Chapter 1: Optimus Remembers

On planet Earth, Optimus Prime patrolled one part of Robot City. Megatron, and most of his Decepticon followers, were now in a high-tech, Cybratonian prison, with the best guards on Cybratron watching them 24/7, and Prowl was online and operational.

When the All Spark had been remade, Sari's key started working again. Only, instead of just upgrading and healing, it could create now too. It took Sari several attempts, but eventually, she managed to create a brand new spark for Prowl. She saved him from deactivation. To which, everyone was grateful for.

Prowl was alive, and he and Bumblebee were at it again. Although, not as bad as before. It took Sari about a week to make Prowl's new spark with her key, counting the time with the failed attempts. Bumblebee had been so scared when he thought that Prowl was gone forever. But when he came back again, Bumblebee surprised everyone by throwing himself at Prowl, wrapping his arms around him in a tight hug, and crying his optics out.

Prowl was so surprised that a bot that got so much pleasure from pranking, tricking, bugging, and messing with him, would miss him so much, when he hadn't even been gone that long. Bumblebee referred to an old human saying to explain himself, "Sometimes, you don't know what you've got, until it's gone." It was so touching to see the two getting along. But not near as touching, as seeing one crying for the other and both hugging each other.

Optimus smiled, they might have two lovers on their hands soon enough. Bumblebee had had a crush on Prowl since the first day he met him. He hid it by pranking him. Everyone had figured out about the crush, except the Cyberninja. But with the new way the younger was acting, the he might figure it out.

Optimus sighed; Megatron's defeat, the All Spark's rebirth, and Prowl's resurrection had been exactly one Earth year ago. And life had gotten a lot duller since then. He continued to walk, or roll, around trying to clear his mind. Life had started to become boring shortly after Blackarachnia and Wasp joined their team. They didn't talk too much about the place they were when Wasp's body caused that strange explosion that sent them to said place.

Sari, since she had learned better control of the key's power, cured Blackarachnia and Wasp's organic mutation and made Wasp sane. After that Wasp went back to Cybratron to complete his training at the Academy, and Elita-1 soon followed.

Optimus sighed again. Thinking he wasn't going to spot anything worthwhile, he headed back to base. Then a bright flash of light shined in his optics from the side. He shielded them from the light with his hand. When he could see, Optimus looked in the direction the light had shined from and spotted something grey.

He walked to the remains of a building that had most likely come down during the final battle with Megatron, and the city hadn't gotten around to repairing it yet. He started looking for the grey thing. After a few minutes he spotted it again. He walked over and saw that it was a clawed hand. He moved some ruble aside and found an arm with a null-ray attached, then he uncovered a shoulder and a wing with the Decepticon insignia on it. He recognized the wing and the null-ray.

Both belonged to Starscream.

Optimus had no idea why he continued to dig up Starscream's body when he realized what it was. It was as if some unknown force had taken him over. After only a few minutes of digging, he uncovered the remains of the Seeker. Optimus then felt a small piece of rubble clunk him on the head. He instinctively looked up and saw the road-bridge Starscream had crashed on. When the Seeker landed, the road-bridge must have given way under his weight and he fell through it, then landed on, and destroyed, the building under it. Then the rubble from both the road-bridge and the building buried him.

The once dark colored Seeker was now grey. His whole torso was covered in dents, deep gouges, long cuts, and purplish-pink energon blood. His cockpit was shattered to pieces, revealing the inside of Starscream's empty spark chamber and all of his internal wiring.

His wings, something Starscream had prided himself most on, were just barely hanging on to his back. They were covered in dents, deep cuts, and blood. Some of his armor was missing. It had most likely been torn off, or come off, when he crashed.

One of his heel thrusters were gone, a piece of shoulder armor, and one of his null-rays were gone. Optimus' optics finally came to his face. Like the rest of his body, it was grey. Both his once ruby red optics were shattered. There was a hole in the middle of his forehead, where the All Spark fragment had once rested.

A large piece of stone was now wedged deep into his throat. Optimus bent down and removed the sharp stone. From the looks of it, the stone had damaged Starscream's vocalizer. Optimus threw the blood covered stone to the side and continued to examine the Seeker's face.

The look on his face was that of someone who had given up. Before the All Spark fragments completely freed itself from the Seeker's forehead, Starscream had given up. Knowing he had lost, knowing he would die, and that he was all alone and wouldn't be missed by anyone.

Optimus felt something; he thought he would never feel toward Starscream ever again. He felt sorry for him. Optimus remembered a time when he had first met Starscream. He hadn't always been a Decepticon. In fact, before the war, before the Decepticons, when they were just young sparklings, he and Optimus had been friends.

Optimus remembered how Starscream used to be. He had been very quiet and a little shy. He had been a very nice Transformer. But he had also been very sad and lonely.

Flash back….
Optimus was a little nervous, his family had just moved to the northern part of Cybratron. His father was the Elite Guard Commander, Bluefire Magnus. So Optimus and his parents never stayed in one place for more than a few stellar cycles.

Moving wasn't that bad. It was starting all over again that was the problem. He looked around at the other sparklings playing around him. The bots were playing sports and tackling one another. Femmes were just talking to one another or playing hide-and-seek. The Seekers, be them bots or femmes, were flying, but only a few feet from the ground.

Optimus decided to sit and wait for his father to pick him up, since he really wasn't in the mood to play. No one wanted to play with him anyway. As he sat down, he saw a bot and two Seekers in a small circle and something dark silver and light blue was in the circle.

Optimus, always a curious sparkling, went to see what was going on.

"Come on," the bot said, "Get up! You little weakling!"

Optimus now saw that the silver and blue thing was a Seeker. One of the other Seekers spoke, "Starscream? What a stupid name!"

The last bully kicked the silver seeker hard, making him cry out in pain, then said, "No one wants you here."

Optimus had had enough. He pushed the bot and Seekers out of the way and stood protectively in front of the silver Seeker. "I want him here," he said boldly.

The three bullies laughed, while the Seeker behind him looked up. The bot, whom was the biggest of the three, walked up and said, "Bite me, you little down-grade."

Optimus just stood there for a long moment. Then he shrugged, took one of the bot's hands, and bit down, hard. The bot screamed like a femme and ran for it with a perfect set of dental impressions on his hand, the two Seekers followed.

Optimus turned around and looked at the seeker. He was mostly dark silver, with a light blue stripe on both his wings and a light blue glass cockpit. His optics were a bright and beautiful shade of silver.

"You okay?" Optimus asked, never leaving the Seeker's optics. The Seeker nodded, then looked at the ground and mumbled, "Thanks."

The blue and red sparkling was disappointed when he could no longer see the Seeker's wonderful optics. He then noticed a large dent on his wing from where the other Seeker had kicked him.

"Here, let me help you up."

He offered his hand to the Seeker. At first he did nothing but stare at it then Optimus, almost like he was searching for a trick. Optimus was hurt, knowing that the Seeker thought he was trying to trick and hurt him. But he didn't show it. Instead he smiled gently and said, "Don't worry, it's just a hand."

The Seeker hesitantly took the hand offered to him. With one tug, Optimus pulled him up. However, he didn't release his hand. Optimus looked at the Seeker's hand curiously; he had never seen claws before. He thought the pointed tips, that could so easily puncture his metal flesh, were very interesting. The Seeker made a coughing noise, showing he was not comfortable with how long Optimus had had his hand.

The bot released him, his cheeks turning a slight purple from embarrassment, and rubbed his arm nervously. "Sorry."

"S'Okay; you're not the only one who's done that."

Optimus looked at the dent on the Seeker's wing again. "Are you sure you're alright? That dent on your wing looks pretty bad."

"It's nothing. I've gotten worse from bots way bigger than those sons-of-glitches."

"Oh….Why were those bots bulling you?"

"Bored most likely."

Optimus was speechless, the way he said that, it sounded like he was beaten up and bullied on a daily basis.

"Bored?"

"I'm not the strongest or the biggest Seeker around, so I'm an easy target to a bully."

"….Sorry."

"Not your fault."

Optimus shook his head to clear his mind then held out his hand and smiled, "I almost forgot. My name's Optimus."

The Seeker looked at the blue hand, then shook it and said, "I'm Starscream."

Optimus' smile grew wider as he said, "Pleased to meet you Starscream."

The Seeker, for the first time since Optimus saw him, smiled.

"Starscream?"

"Yes?"

"Can I see your hand?"

Starscream smiled weakly, shrugged, and showed Optimus his hand, palm side up. He studied each clawed digit and ran his blunt ones over each one.

"Optimus, why is everyone so interested in my claws?"

"I don't know why everyone else is interested in them. I've just never seen claws before."

"Hmm…everyone in my family has them."

After that day, they were friends. They played together, talked together, and hardly one was ever seen without the other.
End flash back.

Optimus couldn't help but smile at that wonderful memory. Then he frowned, remembering how sad Starscream could become, because of his father, Silverstar.

Silverstar was the commander of the Flying Elite Guard. He was a great flyer and swordsman, who led Autobots to many victories. He held the title, "Greatest flyer in the 'verse" on Cybratron.

Starscream's family were known as the Stars, because it was a tradition that all their children have the word "star" in their name. But that wasn't the main reason the Stars were so well known on Cybratron. They were known for their amazing and graceful flying abilities and their graceful, but deadly, swordsmanship.

Starscream, as the human saying went, had some pretty big shoes to fill. And Silverstar expected him to fill them. Starscream became a great flyer, as good as Silverstar, if not better. But it didn't matter to him; he wanted his son to do better.

"It doesn't matter how hard I try, nothing ever seems to please him," Starscream would say to Optimus, "And he said that, if I don't improve by the time my colors change, he'll make it as though I never existed."

Something else the Stars were well known for, was that they didn't stay the same color all their lives, like normal Transformers. As they got older, their colors began to change. When their colors completely changed, it was a sign that they had reached adult-hood.

When he moved away, the stripe on Starscream's wings had turned into a dark violet and his cockpit was completly yellow. Optimus remembered that Starscream had been so sad when he moved away. He was sad because he would be all alone all over again.

As far as Optimus was concerned, it was Silverstar's fault that Starscream had joined the Deceptions. According to what he heard, Starscream hadn't lived up to Silverstar's expectations by the time his colors changed. And he had held true to his word. He made it appear as if Starscream had never existed in home or his life, he pretended he didn't know him, and said he didn't have a son whenever someone asked about Starscream.

Angry, hurt, and alone, Starscream joined the Decepticons. Beyond that, no one knew what happened to change him. At first, he appeared to be the same old Starscream. But one day, Silverstar disappeared and Starscream changed for the worst. Everyone believed that the Seeker killed his father.

Optimus clenched his fists; Megatron had changed and corrupted the being who had once been his friend. When he first heard that Starscream had become a Decepticon, he refused to believe it. When he heard that the Seeker had become Megatron's SIC, he still refused to believe that the Starscream he knew would even think about becoming a Decepticon.

Then, when they had come to Earth, he was given his proof when Starscream attacked him and his team. When he saw the Seeker again, he could barely recognize him. He and Starscream were about the same age. And when he moved, they were the same height and mass. But, when he saw him, he could hardly believe that he and Starscream were the same age.

He was taller and broader. He even looked older, because of the years of abuse from both Megatron and the war. However, what shocked Optimus the most, were Starscream's optics.

They were no longer that beautiful, pure silver. Instead they were bright, and an evil shade of ruby red. They no longer held that same shyness, kindness, or curiosity that he had always known. Nor did they have that healthy glow that he had come to know and adore. They only held hate, anger, and the will to destroy any, and all, who got in his way, and they showed nothing but evil. Nothing more, nothing less.

Megatron had destroyed Optimus' best friend and turned him into that horrible, evil, and cruel Decepticon Seeker.

Optimus wouldn't have even known that this Starscream was the one he had known, hadn't it been for small details. Such as his cock-pit and the violet stripe on his wings, they both were the same as when Optimus had last seen him.

Optimus sighed as he continued to stare at the Seeker's mangled body. He felt a tear roll down his cheek and plop down to the ground. The mech began to wonder if Starscream even remembered him or their friendship. Every time they fought, the Seeker showed no sign to recognizing him.

After a moment, he gently picked up the Seeker, making sure he didn't further damage him, then began to walk toward the base. Starscream may not have been who he once was, but he deserved a proper burial on their home world.

Okay, I feel really bad, because I was working really hard on a chapter for one of my other stories when I heard the beginning of an episode of Transformers Animated. So, being curious since I hadn't watched any of the show but hearing a lot about it, I watched the episode and was instantly hooked. I started watching the series. But they weren't played in order. Three weeks after watching my first episode, I saw the very last episode, and hated it for two reasons. Those reasons were Prowl and Starscream. I cried when the episode was over. I wanted a better ending, then this story came to me. And I couldn't make it go away. So sorry to everyone reading my other stories, I promise to get to them soon. Enjoy this chapter. Chapter 2 will be up soon! :) Oh, I haven't seen every last episode, so please if I've missed anything, tell me.