His Dying Seconds…
The sheer agony he's feeling in his body after Unicron struck him down with his fiery breath is beyond overwhelming and not even his ultra-dense armour is enough to save him from such a lethal strike. It's just like being dipped in hot volcanic lava except he isn't going up in flames.
The Decepticon leader had let out all of the fire in his heart/spark at one of the chaos bringer's feet. In that moment, he forgot all of the insecurities and fear that he had earlier once he saw his troops fighting for their dear lives against this great evil who only desires the destruction of all living things including Primus' children.
He lays on the floors of Cybertron mortally wounded while watching the planetary giant wreak havoc on his home world. Wait a minute, his?
It finally dawns on him. He isn't either Zarak or Scorponok anymore, they have become one being in their wake where the line between the two minds have become blurred. So much so that he regards both Cybertron and Nebulos as his home. If Unicron had targeted the latter, he'd have willingly given his life to save it from that dark god. He would done it for her…
That's when realisation kicks in. His daughter Llyra was right all along and his deceased political rival Galen was also right as well. His pride made him too stubborn to consider that perhaps he was wrong the whole time. Peace is and always a better option than war.
He thought everything he's done was for the good of Nebulos but the sad truth of the matter is that he did it for selfish gains and look where that got him?
A politician who decided to ally himself with the Decepticons who really did have sinister ulterior motives unlike the Autobots led by Fortress Maximus who truly wanted to get away from the conflict happening on Cybertron. The one who ultimately brought an end to the peace that the Nebulans had enjoyed for many years through his own machinations just to get a leg up on his opponent.
Not only did he lose everything he has because of his poor life decisions, he lost the one person he treasures most in addition to that. A daughter who wants absolutely nothing to do with his father and he ruined her life by dragging her lover into a mess he himself made.
Galen… Galen… Galen…
He may have disagreed with him on many things but he always secretly admires the young man's strong integrity and can see why his only child fell in love with him. He also knows that he spoke the truth about Zarak's battle-lust. Something he only realised after seeing the destruction he brought upon Nebulos itself with Scorponok and his forces.
When Galen died, it was really Scorponok that took pleasure in witnessing the man's demise. Zarak wasn't sure if he enjoyed seeing him die or feel distraught when he saw his rival gave his life to save that earthling named Spike Witwicky from a falling stone in a selfless act. He laments how his actions both cost them their relationship with Llyra.
While he ponders over everything he's ever done in his life for good and bad, some memories stood out most to him such as seeing his daughter being born, the death of his wife, one of his many dishonest acts as he climbs his way up to the Council of Peers where it involved the use of blackmail, undergoing the binary-bonding procedure to become Scorponok's head, his rivalry with Highbrow and Gort, getting his aft handed to him by the time-travelling madbot known as Galvatron, Optimus Prime telling him to spare one of the cultists after roughing them up...
As he thinks of these things, only now does he understand the full extent of his actions. As such, he regrets many of them. The one he regrets the most is never telling his child that he's truly sorry for everything. That fact pains him more than the burns he's received.
If he could have one wish… That wish is to see her one last time and say goodbye to her…
Then he sees the face of his Autobot counterpart Optimus Prime appear in his line of sight. The mech whom he respected the most out of anyone when he became part of the Autobot-Decepticon War.
At the beginning, he saw Optimus Prime as another bot that must be crushed and destroyed. Initially seeing him as a coward much like that traitor Starscream during the Underbase crisis. However, that was all before he got to see what he was really doing when he used the very source of the seeker's incredible powers to defeat him by overloading his body with its energy till it became too much for him and exploding in the process. He played a risky gambit and it paid off.
From that day forward, he held a different view on red and blue Autobot. He regarded him as a strong leader and a wise one at that. Optimus represents everything that he isn't which is truth, honesty and peace. The Nebulan wonders what he'd be like as a fleshling. Perhaps being similar personality-wise to that president the humans call Abraham Lincoln.
In a way, he admires the bot's conviction. A quality that he'd kill to have.
"Scorponok…" Said the concerned voice of Optimus Prime. Looking down upon his ruined form with blue sympathetic optics like he's a fellow soldier that got wounded pretty bad and knowing that he doesn't have much time to live.
"Huuu—Puh-Prime?" Struggling to speak as he withers in pain but he has to know now. "Did—Did... Kuu… I do good?"
Deep down, he was terrified of death like all living beings. But he's afraid that he'll be remembered as nothing more than a war-hungry politician that betrayed the ideals of Nebulos and made a deal with a faction of conquerors. Perhaps he does deserve to be seen as that after all he's done...
The Autobot goes to comfort the dying Decepticon/Nebulan in his final moments and forgets the chaos that's happening around them for just a moment. "Yes old friend… You did good."
If only he had the energy to smile at those words and how genuinely touched he was that this alien robot regards him as a friend rather than an enemy. It's unfortunate that he won't ever get to see the day when the war comes to an end.
But with his comforting words, Zarak/Scorponok has found his peace at last. Willing to accept the sweet embrace of death where the agony can hurt no more and be free from his imprisonment.
Before the world disappears on him forever, one last thing appears in his thoughts...
Llyra… Please forgive me and Galen… I am sorry. Here in my final moments, I have opened my mind and seen the path of peace. The path I should have been looking for all those years ago.
With that thought, the Decepticon's spark departs to go join the Allspark. Taking solace in that there is someone who does truly care for him.
Optimus Prime mourns his fallen brother in arms with silence. Thinking of how much Scorponok and Zarak has changed since their first encounter, how their bonds have changed each other… How the Decepticon gains humanity from Zarak while the Nebulan gains a warrior's courage from Scorponok. They were far stronger together than apart. How tragic that he'll never get to talk to him ever again in this plane of life...
He was a good bot… He was a good man… Till all are one…
The End
(Author's Note: That page with Scorponok and Optimus Prime in The Transformers #75: On The Edge of Extinction! is definitely one of my favourite moments from the Marvel US/UK comics and a moment that doesn't get appreciated enough in my opinion. Same goes for Scorponok's character development in Simon Forman's Marvel US run as well where we get to see a more human side to him and even show a bit of fear as well.
...Which is why I really disliked how Furman treated him in Regeneration 1 where all that stuff is just swept aside to make him a generic villain of the Natural Selection arc and don't get me started on how Roberts handled his character with his stupid plans in that dumpster fire of a book called Lost Light…
Anyhow, hope you enjoy it and I'll see you another time.)