I'll Always Follow You, My Stubborn Lover
Summary:After a rough flight in a sand storm,Megatron lands himself in a tribe with small,pretty mechs who can't fly and he doesn't know what to make of them, especially the young mechling who had found him and saved his life.
A joor later, Megatron finally left Ultra Magnu's s tent. They had been discussing Megatron's stay and the Autobot had decided to leave him in the closest tent to the library since both Optimus and Shockwave and is far away from the others so that they don't bother him. Much. He was surprised, however, when he saw Optimus standing in front of his new temporary home, two data pads in his servo.
He walked up to the mechling who smiled up at him. ''What are you doing here?''
''Besides coming here to wish you a welcome to the neighborhood, I would really like to know a few things. The files on fliers are few and far in between. I have no idea what is true and what is speculation. However, I would like to ask you some questions, if that's alright.'' He smiled the whole time he said this even as he walked into Megatron's new home before its new owner himself. Megatron raised an optic ridge at this but shrugged and followed him in.
He was pleasantly surprised by the tent. Shockwave must have had a hand in decorating it, since it was just like how Megatron liked it. There was a berth big enough for him to comfortably sleep in and there was a desk and a chair for him to sit in if he decided to work or read anything, since he wasn't the type to read anything, anywhere other than his desk. There was a small bowl of cleaning solvents meant for when he wants to clean himself and there were three cubes of energon, the energon Megatron could recognize even from the other side of the tent as jet fuel and he wondered where they could have found it. There was a small shelf of data pads that he could tell was in the Decepticon dialect and he sighed in relief, knowing that he'll have something to relax to. By his berth side there was a couple of blank pads he guessed were for him to write on and he was happy with that. Yep, Shockwave decorated his place. Unlike his old firend, Megatron could not stay. He had the entirety of Decepticons to lead and he was already away for far too long, but there was no way he would make a flight from ... wherever New Iacon was stationed all the way back to Kaon without falling, further injuring himself or even being left unable to fly ever again.
''I take it it's to your liking?'' Optimus asking him snapped him out of his musing and he looked back over to the mechling only to find him sitting comfortably on his berth. Now Megatron was embarrassed, because in the Decepticon culture only one's mate or temporary partner ever got into their berth. Not even friends sat on someone's berth without them wanting to take their relationship to a whole new level. Of course, Optimus didn't know that so he couldn't just tell the mechling to get up without explaining why and he would rather not embarrass them both and make tings awkward between them. He had only known the red, blue and light silver young mech for a few joors but he knew that he liked his company and would rather keep it.
''Yes, it is. I am guessing that Shockwave had a hand in decorating this?'' The gray mech said and moved over to the desk. He sat in the chair and relaxed into it. It was comfortable and his stabilizers still hurt somewhat, since hey had apparently taken the most damage in his unfortunate crash landing. Standing up so long had been tiring but it was how the Autobots discussed things. Apparently, sitting down is considered an offense because it means you aren't rally interested or even bored with the conversation. Thankfully, Ultra Magnus had not taken offense and had simply explained the situation and Megatorn had taken it all in stride. That, however, doesn't mean that his pedes didn't hurt like pit.
Optimus nodded as he rearranged his data pads. ''Yeah, he was a great help. I mean, Alpha Trion and I would have placed a desk here but we would have never placed another chair in here since we got used to how the Autobots do things so only one chair would have been here. And we didn't know your exact size, but Shockwave told us so we bought you a big enough berth in time.''
''Wait, you did this?'' He gestured at the brightly lit tent with a few mesh carpets. Optimus nodded happily, optics brights, obviously proud of himself for a job well done. ''Where the frag did you get jet fuel?''
Optimus chuckled as he finally got comfortable for long conversations. ''Well, besides finding mechs in distress, I often find various things in the sand when I go exploring. I'm sure that everyone has by now told you that I often sneak out of the camp, right?'' The Lord nodded and Optimus's optics got this glazed, faraway look to them. ''Well, I find all sorts of things when I get restless and leave. I've spent a good part of my life traveling so this staying in one place thing is really getting on my nerves, but Alpha Trion isn't so young anymore and Blurr seems to somewhat like it here. As long as Alpha Trion has data pads and as long as Blurr has space to run, they'll be happy, but I still feel like there's still so much to see, so much to explore, so much to do that staying here often drives me crazy.'' He sighed sadly, obviously imagining all the things he could be doing now instead of sitting in this tribe's camp and just talking with a warframe. ''I still feel like I don't belong here.''
''So you are looking for somewhere you would belong?''
Optimus shook his helm gently. ''Not quite. I know that if it were still standing, I would belong in Iacon. Or I would be traveling all over Cybertron and seeing new things and all that. But, no. I still feel like I need to do something and I don't know what.''
''What do you mean?'' Megatron leaned forward, resting his servos on the surface of the desk, intrigued. ''What would you have to do?''
''I don't know.'' Optimus said sadly. ''Can you keep a secret?'' He was looking at Megatron with hopeful optics, as if he wanted to get something off of his chassis but didn't have anyone he would dare tell it to and he had just stumbled upon the right person to share this secret with. Megatron raised an optic ridge and nodded and that seemed to be enough for Optimus as he looked up to the ceiling after checking the entrance of the tent. ''I ... often dream of this ... place. It's strange. There are pillars that are holding up this big circle of metal, as tick as the pillars. Sometimes it looks brand new ... other times the pillars have sand against them. When the circle above them glows, the sand is reducing. It doesn't look like particles of rust anymore ... just normal sand. In those dreams, I see what I hope for Cybertron to become. Other times ... other times I feel like I'm in a nightmare." A shudder ran through his body and Megatron looked at him worriedly. "Everything looks dead, as if nothing lives on Cybertron anymore. Those dreams fill me with dread and I know that there's nothing I can do to change anything."
"So you think you could save Cybertron in those other dreams?" Megatron asked after a moment of silence. Optimus shook his head to clear the haze from remembering those dreams before focusing on him once again.
"I would like to think so, yes, but I sincerely doubt it."
"How come?" He couldn't believe that someone who always looked so confident could sound so insecure. It was nothing like the Optimus he first met.
"I don't really know what I could do to fix any of ... this." He encompassed with his servo the entirety of the room but metaphorically meaning the whole desert thing and Cybertron's obviously dithering health.
"What about your dreams, then?"
"The strange place that in some variations heals Cybertron?" He asked incredulously, looking at Megatron in a way no one had ever looked at him before. "It's dreams. They may not be true, but even if they are, and that's a considerable if right there, how are we supposed to find it? Or to activate it? My dreams don't exactly include an instructions manual nor do they have a map with an X marking the spot!"
"But it's something to give people so that they don't lose hope." Megatron insisted and it got him an even weirder look. "Don't look at me like that; it's a perfectly sound suggestion."
"For any other people other than the Autobots. I thought that I told you about their cocoon of ignorance." Megatron grunted as the only answer. It was enough for Optimus to continue. "They don't believe me about flightframes. Why would they believe me about this?"
"I guess I see your point."
"And now that we are once again on the topic of flightframes, I would like to ask a few questions, if that is alright?" Optimus said and took his data pads. Megatron nodded, still not happy but he did want Optimus to stay a bit longer. It was a strange thing to feel about a relatively complete stranger but he didn't mind as Optimus was pleasant company. "Okay. How large can flightframes be?"
Megatron smirked and leaned back in his seat. "Just flightframes?"
The red and blue bot shrugged. "There are more files on ground based warframes but only one or two incomplete ones about fliers."
The Lord nodded. "That is because my father, Megazarak, and my uncle, Galvatron, took everything after the last war once they gave up hope of ever finding either survivors or civilian bodies."
Optimus, who had been writing it all down with lightning speed, stopped and looked up at Megatron. "That reminds me. Shockwave often said some things about civilians or civilianframes, looking both sad and elated. Care to explain?"
"There are two frame types," Megatron obliged the request and put up two fingers. "Warframes and civilians. The frames then differ in size and engine type, then in processor types and last, but not the least, in subspace purposes."
"What do you mean?" The curious mechling asked and the older bot chuckled.
"Patience." Optimus blushed and ducked his helm sheepishly in a very cute fashion. "You see, civilianframes use subspace only for storing things that they pick up. Warframes have bigger subspace that they use for weapons storage. Civilians can carry weapons as well, but they are not weapons that they are born with. Warframes, however, are sparked with tons of weaponry that are as much a part of their frame as their optics are." He paused to let Optimus write down whatever he wanted and used the opportunity to watch him when he was completely focused on a task. When Optimus threw a glance at him, the warframe continued. "And that's not mentioning how much ticker our armor is or just how our senses are far more sensitive than a civilian's. My sire often told me that if both a civilian and a warframe were sent to find a specific object by only using their senses, the warframe would find it at a 95% success ratios while the civilian would find it with only 45% chances of success, all the while the warframe would complete this task in under two joors while a civilian would do it 5-8 joors, if he does it at all. Then again, my uncle told me just as often that civilians get stranger personal mods so I wouldn't know if any such civilian could be beat by a warframe. But this is general for warframes. Then there are special frame types among us."
"Special how?" Optimus had been writing at such speed that Megatron was shocked he had not started a small fire. When he didn't continue, the mechling looked up as soon as he finished his writing. He saw what his companion was staring at and smiled, a little bitter and a lot of sorrowful. "Oh. Yeah, it's a ... technique, a way of writing and typing that only Archivists use. Well, used to use, I guess. Alpha Trion taught me since I was little so I am quite good at recording every bit of information I see, here or get."
"How do you learn such a skill?" It didn't make sense to him. As far as he was concerned, Optimus was performing a miracle just by keeping up with what he was saying in notes, let alone if he really recorded his whole speech!
"You can't really learn it, per see. You need to be connected to the Grid and if you can keep up with the slowest flow, then you have a possible data clerk level processor, so you can work on the Grid. And if you can work on the Grid, then you can do what I am doing." The red, blue and silver bot handed over the data pad to the gunmetal gray mech and his red optics nearly fell out of his helm when he saw that everything he has said, word for word, was written in nice, neat glyphs.
"I thought that the Grid is down?"
"It is, but Iacon's Archives are still in workable condition. The data pads that Alpha Trion and I brought here are copies we made ourselves during our travels. Another thing only a data clerk level processor can do is what we do on a daily basis and that's memorizing and storing enormous amounts of data in our processors. We literally know every word of every documented file we have ever read. One of the reasons I only needed help in learning your language to a speakble degree. I knew the words and the grammer, but the syntheses were beyond me. It's also the reason I know that what I saw was a flightframe and not a figment of my imagination."
"So you and your mentor are traveling libraries." Megatron said in awe and Optimus beamed at the positive reaction. The poor bot must have gotten used to all the bad opinions that the others had of him and his mentor and their secret-keeping of such amounts of information that this was a delight to hear.
"We are also the only ones who know how to access what is left of the Grid, but since there are no more data clerks, it may be a bit too much for everyone."
"Shockwave is an Intelligence Agent. The Head of the division, actually. Don't you think he would be able to deal with it since he, too, deals with loads of information every day?" Megatron questioned but he didn't expect the snort he got with his answer.
"Shockwave must be a great Intelligence Agent but he doesn't have the processor level needed for working on the Grid." When he saw that Megatron wasn't convinced, Optimus sighed and put his data pad down, focusing his full attention on Megatron. "Okay, let's go about it like this. You said Shockwave deals with a lot of information every day, right?" A nod from the larger bot. "Right. So, imagine if all of that information was multiplied by five and flowing all around you, organized in thousands of different ways by each new data clerk, passing by you in milliseconds. Every millisecond. For joors and days on end."
Megatron paused to imagine. He could just see all the reports poor Shockwave used to bring in in every meeting and he could remember, like it was yesterday, the way he would drone on and on about them and all the sources he had to go through. His optics widened once again as he imagined all of that, multiplied by five and constantly flowing. "How can anyone ever do that!?"
Optimus shrugged. "I have lived with it my whole life so I wouldn't know. What's it like to be able to fly?"
"I guess that the answer would be the same." Megatron conceded and they sat in silence, just staring at each other for about five breems when suddenly a black, gold and cream colored mech almost soundlessly walked right into Megatron's tent. The owner of said tent tensed up but Optimus smiled at the blue-visored, stealthy Autobot two-wheeler.
"Prowl, what can I do for you?" The red and blue mechling asked and the mentioned other mechling took in their relaxed poses and hesitated.
"It's ... Kup wants you to help him train the new recruits he got. I was passing by and he told me to get you."
"Oh." You could clearly see that Optimus wasn't happy with being interrupted in their nice conversation but he got up and off of Megatron's berth anyway. The Lord and this ... Prowl watched him as he stored his data pads before the black and gold Autobot left and Optimus turned to wave friendly at Megatron, causing the Decepticon's spark to skip a beat before the mechling was out of his sight. Megatron stared after him and an involuntary sigh left him as he slumped in his chair.
'What is wrong with me? What is it about Optimus that makes me act this way?' These were his last thoughts before he fell into recharge in a very awkward position at his desk.
