Oooh, thank you for the link! That is such a lovely story. D: *bookmarks*

I don't know if he would have defected if he'd been with them from the beginning. It's easy to settle into patterns, and I really think that's where most of Megatron's power comes from - gradual changes over time, culminating in the madness we see today. I think maybe the real question is - if Skyfire hadn't crashed, would either he or Starscream have joined the Decepticons at all? I'm sure Starscream always had that cruelty in him, but not quite so sharp. And plenty of the Autobots are cruel, it's not a disqualifying trait, you know? It all seems so inevitable sometimes, but it does make me wish for a bit more insight into the beginnings of the war.