Elsewhere, the news of the bombing in Iacon city had reached the high council. Sentinel Prime rolled out that cycle to see the damage for himself. The council had warned Sentinel Prime that the journey was not worth making, for rescue crews had already swept through the wreckage and found no survivors. Sentinel Prime informed them he wasn't searching for survivors. He was determined to find a motive for the bombers to cause such destruction on a peaceful city of Iacon. Even if he found what he was looking for, he knew it wouldn't change the past. But something just burned within his spark, telling him there was something left in Iacon waiting for him.

Sentinel Prime drove through Althihex city at a steady pace, deep in thought about his mission. But the moment he exited Althihex's gates, his train of thought turned into a fiery train wreck. An audio receptor shattering scream cried out and nearly made the Prime jump out of his wheels. He spun 180 degrees, transformed, and searched for the source of the scream. Then the scream sounded again. This time, more clearly.

"MEGATRON!" Amazed by what he heard, Sentinel hurried toward the sound in the outlands of Cybertron. While traveling to and from cities, no one ever strayed into the outlands. Tales were told of those who did, which said they were ripped apart by wild scavengers, the only Cybertronian creature capable of surviving in the outlands. Then the scavengers drank their victim's energon and dragged the corpse away to make a nest out of for their young. Sentinel Prime of course was not phased by these stories. No tall tales were going to steer him away from that voice. 'Megatron, the voice said.' Sentinel thought. 'It couldn't be.'

Meanwhile, leaning against the city wall, Optimus writhed in pain and clung to his brother's arms. The burning in his chest and throat was becoming unbearable. Megatron couldn't help but think he did something wrong to cause his brother so much pain. Thinking back on the last orbital cycle, Megatron began to wonder if the energon star he gave to Optimus poisoned him. It was the only thing Optimus received energy and nutrients from that cycle other than one cube of energon.' It has to be the energon star.' Megatron concluded, looking down at his weeping brother wrapped in Megatron's arms. Optimus held his hand over his throat and let out another scream. 'This is my doing.' Megatron realized.

Suddenly lights spotlighted the two younglings. Optimus tried to hide his face against Megatron's chest, but Megatron forced Optimus to let go of him and pushed him against the city wall. Then Megatron crouched in front of Optimus, prepared to pounce at the threat approaching them. From the younglings' angle, they could only make out the silhouette of a gigantic mech walking their way. Fearing the unknown, Optimus became dead silent and didn't dare cry about his aches and pains. Megatron may have felt equal fear, but he hardly showed it. As the stranger's shadowy hand reached down to them, young Megatron unleashed a ferocious growl that could have fooled the stranger for a grown wild cybercat.

"There is nothing to fear, young one." Sentinel said soothingly to Megatron. Megatron's fierce stance melted immediately. He stared up at the Prime in awe knowing exactly who he was. He tried to say something to his and his brother's hero, but his voice was suddenly muted. Finally Optimus found the words to say.

"Sentinel Prime." Optimus exclaimed from behind Megatron. Sentinel Prime kneeled down almost to optic level with the younglings. Optimus shivered from being in the great Prime's presence.

"You both know who I am?" Sentinel inquired. As they both slowly nodded, Sentinel could see Optimus was shaking nervously. "You two have traveled a long way from home haven't you?" Sentinel said trying to calm the young ones. "Come with me. I'm sure we can find your creators together." Sentinel offered a hand and watched the younglings' reactions. Optimus began to sob again, while Megatron quickly backed away from Sentinel to hold comforting arms over Optimus' shoulders. Optimus' sobs grew louder, which made it clear to Megatron that Optimus' excitement of meeting Sentinel Prime was shattered to pieces by the reminding burning pain inside him.

Not to mention, the word 'creators' made Optimus want to howl to Primus and plead for him to give Artemis back. But he knew that would do him no good. For the past three orbital cycles, Artemis' name constantly flowed through Optimus' thoughts and she still wouldn't come back. Every moment Megatron told him not to cry felt like an orn of walking through rust puddles. But Optimus wouldn't bother hiding his tears anymore. He would cry and sob as much as he wanted to. Sentinel could never bring Optimus and Megatron home to Artemis. Not for a long time at least, when Primus called the brothers back to the Well.

"Youngling?" Sentinel Prime almost whispered. He wasn't sure what he had said to make the blue and red youngling so upset. So he tried to get through to the older silver one. "If you know who I am, then you know you have no reason to fear me. If you know what I have done, then you know no harm will come upon either of you in my care." Megatron couldn't deny any of that. They couldn't be safer with anyone else on the planet.

"Help." Optimus gasped the moment his crying ceased. Megatron knew Optimus wasn't asking Sentinel for help. He was reminding Megatron of their quest. They ran away from home to find help, and here was Sentinel Prime of all mechs coming to their rescue. Silently Megatron picked Optimus up and laid him in Sentinel Prime's hand. Sentinel helped both younglings up to his shoulder and carried them inside Althihex, where they would be treated in the city's finest medical facility.

Later that cycle, Megatron watched over his brother lying on a medical berth. Optimus appeared to be recharging, but he was actually wide awake due to an uncomfortable mask tied over his mouth plates. On the outside, the mask looked harmless. But inside, the rim of the mask fastened around Optimus' jaw and pulled his jaw up. While at the same time, a clamp at the base of Optimus' mouth held his mouth gaping wide open. Then there were the feeding tubes. Two small tubes snaked down Optimus' throat, pumping an antidote to heal what Megatron would later learn to be the early stages of acid rain burns. Megatron looked over the mask again. Who ever designed it was either cruel or stupid.

"Optimus." Megatron whispered. Already awake, Optimus' optics immediately lit up. He was surprised to see Megatron leaning over the berthside. He didn't even hear him come into his room. Optimus made noise the best he could with the two tubes rubbing on his vocals. Megatron understood and remarked with sympathy "I know. I hate these things too." Then Megatron reached under Optimus' mask with both hands. "Don't tell anyone I'm doing this." He added. Unsure of what Megatron was doing, Optimus pulled back, but once he felt a short tug under his chin he tilted his head back and openly invited Megatron to continue removing the mask. Megatron undid the clamp and tie around Optimus' jaw and let Optimus relax. The anecdote seeped out from the mask easier now, and Megatron had to hold the mask in place to keep it from falling off of Optimus' mouth plates.

When Sentinel Prime entered the room, he saw Megatron half sitting on Optimus' berth, holding his mask in place with one hand. First, Optimus noticed the Prime's presence and dimmed his optics straight away. Then Megatron perked his head up and met the Prime's gaze. Sensing he was in trouble, Megatron glanced back and forth between Sentinel Prime and the mask's unfastened tie lying loosely on Optimus' neck.

"Th-this one was broken." Megatron stumbled. Lucky for him, the Prime bought it.

"I see. I'll have one of the medics get your brother a new one." Sentinel Prime answered.

"No!" Megatron barked. He suddenly toned down his voice. "No no. You don't have to do that. I don't mind." Megatron looked away from Sentinel and turned his attention to his own hand resting over Optimus' mask. He started to look over Optimus more. From his perspective, Optimus was clearly not in recharge. Something about him was obviously on the alert and hanging on to every spoken word of Sentinel Prime.

"How is he?" Sentinel Prime asked.

"He's doing much better." Megatron stated with a small smile.

"Megatron, would you mind answering a few questions for me?" Without thinking, Megatron agreed. Sentinel joined Megatron by Optimus' berthside and pulled up a chair. "First off youngling, why were the two of you doing in the outlands alone?" Megatron bowed his head for a moment trying to think of what to say. After a long pause, Megatron sighed.

"Let me just start from the beginning." So Megatron went on to tell Sentinel everything that happened; starting from the moment Optimus came running home saying Artemis was offline. Megatron began to choke up when he spoke of his and Optimus' first recharge in the outlands. The younglings had never experienced such bitter cold, and they had never felt so weak that their internal heating systems couldn't keep them warm. It was a long and miserable off-cycle. Megatron tried to carry on with the story, but then he blurted out "It was all my fault! I should have known better. That was poison." For the second time in his life, Megatron broke down not caring that his brother was listening. Sentinel Prime put his hand gently over Megatron's shoulder.

"What poison?" Sentinel asked.

"In the energon star. I gave Optimus an energon star from the outlands... and now this happened." Megatron cried.

"No Megatron, the energon star did not cause this." Sentinel said smoothly. Megatron looked up with surprise. "Optimus' condition has been caused by acid rain, not a poison energon star." Sentinel continued.

"We stayed out of the rain. The storm was behind us the whole off-cycle."

"Sometimes being close to the rain is enough to cause harm. In Optimus' case, the mist of the acid rain was caught inside his intakes."

"Why didn't this happen to me?"

"I've heard sometimes facing away from the rain or closing up your intakes is enough to make all the difference." Megatron pondered over Sentinel's words for a moment. Then his coolant tears started flowing again.

"Optimus was on my back... and I had my head down as I walked." He realized.

"Oh, it's not your fault. You couldn't have known." Sentinel tried to soothe.

"It is my fault. If I hadn't been trying to find Kaon, I wouldn't have lead Optimus into that storm!" Megatron pulled away from Sentinel.

"Why were you searching for Kaon?"

"It's where my si... my mech creator is. His name is Trojan" Megatron stuttered. He wanted to call his mech creator by the affectionate term of Sire. But he knew that wasn't appropriate now while Optimus was listening. "He told me he was going back to Kaon the day he left us. I know he didn't want to care for Optimus anymore and maybe he thought I was too much responsibility too. But I will never forget the look on his face plates when he walked away from me. He didn't say goodbye to Optimus or Artemis. Just me. And I know for fact that he still loved me." Megatron paused to let all his emotions get settled. "When I lead Optimus into the outlands to find Kaon, I knewTrojan had to take us in once he realized we had come all that way to find him. I just knew he had to accept us."

"I see." Sentinel commented.

"I didn't know Kaon was so far from home. I could have killed Optimus. This will always be my fault." Megatron began to lean more on the berth to lay down next to Optimus, but Sentinel stopped him. Sentinel placed one finger under Megatron's chin and tilted it back towards himself. Megatron complied and gave Sentinel full attention.

"Listen to me, young one. It is nobody's fault. The cycle of life is only continuing." Sentinel comforted.

"What will I do?" Megatron pleaded. "I miss Artemis and Trojan so much. What about Optimus?"

"You will always miss Artemis. But as long as you remember what she taught you, in a way she will never be apart from you. She will always be a part of you, and a part of Optimus." Megatron calmed down and understood Sentinel Prime. Seeing this, Sentinel began to stand up. He walked around to the other side of the berth and stroked Optimus' helm. "As for Trojan, I will look into his records and maybe find a way to bring you two back to him. And if that does not work in your favor..."

Suddenly the unimaginable happened. Sentinel felt his hand touch a rough surface. When he looked down, he discovered Optimus had a strange little mark on his face. Then it finally hit him. Optimus bore the ancient mark of the Primes. But it was impossible. Optimus was not Sentinel's sparkling. Unless another line of Primes survived.

"Did this mark exist when Optimus was created?" Sentinel asked urgently.

"Yes. It formed as soon as his spark was placed in the chamber." Megatron answered, feeling a bit confused.

"Have either of your creators spoken about this mark?"

"Artemis used to tell Optimus tall tales about our ancestors being mighty warriors of Primus. She used to say how they wore that mark, and now Optimus wore it." Megatron shrugged. "They're just stories after all, right?" Sentinel didn't answer. It was unimaginable. Sentinel Prime always thought there was one lineage. His creator was Prime, and his creator's creator was Prime, all the way back to Vector Prime. But now there was a new Prime who was obviously descendent of one of the other original Primes. Optimus was created to be a Prime and Artemis knew about it. Then there was Megatron. There was no doubt in Sentinel's processor now that Megatron really was named after the ancient Prime Megatronus. 'Imagine, all of Optimus' ancestors were part of the Prime lineage. Yet no one from his lineage has been worthy to take the title of Prime, until now.' Sentinel thought. 'He is the next rightful Prime!' Sentinel snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Megatron speaking to him.

"Ah yes. What was I saying?" Sentinel tried to recover.

"If we can't be with Trojan?" Megatron hinted.

"Then you are always welcome to stay with me." Sentinel said more to Optimus than to Megatron.

(End Flashback/Dream)