Chapter Text
It was widely accepted that entering the prestigious city-state of Vos as a wingless mech was akin to public suicide but there Skyfire stood regardless, crawling his way through crowds of haughty and dismissive onlookers. They walked in a wide arch around his pitiful self and their snide murmurs pierced through Skyfire’s audials like venom. Not once did any stop to offer him a hand when he fell for the umpteenth time, his balance gone with his wings.
Just as he'd gotten back on his pedes a jet rocketed past him and the low altitude confirmed that it was an act on purpose , to say nothing of the snickers that erupted around him.
Skyfire waved his claws in a feeble attempt to remain upright, flailing wildly even as his knees connected with the ground, cold and unforgiving. He shouted his frustration and threw a claw down at the ground but he knew that his expression was unchanged, his singular optic hollow and devoid of any discernible emotion.
But that wasn't what brought him to Vos. Skyfire thought of him , thought of Starscream, thought of what brought him to Vos and stood up, fierce and determined with his resolve renewed.
It would be fine, so he told himself. If he found Starscream and explained everything, it would be fine .
Skyfire was cast out of one of their Institutions with his consciousness drifting, abandoned in a place he did not know, left with little memory of the life he once led in his turbulent processor. He knew what had happened to him, knew what they did to those that ended up here, but he could not come to terms with the reflection he caught passing by rows of identical buildings.
A scream had bubbled low in his frame when his optic fell on his own stature and would, unknowingly to Skyfire, mix with those hidden within the buildings, where mechs who had only spoken met a cruel fate like his own.
In his reflection, Skyfire’s optic did not change. It looked at him, blankly, mocked him when he anguished his visage until he could not take any more and made for somewhere, anywhere else in a mad, uncoordinated dash, where he stumbled and fell until he reached an exit.
He ungracefully tumbled into the streets of a city he did not care to identify. The thick smell of low-grade energon and molten metal permeated through the air, and he thought for the briefest of seconds, that perhaps he’d crawled his way to Kaon, the dump of Cybertron.
His spark hammered behind its casing. He felt countless optics burn in his back and their stares on them made him realize just how small he'd gotten, physically speaking. Skyfire deduced that, as he took a look at one of the cybertronians standing still with a sneer marring their twisted features, he must be no bigger than a minibot.
He shook the insecurity. Skyfire focused his processor on his goal; find Starscream . It came of no surprise to him that all he could think of in his panic was the ever-flighty seeker. He knew Starscream more than he knew himself , which rang true at least for his current predicament.
Skyfire drew a deep vent through his auxiliaries. His main intake now removed, he relied on other parts of his frame to filter his air intake, but he did not bother with the specifics. Thinking of it too much felt suffocating, so Skyfire forced the thought from his processor and for once resisted his own scientific curiosity to run a thorough scan of his internals. Self-preservation be damned, Skyfire had no time for a meltdown.
He pulled up a map of his current location on his HUD. His scanners indicated he shouldn't be too far off from his destination, but then again, he had never actually been to Starscream’s home--hell, Skyfire didn't even know whether the address Starscream had given him was real or a proxy, but he had no other option than to at least try .
Skyfire relied on the buildings along his path to keep him upright. Strangers' optics burned in his back as his claws left grooves in the metal; he was not used to their grip and strength, and he did not think he would ever be. His own digits had been blunt and precise, nothing like the monstrosities they were replaced with. A mournful noise erupted from his intake as he thought of how he would never again be able to prod and poke at the unfamiliar and unknown with the fascination of a scientist to his leisure, to say nothing of actual exploration for he had been robbed of not only his wings but his T-Cog as well.
Skyfire came to a halt, utterly exhausted. His limbs trembled, but he straightened out his posture regardless as if the tiniest hint of mannerisms would spare him the scorn and sneers he was sure to be met with.
His destination loomed over him now. The tower Starscream claimed to live in was nothing short of imposing, the metal glistening in the bright lights cast upon it. Skyfire’s spark sank in despair. There was no chance he would ever be allowed in; not as a shuttle, and certainly not as an Empuratee.
Unsurprisingly, he was stopped before he could do as much as enter the building. A hand pushed against his chestplate and he fell on his aft, snapping his helm up to look at his assailant.
“We don't want your kind here,” the mech sneered. His wings stood high and their glossy coat accompanied with the strong scent indicated a rich polish. The Vosian did not hold back his contempt and spoke with dismissive cruelty. “You’ll taint our reputation.”
Skyfire flinched. He scooted back, putting some distance between him and the jet. “I–I–”
The mech interjected, flippantly waving a hand at Skyfire and stuck his nose in the air. “What? You probably can't even afford to look at this.”
Skyfire reset his vocalizer with a click. “I’m looking for someone,” he said. Skyfire’s voice sounded unfamiliar, alien, and he realized belatedly that this was the first time he'd spoken since he left the Institute. His vocalizer had been replaced too, it seemed. He drew a deep vent.
“Who would want anything with someone like you?” The mech sniffed haughtily.
“Please, just—his name, his name is Starscream, he said he lived here, I—I need to see him, please,” Skyfire begged, clasping his claws in front of his chassis in a submissive gesture. He felt the mech’s optics on him still but refused to look up, lest Skyfire would incite his ire again.
The Vosian opened his intake but whatever fire he spewed at Skyfire was lost under the sounds of a transformation sequence. Skyfire had heard it more than enough to know who it belonged to, and too soon did his shoulders sag in relief.
“Who’s asking?” Asked a new voice from behind him, the familiarity sending a soothing pulse through Skyfire’s spark. Hope bloomed in his circuits and he dared to turn his helm, only to cringe away from the disgust he saw in Starscream’s optics, reflected back at his own pitiful form.
Now or never. Skyfire stood, turning his back on the mech from earlier. “It's me, Star,” he whispered meekly.
“It's Skyfire.”