In All Hail Megatron, Vol.1, there was a conversation between Megatron and Starscream in which Starscream said, "Your memory fails you, Megatron. I was there even before there was a 'beginning'. Before you." It just so happens I was writing a mini-fic for a picture I had drawn between Tsukino Usagi from Sailor Moon and Uchiha Itachi from Naruto, when I paused in the middle of it and thought to myself: with a few little changes here and there, this could be totally awesome! And thus this was born.

Status: Finished

Continuity: IDW, major AU

Disclaimer: Not mine.

"Student," came the cold voice of the only mech he truly respected: Starscream, Vosnian Commander of the Cybertronian Air Force.

Megatron turned, internally wincing. Of all the times for the Vosnian Commander to corner him, it had to be when he was emotionally, physically, and mentally exhausted. Of course, none of it was revealed in his facial plating. "Mentor," he returned stoically.

The seeker's cold crimson gaze studied him, looking for clues and slight nuances in his frame that only four decavorns of close proximity could reveal – and that only he could see. "You are tired, student. Sit, and talk with me."

Starscream moved silently and gracefully over to a quiet corner in the rec room. Megatron watched him move as he always did – with awe, admiration, and the faintest twinge of lust. Despite the fact that Starscream was a seeker, and the acknowledged master of sky and space, he lacked the gracelessness that other seekers had on the ground. It was something that Megatron had noted early on – Starscream moved the same way on the land and in the air; all grace and dignity and deadly intent.

Megatron followed, a little too quickly, a little too eagerly, as he always had. Starscream was dangerous, intelligent, and entirely too volatile to take lightly, but he was a tempting danger all the same. He sat across from the seeker, his movements considerably less graceful. He waited, carefully avoiding the Commander's steely gaze. He mentally reviewed what he knew of the seeker.

Starscream:

Age uncertain, but believed to be one of the oldest living mechs on Cybertron. Bearer of no less than twenty-three Masteries in various sciences, and suspected to have another twelve, at least. Qualified field-medic, previous deep-space explorer, and an accomplished warrior. Fastest flier in recorded history, and suspected of having processor speeds to match. Accused of at least ninety murders, countless attempted murders, and fifteen counts of high treason, but nevertheless still remaining in a position of power.

Dangerous? Oh yes, very much so.

When he had been a mere youngling, Megatron had been singled out by the seeker. No one knew why, and Starscream never revealed his intentions to anything he did. Megatron had been confused and unsure, especially considering the vast amounts of gossip surrounding the mysterious death of the seeker's previous student, Skyfire.

Students didn't tend to live long around Starscream, whether through their own folly or through Starscream's temper, no one seemed to know.

"I'll tell you this now, youngling, and I expect to be obeyed without question."

Megatron, barely out of his second frame, was afraid. He had heard the whispers, the quiet taunts – they said he was as good as dead, that none of the Vosnian Commander's students lived to see their final upgrade. Nevertheless, he stood still before seeker. He did not know what was so special about him that the Commander had singled him out – there were many more younglings that were faster, stronger, and more intelligent than he was.

"I am not by nature a patient mech. Nor am I a kind one. Should you choose to accept my instruction, you will find the pace hard, difficult, and without mercy." Crimson optics narrowed and moonlight-white wings hitched high in arrogant pride. "I will demand your best efforts at all times. If you disappoint me, you will be punished. Is this understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"I have tried many times to pass down my knowledge and skills to those deemed worthy by others. They have all failed both my expectations and my patience." There was a feral grin that left no doubt in Megatron's processor that Starscream was a predator at spark. "You will hear rumors and gossip about both myself and my previous students. Trash that most of them are, they are nonetheless useful to me, and you will do nothing to discourage them. Is this understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"I will teach you more than what will be found in the curriculum of the Academy, though I expect you to attend that as well. I will teach you how to survive, and more importantly, how to succeed. You show no great skill, no sharp wit or keen ambition – doubtless others have dismissed you as nothing special."

Megatron could not hold back the flinch the seeker's words brought.

"However, they will find that they were fools to do so."

Megatron stared in shock at the seeker, whose optics were burning brightly, a wicked smile curving the thin lips.

"You, who have nothing worthwhile to them will be the greatest I've ever taught." There was a slight pause. "Remember this, and remember this well, youngling. When it comes down to survival and victory, there is no distinction between makes, models, or processor speeds. What matters most, what will matter most, is your determination to succeed no matter the cost. Now, I will ask this only once. Do you want this?"

Megatron never hesitated. "Yes, sir."

"Student."

Megatron did wince this time, and immediately brought up his optics to meet his mentor's directly. He had learned over the course of several vorns the best ways to handle Starscream in all of his various moods – and it was a good thing he did. There was more than one occasion that the seeker would have offlined him had he not held his frame in just the right way, if he had not used just the right tone of voice, or if he had made himself a target. No one had ever directly accused the seeker of being glitched in the processor, but Megatron knew that was mostly because no one wanted to see what would happen if they did.

Did Starscream have a temper? In spades. Megatron sometimes privately thought that even Unicron would quail before the seeker once he got started.

Unfortunately, it looked like Starscream was bordering on one of his more violent moods this evening. Which meant that he, even as exhausted as he was, was going to have to play one of the more difficult dances – he would have to be bold and confident without appearing aggressive, would have to be submissive without appearing submissive.

"I have heard a great deal of things that I wish you to explain to me. Particularly about an incident about an orn ago. I believe Skywarp said there were casualties?"

Megatron wanted to start cursing. Damn Starscream's brothers to the pits! Especially Skywarp, who seemed to feel that Megatron was a personal affront to his very being. He remained silent for a moment, trying to figure out just how to phrase what happened without earning a worse punishment then he was already no doubt entitled to.

Crimson optics narrowed. "Megatron."

Megatron's spark sputtered. As long as he had known the seeker, never once had Starscream called him by his given designation. It was always youngling or student. "Sir?" he responded warily.

"I have not the time or the patience this night to play games with you. You will tell me the truth about the incident an orn ago, and you will do it now." Starscream's voice was starting to gain that certain heat and tone that said he was getting angry.

Megatron sighed and slumped in his chair. Slag it all. He stared resolutely at the table between them. "There was a minor riot in Kaon. The mechs there are already on the verge of starving, and the council's Energon rationing seems to have hit them the hardest." He paused, uncertainly. It wasn't often that many things escaped Starscream's notice, but nothing had been said of his current …activities in Kaon. He wondered idly if Starscream knew what he did there, and just how bad this was going to get if he didn't.

"I've been going to Kaon for some time now," he started, daring to raise his wary optics to Starscream's. The seeker's eyes were intent on his, his facial plates frozen in a mask of polite blankness. Megatron was not reassured. He had seen firsthand Starscream rip out another's spark with that same look on his face. "I've been fighting in the gladiator games. An orn ago, one of the other gladiators was taken out before the masses and would have been executed."

He offlined his optics, seeing again the mech who he had been somewhat friendly towards dragged forward like an errant youngling. "He was accused of spreading dissent amongst the populace, of leading the riots, and of purposely encouraging others to break the laws that 'have safely governed our world for eons'."

"You interfered." It was a statement, not a question.

"Yes," Megatron murmured.

"And this mech that you defended, was he worth it?" There was something new in the seeker's voice, a strange tone Megatron had never heard before.

Megatron on-lined his optics and stared incomprehensively at his mentor, absolutely baffled. "Sir?"

"I've known about your trips for quite some time, Megatron. They do not upset me – you are a fighter, a warrior, and I will not fault you for seeking an outlet for that urge. What upsets me, what bothers me, Megatron, is the events of today. You have defied the council publicly, brought arms against mechs who are sworn to uphold the council's law, and defended a mech that as far as the council is concerned is treasonous." Starscream's voice was growing more and more heated. Unlike most mech's, who began to shout when angry, Starscream's voice dropped into a quiet, intense purr.

Megatron could not help the flaring of his energy field – he never could when that particular tone was used.

"I see I have once again been let down." Starscream stood sharply, clawed servos flexing. "Once again I am left with no other options."

Megatron also stood, slower and more wary. This did not sound good. In fact, this sounded awfully like…

"You useless, bumbling idiot!"

Megatron froze, and glanced behind him. He was six vorns into his apprenticeship with Starscream, and only one of three mechs so singled out for a long timet. He was also the only one that had made it so long. The second had deactivated himself – by accident the official report claimed, but Megatron had seen the mech eyeing the acidic solvents in Starscream's lab for too long to believe it.

The third mech, another seeker by the designation of Bladewing, was …not adjusting well to the situation.

Megatron made sure no one was watching, and then made his way quietly over to the slightly open doorway. Carefully he peeked in, and nearly gave himself away by gasping.

Starscream stood tall, wings trembling in the force of his fury, clawed servos twitching madly. Before him cowered Bladewing.

"Please, Commander, I didn't –"

"That's right, you didn't. You didn't think about what you were doing, about how this is going to reflect on me. You glitch! Do you really think I was going to let you get away with it?" One of Starscream's servos reached out and grabbed Bladewing by the neck, and shook him, hard. "I told you once before, Bladewing, I see everything, I hear everything when it comes to my students. Your actions today are nothing short of high treason. Do you know what the penalty for high treason is, you little fool?"

Bladewing was struggling, trying desperately to free himself from the Commander's tight grip.

"Do you know what the penalty is for any who are caught consorting with mechs who commit high treason? Did you not stop to think that by doing what you did while under my tutelage implicates me as well?" An ugly sneer crossed the seeker's face.

"It seems that once again, I am left with no other options. Bladewing, creation of Solartwist and Moonglow, you have shamed my name and my reputation for the last time."

Megatron could only watch in stupefied horror as Starscream calmly tore open Bladewing's spark chamber and ripped out the mech's spark.

He narrowed his optics. "Starscream," he said, for the first time in his life calling the other by designation. "I interfered. I alone interfered with the execution. But I was not alone in that riot. All of them, the gladiators, the pleasure bots, the pit fighters, the energon miners, all of them followed my lead this morning."

Starscream's optics were aflame with rage and something else, something strange and new.

"Every last one of them followed me. There is not a mech or femme in Kaon that is happy with the council. Until your brother showed up, there was not a mech or femme who was not singing my praises for standing up and doing something about it."

"And you think I'm supposed to be happy about this?" Starscream growled. "The council will be on my door by tomorrow morning. They will be demanding either your corpse or both of ours."

Megatron growled back. "I will not let you deactivate me, Starscream. There is a war coming, and I will be at the head of it."

Starscream sneered. "A war? Please. I have heard those words before, many a time, and look what those words have brought: a council so paranoid they jump at shadows, a long line of dead students and dead innocents, and the unconditional slaughter of any connected to them." He stepped forward, wings hiked high in agitation. "I have heard those words pass many a mech's lips, and have watched as every last one of them failed."

"I will not fail," Megatron said, quiet and determined. He was prepared now. He knew he had only one shot at this – Starscream was battle tested, and very fast. However, he was also slighter of build and slightly smaller in height – if Megatron could just get a hold on the seeker, brute strength would ensure his victory, and hopefully Starscream's cooperation.

The seeker was too valuable to kill.

…and entirely too good at getting him charged with the smallest action.

Starscream's claws flexed, and then it was on. Megatron could barely keep up with the seeker's movements – he was fast, much faster then Megatron had thought. Already the seeker had landed several potentially-fatal hits, and he knew that he didn't have much time before the hits were fatal.

With a deep growl, Megatron allowed the seeker to target his spark-chamber – trapping the seeker's servos in one hand and tearing at a wing with the other when he did. Starscream shrieked, optics whiting out in the force of the pain.

One of the earliest lessons he had learned in the arenas were the fragility of seeker's wings. It was a lesson he fully intended to utilize.

Quickly he spun the seeker around, shoved him to the floor, and straddled him, using most of his bulkier frame to hold the seeker down. Starscream continued shrieking, and Megatron was surprised to note that some of the curses the seeker used were …rather inventive. He was not quite as surprised to note that his energy field was flaring tellingly, and that he very much wanted the seeker beneath him on a regular basis. But that was for later, much later.

"Listen to me, Starscream," he said sharply, and to his surprise, the seeker shut up. "There will be a war. There will be change. I have already begun recruiting." He paused, and considered his options. "I will turn those broken, hopeless mechs into proud warriors, and I will lead them to victory. I want you to help me."

Starscream was quiet and still beneath him.

"You turned a youngling with no skills or talents into a strong warrior with the determination and ruthlessness to do what needs to be done. You taught me how to survive, how to fight, and how to kill." He smiled, and deliberately mimicked the seeker's own purring tone from earlier. "You have taught me well, too well, Starscream. I will leave this place with my spark intact. The only matter is whether I leave it with you at my side as my Second in Command, or if I leave it with your spark casing in my servos."

There was silence for a moment. "If you fail, Megatron, if you ever start to slip, I want you to understand I will not show mercy. I will have your spark, in one form or another."

Megatron grinned. "I wouldn't expect anything else from you, Starscream."

So? I like to think it came out pretty good. Megatron's a bit OC, but I like my Screamer. Lolz.