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Chapter Text

The sky turned from blue to red to black in a matter of seconds. A roar shook the Earth and a giant dragon soared overhead. A familiar dragon, black and blue with orange wings and a giant horn on the tip of its nose. Dirge- that must be Dirge. Highly aggressive and the leader of two other seekers. Ramjet and Thrust, who right on time, swooped into view after Dirge. A rather notorious trio of dragons as they appeared often and left ruin in their wake- or so he’d been told.

Bumblebee crouched lower to the ground. He was in between two houses both luckily untouched by the flames for now. Thrust broke formation with the other two making a wide swoop then fire spilled from his mouth blanketing several houses. The sheer force of the flames caused a few to collapse in on themselves. 

He came dangerously close to Bee, one of the houses right next to him catching a few sparks. Thrust made another wide turn aiming to leave behind another trail of fire, this time heading right towards him. Bumblebee found his feet, leaping out into the street and running, feeling the heat on his back and hearing the woosh as the dragon swooped by. 

He kept running, dipping between houses and frantically looking around. There was no telling where the rest of the stationed Autobots were. Seekers were notoriously hard to deal with. They almost never landed unless they had an injured wing. Meaning the only ones who could really do any damage were archers. Everyone else must be trying to get a vantage point or get out of the way.

Most Autobots had some training with either bows, crossbows, or bowguns but Bee was fresh into the field only having a trusty glaive. It was the only weapon he could reasonably wield. Dragon scales were tough, too tough for someone his size to break without the added momentum that the glaive gave him. 

He clicked his tongue watching as the three dragons made more lines of fire. They were burning this entire place to the ground in just minutes. They were hopelessly outmatched, this place hadn’t seemed a prime place for a dragon attack so it wasn’t heavily guarded. One of the reasons Bumblebee was sent here, it was safe- supposed to be anyway. 

The dragons' trajectory was quite predictable. They turned and twisted in the air then either made a straight line of fire or followed along a street. Bumblebee punched his glaive into the ground, launching himself into the air and onto the roof of a nearby house. He lowered himself to the roof. All three were a distance away now but with a wide arc Dirge turned and fire spewed, he was heading right towards Bee.

He braced himself waiting for just the right moment. The dragon's path of destruction ended right next to him, it started to pull higher into the air, Bumblebee bounced off his glaive and miraculously landed straight onto the dragon's back. It felt the disturbance, turning its head and spotting Bumblebee sitting between the large black spines lining its back. 

Its lips curled back revealing bluish-gray gums and blackened teeth. Red eyes narrowed then it jerked, diving downwards. Bumblebee shouted grabbing onto one of the spines as the dragon threw itself into a spiral, spreading its wings again just a few feet from the ground. He was slammed hard into its back at the sudden stop but managed to hold on even as it shot upwards screeching in fury.

He held onto his glaive with one hand readjusting his grip on it so he could stab down at Dirge’s back. Unsurprisingly the blade bounced right off the tough scales. Fighting the rushing wind he clambered farther up its back towards Dirge’s head. He stabbed towards the dragon’s eye but at the last second, it swerved its head. Bumblebee lost his grip and frantically tried to readjust, Dirge flipped over, belly to the sky and Bumblebee dropped off his back. 

He hadn’t realized how high up they were until he started falling. Dirge twisted in the air, diving towards Bumblebee, jaws parted with an orange glow shining from within. Bumblebee cursed, spinning his glaive around and pushed himself away. The flames barely missed and Dirge dived right past him, seeming to have lost sight of him in the blaze. 

Bumblebee readjusted in the air facing down and watching as the ground grew closer. The glaive was meant to be used aerially but it certainly didn’t make one fly. It could however stop a deadly descent. If he timed it right Bumblebee could be completely unscathed… except he had never fallen this far before. 

The ground grew closer, and finally, he acted swirling his glaive and feeling as his fall jolted to a stop.  

He did it too early.  

He started falling again for another several feet, landing with a painful crack. He grit his teeth and silenced a scream, Dirge was searching now, gliding nearby. He scooted backward, trying to put as little pressure on his leg as possible and getting into some cover in a blackened building. It was still smoldering and uncomfortably hot. 

The dragon wouldn’t expect him to hide here though.

It eventually turned away when something bounced off its scales in the air. An arrow, Bluestreak was the only Autobot here that could hit a dragon flying that fast, he must be in a good position now. Bumblebee sighed with relief as it seemed all of the dragons were on the far side of the city. 

A yell rang out not too far away. Breaking the spell of relief. Bee jumped, peeking out from his hiding spot to see. 

A white blur shot past him and a shrill shriek followed it. Bumblebee’s heart sank.

Starscream

The dragon was considered a myth as all the stories were a bit different. But there were a few consistencies. An almost pure white dragon that was followed by a high-pitched screaming wherever he flew. Some said it was the dragon's voice, others said it was the souls of those he killed who were trapped screaming within his spark. 

He could barely follow him with his eyes, Dirge, Thrust, and Ramjet were predictable. 

Starscream was not. He moved erratically, shooting through the air then would come to a sudden stop and pick another direction. Interestingly he wasn’t breathing fire. He wasn’t attacking at all. Starscream flew over Bumblebee’s head, the draft swept Bumblebee off the ground and threw him into the air. He landed right onto his injured leg. 

He hissed, there was a loud clap. Bumblebee’s head shot up. 

Starscream had come to another sudden stop with such force the air snapped. Starscream’s head whipped around and locked onto Bee’s prone form. He dropped from the air, snaking forward with nostrils flaring. Bumblebee could only stare as it crept closer and closer. 

Starscream was a small dragon. Everyone said he was a seeker but he looked more like an aerial. Aerial’s were tiny harmless feathered dragons that were rarely ever seen. Starscream looked like some cross between a seeker and an aerial. Half the size of a seeker with feathers and scales covering his body. Like a seeker he had the sharp glass formation protruding from his chest. He was almost pure white except for his entirely black head which had a gemstone lodged in its center. 

Starscream got so close Bumblebee’s hair was blown back with every warm breath that washed over his face. The dragon slightly bared its teeth, eyes dropping to Bumblebee’s glaive. It lunged forward tugging it from Bee’s grip and snapping it in half. He cursed.

Bumblebee heard a shout, only managing to catch a glimpse of Arcee dashing forward, twin blades gleaming in the firelight. Then he was in the air. Starscream’s teeth latched dangerously around the scruff of his armor. He yelped, twisting himself to wrap his arms around the dragon’s snout and hold on for dear life. It growled lowly but made no maneuver to chomp Bee in half, only raising higher into the sky. 

The shrieking never started and Bee was thankful for that, when Starscream was flying by he was nearly certain his ears would burst. Flaps sounded around, the other dragons were flying around Starscream now. It seemed with Starscream’s departure the seekers decided it was time to leave as well. At least that was one good thing, they were done burning the city to the ground. 

Bumblebee watched as the walls of the city got farther and farther away and realized he was going to die. The dragons were going to kill him, they took people dead and alive, no matter what nobody had ever been seen again after a dragon snatched them.  

He was going to die.  

Dirge spotted him, face wrinkling into a snarl. Starscream growled right back and the blue dragon moved farther away with a huff. 

He could hear his heart thumping in his chest, the fear was crushing his lungs.

It only lasted a moment.

Then he felt nothing, like he had already resigned himself to this. He supposed not many people signing up to be an Autobot expected to live very long lives. He wasn’t an exception- he just- he thought he would last a bit longer, not get swept away in his very first battle. Everyone was going to be so disappointed. 

He swallowed back tears, suddenly wishing he had given up joining the hunting division like everyone had tried to convince him to. At the time it had felt overprotective, most people in his situation ended up joining, he thought it was some favoritism too. He was raised by some of the highest-ranking members of the hunting division of course he wanted to join! Nobody wanted him to but he was determined and they finally conceded. 

And now? 

He was being carried away by a dragon to his death.

He wondered how they would react when they heard the news. Bumblebee is sure that's what bothers him the most- he is scared. Very scared. How were they going to feel though? That they had let him do this only for him to die. Would they feel like it was their fault? Of course they would, he knew they would. 

Different scenarios cycled through his head the entire flight. But they would be okay again, eventually. 

Starscream dipped down, and Bumblebee finally looked down. They were gliding over a huge rocky area covered with streams and lakes of lava. He knew of this place, Kaon. It was impossible to cross into and any travel had to be done around it. It was always rumored this was where the dragons lived as the dead hot wasteland seemed fitting for their ruthless and fiery nature.

It seemed they were correct.

The dragons flew over Kaon for maybe an hour before the previously flat areas either spiraled into the air or the ground split open into deep ravines. Up ahead there was a large wall with an odd purple substance dripping down its sides. At the bottom, it mixed with lava forming a rich crimson color. 

The dragons flew over the wall, it was an immediate hundred-foot drop into an almost endless-looking ravine. It had streams of purple liquid throughout but most notably was covered with dragons. They dove down and along the walls of the ravine, there were small caves. There was at least one dragon in almost all of them. 

Dirge, Ramjet, and Thrust suddenly banked left and swooped into one of the caves. Starscream flew a bit farther before diving into one himself. He landed almost silently then ungracefully dropped Bumblebee on the floor. He cried out as pain shot through his leg. The dragon snarled, then stepped over Bumblebee.

He followed it with his eyes. Deeper in the cavern there were two other dragons. They were a bit bigger than Starscream and also covered in both scales and feathers. One was blue, black, and red, the other black and purple. 

The blue one looked dead. Blue blood pooled under its head and was dripping from its snout, its eyes were halfway opened and it was so skinny he could see every bone. He looked back at Starscream, he could see most of his bones too, the black dragon wasn’t much better. Well, there wasn’t much life in Kaon so there wasn’t much to eat, so why chose to live here?

The blue dragon coughed, its whole body shaking with the effort. The black dragon jumped up, clicked and churred at Starscream then lunged at Bumblebee. He had no time to react, and there wasn’t much he could do with no weapon and a broken leg. It snapped down onto his arm, dragging him over to the blue dragon.

They were going to eat him!

Its teeth pierced through his armor with ease then into the meat of his arm. He bit back a cry. It’s teeth stopped as soon as blood started to flow and let him go. Confused, he started to sit up but was pressed into the ground by a claw giving barely enough room to breathe. The blue dragon's head snaked over and its forked tongue licked at the blood that leaked through his armor. 

The effect was instant, small scratches and injuries closed up and its frame even seemed to fill out some. His blood had healed it. Every dragon that escaped battle returned at a later time in near perfect condition was this how? Drinking their blood? 

The blue dragon still looked sickly, no longer like a corpse but unwell. Not much other than the Autobots themselves could even come close to harming a dragon. How were they being injured so often they needed to perform raids to heal themselves? Or was it just this sickness that was driving them to it?

The talon pinning him down pulled away and he, as carefully as he could, put himself in the farthest corner of the cave from the dragons. They stared at him for a time but once they decided he would not move, they ignored him. 

Despite being in a volcano, the cave was remarkably cold. The chill seemed to emanate from blue crystals in the wall. Bee began shivering and even long after the dragons seemed to fall into fitful sleeps Bumblebee remained awake and vigilant. Listening to the pops and hisses of lava and distant roars that echoed throughout the ravine. 

Chapter Text

There was a warm dampness on Bumblebee’s face, he blinked and slowly, fearfully, leaned back as a dragon’s face came into view. Its nostrils twitched as it continued to sniff at his armor and even nip and pull at it on occasion. It suddenly raised its head nearly hitting Bumblebee with one of its horns causing him to yelp. Its eyes locked with his and he went quiet.

It stared for several seconds before taking a few steps back with a huff. This was the purple and black dragon, Starscream was nowhere to be seen. Purple and black… a flurry of purple particles flew from its mouth with a sneeze. The few that touched him tingled funnily before disappearing.

Skywarp, this must be Skywarp. He had only been seen twice, but his purple particles and ability to disappear and reappear in a different location made him quite memorable. A blue dragon named Thundercracker who had a powerful roar had been at his side both of those times, the sick dragon seemed to match the description. Right now he looked asleep. 

Skywarp leaned forward again, Bumblebee’s hair was blown back by his breath. He leaned back as far as the stone wall would let him.

“Uh… can you… not?”

The dragon’s eyes narrowed and then met his. A whimper built in Bumblebee’s throat, the dragon’s mouth parted slightly, and it almost looked shocked. He whipped his head around and began loudly chittering and chirping at Thundercracker.

He lifted his head from the floor glaring at Skywarp. His voice was deeper than Skywarp’s. While Starscream had an extremely shrill-sounding call compared to them both. Thundercracker snapped back at Skywarp, it almost seemed like they were talking but that was impossible.

Dragons were thought to be more intelligent than the average animal but nothing compared to humans and some wyverians. Skywarp turned back to him, taking a claw and poking Bumblebee in the stomach, he snorted.

When Bumblebee did nothing he poked him again making the same noise. 

Thundercracker sighed through his nose, taking a massive claw and covering his face.

Skywarp repeated the same process several times. It didn’t hurt but it was annoying.

“What do you want?” Bumblebee asked, exasperatedly. The dragon’s face seemed to light up and turned back to Thundercracker. The feathers on its body puffed out and it hissed a long drawn-out hiss. Thundercracker just gave a hum and nod. Skywarp deflated, slowly turning back to Bee.

Instead of poking him, the dragon took a claw and patted the top of his head. Bumblebee didn’t have time to think about what that could possibly mean.

There was a flurry of wing flaps, and Skywarp looked up. At the entrance of the cave Starscream sat. He had returned and in his jaws was some sort of scaly animal. At closer inspection, it seemed to be a wild turbofox. 

It was almost a fourth of the size of Starscream. Bumblebee was surprised the dragon could even carry it. Starscream dropped the animal and began pulling at its skin, working past the tough layer of scales. Bumblebee looked away after a few seconds. 

Prowl used to have a turbofox companion; it had died in a raid not too long ago but he remembered when it was still a kit. Bumblebee hadn’t been too old then but he remembered playing with the turbofox which didn’t stay smaller than him for long. There was a point in time when his favorite way to get around the Ark was to climb onto its back and hope it would go where he wanted it to, which wasn’t very often.

He sighed.

A wet slap startled him out of his thoughts. Starscream had dropped one of its legs in front of him and was watching him expectantly. Bumblebee frowned, some people ate turbofoxes but the thought of it made his stomach twist. The dragon’s face pinched up when he made no move to take it. Its throat glowed and Bumblebee only had time to tense in fear before fire spewed across the ground.

It missed him, instead washing over the turbofox’s leg. When Starscream stopped it was cooked enough to be safe. Bumblebee sighed, eyes moving up to meet Starscream’s again. The dragon looked like it was frowning, only messed up by a scar on the left side of its face that upturned its lips into an uncomfortably toothy grin. 

It tilted its head and then huffed, a puff of smoke escaping between its teeth. It chittered at Thundercracker and Skywarp who had begun gnawing at the rest of the turbofox. 

After fighting back the wrongness of this all, Bumblebee cut a piece from the leg with a knife hidden under his armor. He could see Starscream’s glare reflecting on the blade. He tried to ignore it, stashing the weapon away as quickly as possible.

It took some mental prep before he was able to take a bite. Turbofox did not taste great. It was tough with muscle and almost had an ashy aftertaste. Maybe because this one lived in Kaon. Or maybe because it had just been scorched with dragon fire. Bumblebee was hungry so he did eat more, though he wasn’t particularly happy about it. 

Starscream just watched, never making a move to eat with Thundercracker and Skywarp or to take what he’d given Bumblebee. The dragon was thin- he must be starving. 

None of them were doing great,  Thundercracker was the skinniest and Skywarp was the biggest but barely. His heart ached for the dragons, just a bit. He had always been told his aching heart would get him in trouble one day.  

Well, Bumblebee certainly couldn’t eat all that he was given and frankly, he didn’t want to. All caution to the wind, he took a chunk and tossed it at Starscream’s feet.

Starscream slowly tore his gaze away from Bumblebee to inspect the piece on the floor. He scooped it into his mouth and swallowed it but didn’t move to take more. Bumblebee sighed. 

He took another piece and the process was repeated, each time he threw it a little closer forcing Starscream to inch closer until he could hold out a piece right in front of the dragon’s jaws. Bumblebee hesitated, nothing was stopping Starscream from just taking off his hand.

But the dragon seemed to be keeping him alive on purpose . They also seemed to be… smarter than given credit for. Maybe his chances of getting home alive would be better if the dragon actually liked him instead of just having a purpose for him. If dragons were even capable of liking things in the same way a person could. 

Bumblebee stuck his hand out, watching as Starscream's teeth bared ever so slightly. He nearly pulled away but managed to remain still. The dragon pulled the piece away from his hand, managing to not even nip his fingers in the process. Starscream finally seemed to get the point, grabbing the rest of the turbofox leg and dragging it away for himself. Bumblebee was just glad to no longer be surrounded by the stench of burnt flesh.

The dragons chittered at each other for close to an hour, they seemed relaxed only taking an occasional glance at Bumblebee. He was beginning to relax too, he wasn’t too concerned with Starscream or the other two killing him anymore- though it was still a possibility. Dragons were known for their unpredictability.

He had begun to doze off, as all he could do right now was sleep until his leg healed when the loudest roar Bumblebee had ever heard echoed throughout the ravine almost shaking the walls of the cave. 

All three of the dragons scrambled to their feet. They barely spared Bumblebee a glance before they threw themselves from the cave and into the air. Curiosity led Bee to limp to the exit and peek outside. Dragons were swarming through the ravine all heading in the same direction. One seeker whipped past the cave so fast it nearly took Bumblebee off his feet. 

He retreated farther back into the cave after nearly being thrown down a several-story drop. He could hear more dragons wooshing by, occasionally getting a glimpse at multi-colored scales. Then ravine went completely silent and remained that way for an uncomfortably long time. 

Then there was an awful wailing. 

A dragon was shrieking like it was being murdered, he knew what it sounded like from years of getting caught up in raids. The noises of a dying dragon are not something one could ever forget. 

Bumblebee covered his ears, it was long and drawn out. It wasn’t swift or painless, the hunters were always taught to do their jobs as quickly and humanely as possible. This dragon was not dying quickly, it made his stomach churn. Dragons seemed to get along with their own kind- so what was happening?

Finally, it stopped. Bumblebee sighed in relief, partially for himself and partially for the dragon that had been killed. He didn’t think he hated the dragons- they were violent and aggressive, they killed people and burned homes… but… they were just animals. Or so he thought. At the very least they believed they had to do what they did to survive.

He didn’t want them to suffer for what they did. As he didn’t believe they were actively malicious. Whatever just happened out there was cruelty.

Skywarp and Thundercracker flew back into the cave. Their feathers lay flat against their backs and their horns flat against their necks, not raised in their normal prideful way. Their tails were tucked against their bellies and they were lowered to the ground almost crawling. They were terrified as they slunk to the back of the cave and curled up, watching the entrance with fearful narrowed eyes.

Their fear led Bumblebee’s heart to beat quicker in his chest. He watched the entrance with the same apprehension as they did.

But where was Starscream?

The silence in the cave was all-encompassing. He had learned in the last day that dragons were constantly loud. They sneezed and coughed and snored but now the two dragons took almost silent breaths. Only the occasional pained wheeze sounded between their teeth. Their tense bodies relaxed after time but their heads hung low. 

The entire ravine was dead quiet except for the lava, Bumblebee nearly jumped out of his skin when loud flapping wings sounded just outside the cave. Thundercracker and Skywarp’s heads shot up. A massive golden dragon landed at the entrance, covered almost completely with feathers. Heat radiated from their body, and in their claws was Starscream. 

He must have only been a third of the size of this dragon, he looked even smaller because of his state. Blood dripped from deep gashes on his side, from his nose and mouth, and one of his wings was ripped to shreds. He looked dead, in fact, Bumblebee was almost certain he was dead. His head hung limply like he had a broken neck. 

The golden dragon set him down carefully, ignoring twin snarls from Thundercracker and Skywarp. Its nose twitched then its head swiveled to look at Bumblebee. 

It stared at him for a long uncomfortable time, blinking slowly. It took a step back at a particularly angry hiss from Skywarp. Then almost seemed to grin, before it jumped away, taking flight and disappearing from view. 

Skywarp crept forward, grabbing onto feathers around Starscream’s shoulders and dragging him farther into the cave leaving a trail of blood behind him. 

A trail of red blood. 

Bumblebee did a double take. Dragons iconically had blue blood, sometimes called energon. Starscream’s was a bright red even different from the maroon of most other creatures. 

A pained whine escaped Starscream’s throat, he was alive after all.

Was it Starscream that had been attacked? Was it him screaming all that time? What could have even happened?

The claw marks running across Starscream’s body were huge . It must have been another dragon that hurt him and the dragon must’ve been massive. Several times Starscream’s size, he couldn’t have stood a chance. The golden dragon had no blood on its body and the claw marks seemed to fit a dragon bigger than even it. 

The golden dragon was the largest he had ever seen , to think there was one even bigger… was frightening. 

Skywarp and Thundercracker curled up next to Starscream, carefully preening the feathers on his back and cleaning off as much of the blood as they could.

Bumblebee only watched. 

An uncomfortable feeling settled in his gut. The two dragons were so gentle and almost caring. It seemed so different from what he always knew of dragons. Angry monsters that burned and took and killed. Here they were uncharacteristically sweet, Bumblebee didn’t like all the conflicting emotions he was feeling. He almost wished he could go back to a few days ago when he had seen none of this. But this could open so many opportunities for the Autobots, so much research so many like Wheeljack would kill to know about. 

If he could just manage to survive and get home.

Hey! Maybe it wasn’t all hopeless, sure, he got taken during his first battle but if he could return alive with valuable info all of this must be worth something.

That’s what he would do, learn as much as he could about the dragons and then find a way to get back home. There were probably a few steps in between that but he would figure it out when he got there.

After all the fear had dissipated, Bumblebee’s eyelids got heavy and he could see the dragons had all fallen asleep, so he let them close.

When he woke up the next morning Starscream looked just like he had the day when Bumblebee was taken. Like all the injuries the night before had never happened. Even after a close inspection of himself, Bumblebee could find no evidence the dragon had taken a chunk out of him, thankfully. 

But then how was he healed? The dragon’s sleeping form provided no answers.

Chapter Text

The wyverian was watching him. He could feel its eyes boring into his back. Starscream shifted, turning the glare back at it. It swiftly averted its gaze to the wall and then to the floor, tapping two of its fingers together. 

It was trying to a bit too hard at being inconspicuous. 

At first, Starscream didn’t have much hope for this wyverian, most of them raised within human ranks would never be able to adjust to an actual society sapient or not. This one though? There might be a chance. Starscream isn’t sure whether he preferred it to be sapient or not. If it isn’t it's more of a pet, but if it is- it's a prisoner. Not that the humans would exchange anything for it, they were far too dumb. 

He squinted at it, there weren’t any visible wyverian traits about it- except maybe the horns on its helmet were actual horns? Maybe its horns had made holes in the helmet to grow through. 

Starscream couldn’t tell. Its entire body was covered in armor so there might be some scales hidden underneath. Starscream didn’t need to see any for proof- all it took was a good nose to tell this was a wyverian.

Even further, Thundercracker had confirmed it with a taste of its blood. Some wyverians blood wasn’t as potent in healing as human blood but this one was good enough and it was useful to prove what Starscream had been trying to prove. And so much more. 

He just had to make sure it remained his. 

Sure, he ranked highly in Kaon but Megatron had already shown just how he felt about the wyverian. Starscream had asked if he could take one from a raid, Megatron had yelled at him and thrashed him around. Starscream didn’t see the problem he was certain Megatron just wanted to deny him of something. 

But despite all of his yelling, he had never explicitly said no. So of course that was permission enough, but Megatron could smell the wyverian on him when he called for them. He didn’t buy that he had just killed one. Even less so when Dirge pointed out he had taken a very much alive one back with him, the fragger.

At the very least Starscream wasn’t worried about Megatron coming up here to deal with the wyverian himself. His punishment was already over with as Megatron hardly left that disgusting pool of whatever the purple stuff was. What an inconvenience it didn’t burn Megatron like it burned everyone else. Didn’t make him sick like it made everyone else. He was too stubborn to realize whatever properties he thought it might have wasn’t making it worth all the sickness and death that followed.

Starscream licked his lips, feeling the scar across his face, and frowned. A permanent reminder of his greatest transgression, a fitting punishment then was to permanently marr Starscream’s appearance. He had never felt pain like the burn of that purple acid before. It was somehow worse than when- 

a flutter of wings caught his attention.

Starscream snarled when he saw who it was. Sunstorm perched just outside, he was almost too big to fit inside the cave. It was carved out for Starscream and his trine, not the massive seeker. Sunstorm poked his head inside, looking around until he spotted the wyverian. He grinned- and then reared back as Starscream took a swipe at his face. 

Sunstorm wouldn’t have tried this if Thundercracker and Skywarp were around- where even were they? 

“Hey~ be nice! You owe me a favor remember? Everyone else was just going to leave you there last night! Even your trinemates.” He sneered at the last part. His eyes pierced Starscream searching for a reaction. The trineless seeker always made jabs at the mere idea of trines, Starscream thought he was jealous.

“Because I told them to do so- they are far too small to carry me anyways.”

Sunstorm’s predatory gaze fell to something more neutral. 

“Well, I just wanted to talk.”

“I don’t want to talk to you.”

“I didn’t come here to talk to you.” 

Starscream’s gaze shifted to the wyverian. “It can’t speak, not yet, if ever.” And Starscream certainly wouldn’t be leaving it to Sunstorm’s devices if it did learn to speak.

“I know that! I wasn’t planning to speak to it in our language.”

Starscream hissed. The fool Sunstorm claimed to be able to speak to the humans. He proclaimed all life forms should be enlightened and so learning their language was an obvious step in the process to teach them. 

Starscream thought he was mad. Especially when Sunstorm tried to convince him he too needed to learn the human’s language. Sure they had more brains than most prey animals, but they were no dragons. They certainly didn’t speak.  

Though, he wasn’t the only one who had claimed they spoke, but how had that turned out for them?  

“Leave.” There was a chill spreading throughout Starscream’s chest.

Sunstorm frowned, opening his mouth to object but Starscream charged forward- hitting him squarely in the sternum with his head. Sunstorm fell back, a gush of air leaving his lungs. He fell limply for a few feet before readjusting in the air, taking flight, and disappearing around a turn. Starscream snarled, tail flicking agitatedly. 

The seeker was persistent, Starscream knew from experience. He would return. 

The wyverian was frozen in fear- watching the exit with wide eyes. It calmed down when it must have realized the small spat wasn’t going to be an all-out fight. It looked to Starscream with those watery blue eyes, eyes that turned to wander over his scales and eventually landed on the scar near his lip. Starscream snarled at it- it was rude to stare . The wyverian squeaked and looked away. 

It didn’t look very well. 

Starscream admittedly didn’t know too much about wyverians or humans. He could ask Soundwave but he was loyal to Megatron and despite his fondness for young wyverians and even being one himself, he probably wouldn’t help. The cassettes were too risky, they would want to help ‘hands-on’ and would probably tear Starscream’s wyverian apart. 

Was it sick already? He didn’t think so. It shouldn't be hungry either. He just fed it yesterday, though this wyverian was more human than dragon, it might need to eat more often… Had it drank?

There was a small pool of water near the back of the cave. One of the reasons he had wanted this spot. He knew there was water around and now they didn't have to take long flights just to drink. But the wyverian hadn’t left its corner of the cave yet, it probably didn’t know the water was there- or if it did it was too nervous to venture over. Starscream stepped forward, its gaze flicked back over to him. Watching warily.

He picked up its closest limb and lifted it into the air. It yelped trying to wrap around his snout like it had previously. He wasn’t going to drop it for Primus’s sake. 

He brought it over to the pool and dropped it. 

The pool was small for the dragons but for the wyverian?

It disappeared under the surface and burst back up in just a few seconds, squeaking and probably cursing him the whole way back to the edge. The surprise of it disappearing under made Starscream laugh, the wyverian watched him for a moment and almost seemed to laugh along with him after the shock wore off. 

It was drenched but took a minute to drink which probably confirmed Starscream’s theory of it just being dehydrated. He would have to keep a close eye on it in case it didn’t recover shortly. 

It began taking off bits of its armor and wringing out the water from the fabrics underneath. When it removed the hand coverings Starscream could see a few golden and black scales dotted around its hands and a few pink areas where it looked like the scales had been pulled off. 

The wyverian seemed to notice his gaze and shrunk in on itself, quickly putting its hand coverings back on. It was trying to cover up the scales- perhaps trying to hide it was a wyverian? Interesting that it was intelligent enough to realize that might be an issue. 

But there was no hiding the fact it was a wyverian from him. 

He gave it some space, going to the entrance of the cave and sticking his head outside. It was still quiet from last night's events. Almost all the others were scared of Megatron remaining in tense silences sometimes for days after being called upon. Though it was not often one was punished like Starscream was. Megatron hardly touched the other dragons, they had nothing to be afraid of. 

Despite his frequent beatings, Starscream wasn’t afraid like they were. 

But he always pleaded when the claws came down upon him. 

A small shudder tried to course through his body but he was swiftly distracted by a yelp from the wyverian. He whipped his head around instantly scanning the cave for any sort of danger but there was nothing there. 

The wyverian was hunched over one of its legs taking swift breaths.

When Starscream had caught it, it had seemed crippled. Was it broken? Well, that was fine- it would keep it from doing any sort of ‘adventuring’. He certainly didn’t need it escaping and wandering the ravines where it would end up eaten or stolen. 

Maybe he should even keep the leg broken until it understood it needed to stay here. All for its own safety. 

However, the process of keeping the leg broken wouldn’t help in building his trust with it. He couldn’t think of any way to disguise it as an accident more than once, and even then it ran the risk of it being too unintelligent to understand ‘accident’ and still associating him with the broken leg. 

But none of the reasons he brought the wyverian here required it to trust him. Though it would be convenient. 

–

Bumblebee was dead. 

If he wasn’t, he was going to be shortly. 

Taken by a dragon- a seeker- Starscream- on his very first mission. How could it have gone so wrong? Why did the dragon who was so dangerous its mere existence was debated have to show up where Bumblebee was stationed? 

Where Optimus had stationed him. 

They should have looked harder, and been more careful making sure dragons would not show in that town. It was an irreversible mistake. Optimus clenched his fists, staring blankly down at the map on his desk. The dragons had flown towards Kaon- damn near impassable without an equinoid mount. 

The Ark creaked ominously, and then everything in the room was thrown forward. Optimus cursed, barely stopping himself from being thrown from his seat. 

It seemed the Ark had landed. 

Once the shaking subsided- he rose to his feet taking a moment to compose himself. The tears hadn’t come yet but the anger was still bright and he couldn’t bear to let that out on any of his crew. 

His footsteps echoed throughout the ship, it was quiet, uncomfortably so. Normally it was loud with laughter and the clinking of cups. Just a few nights ago there had been a celebration for the newest members venturing out on their first missions. 

Everyone had taken the hit of Bumblebee’s death harshly. Optimus knew it was bad when Bluestreak returned with a haunted look and Arcee could barely get out the words. He thinks he already knew what she was going to say when only the two of them returned. 

It didn’t make hearing it any easier. 

The door to the canteen was gone; it looked like it had been ripped off its hinges. Optimus sighed, stepping inside, the already quiet chatter fell to silence. The Ark wasn’t heavily packed today- filled with a few soldiers but mostly people who could gather intel on what led to this attack.

Immediately Optimus could see Prowl and Jazz’s visored face, Ironhide next to the twins who were sitting on either side of Bluestreak whose face was tearstained. Optimus really didn’t want him to come back but he had demanded it and the twins had backed him up. He had finally conceded.

“I know you are all upset about the recent… news-” The mood in the room somehow became more somber. 

“-But I promise you we’re going to find out why this happened. And finally, remember, this is just a reconnaissance mission. There are no longer any dragons in the area but keep a keen eye just in case.” 

There were a few nods but most remained silent. Optimus sighed again. 

The Ark shifted again and he could hear the creak of its giant doors opening. He turned, motioning for the crew to follow he wasn’t sure they would. The town outside was black and covered in ash. The dragons had done a number on this place. 

As it was with most areas dragons had made an appearance in, it was nearly silent. No animals made any noise and even the winds seemed to go still. Optimus stepped off the airship, grimacing at the crunch under his foot. 

It had been a small place so not too many lives were lost, the Autobots stationed here had done well in ensuring the safety of the innocents. But not much could be done against four seekers, especially when it was only a few newly graduated hunters. This had not been a village with many livestock at all, way too few to warrant a raid from seekers, a small murder of vehicons? Maybe, but not seekers. 

Some dragons would target valuable metals and gems for unknown reasons but this village had not been a rich one either, the population lived humbly. They had not deserved this. For the most part, they lived off of crops. Not many dragons were known for any sort of plant-based diets, the ever-insatiable insecticons came to mind, willing to eat anything, but they weren’t the ones to lead this raid. 

Could it all possibly come down to bad luck? A roaming gaggle of seekers that hadn’t properly scoped the area like they usually did and attacked the first village that came into their senses? Random attacks weren’t common but they weren’t unheard of either, but they were usually conducted by less notable dragons. Seldom by dragons strong enough to be named and remembered.

They tended to focus on larger cities, their power made them formidable enough to do damage while smaller dragons stole goods. They didn’t waste energy on tiny villages like this. But Starscream and the nose-horned trine had. 

It was almost like they came down to spite Optimus and take Bumblebee away, like they knew just how much he cared and they wanted to rip it away from him just because of it. But the dragons were just animals, unpredictable monstrous animals that left destruction in their wake. 

They didn’t think like that. 

He continued his trek through the ashes, searching for anything of meaning when a gleam of gold caught his attention. Half of Bumblebee’s glaive was partially buried, Arcee had returned with the other half but she hadn’t been able to find this part. Optimus stalked over to it, lowering himself to his knees and pulling it out of the rubble. 

He dusted it off and stared at its golden sheen. 

Bumblebee was really gone, wasn't he? He had come here with some foolish hope that maybe the dragon had dropped him and the ever-light-footed Bumblebee had come out of it just fine and that he would reappear with a dopey smile and an ash-covered face laughing about the close call. Bragging about it being an off day and had it been any other day he would have taken the seeker down with ease.

But that wasn’t going to happen. 

Optimus should have never let him join the hunting ranks, he could’ve helped some other way. Bumblebee had wanted to join the hunters so badly and when he passed the training the smile almost made it worth it. 

But this would never be worth it, even if he had had to face Bumblebee’s disappointed frown at being denied again and again, it would have been worth it. 

Because he would still be here. 

Chapter Text

Not once did Bumblebee ever consider the possibility that being stuck in a place like this would be boring. But it was. It was incredibly boring. Not much had happened since Starscream was injured a few days ago and that golden dragon appeared again. On occasion, one or two of the dragons would leave the cave and sometimes they would bring back food. 

More often than not, however, they slept. 

Not much was known about the more casual parts of a dragon’s life, but Bumblebee had discovered their sleeping habits put cats to shame. Or maybe it had something to do with how sick they were, all three of them seemed ill but Skywarp and Thundercracker always seemed worse than Starscream.

Bumblebee was beginning to feel sick as well. The back of his throat burned and he began to cough yesterday. Starscream’s head had whipped around so fast he thought the dragon had broken its neck when he first coughed. There was something in its eyes Bumblebee didn’t like. 

The itch in his lungs was constant and it was only getting worse. He was beginning to feel quite bad for the dragons assuming he had caught the same sickness they had. The exhaustion was bone-deep and he just wanted to sleep all day too, so he couldn’t really blame the dragons for their boringness.

He couldn’t sleep right now, though. A storm was rattling Kaon. There was no rain, not yet, but thunder rattled the sky and flashes of lightning were so bright it lit up the entire cave. Rocks were being thrown around all outside and throughout it all, the dragons did not budge. They didn’t even seem to be aware of the storm. 

They might be a common occurrence here but the severity of it was disconcerting.  Bumblebee spent much of his life on an airship, so storms were always a fearful thing. Storms were almost as if not more dangerous than passing dragons who might take a swipe at the delicate components of the ship. 

Only once had he been on the Ark when they ran into a dragon mid-flight. They ran into several dragons, a large flock that flew alongside the Ark for several hours but did nothing, eventually splitting away as it got dark. It had been a tense few hours, all the hunters too scared to strike first and turn the currently peaceful dragons aggressive.

They were lucky then, there were many stories of other airships being brought down mid-flight by just a single raging dragon. The parts of the ship that allowed it to fly were unfortunately easily destroyed. If they were too heavily armored it made the ship too heavy to get into the air. Airships were only ever cleared to fly if the area was safe from dragons but even then there were unexpected appearances. 

He used to love it when the Ark would land in different places, he would finally be able to walk around and truly stretch his legs instead of pacing the same hallways every day. Also, the danger of dragons and storms dropped substantially. The Ark never traveled to actively dangerous zones, only ever coming to pick up or drop off hunters in cities that had requested their help.

Sometimes it carried scientists to investigate strange circumstances in an attack. Other times it ferried supplies or brought aid to damaged cities and villages. 

When any of high command was to join a hunt the Ark would land some distance away to not be damaged in any of the fighting. Bumblebee would always wait with bated breath for the hunters to return. They always did. Sometimes they would bring back things from their hunts for Bumblebee whether it be a scale, tooth, or claw. 

Just as he was beginning his training a golden insecticon was slain by Optimus and Bumblebee’s armor had been crafted from it. He wondered how the dragons felt about such a thing, that he was wearing the scales of their kin. Well, they hadn’t been overly aggressive and Bumblebee didn’t want to part with it now, both a close memory and protection in this place. 

Another clap of thunder startled him and he could feel his heart thumping in his chest. It was a childish thing to be afraid of storms but no one had ever minded. During most storms, he would duck into someone else’s room for company. He pretended he was just bored, he was certain they knew, but no one ever said anything about it.

He had no one to speak to now. The dragons slumbered on, unbothered by the weather. Bumblebee just curled up tighter, rubbing circles into the armor and trying to think back to the home that he had to make it back to. Not just for his own sake but everyone else's too. 

–

The previously freezing cave had gotten unbearably hot, so much so the temperature now seemed fitting to the volcanic region. The heat was unbearable, it had woken Bumblebee up. It might not have been the only thing that woke him up, the burning in his throat and itch in his lungs was so uncomfortable he wanted to cry.

Bumblebee wasn’t sure which of his many misfortunes he hated most, honestly, he couldn’t remember a time in his life when he was quite this miserable. 

He struggled to his feet, using the wall as support. It had been a blessing when Starscream had shown him to the pond. He wasn’t sure how safe the water was but he didn’t have any other options. 

Unfortunately, the dragons liked to lie in between him and the water, it took some effort to get past Skywarp's restless form without waking the dragon.

Bumblebee kneeled next to the pond, and a bead of sweat dripped from his face into the water. 

He looked down at his reflection. He looked awful, his face was flushed and his eyes were bloodshot. He sighed, dipping his hands into the water, bringing it to his face, and taking a sip. It only soothed the burning in his throat for a moment. 

He sat back taking a few moments to try and breathe. His throat felt swollen and like he had just endured one of Ironhide’s training sessions.

He glanced at his normal spot in the cave. The thought of making his way back over there was exhausting so he instead leaned up against a stalagmite that was blessedly cool and damp. Another clap of thunder shook the ground, and a gust of wind blew ash and dust into the cave. 

Bumblebee coughed, he swore he could taste blood on his tongue. He wrapped his arms around himself and closed his eyes, listening to the raging storm and trying to ignore the uncomfortable sensations of the sickness. 

-

Bumblebee was harshly pushed over, startling him awake. He was made painfully aware of the fact he could barely breathe, all his breaths coming quick and raspy. He grasped at his throat, why couldn’t he breathe? 

There was movement around him and a flash of white scales, Starscream? 

He tried to pull himself back up but his limbs felt like jelly. They were slowly going tingly and numb and the only thing he could focus on was the awful burning that had spread from his throat to his lungs and worsened until it felt like he was on fire. He was rolled onto his back, he blinked a few times until he could barely make out Starscream’s face staring down at him. 

The dragon pulled back, lifting a claw and placing it into its mouth. Red blood dripped from Starscream’s talons and then he reached for Bumblebee’s face.

Bumblebee recoiled in terror trying to scramble away. He was held down, another claw trying to pry his mouth open. Dragon blood could heal when mixed with other substances but it had to be heavily diluted because its own, it was a deadly toxin. 

He whimpered, unable to escape the dragon's grip, only being able to watch as a few droplets fell into his mouth, which was forcefully closed before he could spit it out. It stung like acid against his tongue and the burn quickly spread throughout his body making the previous pain he was in seem miniscule.

A fire ignited in his veins and he cried out, curling up into a tight ball finally free of talons holding him down. But the pain was short-lived and Bumblebee’s head was clear and he could breathe and all the aches and pains were gone. Even his leg didn’t hurt anymore.

He took a few deep breaths lying on the cave floor for a long time before trying to figure out what exactly was going on. The three dragons were looking down at him silently but when he sat up they almost seemed relieved. He scooted back against the wall to give himself some space, the dragons started chittering at each other. 

Bumblebee wasn’t sure what happened, or how he was healed. Dragon blood in its unaltered form was deadly and ingesting it was almost always a death sentence. But it had healed him, maybe it had something to do with Starscream’s red energon? 

He wasn’t certain- for now, he was just grateful to breathe. 

–

The air smelled of decay and sickness. It was so overwhelmingly strong the faint hint of dragon blood could nearly be missed. Sideswipe couldn’t miss it, senses too well-honed to ever overlook a nearby dragon. 

Nearby trees had large chunks missing and were smeared with an odd purple substance, no dragons except insecticons ate trees. 

Yet for insecticons the damage was minimal, it looked like only one passed through. How odd, usually they traveled in swarms, on their own they weren’t too dangerous.

He could hear its obnoxious buzzing now, and after ducking under a few more shrubs he could see its form in a clearing of its making. Trees had been uprooted and gnawed on, and a few others just smashed to bits. 

The insecticon reeked, the mucusy purple substance dripped from its mandibles and leaked from its compound eyes. Its wings buzzed, electricity jumping between them and its long horns. Slowly its head swiveled to look at them. It remained stationary, uncannily so, not displaying an insecticons normal aggression.

He glanced at Sunstreaker, whose face was pinched. Bluestreak had climbed onto a tree’s branch behind them, pulling the string of his bow. The insecticon buzzed and clicked tilting its head sideways, then shot forward so quickly that Sideswipe was barely given a moment to react. Its mandibles crunched down on where he had been seconds before. 

He turned on his heel, striking it across the face with one of his blades. Disgusting thick purple energon ran down its face in big globs, not dissimilar to what was leaking from its mouth. Sideswipe jumped back giving himself a few feet of space, it didn’t matter as the insecticon had whirled on Sunstreaker after a strike from his long sword. 

Sparkles of lightning danced across the ground, a tell to an incoming blast. Sunstreaker dove out of the way as the previously small stray bolts lit up into a barrage of deadly strikes. At the same time, the insecticon struck with one of its claws, barely missing Sunstreakers dodging form. 

Sideswipe charged forward, slashing at its heels. 

It kicked in reflex, striking Sideswipe in the chest and he stumbled back. In a moment it had whipped around and was facing him once again. A barrage of arrows hit its back, a few bounced off, and others found themselves buried in delicate flesh between its scales. It hardly seemed to notice, lunging for Sideswipe.

Again he jumped out of the way, the beast had thrown its full weight at him, hitting the floor and rolling for a few feet. It scrambled back to its feet and was upon him once again, biting and striking, moving at speeds and awkward angles that almost seemed painful. 

Sideswipe’s hair stood up and he could see the sparks of lightning building on its horns. His eyes widened then it struck and a fierce burning ignited in his body. 

He yelped, falling back. There was no time to reorient himself, as he was swiftly launched into the air by a swipe from one of its claws. He hit the ground hard, only able to watch as it charged forward again, mandibles gnashing. Sunstreaker intercepted it with a strike across the face.

The momentum of both the charging insecticon and the blow sent it to the ground once again. And again it found its feet within moments and had turned on Sunstreaker. 

An arrow hit it square in the eye. It didn’t react, didn’t let up its assault in the slightest. More lightning swirled and the ground sparked under Sideswipe. He gasped- rolling out of the way just as the sparking ground erupted into a blaze of lightning. It was so bright and so close it burned his eyes, he cursed fumbling around his equipment for the familiar shape of a potion.

He found one, bringing it to his mouth and feeling as all the aches were washed away in an instant and his head was cleared. 

Sunstreaker and the insecticon were still trading blows just a few meters away. Sideswipe struggled back to his feet, aiming for a weakened spot on its shoulder where one of Sunstreaker’s strikes had broken its thick carapace. He lodged one of his blades into its flesh, using it as leverage to pull himself onto its back.

He grabbed onto one of its spines, prying its large scales up just enough to slide his blade under them and do damage. The insecticon bucked up, nearly throwing him off. Its wings buzzed and one nearly smacked him. Change of target, then. 

He scooted backward until he was seated right between its wings. The large shells that protected them were raised, while the delicate clear wings waved about wildly. With no protection, he easily jabbed one of his blades right into the wing joint and started sawing away with the other. 

The insecticon jerked, and Sideswipe only had a moment to brace as it rolled onto its back, crushing him. It rolled back to its feet and Sideswipe still held onto it tight. He continued cutting away at the wing until it fell limp and the last bit of flesh cut away and it dropped to the ground, more purple energon gushing from the wound. 

Its rapid uncontrollable movement came to a sudden stop and Sideswipe was thrown forward into the ground. He raised his head to find himself face-to-face with it. It crunched down onto the shoulder of his armor and whipped its head around, throwing Sideswipe into a tree. All the air was knocked out of his lungs and he gasped. 

It was still focused on him and took advantage of him being stunned. Static electricity built up all around and the ground glowed with forewarning. An arrow hit one of its horns, disrupting the attack and it fizzled out. 

Sideswipe sighed in relief. 

The insecticon stumbled, seeming dazed but at once refocused, its head tilted towards the tree Bluestreak sat in. It ran towards it, Bluestreak startled jumping to an adjacent tree right as the insecticon toppled the one he had just been in. It found him again, in a panic Sideswipe fought his way back to his feet. 

This time it jumped catching Bluestreak midair as he tried to get away once again. He dangled from its mouth by his foot. The insecticon reared its head back and slammed him full force into the ground. Sideswipe jumped onto its head, stabbing his blade into its remaining eye. It let go of Bluestreak in favor of taking a claw to knock Sideswipe away. 

A spray of purple energon came from its tail, a strike from Sunstreaker had nearly taken it off. It shrieked a loud angry sound- Sideswipe had to cover his ears. 

Bluestreak was trying to crawl away, still not recovered from being so battered and it refocused on him. The ground under him brightened, and more sparks of lightning flashed. Sideswipe grabbed Bluestreak pulling him away just as the main blast of lightning struck. Despite missing both of its eyes, it still seemed completely capable of finding them as it rammed into Sideswipe throwing him a few feet into the air. He rolled back to his feet, taking a few powerful swipes at the beast, cracking its armor further. 

There was a loud thunk and the insecticon forgot about him, turning to Sunstreaker who had cut through the rest of its tail that now lay on the ground. Energon leaked from every part of the dragon and it stumbled as it swiped once more at Sunstreaker. He moved out of the way easily, its movements now noticeably more lethargic.

The poison on Bluestreak’s arrows along with the blood loss was taking effect.  

Sunstreaker danced to the side of a bite, pulling back his sword and stabbing at its neck which the insecticons attack left vulnerable. It pierced through the weakened armor and the insecticon let out a long groan before it fell forward. It twitched a few times before going still. 

They all watched it with a careful eye waiting just in case. Then they allowed themselves to catch their breath. 

“What the hell-” Sunstreaker took another deep breath- “was wrong with that thing?”

Insecticons were usually one of the easier dragons to kill, not that any of them were easy but this one was fierce and violent. Acting in a self-destructive way like it didn’t care or even seem aware of the damage it was sustaining. Not to mention just how awful it smelled, it smelt like it was rotting even as it was alive. 

Sideswipe’s tail twitched, admittedly, it made him uneasy. 

“I don’t know. Someone from the science division needs to come look at this thing.” 

Sideswipe glanced down at the mess of purple energon that covered him. He very suddenly wanted to get back to their current post and clean off himself and his armor. Bluestreak and Sunstreaker didn’t look much better. His brother's normally golden scales were hidden under a thick layer of purple mucus. 

Well, it at least would be a well-deserved break after dealing with this thing. 

They would probably have to go to the medbay as well, Ratchet would have a fit if they didn’t after an encounter with a sick dragon. Diseases likely wouldn’t transfer from dragon to human so Bluestreak should be fine, but dragon to Wyverian was entirely possible. 

Sideswipe sighed, wondering if he could talk his way out of it. But glancing back at the disgusting mess the insecticon left behind it might be better to be safe on this one. He didn’t want whatever that was.

Chapter Text

It was the next morning when Bumblebee realized the pain in his leg never returned. Careful testing proved that he was completely healed including the break. He took some time walking around and stretching his legs, doing his best not to disturb the dragons. 

When they began to stir, he sat back in his corner of the cave.

Thundercracker ambled forward, peeking outside of the cave. The dragon jumped out and shortly after Starscream followed. The only dragon left in the cave was a half-asleep Skywarp. 

Skywarp who was not paying attention to him at all. 

Bumblebee slowly rose to his feet and made his way to the entrance of the cave. He looked outside and down. The bottom of the ravine was far but the wall was bumpy with plenty of grips. Bumblebee was confident he could safely make it down. He glanced back at Skywarp, the dragons wasn’t watching him. He might actually be asleep now.

It had been safe in the cave so far, but Bumblebee had to get back home. As much as it would be beneficial to learn more about the dragons, he couldn’t throw away a chance like this. He just needed to find a way out of the ravine. Simple enough, probably.

With one last glance at the now definitely sleeping dragon, Bumblebee cautiously began climbing down the side of the ravine. The armor covering his hands had small pinprick claws at the end that made gripping onto the stone much easier, and it wasn’t very long until he was nearly halfway down.

He hung off the wall, glancing down at the bottom. He couldn’t see any dragons below. The ravine had been quiet since Starscream’s injury but in recent days he had begun to hear them again. It still wasn’t the same as it had been when he first arrived. 

Bumblebee continued climbing down, he had gone several days without moving and eating considerably less than he normally would so he was having more difficulty than he’d thought he would. It was fine, he could still make it. 

It took a few more minutes, but his feet finally hit the ground.

He stepped back from the wall, looking around him. Stalagmites jutted up from the ground, from the cave they looked small but on the ground most were taller and wider than he was. Plenty large enough for smaller size classed dragons to hide behind. Bumblebee was suddenly nervous, grasping for a glaive that was no longer there. 

Bumblebee glanced at the cave and considered climbing back up but decided against it, taking a deep breath to steady himself. Each of his footsteps echoed and he was certain every dragon in a five mile radius knew exactly where he was. And it wasn’t very long before he came across the first.

He stepped around a stalagmite and very nearly stepped on a small aerial nestled up next to it. Bumblebee jumped, and then gaped down at it. He had never actually seen an aerial only ever hearing descriptions and quick glances of drawings of them. It was tiny with fluffy feathers covering its whole body. It looked like a chick who had just hatched.

It was mostly red and white with some darker feathers in other spots with light blue eyes that slowly blinked up at him. He wondered how this thing survived, compared to other dragons it hardly seemed capable of defending itself or hunting. Bumblebee crouched down to look closer at it, its feathers puffed up and it hissed. 

Its eye’s were disproportionately large, it looked a lot like a puppy or kitten, or any other young animal. It was then that the thought occurred to him that any aerials the Autobot’s had ever encountered were hatchlings. His heart sunk, and he quickly glanced around. There were no angry adult dragons creeping up on him. 

On the rare occasion a dragon nested outside of Kaon the nest was defended fiercely even the strongest Autobot warriors could be injured or killed by a small dragon defending a nest. Nesting dragons were considered some of the most dangerous. Unless they were too close to a village they were left alone for safety reasons.

Unless confronted first, nesting dragons tended to mind their own business, thankfully. 

There were no adult dragons around. If there were Bumblebee probably would’ve been bitten in two before he even saw the aerial. He looked down at it again, it’s feathers were still puffed out and its eyes were narrowed at him. It hissed and spat but didn’t make and effort to run away or actually attack him.

Carefully, he reached out taking it into his hands. It tensed, but went slack after he brought it to his chest. It seemed fat but all those feathers were just covering up how skinny it was, it weighed nothing. He patted its head and it melted into his arms, it almost seemed like it was purring. 

Bumblebee picked a direction and kept walking, he had a sinking feeling this escape wasn’t going to go to plan. The maybe-hatchling in his arm wiggled, stretched, and then yawned before nestling its nose into his elbow. Its presence helped calm him though the unease of having a hatchling nearby remained strong. He just had to hope wherever its parents were they would be understanding.

A small purple stream winded between some nearby rock formation and Bumblebee walked forward to take a look. He had seen this when Starscream first brought him to Kaon.

He leaned down, the hatchling in his arms latched onto him with pinprick claws, shrieking horribly. It climbed onto his shoulder and held on, seemingly indecisive on whether it wanted to run from Bumblebee or stay latched onto him. He winced, quickly discovering its reason for panic. Breathing near the purple liquid burned , it was like the sickness.

He took a disoriented step back, and worked on prying the hatchling from his armor. It whimpered then finally let go, only relaxing again when he got a safe distance away from the purple liquid. It got more frequent the farther he ventured and each breath burned his lungs.

The feeling of unease and the prickly feeling of eyes on his back became impossible to ignore. He stopped looking around trying to spot anything out of the ordinary. Something shifted and a large vehicon stalked forward. Its smaller packmates followed.

The aerial growled softly.

Bumblebee’s heart thumped in his chest, he could only stare. The vehicons moved forward cautiously, almost seeming curious. They’d stop and sniff and tilt their heads, anytime Bumblebee tried to move, they’d growl. 

So he sat still, holding the small dragon securely and bracing for any attacks. He may be without a weapon but he could still dodge attacks. He might be able to lose them in the maze of rock formations. 

Only a few of the vehicons in this murder were of the wyvern variant most were drakes. The wyverns could get a bird's eye view but the area was too tight for them to swoop down and grab him. The hatchling chirped loudly at them and they paused, growling lowly in response. It squeaked a bit louder, flapping feathery wings and puffing itself out as much as it could.

The vehicons almost seemed to laugh, some chirpy mirthful noises, some deep and gravely. 

Then they stopped, jaws snapping closed, their quiet snarls grew loud and angry. Bumblebee jumped back as a giant shadow fell over him. The vehicons turned tail and disappeared behind the rocks, Bumblebee looked up and up at the dragon who stood over him. 

It was the golden dragon. 

It grinned, seeming much too human. 

The hatchling in his grip went quiet. Was the golden dragon an adult aerial? It was covered in feathers though it looked a lot like a seeker. Was this the hatchlings parent? Bumblebee froze, half expecting to get burnt to a crisp.

The dragon merely reached down with a claw, scooped Bumblebee up and then jumped into the air. He kept a tight hold onto the aerial in his arms, watching the world fly past in a blur. When Starscream picked him up it was never pleasant, and he was too small to hold Bumblebee in his claws like the golden dragon could.

While this wasn’t exactly nice either, it was more comfortable than dangling from a dragons jaws. 

The dragon landed, here the terrain was flat. There were deep claw marks in the ground, it seems the dragons themselves had cleared the area. He was gently set down by the dragon. Bumblebee finally got a full view of it, previously he had only seen it partially in the caves and when it had grabbed him he had barely gotten a glimpse.

Now he got a sense of its scale. This dragon was huge- bigger even than he’d previously thought. It stood tall and radiant golden feathers gleamed in the light, it looked ethereal. It reminded Bumblebee of the legends of the phoenix. 

The aerial made no move to try and approach the larger dragon, still holding Bumblebee tight- he would almost say it seemed nervous. This probably was not its parent.

“Well, hello there.”

Bumblebee froze, his gaze moved back up to the dragons face. Its previously almost manic looking grin had taken a more pleasant edge.

“It seems I’ve given you quite the shock, apologies.” 

His voice was smooth, soothing to listen to. It reminded him of the high born officials he had met who had never fought a day in their life. Wearing a false politeness and always speaking eloquently. 

It tilted its head, smile falling ever so slightly.

“You aren’t dysfunctional are you? That doesn’t line up…”

Bumblebee’s shock wore off just enough for him to unintelligently squawk out, “you spoke!” 

“I did, it is required of a disciple to be able to spread the good word to all species.” 

Bumblebee shifted, suddenly feeling deeply uncomfortable. The dragon’s gaze bore right through him, like it knew more about Bumblebee than it should.

“..The good word?” 

It perked up.

“Primus’s gospel of course, the creator of us all and the one who watches over us-” The golden dragon’s eyes narrowed as it considered him “- the one who set all of this into place.”

Primus? That was their god too- it was shocking to learn that not only were dragons definitely sapient- they worshipped the same god. He started to ask what the last part of the dragons speech meant and how when the dragon continued on.

“You are very important, Bumblebee. I am certain of this, it would be wise of you to educate yourself of Primus’s words. You will find guidance there, as all will if they accept him.”

He took a startled step back. “How do you know my name?”

“I know lots of things.”

“Well- why am I here?”

“Everything fell into place as was destined. It shall continue this way.”

Destined? Bumblebee was destined to fail his first mission and be taken away? Did that make his failure better or worse? That there was no other outcome? Of course that is if the dragon actually knew what he was talking about. Bumblebee hoped he didnt, the dragon scared him.

“Who are you?”

“I am Sunstorm, Primus’s most devoted disciple.”

“..Right.” The full scale of the opportunity dawned on him. This dragon could answer so many of his questions! If only he wasn’t so unnerving.

“The other dragons can all speak too..?”

Sunstorm snorted, “Of course- though I shouldn’t be surprised you would think they may not, both of our species think lowly of each other.”

“Can I learn to speak with them?”

Sunstorm’s eyes twinkled and he smiled, “You are exactly as foretold, I can teach you.” 

Bumblebee barely smothered a sigh, he was beginning to see this dragon wasn’t particularly dangerous. Just eccentric, he hoped they weren’t all like this. 

“It is quite a process to switch between our languages by traditional means- you might have an advantage as you are wyverian. Still, you will have to see me again so we can begin.” 

Sunstorms gaze rose to the sky a resigned look crossing his face.

A familiar shrieking sounded from above and Sunstorm was swept from his perch by a raging white blur. Despite being tiny compared to him Starscream had Sunstorm pinned in seconds, the smaller dragon ripped into Sunstorm, golden feathers flew about. Sunstorm knocked Starscream off of himself, blue blood dripped from several shallow wounds. 

He jumped into the air without sparing Bumblebee another glance. 

Starscream went rigid, slowly turning to face Bumblebee. His face was contorted into a snarl and his lips were stained blue. 

The aerial in his arms chirped, Starscream relaxed glancing down at them. He clicked back and now finally Bumblebee could say without a doubt that they were talking. 

Starscream crept forward, scruffing Bumblebee like he had many times before and jumped into the air, flying in the opposite direction of Sunstorm but not the right way to the cave. Starscream glided a short distance and landed by a large crater, inside were many small dragons. There were hatchlings of all shapes and sizes, some had wings, others didn’t. There were hatchlings of every imaginable color.

They squeaked and yelped, running around and jumping at eachother. Occasionally sneezing out a puff of smoke. This seemed to be a sort of nursery, it didn’t take long to spot a few aerials inside. So Bumblebee was right- they were hatchlings, the one in his arms must have gotten lost somehow.

He set the fluffy dragon down who chirped at Starscream one last time before spreading its feathered wings and letting itself glide down to the bottom of the crater. Two other aerials ran to its side in an instant.

Starscream watched for a short time before picking Bumblebee back up. Now, he headed towards the cave. The tension in the air was high, it wasn’t unlike the time Bumblebee had gotten caught snaeaking out of the Ark by Optimus. He had nearly gotten hurt by a dragon, Optimus had been reasonably upset and angry. 

Bumblebee was dropped into the cave and he withered under Starscream’s glare. Smoke curled from the dragons nostrils and its teeth were bared- it was shaking with rage. Thundercracker and Skywarp weren’t here, for some reason that made Bumblebee more nervous to be left alone. He had been alone with Starscream before but the dragon had never seemed so angry- even when he first took Bumblebee.

Starscream inched forward, taking his time like he was reveling in the fear he was causing Bumblebee. This wasn’t just an animal- this was an intelligent person- maybe he knew exactly what he was doing. Starscream stopped just a foot or so away from Bumblebee, then the dragon’s anger seemed to subside.

He went still, a last puff of smoke escaping his nose. Starscream’s angry expression smoothed out but he didn’t look kind. His eyes were still angry- and maybe Bumblebee had thought wrong. If anything the sudden stillness was more terrifying than his previous bright visible anger. 

Starscream looked at him then his gaze shifted down. Bumblebee didn’t have time to put two and two together before teeth crunched down on his leg. He yelped trying to wriggle his way out of the dragon’s grasp but it just got tighter and tighter and tighter until there was an audible snap. 

Bumblebee howled, curling into himself. Starscream backed away, watching him from a distance. 

The pain of having the bone broken by falling didn’t even compare to having it crushed by a dragons maw. It was pain so bright it was all he could think about, all encompassing. If Bumblebee had eaten recently he would have thrown up. 

It felt like hours before he was able to compose himself, his breaths still came quick and panicked. He was still scared Starscream might come back to hurt him worse but the dragon never did. 

And now more than ever Bumblebee just wanted to believe Starscream was an animal, not someone cold and calculated who knew exactly what they were doing. But he could not deny it any longer. 

He wasn’t trapped with an animal, he was trapped with someone who was knowingly cruel. He thinks that is the worst of the two. 

Chapter Text

There was an awful itching on Starscream’s neck. He reached up and picked at the scales there. He was given an unpleasant surprise when they dropped right off and hit the floor with several clacks. There were new scales under them that had already grown in as their replacements. He shouldn’t be shedding scales right now, though.

He twisted his head to look and felt a sickening sense of dread when the scales that had replaced his previous pearly white ones were ebony black. It wasn’t a small cluster either; a dark blot on the rest of his frame. He ran his claws against them, pressed down on them, they were stronger than his other scales.

All dragons knew what growing black scales meant. Some liked to remain ignorant if the dragon that had them was particularly well-liked, but Starscream was not a well-liked dragon. His heart squeezed in his chest, he had made a mistake. 

He knew from experience black scales always appeared quickly. He didn’t think there would be anymore, there shouldn’t be- he was being careful!

He glanced around, feeling his nerves, the golden shivering form of the wyverian caught his eye.

He was fairly certain it was unconscious, blood still oozed from his bite and the scent of fear and pain hung thickly in the air. Starscream almost felt bad, but it was for the wyverian’s own good- who knows what Sunstorm could have done to it! The dragon was not very kind to those he deemed unimportant. 

Of course, the golden dragon may have seen his twisted version of importance in the wyverian, Starscream didn’t know. Didn’t particularly care. It wasn’t good either way.

Starscream growled in his frustration, the wyverian took a sharp breath and went still. It was awake then. He glanced at the black scales again. 

Starscream sighed, tilting his head up to stare at the ceiling. He wasn’t one to believe in folk tales- but he had been so careful! The black scales couldn’t come about the natural way- he had made sure of it. 

Anger still rippled under his skin, yet unease rose in his chest every time he looked at the cowering wyverian. Was that what he looked like when Megatron’s wrath turned on him? It had felt good to be so in control of someone of something , but it felt so bad to be the one who was powerless. 

The itching on his neck became slightly more annoying. Starscream gave the wyverian one last glance before standing and leaping from the cave entrance. It should be fine on its own for a few hours.  

Starscream snorted , well, now that it couldn’t go exploring

Another scale fell from his neck. 

–

The wind whipped past Starscream, it felt good to fly this fast again. He couldn’t when he last left Kaon to retrieve the wyverian, the speeds might have been damaging to it and it wouldn’t have looked good to just leave the cone-heads behind. Apparently if you’re leading a raid you have to lead them back too- who would have guessed? 

It wasn’t very long before the flats of Kaon fell behind him and greenery appeared once again. After a few days stuck without leaving the ravine this was paradise. Wildlife became more frequent the farther he traveled, even passing over a small human settlement. One of those mobile ones, usually hunters resided in them. 

He glided along, passing over forest and animals, the animals outside of Kaon tasted better too. The meat was less tough and ashy, he should bring one back. Later, he had time. There was a large open plain which he descended too. A light breeze washed over his frame, the sun shined warmly down on his scales. 

In Kaon the sun didn’t shine, always covered by ash and smoke, it was relief to be free of the toxic environment. One day he would never have to go back again. Starscream stretched, letting himself flop onto the ground. He had a few hours to burn might as well spend it relaxed. He yawned taking full advantage of the soft ground under him and not the normal rough scratchy ground of the cave.

He really should bring something back to make it more comfortable one day. He took in a deep breath, it cleared his mind, his aching lungs. He spread his wings and curled up. It was nice, comfortable. It would be great to be able to do this everyday. 

–

When his eyes peeled open again it was still daylight. He felt better, the anger was gone, the aches that had built up in his body were gone. He wobbled to his feet. Pausing to sniff the air, something was slightly off- he couldn’t tell what. He glanced around but nothing seemed out of place. 

No movement along the tree lines, nothing trying to sneak up on him- though there weren't many things that would be brave enough to do so. Were their animals nearby? He only needed to get enough for him and the wyverian. Skywarp and Thundercracker would be gone for another few days. 

He stretched, gave his wings a few experimental flaps then took flight. 

He rose high into the sky, higher than any animal would think to look. His white scales made him near invisible in the right lighting and no running animal was faster than him. Catching them would be easy, it was just finding them that could be the issue. Luck was on his side and it didn’t take too long, in some tall grass Starscream could see the form of bedded deer, too early in the day for them to be active.

He dipped down, aiming for their slumbering forms, balling up his claw into a fist and striking one at full speed. It would not get up. He swerved in the air, turning back around to get another, the deer had jumped to their feet and were scrambling to get away. Starscream stretched out his claws snatching a second and bringing it into the air. A bite to the neck stilled its writhing. 

Making sure he had a good grip on it, Starscream grabbed the other deer. Now to return to Kaon, …he wasn’t too pleased to be going back. 

The flight back was uneventful, once he got close to the ravine Starscream flew cautiously. The other dragons would leap at an opportunity to steal what he had caught. He had gone hungry many of times because another wanted what he had. Meat from outside of Kaon was especially prized, Starscream would be damned if he gave this up. 

None would dare to enter his cave, with a single exception in Sunstorm. Once he made it back he would be safe. He flew silently, listening for the wingbeats of other dragons, he heard some, but none were close. A few eyed him but didn’t draw near. Not yet. 

To his right- a flash of dark green, Starscream hissed.

Skyquake flew wingtip to wingtip with him, his mouth parted and steam rose from his nostrils. Starscream cursed, diving under a stream of fire and dipping into a part of the ravine that was too small for the larger seeker to follow. Starscream made haste returning to his cave. Checking his flank repeatedly but Skyquake never reappeared.

The wyverian was right where he left it, still curled up though this time he was certain it was awake. Maybe disturbed by Starscream’s re-entry.

He dropped the first deer, pulling a piece of it off and bathing it in flames. Like humans this wyverian liked its food cooked. 

It didn’t budge. Starscream dropped the other deer, turning to peer at it.

Couldn’t the thing understand this was for its own good? Being the subject of Sunstorm’s interest was not a good thing. Plus, the wyverian was a perfect target for almost any dragon in the ravine. It needed to stay put if it was going to survive and obviously it wasn’t capable of making that rational decision itself. 

He stalked forward and it winced, somehow curling into itself even more. Starscream reached forward, pulling at it and forcing it to uncurl so he could better look at it. It screwed its eyes shut and its breathing became rapid. Was one broken leg all it took for it to become this scared of him? Megatron had hurt him far worse and he wasn’t scared of him, most of the time.

What had he done that had made it seem less miserable before? Starscream lifted it into his claws, waddling awkwardly on his back feet to the pond and dropped it in. It broke the surface in a panic and flailed back to the edge, turning to glare at Starscream. 

Now it was angry, that was probably better than afraid, unless it started to plot to assassinate him. 

Starscream had been angry when he broke its leg, more angry than he had been in a while. He had spent a long time trying to obtain a wyverian; it felt like the moment he was looking for one they wouldn’t appear. He put all that work in for it to almost go and get itself killed. He hadn’t broken its leg to be malicious, now rethinking it with a clearer mind, it might not have been his wisest decision. 

If it was sapient, which he was getting a sinking feeling it was, it probably wasn’t going to listen to anything he had to say now. When they could speak. How exactly was he supposed to go about apologizing to someone he couldn’t say ‘sorry’ to, someone who he didn’t know much of anything about? If it was sapient he would need its cooperation eventually. It opened doors for so many big plans, getting it to tolerate him at the very least was a must. 

The wyverian had been raised with humans so it probably liked what humans liked. What did they like? Probably the things that they… decorated their dens with! But Starscream had never really paid any attention to things like that, there was no reason to. 

Well- maybe there was one thing…

There weren’t many in the ravine but there were a few and he certainly wouldn’t be fighting off any competition for them. He would only be gone for a few minutes.

–

Bumblebee wasn’t having a very good day, shockingly. His leg hadn’t stopped throbbing and every time he moved agony shot through his body. Starscream had blessedly left for several hours but once he returned he seemed determined to find some way to torment Bumblebee.

Pushing him around and pulling at his limbs, hurting his leg worse. To top it off, when he got no response the dragon dunked him into the water. Now Bumblebee was cold, wet, hurting, and miserable. He dragged himself away from the water and laid on the ground. He rolled on his back and stared bleakly at the ceiling, he wanted to go home. 

He was only allowed to sit in his misery for a few minutes before Starscream returned. He didn’t acknowledge the dragon. It stared at him then began nosing his face. Something tickled his nose, Bumblebee groaned, looking to see what it was. Starscream had a mouthful of weeds, the ends of which, if you squinted, looked like a flower.

Starscream put them down in front of Bumblebee, looking expectant. Confusion buried the anger and fear as he stared at the mangled plants in front of him. Obviously Starscream had not been too kind when retrieving them, but why even get them at all? The dragon provided no answers, it only watched silently.

Was it giving them to Bumblebee? But why? What was the point?

Was this some sort of… apology? 

A few weeds certainly didn’t make up for a broken leg,  it would imply that Starscream felt bad. He certainly didn’t feel bad while he was doing it, though. Bumblebee frowned. He reached for the weeds and Starscream leaned forward getting far too close. 

Seeing an opportunity, Bumblebee pulled his arm back and punched the dragon in the nose.

It made a shrill yelping noise and pulled back. It blinked several times and he could see the water forming in its eyes. It bared its teeth and it occurred to Bumblebee that punching the dragon wasn’t a great idea. 

Starscream stood, he seemed angry but just walked over to a deer laying in the cave. He must have left Kaon today. Starscream picked up a discarded chunk that had already been cooked, dropped it in front of Bumblebee and left, once again leaping from the cave.

He did not return and soon it became dark and Bumblebee could hear dragons slinking throughout the ravine. Starscream had never been gone during the night and Bumblebee was nervous, many of the dragons were more active now, what were the chances one would come in?

But none did.

Bumblebee picked at the deer meat, and then quickly ate what was cooked. It truly was a relief to finally eat something that didn’t taste like chewy ash. He sat for maybe another hour before he laid down, when he opened his eyes next it was bright out again. Or as bright as it got in Kaon. He didn’t feel well rested, exhaustion still sank bone deep. 

Starscream had still not returned.

Bumblebee hobbled to the pond, washed the remaining blood off himself, some remained stubbornly stuck even after Starscream dunked him in the water. The dragon had not come back, Bumblebee was beginning to get worried that the punch had been offensive enough that Starscream was going to leave him to die. 

Then he heard wings, but it was not Starscream. It was a more friendly, golden, face. Sunstorm peeked in and smiled once he saw Bumblebee, glancing at his injury. 

“I see Starscream wasn’t too pleased with out meeting… Well, he meant no harm.” He crawled into the cave that was far too small for a dragon his size. 

Bumblebee frowned, “I think he meant plenty of harm, actually.” 

Sunstorm looked annoyed at that comment, but it was quickly buried under another smile. Bumblebee felt uneasy again.

“He only did it to protect you, someone your size wandering these caverns is likely to be eaten. Starscream thinks I am a threat to you as well.” 

So Starscream maimed him with the goal of him not getting eaten? Bumblebee snorted.

“Are you a threat?”

Sunstorm just smiled. Bumblebee felt the hair on the back of his neck stand and chills on his spine.

“-Well! You said you wanted to learn to speak?”

Bumblebee jumped at the opportunity to change the subject.

–

Obviously the draconic language was very different than the human language. The sounds were mainly made of growling, clicks, and hisses. It was frustratingly hard to mimic, many sounded so similar he could hardly tell the difference. The sentence structure was also slightly different, it was just different enough to be incredibly inconvenient. 

Sunstorm was patient; he never became frustrated with Bumblebee’s mistakes. 

“Perhaps we should try and introduce you to Starscream? Give him your name?”

Bumblebee looked at his hands, “What’s he going to do once he realizes you’ve been here though? That I’ve been talking to you?”

“Me being here is hardly your fault, you chose to climb out of the cave that is why he injured you. You could not keep me out if you wanted to and he knows that, he will not do anything to you.” 

That was relieving. 

Sunstorm squinted at him, “Starscream is not certain you are sapient or not, most of our kind thinks of humans as animals and the wyverians that accompany them in a similar state of thought or lost causes.”

Bumblebee wanted to be angry but that was very similar to how he used to think of dragons. He remembered plenty of stories of wyverians that were captured after battle with dragons. They were always killed unless they were young, if they were too old they were considered feral and it would be inhumane to leave them alive. 

The twins had nearly been a similar case, he had been told. They were taken from a dragon nest at three and Ironhide fought to keep them alive despite many hunters wanting to just kill them. Sideswipe once confided to him he remembered being sang to but doubted it had happened at all now seeing that dragons were just animals. It made Bumblebee feel a bit sick to his stomach, their parents had been murdered but had it been for the greater good? 

“Couldn’t you just tell him I am?” 

“Starscream would not believe me, that is something you have to show to him yourself.”

Bumblebee sighed. 

“So how do I go about this?” 

–

Sunstorm bid his goodbyes then ducked out of the cave a few hours later, not leaving a single golden feather behind. 

It was shortly after Starscream returned with more plants. This time many of them might actually be flowers. He set them down in front of Bumblebee. The flowers were… nice- he had never seen any of them before, probably growing closer to Kaon. One thing he did recognize was a plant he often saw growing in almost all Autobot encampments.

It was a type of herb one of the main ingredient in potions, even on its own it helped with healing and numbed pain. Not to the extent of potions but it was still a strong remedy. He picked it from the other plants, Starscream just watched.

He pulled off its leaves, sticking them in his mouth and wincing at the bitter taste. Starscream chirped and Bumblebee thought he might actually recognize the word ‘good’, the rest of what he said was lost to him. It was encouraging that there was already some progress, although ‘good’ also sounded a lot like something unkind. Bumblebee knew because he had mispronounced and Sunstorm had laughed and laughed and laughed.

Starscream’s facial expression seemed annoyed, he was glaring at the flowers like they had personally wronged him. Bumblebee lifted them into his hands to inspect them. Most were a fiery red though a few were more purple, they were certainly fitting for Kaon.

They tingled with energy in his hands, it reminded him of the times he had held an elemental crystal. It was strange. He stroked one of their petals. Starscream shifted awkwardly. 

The herbs had begun to kick in now and in a marginally better mood Bumblebee had to question why Starscream was apologizing. Was he actually sorry? Or was this some sort of damage control? Sunstorm had said he had done it in some twisted way to protect him. 

Sunstorm implied Starscream was probably more upset with Bumblebee interacting with him than just exploring . Sunstorm was… admittedly weird- but he didn’t seem dangerous, most of the time. Though Bumblebee could admit he might be blindsided just because he finally had the opportunity to speak to someone. 

Who was in the right here? Starscream had hurt him but the dragon was keeping him alive, intentional or not he had brought him herbs. Sunstorm seemed nice but there was something underlying there, something nasty that worried Bumblebee. Maybe Starscream knew best here- but Bumblebee had no way to ask. 

Well- not yet.

Chapter Text

This was the first time Thundercracker and Skywarp had been sent on a mission with just the two of them. They were just supposed to scout- to figure out what all the recently spotted movement hunters were doing was.

Recent scouting had shown many hunters traveling in the same direction and it only took a few days of tracking a small group before they came upon the largest human settlement Thundercracker had ever seen. It had walls taller than the ones in the ravines of Kaon. He could tell from a distance they were thicker than he was long. 

It was still daylight, Thundercracker would get closer while Skywarp would stay behind. Once night fell Thundercracker would return and switch with his brother. 

He made sure to stay high in the sky, hopefully human eyes wouldn’t see him here.

Inside the walls there were hundreds of smaller human dens and one huge one in the center. There was an uncountable number of them swarming throughout the place, a concerning amount seemed to be armed and donning dragon scale armor. This must be some sort of spot where the hunters gathered.

There was a small portion of the place allocated to livestock and it was still the most animals Thundercracker had ever seen in one place. It smelled strongly of cooking meat and of the herbs hunters carried around. The large wooden structures the humans used to travel in large groups sat stationary at the edge of the settlement.

Despite being motionless humans still crawled about them. 

He folded his wings, letting himself drop several feet then spread them again. He was far closer than was safe- but curiosity got the better of him. Thundercracker and Skywarp were rarely permitted to leave Kaon, Starscream’s orders. Starscream himself left whenever he pleased.

Thundercracker peered down at the moving structures, one of them opened and hunters spilled out. A large group of them that screamed danger- more dangerous than any hunters he had encountered before. It made sense that strong hunters would appear here in a place filled with hundreds at the minimum. There were at least a few that would be skilled. 

It made Thundercracker nervous. If he got downed here he would surely die or get captured, no one knew what the hunters did with captured dragons- they were simply never seen again. Only a few had ever been rescued and that was before they had been whisked away, far from the initial battle.

There was a sudden shift in one of the hunters far far below, without warning its head tilted up and locked onto Thundercracker in an instant. His heart seized in his chest and for a moment he forgot to flap, falling a few short feet before regaining himself and shooting higher into the sky. Too high for any of their weapons to reach.

In an instant a loud booming noise roared through the city. The previously calm humans sprang into action, unarmed humans ducking into their dens and hunters swarming about like a disturbed ant nest. Thundercracker panicked himself as no less than a hundred angry eyes turned to him. 

He ascended higher, making sure to check around himself, almost fearful one of the hunters would sprout wings and come to confront him in the air. Technically it was entirely possible if there was a winged wyverian among them. 

A stray bolt flew at him but fell a bit short. He followed it to the ground with his eyes and watched as it pierced straight through the stone pathway it landed on. What would that have done to him if it had hit? Thundercracker flew a bit higher, glanced one last time at the place and disappeared among the clouds. 

He made sure to pick a roundabout way to return to Skywarp just in case. 

He had not expected to be spotted so quickly. A human had never seen him in the sky before- he blended in too well but this one had almost seemed to just know he was there. Skywarp would probably have more luck scouting at night when most humans were resting. 

It took him some time to locate his brother even though the terrain was flat for miles. By some stroke of luck Skywarp decided to pick a hidden spot in tall grass to land. Anywhere else and he would have been spotted within minutes. 

Thundercracker landed and dropped to his belly immediately. The grass was tall but not tall enough to conceal them if they were standing. Skywarp started to speak but Thundercracker silenced him, waiting and listening for the noise of approaching hunters. The two of them remained silent until the sun began to dip in the sky.

With no sign of approaching hunters and night beginning to fall Skywarp took to the air, taking his turn to scout. Once Skywarp was out of sight, Thundercracker laid his head down listening to the creatures of the night. He let his eyes close. 

It was peaceful here, no shrieking dragons or bubbling lava. 

There was shuffling next to him, confused he opened his eyes getting a glimpse of dark scales- Skywarp? Why had he teleported back?

He turned to fully look and it wasn’t Skywarp, Thundercracker sucked in a breath staring with wide eyes at the black and white armored human. Its eyes were covered but he could still see the relaxed smile on its face. 

-

Skywarp flew quickly. He couldn’t wait to see this place up close and personal. Even from a distance it was cool. Usually human dens were boring and wooden and small- the ones he had seen before had been. He wasn’t allowed to get close to more dangerous settlements yet but this wasn’t a battle, this was just scouting so it was mostly safe.

Safe enough for Starscream to okay it.

Skywarp crossed the giant wall, a few humans lined it along with many giant weapons. This place was obviously prepped for a raid against dragons, he couldn’t imagine any success in trying to raid this place if he was being honest. Nowadays everyone was too sick or hurt to go after heavily guarded or armored human dens.

Skywarp descended until he was just a few feet above the tops of the smaller dens within the walls. Not many humans were still roaming the streets, he had learned their eyes weren’t very good in the low light, not one spotted him fly past. He just had to be careful he didn’t flap his wings in earshot. 

After flying a few lazy circles and letting more humans disappear into their dens he landed on top of one that didn't even creak under his weight. The last time he had done this the den had collapsed. He crawled to the edge peeking over its side and looking into the glass part of the den. It let him see right inside, there were many objects he couldn’t identify. 

There weren’t any humans in this part of the den but he could see that there were pathways leading farther within. He lifted his head and looked around, no humans were close by so he jumped down onto the stone path that stretched throughout the place. His talons tapped against the stone with each step.

The first rows of dens all looked very similar, but as he crossed into a different section they became larger. One wasn’t closed off like the others and the entrance was large enough for Skywarp to fit inside. A bright glow came from within, interest piqued, he crept closer. He stuck his head inside, it was hot, the walls were lined with weapons and armor. 

Dragon scale armor and weapons decorated with teeth and talons. 

There were a few sleeping humans inside. They didn’t budge, so he let himself fully inside. There was lava in here, large hunks of metal and other materials sat about. He wondered if this was the building they made their equipment in? He nosed at a stray piece that he believed was to be worn on the head. 

It fell from its elevated spot and clanked on the floor. Skywarp froze, turning to look at the sleeping humans. They still seemed to be peacefully slumbering. He inspected it further, red scales adorned the helmet and small horns sat at the top. He sniffed it but the scent of the dragon had long been washed away.

Next to it there was a golden weapon, one end had a blade and another had what looked like insecticon wings at the end. It was covered with scales and had a few yellow gemstones lodged into it. Closer inspection showed they were not elemental stones- they were just there for decoration.

One of the humans behind him shifted, it might be waking up. Skywarp ducked back outside, checking behind him to make sure none had woken up and saw him. Once certain he hadn’t been spotted he ventured on.

The next interesting den he saw was covered with plants and Skywarp couldn’t help himself; he had to go look.

There were all kinds of plant life, most of which he had never seen before, there wasn’t much to be seen in Kaon. They were pretty, some with giant flowers and others with fruits of all kinds of colors. He popped a few different fruits into his mouth, one that was yellow and red tasted incredible. Skywarp had a few more. 

He nipped at its leaves, they tasted gross so he spit them out. 

Another flower smelled terrible and the closer he got the more it burned- he didn’t like it so he investigated another corner. One flower smelled like ash and fire, it was warm to the touch. Near its base there was a small elemental stone. He picked at it, trying to free it from where it was embedded. These were quite valuable, but it was stuck. He would have to shatter the entire vase to get it. 

That would make a lot of noise so he moved on. 

One of the next plants made his head fuzzy, it reminded him of the smell that always lingered on Swindle. He stuck his nose into it, his mind went foggy and he stumbled, dropping to his side. He stared up at the plant, it looked like a red cattail, he had seen these before. Starscream told him not to mess with them. 

His vision flickered, it felt like no time passed at all but when he came to again he was laying on his back, a giggle dying at the back of his throat. A little embarrassed, he quickly checked and made sure no humans had bared witness to it and fled this den as well. 

The one right next to it also smelled of plants but it smelled like a lot of other things as well. Most notably dragon blood. This one did have a closed entrance so he couldn’t just let himself in, he wasn’t sure he wanted to. The scent was strong and there was the blood of many different dragons. Did the hunters drain the blood of the dragons they killed?

Skywarp’s stomach twisted. 

There was a small gasp behind him and he whipped around to see a little wyverian. It was wearing white and red scaled armor, and had curly hair and horns. It almost looked like a sheep. In its arms was a basket of something that smelled sweet- honey? It wore armor so it must be with the hunters but it seemed so harmless- like the one Starscream brought back. 

He really wanted what was in its basket- he had only had honey once when Starscream had brought it back to the cave after a raid. It took some time to get to as humans stored it in glass containers but Skywarp was fairly certain he remembered how to open them without getting glass all in the contents. 

It shuddered when he got close, whimpering when he leaned down. He nearly snorted- he couldn’t kill it, the ruckus it would make would draw every hunter in this place right here. He plucked one of the honey containers from its basket, sitting back on his haunches so he could use his claws to pry at the top of the glass container. 

It stopped it’s shaking and whining to watch him. As long as it was being quiet and not drawing any attention it was fine. He pondered at the honey container for a time, he had to twist the top off of it right? After a bit of fumbling around with it the lid popped off and dropped to the ground. Skywarp couldn’t fit his snout into the container so he opted to just lick the contents out. 

Once it was clean he considered another jar, the wyverian tensed once again. Something whizzed past his face and Skywarp yelped. A human hunter with one of the ranged weapons was charging at him. He leapt forward, knocking the wyverian down- used to the little yellow one he went to set it back on its feet then remembered he had to be running from the now several hunters charging at him. 

It wasn’t until he was a few feet into the air he realized he still had the squirming wyverian in his claws. He turned to gape at it and it squeaked in terror. There was no place to set it down that wasn’t now covered with hunters yelling at him and if he dropped it from here it would die. Which was an option but he did owe it for the honey- well it probably wasn’t a gift he had stolen it but it had been quiet. He didn’t think it called the hunters over. Anyways it was kind of cute. 

Maybe Starscream wouldn’t mind having a second wyverian but Thundercracker would probably just say no. Also he didn’t want to face the consequences of bringing back a wyverian like Starscream had, apparently Megatron didn’t like the idea at all. He would just set it down outside the walls once he found Thundercracker and then they could leave.

It was making pretty pathetic noises in his claws, shaking and was it crying? He wasn’t sure if they could cry. It seemed pretty terrified, Skywarp wasn’t going to hurt it, if he was he would have already done so. Most of the flight back was silent other than its occasional sniffles, and then he heard a pained roar. Too loud to be anyone but Thundercracker.

Skywarp picked up the pace, scanning the ground for his brother and swiftly found him in a large area of flattened grass covered with a spray of blue blood. He was surrounded by three hunters who seemed relatively uninjured. Thundercracker was covered in cuts and was missing several scales, the glass on his chest had been shattered and the soft scales underneath were mostly exposed.

Skywarp roared- a furious sound and descended with a blaze of fire. The hunters shouted in alarm, but all managed to escape the inferno. They seemed skilled- far too much for him and Thundercracker to take on. He landed next to his brother, standing on his hind legs and holding the wyverian in his front paws. 

The hunters went quiet, taking a few steps back and all attention turned to him. They were squeaking quietly and the wyverian returned a few of its own. Thundercracker shuffled back and spread his wings, one was ripped to shreds- he couldn’t fly, that's why he hadn’t fled. Skywarp growled, the hunters squeaking ceased.

The wyverian in his claws shuddered. 

“Skywarp maybe you can-” Thundercracker took a few breaths that sounded concerningly wet, a dribble of blood fell from his mouth. “-set the wyverian down. I think they want it and you can get us out of here while they are distracted.”  

Skywarp nodded curtly, he took an unsteady step forward then slowly lowered the wyverian to its feet. As soon as it was free from his grasp it leapt away to the hunters, they all took a few steps back checking over the wyverian. It was all the two of them needed, Skywarp grabbed onto his brother, then thought of their cave, there was the familiar feeling of weightlessness followed closely by the loud vwop . 

The familiar sounds of Kaon greeted his ears, lava sizzling and a distant roar. 

–

Jazz held firmly onto First Aid’s shoulders. The young medic was trembling terribly, overwhelmed with panicked gasps. He stared at the spot where the two dragons had just been, purple particles floated through the air, beginning to fizzle away. 

Earlier in the day, Thundercracker had been spotted above Iacon. The first time a dragon had ever been spotted within a fifteen mile radius of the city. He had fled, Jazz had tracked him down with Mirage and Hound. It had been going well until Skywarp had appeared out of nowhere, with First Aid in his grasp. 

It had let him go but managed to get away with Thundercracker. It was fine, as long as First Aid was safe it didn’t matter if a dragon got away. 

It was concerning that they were bold enough to come near Iacon- not just near, Skywarp must have been inside the city if he was able to grab the medic. 

“Are you okay?”

First Aid, nodded- “Yeah- yes- I’m okay.” 

“You’re not hurt?”

“No- the dragon- it didn’t hurt me.” Jazz looked over his armor, sure enough there was barely even a scratch in the medics thin armor. Not near deep enough to even graze his skin. 

“It was in the city?” Mirage was still looking at where the dragons had been. His iridescent scales flickered.

“It was outside the med bay- I don’t know why it was there, it.. stole honey from me? Then I think it panicked once it was spotted and grabbed me.”

Stole honey? Jazz sighed- seemed Skywarp was a sweet tooth. Better than having an affinity for eating small wyverian medics he supposed. He eyed the messy scene, blue scales and feathers decorated the ground along with glass shards and large puddles of energon.

There had been few sightings of Thundercracker but it had always been noted the dragon was not aggressive, prone to flying above battles and just causing damage to buildings with his roars which he would then steal from. He felt a bit bad for attacking a dragon that was about as ‘friendly’ as a dragon could get but once scouts got away a raid was almost always guaranteed. 

They couldn’t afford to let it happen if it could be stopped.

Unfortunately, they were gone now- Jazz wondered if the dragons were bold enough to try and raid Iacon. They must have some ability of forethought of such things- to send out scouts and in some cases dragons that were perfectly suited to cause the most damage to an area appeared at raids. They weren’t stupid at the very least. 

He patted First Aid on the back. 

“You did well to not provoke em into hurting ya- let's get back to Iacon, we’ll send someone to gather this stuff up.”

No point in letting the scales and glass go to use. Scales always had purpose and seeker glass was rare to come by and incredibly valuable. Glass forged by dragon fire was the strongest and was quite beautiful. Seeker’s was the best of all however. 

Thundercracker didn’t seem like a full-blooded seeker, like Skywarp he was a bit stunted for the normally large dragons and feathered. Either way the materials were still good. 

First Aid was looking at the scene with sad eyes. He had always been soft hearted, deciding to become a medic when it became obvious he had no stomach for battle. He felt sympathy even for the dragons they were fighting. 

Jazz leaned down picking up a shard of amber colored glass, ensuring it was one not stained with any energon. He dropped into First Aid’s hand- who blinked up at him owlishly.

“Keep it, a souvenir for this trip outta Iacon.” 

Chapter Text

The wyverian no longer flinched when Starscream moved. It still seemed quite angry with him. Even having taken another shot at hitting him right in the sensitive part of his nose. This time Starscream saw it coming and narrowly avoided it. 

It was almost entertaining. 

His ‘gifts’ had obviously had some positive effect. He had remembered almost every time he had been to a human settlement the air had smelled strongly of all kinds of flowers. They decorated the human’s dens and occupied large fields. Though a small green plant which took some searching to find was the wyverian’s favorite.

It wasn’t particularly pretty compared to the other plants; it didn't even have any flowering buds. The wyverian liked to eat it, and based on the fact it was already starting to stand and limp around again he was certain it had some healing properties. As long as it understood not to leave again it was fine if it could walk. He just needed it alive. 

A bright flash of purple startled him from his thoughts.

Thundercracker fell to the floor and Skywarp hovered over him, feathers and horns raised in anger. Thundercracker had been torn apart. Bruises, and slashes covered his body, many of his scales were shattered and the glass on his chest had been mostly destroyed. One of his wings hung limply and the webbing between it was shredded. 

Starscream hissed, leaping forward to closer inspect his brother. He had been attacked by hunters- the fools were just supposed to be scouting! Thundercracker took a raspy breath and Starscream’s anger was replaced with anxiety, he was really hurt.

Thundercracker glanced at the wyverian- it would take a lot to fully heal him, and it was so recent that Starscream injured it… but it was just a risk that they would have to take. Thundercracker shakily rose to his feet, dragging himself over to the wyverian but fell a few feet short. It startled, but after a moment's hesitation offered an arm to him.

It smelled faintly of fear.

Thundercracker who had always managed to be gentle despite this place, barely nipped down on its extended limb. He hardly drew any blood but the effects were instant. The injuries covering his body smoothed over some of his scales even having a healthy sheen to them. However, the webbing of his shredded wing healed too tight, knitting itself together until it could no longer be unfurled.

Thundercracker hissed, twisting his head to look at the now somehow even further mangled wing. Starscream felt his heart sink in his chest, was there anything that could be done about that? 

Thundercracker got to his feet, making a weak attempt to stretch his wing but it remained firmly curled up. He glanced at Starscream- Starscream who had no answers. 

Skywarp snarled- puffing his feathers out. “What the frag was that? Did the wyverian do it?! M-maybe the hunters attacked TC because of him.” 

Starscream placed himself between the wyverian and his frantic brother. Smoke curled from Skywarp’s nostrils, but his body was lined with fear and stress.

“Skywarp calm yourself. Even you know healing can be tricky.” Reluctantly Skywarp took a step back, his feathers flattening against his back. He shuffled back over to Thundercracker, inspecting the wing. It was nothing he or Starscream could fix. 

“Let's go to Knockout.” 

Thundercracker’s wings sagged and he somehow managed to deflate further. Last time Starscream checked Thundercracker didn’t have any sort of qualms with Knockout- he wasn’t scared of seeing a medic, was he?

Starscream nearly snorted, then remembered his brother's condition and felt a little bad. 

The fly to Knockout’s cave wasn’t far at all- but the walk was covered with rough terrain and large spots of acid. Starscream looked outside the cave- listening. It was quiet and still. The activity in Kaon was almost never predictable. One day it could be bustling with dragons of all kinds then another it could almost seem uninhabited. 

It was good that it was quiet tonight. Low activity didn’t lessen worry about an attack but with less dragons around the chances of getting pushed into acid were low. There were also less eyes to see the new shiny black scales on his neck. They had become terribly uncomfortable as they had grown in the opposite direction they were supposed to and mutated into a different shape as any of his other scales. 

The desire to scratch and pull until they came off was strong- but pulling black scales only left more behind. He shuddered- taking a glance back at Skywarp and Thundercracker, neither had noticed them yet thankfully too distracted.

“We should go now, while it’s calm.” 

“Is it?” Thundercracker shuffled next to him, looking down into the ravine. He made a face and squirmed uncomfortably- he almost seemed to be resisting the urge to pick at his wing. Starscream grimaced, the limited light from outside gave him a better look at the wing, the webbing had healed together until it was taut but had also seemed to wrap around itself binding Thundercracker’s wing. Each movement pulled painfully at the deformed webbing.

There were a few pieces of webbing that wrapped around several times almost like a sort of rope. It made Starscream a bit ill to look at. 

With a sigh, Thundercracker began the careful process of navigating down from their cave. Starscream followed shortly behind and Skywarp behind him. By some miracle Thundercracker made it down without issue. Starscream glanced back up at the cave- the wyverian would stay, he hoped. 

Starscream took the lead, while Skywarp stayed behind. The chances of being attacked by another dragon were low but there were still plenty in the ravine that would. Some would for status, some out of hatred most likely for Starscream or Skywarp. Some others that had managed to escape banishment once the sickness truly set in still lurked. 

There was a reason to be vigil and they didn’t get far before Starscream felt eyes on him. A few curious heads peeked from their caves to watch, but swiftly retreated when they noticed Starscream’s glare.

Thundercracker hissed, expecting something dangerous Starscream looked around- then finally turned to see what he was looking at. He met Thundercracker’s eyes which not so subtly fell on the black scales on his neck- Skywarp’s shortly after. Starscream felt a nervous ache in his chest. Thundercracker started to speak but Starscream cut him off- “-Not here.”

Thundercracker’s lip curled up in a snarl but he kept quiet. 

Starscream turned, trying to ignore the glares burning into his back. The rest of the walk to Knockout’s was silent, a silence that rang loudly in his ears. Nearby a large river of acid split the ground- just across was Knockout’s cave- it was far too wide to jump across. There was a makeshift bridge not too far away.

He eyed the river warily- Starscream had learned the hard way that being under the acid did not restrict Megatron’s hearing in the slightest. 

The bridge was as unstable looking as ever; it was just a large rock column that had been pushed down so it crossed the river. It had been there for some time and had been eaten away at the bottom. It was only a matter of time until it crumbled under some dragon's weight and dunked them into the river below. 

Starscream made haste in getting across, waiting with bated breath for Thundercracker on the other side. Skywarp didn’t bother risking the bridge, instead gliding across- just high enough to avoid any spray from bursting bubbles. 

There wasn’t much noise even coming from Knockout's, a place that was usually full of dragons. There hadn’t been any raids in the last few weeks but there was usually at least infighting to keep it full. It was getting too quiet in Kaon.

Large leaves hung over the entrance of the cave giving some semblance of privacy. Starscream pushed them to the side, only Knockout was within, organizing different herbs. His head turned and a grin grew on the ruby dragon's face.

“Take another dunk in the acid, Starscream?” 

Starscream’s mood soured. “Not quite, doctor.” 

Thundercracker sulked in while Skywarp walked in with a stride. 

“Oh absolutely not- you wait outside!” Knockout bodily pushed Skywarp outside who laughed the whole way out. Starscream had not been made aware of anything that had gotten Skywarp on the banned list of the medbay. He would find out what that was about later.

Knockout huffed then squinted at Thundercracker, “What's wrong with you?” Thundercracker subtly motioned with his wing. Knockout sat back on his haunches, raising his front claws to carefully pry at it. Thundercracker winced with every little tug and pull. 

“How did this even happen?” 

“...uh wyverian’s blood.”

“Primus, did you eat the whole thing?” 

Thundercracker frowned, “...no.” 

“I’m going to have to cut all of this webbing and then it will have to heal again naturally- no more accelerants .” 

“Seriously?” Starscream growled. Knockout raised his claws placatingly.

“Well I certainly can’t leave it like this and no medicine is going to magically fix this.” Knockout walked back to the herbs picking out a handful of red and yellow buds and a few leaves dropping them in a stone bowl. He ground them together with a rock then offered the mashed mixture to Thundercracker who just groaned. 

“It will numb the pain some.” Thundercracker glared at the bowl like it was the one who had personally wronged him but with a resigned sigh started to pick at the mixture. 

“Err- Starscream.” He glanced at Knockout who was now standing at his side, he frowned.

“It was a mistake.”

“I think you should stop what you are doing- I would say we are friends, no? I wouldn’t like you to wound up dead and you are right on your way to it.” Starscream lightly brushed the darkened scales- they had taken the shape of thorns unlike his other teardrop shaped scales. 

“It won’t kill me.”

Knockout sighed but said nothing more. 

Thundercracker swallowed the last bit of the mixture, his face wrinkled in disgust. Knockout chuckled, “It couldn’t have been that bad.” 

Thundercracker suppressed a gag. 

Knockout pulled at Thundercracker’s wing- nearly getting himself bit as a result. “-Hey watch it!”

“That hurts.”  

“Obviously it will be a minute before this starts to go numb.”

“Then why are you messing with it!?!” 

Knockout rolled his eyes, “I have to figure out what I need to cut and what I don’t need to cut. Unless you want me to go in blind and rush to finish before the pain numbing wears off?” The color drained from Thundercracker’s face.

“That does not make me feel better.” 

“It wasn’t supposed to.” 

Knockout continued prying at the wing, although being noticeably more careful with it. Thundercracker’s hisses of pain subsided within a few minutes.

“Can you feel this?” Knockout tugged at a malformed piece of webbing. Thundercracker shook his head. 

Knockout rose and went to his assorted items taking something that looked suspiciously human made in his claws. He took the blade to Thundercracker’s wing and slowly began cutting away at the webbing. Thundercracker only watched for a second before he buried his head into his claws so he wouldn’t have to see.

It didn’t take long and by the end of it several strips of webbing laid out on the floor- Thundercracker’s wing was in shreds once again although a bit neater. It would heal but it would take time. A lot of time. 

Knockout moved the cut webbing strips out of sight. Thundercracker was already looking sickly enough without seeing it. 

“You doing alright Thundercracker?” He groaned.

“Well I’m all done you and Starscream can be on your way now- well you can take some of these for when it starts to hurt again.” Knockout dropped several of the red and yellow buds into a makeshift carrier. Starscream took it from him, nudging his moping trinemate. With a huff Thundercracker rose to his feet- inspecting his wing.

It could be unfurled now, but he wouldn’t be flying on it for at least several weeks. 

He didn’t say another word- leaving Knockout’s medbay with his tail dragging on the floor. Starscream started to follow-

“Starscream, remember what I said.” 

The leaves on the medbay’s entrance brushed over his back- tickling his wings. Skywarp was nowhere to be seen. Starscream knew his brother was far too impatient to just sit outside silently. 

Thundercracker was already half-way across the bridge, jumping the rest of the way when it shifted ominously. Starscream flew across, no longer needing to test the stability for Thundercracker.

The trip back was noticeably quicker, Thundercracker traveling at a trot and refusing to look back at Starscream. 

The climb back up to the cave was rougher on his brother than the climb down. Thundercracker scrambled for footholds and it took him several minutes before he was able to pull himself up and inside.

Starscream flew inside, immediately checking for the wyverian who was thankfully sitting in its usual corner. He went to hand Thundercracker the buds but his brother whirled on him in an instant. All pain and injuries seemingly forgotten, he wrestled Starscream to the ground and promptly sat on him while he picked at the black scales.

Starscream snarled.

“Where?” 

He shuffled, moving one of his front claws. He had recently embedded two small crystals between his scales there- it had been roughly a week before he got the wyverian. Yet it was still raw- but those couldn’t have caused the black scales, if they were going to appear from that they would have much earlier. 

Thundercracker glared at the two gemstones- plucking at one. Starscream yelped, they had already fused into his skin, there would be no removing them. Thundercracker stopped at Starscream’s cry- taking a few deep breaths.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Because I have to.”

“Why can’t you just give up, Star?”

Anger bloomed in Starscream’s chest. “Do you want to die here Thundercracker?” 

Thundercracker winced- letting Starscream up.

“No, I don’t but maybe if we just listen-” 

“What has listening ever done for me?” Thundercracker’s jaw snapped shut, he stared at Starscream for a long time before he ducked his head and walked to the end of the cave. He pulled himself up on one of the overhangs on the wall, curling up and tucking his head under his wings. 

Starscream dropped the buds under the overhang. The spot he would usually lie was a bit too close to his brother at the moment. He considered the wyverian who had silently watched the whole exchange. He ended up awkwardly sitting half-way between the both of them. 

Starscream looked down at the gems that decorated his body, a few dark blue on each of his feet, red on his chest. The centerpiece of it all was the light blue gem on his head- all the scales on his head had turned black the moment it had fused there. They made him feel powerful and gave him a fleeting hope that he would one day be able to best Megatron in a fight. 

As long as the drake lived they would be trapped here- the old brute far too stubborn to leave. Far too stubborn to acknowledge this place was what caused all their misery. Too stubborn to admit what truly lay here. 

But Starscream knew. 

-

Not long after Thundercracker and Starscream had returned from wherever they had gone, both of the dragons curled up and remained asleep for hours. Bumblebee wasn’t quite sure what had happened after he had offered his arm to Thundercracker. The healing had been far more accelerated than the last time and his wing had been horribly mangled afterwards- Bumblebee felt awful.

When they returned a trail of blood dripped from Thundercrackers wing- the webbing had been ripped up once again. It seemed very clean like it had been done intentionally and it likely had- Thundercracker didn’t seem to be in much pain either. He had always been told that dragon wings were incredibly delicate so it was strange. 

Not long after they went still Bumblebee investigated a small bag looking object Starscream had dropped near Thundercracker and inside were buds that Ratchet would sometimes give to numb pain if there were no other options. It was usually mixed into a medicine but sometimes they alone would have to suffice. They were terribly bitter. 

It seemed the dragons had discovered their properties as well. He wondered if they had a sort of doctor of their own.

Outside a gust of wind blew and Bumblebee flinched. A sort of unease was crawling up Bumblebee’s spine, it had been building for the last hour and he found himself unable to sleep.

Starscream and Thundercracker had had a sort of fight earlier and he noticed Starscream picking at the glowing gems that covered his body. Bumblebee for a time had thought them to be scales but they were not. They didn’t seem to be normal gems either- he let his hand hover over one of them and he could feel the energy radiating from it.

Starscream was embedding elemental gems into skin. Some hunters put elemental objects in their weapons for the boon it gave in battle. Optimus had a singular gemstone imbued into his switch axe; some of his attacks were laced with flames. It was incredible to watch Bumblebee had always hoped to one day be able to get one of  his own. 

But any sort of magical object was incredibly difficult to come by- how had Starscream found so many? A normal person couldn’t find half that many in a lifetime. Two of the gemstones on Starscream’s nearest claw were surrounded by pinkish skin and the scales surrounding them looked squished. 

Obviously Starscream didn’t put much care into putting them onto himself. Bumblebee knew Ratchet would have a fit if he heard about any prolonged contact with an elemental object- but putting one directly onto oneself? Bumblebee shuddered at the thought of the shouting that would come from that. 

The gems decorating Starscream were all different kinds. The ones on his claws looked like they might be of the wind element- the red around his chest fire and the one on his forehead ice. He wondered if Starscream could use all of those elements. He had only seen him breathe fire once and it hadn’t seemed any more spectacular than any other dragons. 

Starscream was abnormally fast; it was like the wind had no resistance when he flew. Maybe he was just… moving it out of the way. 

There was a small noise just outside the cave- barely audible. Bumblebee froze.

A quiet breath, a few tumbling rocks.

Something was wrong. No dragon except Sunstorm had dared enter Starscream’s cave and whoever this was- it was not Sunstorm. Bumblebee caught a glimpse of a muzzle just barely poking into the entrance.

Bumblebee slowly leaned forwards letting his hands rest on Starscream’s scales he shook the dragon whose eye slit open to glare at him. Then he tucked his head under his wing. He shook the dragon again who only growled in response.

Dammit! 

The other dragon was still outside the cave. Bumblebee could feel a gnawing sense of dread.

“...Starscream!”  

The dragon went deathly still under his hands. Slowly almost methodically Starscream picked up his head to stare at him.

Bumblebee motioned at the entrance- and then there was a flurry of flapping wings. Starscream shot to his feet, charging to the entrance and staring after the noise. It was still for a few long seconds- Starscream glaring silently after whatever it was, smoke rising from his nose and mouth. His chest rose and fell in sharp breaths; he too seemed nervous.

Then he took a step back and whirled onto Bumblebee. He backed up to the wall, the dragon standing tall over him.

“You…”

Chapter Text

Starscream glared out the entrance of the cave- the smell of sickness hung in the air. Their visitor had not been well and it seemed its presence had disturbed the wyverian. It was a good thing it had a sense for them, the sick were dangerous and Starscream needed to deal with it immediately.

But something else had his attention. 

He turned to the wyverian who winced. 

“You… can speak.” The shock of being awakened by his name being spoken in a soft non-draconic voice was slowly wearing off. But discovering who had spoken it renewed it all the same. 

The wyverian blinked up at him shifting awkwardly. 

“I… don’t understand?” It took several seconds to form the sentence and it was pronounced in such a way it took Starscream a minute to understand what it had said. It didn’t speak well which he supposed was to be expected- but it was still too good from just listening to them these past weeks. 

Someone had taught it and Starscream knew exactly who it was. He pulled away from it and glanced at the entrance. He was… confused. Sunstorm hadn’t been lying- and he didn’t like the implications of that. Sunstorm lied- Sunstorm always lied- but if he wasn’t what about all the other things? Was he telling the truth about all of that too? 

Starscream bit his tongue savoring the taste of blood.

Fragging Sunstorm.

Sunstorm could speak with the wyverian but it did not matter. Starscream refused to bow to that dragon in any way even if it was as simple as admitting he was right. But it was imperative now that he knew the wyverian could learn to speak that it did… but how? Starscream was no teacher.

“Primus dammit.”

The wyverian jumped- of course Sunstorm would teach it Primus. Starscream nearly laughed. Thundercracker stirred, peeking down from his perch.

“Starscream? Is everything alright?”

“Someone was sticking their nose into the cave. More importantly, the wyverian can speak.” Thundercracker jumped down from his perch, wincing when he landed. “Seriously?”

“Indeed. Courtesy of Sunstorm.” Starscream hissed. Thundercracker flinched- “Right…”

“It can’t speak well and I can’t teach it.” Thundercracker sat next to Starscream with a hum.

“You could put it with the hatchlings, some of them are still learning to speak too and most of the more problematic dragons aren’t allowed over there.”

That wasn’t a terrible idea. Starscream had to go find that sick dragon immediately and deal with them. He was getting more nervous leaving the wyverian alone in the cave, sure Thundercracker would be here but his trinemate was currently crippled. It seemed more and more dragons were getting bold enough to let themselves inside which was frustrating. 

Leaving the wyverian with the hatchlings would work while he was away. He just had to convince the dragons watching over the hatchlings to allow it. Starscream’s ranking didn’t matter there, whatever the hatchling-sitters said was law. Anything they perceived as a threat was not allowed near the hatchlings including other dragons.

A wyverian that used to be a hunter? The odds were low… it all depended on who was on sitter-duty. 

Starscream picked up the wyverian, who only sighed, then he jumped from the cave. 

Last time he had brought the wyverian near the hatchlings he had gotten an earful for it later- but it was because the wyverian had found a lost hatchling. That might give him some leverage? 

The flight was short, he glanced down at who was watching over the pit. Starscream winced, only one. 

Soundwave. 

His relationship with Soundwave was not… bad he just didn’t interact with the wyverian ever. He was fiercely loyal to Megatron and probably wasn’t too fond of Starscream’s attempts to overthrow their leader. Yet more than once Soundwave had saved him from Megatron’s wrath. Soundwave was also fond of other wyverians- maybe- maybe this could work.

He landed a few feet away from Soundwave’s head, lowering his own in respect. Technically he outranked him but undoubtedly all other dragons respected Soundwave more, much to Starscream’s chagrin. Soundwave turned eerily slow to look at him, the wyverian in his claws went tense. 

Starscream lowered him to the ground. 

Soundwave quickly glanced down at the wyverian then back up, “Starscream.”

“Soundwave… I want to request to leave this wyverian here. It is harmless to the hatchlings.” 

Uncoiling his serpentine body, Soundwave leaned forward and tilted his head at the smaller wyverian. Soundwave’s head alone must have been twice its size, it tried to duck behind Starscream’s legs. 

“This is the one you risked Megatron’s wrath for?” 

Starscream nodded, trying to subtly glimpse behind one of Soundwave’s legs, there had been movement there- did he have a cassette with him? That made Starscream nervous, Frenzy and Rumble in particular could be incredibly destructive. Ratbat was far too young to be of any harm, Ravage, Laserbeak, and Buzzsaw usually minded their own business. 

Even they might try to mess with his wyverian though. 

“It’s learning to speak. I believe interacting with the hatchlings may be of some benefit.” 

Soundwave studied his face for a long time- it was a bold claim to make- that a human raised wyverian could be introduced into an actual society. But after some hesitation Soundwave stepped forward and picked the wyverian up and after a short inspection put it along with the hatchlings. 

Starscream was lucky Soundwave had a soft spot for his fellow wyverians; with anyone else that likely would not have worked. 

“Thank you.” And Starscream actually meant it- Sunstorm was not allowed near the hatchlings for his problematic tendencies to convince young dragons he was to be worshiped’. Which also meant he would not be near the wyverian any longer. Starscream could finally not have to constantly worry over it. 

He ducked his head to Soundwave one last time- and jumped into the air, intending to get on the trail of the wandering sick dragon as quickly as possible. 

Starscream returned to his cave, picking up its scent. There were small purple droplets scattered about that it had left behind. Following them was easier said than done as its movement was erratic and it seemed to have retraced its own steps several times. He flew in more than one circle trying to figure out the direction it had gone. 

A sharp panicked roar echoed throughout the ravine; it was cut short. Starscream followed the noise and frowned at what he came upon. A dead vehicon lay torn apart, its face left frozen in a snarl. Next to it was a bird wyvern, purple liquid oozed from its snout and eyes. 

He landed a few feet short of it.The bird wyvern wasted no time, charging forward with a raspy shriek. Starscream side-stepped its sloppy attack, it slipped and rolled but found its feet again in moments. This time it stopped, turning its head to the side to better look at him.

Starscream was a bit larger than the bird wyvern. While neither of them were particularly built for combat on the ground, Starscream was much more capable, of that he was certain. 

It hissed and growled, making unintelligible noises and snapping at the air. Spittle flew from its mouth- Starscream made sure to stay clear, he wanted to come into as little contact with it as possible. The issue with the sick was fighting them and coming out of it well. 

A glow built in its chest and Starscream dove out of the way, purple fire spewed from its mouth. 

He couldn’t risk getting hit with that either and he definitely didn’t want to bite the thing. Starscream picked up a large rock and stood uneasily on his back legs. The bird wyvern stared for a few long seconds then against better judgment, ran straight for him. 

Starscream pulled his arm back and struck it across the head with the rock. It dropped to the ground and he wasted no time in pinning it down. He lifted the rock back into the air and slammed it into the bird wyvern’s head. Broken scales and teeth flew across the ground each time he bashed the rock into its head. Its writhing slowed and then stopped.

Right when he was certain it was dead he was lashed across the side with its tail, lined with sharp scales that tore right through Starscream’s own. He hissed, jumping away to make some distance. The bird wyvern stumbled to its feet, shook its head, whimpered, then jumped into the air. For a second he was certain it would crash back to the ground but it made it into the sky and flew straight out of the ravine.

Starscream groaned- there was a good chance it would turn around and come right back if he didn’t finish it off. He stretched his wings and took off after it. 

–

Bumblebee was very confused as to what exactly was going on. Starscream had asked him… something. Bumblebee hadn’t understood any of it except the word ‘you’. He had expected the dragon to be furious given Starscream’s prior temperament but he only spoke to Thundercracker before flying off with Bumblebee in tow. 

He recognized where they were- this is where Starscream brought him that time he found the aerial, but the pit the hatchlings had been in looked empty now. Curled around the top there was a dragon or wyverian so large Bumblebee could not see all of its body. When he saw its face- he knew them, a wyverian. 

It had a clear scale covering its face and was a bluish purple in coloration… A long serpentine body- this was Soundwave. He had heard of him from Jazz, the two had encountered each other more than once. This wyverian seemed to have an odd connection with the smaller wyverians sometimes spotted with the dragons and nowadays it was a better idea to just ignore them than actually engage in combat.

To injure, capture, or Primus forbid kill one of those wyverians would incite a fury from Soundwave so great it couldn’t make it worth it. The wyverians were usually harmless, only Ravage ever attacked and that was a rare occurrence so most hunters were fine to abide by this rule. 

Starscream set him down, Soundwave craned his neck to look down at him. 

He was huge, and unlike the wyverians he protected he was far from harmless. Bumblebee scooted behind Starscream’s legs- the two mostly ignored him hissing and chirping at each other. Then Starscream backed away and Bumblebee panicked as Soundwave reached for him. He was dropped into the empty pit and Starscream… flew away. 

Soundwave looked down at him then his head disappeared from his view over the top of the pit. The coils of his body could still barely be seen. Had Starscream decided to get rid of him because he could barely speak?! Now Bumblebee wasn’t particularly fond of the dragon but the thought enraged him all the same. 

There was a bit of movement to his left. Stalagmites covered the ground like most of the ravine and he swore something just ducked behind one. A tiny feathered head poked out to look at him. An aerial- but a different one than he had seen before. While it had a similar white and red color scheme on most of its body, golden feathers covered its feet.

A second feathered head appeared and then a third- this one he recognized. The aerial remembered him too, its face brightened and it jumped over the other two running up to his legs. It chirped and clicked at him, flapping its tiny wings. Then it turned back to the other two with just as much enthusiasm. The second aerial to appear ran forward and growled at Bumblebee.

It was swatted at by the third aerial, Bumblebee laughed. It frowned up at him then bit onto his leg, its tiny teeth didn’t even pierce his armor. The first aerial which had yet to come over was snapping and near shrieking at the other two, it was afraid of him. 

The third aerial ignored its sibling and jumped into his lap, spread its wings and began squawking loudly. The first aerial stopped its panicked clicking to glare at the third. He felt a bit bad about referring to them as numbers but it seemed the most convenient, one the most skittish, two the most aggressive, and three the most friendly. 

Until he could actually get their names it worked well enough. Until he noticed the other six hatchlings. Five grounder dragons in a variety of colors but a similar enough shape he knew they must be related- was this a young gestalt? Constructicon dragons could be hard to recognize if they were not combined but they always had a similar look to them- or so he’d been told. 

The sixth was a dull gray with mangled wings that looked more like legs with a little bit of webbing attaching them to the armpit. It looked like a vehicon but neither a wyvern nor drake some weird cross between the two. Maybe it was. Unlike the aerials they did not come close- they watched him with wary eyes but when he made no move to approach them, they ignored his presence entirely. 

It took some coaxing but One eventually came closer sitting just out of arm’s reach while it seemingly argued with Two and Three. Bumblebee recognized a few stray words but keeping up with the conversation was near impossible.

He sighed, running his hands over Three’s downy feathers. Underneath them he could feel stubble- like scales beginning to grow. Right around Three’s feet there were a few missing feathers and he could see already grown scales there. One and Two looked similar- mostly covered in fluff but with a few patches of scales around their feet.

They were a trio- like seekers. Aerials had only ever been seen as hatchlings and seekers as adults. Oh. Aerials, were they hatchling seekers? Starscream, Skywarp, and Thundercracker still had feathers in a few places- they must be younger seekers then, it would explain why they had all only been seen for the first time recently. 

It didn’t explain Sunstorm- but Sunstorm didn’t have a trine either. He could be an abnormality. Physically, not just in the head. 

Three bit his finger- he glanced down. All of the aerials were looking up at him with expectant eyes. Two chirped something with a scoff, Three growled.

“You… are?” 

Were they asking for his name? Sunstorm had taught him how to say it; he had not gotten a chance to introduce himself to Starscream earlier…

Three repeated himself looking a bit frustrated.

“ I am- Bumblebee.” Three turned to the others with a mocking laugh saying something that Bumblebee knew must be an insult by his tone of voice. 

A few pebbles dropped to the ground next to him- he looked up at the top of the pit. Soundwave had not moved but there was something smaller he barely caught a glimpse of, a slender black and red tail... What was watching him? 

Chapter Text

Autobot high command had all been called to Iacon for a meeting. A dead insecticon with a disgusting ailment had been discovered and since then two more dragons with a similar sickness appeared. They drooled a purple substance and seemed unnaturally strong, uncaring of all the injuries they sustained. 

The dragon's bodies had decayed unnaturally fast, a visible vapor rose from the corpses being black and purple in coloration. The air around them tingled like it was elementally charged but unlike any element any of them had felt before. It was plausible the sickness could be caused by magic- a burst of energy from absorbing too much of it and eventually succumbing as their bodies could no longer handle it.

It would be more plausible if it had just been one of them. Yet there were several in a short period of time, something must be causing this near where the dragons nested. Somewhere in Kaon? 

The chances there would be more of these dragons was high and based on the accounts from all the hunters that had encountered them it was reason to be concerned. The three dragons that had appeared had all been weaker species- a small insecticon, a bird wyvern, and a vehicon yet all accounts said they were near unstoppable forces. 

If a larger dragon were to become sick a much more experienced hunter would be required just to repel the beast. There was some hope they might have time to prepare as the larger dragons were probably less susceptible to the sickness. The other dragons were already dying when they fought. The best bet for larger dragons would be to force them away and let the sickness finish them off.

All of high command was antsy, waiting for a chance to encounter one of these sick for themselves, each waiting for a report of something strange. Something finally fell upon Jazz’s desk… but it wasn’t a report of a sick dragon.

“Poachers?” Prowl frowned.

“Disguised as traveling merchants- apparently they’re not too picky about what they’re after either, dragons… or wyverians. Local townsfolk was murdered because he had a few too many scales.” 

Jazz continued- “Not only that, several dragons have been spotted in the area recently, probably what drew in the poachers. They haven’t gotten any as of this report-”

“This sounds like something more suited for someone lower in the ranks.”

“-one of them is a mostly white seeker with an obsidian black head.” 

Prowl snapped his mouth shut and turned to stare at Jazz. There was only one dragon who matched that description. Starscream was elusive- so much so that his existence was only confirmed when Arcee spotted him - the day he took Bumblebee. A personal hatred for the dragon ran through the rankings.

Jazz knew it was not a wise thing, many had lost their lives looking for a dragon who had wronged them. High command was almost always busy with something but many of them would make time to personally investigate such a thing. Most of high command were needed here but Jazz and Prowl could surely sneak away for a week or two.

“There’s an airship leaving for an adjacent village tonight- we can get rid of those poachers and maybe get a lead on Starscream?” 

–

It wasn’t very responsible to go running off on a mission without telling anyone else but Jazz had never restricted himself to such rules. Prowl had stressed about it but even a glimpse of the seeker made it worth it. Everyone had been searching for something while trying to not cause panic. 

Searching for a certain dragon always caused terror as civilians assumed the worst so such things had to be done discreetly. It also meant getting any sort of evidence was extremely difficult. The fact someone had decided to put a description of the dragon they had seen was a blessing. 

The airship creaked ominously- it wasn’t anything like the Ark only being a fourth of the size and seemed to barely be held together. Flying had never made Jazz nervous but each rumble and whine from within made him wince. He really hoped there were no storms on their course. 

The trip was approximately two days on the airship and once they landed probably another two day trek to the adjacent village they actually needed to get to. Jazz had some time to blow while on this ship, he glanced at his hunting horn sitting a few feet away. He wondered if this ship had a training area. 

-

Several younger hunters had been thrilled by the idea of sparring with a high rank officer. Now Jazz alone stood surrounded by around a dozen groaning low ranks. He grinned down at them- “Anyone up for another round?” One quietly slipped out of the room. 

Jazz kept his relaxed face on but concern settled deep in his bones. Of course these were just new recruits probably only being qualified to begin hunts a month or so ago. They might have even been in Bee’s class. The thought made his heart ache. They were woefully unprepared- like Bee had been. 

Some investigation found the reason this ship was heading to the village was because of a report of a small murder of vehicons. This many hunters, low ranking as they were, could take on a few vehicons, easily, but what were the chances one of them would still die? According to Prowl, it was concerningly high- but it was just a risk of joining the Autobots. 

Frequent encounters with dragons either led with one improving or dead and some were just not cut out for it. It was an impossible situation- the Autobot’s had to operate for the safety of the people living on the frontier but many more would die protecting civilians. 

He sighed looking back down at the new recruits. Training really should last longer and be more rigorous but the demand for more hunters was too great they had to be out in the field as quickly as possible. Which might be part of the reason they always needed more hunters. 

Jazz bid the hunters good-bye and headed to the room he and Prowl had claimed, space was tight in the ship so unfortunately they had to share a room. Jazz didn’t mind, technically it was against protocol when on a mission but what could you do if there were no other open rooms? 

Prowl unsurprisingly had not left the room since they had first entered, the wyverian being adverse to any sort of socializing. 

Jazz sat on their bed- letting Prowl keep the desk to himself. Admittedly he was beginning to feel some guilt for leaving without telling Optimus especially since he was trying to find Starscream. They had all been close to Bumblebee but Optimus was basically the kid’s parent. 

But he didn’t want Optimus to go out on path of revenge either, Jazz didn’t think he would without a lead but given the opportunity? It was best not to take the risk. It wasn’t like the chances of running into Starscream were all that high either- he had only been spotted twice in the area which was only one more time than anywhere else he had been seen. 

Still- it was selfish.

He leaned back, staring up at the ceiling and listening to the creaks the echoed throughout the airship

The following day wasn’t very interesting- Jazz did more training with the low ranks and then studied the quest sheet he had been given, got bored then annoyed Prowl for the rest of the day.

-

Just as night fell the ship landed. He bid goodbye to the other hunters as Prowl insisted on leaving immediately instead of staying the night at the local inn. The night was loud with all sorts of animals. Which meant no dragons were nearby. 

The lights of the town slowly disappeared the further they went- the voices of people were drowned out by the chirps of insects and the distant cries of wildlife. For some it was ominous, for him it was relaxing. 

Jazz didn’t have as good of eyesight as Prowl- especially during the night so after the third time he tripped. Prowl turned around, grabbed his hand and led him forward. It mostly worked. He didn't fall all the way down again, just stumbled. Each time laughing at the sigh it elicited from Prowl. 

“Do you think we will actually find him?”

“Starscream? I… don’t know. The sightings were recent but he’s as unpredictable as a wild turbofox.” It really was their best bet but their best wasn’t very good. At the very least maybe they could find what drew him out and replicate it. 

They mostly walked in silence after. Dawn was only an hour away when the forest went quiet. Without a moment's hesitation they dropped to their knees, finding cover in some bushes. Distant wing beats passed by then faded silently into the night. The forest animals came back to life and Prowl and Jazz walked on.

If they walked through the day they could make it to the village right at nightfall, sleep, and then begin their search. The sun rose into the sky and they picked up the pace, with Jazz finally being able to see his feet in front of him. 

The trees grew larger the closer to the village they got and plants curled high into the sky. It made sense why dragons frequented this place- they seemed to be drawn to the most extreme and largest biomes. Maybe because of the prey that inhabited it or some other reason that they weren’t aware of. 

When night fell and they finally arrived he saw why airships didn’t come directly to this village. The village was nestled between the giant trees and was surrounded by more of them for miles. There was no place to land anywhere nearby. All of the very few clearings were too small even for the smallest of airships.

Most townsfolk were incredibly pleased at their arrival. Distraught by the loss of an innocent life to cruel poachers. A few watched them with suspicious eyes- most poachers did start off as Autobots so the distrust was warranted, but unfortunate. The inn-keeper let them stay for free as long as they were successful in dealing with the poachers. 

Jazz had no doubt they would track them down in a few short hours tomorrow.

–

They rose with the sun and struck out immediately. They were led to the sight of the wyverians murder by a group of townsfolk who left them to do their work. A bit of blood still stained the area. 

Jazz unscrewed the cap of the jar on his hip. The scoutflies inside came out in a swarm then landed on the scattered droplets of blood. They flew in circles testing out different paths before all of them ended up on the same trail.

Jazz and Prowl followed, the scoutflies were effective at their job only taking a few breaks to relocate the trail. But the murder had been days ago. It could be awhile before they found their targets. The poachers followed a path just large enough for an equinoid wagon to get past. It seems like they had a much larger group than previously thought if they needed one to carry all their supplies and loot. 

The trees cast a dark shadow here and it made the small white scale on the ground all the more obvious. Jazz crouched down, taking it into his hand. The scoutflies swarmed around the scale for a few seconds and then began searching the area. A few landed on the ground and others whisked around as they searched for a new trail and within a few minutes they had it. 

Prowl and Jazz tailed silently as the insects led them to a clearing. There was disturbed shrubbery and claw marks in the ground but no dragon in sight. The poachers seemed to have passed by after the dragon. Traps were laid about the ground and the chances they would revisit this place was high. 

They could sit and wait for them but who knows how often this particular group checked their traps. A small patch cleared of any grass had more white scales scattered about and even a single black scale. Black and white scales- could it be? 

It seemed like whatever dragon it was had been here several times as the ground looked worn. Starscream had only been sighted twice here but maybe he came by more often than previously thought. Maybe this was his hunting grounds- the dragons had to eat too. They didn’t raid villages often enough for it to be their only food source.

The previously green flash files turned blue. They circled above the single black scale. Jazz had only seen flash flies turn blue once before. 

Jazz and Prowl met eyes- it was not wise to jump to conclusions… but…

Then the flash flies were distracted again, leaving the scale and moving from the clearing. Jazz scooped the scale up before following them, it would have to go to the research commission. 

The flash flies seemed to have picked up a strong scent no longer having to take any breaks to reorient themselves. 

It was only a few minutes of trekking through the foliage before they came across a dead dragon. It looked like a small wyvern- not yet fully grown. It had no scales as they had all been removed, its horns, teeth and claws were also gone. Jazz grimaced. The corpse was already beginning to decay. The kill must have been a few days ago. 

The scoutflies danced around it then picked a direction and were off once again. This time the foliage was more thick, he could see where the poachers had to hack through it to get the wagon past. The vines and bushes had already begun to grow back and made navigating it frustrating. 

They tripped and stumbled through the brush to an abandoned makeshift campsite. A few trees and other shrubbery had been cut away to make just enough room for a spot to stop. This seemed much more recent; they must have stayed here for a few days. The scoutflies decided to take a break to scavenge the poachers leftover food but with some bribery with fruits they continued their search. 

This path was much clearer with the plants not yet having time to grow back, tracks were even still visible in the dirt. The scoutflies began to get skittish the farther they walked, occasionally flashing red and attempting to retreat before regaining confidence and tracking their prey again. Scoutflies were not afraid of people, poachers or not- they did not know the difference but a nearby dragon would send them into a retreat. 

Through the cracks in the canopy he could see smoke rising into the sky. 

The scoutflies finally lost their nerve and all darted back into their jar shining a bright red. Jazz screwed the cap back on. He and Prowl fell into a crouch, the dragon must be close but there were no sounds of a battle. After climbing through a thick patch of vines he could just barely see the smoking remains of a wagon. A few equinoids lay dead and armored people around them.

Seems a dragon got to them first and it was still nearby. 

He slowly pushed away the remaining brush and walked up to the dead. It seemed there were no survivors not at first glance. But quiet shuffling caught his attention. It was coming from the wagon- while mostly burnt there was still space inside…

Creeping over to it, Jazz looked inside. Two wyverians were tucked in the corner, bindings were wrapped around their mouths, arms, and feet. Their tails were wrapped painfully around their legs binded in place with more rope. They couldn’t be older than thirteen. He cursed, ducking inside, they both flinched curling into themselves. He crouched down on one knee-

“Jazz what are you doing?!” Prowl was whispering through his teeth, he was standing just out of view- he couldn’t see the wyverians but he saw something Jazz couldn’t. There was a hole burned in the side of the wagon. Jazz inched forward and looked out of it. Standing just a few feet away stood an injured and sickly looking bird wyvern staring right at where Prowl was. 

Smoke was rising from its nostrils and fresh wounds still leaked blood. It must have been the one that did this. It inched forward, closer to the wagon. Jazz turned back to the two wyverians. 

He reached out- “I’m not gonna hurt ya’ we need to get you both outta here.” They glanced at each other but remained flat against the wall. The bird wyvern inched forward with a hiss.

“Jazz- what the frag?” 

“Please come on you two- it’s not safe.” The wyvern roared, both of them winced. Finally, one reached for him Jazz grabbed onto their bindings and then onto the seconds. Loud footsteps came from outside, Jazz jumped out of the wagon pulling the two wyverians with him. They yelped, all three of them landing in a heap on the ground. Behind them the wagon burst into flames, the raging bird wyvern having charged into it- fire spewing from its maw. 

The wyverians shuddered, Prowl’s eyes widened; this really was not good. They needed to defend these two from an unpredictable sick and injured dragon. Jazz pulled them further away, the bird wyvern still distracted in the rubble of the wagon. He brought them over to the thick foliage and cut the ropes binding their feet and hands. 

“Hide.”  

They didn’t need to be told twice, diving further into the brush. With their backs turned Jazz could see more bindings wrapped around their backs, pinning down large wings. Big enough to fly? Wyverians with wings large enough to fly were nearly unheard of- but now wasn’t the time to worry about that. 

The bird wyvern was glaring at them now. Jazz could finally get a good look at it. It must be one of the sick others hunters had encountered- there was no doubt. Bird wyverns weren’t very strong, to take out a group this large while already injured was an incredible feat. The fact it was still standing was bizarre on its own. 

All the horns on the right side of its head had been broken off and many of its teeth were missing. It looked like blunt force- a hunter with a hammer? There were more recent injuries from the poachers scattered about its body. It barely seemed aware of them, most dragons would flee with injuries like this. 

The bird wyvern shrieked, it reared back like it was going to charge then it stopped. Tilting its head towards the sky. A loud whistling almost like a scream filled the air. Something flashed through the sky, flying so fast he could barely see it. The bird wyvern twisted its head to try and follow it then whatever it was dove down and flew straight into it.

There was an awful crunch of breaking bones and the bird wyvern was sent sprawling several meters away. The dragon in the sky made a wide arc then landed. Starscream hit the ground almost silently, he stalked forward eyeing the bird wyvern as it stumbled back to its feet. 

Starscream pulled an axe from the hands of a dead poacher. 

He rose on his two back feet then swung the weapon down on the bird wyverns head when it ran for him. It squawked once more then fell dead. 

Starscream whipped around to stare at them next, falling back onto four legs.

Jazz hands itched to grab his hunting horn but initiating a possibly avoidable fight while those wyverians were here was a terrible idea. He couldn’t let his desire for revenge get those two killed. It all depended on Starscream, if he attacked first. 

He watched them with narrowed eyes, but when they did nothing he began to sniff around. Picking at the dead poachers, almost like he was looking for something. He picked up their weapons, inspected them and then dropped them- it was a behavior he had never seen from a dragon before. 

He had never seen a dragon pick up a hunter’s weapon and use it either- Starscream displayed a unique intelligence. Dexterity with his front claws and good balance on his back feet. He used his body as a battering ram, first picking up speed in the air then striking his foe. Were a human to be hit with as much force as the bird wyvern was they would be killed instantly. 

Starscream picked up the weapon from the next dead poacher- a glaive. This time he didn’t throw it back down, he studied it intently- flipped it around in his claws. He gave Jazz and Prowl one last glance then jumped into the air and swiftly disappeared among the clouds. 

Jazz clenched his fist then exhaled, calming his nerves- he couldn’t be angry. Not now- he had scared possibly injured wyverians to attend to. He turned to where they had disappeared to and could just barely see their figures among the leaves. 

“You two can come out now- it's safe.” The scoutflies had turned green once again. 

They shuffled forward, keeping their heads ducked down. Jazz felt an ache in his chest as he looked at the state they were in. Their wrists were red from how tight the bindings had been and the tips of their fingers were purple, the blood supply having been cut off. He still needed to get the bindings off their snouts and wings. He held out a hand and they inched forward.

He cut off the bindings on their mouths first then their wings. He thought they would stretch their wings but they instead fell limp dragging on the ground behind them- that was not good. 

They seemed more comfortable after having seen Prowl, another wyverian. Prowl might know more about those wings too- Prowl couldn’t fly with his own but he still had them. 

“Can you lift your wings?” One shook their head- the other tried- their wings lifting just above their hip before dropping to the ground again. They shrugged. 

“What's your names?” 

The smaller one- covered mostly with red scales, the one that had managed to lift his wings spoke first, standing a bit taller finding some confidence with his voice- “I-I’m Slingshot!” 

The second wyverian had red scales but most were dark gray- he shifted uneasily and spoke in a whisper. “Skydive.” 

Jazz smiled at them, then glanced at Prowl.

“What’re we going to do about those wings?” Their wings were dragging on the ground it would be difficult to walk at best, painful and near impossible at worst. 

“We need to tie them back up, not tight- just enough so they are held up and are not on the ground.” The wyverians flinched.

Jazz nodded, “We’ll be careful if it's uncomfortable we’ll figure something else out, yeah?” 

They nodded, but Skydive’s lip was quivering and Slingshot’s eyes had begun to water. With careful hands Jazz lifted Skyive’s wings up while Prowl lifted Slingshots. He wrapped the ropes back around them, tying it as loose as possible. He made sure the ropes were on a different part of the wings so it wouldn’t be rubbing into the open sores left by them previously. 

“Is this okay?” Skydive took a few deep breaths that were wet, he was verging on tears but he nodded, Slingshot said nothing. 

“D’ya have any family we can get you too?” This time Skydive did cry, he didn’t speak, only shaking his head. Jazz had a feeling the lack of family was a recent development so he did not pry. 

He offered a hand which was taken, Prowl doing the same. The wyverians walked part of the way but as the sun dipped beneath the horizon again they opted to carry them, both light enough to do so easily. Jazz could feel their bones under their skin- a bit of anger bloomed in his chest but he kept it at bay. He could be angry when they had somewhere for the wyverians to stay. 

The village's lights finally came into sight and he breathed a sigh of relief. There was only one person in the inn who frowned once they came inside.

“Where’s this village’s doctor?”

“We don’t have one- the wyverian the poachers killed was our only doctor.” Prowl cursed, Jazz barely kept his own mouth shut. 

They needed a doctor- this village didn’t have one the airship didn’t have one on board but maybe the village it had landed at did? 

“The rewards for the mission, we can give you equinoid mounts instead of gold?” Usually Jazz did not take anything from small villages like this but equinoids could get them to the adjacent village in just a few hours. 

“Yes- we’ll take equinoids.”

The innkeeper nodded and ducked out the door. In just a few minutes he returned with two- both already having saddles. A dark gray equinoid and the other a deep emerald. They were obviously well taken care of with shimmering scales and manes. Jazz got onto the gray equinoids saddle settling Skydive comfortably onto his lap. The wyverian had fallen asleep an hour or so ago and didn’t seem to be waking anytime soon. 

Prowl got onto the other equinoid. Slingshot too was asleep, Prowl made sure he was safely secured in the saddle.

“Thank you- both of you.” Jazz nodded at the innkeeper.

“Their wagon is maybe four miles away but I’d stay away for a few days, the research commission is going to come for the dragon.”

“Dragon?”

“Yeah a small interference.”

The innkeeper nodded, then saw them off. They made haste but tried not to go too fast to disturb the wyverians. The equinoids had no issue navigating the terrain, their long legs letting them step over most of it with ease. 

The airship was far larger than any of the buildings in the village and it came into view first. Now he just had to hope there would be a medic here. A few hunters were scattered on the streets with bandages covering their bodies. He wondered how the fight with the vehicons went. But more importantly, bandages meant there was a medic.

Jazz stopped his equinoid in front of a small group that was actually awake.

“Where is the medic?”

“Oh- up there.” It was a small building, one of the only buildings with its lights on. They rode up to it and tied the equinoids to posts outside. Slingshot woke when they got off, Skydive remained asleep. Inside there were two hunters sitting against the wall, their heads in their knees. 

An older man was at a desk mixing herbs together. He looked up when they entered his eyes narrowed when they landed on the wyverians. Jazz frowned. 

“We need a medic to see these two.”

“I am the medic.” He gave the wyverians another glance then leaned down grabbing something from a lower drawer in his desk. It was a jar filled with a balm. “Put this on the sores- its all I can spare supplies are low-” he motioned to the hunters “- and the dragons meant we haven't been able to get shipments in a few months.” 

Prowl sighed, taking the jar from the man and set Slingshot down. Jazz set Skydive next to him taking a handful of the balm, Prowl offered it to Slingshot who began applying it on his own wounds. Jazz worked carefully trying to not wake Skydive. He grumbled and flinched in discomfort but never woke.

The airship should leave tomorrow and go back to Iacon, once they got there Ratchet would be able to see them. It would be an uncomfortable flight but the wyverians would make it. They would never have to deal with poachers again there.