A/N: Look, it's a update! LOL. I know I've owed this one for a while now. It was a hard chapter to write, to be honest. Trying to write out the emotions of two very complex characters and then weave them into the story took more time and thought that I realized. Trying to wrap them around this song was even harder. Please forgive me if I got anything wrong here. Hence, a bit of a delay with this posting. Please forgive any issues with this as it hasn't been Beta'ed yet. I know everyone is busy with the holidays and family and the like, so I wasn't going to be pushy with editing. Still, if you get the chance, check out "Our Debt" by Razorgaze (my beta). Her story is awesome and you won't regret reading it. :D

The song this time around is "This Moment" by Distrubed. Normally I shy away from using music on that fandom's soundtrack, however this song was just so fitting to the overall mood of the chapter. I had to include it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers or the song "This Moment." Hasbro has the rights to Transformers. The bad Distrubed as the rights to This Moment. Please do not sue me. This is for fun and I am not making any money from this.


He had chosen this location with care, the Rocky Mountain peeks high above the fleshling cities giving the perfect venue to what promised to be a most interesting meeting. Cold and isolated, covered with snow and devoid of any kind of complex organic life. It reminded him of the empty hold next to his spark, and how a certain human female should have been protected there. Held there.

Forced to press herself against his spark chamber, to become a temporary part of him.

His Laura…

He could feel Optimus approaching, the tale-tell pulse of his spark like a long-forgotten song suddenly remembered in the back of his mind. It was always that way when dealing with his spark brother, always a game of remembering and hating and hiding that memory over and over again until the next time they met. He did not want to remember the closeness they had shared as mere sparklings, the times that his little brother had made him laugh at his attempts to be noble and strong.

He certainly did NOT want to remember the way he stood up for his younger sibling when faced with a bullying youngling during his first years of training.

And so he buried the memories, fragmented and scattered them to the farthest reaches of his processors. Like he had done with the face of his femme creator, the face of his true mech creator. Useless memories that did nothing more than take up precious processing space. Once he had toyed with the idea of removing that chunk of processor altogether, rid himself of the troubling memories once and for all. But there was not a medic within the universe that he trusted with such a delicate surgery as that.

And even then it would only serve to annoy him in future times, such as now, when his spark remembered the pulse of his brother's… and brought back the hated memories.

You will remember this moment
As you dig into me
And from your smile now
It seems as if you liked it
You'd better cherish this moment
As you dig into me
You'll never get another chance
At this

I won't stand another minute
Of your questioning me
You hear me, bitch, stop
The interrogation's over
I can't handle the feeling
Of you pestering me
How would you like
To meet my favorite list

"Optimus," He snarled, watching the other mech transform to his bi-pedal mode. Crimson optics met the sky blue of the other and he could not help the feelings that threatened to override his control. "Where is my slave? I know she lives. Give her to me."

Optimus stiffened at the words, falling quickly into combat stance. One energon sword subspaced into view, and Megatron felt a quick stab of triumph at the way those blue optics started a slow fade to red. So it seemed the feelings in his spark weren't wrong after all. The human he cherished had somehow managed to infect the courageous Autobot leader with this pit-spawned need to keep her.

"She is not your slave, not anymore," the other replied. "I will not allow you to torture her any longer or force her to do things against her will."

Megatron's snarl became a hideous grin. The ball-and-chain flail appeared in his hand, partly a response to the other's sword, and partly to be a comfort. The feel of a weapon somehow grounded him, reminded him of his purpose. "And what do you know about what she has done to please me?"

Optimus never moved, never flinched as the battle mask closed over his features, leaving only those angry eyes to glow within the evening shadows. "Why did you force her to kill her family?"

"Ah, so she told you that much, did she," Megatron mused, swinging the flail as if idly. "Not that it is your business, Prime, but they deserved their fate for what they had done to her. Even your overdeveloped sense of honor would agree."

Optimus watched the wickedly deadly weapon slowly gain momentum with each passive swing. "What do you mean?"

At that Megatron laughed. "She did not tell you the whole story? That sounds like my Laura. Then again, why would she try to relive that pathetic past when I give her such a bright future…"

The flail flew through the air, straight at his brother's head.

No you can't reneg
I love to see you beg

I dream this moment as you run away
You will only separate me from
All I believe this moment
In brutality
You're the one who kept on pushing
Till I made you bleed

Optimus twisted out of the way, the movement only fast enough to dodge the majority of the blow. Splintered pieces of metal exploded outward from his shoulder armor, the glancing blow sending waves of pain screaming through his circuits. Damage alerts flashed behind his optics, trying to divert his attention to self-preservation instead of the battle ahead. He pushed those aside, acknowledging the damage and pushing his combat programs to the forefront of his processors.

His sword landed a likewise glancing blow across Megatron's abdomen as he completed his spin, and he took a moment to revel as silvery metal glinted in the fading daylight like glitter falling to the earthen floor. "All you offer her is death," he snarled.

"And you think you offer her life?" Megatron roared, his self-loathing need for his human sapping what was left of his patience. It wasn't much to begin with. "How arrogant of you, Prime. You think everyone wants what you want. Tell me, oh champion of the weak, did you even ask her if she wanted your protection?"

The flail met sword this time, the snap-ring of it echoing long after the blow had landed. "After what you have done to her, what you have made her do, she cannot even think for herself."

"Is it freedom you offer when you think for her, or just another form of slavery?" the other countered.

Optimus growled low, reaching forward and grabbing his brother by the throat plating. "She needs help."

"Yes," Megatron surprised him by agreeing. "And the only one that can give her that help is me. I give her purpose!"

"You give her hell!" the other yelled. "You bond her against her will! That is unforgivable, even for you."

Megatron snarled, his other hand transforming into a wicked blade, slicing down at the hand that pinned him at his throat. "No, you unbelievable fool. She bound me against my will! And I will claim what is mine. GIVE HER BACK TO ME!"

It seems your pride has been stolen
Since you stood up to me
I'll tell you now you know I think I
Really like it
So learn a lesson from someone
Who will never repeat the many
Tragic mistakes of his past

I hope you savor this moment
As you're still on your feet
So keep it quiet now
I think you're gonna like it
Words have consequences when
They're spoken to me
You better be careful when you're writing checks

"You know nothing of bonds," Optimus snarled behind his battle mask, releasing his opponent and jumping back out of the way of the energon blade.

Still, the other managed to sink in the tip of the weapon, dragging a gouge of fire down his arm. Optimus blocked the pain relays, pushing them aside as he had the damage reports that screamed from every aspect of his systems. This fight was bad, he knew, and made so much worse by the fact that neither seemed ready to give in this time around. It was quite possibly going to be the battle that decided which of them lived to see the next sunrise.

And all of it over one solitary human woman.

"Oh, on the contrary, Prime, I learned all I know of them from you," Megatron whispered, his deadly-soft voice knifing through the evening air to strike at the other. "Did you ever wonder why I ordered the deaths of all those femmes? Of why I strove so hard to eradicate them from the universe?"

Optimus fell still, a cold chill working its way into his spark that had nothing to do with the frigid air. He remained crouched on the ground, swords at the ready, waiting for the next trick or feint or attack. But some part of him held his attack in reserve, not wanting to hear what Megatron had to say, yet not being able to turn away.

"Why?" He asked, voice barely a whisper threaded through with his own fear.

"You," Megatron spat in answer, clutching his wounded middle. "You were the reason. You and that glitch-spawned Elita. Did you think I couldn't feel that bond between you both, that I would not understand it for what it was? How it weakened you, made you foolish and pathetic. And still, for all those weaknesses, I craved that bond for myself. You made me want these femmes to complete my life. My jealousy of you, my hatred of how you could waste all your potential and become a lowly bridge technician! All for the love of her! I vowed then and there to never allow such weakness to enter my spark. And there was only one way to ensure that."

The horror of it all threatened to overwhelm him, and Optimus found himself taking a step backward. All those lives, the horrors of the massacres at Iacon and Flotilla… all over the fact that Megatron had seen his bond to Elita-One as a weakness and not as the strength it was.

He stared hard at his brother, watching the fading light of Earth's sun drench him in its rays, painting his silver armor the scarlet color of freshly spilled blood. And yet over that he saw not only the human blood that lay on his hands, but the bright blue of energon, the life's force of his race. So many dead at his hands, all because he was afraid of bonding to one, of sharing his power and his life with another.

"No," he shook his head, optics nearly purple as his rage threatened to overpower his control. "No, you will not blame the deaths of generations on me, Megatron. I won't let you."

"You have no say over what I do or do not do," the other stated harshly. "Regardless what you believe, what is done is done. I thought I had that weakness beat. But now, here I am on a fleshing planet and bound to one far weaker than anything I have ever encountered. This is your fault. I blame you!"

Don't you question how
I stand above you

I dream this moment as you run away
You will only separate me from
All I believe this moment
In brutality
You're the one who kept on pushing
Till I made you bleed

Again they clashed, the colossal amounts of strength held in each other's frame slamming together like boulders. Their punches and kicks, jabs and swings of weapons echoed in the frozen snowy expanse as they collided with their target or slammed into the mountainside. Here and there tiny avalanches formed, their gravely voices like cries of terror, their falling speed like the sound of a thousand different feet fleeing for their sanity.

Fleeing from the two fallen Titans from the heavens, the two immortal beings that battled one another over the life and love of one tiny fragile human.

"YOU WILL GIVE HER TO ME!"

"NEVER!"

Megatron's flail slammed into the mountain again, shattering a chunk loose from the rock wall. It fell against Optimus's shoulder, knocking the Prime slightly off balance. Megatron struck, wrapping the chain of his weapon around the other's neck, dragging Optimus backward and slamming him into the cliff wall.

"Do you love her?" He purred, head tilting to the side as he regarded the other mech, one clawed hand reaching upward and ripping the metal battle mask from his face. "You cannot hide anything from me for long, Optimus. I can see it in your optics. Could it be that my Laura has infected you with this same sickness? Is the reason you keep her from me simply because you want her for yourself?"

Optimus grabbed at the chain around his throat, kicking outward with his leg, an attack the other dodged with ease. "I protect all life," He snarled. "Including hers."

Megatron laughed, the sound slithering around Optimus's spark like something too smooth and too vile at the same time. "You have never fought this hard for a mere human. My Decepticons have taken many human pets before, doing with them as they see fit. And you have never stood up to champion each one of those humans like you do for my Laura," He stepped in closer to his brother, hand grabbing the other's chin plating and jerking his face around to stare at him. "What has she said to you, my brother? Or could it be that you feel through our bond what I felt through yours with Elita? Could it be that you are the jealous one this time? Upset because my femme still lives and wants to come back to me while yours is gone?"

It was a step too far, and Megatron realized that a moment too late. Optimus finally lost his last shreds of control, the image of Elita dancing out of the corner of his eye. He could not let the other stand there and insult his beloved's memory, just as he could not stand there and bear to have Megatron hurl the truth into his face.

A truth he had not wanted to face at all, that he kept Laura with him for reasons other than her own protection. While those reasons were not the ones Megatron had listed, they were still reasons that made him feel a twinge of shame.

"YOU LOVE HER!" Megatron screamed in outrage, gun subspacing into his free hand. He had felt that shift in his brother's emotions, and it had rocked him to his core. "ADMIT IT, PRIME. YOU LOVE HER, BUT SHE DOES NOT LOVE YOU. HER DEVOTION BELONGS TO ME! I saved her from the brutality of her family. I saved her from the rapes, the drugs and the other pathetic fleshling tortures. NOT YOU!"

The flail chain snapped in half under Optimus's fingers, and he struck out with both fists. Megatron flew back, nearly falling from the cliff shelf to the swirling misty abyss below. "You saved her body," Optimus cried. "But I will save her mind. And you will pay for everything you have done, Megatron. Both to our race and to hers!"

Now you know the answer
Save yourself from danger
I cannot forget how all of this began
I know you know the answers
Save yourself from danger
Beaten by a stranger
Blood still on his hands

I dream this moment as you run away
You will only separate me from
All I believe this moment
In brutality
You're the one who kept on pushing
Till I made you bleed

The ferocity of the blows, the sheer malice driving each swing of his brother's mighty fists, was too much for Megatron to handle. For all the hits that he landed against the other, for all the metal that flew from Optimus's armor, he could not stop the juggernaut that was the Prime's anger. He was surrendering ground with each swing of fist, edging closer and closer to the drop off to oblivion that waited below the cliff.

"You fight for her!" He continued to challenge.

"Yes," Optimus replied. "But I also fight for all the others. I will not allow this to continue! Relinquish your claim to this human or die. This is your last chance."

At any other point in his life, he would have done just that. It was only a human, a fragile flesh creature that would die long before he, himself. But this time he could not do it. He would cede the battle to his brother, but he would not cede the victory. He would not give up his Laura. Not now… and not ever. That was a fate worse than death, and though it killed him to admit it, he knew it was true.

He had finally come to love something other than power.

"No," Megatron said suddenly, calmly… and lowered his defenses, letting his weapons transform back into hands. "No, Optimus. I cannot—I will not—live without her. And if it will cost me my spark, so be it."

Optimus's fists stopped less than a millimeter from the other's face, his entire frame trembling with the need to strike, to just push him over the edge of the cliff and hopefully to his death. Crimson optics stared into crimson optics, rage pouring into one from the other and back again. And the walls between them, the walls erected from the moment he had chosen to become a Prime and Megatron had chosen to become a Co-Ruler, finally came down. Hatred, denial, sorrow, regret, longing… their sparks had never emptied themselves into each other as they did now, sharing thoughts and ideals too intimate and sacred for words.

Optimus twisted suddenly, slamming his fist as hard as he could into the stone wall behind him.

"You understand," Megatron hissed. "You understand now why I need her."

"Yes," Optimus admitted, his tone suggesting the word was bitter and horrible to speak aloud. He did not bother to turn around. "But you know that I will not agree to this, not so long as there is a spark in my chest."

"This isn't your decision to make."

"It is," Optimus countered, turning at last to face his brother. Optics back to their cool blue shade. "You made it mine when you put her into my care."

"Then our fight isn't over," Megatron growled, leaping into the air and transforming into his jet mode. "I will claim her one way or the other."

"And I will protect her," Optimus called after him. "One way or the other."

I dream this moment as you run away
You will only separate me from
All I believe this moment
In brutality
You're the one who kept on pushing
Till I made you bleed