reedom. Leaving... Going... Going where?
To Skyfire, yes. Always to Skyfire.
Poor Skyfire. Waiting. Waiting for me. Always waiting for me. I make him wait for me. Always.
Free-falling...falling...falling. No, not supposed to be free-falling. Fly, stupid.
OK. Flying now. Thrusters are working...sort of...but I’m still falling. Why am I still falling?
Ocean...ocean...lots of ocean... Big swells. Whitecaps. Spray.
Whoa! Way too close if I'm feeling spray! Pull up, pull up, pull up!
Up! Up, dammit! Up!
There. Better. Leveling off. Still not nearly high enough but this is good for now. We'll get where we need to be. Eventually. Slow and steady, Starscream, slow and steady is the only way to fly now...
Climb now...Keep going up... Up a little more. There, yes. There you go. Good. Good enough, anyway.
…
…
… Where am I going? Where am I now?
Navigation. Need navigation… No navigation. Great.
Need the sun, then. What time is it?
7:30. Morning. Sun is over there. So…going exactly the wrong way, Starscream…
Southwest. I remember that I need southwest. Coordinates... Do I remember the coordinates…? Yes, I do. But…no instruments. No navigation. So just…fly. It’s all you can do, Starscream. Southwest. Fly southwest, and you’ll find it. You have to find it…
...
...
... That new wing isn't holding up well. Unstable. Weak. Weak like me. Don't think it'll hold for long, definitely not all the way to Indonesia. What do I do when it goes…?
No, don't think about that now. Don't think about that ever. Just fly. Keep flying. Keep going…
Two hours to your destination, Starscream. Assuming that you can find it at all. Two hours...
Primus, two hours is way too long. I'm not going to make it. I’m definitely not going to make it. That wing…it’s not going to hold. It’s going to go, it’s going to tear loose, it’s loose already, I can feel it, and I’ll lose control and…and…
…and I'm going to die. I don't want die, but I'm going to die. Die, die, die. Crash into the ocean. Sink. Die. Never make it, Starscream, never make it.
Foolish to even try this. Should have stayed. Should have stayed at Headquarters. Not safe there, but it was safer than I am now, out here, alone, damaged. Damn Thundercracker and his crazy ideas. But…can’t turn around now…Way too late to turn around. It’s way too late for many things…
…
…
… Energon levels draining...draining...Why are they draining? They weren't draining like this an hour and a half ago. Something broke. Something must have broken. That must be it. Broke. Torn.
Draining.
Tired…so tired. Can’t keep going but I have to keep going… Have to find Skyfire, have to keep going…
Falling... I’m falling again.
Whoa! Spray again. UP!
Up...and up again... and still more up. Up, up, and away, Starscream, up, up, and away.
There. Stay there. Have to stay there. Altitude is good, falling is bad. Have to hold on. Still have a long way to go yet... Can’t fall. Can’t crash. Have to stay...right...here. No falling. No more falling. Don't want to die...
But...draining.
Weak.
Not going to make it. But I have to make it. Have to…
...
...
... Skyfire. Where is he? Need to find him. Need help. Can’t go on much longer and he has to be around here somewhere because there's Bali. I recognize it. That shape. I know the shape of that place. And Skyfire’s island isn’t far from Bali… But I don't remember where to go from here. Not really. Which direction? How far?
I don’t remember, I can’t think, I have no navigation, no scanners, no instruments. Gone. It’s all gone.
Going to die. Hardly any energon. Still draining. Leaking from somewhere. Lots and lots of it leaking from somewhere, draining way too fast. Leaking into the ocean below like I will eventually fall into the ocean.
Need to fix it, find the leak, fix the leak...but no diagnostics. No navigation, no scanners, no...nothing.
I need Skyfire. Die without him. He said go to him, Thundercracker said go to him, and I went. I’m going. Need him. Always need him. Have to find him. Have to...
How? How do I find him? Don’t know. Fly. Keep flying. Stop falling and fly.
Think, Starscream. Think!
...
...
... Skyfire found me once, up in the Arctic. Seems like so long ago but it wasn't, not really. Said he used the bond to find me, that it was still there, still active, still alive. Not dead. Not dead like I will be. But he lied. He must have lied. He had to have lied. The bond doesn't work anymore. It can't work anymore. Too old, too long, too much.
But wait. I used it once, too. So long ago... No, not so long ago. Not long ago at all. I used it the first time I found him on his island, only just last year…I think. I just knew where he was. Just concentrated and…knew.
Concentrate now, Starscream. Concentrate… Concentrate and…and…
There! He’s there. He’s over there. That’s his island over that way. Right over there. Can’t be more than a hundred kilometers…
Bank, bank! Bank left, dammit, not right. Left. There you go. Go. Keep going. Concentrate…
…
…
…Beeping. My thoughts…fuzzy…can’t think straight. Can’t concentrate anymore but it’s OK because that’s Skyfire’s island there. Right there. Right in front of me. I can see it…sort of… I can make it.
Maybe.
Or maybe not…
What is that infernal noise? Oh. Beeping. Right. Dangerously low energon levels. That’s what the beeping is trying to tell me. Warning me…
The wing. There it goes. Gone. It’s gone. Just now. Just tore right off. It should have been painful. Probably was painful, but… Can’t feel anything anymore. Can’t feel anything, can’t do anything. Paralyzed. Panicked. The wing’s falling into the ocean and I’m spiraling, following it down, down, down…
Out of control. No hope of control. More beeping. Warning. Spiraling. Screaming. Crashing.
Ocean, meet Starscream. Starscream, meet—
What was that? Big white thing, whipping by me, around me.
No time to think. No time to identify. The ocean…It’s all I see now. The swells are back, the whitecaps are back, now the spray is back. It’s cold.
Can’t pull up this time. No resources left. No hope. No reprieve. Ocean swirling up to meet me, plunging into cold.
Into darkness.
Into silence.
Into death.