Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Starscream carefully placed the red crystal on the pile of red rocks, moving backwards and chittering slightly as they stared at it. They then moved forward, once again collecting the red crystal with their denta.

They didn’t know where to put the red crystal, and it was bugging them so very much.

They had set up pretty glittering piles of shiny things all around their nest, showing off how good of a seeker they were, and they had organised everything by colour and value. (And used the pots of glitter they picked up while seeking to improve them.) This red crystal, however, didn’t go anywhere! It was high value and food, so it should go with the energon, but It didn't fit with the energon. The bright red clashed with the bright blue.

And it's red, so it should go with the other red things. Starscream didn’t have many red things, and they were mostly just rocks. The red crystal didn’t fit with the red rocks! The difference in material was too obvious. It looked so terribly out of place when they tried...

They hated it.

Starscream moved back more, sitting back on its legs, and stared at the roof as if it held the answer to the universe. Or the answers to its plight. Both would be of equal value to the Seeker.

It then had an idea. A very good idea. It moved through its nest, the harbinger, quickly and quietly. It stalked over to another pile, this one full of shiny grey metal chains, and picked a long, thin one, wrapping it tightly around the red crystal.

Then, it moved to the big door of its nest, tying the chain around the top, letting the red crystal hang down. It had found the perfect place to put the red crystal! It showed it off while not clashing with any of the piles! 

Why didn’t it think of this before?

Starscream was so smart they preened proudly. They were very, very smart! That was probably how they found their nest, with their smarts. Shame they didn’t really remember it, though. They couldn't remember anything from before their nest.

Well, that wasn’t entirely true. They did remember some things. They remembered long dark hallways and pain. Lots and lots of pain.

...Sometimes, they were glad they didn’t remember it. What could they have done to deserve so much pain?

Starscream warbled sadly at the thought. 

Most everything from before their nest was fuzzy and sad, but they couldn't help wonder. What was their life like before? And... why did they remember getting hit so much? Did they do something wrong?

Starscream shook their helm, almost trying to shake the thoughts from their processor, and went back to adjusting the red crystal. It didn’t matter. They weren’t wherever they were before. They were here. And here was all that mattered.

Starscream focused on thinking about how to improve its nest. 

Well, the first thing it could do was build an actual nest.

Sure, it called the harbinger its nest, but it wasn’t really. The harbinger was just where it lived and slept. It was an easy place to fortify and guard. It should probably prioritise building an actual nest. So far, it just slept wherever it could. Including the floor. Mostly the floor.

If it was gonna live in here permanently, it probably shouldn’t have to sleep on the floor. So, it thought about what it needed to build a nest. For some reason, it felt like it hadn’t had a nest in a long time, so it wanted it’s new nest to be the best it could make!

It would need blankets, pillows, general soft things, and a perch to put it. It also needed lots of metal to make sure it wouldn't fall apart.

They got excited. They were happy to note that they already had most of the materials needed. They just needed to find a suitable perch.

So they went looking. And got disappointed.

There wasn’t many places that really counted as one in general, they noted irritatedly, and the roof was far too exposed for their nest. In fact, almost every place they looked was either too exposed or too low to the ground.

They supposed they could just go for a close to the ground perch, but they wanted this nest to be perfect! They wouldn’t settle for anything less. Low to the ground perches weren't the best. In fact, they were the worst kind of perches!

It looked like they would need to look elsewhere for their nest. 

Great.

It wasn't that it disliked being outside. In fact, it rather loved it! Being outside meant it was closer to the sky.

It was just that being outside meant they could run into other mechs! They were safe in their nest(wait, if it was building a nest, what would it call the place it lived? It wasn't their nest), maybe a bit lonely, but they were safe!

Outside wasn’t safe. Outside hurt.

But, it prioritised its nest over anything else. So what if it ran into another mech? It would slice them until they left.

(It didn’t really want to hurt anyone. It hoped it wouldn’t have to hurt anyone. Pleasedon’tmakeithurtanyoneitssorry-)

Chapter Text

Starscream was back in their home(?). The outside had proved even more useless to find a suitable perch, so they had fixed their lines outside the harbinger and returned quickly to continue the search elsewhere. (It definitely wasn’t because they were afraid of outside. No way.)

They did, however, on their return find a very, very safe place for their nest. It seems that while they were out, a part of the roof had caved in. Revealing a brand new room they had never seen before. Or maybe just didn't have access to before? The only door was mostly blocked by rubble.

It was a wide circular room, the new sunroof lighting up all the corners, with only one door that now had broken glass in front of it, and what looked to be some sort of terminal in the centre of the room. Large beams had fallen down around the edges of the room, creating many safe hiding places.

If Starscream ever wanted to, they were sure they could repair the terminal and get it working. But they didn’t want to. So they didn’t. Instead, they wanted to tear apart the terminal and build their very soft and comfortable nest in front of it and go down for a nice long nap. They had earned one for going out for so long!

They hadn’t had a good nap in long while, anxiety and stress keeping them up. The constant fear of death and harm keeping them far too alert and aware. It was almost exhausting to deal with.

But here? In(what would be) their brand new nest? In the safest spot they could find? They could finally rest.

Of course, their was still a part of their processor that screamed at them that they needed to stay awake. Stay alert! Stay ready to get up and move at a moment's notice. Stay ready to run if he ever shows up. But they paid this part little mind. 

They were safe in their nest. And that was all that mattered.

Of course, their nest wasn’t only made out of soft things. How would it stay together if it was? No, they had torn apart lots and lots of furniture and even a few walls to get the metal necessary. 

They had built a nest previously, and they knew that. It just must have been a really long time ago, as they didn’t really remember what to do.

Starscream growled as the nest fell apart once more, collapsing in on itself. It didn’t know what it was doing wrong! Why was it so hard? Why couldn’t it even build one stupid nest! Stupid. Worthless. Failure. Useless. Useless, USELE—

It shook it's helm violently. It wasn't any of those things. It just needed a new idea. It moved back, looking at what it had already made (that hadn't fallen apart instantly). What was it doing wrong?

It pushed the two largest metal beams together, letting them lean against each other. Was that it? It then added more and more, letting its processor wander and fade away as it moved and added more and more.

Weirdly, it reminded them of flying. The turning your processor off and just feeling, the calmness of it all.

And before they knew it, they had a proper nest! The outside was made of strong metal and the inside full of soft blankets and pillows. So warm and secure.

They curled up in the centre of their nest, their back facing the door. They were very sleepy and were going to put their new nest to work. Purring softly to themselves, they eventually fell into recharge. It almost felt they were surrounded by trine again.

■°.●

They chirped and flapped their wings in happiness when they woke up. They were so well rested! They hadn’t felt like that in... how long? Eh, it doesn't matter. They felt it now, and now they were happy. Very, very happy! Their wings wouldn't stop bouncing in their giddiness.

Because now they were home. They had been for a while, hadn’t they? Ever since they first found the harbinger they were home. That's why they did all those things to protect it. That's why they set up all their displays inside it. And that's why they added their rings to the outside. The nest was just the finishing touch.

It was their home. And they would protect it. (This time.)

Chapter Text

"Ooh, new Mothman news!" Miko said excitedly. Kicking their pedsFeet from where she was sitting on the couch. Raf was sitting next to them doing homework. Something Miko insisted he was a nerd for.

"Huh? What's a Mothman??" Bulkhead questioned, turning to look down at them. He could probably guess the answer, but he liked talking to Miko. He was currently the only one of team Prime at base right now, as everyone else was on missions or patrols. (Well, aside from Ratchet, but he was recharging right now, for once. So he wasn't about to interrupt it.)

"They’re a Cryptid I'm interested in." Miko responded distractedly. Staring down at her phone like it personally offended them. "Hey, Raf?" She asked hesitantly, "Does th– — -ike a cybe——an to you?" They whispered, turning her phone, showing it to Raf. Who then paled. Whispering back unsteadily. Bulkhead could just turn up his audials to hear them, but he had long since learned that the whispering meant they didn't want him to hear it, and he wanted to respect that. It wasn't like humans had comms they could use for privacy.

"Guys? What's going on?" Bulkhead asked now mildly worried. The kids were freaking out about something, and he wanted to know what. But did he want to break their trust by turning up his audials? Was it important enough? Miko did have a tendency to overreact over minor things... but Raf didn't. 

Miko quickly sat up, turning to face him. Luckily cutting off his internal panic before it spiralled too far. "We think there might be a transformer on earth no-one knows about!" Miko frantically explained, while Raf went to, presumably, go get Ratchet.

"Holy scr-uh-Primus! Really?" Bulkhead asked, crouching down to see Miko's phone better. And, yep. Bulkhead's no medic, but that's a cybertronian if ever he saw one.

The photo was blurry and dark, but Bulkhead could make out some trees and the night sky in the background (not enough to find out the location), the only light being two red optics on the faceplates(?)of the 'Mothman'. It was too dark to make out any details on the figure, but Bulkhead could swear he saw some wings on it!

"But, who could it be?" Bulkhead wondered out loud. He didn’t think any seekers survived the war, let alone any that would show up on earth. And looking closer at the photo, those were most definitely wings.

"Where exactly was this photo taken?" Ratchet’s grumpy voice came as he walked into the room. It seemed like Raf hadn’t fully explained the situation, or Ratchet hadn’t fully processed the implications. Probably the latter. Raf wasn't the kind to leave out important details.

Miko checked something on her phone before answering, "Uh, over in the woods near the harbinger?" Miko said.

"The harbinger, huh? Do you think Screamer's working with xem?" Bulkhead asked nobot in particular. Following after Ratchet towards the groundbridge. He knew the coordinates of the Harbinger far too well and didn’t really wanna think about why. (And definitely didn't want to think about the aforementioned mech leaking on the ground pleading to trade information for medical assistance).

"If they are, we can only hope they will be open to communicating." Optimus spoke as he entered. His field was full of steady reassurance. When did he even get back from patrol?? He was shocking stealthy for somebot twice the average height.