[That name. That name, from that voice, with that flash of optics in protest but accepting...it was familiar enough to make him ache for home. For being with mechs who didn't know his future, who hadn't lived his life for him before he'd ever gotten the chance.]

[He missed it.]

[He missed it, but he needed this first--Starscream, who had survived the war on his knees before Megatron, who had not. Mentors and students, both. He could act on all he had learned, and set this right.]

Good. I'm only going to say this once.

[Crouching, he leaned forward, his lips passing the side of Starscream's helm until they waited, just over the jet's audial vents.]

I'm sorry.

[For this. For the war. For the mistakes he'd made. If there had been one thing that all the Starscreams had agreed on--it was that Megatron had taken them for granted. He would not repeat that, when he returned.]