This oneshot is part of the same universe as „The Dark Horizon", it is set at the beginning of the war however. It probably doesn't make too much sense yet because the main story's plot hasn't yet explained how the war really started (so... spoiler alert I suppose), but I just felt like writing (and posting) this.

Transformers belongs to Hasbro.

Bringing The Storm

Most of his youth he had spent here, in this spacious villa situated in one of the wealthier districts of Tarn, but now those times seemed to be so unimaginably far away as he hastily strode across the atrium. There was no time to indulge in the memories of a happier era now. Everything was collapsing around him now, all had changed within the last solar cycle and he had to act quickly if he didn't want to end up on the scaffold tonight.

Soundwave, who had been by his side until now, stopped before the two large doors leading to the main hall, knowing better than to follow his leader this time, the command to remain outside was unnecessary. He threw open the doors without hesitation. At the opposite end of the grand hall, a white and gray armored femme turned around, the crimson optics in her aged but still beautiful face betraying no surprise or even fear whatsoever despite the large warrior, covered in minor injuries and the spilt energon of his enemies, storming towards her.

"Megatron. You shouldn't be here." she said calmly, regarding the mech before her with a frown.

"Neither should you, mother." he growled back. He didn't mean to sound this snappish, but he knew she understood all too well. "You're not save here- not anymore. Prime's mechs are on their way, four of our battalions are down. We must leave immediately."

"I have my own sources of information and am very well informed about the current situation. But if you believe I will flee like a common criminal, you are mistaken." The lifting of her hand alone vaporized his plan of grabbing her by the arm to drag her off before he had even started to move his own hand to do so. He wouldn't dare.

"The time for diplomacy and negotiations is over. If we want to survive, we need to get off the planet, now."

"My place is here."

"Don't be a fool. They'll arrest you."

"I am aware of that. And don't you speak to me in that tone."

"Mother, listen-"
"No, you will listen." She didn't have to raise her voice to make him listen, to force him to listen. "I have done my best to guide you through this, to support you in whichever way I could, but now it is time to go our separate ways." He stopped his nervous pacing to stare at her.

"You cannot be serious! He wants my head and if it's yours he has to take to get it-"

"I fear neither pain nor deactivation. The young Prime holds no power over me- I will stay." The gunmetal grey warrior was speechless. Additionally to having turned on him, the universe - or his mother, to be precise - had apparently gone haywire. Her gaze was hard, her end of the sparkbond mostly closed off. And as he kept staring at her he knew he wouldn't be able to sway her though. Megatron knew his mother. After all, all his stubbornness, his fighting spirit, his inveteracy, came from her. Not knowing what else to do, he sank down to his knees in front of her, his face blank from desperation. They were at optic level now, but he didn't feel like he had the strength to look at her anymore. The bond between creator and creation opened up then, comforting the kneeling mech while petite hands took hold of his face gently to turn it upwards.

"My dear child." Lady Bethiera spoke softly, giving her son a sad but loving smile. "Your remaining troops need you. Cybertron needs you. The line of Primes has fallen into shadow- you must not falter, must not surrender to Optimus, no matter what he will do to me. You are the true heir to the cybertronian throne. I know you will play your part in leading our people back to glory. And I will play mine." Megatron looked up and into her optics, the corners of his mouth twitching downwards. After this cycle, he would never see her again, not alive, they both knew that. But he couldn't allow himself the luxury of crying. He was Megatron. And his mother would only end up scolding him for showing such weakness, as silly as that sounded.

"I..." he paused. His voice was cracking. No, no weakness. He gathered himself and tried again. "I have failed you, mother."

"No." Her frame felt so warm when she pressed him against her and nuzzled the side of his face. "You have made me proud. Always. And I know you will continue to do so. Now." Her hands slid down to his arms and nudged him upwards so he stood again. "Go. There is only so much time I can buy you."

"Mother..." He wanted to say something. Anything. He just didn't know what. Everything that needed saying had been said, but still it felt as if there were loose ends to tie up.

"I know, sweetspark." He didn't want to leave her behind, but she was right. He had to leave now- now or never. "Go."

It was hard, letting go of her hand. Maybe it even was one of the hardest things he had ever done. This was his mother, the femme he owed his life to, who had raised him. She had always accepted and encouraged him, had never blamed him for being who he was- Sentinel Prime's firstborn, but not a Prime, and therefore, not his heir. He was the reason for his mother's falling from his father's favor. Together with his half- brother he had killed their father, the mech his mother had never stopped loving despite everything. She should have hated him, but she didn't.

Slowly, he backed away from her, then turned around and started walking. Then he was walking faster and faster, until he was on the verge of running. He didn't have to turn around to know the look on her face, how she was standing there, dignified, head held high. It was exactly how the Elite Guard would encounter her. And how she would meet her end.

16.8 astroseconds later, when he, Soundwave and the last of his troops had boarded the shuttle and were leaving Cybertron's atmosphere, he suddenly knew what he had wanted to say to her. "Thank you."

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