They came back to each other every day after that, just as Optimus had promised before falling into a pond. They laid together under the sky, talked about everything, and talked about nothing. Airachnid would bring Energon for them to share. Optimus would bring blankets for them to lay on and under.

Airachnid shifted, cuddling closer to him. "How is it that we have come closer than we should?"

"We are defiers of rules, conquerers of..." He trailed off and struggled for the right words. "Rule...makers?"

She giggled and pushed at him, rolling her optics. "Your eloquence blows me away."

He grunted and rolled over to face her, kissing her forehelm gently. "Mm. Good."

They met like that for days, sharing Energon, memories, and laughs. Optimus would always arrive first, and then Airachnid would step out of the shadows and either tackle him or play the guess-who game where she put her servos over his optics.

But when Optimus wasn't greeted like that one day, he knew there was something wrong. He looked around and frowned, finding a note with an arrow on it pointing deeper into the forest. He followed that, finding note after note until the ground gave away under his pedes. He closed his optics, expecting impact, but he didn't expect sticky strands of white to catch him. He squirmed, trying to get his swords in a position where he could use them.

"Don't," someone whispered.

He knew that voice. He looked up and his spark sank. "Airachnid...?"

She crept along the web, her optics dim and her helm lowered. "Megatron...desires you unharmed."

"You manipulated me! I thought...I thought you had changed!"

"I have changed," she insisted. But then she looked at him and her optics shorted out to hide the tears. "I have..."

Megatron was clapping, walking towards them. It occured to Optimus that he was in an Energon mine, with complex tunnels and dead-ends. Escape was useless unless he knew exactly where the exits were, and right now, he didn't.

"Well done, Airachnid," Megatron purred. He climbed up to stand on the web, tickling under her chin. She sighed and looked away. "Oh, don't be like that...remember what I told you? You can have whatever is left of him."

Airachnid nodded a bit, walking towards him. In all their meetings, she had never shown him her beast-mode, and she wasn't wearing it now. Optimus had hope some things hadn't changed.

She knelt by him. The web didn't stick to her or Megatron, but every time Optimus moved, the webs clung to him like a sparkling having a nightmare. He looked up at her, searching for some affection or some mischief in her optics, but they were polished gems, lacking everything but cold beauty. "You said you weren't going to harm him."

"Now, Airachnid, are you really attached to him? Or are you attached to the power a couple of dying bots gave him? You feel it, I know. I feel it, too. He is powerful, he is very attractive for an Autobot, but he is not what he seems. He is a murderer, just like me. He killed your family, remember? Killed Mommy and Daddy and Sister and Brother and left little Airachnid all by herself."

What? Airachnid didn't tell him that? It couldn't be true! Couldn't...

Airachnid wasn't a Seeker. She didn't have wings to betray her emotions. She had her beast-mode legs, and they went limp against her back. Everything in her went limp and lifeless. Megatron easily batted her aside as if she weighed nothing more than a feather.

Optimus wished he could fight. Femmes should be treated with respect. They weren't toys, weren't playthings, but Airachnid was there, laying on her web like nothing. Optimus gave a roar of frustration and tore through the webbing. Megatron gave a soft yelp and scrabbled off as the tables were suddenly turned.

The Prime grabbed Airachnid and ran through the tunnels. Stupid plan, yes, but at least he had a Decepticon with him, willing to give him directions.

When they made it out, he commed Ratchet for an emergency GroundBridge. Airachnid jumped out of his arms and stood in front of the mine.

Optimus took her servo. "Come with me."

"I can't."

"Because you are a 'Con?"

She whirled on him. "Because I'm a monster! Look at what I had just allowed to happen to you! I'm not trustworthy and I never will be." She jerked out of his grip and his reach, shaking her helm as the Bridge opened. "Go."

"But-"

"GO, OPTIMUS!" She shoved his chest. "I don't want you here...not anymore. I'll just kill you, whether I want to or not. Can't you see that?" She stared at him, her shoulders dropping. She usually held her shoulders and her helm high with pride, but now Optimus could see she was a broken femme with broken dreams and a broken spark. Could he fix her? Not if she didn't want his help.

So he pulled her close and pressed a kiss to her mouth. "Very well." He walked to the GroundBridge and looked back, watching as Airachnid cut open a vein and sliced her neck. Megatron ran up in time to see Optimus playing escaping attempted-murderer.

Airachnid collapsed on the ground, whimpering and twitching while the Energon flowed out around her. "He hurt me..."

Megatron nodded. "I can see that. We'll have Knock Out here to patch you up before you can say another word." He needed her alive. Though he didn't like Airachnid, she was as close to an assassin as they could get, having lost two generations of assassins recently.

Knock Out patched her up alright (and even made her look pretty again), but he could do nothing with her broken spark that ached and yearned for Optimus'. She had Clicked with him, and she wondered if the Click was mutual, if the Prime was laying in his berth, thinking of her like she was of him.

But she couldn't be sure, and so she smashed a mirror out of anger and laid back down in her berth.

ooo

Optimus made sure every glass bottle he had stolen from Ratchet wasn't what he would need in the next five minutes. Ratchet had nothing to worry about. When the medic came back out, looking for the beakers and test tubes, he saw the Prime trembling in frustration, his cannon hot and ready to fire, the glass objects unharmed except a little heated from the blasts that missed them by centimeters.

"Centimeters aren't bad," Ratchet said, shaking a beaker cool. The Prime turned his helm away. "Thanks for not destroying my stuff. I needed these."

Optimus flinched when he touched his shoulder and he slowly looked at him.

"Get over it, Prime. Whatever it is that's bothering you, it's not worth your time." He patted his arm and left the Prime. "And don't forget to come in! It's supposed to rain and I don't want to find you out here when it does."

Ratchet was pleased to hear the Prime following him inside. He directed the mech to lay down on a medberth, and he watched his friend stare up at the ceiling before finally succumbing to sleep. Then the medic brushed the Prime's helm and left him to recharge in peace.