Two Hearts beat as one

Wounded Sparks and Borrowed Time

Dreadwing Pov

Ever since the spark of my twin brother, Skyquake, was extinguished, an agonizing void has burned within my chest. Every solar cycle is a fresh cruelty—made infinitely worse by that wretched worm, Starscream, who dared desecrate my brother's memory by raising his frame as a mindless zombie. For that blasphemy, I will tear Starscream apart with my bare hands.

Yet, I am a Decepticon seeker. Duty binds me. I am compelled to follow Lord Megatron's commands, to wage endless war against the Autobots for our cause.

Or at least, I used to believe in it without question.

Lately, every battle leaves me hollow. I find myself doubting everything—my actions, my allegiance, my supreme leader. Is Megatron's grand vision truly worth giving my spark for? In the quiet moments, Optimus Prime's words echo relentlessly in my processor: Megatron will lead the Decepticons only to death and destruction.

I was trapped in the dark spiral of my own thoughts when a sound cut through the silence.

It was singing. A melody so delicate, so impossibly pure, that it seemed to soothe the agonizing sorrow gnawing at my spark. I traced the sound through the canyons to its source and found her: a human girl with the voice of an angel.

Watching her, time itself seemed to freeze. The chaos of war faded into background noise, replaced by a strange, fragile peace. My spark, long accustomed to rage, began to heal—just a fraction. I found myself craving that feeling. I wanted to hear her sing every day. I wanted to protect her.

A Decepticon commander soft enough to care for a human insect? If Megatron or the others found out, it would mean my execution. But in that moment, looking down at her, I didn't care.

Then, a harsh static burst tore through my comm-link, shattering the silence.

"Dreadwing!" Wheeljack's coarse voice sneered through the frequency, issuing a challenge.

Ignorant pest. I had no desire to leave my angel's side, but duty—and pride—demanded a response. I swore then that Wheeljack would pay dearly for interrupting this sacred moment.

The Battle

The desert canyon was a maze of red dust and lethal traps. Wheeljack pursued me relentlessly through the trench, entirely unaware that I had spent the last hour rigging the rock faces with proximity explosives. The trap was sprung.

"Give up, Wheeljack!" I roared over the scream of my thrusters, maneuvering him deeper into the kill zone. "There is nothing you can do to defeat me! Not even Prime himself could best me here!"

I reached for my gauntlet to detonate the charges and bury the Wrecker alive.

BR-T-T-T!

A heavy plasma blast struck my shoulder from an blind angle. The impact tore through my armor, spraying glowing energon across the canyon floor and hurling me violently against the stone wall. My helm shattered on impact, vision glitched with static error messages, and my grip on the detonator slipped.

My heavy hand crashed down onto the trigger pad.

The charge sequence initiated immediately. Above me, the canyon walls groaned, preparing to collapse in a storm of fire and rock. Through my dimming optics, I saw Bulkhead step out from behind a ridge, weapon smoking, as he and Wheeljack scrambled toward an opening GroundBridge. They left me behind, battered and bleeding out, buried beneath the impending cave-in.

As darkness pulled at my optics, I accepted my fate. But just before the rocks fell, a gentle light pierced the dust...

Sakuya

It has been a few weeks since I returned to Earth, and something in the local temporal flow has felt... wrong.

My eyes are tuned to the lifespans of living beings. Lately, I've noticed a spike in anomalous deaths—creatures not native to this planet, possessing technology far beyond human comprehension. Normally, I don't interfere. The threads of time weave as they must.

Then, I saw the twins.

They were two giant, alien lifelines bound together. One of their threads snapped weeks ago, extinguished in violence. The remaining twin's thread was spiraling, burning fast toward an abrupt, tragic end. I couldn't stop watching him. His history, his grief, his silent honor... I found myself captivated by him.

When my vision showed me his impending death in that desert canyon, something inside me broke. I couldn't let his flame burn out.

I broke the cardinal rule. I broke my parents' directives. I stepped into the collapsing canyon, pulled his massive, broken frame from the rubble, and hid him away where I could tend to his wounds.

Now, weeks later, I sit beside the towering metallic giant as he slowly recovers.

I know I shouldn't have done it. I know altering a timeline carries consequences. But looking up at his dormant, imposing form, my heart races in a way I've never experienced.

Is this... love? It seems impossible. I don't even know his name or what kind of being he truly is. All I know is that I want to understand him. And when his optics finally open... I hope he sees me, too.