I'm still working on the full version, but it's going to be several thousand words long and I know nobody is ever actually going to read that one way or another, so let me sum it up for you
Verse: Transformers One; then it verges off into its own thing
☁️ cw: contains themes of mutilation, domestic abuse, cheating, character death, and of course The War
Skyline is the youngest member of Sentinel Prime's New High Guard, established after the disappearance of the original to restore a sense of normalcy and safety to the citizens of Iacon. She is a flight prodigy, her alt mode is a stunt plane.
☁️ Her job, along with a minor scandal or two, have given her celebrity status, but once you get to know her, you'll find that she's really just a massive dork. She's about 23 in human terms. An adult, but just barely.
☁️ Her commander Comet, a tough, middle-aged drill-sergeant type bot, has a soft spot for her team and especially Skyline, due to her youth. She'd never admit it out loud, but despite her rough exterior, everyone knows she's the team mom. She considers herself fully responsible for each and every one of them.
☁️ Skyline is a big fan of the original High Guard, similar to how D-16 is a fan of Megatronus. This is definitely not going to become very awkward (Starscream can never find out she had a poster of him).
Skyline is sweet, optimistic, and certainly a bit naïve. Although being in the NHG puts her at the very top of the caste system, she's never quite understood the purpose of it. This post has made me diagnose her with autism.
As such, when she is asked out by a miner (who not even remotely expects that to actually work), her response is along the lines of "well, he's pretty cute, so why not!"
And so Skyline falls in love with D-16. What's the worst that could happen? She's so utterly smitten too. He writes her poems and she reads them every night before bed. They keep their relationship secret, but a very few select people know (Orion, Comet, her teammate and best friend Freefall, and Darkwing. But nobody will ever believe him).
When D-16 stands up to Sentinel, the NHG is present. Instead of the train showing up at just the right moment, Skyline steps in to stop Sentinel from killing him. As punishment for her insubordination and "betrayal", Sentinel rips off her wings.
Skyline loses consciousness. The next thing she knows is that Orion is now Jesus and D-16 is gone.
Against Comet's pleads, Skyline leaves to join D-16 and stays with him instead of getting medical attention, believing that once the newly-formed Decepticons get settled, they can fix her up. Megatron needs her more. She doesn't fully support him, but she loves him, and he needs her now.
☁️ now playing: me and my husband
Megatron however comes to realize that she might leave him, like Orion did. So he does not allow her to have her wings replaced, permanently grounding her. They are conjunxed, but she is more of a glorified prisoner than an equal partner.
D-16 is gone, yet sometimes she can still catch a glimpse of him. He's still in there somewhere. She still loves him. He needs her. She can't leave.
But as the years pass by, he grows colder and colder, even toward her.
Somehow, after millennia, Skyline begins to form a bond with Starscream. Victims of the same abuse finding solace in each other.
They have an affair. What's the worst that could happen?
Megatron eventually finds out, and he's going to kill Starscream for real this time. In a moment of panic, Skyline shoots him.
Megatron is dead.
This is good, right? No.
Skyline goes insane about it.
Seeing Megatron dead only makes her remember D-16, that she loves him, that she swore to stand by him.
And it's Starscream's fault.
☁️ now playing: mama's gun
She convinces herself that Starscream planned this from the beginning, an elaborate plot to get rid of Megatron and take his place. Skyline may have been the one to take the shot, but no, Starscream killed him. The only reason Starscream makes it out alive is because he can fly, and Skyline can't.
Skyline tells the other Decepticons that Starscream killed Megatron, and they have no reason to doubt this. Truly the only surprising part is that he actually succeeded.
Skyline becomes Queen of the Decepticons and somehow Makes It Worse.
She either takes Megatron's wings (idk why he has wings if he's a tank but the mental image of Skyline with massive black wings goes so hard) or just replaces them with new ones of her own.
Starscream has begged the Autobots for sanctuary, because Skyline wants him dead, and Optimus would never allow anyone to die, not even him. Unfortunately, this reignites the war. Skyline only wants Starscream, and will end the attack if they hand him over, but Optimus's moral code won't allow him to sacrifice him. Thousands more die.
Megatron comes back to life. I don't know how yet, but he's Megatron. He just... does that sometimes. He never stays dead. Just go with it.
He lets Skyline convince him that Starscream really did manipulate her. Again, the only suspicious part is that it worked. But seeing Skyline, who he once fell in love with for her kindness, act as cruel and ruthless as he has grown to be makes him finally realize he's gone too far.
Megatron joins the Autobots. Skyline refuses to follow him and deems him a traitor too. Deems all of them traitors. Vows to eradicate them.
There is no saving her. Comet winds up being the one to kill her on the battlefield, doing her duty as a soldier, knowing Skyline wasn't ever going to come back home.
Skyline is dead and everyone is traumatized ✨️
☁️ Skyline losing it was a result of millions of years of being in an abusive relationship, being directly complicit in starting the War and seeing the results first hand, and being forced to live as a flightless seeker. She'd been nothing but a shell of her former self for millennia. It was a long time coming. More-or-less-accidentally murdering her conjunx after all of those countless years of staying with him out of obligation and former-love is merely what made her finally snap. She could not have been saved. She was too far gone.
I hope Tim learns self care on his murder shack house boat or whatever. I hope he wears boat dad clothes. I hope he stole those clothes from Bruce's "Brucie on the Boat" wardrobe. I hope Bernard sees Tim dressed up as a Jimmy Buffett song and falls even more in love with the boy but also sends pics to Steph that she then sends to Kon who shares them with Bart who very quickly shows it to everyone.
