randomplaces | Helter Skelter 'verse. The desert around Perceptor and Kia's base. Loss

Showtime tuned out the elegantly accented voice that was anxiously offering advice over a secure com frequency, instead focusing on where her mate and her brother were, and where their adversary was. The last wasn't too hard to ascertain, as the massive Decepticon was a blaring bright deep yellow and purple that clashed horribly with the surrounding rock and gravel and dry brush, and his frustrated bellows shook the ground.

"Too slow!" Sideswipe squirted out from under a sledgehammer blow that would have made him into a Lambo pancake, cackling insanely as he did. "You couldn't squash a steamroller, slagface!"

Then he winced as he registered Showtime's shriek and quickly apologized over the com... before doing it again.

"Heeeere's Johnny!" Sunstreaker landed on the behemoth's shoulder and aimed his canon at its head, only to laugh and jump over yet another gigantic fist swipe. "Hah! I could do this all day! Except I'd get bored."

Showtime flailed, too freaked by the risks her mate and brother were taking to remember that she had weapons herself. This was Sunstreaker and Sideswipe's show anyway, and if she hadn't been letting out sparks from her processor she would have remembered the heavy, dull feeling that had been dogging her for the past couple days.

There came the roar of Sunstreaker's canon, and an agonized bellow from the 'Con that was echoed by the thunder of his weapons reflexively going off. Sideswipe had time for one horrified shout before he and Sunstreaker both saw one of the randomly loosed missiles hit the flailing blue femme right in the midsection and explode.

"Show!" Sunstreaker curled in on himself with agony at the pain tearing through his spark, suddenly helpless as the damaged but still very much alive Decepticon regained its feet and turned to attack him. "No! No!!!"

And then Sideswipe went berserk.

* * *

Showtime was aware of a dull, throbbing pain in her core as she slowly rebooted and powered up her optics. At first she couldn't figure out how her spark could hurt....

And then she gasped and tried to sit up. "Sunstreaker!?"

"Shhhh." Hands gently pushed her back down on the table. "Sunny's fine. He just got knocked for a loop when you got hit. But he's going to be okay."

She stared up at Sideswipe's slightly battered face and frowned when she saw the grief there. "What... what's wrong? You said he's okay...."

"Yeah...." The red and black mech's voice was a rough whisper as he shut off his optics and rocked slightly. "Sunny's okay. But... the sparklet died."

"What?" She tried to circulate air. "What sparklet died? Kriti...?"

"No.... No. Not Kriti." He clicked sadly, his shoulders slumping a little. "Our sparklet. Yours 'n Sunny's."

Showtime's spark seemed to shrivel as she put a hand to her chest and noticed an emptiness there; the absence of something that she hadn't even realized was there till it was gone. "We... there was.... NO!"

"Show." Sunstreaker suddenly tumbled off the other table and came to her, stumbling, flailing inwardly himself. "Show...."

"NO!" she yelled at him, falling off her own table and backing away, then curling up. "No... just go away. Let me be."

"But I love you," whispered Sunstreaker brokenly, his face showing his pain and confusion.

"Love isn't going to fix this." Showtime turned her face to the wall. "Just... give me time. Please."

Sunstreaker wanted to protest; wanted to gather her close in his arms. But over their bond he could feel her need to just be alone and figure this out.

Lost in her pain and shock, Showtime wasn't aware of the two silent sentries that took up their guard positions over by the door, the usually stronger Sunstreaker cradled in the arms of his brother as they watched over the femme that they loved.

The Child is Gone

Darling, give me your absence tonight
Take the shade from the canvas and leave me the white
Let me sink in the silence that echoes inside
And don't bother leaving the light on
cuz I suddenly feel like a different person
From the roots of my soul come a gentle coercion
And I ran my hand o'er a strange inversion
A vacancy that just did not belong
The child is gone

Honey help me out of this mess
I'm a stranger to myself
But don't reach for me, I'm too far away
I don't wanna talk cuz theres nothing left to say
So my
Darling, give me your absence tonight
Take all of your sympathy and leave it outside
cuz theres no kind of loving that can make this all right
I'm trying to find a place I belong
And I suddenly feel like a different person
From the roots of my soul come a gentle coercion
And I ran my hand over a strange inversion
As the darkness turns into the dawn
The child is gone
The child is gone
(c)Fiona Apple