Angelii essay

[wherenobotsgone]

Skyfire has been in Nautilus for almost two years by now, and both the city itself and its inhabitants have affected him deeply.

Once the first shock of his arrival wore off, he took the situation as a new chance to start over. Back in his own world, Skyfire felt displaced, the odd one out among the people who surrounded him; after spending millions of years in stasis, the world he knew no longer existed. There was a war going on, the only person he knew was now on the opposite faction as him, his entire planet had been nearly abandoned - and he had no choice but to struggle to adapt to all these changes.

Waking was different and, in a way, much easier to handle. There were familiar faces - Jazz and Wheeljack, at the time - to receive him and explain the basics to him. There was no war. Most important of all, Skyfire wasn't the exception anymore. Everyone in the city had, at some point, gone through the same as he had. This put him on equal footing with the others, which was a welcome change.

It did take him a while to get used to Bending. His problem was not that he didn’t think it was possible: he simply went about it the wrong way at first. Used to scientific work, Skyfire was subconsciously looking for rules and patterns. Once he figured out what the problem was, however, he focused on trying to avoid it and at last managed to get the hang of it.

He has also taken the chance to visit other worlds; so far, Starscream's and Mitham's. Since Skyfire is very used to (and very fond of) traveling, this is another reason why he is working to get better at Bending.

Still, for a long time he was in no rush to Ascend, and so he focused more on exploring Nautilus itself and spending time with his new friends than on Bending practice. And it was because of his friends, precisely, that he began paying more attention to this kind of work. He soon found out that having a human form would be very convenient to interact with them, and that required a certain level of skill that he tried to reach.

Another of his motivations is the chance to potentially meet Starscream again. Skyfire promised that, in time, he would Ascend and be able to look for him. Starscream's brief return took him off guard, but he still considers this the best course of action.

The main reason why he decided to make a conscious effort to become and Ascended is a different one, however, and very simple: he wants to be able to help. Skyfire cares deeply about his friends, and he has a great need to feel useful. In Nautilus, Bending is the best way to do this. Skyfire is not much of a fighter - he can hold his own, and of course his size alone is an advantage, but it isn't his strong point - but there are other, creative ways to use this kind of talents. It was Starscream who pointed this out to him, and also suggested that aiming to Ascend would be a good idea. Hearing it from someone else gave Skyfire the impulse he needed. Ever since then, his experiences have proven that this was a good course of action. Whenever possible, he tries to use his Bending not to fight, but as an alternative to violence.

However, the most important way in which Nautilus affected Skyfire has to do with his personality itself. At first, he still felt out of place, and took the same attitude he had in his own world: he offered to help in any way he could, but waited for other people to make the decisions and then adapted to them. Once he spent more time in the city, he began to take the initiative himself more often. Skyfire still defers to the Ascended, if only because he considers them more experienced than him, but he is more than ready to act on his own ideas.

He was also forced to confront his deepest fears and issues, both when the Labyrinth's incarnation appeared and when he had to face his own Shadow. These events finally made him admit to himself that he still felt like a burden to his friends, and that he rarely talked about his own problems. After realizing this, however, he did begin to act on it, and opened up more to other people. An important change is how he decided to talk about his past with several of his friends, a subject he had been avoiding before.

One of the earliest examples of how much he has grown in Nautilus is his reaction to Airachnid kidnapping Caesar. In a way, he managed to apply all of his "lessons" there. He decided to act immediately, without waiting for others to take the lead, and came up with his own plan. He didn't try to fight, which he knows isn't his forte, but used his creativity instead to come up with a plan that would let Caesar be rescued without needless violence. And, perhaps most important of all, he did not hesitate to ask other people to help.

This change of attitude also affected his everyday life. Skyfire has always been the type to be there for his friends, but for some time now, he has been more proactive about it. Instead of simply being the one who lends an ear or shows support, he tries to actively help solve problems. He has also been taking care of Ground Zero in Wheeljack’s absence, going as far as to offer people a place to stay – something that wouldn’t have occurred to him in his earliest days in Nautilus. This is how Marian ended up living there, for example.

The Dark Aeon’s attack threatened to ruin this mostly peaceful life. It held Skyfire captive for weeks, entrapped in ice, and tortured by illusions of his greatest fear: failing his friends and being unable to help them when the Aeon attacked. In the end, however, this proved to be counterproductive, since it only served to strengthen his resolve. Skyfire refused to give in, feeling that if he did, then he would truly be letting down everyone he cared for; he owed it to them to at least put up his best fight. He was able to break his ice prison because Nautilus was already very close to Chaos, but the source of his newfound willpower was none other than his love for his friends.

Once he was back in Nautilus and mostly recovered from his injuries, Skyfire did his best to help defend the city in two different ways: by joining the group that rescued Orihime from Pyramid Head, and then in the fight against the Aeon itself. The battle proved that, now more experienced, Skyfire has learned to make the hard choices. Normally peaceful and willing to give everyone a chance, he also knows that at times there is no other answer except putting up a fight. After seeing what the Aeon could do, and especially moved by Sideswipe’s sacrifice to stop it, Skyfire willingly worked to Unmake it.

Of course, although he now realizes that sometimes there are no good choices, most of the time he still does his best to consider all options and, if at all possible, choose the least violent one. A good example of this is his reaction to Dib’s plans to deal with Zim. Skyfire opposed strongly to his plans to destroy Zim, let alone things like vivisection. But at the same time, he did take Dib seriously, listened to him, and suggested other courses of action – and it worked. He managed to both gain Dib’s trust and learn more about the threats that Zim posed. Even when trying to stop Zim’s fires, Skyfire refused to needlessly hurt him, instead choosing to cooperate with Dana and solve the immediate problem at hand.

His friendly, helpful nature also works to his own advantage at times, since it means that others are willing to help him in turn. The best example of this was when Discord affected his personality, making him try to cut himself off from people. Both Sideswipe and Zimmy refused to give up on him, and managed to bring him back to normal.

Skyfire has also found something specific to focus on while there aren’t any emergencies to take care of. Although he still likes to explore and work on his own research, his work is far less random now, thanks to his relationship with Zimmy. For the first time since his arrival in Nautilus, Skyfire is directly taking care of another person. This includes his work: he’s trying to find a way to make sure that Zimmy remains capable of controlling her powers if Bending goes out of control again. It also affects his personal life, since the girl is unofficially his charge, which comes with a whole new set of responsibilities.

All of these experiences show that though it has taken him a while to get started, ever since he made the conscious decision to accept change instead of simply letting things happen, Skyfire has grown very much both in Bending talent and as a person.