Author's Notes- I have no idea what's wrong with me at the moment and so no excuse at all for this.

Bold- Comm link.

Italics- Thoughts/memories/link speak.

Pairing- Megatron and Starscream.

Warnings- Rated M. Major Character Death, death of a sparkling, slash, violent imagery, mentioned though not described occurence of rape and Transformer swearing.

Disclaimer- I do not own Transformers or its characters.

Verse- Movieverse with a bit of TFP.

Units of Time: Astrosecond- 1 second, Klik- 1 minute, Cycle- 1 hour, Orn- 1 day, Decacycle- 1 week, Meta-cycle- 1 month, Solar cycle- 1 year, Vorn- 1 million years.

Unbetaed.

All mistakes are my own.

Hope you all enjoy it.

Old Patterns

Megatron stared unseeing at the little orb of Earth through his berthroom window, vivid blues and greens bled to grey and red in his sight. Hunched over in one of his many thrones, he shuddered; spark whirling in his chamber sending blasts of chilling air through his systems. Engines lightly thrumming, he ignored yet another ping to his comm line from Soundwave.

Even his most loyal could not remedy things this time.

A sad coo drew his attention, tugged at his energon until he turned to look at the tiny pair of hurt optics gazing in fear up at him.

His own creation was terrified of him.

Scooping the youngster up, stroking at the newly attached wings on the little one's reconstructed frame, he sent steady bursts of reassurance into the hatchling's frame.

Just you and I left now little one.

Eventually the little Seeker fell into an exhausted recharge that was worryingly close to stasis.

For a moment the tyrant considered tightening his grip, crushing the fragile spark cradled to his chassis, but the thought left his tanks churning with fresh guilt, fresh grief.

He had never dreamed that Starscream, his untameable, ever-resisting second, would leave him, never thought that Starscream would believe Megatron wasn't coming back for him...

It was strange now that the Seeker's familiar litany of pleas and excuses were now travelling through his own processor as he tried to somehow make it all not his fault. It had all been foolish, ridiculous, he could see that now.

When it was far too late to do anything about it.

The tyrant could almost feel his lover's talons caressing his shoulder but when his helm twisted around to look his spark sank to realise there was no one there.

But, of course, there would not be.

For countless vorns he had done everything he could think of to get Starscream to show loyalty to him, to be a proper SIC and true Decepticon the way Megatron believed the terms to be.

Ironic, cruelly and painfully ironic, that when the Seeker was everything his leader wanted him to be it still hadn't been right.

Starscream had provided a surprisingly soothing presence in their bond, knowing the meanings of Megatron's movements more than most even before they merged their sparks, allowing him to calm the Warlord with relative ease.

It had at first been meant to be a punishment, to drown the Seeker's essence with his own, but as soon as their life forces touched it became clear that Primus had other plans.

A bond had formed in that forced union but Starscream had seemed to harbour no anger or resentment towards the tyrant, simply accepting it as his Seeker programming, the breed stabilising itself through submission and dominance commonly seen in Trine structures, allowed him to. In becoming the submissive partner in their relationship, Starscream transformed into what Megatron had always desired him to be. While still preserving his cruelty, arrogance, speed and cold cleverness, Starscream was irrefutably loyal and obedient in the solar cycle and a half they were together.

The flier improved immeasurably, no longer seeming to fail in each task out of subconscious spite towards his leader, and was the second Megatron needed him to be.

Problems with the Seeker's new found attitude only arose when he found he was sparked with his lover's hatchling.

It was the first time in vorns the Decepticon Lord had seen Starscream truly excited, happy without taint. The flier started to behave in an openly affectionate way that Megatron relished until he heard whisperings from his other soldiers.

It seemed they believed he had gone soft, become weak, in allowing the flier to get under his plating the way he had. He didn't show it before his sparked mate, gave no hint of his rising ire in their bond, and so Starscream carried on oblivious to it all.

Gentle strokes to his shoulder armour and tender smiles which at first he had found endearing, he soon tried to dismiss and ignore. Hook explained to him later that Starscream had simply been obeying his carrying protocols and seeking reassurance from his sparkling's sire that he was safe and performing how he should be, but as Megatron did not allow the Seeker to see he was becoming displeased the flier did not know to change his behaviour.

And so it came as a shock to the younger mech as Megatron felt in waves across their link, three orns after his sparkling separated from him into a grounder's frame at the tyrant's insistence, that he walked into the Great Hall with the hatchling cradled to his chassis only to have his creation slipped out of his grasp by Soundwave who left the room without meeting the SIC's optics.

He could see Starscream's faceplates at that moment reflected in the window before the Earth, confusion tinged with fear melting away the contentment the flier had felt in moments.

Megatron had stood facing him, a familiar expression there that Starscream had easily recognised, the flier's ruby optics dimming as he backed off from the tyrant's sudden advance, stumbling and falling as he nearly always did.

The first blow had sent the Seeker's helm flying to one side and clanging against the floor.

Instantly Starscream sent apologies and a gentle questioning in the link, both as to why his bonded was so angry and what could he do to make it better, stroking it as he stroked Megatron's pede in supplication.

However, the tyrant had shown no forgiveness and fell without truly wishing to stop himself into the comfortable old pattern. The flier had embarrassed him, he punished Starscream in retribution.

Megatron slammed their bond shut drawing a gasp of panic from his bondmate, similar to that of a human gasping for air when they had come close to drowning.

It happened exactly how it always did, the others laughing and sniggering at the sight of their arrogant second-in-command being put in his place, while Starscream blurted out agonised apologies. Driving his fist into his Seeker's slight frame, the beating culminated in Megatron tearing out the smaller mech's T-Cog.

Starscream collapsed to the ground, dripping energon and barely conscious, optics flickering into an almost pink colour in what Megatron believed now to be spark-break.

Lifting the younger mech off the ground, the Decepticon Lord carried his weak bondmate to the flier's old unused quarters, dumping him without care, still irritated, on Starscream's dust-layered berth. Ignoring the small whimper of need that followed him out, Megatron used his codes to lock his second inside, his one act of protection now his lover was so vulnerable.

One act that was horribly misconstrued by Starscream who, as his hope that his partner would return faded, began to believe he had been locked away to go insane and starve out of sight.

Megatron could feel the Seeker's side of the bond which always remained open despite the Warlord's staying firmly closed, Starscream's wish for the three things he treasured more than anything. His sparkling, his bondmate and the sky.

The tyrant intended to go back for him within an orn or two, when he had calmed himself sufficiently that he would not harm his bonded, and make it up to him; quickly realising that he punished the wrong mech.

However, a number of successful Autobot attacks in rapid succession left him enraged, and Starscream was left another orn as each assault occurred.

It wasn't until two decacycles had passed that Megatron realised he had not touched the link.

He reopened it to his lover only to feel Starscream's side had almost sputtered out then, before he could send a thought or emotion, a blast of white-hot pain had sent him smashing into stasis lock.

When he woke the bond, and Starscream, were dead.

Megatron's optics had flicked around the med-bay in panic, reaching out for something which he only now realised had sparkled inside him and finding nothing but a black hole in his spark, sure to eventually consume him entirely.

Hook sombrely informed him that he would not live another solar cycle, the bond breaking having weakened him beyond any medic's help.

Soundwave later informed him under duress that, when they charged Motormaster with breaking the SIC's door down after Megatron's collapsed form was discovered, Starscream was found in his wash racks in a dark pool of energon with the Seeker holding his own lifeless spark in his servo.

Placing the telepath in charge of the army in his stead and shooting those who snarled about Starscream's 'last act of treachery', Megatron barricaded himself in his quarters intending to spend his last however many meta-cycles of existence with his grounder-turned-Seeker hatchling once the little one had received his new form.

It was said that, if the Warlord were to bond with someone else, his spark might be saved but the desire to live had abandoned him, had been fading long before his spark-bond with his Starscream. The war was nearly lost and he no longer possessed the will to see it to its inevitable conclusion.

He doubted Optimus would let him live, why would he? Though they were brothers they shared no sibling affection, not any more, not in vorns.

The hatchling beeped softly in recharge, faceplates crumbling as another bad memory flux invaded his recharge, missing his cara no less clearly for his youth. It was possible, being so young, that the backlash of the sire bond snapping when Megatron's spark faded would kill the potential flier long before he was developed enough to soar into the sky…

The tyrant watched his recharging heir as a grimly determined countenance grew on his faceplates.

He had killed sparklings before, for entertainment, but surely in this case it would be considered an act of euthanasia all things considered?

His hatchling should learn to fly how he always should have done, by the little one's cara teaching him.

A drop of optic fluid fell from Megatron's faceplate. He didn't want meta-cycles of emptiness, he wanted his spark mate.

Megatron slowly stood and pried open his window, looking down at his hatchling for a klik more, scanning the little one's systems and finding that several systems had already shut down.

The undesignated little one was dying even now, simply from the broken cara bond.

Feeling the need to name him, despite what the Warlord planned to do, Megatron hesitated. Out of the corner of his optic he could see the Earth's magnificent sun sparking out rich and unpolluted energy.

Pure power.

'Goodnight… Sunstorm.'

Extinguishing the tiny spark, the Decepticon Lord kissed the Seeker's helm lovingly, and dropped his heir out of the window to fall if not fly among the stars until he met whatever fate was destined for him.

Megatron unsubspaced his fusion cannon, closing his optics to recall Starscream's joyful laughter when the scan confirmed he was carrying and that the new spark was healthy and strong, likely to survive to term.

His orbs snapped open, taking in Earth, a petite marble that had caused him so much pain, once more before resting the barrel of his most treasured weapon on his helm and pulling the trigger.

Soundwave's ping to his leader's comm line a cycle later received, instead of the silence of a living mech's rejection of a call, white noise and bursts of static.

Dead silence fell on the Nemesis soon after.

Something similar may come up in my writing again as, alongside Acid Rain, I have two fairly major verses in my head and one of them contains a scene similar to that described here. So if that one ever gets written you may see what happened if Starscream hadn't died.

Thanks for reading and please leave a review.