Freedom
Chapter 11: A Pleasant Walk Down Memory Lane
The walk was nice so far. Optimus was actually enjoying himself as well as Starscream's company. And he could sense the Seeker was relaxed as well.
The area Starscream had chosen for their walk was a small park close to his home. There was plenty of light from nearby street lamps to illuminate their path and it was very quiet, aside from a few distant barks from turbo-foxes.
Optimus laughed along with Starscream when the Seeker told him about a certain event during his time in the War Academy. "You really did that to your drill instructor?" Optimus asked amusedly, enjoying the sound of Starscream's voice and laugh.
The Seeker chuckled and nodded. "Yes. He wasn't so pleased at the sludge in his wash rack though."
Optimus laughed. "So what did he do to you?" Surely the Seeker didn't walk away scot free?
"I didn't get kicked out. But he made me wish I had never been sparked. He put me on Space Bridge repair duty for over three hundred stellar-cycles. And I still had to attend to all my academy duties."
Optimus felt his spark drop at the mention of Space Bridge repair. His shoulders shagged a bit and his face became sad as he remembered his old teammates…his friends.
When they surrendered and were taken back to Cybertron, they were placed in slave pins. Optimus was auctioned off to Megatron three weeks later. He hadn't seen his friends since then. His spark ached; he missed them all so very much.
Starscream could sense the change in Optimus and looked at him with concern. "Did I do something wrong?" Starscream asked, afraid he was the reason for the younger's sudden change in mood.
Optimus looked up at the Seeker and smiled sadly before answering, "No, you didn't do anything wrong Starscream. It's just that…I miss my friends."
Starscream looked at the ground. "I see…What were they like? If you don't mind my asking."
Optimus' optics widened for a brief moment, then he smiled as memories began to flood his processor. "Oh were to begin? Ratchet was always a bit grumpy. He threw wrenches at us and slapped the back of our helms when we did something stupid. But he had his soft side. He always seemed to know what to do when worse came to worse. Bulkhead was the brawn of our little team. Despite his size, he had a gentle and loving spark. He was so afraid of accidently hurting someone. Prowl never talked much. And when he did, he was usually yelling at Bumblebee. But you could count on him to get you out of a tight situation. And Bumblebee, dear Bumblebee; ha! He was the prankster; the child of the group; and the fun-loving one. For him, fast wasn't fast enough. And little Sari…She was so sweet. She tried to understand us and help us. She even saved us a few times…Primus I miss them all so much."
The whole time Optimus had been describing his friends to Starscream; there was a small smile present on his face. But when he reached the end, he became sad.
Starscream wanted him to be happy; and he was willing to do anything to give the mech that happiness. He raised his servo slowly and carefully touched the slave collar around Optimus' neck…
He would do…almost anything for him.
The mech looked up questioningly when he felt the Seeker's claws gently caressing the band around his neck. The Seeker shook his head and sighed before lowering his servo. "Let's go home," he stated simply.
Optimus stared for a moment then nodded in agreement. "Yeah…home."
XXX
Starscream lay awake in his berth.
He was having the hardest time trying to recharge. All he could think of was Optimus' joy at telling him about his friends, then his sadness at being apart from them. There had to be something the Seeker could do.
He suddenly sat up in his berth, a huge smile on his unmasked face.
He had an idea!
Granted, it would take him a few days to call in some favors to pull it off, but it would all be worth it to see the look on Optimus' face.
Starscream laid back down in his berth and sighed contentedly. He would begin working on is surprise for the Autobot tomorrow while he was still recharging.