"You've had quite the adventure today, didn't you," Megatron said in the dark throne room.

Starscream knew that was technically a question, but more like a rhetorical one. He held his glossa and resisted the urge to fidget under the scrutiny of the Decepticon leader.

"It seems your observation skills are still intact," Megatron said. "Tell me what you observed."

Starscream swallowed, not really sure why he was so nervous. "Mirage kidnapped me in an attempt to quell some kind of… disagreement that was happening with other Autobots. He said the words 'new faction' and that somehow my presence would quell it."

Megatron's optics blazed at this information but otherwise did not react. Starscream bit the inside of his cheek before continuing. "He also suggested to Jazz that they wipe my memory and convince me that I was always an Autobot, that way the others would be assured of my welfare." Megatron snorted, but waved a servo telling him to continue.

"Mirage tried to suggest to Jazz that I had been mistreated, but Jazz was not pleased with Mirage's actions and told him to leave before returning me to Decepticon care."

Megatron considered all of this for a few more moments and then leaned forward. "Did Jazz say anything to you?"

Starscream sighed and nodded. "He apologized for being the one who caused my accident."

He heard two surprised intakes from his trinemates that stood closer to the door.

Megatron watched him carefully. "You must be confused as to why we didn't tell you this ourselves." Starscream looked down, his glossa tracing over some of his denta in his mouth in thought. "We thought that it might be easier for you to digest later on, though not everyone in command agreed," he said giving a glance at Shockwave. He stood off to the side, his optic watching Starscream carefully. He looked like he had been patched up, but he was still favoring his left leg.

"Still. It is clear we have to change how we handle your situation within the base. We will be discussing what this means for you and you will be informed of our decision within a few solar-cycles."

Starscream felt his spark sink, but he nodded in acknowledgement.

"Skywarp, take him to the medbay. Thundercracker, you will join this discussion despite your biases."

Skywarp and Starscream turned and left together. Thundercracker watched them leave with a worried look.

Starscream was extremely quiet. It bothered Skywarp.

The old Starscream was hardly quiet. He was loud, screechy, full of cruel laughs. When he was quiet, something was bothering him or he was unconscious. The new Starscream was definitely quieter than his previous incarnation, as he tended to be watching and waiting to figure out how to interact. He was cautious, but also unafraid.

Skywarp was worried that he was learning he had things to fear.

The seeker had allowed the ministrations from the Constructicons with a hardened jaw as they scanned him and tutted over Jazz's quick patch of his forehead. Still, finding nothing wrong with him other than a tightly held field and maybe a tense frame they had released him.

Skywarp decided to let them walk back to quarters rather than warp.

A few mechs stopped them in the corridor to say how glad they were that Starscream was okay, telling Skywarp they would do anything to help him in the future. His tri-colored trinemate still said nothing, merely nodding in thanks.

Skywarp was worried.

They finally reached their quarters and there Skywarp expected Star to break, to fall into his arms, to react in some way other than this frightening stoicism.

Still, Starscream was quiet.

"Star…?" Skywarp said, reaching out.

Starscream whipped around, pulling away from Skywarp with wide optics. His ventilations were ragged, and his optics were welling with cleaning fluid.

Skywarp felt his spark break as his servo fell down at his side.

Starscream softened and took a deep ventilation. "I don't want to be touched right now."

Skywarp nodded though inwardly despaired. Touch was the best way the black seeker knew how to comfort, and he desperately wanted to hold his hurting trinemate; if anything to confirm that Starscream was there and was alright.

"Do you… want to talk about it?" the black seeker said, wincing. He was terrible at this kind of thing, and wished that TC were there to jump in. He wasn't exactly an Autobot.

Starscream was clearly conflicted. The seeker still hadn't figured out how to hide his emotions in his wings or on his faceplate. "I feel so… worthless, Skywarp."

The black seeker sat down at their little table. "You're not worthless, Star," he said, feeling like he had already had this conversation with Starscream. He tried not to let his exasperation show though because Starscream looked so… low.

Starscream sat at the edge of the berth, looking down. "All he had to do was hold my shoulder," Starscream said. "And I was powerless."

Skywarp felt a lot worse all of a sudden.

"Star-"

Starscream shook his helm. "Hey, I'm just going to- I just want to be alone for a bit," Starscream said, standing. He kind of looked at Skywarp oddly, as if asking for permission, because he'd barely been alone since his new life started. But he scowled a little as if recognizing this was silly, and he walked into his room.

Skywarp flinched as he heard the gentle click of the door closing as if Starscream had slammed it shut instead.

Shutting Skywarp out like that was unfair. He regretted it immediately and almost walked back through the door to apologize. But his servo hovered overed the panel and ultimately did not reopen it.

Starscream turned and looked around the room that had belonged to the old him. He hadn't really been in here since this all started, not really finding a reason to be. He hadn't cared.

"You know, this isn't personal. I know you aren't the same Starscream anymore. This is just business."

"You always used to be good for some kind of tidbit, but I imagine they don't really let you in on the good intel anymore, do they, 'Screamer?"

"They are not good mechs, Starscream, you don't know what they've done-"

"You don't understand what you lost. What I took from you-"

He leaned his helm back against the door. The words of the Autobots who both wanted to spare him torment but at the same time torment him rolled over his processor. What was he supposed to do with all of this information?

Was he supposed to try and become this "Starscream" again? It seemed that in some ways, as much as everyone said they liked him more now, it was always in context of him. He could fight, he was brilliant, he was cruel, capricious, intolerable, arrogant- all the things that the new Starscream either wasn't or could never become. He couldn't help but feel in some ways, the old Starscream was preferred because he wasn't a burden.

And now he was left with the choices that his former self had made. No real friends other than a broken trine and whatever he and Megatron had been. Mechs legitimately hated him and had wanted to hurt him. He was involved with a faction in a civil war that was potentially… bad? He'd apparently been traitorous as well, given what Mirage had hinted at.

Starscream sighed. He decided to snoop around his own room. He got the sense his former self would likely be angry at the intrusion, but the new Starscream relished in that thought. Just a little.

First was the desk. It was marred by scrapes, burns, gouges and it was clearly a place that the seeker had used frequently. There were a few datapads on the table, but they were heavily encrypted. Starscream added "paranoid" to the list of traits his former self was quickly earning in his mind.

The drawers were full of junk from circuits, to wires, tools, rocks, and other components. "Hoarder" also appeared in his mind. He looked on the shelves, the pads of his digits touching over the datapads, rocks, old inventions carefully as if they might bring back the associated memories.

One thing caught his optic as it looked as if there was an attempt to hide it. It was a cube of some kind, about the size of his servo, but it was covered by a datapad leaning against the wall. Starscream gently removed the datapad and held the cube for closer inspection.

The cube had seen better days. It was cracked and the resin crystal was turning a murky yellow, obscuring an image inside. He realized then it was a holocube. He looked closer.

Two mechs with wings were looking off to the side of the image, lightly smiling. Starscream noticed that they seemed to match each other's colors in their detailing: reds, blues, whites, and greys. The smaller red and white one was perched on the shoulder of the bigger white one, who was gently holding the sky-blue pede to steady him-

Starscream realized suddenly that the mech was him. The smaller mech on the shoulder was Starscream. He pulled the cube closer. The two mechs genuinely seemed to be enjoying each other's company. All those traits that he had been adding to the inventory for the old Starscream… none of them were present in this image.

Clearly… not everyone had known him like they thought they had.

He studied the other mech. Clearly larger, he had a kind faceplate with cyan blue optics.

Starscream pulled the cube close to his chassis. He wondered if this mech was still alive so that he could talk to him. There were no insignias on his wings or any kind of markings on the shuttle. It was likely from a very, very long time ago.

He smiled slightly.

There was a ping at his front door that led into the corridor. He almost jumped but managed to collect himself and replaced the cube in it's hiding spot on the shelf. His former self had seen fit to hide this, so he decided to do the same.

He then went to the door, palming the access panel and was greeted by the looming presence of a purple mech.

"Shockwave," Starscream said, gently exventing. "I… am not-"

Shockwave brushed past Starscream and entered his room looking around. "This is not what I expected of your berthroom," he said.

Starscream was annoyed. "Really? What did you expect?" he said. He had tried to make it more… angry. But it came out petulant.

"I expected it to be more… ostentatious." Shockwave turned and affixed him with his curious optic.

Starscream folded his arms and arched an optic-ridge. "Why would you think that?"

"You always appreciated the finer things in life," Shockwave replied, his voice amused. "You were always trying to add ridiculous things to materials needed from Cybertron like Vosian wing polish and expensive paint sealants. Things that you didn't even necessarily use on yourself, but just wanted to have."

Starscream tiled his helm a little. "It seems you observed me a lot before my accident."

Shockwave actually froze slightly, before relaxing. His optic dimmed slightly. "More so afterwards, I assure you."

Starscream felt heat rising up his neck, and quickly cleared his vocalizer. "I don't mean to be rude but-"

"Yes you do," the purple mech replied, his optic dancing a little. "I just burst into your room without permission. Of course you'd want to be rude."

Starscream's mouth moved to try and form words but couldn't quite find the right ones. He was just tired now. "Why are you here?" he finally said with a sigh.

"To apologize," Shockwave said. "I apologize for not stopping the Autobot from taking you. It should have been within my ability."

Starscream felt some of his annoyance ebb. "I… suppose it should have been within my ability to get away on my own as well," he replied. "But here we are. I appreciate that you tried."

Shockwave just watched Starscream for a little longer and then nodded. He then turned and left out the door.

Starscream was surprised at the abruptness of the strange interaction, but eventually just shook his helm and smiled.

It had been some time before the door to Starscream's room opened again. Skywarp tried to pretend he hadn't been staring at it woefully during this entire time and moved to pick up a datapad beside him on the berth that had some kind of notes about their training exercises. But… it was upside down. He silently cursed, slowly righting it and raising his optics to look at Starscream.

His trinemate looked better. He was watching Skywarp with a hint of amusement.

Skywarp nodded at Starscream, "Heya, how's it going- oh?"

Starscream had quickly walked over to the berth and was now crawling on all-fours, right into Skywarp's lap. He gently took the datapad out of Skywarp's servos and gently put it down on the berth beside them. Starscream then turned to Skywarp and with a smirk kissed his trinemate on the lips.

Skywarp's optics shot wide open, his servos hovering in the air for a moment before wrapping himself around Starscream and pulling him closer. The red and white seeker moved his lips down Skywarp's jaw and to his neck cables where he kissed and lightly sucked, smiling to the rumbling of Skywarp's engine in response.

"Star- not- not that I'm complaining-" Skywarp attempted.

"Then don't," he heard Starscream mumble into his neck as he continued to give Skywarp his undivided attention. "This is my apology," he said, nuzzling his nose into the black seeker's neck and letting his warm ventilations linger there for a moment.

Skywarp nodded emphatically. "Oh, apology definitely accepted," he said breathlessly. "Though you really don't have to apologize-" Starscream moved his mouth over top of his again and they kissed deeply as Skywarp gently put his servo around the back of Starscream's neck to help guide him into his mouth and against his glossa.

Starscream's ventilations were increasing slightly, which definitely made Skywarp's fans turn on just a little more. He moved his lips to the side just a little to say, "Star, we should maybe slow down. I'm not going to be able to stop-"

"Don't stop-" were the sweetest words Skywarp had heard in recent memory.

With a guttural noise, he gently pushed Starscream down to the berth and began kissing him feverishly. The black seeker lay gently on top of him, and Starscream reached up to hold Skywarp's helm in his servos to allow him leverage to explore deeper into his mouth. Skywarp's fans were running on high now, and a small moan escaped Starscream's vocalizer.

Skywarp's optics were dimming, and Starscream turned his own off, enjoying the sensations his trinemate was offering him.

TC clearing his vocalizer could not have come at a worse time.

Skywarp made an exasperated noise of surrender and his helm just flopped down to hide in Starscream's neck. Starscream gave a confused look to Thundercracker.

"This was not my fault," Skywarp said into Starscream's neck. The red and white seeker smirked and kissed the black helm cradled against him.

Thundercracker sighed and crawled into the berth next to his trinemates. "Well then. Don't let me stop you," he said with a smirk.