Title: Trinity

Part 1: Skywarp

By: Ceris Malfoy

Summary: The truth behind the Command Trine. Currently: Skywarp fears Starscream.

Inspiration: Was actually working on the back-story for A Different Beginning, when I really started to deviate from where I wanted to go. A lot of fans have Starscream as the youngest of the three, but I got to thinking about TC and how he has this sort-of naïve belief in honor and fairness about him, despite his general emo-ness, so I cast his as the youngest, with Skywarp the middle, and Starscream the eldest. The rest grew from there. XD

Continuity: G1, pre-Earth, some subtle references to the 1986 movie.

Status: Part 1 of 3

Disclaimer: Transformers does not belong to me, sadly.

Skywarp fears Starscream.

He is not as deep a thinker as Thundercracker, but he is not unintelligent, despite the way he acts. In some ways, he is smarter than his younger brother, at least when it comes to Starscream.

The day Starscream found Thundercracker in the slums of Vos and returned the lost youngling, Skywarp knew without a doubt that Starscream was going to claim them both as trine one day.

And he did. Partly out of revenge against their shared code-writer who had abandoned Starscream to the slums of Kaon; partly because even at a much younger age, both Skywarp and Thundercracker were clearly of superior make; but mostly because Thundercracker had witnessed Starscream rip several fully-developed seeker into shreds but had still crawled into Starscream's arms with all the trust and wonder only sparklings are capable of.

He remembers that night so well. How, after getting verbally abused by his creators, Starscream had torn into both of them – never once lifting a servo; never once so much as twitching; never even raising his voice beyond a quiet rasp. The seeker had wielded his words like a finely edged blade, slicing deep into their processors and sparks. By the end of Starscream's tirade, both adult seekers were shattered beyond repair, owned and twisted to suit Starscream's purpose.

Skywarp knows that Starscream is not just smart, he is alarmingly clever. He also knows that Starscream has never been quite sane. Starscream is violence, lust, hatred, and obsession all wrapped up in one convenient package; and all of it hidden by the great gift of his processing speed and is uncannily brilliant manipulations.

Thundercracker, he knows, is blind to the wrongness that lies in Starscream's spark – a rot, an infestation, a taint that had been born in Kaon and nurtured in Vos. Starscream is the product of circumstances beyond his control, but Skywarp can't help but wonder if his half-brother is a victim of his circumstances, or a willing participant. After all, the seeker's intelligence alone should have been enough to get him out of the slums, but then again, with all the prejudice against the war-build….

There is no love in Starscream, despite what Thundercracker may think. Of the two of them, Thundercracker is definitely Starscream's favorite, but Starscream doesn't love them; doesn't love anyone. That seeker takes others' love, want, and admiration and consumes it; uses it for his own ambitions and pays no mind to just how quickly that love turns to hate, want turns to disgust, admiration turns to fear. He tears through the other mechs with little to no regard for any of them. Starscream cares nothing about anything of them, and it shows. It is a comment of just how good a manipulator Starscream is that despite their fear, their hate, and their disgust, every single one of Starscream's victims eagerly come back for more.

Thundercracker this Starscream is home; thinks the tri-color seeker loves him in his own dysfunctional way; thinks that despite all the betrayals and lies that Starscream cares.

Skywarp knows better, and that knowing is what truly scares him, because he knows that if their deaths could bring Starscream that much closer to his goals, their trine-leader wouldn't hesitate, and wouldn't even feel guilt after the deed was done.

So, yes there is a back-story for all of this, which will be partially revealed in TC's bit, but mostly in Starscream's. I'm kinda liking the dynamic I have going for the trio in this fic, and I hope you guys do to. RnR, please!