Title: Finis de Bellum
Rating: T
Genre: Drama/Tragedy
Pairing: Past Megatron/Optimus, mentioned Smokescreen/Bumblebee
Universe: Prime, AU – Inspired by Speedsteek360's "Three Little Words" AU
Warnings: AU, past mpreg, spoilers, violence, canonical character death
Songs of Inspiration:
"M.I.N.E (End This Way)" by Five Finger Death Punch
Summary: "End of War". He still could not understand the feeling in his spark, but he knew his father was hiding something. He wanted to ask, but knew he may never have a straight answer. But he realized when he was shot in the spark; deep down, he knew. He knew.
Author's Note: So this was a little bunny that would just not leave me alone after watching Deadlock for the umpteenth time. Also, this is a Xmas present for Speedy, a very late Xmas gift. I've actually been working on this for months and was originally supposed to be a birthday present for her, but then ideas just kept coming and coming and ugh, it was a pain. The ending is also kind of shit but god I really wanted to get this done. This is also extremely AU, from her AU, so you'd have to understand her AU to really understand this story. Just remember: AU! AU! AU! Thank you. Anyways, hope you enjoy!
Finis de Bellum
It could have been much worse, but it should have been better.
He stumbled over, pedes heavy as they dragged against the metal plating. He grunted, looking over the edge to see Optimus hanging by a single servo. The Autobot leader looked up at him as he reached behind his back, gripping the handle of his weapon tightly. He brought his other servo up, holding it above his helm as he began to strike.
"Prepare to join your scout in the Allspark."
"Megatron!"
He blinked, hearing a voice that was unknown to not only him, but Optimus as well. His optic ridges furrowed as he turned, ready to rip apart whomever interrupted him.
Time seemed to stop after he turned, choking and gargling as he felt a sharp pain tear through his spark. He looking down, seeing the star saber disappearing into his frame, in the servos of the Autobot scout.
"You took my voice. You will never rob anyone of anything, ever again."
He attempted to raise his arm and strike down upon the black and yellow pest, but his almighty strength had disappeared. He grunted, the Dark Star Saber slipping from his grasp, the sword bouncing off the metal plating of the platform and falling to the planet below.
He fell to his knees, gripping the great sword as the life began to drain for him. He heard his second in command call for him, but he could not respond.
His spark flickered, desperate to hold on. But, as he took his last dying breaths, he stared at the Autobot scout, before his optics began to flicker as well.
At that moment, he offlined.
The purple glow of his spark no longer shined and his fiery red optics became black and cold. His frame began to scrape against the metal of the Star Saber as he slid off, his servo still gripping as his violet energon was left behind, falling over the edge as he dropped lifelessly to Earth.
After making the announcement of Megatron's demise to the Autobots within the warship, he noticed his scout had withdrawn himself from the others. He walked over and put a servo on his shoulder.
"Bumblebee, are you alright?"
The black and yellow mech looked up at him, his mouth guard retracted.
"When I plunged the Star Saber into Megatron's spark... I.. I felt something in my own spark snap..."
He giggled, running through the house, his tiny pedes stomping against the floor. He ran to the kitchen peaking through the doorway to see his carrier sitting at the table, a datapad in his servo.
"Mommy, mommy!"
He saw his carrier raise his helm and he smiled, running over to him as climbing into his lap.
"Hello, little one. What brings you to me?"
He nuzzled and pecked his carrier on the cheek. "I just wanted to see you! And tell you that I love you!"
He felt himself be pulled into his mother's arm, locking in a hug with kisses peppering his helm.
"I love you, too, little one. Don't ever forget that."
"I won't, Mommy. I promise!"
"Bumblebee, be careful."
Megatronus had caught the vase that Bumblebee had nearly knocked over as he ran to the door. He sighed. "Just a moment love." He laughed at his son's excitement.
He opened the door and was greeted by his son's father.
"Daddy!" Bumblebee jumped up and down, holding his arms up, wanting to be picked up by his sire. He smiled and laughed in glee, hugging his father's helm and kissing his helm.
"I missed you, Daddy!"
Orion laughed, kissing his son's temple. "I missed you, too, young one." He pecked Megatronus's cheek. "I missed you too."
Megatronus smiled slightly. "What brings you hear, Orion?"
His expression changed, looking a bit more serious. "I... I have some matters that I must discuss with you."
He watched Megatronus' smile fade before he took Bumblebee in his arms. "Come little one, it's time for bed."
"But I'm not tired!"
"What if your mother and I tuck you in and tell you a story?"
Bumblebee's optics shined. "Please!"
Both of his creators smiled, carrying him up to his room.
He hid under his berth, hearing shouting screaming from downstairs. His parents were fighting again. He felt coolant well up in his optics as he wrapped himself in his blanket, his toy turbo-fox in his arms as he sniffled. He didn't like it when his parents were nasty to each other.
"You are not taking him from me, I don't give a damn what Sentinel says!"
"Megatronus, please listen to reason. You keep him and the both of you could end up de–"
"NO! Asking me to give him up is like asking Sentinel to dispose of the caste system. It's not going to happen!"
"Megatron, he's my son as much as he is yours, but you have to think of his well-being. If I don't take him, then the council will come and take him by force! And if they're forced to do that, then they'll inflict a memory wipe."
"They'll inflict one no matter what choice they make! We both know your father despises my very spark and he'll wipe Bumblebee's memory despite what choice was made, and you damn well know that, Orion!"
He whimpered as their voices grew louder, and flinched when he heard his father scream something very mean to his mother before the front door slammed closed. He heard his mother sob quietly before he heard footsteps climbing up the stairs. He saw light flood his room and heard his mother's hoarse voice.
"Come out, little one. Everything is alright."
He climbed his way out from under the berth, still clutching his stuffed animal and blanket. "M-Mama..."
He sniffled when his carrier picked him up, holding him close to his spark as he sought comfort in the warmth underneath the thick plating. He felt a kiss be planted on the top of his helm as he snuggled into his mother's chest plating.
"It's alright, my little one. Everything will be alright."
He sobbed, hoping that his carrier was right. However, they would soon be proven wrong.
It had all happened so fast. One moment, his mother were in the living room. He had been watching his favorite cartoon while his mother read a datapad, sitting in a chair behind me. Then they both jumped when they had heard pounding on their front door before the metal creaked and the door was broken, being kicked in and pushed to the floor as three mechs had entered their home. One of them harshly picked him up as his mother tried to grab him away.
"Let him go, you fraggin—GAAH!"
He screeched when he saw the other two mechs hold his mother by his arms as one of them had punched him in the abdomen, knocking the wind out of his carrier.
"MOMMY!"
He screeched when he was engulfed by the mech's other servo. He tried to reach for his mother as he did the same before electricity coursed through Megatronus' chassis. He wailed as he watched his mother fall to the floor, convulsing in pain.
He was still awake, but barely. He pushed his head up, reaching for his little one as the three took him away, tears prickling in his optics and his spark clenching in agony as heard his sparkling wail.
"Bumblebee! BUMBLEBEE!"
"Orion."
He turned around and saw Ratchet standing behind him. "Yes?"
"The... procedure is complete."
He frowned, then nodded. "So he no longer remembers...?"
"He only remembers you."
He stood, fidgeting his digits and pedes as he waited behind the stage with his classmates.
His academy graduation.
He heard Ultra Magnus begin his address, building up to announce their designations as they would walk across the stage, shake his hand, and be handed a datapad of certification. Down the row, he noticed That other young mech in his class, the Enforcer's adoptive son.
He turned and blushed when the mech caught him looking. He looked over his shoulder and noticed his smile, making his blush darken. He gulped and waved, smiling.
He saw the other young mech do the same, making his spark flutter as he smiled sweetly.
He remember first laying optics on him and immediately, he was in love.
He jumped when Magnus' booming voice sounded on the stage and heard the roar of applause.
He was towards the front of the line, while the other mech stood towards the back. He heard Magnus begin, the first mech going up. The line seemed to move quicker than he expected and soon, it was his turn. He gulped and took a deep breath, stepping up the stairs. Then his name was called.
He pushed the curtain aside and walked out, feeling the light shine down on him, hearing the applause as he walked out and moved to the middle of the stage, giving Ultra Magnus a smile and shaking his head before he turned and bowed at the crowd.
He straightened himself, his optics scanning the audience for someone, someone special. On the inside, he frowned when he couldn't find him, but when he looked up in the balcony, he let himself give a small smile as their bright blue optics met.
He felt himself being dragged along the coarse ground, his plating scraping against the metal underneath him. He tried to fight back, but he vaguely remembered the shocks of electricity that ran through his frame when he fought a cell of Decepticon drones. He remained still, knowing it was his best option at this point as they pulled him through a decimated Kaon.
Before long he was picked up and thrown forward, then heard their light steps back off. Then he heard heavy pedes trudge forward, towards him. To be honest, he was scared to look up.
He choked when a clawed servo picked him up by his head, another servo holding his neck. He opened his optics to stare in the burning crimson optics of the very mech his cause was fighting against.
"It would seem a little pest has squirmed his way into my domain, one of Optimus' right hand mechs."
Bumblebee shivered as he spoke, having never been so close to him before. Usually his father was at the front lines, he was but a simple scout. But, Megatron was correct. He was one of his father's best men, or at least that's what everyone told him.
"It would be best to eradicate you at this very moment, in this very spot. However, you may prove to be useful."
The yellow mech trembled in fear, but knew he had to be brave. For his cause, for Optimus, for himself. He gulped when he felt those sharp claws graze against his neck.
"You are going to tell me what I want to know. I'm sure you already know what will happen if you deny."
He swallowed, taking a deep breath before he opened his mouth.
"Frag you."
The warlord growled and roared, stabbing his taloned digits through the scout's throat, energon spurting out and leaking down his servos. The Autobot choked, letting out a gurgled scream before it began to short out into static as his vocoder was slowly pulled out, energon pouring to the ground. He heard wires snap as it was yanked out as he silently screeched in pain. His voice fell silent as he dropped heavily to the ground, hearing the clank of his vocoder fall next to him.
He began to lose consciousness from the energon loss, hearing the warlord chuckle darkly above him. The last thing he saw before his optics offlined was Megatron's energon-stained servo enclosing around his helm.
I know I hurt you, deserted you, and now I see it clear. I pulled you closer, tighter, cause I knew you'd disappear. I just can't compromise, apologize. There's nothing you can say!
He woke up to a soft beeping, sounding in a pattern. His optics onlined and focused, his blurred vision becoming clear. He was hit with the color white, looking around. He was in the medbay, extensive care medbay. He moved his digits, glad that he could still move them, doing the same with his pedes.
He sighed in relief, but no sound echoed back to him. He blinked.
'M-my… my voice…'
His helm whipped to look at the door as it opened, revealing Ratchet and his father, Optimus.
The medic spoke up. "How are you feel, Bumblebee?"
The scout watched as Ratchet held something in his servo, then heard him spoke.
"We... were unable to fully repair your vocalizer. However..."
He raised his head, showing his bandaged neck cables as Ratchet slowly slipped the device in, coughing at the feeling. He sat still as the medic welded the wound shut.
"We were able to develop an alternative." He deactivated the laser. "Try it out."
He struggled, unsure of what was going to happen, before he heard a series of beeps and whirls, originating from his own pipes. His optics widened.
'R-Ratchet?'
The medic smiled. "It works."
Bumblebee looked up to his father, who then dismissed Ratchet. As soon as the medic left, he wrapped his arms around Optimus' broad shoulders, sobbing softly through his new voice box. He heard his sire's calming voice in his audio's.
"It's alright, young one. You're safe now."
'It's not alright... it's not alright...'
After arriving on Earth, he began to feel okay. After meeting his friend Rafael, he began to feel alright. Even after losing his t-cog and getting it back, nearly destroyed, he felt better. After meeting Smokescreen again, after all of these eons of thinking he had deactivated when the Decepticons invaded Iacon, he felt good.
But now, he didn't feel so good.
He never liked to show it, but he was terrified. But, there was no time to dwell on fear, with his father deathly ill and the only mech who knew the cure was their worst enemy, and that mech was now rotting in the pit. But they had to try.
Bumblebee and Arcee snuck through the Nemesis, dodging the drones and any Decepticons they encountered, before they finally made it to the computer lab. He kept watch as she looked through files, but came up with nothing.
The yellow mech sighed as he listened to Arcee and Ratchet bicker at each other over the comm link. During that, a gleam in the corner of his optic caught his attention; a window. He crooked an optic ridge and walked over, looking through the glass.
His optics widened.
Megatron was alive.
He winced and his optics shot open as he was linked to the subconscious mind of the Decepticon warlord through the cortical psychic patch. He gasped as processor seemed to warp, then he was standing alone in the dark. He blinked and looked around as his optics adjusted, the dark soon becoming a dark crimson wasteland of death and destruction. Smoke billowed in the distance and rubble was littered across the ground.
He took a deep breath and walked forwards, his steps echoing in the silence. He heard Ratchet speaking to him through the comm link, relieved to have someone to talk to him as he walked through this devastated landscape.
Before long, he made it to what looked like a distorted vision of Kaon. He looked ahead and blinked. He saw a mech that looked like himself, but smaller; a sparkling. Confusion swirled in his processor as he ventured deeper into what seemed like Megatron's memories. As he reached for the sparkling, it disappeared to dust. His servo tried to bring the youngling back, but nothing worked.
Bumblebee gasped when he turned and saw the sparkling again, only this time he was laughing and giggling. Then he would disappear to dust once more. He looked deeper into Megatron's memories and saw the sparkling and the warlord together, only something was different about them both. They were happy, especially Megatron.
He saw them play together, read together, sing, draw, cook; they did everything together. Until he saw the last memory of them together as they were torn from each other's arms.
He frowned, before he heard a sigh above him. He looked up and gulped when he saw Megatron standing merely a few feet away. He heard the warlord speak.
"Ah you know how it feels now, don't you? To have someone so precious to you be ripped away from you, to find out that the monsters that took them away turned them into a pet? No matter how far you reach, all you can hold is the dust."
The warlord turned to face the Autobot scout, his glowing red optics piercing into Bumblebee's blue.
"Now tell me, scout. What are you doing here? This isn't a safe place for pets to be roaming."
Bumblebee winced at the ableist language, but allowed himself to ignore it. He began to explain to Megatron what had happened beforehand, the space bridge explosion, his fusion with the dark energon, and Optimus Prime contracting the Cybonic Plague. Finally, he let the warlord know what he wanted, the cure his father so desperately needed.
Megatron's expression remained the same as he turned away. He sighed.
"If what you have told me is true, that I am still alive and that Optimus Prime is to perish from the very virus that I created…" he turned back to Bumblebee. "Then I suppose I could give you the formula for the cure..."
The yellow and black mech would have smiled if it weren't for the dwelling proposition the warlord would most certainly make.
Megatron held his servo open, the formula materialising. "I will give you the formula if you abide to two of my conditions. One: ensure my survival once you exit my subconscious, and two: break down the-"
Ratchet buzzed loudly in Bumblebee's audio. "Bumblebee, we have the formula! Disconnect now!"
The scout's optics widened as he watched Megatron's expression contort from apathy to rage, then heard him roar out.
"You tricked me!"
Bumblebee gulped before he turned and ran, the world around him beginning to collapse as Arcee disconnected the patch. He watched as all turned to dust around him, even himself began to disintegrate.
The last thing he heard before everything around him went dark again was the roar of anguish and rage from the warlord behind him.
He had never been a light sleeper, even in his sparkling days, and this night had to be the worse recharge of his life. No matter what, he just could not get himself to calm down. It felt like something was in his processor, clawing away at something, trying to break it down.
He tossed and turned in his sleep, completely oblivious of what was happening in his mind.
Deep within the Autobot scout's processor, loud clangs and growls of anger echoed off the metaphorical walls. The warlord had been chipping away at the block for what seemed like days, but no matter how hard he hit, it stood firm.
Megatron panted in exhaustion as he stumbled back.
"Why… why won't you fall?"
He growled, crimson red optics boring into the black wall. He blinked, however, when he heard soft giggling from the black walls. He zoomed in and his optic ridges raised.
"It would seem that perhaps you do remember a few things."
He looked up and down the black wall; the memory block that had been placed eons ago. He sighed.
"Perhaps another method is in order."
Bumblebee convulsed as he awoke from his recharge. His arms twitched and moved on their own. He had no control of his body. Then he heard a familiar evil cackle in his head and he blinked, his optics wide with horror.
'M-Megatron...'
Megatron cackled and smirked. "Since your memory block won't come down by force, I'll just have to find another solution. There's only one other way I know to destroy it…"
Bumblebee trembled as his body was taken over by the warlord and he walked forward. He activated the groundbridge.
Optimus ran to the main room and blinked. "Bumblebee?"
The scout turned, however his bright blue optics glowed an ominous red. The Autobot leader's own optics widened. "Megatron? What are you doing?!"
"Destroying the block."
Optimus blinked. "But the only way to do that is to… no…" His spark sank. "You can't do that…"
"Oh but I can. Now you'll know how it feels to have the one thing that you've lived for all this time ripped from you and lost forever."
With that, he ran through the groundbridge, hearing Optimus' scream as the vortex began to close behind him.
He held a sword to his spark, standing next to his own braindead husk. He pressed the tip against his son's spark chamber, but never cutting it. He thought for a moment, wondering if he could go through with it.
If he allowed his son to die here, they would both perish, but they would once again join in the allspark, the memory block gone, and they could finally be together again.
But this was his son, his baby. Could he really be so cold-sparked and cruel as to murder his own child? How could he blame his own sparkling for what had happened? He sighed, dropping the sword. He heard explosions in the distance, knowing that Optimus was here. He sighed, grabbed the cord to the cortical psychic patch.
"We'll meet again someday, my little one. You do not deserve to fall so harshly under my hand. But this is the only chance I give you, because the next time we battle face to face, I will take every chance to end your life, for I seem it as your own good.
As the medbay doors were blasted open, he attached the cord to the back of his son's helm. He turned to Optimus as he held the switch, and without another word, he flipped the switch.
'Father...'
"What is it, Bumblebee?"
'What Megatron said... about me...'
"Megatron is known for his mental manipulation, Bumblebee."
'... Alright...'
He floored it through the desert, finding the nearest highway and speeding down it with Raf in the backseat; his color scheme was reversed. He hid in the shade of a tree by the road, just escaping the Decepticon drone that flew above.
He sighed.
Their base was destroyed, the Decepticons were one step closer to winning the war. His father, gone.
The only that kept him going was Raf and keeping him safe... and the quiet thought of maybe, just maybe, they'd all be reunited soon.
He only wished he could have Optimus back.
He took a deep breath as the rifle was pointed at the back of his helm. With the arrival of Ultra Magnus, he slowly began to regain his hope. But now, as he stood in front of Shockwave with a drone's blaster against his neck, his hope seemed to have eroded. He closed his optics, waiting for his impending death.
He heard what sounded like a jet roar, and he looked up. He blinked. He knew that color scheme anywhere. Behind his mask, he smiled.
He knew he'd come back.
The battle had begun. He, Arcee, and Smokescreen were running through the Nemesis, Smokescreen having retrieved the Star Saber from the vault. They ran through the corridor to the balcony above the Omega Lock, Arcee throwing Starscream and slashing through him. Smokescreen tried to make it past Shockwave, but to no avail as he was shot in the abdomen.
Bumblebee ran over to help him, but was pushed away.
"Get the saber to Optimus!"
He hesitated, then nodded. But as he looked up, he and Shockwave made optic-contact before they both made a break for the sword. He dodged the shots fired from all sides, making it to the sword first as he threw it up in the air, jumping and kicking Shockwave in his one optic. He heard glass crack and shatter under his fist as he jumped and grabbed the saber.
He threw it over his own shoulder and went to the ledge, looking over to see his father battling furiously with the Decepticon warlord.
Ratchet called through his comm link. "Optimus! You must use the saber to destroy the Omega Lock! It is the only way to save earth!"
The Prime looked up, seeing his scout jumping down the ledge of the balcony above with the Star Saber. He prepared to reach for it before he was struck in his chest by Megatron, knocking him back.
Bumblebee jumped off the side, ready to throw the sword to his father, but was taken aback by the pure agony of his chest playing melting and his spark chamber cracking and leaking as he was shot with Megatron's fusion cannon. He tried to scream, but not even a buzz came out as he had gone into shock due to the searing pain. With that, he fell. He fell down into the blue pool of energon below; the cybermatter, and before he fell he offlined… the block broke.
Now, he stood next to his father above the Well of the Allspark. He still could not understand the feeling in his spark, but he knew his father was hiding something. He wanted to ask, but knew he may never have a straight answer.
Perhaps it was best that way.
But he realized when he was shot in the spark; deep down, he knew.
He knew.