Fairytale Heaven

Disclaimer: Well, the people have spoken. I have finally begun work on a story that ties in heavily with "MASQUERADE"; this is Jhiaxus and Eros' backstory. I have planned this ever since it was requested by a few reviewers of mine and now, here you go! I hope you guys like this one. For those who haven't read Masquerade, I encourage you to do so.

"I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love."

-Mother Teresa

"Love is just a word until someone comes along and gives it meaning."

-Unknown Quote

By: VampireQueenAkasha

"We had order. Structure. A perfect, faultless mechanism that was destined to re-shape the galaxy. Then you came..."

-Jhiaxus, G2

Part Ten

Eros hadn't realized just how long she was in the cell until Alpha Trion stepped inside and spoke with the two guards standing next to him. They were talking about the solar cycles that had passed and little of it really made any difference to her. Eros looked up at him and saw the sadness on his face, the rigid pain in knowing what had to be done.

"It's time to go, Eros," he told her.

She nodded. "I'm ready."

"Are you ready to cooperate?"

"No."

Alpha Trion's optics flickered with warmth and he wavered for a split second, hoping that it would not come to this. He bent down on one knee in front of her, speaking gently. "Look, all they want is one little piece of information from you. That's it." he said, softly, "Just give them something, anything that they can use. Then you can go free without so much as a second glance."

Eros knew what he was doing and a chuckle escaped her. "I appreciate your concern, Alpha Trion," she replied, "And I am grateful to have had you as a teacher. But I could never betray myself or the one I love to satisfy their fears." She closed her optics and still looked calm, despite the possibility of death lingering on her shoulders. "Somehow in the far corners of my spark, I knew it wouldn't last, but I wanted to hope. I wanted to believe that it could change the course of this war."

Alpha Trion nodded his head. He gave her a sad smile. "I will do what I can to persuade the council otherwise. We both know you are no traitor."

Eros returned the smile. "Thank you."

Meanwhile, Jhiaxus was standing in the bridge of his ship, staring into the darkness of the stars with a concerned frown on his face. He heard the whooshing of the doors behind him and glanced down at a drone who rushed up breathlessly.

"Master! Something's happened!" he panted, "It's Eros!"

Jhiaxus' optics widened in shock. "Eros? What's happened to her?" he demanded, "Speak quickly!"

"She is under trial for treachery," the drone told him, "The Autobots know."

Jhiaxus nodded his head with desperation and turned attention to the pilots. "We're going to Cybertron to save her," he commanded.

"But my Lord-" the drone protested.

Jhiaxus suddenly leveled one of his swords a mere inch from the drone's face, those blood-red optics flashing with menace. He bared his fangs and hissed out his next words. "Are you out of thought to object to my command?"

The drone shivered in fright and shook his head. "N-No, master."

"Then let's make haste," Jhiaxus said, turning, "I will not lose her!"

O

Eros stood, cuffed before the crowd of Autobots on top of the stairway with the council members beside her. Ultra Magnus looked positively sick and Pontus just smirked at this before he raised his hand, a gesture to silence the talking crowds. Immediately, their chatter died down and he smiled at them before pointing to Eros. She just stood there with a defiant look in her optics; she was no so easily terrified, even under the possibility of death.

"The accused has committed high treason against the Autobots," Pontus announced, "She has consorted with Decepticons, she has quite possibly abetted in their knowledge of our deepest secrets!" He turned to Eros. "If it wasn't for you, maybe our troops would still be alive. It's YOUR fault they have been killed!"

Eros scoffed angrily. "No! That makes no sense!" she snapped back; she looked at the crowds, "How can you even listen to him?"

Pontus whirled on her. "You have betrayed your own kind! Do you deny that you have mingled with Jhiaxus?"

Eros scowled, knowing what he was doing. "No."

"The punishment for these crimes is death, how vote you?" Pontus demanded, turning to the crowd.

Alpha Trion stepped forward as the crowd began to chant. "Silence!" he bellowed, "All of you are under the spell of paranoia and fear!" He gestured angrily to Pontus. "And it is mechs like these who fan the flames of these emotions! Either offer some form of proof of Eros' wrongdoing or be silent!" He scowled and turned to Pontus. "All I have heard from you is mindless contradiction! This entire proceeding is a complete outrage of justice!"

Pontus smirked at him before he turned to Ultra Magnus. "You know this is the only way, Magnus," he told him, glancing sideways to the chanting crowds, "In their optics, it will ensure that they are safe from any...possibilities."

Ultra Magnus shook his head. He seemed tormented, distraught. "You can't make me do this. I will not martyr my own child!"

"You either do it or I will," Pontus warned, "Do you think I have any problem with killing traitors?"

"I want no uprising..."

"There already is one."

Jhiaxus' ship appeared over Cybertron and the warlord transformed into his jet mode, streaking through the skies as he searched for Eros. Shots were fired at his ship from Autobot turrets, but they were deflected by the shields that immediately raised up before any shot could get through.

Ultra Magnus took a pistol offered to him from Pontus and gritted his denta, staring at his daughter with despair. She looked at him sadly and mouthed, "I don't blame you", completely out of audio shot from the rest.

"Jhiaxus is coming!" a bot shouted from the crowd.

Eros moaned in grief. "No!" she moaned to herself, "Please, stay away, Jhiaxus..."

Jhiaxus transformed and landed onto his feet at the edge of the crowd before he drew his swords, snarling out his words. The crowd parted immediately to allow him to make his way through; why the would do that, he didn't care.

"Let her go!" he bellowed.

"No! Kill that traitorous glitch!" another bot sneered.

Jhiaxus pushed his way through the crowd. "We have done no harm to you!" he shouted, his optics wide in desperation, "She is your daughter!"

Eros whimpered with fright when she felt the barrel of the gun against the base of her neck. "Dear Primus..." she begged, "Have mercy."

Jhiaxus took a step forward. "I shall let no harm come to dearest Eros," he spat, "Let her go, or you shall rot in the deepest part of the Void!"

Pontus just laughed and shook his head. "Do you see what's standing here, Autobots?" he asked, gesturing to Jhiaxus and then to Eros, "This is precisely why we have these rules in place. To even THINK of committing such a sin... They believe they have a right to everything then!"

"Come down here and face me and I will have a right to your head!" Jhiaxus snarled, leveling his swords at him.

Ultra Magnus glowered across the group at the Decepticon warlord. "You have taken my only daughter and defiled her with your filth!" he snapped, though his optics revealed nothing but torment, "My enemy...My own enemy would dare lay a hand on my child!"

"Do you even KNOW your own child?" Jhiaxus demanded, "Have you even SPOKEN to her and learned of her hopes and dreams as I have?"

"Don't you DARE assume that you know of me!"

Jhiaxus looked at Eros and his optics softened. He could see that his way was no working to save her life, so he decided to do the one thing he never thought he would do. He dropped himself to his knees and this earned a collection of stunned whispers from the crowd around him. Needless to say, the Autobot council and Eros looked equally shocked by this action. Jhiaxus lowered his head and stabbed one of his swords into the ground in front of him.

"If it is me you want, so be it," he said, gravely, "I will not fight you. I will not kill another soul if it means sparing her life." He lifted his head and there was indeed pain in his optics now. He begged them, knowing full well the consequences. "Please, don't do this. She is my life and my love always. I would gladly give mine if it means saving her."

"No!" Eros cried, glaring up at the other two bots, "Stop it! Haven't you fragged him up enough?"

"Shut up!" Pontus snarled, giving her a fierce slap across the face.

Jhiaxus uttered a feral snarl and lunged forward, but Ultra Magnus quickly pointed his gun at Eros and froze the Decepticon where he stood. Jhiaxus held out two hands and looked like a mech who was pleading for the only thing he had left in the universe; his life.

"The way we see it is this, scum," Pontus sneered, "You have nothing. You think you can just walk around waving your power card around like you own everything? You can't. I'm afraid it doesn't work that way. You're going down one way or another." He looked at Ultra Magnus who looked resolute to what had to be done; clearly he wasn't left with any choice as far as she could see. "Either you kill her, or we do it my way."

Eros looked up as Ultra Magnus slowly lifted her onto her knees and placed the end of his weapon at the back of her head. She smiled calmly at her lover, her mouth stained with Energon. There was a strange peace in her gaze now.

"Jhiaxus...this is not your fault..." she whispered.

"No!" Jhiaxus roared, moving to stop this.

And then, Ultra Magnus fired. The shot practically pierced through Jhiaxus' own spark and he froze in mid charge, optics wide in horror. He watched the body of Eros crumble to the ground and the crowd went insane, cheering and sneering at the Decepticon. But Jhiaxus no longer heard them. Every bit of sound was cut off except the pounding of his spark in his audio receptors and nothing in the universe had ever hurt more.

Through the dizzying haze of red he saw, Ultra Magnus staggered back from what he had done, dropping the weapon to the ground. His face became a rictus of despair; Jhiaxus could see Alpha Trion's horrified look, Pontus' smirk of satisfaction and Tau's reluctant smile. Then, he stared up at the crowd. The grinning faces laughing down at him and his suffering, the mockery... It became too much. Too much to bear.

This...isn't happening... Why, Primus?

Then, hell broke loose.

The Autobots looked up as Jhiaxus' drones and soldiers surged into battle, taking shots at their enemies. Ultra Magnus looked up with a cry and pointed.

"Get them!" he commanded.

Despite the chaos around him, Jhiaxus staggered toward the fallen body of his lover slowly, as if each step caused him pain. He shook his head in disbelief, moaning softly as he bent down, scooping Eros' body into his arms. He held her tightly to his chest, praying that it wasn't true; that the love of his life wasn't dead. But it was true. She was gone. The sound of laser fire and death around him barely masked the scream of despair he shot to the sky.

O

Jhiaxus had been staring down at the coffin that he had placed Eros in for a while in the poorly lit room. Specter stepped inside and watched him in silence for a while. He had his back to him and was leaning against the coffin.

"You did everything you could," Specter told him, "Do not blame yourself for this."

Jhiaxus was silent.

"To love someone so much and then to lose them so suddenly..." Specter continued. He paused briefly and shook his head with sadness, "I can't imagine how awful that must be for you." Then, he chuckled softly. "The things that femme would come up with... I don't see ones like her too often these days. She was so spirited, so full of life. So I have come to realize, that if it's hard for me, how much harder it must be for you. My spark feels pain for your loss, friend."

Jhiaxus lifted his head and his voice came out breathless, weak and nearly cold enough to freeze Primus' circuits himself. "Spark?" he whispered; he turned and looked at his friend, torment in his optics, "My spark is nearly choked by the hatred that I feel for the one who took her life." He was silent for a moment and looked back down at the coffin. "I don't want to play anymore, Specter." His next words came out harsh, spiteful and tormented. "I will fight...no longer. I will kill...no longer. I will be a Decepticon...no longer."

Specter was surprised for a moment, but he nodded and responded quietly. "I understand."

They were silent again before a drone stepped inside and whispered something to Specter. Jhiaxus didn't even hear it. He didn't CARE to hear it.

Then, a strange sound made the two look up in confusion. Jhiaxus' body trembled and convulsed and several choking sobs escaped him. The Decepticon suddenly threw his head back, hands at his sides, and screamed. Not his normal war cry. This was a scream that carried all of his grief and his pain. It was such a terrible sound to their audio receptors. They watched in pity and shock as Jhiaxus grabbed the wall tightly in his claws and slammed his head into it over and over again.

He screamed out while his head smashed into the wall and he kept this up for a while until Energon spurted from his forehead. Eventually, he grew tired and slumped to the ground, his face pressed into the wall, jaw slack in open mouthed sobs of despair. Neither one of them had ever seen their lord cry up until now. Energon tears poured down from his optics, leaking trails down his cheeks.

The drone started to go forward, but Specter stopped him. "No. Leave him alone." he said, gently.

Many groons had passed that led to many solar cycles. Jhiaxus had not left Eros' coffin-side since then. He sat against the wall with his head hanging low, staring down at his twin blades in his hands. Specter and a drone watched this from the window of the door.

"He's been this way for a long time," the drone argued, "We have to do something."

Specter shook his head. "This is what it is to lose a bond mate," he explained, "When you do, you don't just lose your love, you lose your will to live. That person made you who you are and when they're gone... You don't want to talk, you don't want to move. You're like a shell."

The drone looked at him. "How do you know that?"

Specter sighed softly. "Because I went through it too."

"Shouldn't we do something for him?"

"No. Jhiaxus needs some time to collect his thoughts and life again," Specter explained.

The drone scowled. "He hasn't been recharging or received any nourishment," he snapped, "Who knows what he's thinking right now."

Inside the room, Jhiaxus stared down at the blades in his hands. A sorrowful smile touched his lips and he brought one of them up to his chest. It would be so easy to end it; so quick to just bring the pain to a close. Normally, he was not so weak to take his own life, but it seemed to be the only option left. What else was there for him but the chance to see his beloved in the Well once more? It was the only thing he wanted.

Then, Jhiaxus felt something on his wrist.

His optics opened and he looked down, stunned to see another hand on his sword wrist. He looked up and couldn't believe that he was staring into Eros' stern face. It was a recharge-deprived illusion, it had to be. But he wanted it to be real again.

Eros stared at him sadly, holding his wrist to keep him from taking his own life.

"Eros..." he whispered, his optics filling, "Please, let me go to you."

She gave him a sad smile and shook her head.

"Why?" Jhiaxus begged, "I can't do this without you. The pain...it's too much."

Eros blinked silently and leaned forward, slipping her arms around him before pressing a ghostly kiss to his lips. Then, she parted and smiled reassuringly at him. Jhiaxus wanted to hold onto that illusion for as long as he could. She placed a hand over his chest and bowed her head before disappearing, leaving him alone once more.

O

A drone moved silently through the group of Decepticons and into the bridge. Jhiaxus was seated in his usual spot of command; his face was empty, yet hard like granite and no one on the bridge dared to speak to him. He seemed to be staring at the floor; his position reminded a few of an emotionless statue.

The drone approached him reluctantly, albeit a bit fearfully. "My Lord?" he said.

Jhiaxus did not react.

"My Lord," the drone tried again.

Eventually, it took a moment before Jhiaxus slowly lifted his head and stared up at the drone with deadened optics.

"May I...speak?" the drone asked.

There was a pause and Jhiaxus nodded "yes" silently. His movement appeared slow and strained.

The drone slowly reached out with something. "Master, Eros had this in the archive halls. I was cleaning and...I found it," he stammered, "I-I assumed you would want to have it."

Jhiaxus just stared at the offering; it looked to be a data disk of some kind. He didn't take it, but simply stared for a moment. After a while, he took the disk from the drone's claws and stared at it, his dazed features a mixture of confusion and pain. When he was staring at it for too long, he stood up and walked away without saying another word. He entered his quarters and sat behind his computer desk, slipping the disk into the computer.

After waiting a moment, the screen flickered with static and was replaced with an image of a table. Then, Eros appeared with documents in hand and she smiled into the camera, waving.

"Hello!" she greeted, "It's me!" She rolled her optics. "Of course you know it's me. Sorry."

Jhiaxus couldn't resist a heartbreaking smile at the goofy display.

"Anyway," Eros continued, "Lately I've been recording my thoughts and ideas and wanted to show this to you. But...ah. Well, let's get right to it then, shall we?" She sat down at the table and looked at her documents before chuckling. "I've had this idea since we've been to that planet. I had a plan written up but...you know me." She bent down to retrieve a schematic and chuckled skeptically into the camera. "I'm about as science savvy as Perceptor is emotional."

Well, I thought about this planet. You didn't know that it contains Energon deposits. Lots of them. When I first arrived, I performed a scan of most of the area. It hasn't been claimed by any Cybertronian life." A tender smile lit her face. "We could make this a home for ourselves. Not just any place. This could be our own paradise. Maybe when the war finally ends, Autobots and Decepticons can live here together, you know?"

Jhiaxus listened to her wish intently, never taking his optics from the screen.

"I know it's silly," Eros continued, "Maybe even crazy, but... I could really be happy living in a world without war. I think you could too." She sat there for a moment before glancing to the side. "Ooh, I have to go. I'll talk to you later." She smiled and waved at the camera. "Bye."

The disk ended and Jhiaxus shut off his computer with shaking hands.

Finally, after sitting in silence for a moment, he stood up and entered the bridge. The Decepticons standing there all turned attention to him now. Jhiaxus stared at each and every face before he finally spoke. When he did, he sounded weak, but still carried authority.

"There are some things that are going to change," he told them, "For those not willing or prepared for them, you have my leave to go."

Specter looked at him. "What are we doing, Jhiaxus?" he asked.

"We are standing aside," Jhiaxus told him. His optic ridges rose and slight menace dripped in his voice. "But there is one more thing I'd like to do first..."