'I told them they had nothing to fear from me. Still they bowed before me. I asked them not to do that. They replied with a nervous "Yes Master".'I was confused and worried. 'They are supposed to know I am no one's master, that I serve the people. What had I done to deserve the title 'Master'? Nothing. At least nothing that I know of.'
I frowned but let them be at the moment. They continued with their work as I supervised them. I let my optics wander around the room, noting that it was much darker than I remembered. And most of my mechs had gotten a repaint. I hummed as I pondered on what had happened in my absence. The doors opened behind me and I let a small smile ghost my lips. I turned around to meet my trustworthy SIC and TIC.
"Starscream. Soundwave." I said with a nod towards the seeker and the communication officer and had to stop a frown from forming in my face when I saw them. Silver and purple. They were supposed to be white/red and white/blue.
"Welcome back Master." Starscream said with a fake smile.
"I see that you have gotten a new paintjob. I must say, it fits perfectly for our glorious leader!" he continued as he eyed me. This time I let the frown to come forth.
"Is that so Starscream?" I said with a raised optic ridge. A nervous twitch of Starscream's wings told me everything I needed to know. I narrowed my optics and a few more nervous twitches came from Starscream's wings.
"O-of course Master! Would I ever lie to you?" Starscream said nervously and tried to smile convincingly but failed hard. I said nothing as I stared at my supposed trustworthy and loyal SIC. More twitches and nervous fiddling from the seeker before said seeker sharply turned around to Soundwave, wings strung up high in tension.
"Well! Aren't you going to greet our Master?!" he snapped and glared at Soundwave. A bigger part of my attention left the seeker and fell to my good friend Soundwave. But a small part of my mind was concentrated on Starscream's wings. I waited for Soundwave's usual greeting – some music, a big wave with his servos and a smiley on his screen – but none of that came. Only a light bow from him. I nodded to him before I turned around, a thoughtful expression on my face. I barely watched them work, my mind deep in thought.
"Ah. Master?" Starscream's voice forced me out of my thoughts and I looked over my shoulder to look at the seeker. He had a frown on his face but it quickly disappeared as I looked at him.
"Have you found anything on your travel?" he asked carefully. I turned my head forward again and watched as the command center worked. I thought for a moment before I turned around and headed towards the the door.
"Starscream. Walk with me." I said as I passed him.
"Huh?" came the response from the seeker before hurried footsteps came after me. I paused in the door opening and turned towards Soundwave.
"Watch over them." I said and Soundwave nodded and walked to his work station and began to work. I watched Soundwave for a moment before I turned around and walked out of the room. Starscream hurried to my side and I kept an optic on Starscream's wings. We walked in silence for a while which made Starscream's wings to twitch.
"How is Thundercracker and Skywarp?" I finally asked and saw how Starscream seemed to freeze up. He stopped in midstep and I had to stop and turn towards my SIC. I saw how Starscream's wings began to shake and I frowned slightly at this. I noticed how his servos also started to shake but he was quick with crossing his arms and thus hiding them from sight.
"That was really cruel, even for you Megatron." Starscream huffed and quickly walked past me, apparently wanting to drop it. I began to walk after the seeker at a bit slower pace, looking at his wings that betrayed his emotions. Pain, sorrow, disbelief. My spark sank as I understood. I reached out and gently touched one of the seeker's wings in a comforting manner.
"I'm sorry for your loss Starscream." I said gently as I caressed the wing. Starscream froze once again on the spot. The only warning I got was a shake of his wings, an angry shake, before he turned around to me and glared at me with hatred.
"Sorry for my loss? Sorry for my loss?!" he hissed angrily and snarled at me as he hunched a little as if he was prepared to attack me. His wings was shaking in rage which made him look even more dangerous. I blinked in surprise as I took back my outstretched arm.
"Don't you even dare to say that! You were the one who offlined them decavorns ago! Don't you dare to say sorry now!" he hissed as his frame shook. His wings were telling me how he felt. Pain, sorrow, hurt, pain pain pain, loss, distrust, hatred, revenge. I merely stared at this seeker. This could not be my friend, not my trusted SIC and Air Commander. I would never hurt Starscream or his Trine, he would never seek revenge even if he lost his Trinemates. But this seeker was telling the truth. Something was not right here, but the seeker was telling the truth. I was shocked to say the least but I didn't let it show. I merely stretched out my arm and servo again, over this seeker's shoulder, and started to draw comforting patterns on the wing in my reach. The silver seeker's frame became stock still as I slowly drew the patterns.
"H-how do you know those patterns?" he chocked out as his frame began to shake again, this time in sorrow rather than anger. I said nothing as I let the seeker grieve the loss of his Trinemates. Subconsciously the seeker leaned towards me to rest his head on my chest and to let me get better access to both of his wings. I took up my other arm and started to draw the patterns on the other wing too. We stood there for a long time, me stroking Starscream's wings and Starscreram grieving for his lost Trinemates.
"Lord Megatron." the voice of Elliot, one of the footsoliders I remembered, came behind me. The sound startled Starscream, making him push himself away from me and stare at me with wide optics.
"I- You- I-!" he spluttered before he sharply turned around and ran away. I blinked as I looked after the silver seeker.
"Uh. Lord Megatron?" Elliot said hesitantly. I turned around to look at the soldier.
"Yes?" I asked and he seemed to snap out of his confusion.
"You are needed in the command center Sir." Elliot said as he looked at me. I nodded.
"Thank you for informing me Elliot." I said and began to walk back to the command center. I did not miss the surprised and a bit confused look on Elliot's face. I hummed in thought as I walked.
I came into the command center to see the chaos in the workspace. I calmly walked over to my place and addressed Soundwave.
"Soundwave. Report." I said and whatever Soundwave had found popped up on the main screen in the room. It showed the energon level of the ship and the damage. I frowned when I saw the numbers.
"Land at these coordinates. Put the cloak up when we land. We are going to make a major repair to the fuel system." I ordered and the chaos became organized as they carried out my orders. I felt being watched and I looked up to see Soundwave staring at me. I raised an optic ridge and Soundwave turned back to his work. I hummed and watched as everyone worked to make a safe landing. As the ship touched the ground, the cloak got up and I began to order around repair crews. From what I had seen the fuel lines of the ship had taken a beating and was about to clog because of the wrong recipe for fuel energon. I knew this was going to take a Earthday or two to fix, and I couldn't do much than to stand and watch. I watched over the workers as they began to work and when they had come into a routine I left my post.
"Soundwave." I called as began to walk inside the ship again. Soundwave was quickly behind me and walked with me.
"Make sure the work goes well. I don't need incidents or accidents. I'm going out for a flight." I told him and I got a 'Yes Lord Megatron' recording from Soundwave. I heard that Soundwave stopped and I could feel his stare on me but I continued to walk without turning around. I first went to my quarter, I haven't been there yet and I felt it a good opportunity to check a few things before I headed out to think.
My quarter was unlike me. I knew this was my quarters, the door had responded to my code, but it didn't look like it was my quarter. I frowned as I looked around the room. It didn't hold any of my personal things nor the Praxian crystal my Elite had given me. But it did hold a few things that looked like mine, but they weren't. I picked up a photo where I was in the arena, fighting against Soundwave. I remembered this and I knew I had something familiar at my real quarter. It was indeed me in the arena but in my real photo, I was fighting Starscream. I frowned once again and put the photo back down before I walked out of my quarter and out of the Nemesis. I looked up at the blue sky before I transformed and flew away from the site. I needed to think in a place where I could not be disturbed.
After flying around for quite some time I finally found a place beside a lake where I could think without being disturbed. I landed and transformed. I looked at the sight and smiled a little.
"Earth is such a beautiful planet." I hummed for myself and took a seat on some rocks that gave me an overlook of the lake. As I was enjoying the sight I started to think about this day. To say that it was a strange day would be an understatement. I had so many questions but no way to answer them. I closed my optics and let unwillingly the sound of nature lull me to recharge.
I woke a few Earth hours later to the sound of someone trying to contact me by the comm. link. I sighed and answered the comm.
.:Mega-:. I began but got cut off almost directly.
.:Where the frag are you Master?!:. came the voice of Starscream through the comm. I let an amused smile play on my lips.
.:I'm merely out on a flight Starscream. How is the repairing going?:. I asked and Starscream was silent for a bit before he answered.
.:They are going fine. Maybe about half an Earth day away before completion. And no Autobots have appeared.:. Starscream said and I nodded to myself.
.:Good. So what is the reason for you to call me? Worried Starscream?:. I said and chuckled as the seeker spluttered in the comm. link.
.:NO!:. Starscrem snapped when he got himself together. I hummed in response. I could hear the huff from Starscream's side.
.:Anyway. You haven't been answering you comm. links and Soundwave have been bugging me to contact you. Now that I know you are fine I will return to my duties.:. Starscream said, annoyance clear in his voice, before he cut the comm. link. I chuckled once again. That might not have been my Starscream, but I had to admit it was quite amusing to tease this seeker. The sound of a groundbridge brought me out of my musings and I looked over to the opened portal. I tensed when I saw Arcee, Goldbug, Bulkhead and Orion walking out of the groundbridge with their guns out. I frowned slightly when I noticed their different colors. I was about to lift my fusion cannon but something stopped me as I looked at Orion. Something was off about him.
My chance to surprise the Autobots went away as Goldbug noticed me and pointed his guns at me. The others quickly did the same. For some reason I was not afraid of them. So instead of doing the logical – shooting at them with my fusion cannon and try to get away – I sat still and studied them. Taking in their appearance and their actions. Or rather their nonexistent actions. I raised an optic ridge when they only pointed their guns at me, not shooting at me. I hummed and leaned back against the rock as I rested my elbow on a rock beside me and rested my head on my servo. They tensed as I moved and an amused smile appeared on my lips.
"What is he doing? Why isn't he, you know, shooting at us?" I heard Bulkhead mumble uncertainly.
"I'm not sure. Maybe this is a trap?" Arcee answered him as she gave me a suspicious glare. My attention drew back to Orion as he stood straighter and not as battle ready as before. We locked optics and stared at each other.
"Autobots, stand down." Orion said as he took away his gun. I raised an optic ridge, both at the command and the powerful yet oddly gentle voice.
"What?! Optimus!" Arcee snapped as she gave her leader a glare. I frowned at the name. 'Optimus?'
"Arcee, stand down. That's an order." Orion said and his soldiers did as he told them, although a bit reluctantly.
"'Optimus'? Have you renamed yourself Orion?" I said and all optics were on me again. Orion frowned.
"My name is not Orion." Orion said as he glanced at his soldiers. I frowned.
"Then who are you?" I asked as I sat up properly, making the Autobots jump.
-:You should know his name Megatron!:- Goldbug bleeped as he brought out his guns again.
"You have no right to call me 'Megatron' Goldbug." I growled and rose up. His gun whirred up as the others brought out their guns again.
-:...Goldbug?:- Goldbug bleeped in confusion. Orion took a step forward.
"Back down Megatron." he said as he pointed his gun at me. My attention snapped to Orion.
"You never call me Megatron." I mused as my anger was at the moment diffused. This time it was Orion's turn to be confused.
"... Who are you?" Orion asked as he lowered his gun.
"I could ask you and your soldiers the same." I said as I looked them over.
"My name is Optimus Prime. I'm the leader of the Autobots." Orion said. Optimus, I corrected. I frowned a bit.
"This is Arcee, Bumblebee and Bulkhead. My comrades. Not soldiers." Optimus said and looked at me. I hummed in thought.
"Well, this orn is getting stranger by the second." I mused for myself. I then stood straighter.
"My name is Megatronus Prime. Leader of the Decepticons." I said out loud and silence fell.
"I guess you have many questions, and so do I." I said as I turned my back towards them, it was quite a risk, but it was a gesture I would not do them any harm. I walked over to the water and looked straight ahead. I heard the sound of transformation and then footsteps. I glanced to my side to see Optimus stand beside me and looked out over the lake too.
"You said you are a Prime." Optimus began and turned towards me. I sighed.
"Yes. Primus gave me the Matrix as I tried to save Cybertron's core." I said and Optimus slowly nodded.
"That sounds like what I did when I became Prime." he said and I looked fully at Optimus. We looked at each other, both of us searching for lies in the other's optics. I found none.
"I do not know what have happened. But I believe I might not be from here." I finally said and turned my gaze back to the water.
"How come?" Optimus asked me.
"Thundercracker and Skywarp are dead." I said with a shake of my head.
"They have been dead for decavorns." Optimus confirmed.
"Where I come from they are alive, at least when I left. And I only left two vorns ago. Starscream hates me. You-" I said and motioned towards Optimus.
"You didn't shoot me the moment you saw me. And everyone have different colors than regularly." I said and Optimus nodded.
"I see. Well then. Do you have any clue on how you got here?" Optimus asked me and I thought for a moment.
"Maybe something with the space bridge. I'm not too sure. I would need Shockwave to investigate this but it seems like he disappeared quite a while ago. So I will investigate this myself to find a way to get back home." I said with a nod. Optimus hummed.
"I see. Well, if you require help, feel free to ask. I'm happy to help a fellow Prime." he said and both of us smiled a bit at the thought. Neither of us were the last Prime at the moment and it was comforting.
"Then we might see each other again Optimus Prime." I said and chuckled a bit. I was so used to be called Prime so it felt strange to call someone else that.
"That we might do Megatronus Prime." Optimus said, clearly just as amused as I about the situation.
"Well then. I need go back, I have been gone for too long now." I said and gave Optimus a nod before I walked away a bit to be able to transform without any interference.
"I wish you well on your travel Megatronus Prime. May Primus be with you." Optimus said as I transformed.
"May Primus be with you too Optimus Prime." I said before I took off to the sky. Now it was time to find a way home.
AN: ... How does two meanings evolve into four pages of story? O.o' I had the first two meanings in my mind the whole morning and when I sat down to write this popped out... Well, I'm quite happy with it ^^
I hope that you enjoyed reading this a much as I enjoyed writing this!
A few headcannons of mine about this:
- Megatronus knows his crew by name, even all the Vehicons and drones. They are soldiers and Megatronus treats everyone with respect, after all they have chosen to fight under him.
- Seekers' wings are basically sacred for them and no matter the training, they will always show how a seeker feels. Just more or less depending on how well the seeker is trained to conceal his emotions. And the wings(all wings sticking out like that, even doorwings) are very sensitive. In seeker culture there are different patterns that will tell the seeker different things and some things will have a greater effect than words. Example: it's better to calm a seeker down with comforting patterns on it's wings than to try to comfort it with words or hugging the seeker.
- There exist something called winglanguage. All mechs and femmes with wings of any sort(seekerwings, doorwings, helicopterblades) subconsciously does this language and understand at least a small part of the language. One can learn the language and understand the smallest twitch of the wings the winged mech/femme. Megatronus have lived with several seekers and other winged mechs/femmes and have mastered the art of understanding winglanguage and can thus read many winged mechs/femmes like an open book. Just like he did to Starscream. (Megatron have never bothered to learn this language.)
- Both Megatronus and Optimus bears a matrix. Since they are Primes, they can feel the prescense of other Primes. But since they are the last Primes in their own universe, they have never experienced this before. That's why neither of them felt really threatened by the other.