'If you are to return to the side of Lord Megatron, you shall do so proudly.'
After spending a full night on the Peaceful Tyranny, Starscream had returned to Cybertron's surface, refueled and patched up. There was regret. He should have gone with Tarn. He should have chased after a better life. He should have never gone back.
Tarn's words echoed in his processor as he dragged his damaged frame to his pedes, standing on shaky heel struts. His memory seemed partially corrupted. He was still in reboot, but as his various systems came back online, those words stung like the Star Saber that had just run him through. Proudly? Proudly?!
There was nothing proud about being nearly slagged by the one he'd returned to of his own volition. To want to serve. To stand by his side for the foreseeable future.
No. There was nothing proud about serving such an awful leader.
How long had it been? It had been night when he felt the bite of the blade he'd once been trusted with, but it was still night. Unless it was another night? Had a full cycle passed? Impossible.
Careful servos touched his armor plating, feeling a wound that felt much smaller than it should be for being run through. Huh. Unless this was a different wound? Had he taken more than one hit?
He was officially done. The final frayed wire had snapped, and everything came tumbling down. Starscream was no longer willing to put up with the abuse. As he began to walk to where they had first met, the Seeker sent a hopeful ping into the cosmos. He desperately wanted to be removed from the universe. He wanted to let it all burn without him. Just like it always should have.
:: Tarn. I don't know if you are out there. Or if you can even receive this. But there is nothing left for me here. I will not stay with this miserable leader any longer. If you can hear me, I'll be up where we first met. ::
As he made his way up to the tower, he decided flying up would be easier and faster, even with the injury still leaking energon. The transformation ached a little, but nothing he wasn't used to. With his usual grace, he flew up and landed on the tower's landing pad, transforming back to land on his pedes, before he needed to sit down. And then he just... Had to wait.
Closed starter for @voraciouslyindulgent