What He Deserves
All in all, it had begun as a fairly typical day for Cyclonus. They had been hunting down the traitor Octane when they chased him down into an old Decepticon crypt where they had encountered the ghost of Starscream. Cyclonus had been briefly possessed before being shot by Galvatron, causing Starscream to possess Scourge instead. Scourge had gone berserk, shooting Galvatron and his own team members, before flying off to Unicron with Starscream. Cyclonus had tried to stop the other Decepticons from attacking, knowing that his friend wasn't himself. Cyclonus had to persuade Galvatron to let him lead the Sweeps off to find Scourge instead of letting the Predicons find him and deal with him. In the end, after more possessions, complications, and a battle with the Autobots and Metroplex, Starscream got his body from Unicron, before being blasted into space.
After that trying episode, things had settled down to the chaotic normality that existed on Char. Except… there was a subtle difference in Galvatron that Cyclonus almost overlooked at first. Since the confrontation with Unicron, Galvatron had seemed more… subdued, less explosively insane than usual. For instance, when the Combaticons asked for more rations to do some complex training exercise, instead of completely losing it and blasting the bots or immediately approving the plan without consideration, Galvatron had appeared thoughtful before informing the Combaticons that they did not have enough rations to waste at the moment. But this answer, although delivered with the cold authority Galvatron usually possessed, carried none of the insane anger that would have been present not so long ago. Also, Galvatron was consulting more with his lieutenants Cyclonus and Soundwave when considering new offensives against the Autobots. Along with this new openness came more responsibility on Galvatron's part. He no longer delegated the blame for failure onto whoever was nearest, but on whoever deserved it. Consequently, his random acts of violence, so usually directed at Cyclonus, also almost ceased.
This behavior went on for a few weeks before Cyclonus decided to discuss his observations with someone. Soundwave would have perhaps been the best candidate, but the telepath was so silently observant that Cyclonus avoided him whenever possible. Scourge, although not much of a thinker, would nevertheless tell Cyclonus honestly what he thought.
It was with interest, then, that Cyclonus noted Scourge seemed preoccupied while Cyclonus described his observations about Galvatron to the sweep. He would not meet Cyclonus's eyes and fidgeted nervously until Cyclonus finally asked him about it.
"Do you know something about this, Scourge?" Cyclonus demanded, almost harshly. Scourge hesitated, but gave in to the stern look on Cyclonus's face.
"When I was inside Unicron with the traitor Starscream, I asked for something as well, seeing as it was my body that scum was possessing to do Unicron's bidding. Since it was such a simple request for someone as great as he, Unicron deigned to grant it."
"Well, what was it?" Cyclonus questioned impatiently. He had no idea where this was going.
Scourge's gaze shifted around a few times before coming back to rest on Cyclonus. "I asked if… if there was anything Unicron could do to… format the madness out of Galvatron."
Cyclonus merely stood, arms crossed, in disbelieving silence for a moment before saying, "And what did Unicron do?"
Scourge seemed almost relieved that Cyclonus had not berated him for his request, knowing the disaster that had occurred previously when Cyclonus had attempted to remove Galvatron's madness. "When you attacked Unicron, he merely stretched out his consciousness and corrected the mistake in Galvatron's logic chip that had been made during the haste of his reforming. Unicron had been unaware of the trouble Galvatron's unbalanced state of mind had been causing the Decepticons and it did not pain him to correct it."
Cyclonus thought for a moment. "Does Galvatron know what has been done to him? Is there any chance that he will revert to his previous state?"
"I do not know, but I doubt it," Scourge said with a shrug.
Cyclonus allowed himself a small smile. "Well, there seems not much else to do but enjoy the boon we have been granted."
*****
It had been over a month since Scourge's unexpectedly forwardly thinking request cured Galvatron's madness. Things, though still tough on the Decepticons of Char, began to get slightly better as Galvatron's schemes to obtain energon become more refined and he started choosing his battles with the Autobots more wisely.
Cyclonus continued to execute his post of second-in-command faithfully, although his secondary job of curbing the wrath of Galvatron was no longer necessary. In fact, he was doing much less of anything that he had been doing before, when he was required to practically lead the Decepticons by puppeteering Galvatron's anger, now he merely served to back up Galvatron's plans and head his small battalion of troops.
Galvatron's newfound sanity made an unforgettable impression on Cyclonus one night after a particularly heated battle with the Autobots. They had won; the victory had been particularly sweet because the Decepticons had managed to both gravely injure Ultra Magnus, who had been leading the Autobots stationed on the remote planet, and acquire a rather large stash of energon. The Decepticons were having a celebratory drink in honor of the win, delighted with having enough to spare at last. Cyclonus, who was never one to become over-energized, decided to leave the celebrations and go back to his quarters. He was on his way when he was stopped by Galvatron.
Cyclonus had been slightly disoriented and not a little wary of Galvatron's new calm demeanor at first, but had since gotten used to it. Galvatron's optics, now clear and penetrating, where once they had been tinged with madness, stared through Cyclonus. Cyclonus felt gratified by that gaze; he kept himself open because he had nothing to hide from his leader and master.
"Cyclonus," the mech said, still gazing steadily at him, "Your quick shooting of Ultra Magnus today was the key to our victory. You should feel satisfied with yourself."
Cyclonus was slightly taken aback. The old Galvatron had never complimented him at all, and while the new Galvatron was more recognizing of his troops' achievements, Cyclonus had not been expecting praise of this magnitude.
"Anything to serve you, Lord Galvatron," Cyclonus humbly replied.
A rare and devious smile crept across Galvatron's face. "Anything…?"
Before Cyclonus could do more than wonder about Galvatron's meaning, he felt the crowned mech roughly pin him to the wall and firmly press their lips together. Shock and confusion were the first two emotions that Cyclonus registered. The next was hope and then finally enthusiasm as the returned Galvatron's savage kiss with equal fervor.
Galvatron's hands began to wander across Cyclonus's purple frame. As they came up to stroke Cyclonus's antenna, Cyclonus moaned into the kiss, giving Galvatron an opportunity to suck on Cyclonus's glossa. Cyclonus took advantage of Galvatron's distraction to explore the other purple mech's body with his hands. Galvatron growled in pleasure and lightly nibbled on the other's glossa. Cyclonus only dimly registered his partner pulling him through the door into his own quarters. Galvatron laid Cyclonus out underneath him and proceeded to run his lips all over the other's chassis. Cyclonus arched up and grabbed Galvatron by the hips, bringing their interface ports together. Galvatron did not seem to be bothered in anyway by Cyclonus's forwardness, and now it was his turn to arch up and moan.
As the two purple mechs moved toward overload together, Cyclonus thought that he never would have imagined anything like this a few months ago. He and Galvatron had interfaced before, and while Cyclonus was always gratified by the attention from his leader, the experience was usually painful, Galvatron using teeth and claws to brutally show his domination.
Cyclonus's experience now, while no less rough and exciting, spoke of something beyond the mindless lust and need for domination Galvatron had shown before. As both mechs overloaded, each with the other's name on his lips, Cyclonus thought that maybe this new change in Galvatron was good for more than just battle strategy.
'I could get used to this,' Cyclonus thought as he settled down to recharge in his master and lover's arms.