A/N: Well, a non-romance story... Only my second one I've posted. Weird.

Well, I hope you enjoy it, even though it's so short. ^_^

Starscream rested with the cave, sitting down on the cold earth floor against the rocky walls. It was an old energon mine, abandoned for stellar-cycles within the outskirts of the Mojave Desert. Like the underground mines before, he had stored a personal energon unit there for himself, though it was significantly smaller than the previous one. As far as he knew, no one else but him knew about its location, but it seemed as though Soundwave knew everything. Primus only knew whether or not the communications officer knew and had reported it to Megatron.

Megatron. Starscream huffed heavily at the thought of him. He had served as his second-in-command for vorns and yet, he was so useless and easily replaceable. That seemed to have been proven as Arachnid was squeezing her way into Megatron's high favor. He was no longer trusted, as if he had been to begin with. Megatron obviously favored everyone else over him. Slag, he even tried to offline him in the energon cave. Even if Starscream were to return to the ship, Arachnid must have blamed him for losing the Immobilizer. Megatron would have his helm for such a loss.

No one would miss his presence. No one would care that he had disappeared off the face of the universe. The only reason why they would ever come after him is because Megatron wanted to offline him permanently so he wouldn't try to take over again. Of course, the only reason why he would think that Starscream wanted to take over was because Soundwave probably hadn't told him of the conversation they had since Soundwave hated him. Soundwave was ever so loyal to Megatron and Starscream always revoked everything the Decepticon Leader did, which not only angered Megatron but Soundwave as well. Unlike him, Soundwave fought so hard to make sure Megatron was safe and alive. Starscream tried to offline him. If Soundwave didn't hate him– which would have been a shock to the seeker – then he sure behaved that way.

He had meant what he said. He understood perfectly well that Megatron was better than him. He had wanted to please his Lord, but he always seemed to fail so frequently that he would never amount to anything. He was just done with it. Just completely done with it.

Starscream knew where he stood. He was independent and no longer had a lord, a master. For one thing, he was abandoned by all Cons as far as he was concerned and he had abandoned them just the same. They did not need him. That had been proven to him a long time ago.

He was such a failure. He had tried so hard – so fragging hard – to be leader and prove to everyone he could lead just as well as Megatron and even better. Even before then, he had tried to prove that he was Megatron's equal as his SIC and Air Commander. Yet, that wasn't where he stood. He was mocked, ridiculed, and humiliated by all those within the ranks. No one took him seriously because he had come to realize he was nothing but a fool.

A just stupid, ignorant fool with no side and no certainty of what would happen to him from then on. He could be dead tomorrow or live until his spark stopped beating. Until then though, he would serve as his own master and no longer associated with the Decepticons. He was free to do as he pleased and not suffer any brutal consequences for his actions. That was what he had always wanted.

Yet, as he sat there in the cave, alone and without any aid, he began to wonder if being independent was really for the best. He was an open target to either side. Anyone could attack and kill him. He had no protection, no help.

Still, he'd rather have no aid than feel the wrath of his former master. A death from independence sounded swifter than a death from Megatron's servo.