Waiting for Starscream to come back feels like an eternity. Rodimus is half convinced he wonโt. But he returns.
Rodimus is silent for a long moment. The answer should be obviousโand it speaks to just howโฆ messed up Starscreamโs situation is. How messed up he is. It hurts to see someone steeped so deeply in despair. Itโs not right.
He takes the energon cubes, and says, โBecause living under someone elseโs thumb and getting the tar beaten out of you on the reg is a miserable way to live? Because everyone deserves freedom? Thatโs what Autobots fight for, dude.โ
He opens a cube and takes a drink. It tastesโฆ odd. Close to what heโs used to, but slightly off. He wipes his mouth on the back of his hand. โIโm not trying to get under your plating on purpose. I save that for Megs.โ
Wings slowly lower down; both pair betraying him. Thereโs a cold chill that strikes him, and he draws up and back slightly. To hear something like that spoken to someone like him. For a moment his expression darkens, and he takes in his situation. He runs it over in his mind, turning it over and over, before he shakes his head, crossing his arms protectively across his chassis.ย
โ I chose this. โ He states it with a calm that speaks to acceptance.ย โ I am where I am because of my own actions. Do not mistake this with him forcing me. Iโve ran. Iโve always came back of my own accord. Others who run get hunted, killed. Heโs always left me to my own devices, took me back every time I crawled right back. I donโt pretend I understand why he takes me back instead of terminating me - but I accept my lot. โ
He takes a moment to quietly think. Thereโs a way to phrase the whyย without looking for pity. Thereโs a way to make it make sense to Rodimus - to relate it. He knows it. He raises his optics to meet Rodimusโ. The purple sends a chill through him, but he straightens himself up tall, his arms uncrossing and folding behind his back - an old familiar regalย stance. He never quite lost it.
โ You have your crew. You know how they look up to you, depend on you. I had the same - except it was the entirety of Vos. To fail them as I had; penance was due. It is a miserable existence, but I live while they do not. It is fair. If I have to continue on; I deserve to continue to feel every last thing they all had to go through. Itโs not a proper price to pay for failing all those who looked up to me to lead - but it is all I have. โ
Itโs when itโs out that he clues in to how pathetic he sounds, and a servo comes up to rest on his helm, gently rubbing at it with an elongated sigh. Frustration shows through his body language, and he lowers his arm, letting it uselessly dangle at his side.ย
โ I donโt want pity. I did what I did, and no action should be without its consequence. I failed of my own accord. Your situation - you had someone hold you down and force you. Youโre different than me. You didnโt choose. If either one of us deservesย to get free of his grasp; it would be you. โ A shrug.ย โ Not that itโs something I think likely to happen. You have to be realistic. Iโm sorry. โ