Ch. 243

Rain began to trickle down from the gray sky above them. The ledge had turned from a simple place to rest into a spot they now needed to wait in. Optimus was unsure how much more Starscream wished to divulge and at the same time how much he could risk asking. It was clear that this past experience had been eating away at the smaller mech for a long time. The Prime didn't want to make the seeker more upset, given all he had been dealing with recently.

"It wasn't supposed to happen, you know..." Starscream began again, leaning over his legs to hang his helm down, "We were just supposed to watch all of these groups fly and forget all of our problems for just... a little while..."

Optimus nodded, "But that was not what happened."

The smaller mech grumbled, "Skyfire was stuck in an accommodations area. He couldn't see anything, despite his size. I... I went to complain and the crowds shifted me down the wrong way. But the time I had a chance to speak to anyone, the show was almost over and Skyfire was COMMing me incessantly to just come back. I took a wrong turn and I could hear yelling..."

"What do you mean you can't give us a set, the show isn't over for another-"

"You are a DUO," a gruff voice hollered, "an' we finished the duo sets already! Trine. Sets. ONLY."

"This is so unfair!"

"You're not gonna have enough filler for the rest of the show!"

"Then I guess it's just gonna have t' end early!"

A door closed roughly and one of the two voices left growled out into the echoing hall, "I am going to KILL Thrust for this!"

"Frag him! He wouldn't have flown well for slag anyway!"

There was the harsh stomp of pedfalls as Starscream drew closer from down the stadium hall. His complaint to one of the show organizers had been in vain and Skyfire wasn't allowed to move into the hover zones at the back. The seeker was livid with his friend's treatment. What had been the point of them coming to this stupid airshow anyway-

"Hey! HEY, YOU!" a booming voice came at him.

Starscream's wings flared out in surprise before latching at his back and he turned to see a hefty blue and light gray seeker rushing towards him, an almost equally sized purple and black seeker following close.

"How well do you fly?!"

"He's small, he's gotta be light; what's your airspeed?!"

"'Warp," the blue one hissed to his companion, "he'll fit just fine, even without the airspeed. We can't exactly hit high marks here!"

The purple one gave a nervous smile, "Weird stuff happens! Hi!" he suddenly introduced himself, "I'm Skywarp and this is Thundercracker-"

"No time for names!"

Thundercracker grabbed a hold of Starscream's arm and ran back down the hall, Skywarp just behind him, and almost carried the smaller seeker to an office door.

The blue seeker's large servo came up to bang on the frame, "Director!" he shouted, his voice reverberating throughout the hall and the seeker he had in his grasp, "Director, open up! We have-"

The door slid open to reveal an old seeker, his colors faded and chipped, as seemed his attitude as he glared and then stared in surprise.

Thundercracker beamed as he presented the smaller seeker, "We have our third."

"And he's good!" Skywarp leaned over, "Fast, flighty, he's great!"

The older seeker huffed, "This isn't Thrust, I've seen that conehead in other shows. Who's this?"

Both seekers hissed quietly in thought before Skywarp smiled nervously, "The new guy."

The older seeker rolled his optics, "Name?"

"Ah, um, Starscream..."

"Good, I'm Wheezing Arrow. You can call me Director. You've flown with these two before?"

"Well-"

"Great, I don't care. We have a slot empty and these two idiots thought they could fill it on their own. Well now you're gonna help them. Register your COMMs before your set with one of the show organizers on deck so they can keep you on time. And you two," Wheezing Arrow snarled, "get OUTTA my sight!"

The older seeker smashed his servo against the door panel to close it and Skywarp and Thundercracker sighed in relief.

"Oh thank Primus!"

"I thought I was gonna purge, I was so nervous!"

"'Warp," Thundercracker smirked, "after this, drinks downtown."

The purple seeker's wings flicked excitedly, "Ooo, new place or old place?"

A lowly growling voice silenced the pair as it turned into a shriek, "You BLUNDERING IMBECILES!"

Both jumped and backed away as the smaller red, blue and white seeker in front of them began to make himself heard, "I am NOT a part of your trine! I am NOT a part of this idiotic airshow! This ridiculous display of halfwits blundering through the air and risking dignity for WHAT?!"

Thundercracker frowned, "Hey, wait a-"

"I AM NOT DONE TALKING," Starscream roared; behind him, from inside the office, Wheezing Arrow chuckled.

"I came to this stupid thing," the smaller seeker hissed, "because my friend wanted me to be here. I don't have time for ANY of this. I have calculations to reorganize and calibrations to assess-"

"Oh, Primus!" Skywarp flinched, "We grabbed a NERD!"

"Shut up! You're on my left now!"

Thundercracker's optics widened, "Wait, I'm leader in this trine! We wanted you to be our third!"

Starscream sneered, "Oh, is that what you think? Too bad! You should've grabbed someone dumber than the combination of the two of you!"

The two larger seekers growled in unison, "Hey-"

"I said quiet! You idiots got me into this slagging mess, now I have to get this over with!"

Starscream shoved through the pair and began marching loudly down the hall. He knew he had the two following his plan when he heard them wordlessly run to follow after him. What had possessed him in that moment to do this? To help them with their display? To show them tight formation, harrowing twists and dives? To organize their chaos into an art form that tore through the skies of Cybertron? Starscream wouldn't have known how to answer back then... but now...

"Now..." Starscream sighed, "I know why I bothered to help them complete that set," he murmured, holding an open servo out to catch the last drops of rain, "My life... was so full of stress. It was lacking in control and I... didn't know how to fix that. But establishing myself as a trine leader?" he shrugged, "I found control in that. I found a way to channel the pain I had into giving orders and keeping my trine together... Skyfire... saw I had changed... And with the school deciding I had always been a blight in their optics anyway..."

"You left school..." Optimus murmured.

The seeker's shoulders were low, "Skyfire and I had discussions about it in the beginning. His research had taken him away from the direction our project had originally started from. After the airshow, Skywarp and Thundercracker had promised, they swore they would never bother me again... but it didn't take them long for them to find me and beg me to fly with them. They had just signed on as a part of the energon seekers. And they didn't want to fly with anyone else leading them. The airshow had been their chance to find a third to fit the mold they were looking for and instead they found me..." Starscream pulled a leg up towards his chest plate, "And I tried so hard to balance school and the job I took on... but one of my professors noticed my fatigue and it was... kindly suggested," he growled, "that I chase my 'new calling'. I was out quickly after that..."

Optimus's form looked deflated, "They used an excuse?"

Starscream didn't look up, "It was all they had. I'm sure my complaints against their most esteemed students didn't help my situation... and Skyfire and I didn't talk much after that. I tried to reach out to him but he didn't contact me back. I'm not sure if my messages were getting through or if he decided to ignore me... Despite all that, I trusted him the most. Skywarp and Thundercracker... we flew together, but I never shared too much with them. They were wrapped up in their own little world..."

Optimus nodded quietly, "I am sorry you lost such a good friend, Starscream. I am sorry you were unable to keep in touch..."

"Thank you... I am too but... at the time, I grew angry... far more volatile," the smaller mech admitted, "I didn't just lose my friend, I lost that support he gave me. I... didn't trust anyone after that."

"It hurt you."

"Yes, greatly."

Optimus hummed softly, "... Starscream? Do you consider those on your team now, the Autobots, your friends?"

Starscream frowned a little at the question, but didn't look up, "Well... Ah, yes, I suppose so. More than that after everything. We're, ah... the phrase... 'tight knit' now, aren't we?"

The Prime nodded in agreement, "I would say so... But you said you flew with your trine, a relationship that is built upon a lot of trust in the group to achieve proper form, correct?"

"Yes..."

"Yet you did not lean on your trine for support when you needed it?"

"Optimus," Starscream finally looked up at the mech, "what are you getting at?"

"Do you find amongst your team now anyone at all that has given you the support you need?"

"Of course!" the seeker almost squawked, "You!"

Optimus smiled weakly, "And aside from myself?"

Starscream blinked and flinched back, his gaze going back over the ledge and the far way down that they had come up from.

"Have you considered talking with Arcee?"

"..."

"Or perhaps Smokescreen?"

Starscream almost flinched again. Because a name had immediately come to mind and made the seeker's nausea arise again. Optimus saw the smaller mech's hesitation and had barely offered his servo before Starscream latched on tightly.

"R-Ratchet," Starscream whimpered sadly, "I don't want to talk to anyone else on the team. Just you and... and Ratchet, but..."

The Prime nodded sadly, "And given what happened recently, this has left you in a very fragile place..." his voice softened then became stronger as he turned himself to look at the smaller mech better, "Starscream, I know how much you have been suffering and how hard you have been working to keep yourself from showing us that you were struggling. But you must know how proud I am of you and how honored I am that you chose to trust me," he wiped small tears from Starscream's cheekplates, "You have done so much and you continue to prove that you are so much stronger than the obstructions that have dared to stop you. What Ratchet has..." Optimus paused as he searched for the right words, "Ratchet has lost so much. And I know that when he is ready to speak to you, he will."

"I want to hope that," Starscream whined weakly, "but there is a pit in my spark that says he won't..."

"Have faith," the Prime murmured, "He may need some time, but he will talk with you. I have known him for a very long time, Starscream. He will reach out when he is ready..."

The seeker began to pout and he sat closer to the larger mech as he sulked, allowing Optimus to wrap an arm around him. The Prime rubbed his shoulder gently.

"Starscream," he asked as he looked out into the forest beyond, "your trine..."

The smaller mech shifted in his hold but didn't pull back, "... Gone. They're gone."

"Did they pass?"

Starscream shook his helm but sighed, "Most likely... They were sent away from me by... him. And they never came back."

Optimus held the seeker more closely, his form heavy, "I am sorry..."

"It's alright..."

The Prime frowned, "Their names... Skywarp and Thundercracker."

"Yes?"

"They sound familiar. I may have seen them in battle."

"Oh, you most likely have. They were my idiots."