Venomstrike was curled up on the berth in Shockwave's lab, still resting. He was suffering from a nightmare, or more so, a vivid memory of his parents' deaths. He shivered and hugged himself as he slept.
Steve continued down the hallway and peeked into the labs to ask Shockwave what has happened but Shockwave was still at the sick bay he figured, and he saw Dreadwing had returned to his own quarters during the middle of the night but Venomstrike was still on the berth.
The officer blinked, stepping through the door and approaching the spiderbot. "... Venomstrike?" He placed a land on the child's arm.
Venom's optics snapped open and he jerked forward. "Mother, Father, no!" He panted heavily in fear, his shoulders trembling.
Steve gasped, staggering back at the sudden out burst, but he held Venomstrike a moment later. "I-it's alright! You're okay!" He tried to calm the child down, "Please be okay."
The young bot clung to Steve, shaking with terrified sobs. His breathing was in shallow pants, his entire frame trembling. "M-mother... Father..." Everything had happen so quickly. Too much happened the previous day to allow Venom a restful sleep.
"Please don't cry, oh please don't cry..." Steve sat on the berth with Venomstrike, rubbing the youngling back. Venomstrike wasn't the only one missing Starscream or Airachnid, even if they were traitors. Steve considered them family when the Decepticons used to be united, if they were ever united. "You've done no wrong... you don't deserve any of this."
"I-I wish... I wish I could go home... But I don't want to be alone... I can't take that!" He whimpered softly, curling against the Eradicon for comfort. Venomstrike didn't want to be on his own. He wasn't solo rogue material. He had to be around others. He needed someone he could count on. Venom knew he wouldn't last on his own.
Steve felt the child's pain and held him tighter, resisting the urge to break down himself. He knew how it felt to be alone, but at the same time you can never really be alone, there are others like you. "I'd give anything to have Starscream and Airachnid come back. Breakdown and Makeshift... everyone... I don't get the point of this war anymore; we're losing people we care about and what? World conquest? Nothing makes sense."
"Father said the war is pointless... It's all gotten out of hand because Megatron has a grudge against Optimus for gaining the title of Prime. It was because of that... Megatron is jealous of Optimus' title. He's acting like more of a child than I actualy am!" Venom shouted, pulling away from Steve.
"What was that?" The sound of a raspy voice came from the entrance and a heavy foot stomped the metal ground, "I'm afraid I didn't quite hear you."
It was Megatron, and he had heard everything. "Is what I hear true? You feel... 'alone', little one?" He walked towards them slowly and Steve was quick to get on his feet, standing in front of the spiderling.
"It was my fault, my lord! I'm the one to blame!"
Venom placed a servo on Steve's shoulder and gently moved him out of the way. He gingerly stood and glared at Megatron. "Yes. I feel alone. And it's your fault! All of this is because of you! Your pathetic jealousy, your need to be better than Optimus Prime, there's no point! Cybertron died because you have a need to surpass him!" He growled at the tyrant darkly.
Did everything have to come down to Optimus Prime? Sure, Optimus Prime counted, but he wasn't the only thing that made Megatron rebel. There were other things. Things he and Starscream imagined, and planned. Things they promised each other but will never take flight because of the damn High Council.
Megatron was sorry to say that Venomstrike hit something in him that had long since been buried in his mind, and it made him angry. So angry that he grabbed the spiderbot's throat and lifted him up. When Steve protested, Megatron took the Eradicon's helm and shoved him roughly against the control panels where he fell and pleaded. "You were not there when Cybertron fell! And you were not there when the High Council gave Optimus Prime what was rightfully mine!"
He roared, slamming Venomstrike onto the berth. "But I am sorry to inform you that this is not just about Optimus Prime, you little glitch! There are things that you will never understand, people who did not deserve a life the High Council gave them, and I fought for them! And I will continue fighting for my brothers despite having lost or won centuries of battles!"
Venomstrike made no sound as he was choked, he continued to glare at Megatron. "Is it still worth it? Your home is /dead/. You lost sight of your original goals, /haven't you/?!" He struck out a kick to the tyrant's side with his good leg. "Your ridiculous pride and foolish arrogance led to this! You can't rule a planet if you feel such a need to destroy it! You kill everything you touch! No wonder my father wanted to abandon you!"
Megatron fell, and not just physically as he managed to catch himself on one knee, but emotionally. To be reminded of the promises he made and broke cycles ago was perhaps the worse feeling in the world. A lot would say he was sparkless, but he had a reason to be. His crimson eyes stared continued to stare at the ground, and for the first time he spoke softly that Steve almost mistook him for someone else. "Your own pride is the only thing you can turn to when everyone else has left you. You do not think I have any regrets? Think again. I did not want Cybetron to fall, nor did I intend a millenia of war, but everything... fell. My most trusted lieutenants betrayed me, failed me, all of my... heroic accomplishments turned to nothing but fables. All of Cybertron saw me as nothing but a tyrant." Megatron looked up, chuckling. "Did Starscream ever care to mention that he was the only one I could turn to through the raging battles? And he too betrayed me. Power consumes you, boy... And instead of aiding those close to me... I chose to attempt a war that will never end. I failed. My people failed me, but the thought continues to linger in my mind that I have failed them..."
Megatron picked himself up, and almost fell to his knees again. He shed no tears but it was clear as day that the pain he felt was there. The burden he had carried for so many centuries. "So if it means fighting a war that I will never win, then so be it..." He said, and walked out of the labs.
Venomstrike couldn't believe what he had heard. And the look on Megatron's face... The small mech checked on Steve and made sure he was alright before walking out of the lab, searching for Megatron. He caught sight of the Decepticon leader and called out to him, moving as fast as his injured leg would allow. "Wait..!"
He wanted to get away from the world, to be in the darkest corners of the bridge where he always stood, looking at the stars and reminiscing, but when he heard the spiderbot call to him, Megatron turned and almost glared but he was too busy hurting inside to. "... The truth isn't an invitation to say your apologies, if that is what you're planning. Leave me be, or I will send you to the hook." Primus, he just wanted to be alone. He wanted to call Orion Pax, but it was slagging Optimus Prime who would pick up.
"No... I shouldn't have said any of that..." Venom looked down. "Send me to the hook if you must, but... I was upset... I'm hurting too... You took my family from me, I have a right to hate you. But that didn't mean I had a right to throw your past in your face like that. Especially since I don't know the real story behind it." Venomstrike felt terrible. The same sassy mouth that his father possessed would more likely than not cause him to die one day and he wasn't too keen on that particular outcome. All his mouth seemed to do was cause trouble and hurt people.
"Then you would do well to keep your mouth shut in the future." And just like that, Megatron was back to what everyone saw him as, a tyrant but, "But if it means anything to you, Starscream had the potential to be a great leader. It was unfortunate that he left me no choice." He continued on his way.
Venomstrike tailed after Megatron, keeping his head down, walking a few steps behind the larger mech. The way he followed after Megatron, his stance, to Eradicons glancing at the two mechs, it seemed to them that Starscream was alive and well, tailing after his master.
Megatron sighed silently, and rolled his optics. He could hear the tapping of heels pursuing him, but if anything, hearing the sound of something... familiar was relaxing, even if it was someone different. Suddenly, something dawned on him and he stopped, looking over his shoulder and turning to face Venomstrike.
Venomstrike paused when he heard Megatron stop and he looked up at the large bot. "I-is something wrong?" The spider refused to call him Master or Lord Megatron, or even acknowledge him as sir.
"I am giving you the choice now before they are buried, do you want to see them?" Megatron asked casually, turning to continue his stroll. "Forever hold your peace unless otherwise."
"You... Their bodies are on board? I... I thought they were buried when the mine collapsed..." Venom quickly followed after Megatron, his heels clacking on the ground. "If it's allowed... I want to see them..."
"We respect our dead by burying them peacefully, even if they were traitors." Megatron lead Venomstrike to the sick bay, earning a few stares from the medics there, including Knockout and Shockwave who had been watching over Soundwave. He lead the young bot to a room and turned the light on where Starscream and Airachnid's bodies, along with a few other soldiers lying on their own berths, as if they were just in stasis, dreaming peacefully. "I will leave you to mourn." And he left.
Venomstrike felt tears well up in his optics when he saw his parents and felt a sting when he saw Makeshift's body nearby. The spiderling collapsed between his parental units, placing his servos over theirs. It hurt seeing them again. Now he felt even more lost. He had hoped closure would help, but it didn't. Seeing their peaceful expression, Venom wanted nothing more than to beg them to wake up. "Mother... Father... Please, wake up... I want to go home, so please wake up..." He sobbed, squeezing their ice cold servos. "...Wake up..."
But Starscream and Airachnid didn't wake up, and continued to dream. It was a few nanokliks later that Shockwave appeared by the door, peeking in quietly and walking in. "I'm sorry," He whispered, kneeling by the child. "... I'm... so sorry, Venomstrike."
Venom released his hold on his parents and clung to Shockwave, agonized sobs escaping his vocalizer. "Primus, why does it have to hurt so much?!" He cried, shaking violently.
"It is supposed to, I'm so sorry." Shockwave embraced him back, trembling himself. Why was everything always going so wrong? Why was there always a lot of problems? Frag it all. He just wanted something to go right. Just once.
"Please... Get me out of this room now... I got to see them one last time, I'm content... Take me to Megatron and stay with Soundwave until he's better... Okay?" He looked up at the scientist with a look similar to the pleading pout Starscream often wore.
Shockwave wiped the tears away and helped Venomstrike to his feet, "Megatron?" He was slightly confused, "I saw him bring you here, but why the sudden change of spark...? I thought..." Unless Megatron forced-no. His old friend looked more solemn than proud. What happened?
"I just... I want to stay with you, but you need to be here for Soundwave... And... Megatron and I had an argument earlier... And when I walk behind him it seems to keep him calm so... I don't know... I just want to be around him for a while until Soundwave wakes up..."
He wouldn't question Venomstrike's choice any longer if the spiderling was sure, but Shockwave couldn't help but worry that he did not know what happened between his leader and recent lover; it almost unnerved. Made him feel that he wasn't doing something to keep Venomstrike out of harm's way, "Alright, if you insist... but be careful." He trusted Megatron, up to a point.
Venom nodded and stood up shakily, glancing at his parents one last time before turning away from them forever. "...Let's go..." He murmured, moving ahead of Shockwave to get out of that room as quickly as possible.
Shockwave lead Venomstrike out of the morgue and made sure the door closed behind him. "Are you certain... never mind, I know you'll call for me if something happens." The scientist looked over to Soundwave who was still in stasis.
The spiderling nodded. "I will... Stay here. I can get to Megatron on my own... I should prove I'm not running away by walking alone, right?"
"... I know you won't run away, I trust you." Shockwave clicked, turning to face him again. "I'm only worried about you hovering around Megatron." He promised himself he wouldn't question or worry, but he was doing it all over again. "I'll get Dreadwing to check on you, just so I know you're safe."
"Okay..." Venom pressed his forehead to Shockwave's. "Don't worry about me being around Megatron... I don't think he'll do anything to me..."
Shockwave placed his servos on Venomstrike's face and kissed him softly, "He won't as long as you don't anger him." He joked, chuckling sofly.
Venom tried to smile, and he drew away from Shockwave. "I'll try to be careful." He gave Shockwave a quick kiss and turned, leaving the sick bay. He glanced around the halls and slowly made his way to the bridge.