Summary: The future was something Bumblebee couldn't bear. He knew the war would end eventually, but what would he do? He'd never known anything else.
A/N: This is a slight follow-up to Vilify, as I have referenced certain parts of it. However, this can be read as a standalone and no prior knowledge is required. As you can see, this one-shot has no title. Please feel free to leave a suggestion for me. :)
Bumblebee paced, restlessly moving back and forth beneath the tree canopy. Moonlight filtered down from above, casting shadows in all directions. The scout looked up at the sky before turning his helm back down to the ground. Where was he? He promised he wouldn't be late.
"Honestly, the others are going to worry," he beeped to himself, "So just show up already and get it over with!" Some birds scattered from their perches in the branches. Bumblebee whirred in annoyance before slumping against a trunk. If he didn't get there soon...
Suddenly, a strong breeze rippled through the forest. Leaves whipped around in all directions as a behemoth descended from the skies. A noise echoed through the uninhabited area and pede falls filled the silence.
"The Autobot scout," the figure spat, "Why have you arranged this meeting?" The youngling's back was towards the tyrant, door-wings quivering in apprehension. "I grow impatient." Slowly, Bumblebee turned towards the voice.
"I..." he trailed off, not exactly knowing how to explain himself. The other figure rolled his bright red optics.
"If you're just going to stand there and waste my time, I shall return to the Nemesis and-"
"Wait, Megatron!" Bumblebee exclaimed. Taking one step forwards, he said, "I have an offer for you."
"What is it, scout?" Megatron asked, turning towards the youngling. To be honest, he was getting fragged off.
"...I want you to off-line me." Silence overcame the clearing once again as both mechs took some time to process the strange request.
"Why should I do that?" Megatron inquired skeptically.
"I...I mean, um...it..." Bumblebee struggled to find the words. But his emotions were becoming too much. The anxiety was mounting on his processor and everything was just overwhelming. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore. "Please, just kill me!" he shrieked. "I know you've wanted to so here I am! I'm going to do it anyway, but this way nobody knows. My team still cares about me and just please, please kill me." The Decepticon Lord certainly wasn't expecting that outburst. However, the more he thought about it, the more the pieces fell into place.
He remembered being in the scout's horribly simplified mind, filled with such loyalty towards his cause and beliefs. But there was something lurking behind all that innocence and happiness. Tyger Pax was hidden there as well as other insecurities and fears. In fact...
Megatron let out a condescending snicker. "You're afraid of the future, aren't you youngling?" Bumblebee froze, blue optics wide in fear. "Yes, you had some interesting things in the far reaches of your processor."
"…Then you understand-"
"You have only known war. You were sparked in a time of turmoil and destruction, forced into fighting as a sparkling. It was the only way to survive in those days. As the caste system was stripped down to nothing, you were maturing. As Cybertron burned, you had become a hardened soldier. When the AllSpark was launched away from our planet, you felt nothing. You've known nothing but of despair and carnage. You were never granted the opportunity to witness our culture first hand. So what are you planning? What could you possibly gain from dying now? The war is still young." Blood red optics gazed into clouded blue ones.
"…I just want it to end," Bumblebee admitted. His door-wings drooped as he continued, "I was raised for combat. Fighting is the only thing I can do. When the war ends, where will I go? What will happen to me?
"I can't feel and it scares me. Sure, I've been happy and sad and angry and proud, but I can't grieve or love. When Cliffjumper's spark was extinguished, I couldn't understand Arcee's reaction. I felt sadness, but I couldn't feel vengeful or particularly bothered. Time would keep turning and one has to move on. The universe doesn't stop because one life ends, it keeps going. When I realized that, it scared me. I tried to rebel against my mind, especially when my T-cog was stolen." He began pacing around the clearing. The Decepticon Lord kept his optics trained on the scout as he circled around the shadows.
"I tried to break my perfect soldier mentality. I disobeyed direct orders, dove helm-first over the edge of a cliff while pursuing Knock Out. When the impact came, I could feel. The pain awakened so many senses for me and I almost hated Ratchet for repairing me afterwards. Physical pain is the only way I can remove everything that makes me a soldier. It gives me life and I've tried countless times to bring it back." It was then Megatron got a good look at the scout's frame. Barely healed gashes ran across the yellow chassis. The scout's door-wings were wrapped in protective static bandages. Just what had happened to the youngling? Before he could ask his question aloud, Bumblebee continued.
"The only time I succeeded, I was caught. I had gone too far and the team found me. Nurse Darby and Ratchet collaborated, trying in vain to get me to talk. Ironic how I'm spilling my mental problems on you, but that's beside the point. Everyone, including the humans, were just pitying me and asking how they could help. It gets fragging annoying after a while!" Bumblebee came to a halt and spun around to face the older mech. "The truth is that nobody understands what's happening with me. Nobody understands that I don't have a future and can never have one! Nobody…but you," he beeped, walking towards the now confused tyrant.
"That is ridiculous," Megatron sputtered. "How could the great and noble Optimus Prime neglect your issues?" The question was dripping with sarcasm and Bumblebee chose to ignore it.
"Optimus Prime is not ignoring me, he just doesn't understand," Bee clarified. "However, you have been inside my processor. You've ravaged my entire mental state and because of you, I came to my conclusions." Megatron raised an optic ridge.
"So I've made you suicidal?" he asked. Good, that was one less Autobot to deal with.
"You could say that. But I don't want to kill myself. I tried before and failed miserably. No, I want someone who can get the job done with as little guilt as possible, so who better than the mech that stole my voice?"
"Why not ask Dreadwing or another Decepticon?"
"I didn't want my death to be out of revenge! Yes, that would achieve my goal but I wanted someone who would understand my situation. If I asked Knock Out, he'd probably laugh in my faceplates and ask for the relic I took from him. You know as well as I do that the Vehicons are only looking for cheap shots. They'd kill me, but it would be quick. I didn't want my killer to be blinded by rage or emotionless or try to convince me not to die."
"If you don't want a swift death, what do you want?" This youngling was beginning to annoy the slag out of him, yet somehow intrigued him to no end.
"I want a slow painful death. It would allow me to feel while relinquishing my fear of the future." Bumblebee shivered slightly in apprehension.
Megatron simply stared at the scout. The youngling was completely insane! What sane Autobot willingly left its family just to turn to the enemy and die? Why would a youngling pray for death? His thoughts came to a screeching halt.
Wasn't the scout the last youngling of the AllSpark?
Even after centuries upon centuries of slaughter, Megatron was still hesitant about brutally murdering a youngling. The attack on the sparkling centers on Cybertron was not issued by him. Decepticons had acted without his permission and mercilessly committed the genocide. He knew Bumblebee was the last of the Lost Generation and, despite what he might have said, could not bring himself to kill the scout.
Tyger Pax was an example, a reminder to the Autobots of his power and ferocity. It was also to prove that he did have a spark, that not all Decepticons were sparkless. He had spared the scout's life instead of adding his designation to the list of lost comrades.
But here was that youngling asking him to do what he couldn't. The action was dishonorable, yet the yellow mech was practically begging for it. It was a dilemma to say the least.
After a few more seconds in silence, Megatron gave his answer.
"No."
Bumblebee's helm shot up in surprise. "What did you say?" he asked, clearly baffled at the sudden turn of events.
"I said no," Megatron replied curtly. "Why should I perform a mercy kill? You're obviously in pain right now, so my job is accomplished. However, I can increase that agony tenfold." Bumblebee backed away from the glowering tyrant, nervously eying the now drawn sword the mech possessed. "Ah, you still fear me youngling. How did you expect yourself to go through a torturous death so easily? You still fear pain, yet you claim that it is your friend."
Bumblebee stumbled, falling backwards on his still healing door-wings. He let out a pained warble before coming face-to-face with Megatron's blade. "Are you going to make it quick?"
"Hardly." With one mighty swing, the scout fell back into the ground. A trail of energon leaked down his helm where Megatron had hit him into stasis. With a sigh, the grey mech retracted his blade and knelt beside the prone frame. Carefully, he felt around the helm and activated Bumblebee's comm.-link.
"Bumblebee, are you there?" A worried feminine voice wafted through the forest. "Bee, answer me! Where are you? Ratchet, can you lock onto Bee's coordinates?" Megatron didn't stay to hear the rest.
Just as he activated his thrusters, a soft green hue lit up the trees below him. He didn't want anything to do with the scout's problems. The Autobots could take their precious Bumblebee home and try to fix his scarred mind. They could blindly hope and pray that their little youngling would return to being the happy-go-lucky mech he had been since the beginning. Too bad it would all be an act.
That scout was beyond repair. Megatron knew, for he had never seen such a disturbing processor in all of his life-stream.
A/N: Dark Bee is fun to write. :3 While I was writing this, I kinda began reading Bee's dialogue as being slightly seductive… *shivers* I do not ship BeexMegatron in any continuity, but if you want to read it like that be my guest. If you excuse me, I'm gonna try to get my head out of the gutter.