Well...my vacation has finally arrived and I hope to update all my stories at some point this week. Oh...and it's Mrs. Optimus Prime's birthday so everyone go and wish her a happy birthday! XD

Chapter Fourteen: Promise Me This

Megatron woke up the next morning to something shifting in his arms. He groaned softly and let his optics come online only to discover he was holding Mercy almost as tightly in his arms as he had been when he had fallen asleep. Sighing, he looked down at her and tucked a loose lock of hair behind her ear that had fallen in her face. He listened and watched her as she groaned slightly and remained asleep. She was so peaceful when she slept…so beautiful. Megatron shook his head trying to erase that last thought. The first rays of the rising sun were catching in her lavender hair and making it shine like glitter. It was a spectacle to see and such a wondrous thing to behold…not just Mercy's hair, but the sun as well. Megatron wasn't a person for light though, but it was better to see than the gray earth around him. Megatron held Mercy closer to him…not knowing why, but he did. He believed it was out of protection, but in this forest, who was going to harm her? The police weren't going to find them today, hopefully they wouldn't be found anytime soon. The decepticon leader returned his gaze to Mercy…he didn't want her to wake up…he wanted to stay where they were at the current moment…but why?

That feeling had resurfaced itself inside Megatron's chest…it ached so badly. He wanted it to go away, but it just wouldn't. And whenever he thought of killing Mercy or bringing any sort of harm on her, the ache only got worse. He was curious though as to what she was doing to cause it. Perhaps she had gotten into his mind again, and managed to find her way down to his spark where she had unleashed her dark tentacles. Or maybe this pain he was feeling was all imaginary…but if it was imaginary, why was he feeling it?

Bored and sick of trying to figure out what the emotion was, if it was an emotion, Megatron decided to try something to make the ache in his spark go away. Taking Mercy's small hand in his, the decepticon leader lifted her hand and drew it back until she had wrapped her arm around his waist. Nothing. So he brought her hand from around his waist up to his face. He placed the palm of her hand on his cheek…still nothing…that was until she gave a small groan and her fingers twitched slightly against his cheek, sending brushes of ecstasy shivering down through his cheek and neck…and the ache momentarily subsided. Anger then coursed through the decepticon leader…he had not wanted that sort of reaction, his spark, and possibly his mind were beginning to betray him. And the last thing he wanted to do was go insane. He tossed her hand aside and gruffly got up from the ground. Mercy woke up in the process and watched as he started walking away from her. She could tell just from his body language that something was wrong and that she better stay away or else suffer through his wrath.

So without saying anything, Mercy stood and stretched, ignoring Megatron and turning her head towards the rising sun. Mercy knew that sunrise was at about 7:30am…so she figured that it was around that time. She glanced around at the forest, extremely bored. If they were going to remain hidden here, Mercy knew she was going to die of boredom. Sighing, she sat back down on the ground and rested her head in her hands. She stared at the trees only a few feet from her and thought about breaking into the woods and looking around while Megatron wasn't looking. But then she'd get on his bad side, and then she'd have to deal with his wrath, but it would keep her from being bored. Mercy glanced behind to see where Megatron was and saw he was standing at the other edge of the forest…obviously thinking. "That's my cue," she thought.

And Mercy stood back up and as quietly as she could, she made her way to the edge of the forest. She slipped inside and out of sight, grateful to be doing something other than just sitting around and watching the grass grow. As she walked into the forest though, she realized it was thicker than what she had thought it was and that she better not wander too far away or else she may not be able to find her way back to that small clearing. Mercy felt extreme privacy where she was standing at the moment. She could look behind herself and see light from the clearing, but it was calm here. Birds were chirping with the sounds of spring, the forest smelled heavenly of pine, and it was quiet enough to just sit down and think…something Mercy didn't feel comfortable doing in front of Megatron, and something she hadn't done in a while, serious thinking. Looking around, Mercy spotted a tree that was still standing but had a hallowed out base, and after a careful examination, she realized it was big enough for her to sit in comfortably.

She crawled inside and sat, hugging her knees to her chest…and after a few moments she became lost in her thoughts. And it surprised her that most of them were about Megatron…but her main thought was what would become of her once Megatron left to go back to wherever he came from. She couldn't go home, not if the murder was still an issue. And chances are it would be. She closed her eyes. Nothing could ever come easy for her…ever.

Though Mercy was still a top priority on Megatron's mind, he knew he had better things to think about, like why he wasn't alive yet. He had been collecting energy for a while now, but still, he had little results. He wasn't collecting enough…he needed so much more, but just where could he get it from? It was almost as if the dark energy he was using was nowhere near enough…that he had to find an alternate source of energy. But what?

He let his optics go offline knowing that he should've been alive long before now, that something wasn't being done right. Megatron noticed that he hadn't collected as much energy when he and Mercy were arguing…and that when he and Mercy were actually getting along he collected more…he collected even more when their moments together were…romantic, if that was the word. "Perhaps if…we acted romantically from here on out then…then I'll be back among the living within the next few days and I can go home." Megatron shook his head and felt sick for even thinking something like that. He hated anything romantic; it made him sick right down to the core. Sure, he had had his share of lovers in the past, but they weren't really lovers. They were femmes that struggled for dominance, and he was grateful to show he was the dominate one. But those instances were of the past, he never really looked back on them, he had been so much younger back then…

He shook his head again. Why, all of a sudden, was his head filled with thoughts of love…and Mercy? He hated her, he hated her since the moment he first laid optics on her, he hated her now, he had to…he pleaded with himself to still hate her, but that ache in his chest nearly killed him as he thought that. Megatron knew he had to come back to life now; he had to, no matter what it took. He was going insane, he could feel it. He had to get Mercy out of his life and head and system, out of every fiber of his body. The expression on his face turned into a grimace. "Stop thinking," he told himself, "Just stop thinking." He sighed, and it helped to clear his mind…a bit.

He figured he should get Mercy up now, to help him keep from losing his sanity, and perhaps find something to do to keep both of them from being bored out of their minds. Turning around, he felt his systems nearly shut down when he saw Mercy was nowhere to be found. Anger boiled through his circuits as he shouted, "MERCY!"

Mercy heard Megatron shout and she smirked figuring she should head back to the clearing…but she really didn't want to…maybe it wouldn't hurt if she played with him a bit. She howled back, "If you want me, come and find me!"

"You're dead when I find you!"

"I guess I'll meet you in the void then!"

"This isn't a game!"

"Why not be? We've got nothing else to do!"

"What did you say?"

"Come again?"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"

"YOU MISSED IT; IT FLEW RIGHT BY YOU WITHOUT WAVING!"

"I suggest you don't get me any madder than what I already am!"

"I'm screwed either way!"

And suddenly he was in front of the tree, looking in at her. He smirked and said, "Oh you bet you are."

She gasped and gawked at him for a minute. She hadn't even heard him coming, and she was confused as to how he had found her so fast, and then she realized he must have followed her voice. Her cheeks reddened slightly, and she tried to squish away the feeling of embarrassment that was settling in. Megatron read the embarrassment on her face and said, "Come on, get out of there."

"Promise you won't hurt me?" she asked, not really wanting an early morning beating. Her life was hard enough without any beatings.

"I don't make promises I can't keep," Megatron answered.

Mercy glared at him for a moment, and he returned the glare. She crossed her arms and pushed herself further inside the tree. Megatron's optics widened a bit before he narrowed them and exclaimed, "Didn't I already say this is not a game?"

"Why should I come out?"

"Because I said so."

"All you ever do is hurt me, why bother if you're just going to hurt me some more?"

"Fine, we'll do things your way," he remarked and he suddenly disappeared.

Mercy, when she didn't hear him for a bit moved to peek out the opening when all of a sudden Megatron's fist entered through the back of the tree and hit her slightly. She managed to avoid taking the brunt of it…and she quickly scrambled out of the tree and began running back towards the clearing. She really didn't want to run the risk of being punched from behind by a ghostly titanium fist. Especially since that fist belonged to the leader of the decepticons.

She managed to convince herself to glance behind, and when she did, she saw Megatron whoosh out from behind the tree and start coming after her. Swallowing hard, Mercy snapped her head forward again and darted through the forest for a few moments until she suddenly burst into the blinding golden sunlight of the clearing. She was hardly into the clearing when she felt cold hands claw into her lower back and then arms slide around her waist tightly before a titanium body slammed against hers brutally and bashed her to the ground. The palms of her hands scraped against the frozen and hard ground as she tried to catch her fall. The arms retracted quickly from around her waist and quick hands snagged her wrists and held her arms behind her back. Mercy was pinned.

Growling she ordered, "Get off me!"

"I do believe that you still have to be punished for leaving without my permission, being insubordinate, and running from me."

"Not this bullshit again," Mercy hissed growing evermore uncomfortable.

Megatron grit his teeth and using his free hand, he grabbed her hair and pulled her head back saying, "I can keep you like this all day if I have to."

Mercy winced and squeezed her eyes shut as she growled, "Just what do you want me to do?"

"Stop running away! Do you want to get us both killed?" And Megatron remembered that he was dead and rephrased what he said by sighing softly, "I mean—do you want to send us both to that void? Trust me Mercy; take how much you hate this place and multiply it by infinity and then you might just understand how much you would hate it there."

"I was just thinking—

"I don't care!" he bellowed ferociously and then said in a hushed, almost gentle tone, "Just…just promise me that you won't runaway again."

Mercy felt shock overcome her like a wave. He was being serious, she could hear it in his voice, and she could feel it as he released her from his grasp and climbed off her. She sat up and looked over at him; he was sitting there, not looking at her, just nowhere in particular. Something was bothering him; she could see that…it was in the atmosphere around them. Megatron sat facing the western sky, while Mercy sat facing the rising sun, the rays of the sun dancing through her hair almost making it glow. They were sitting far back enough so that they could see each other…but they weren't looking at each other.

"Mercy, promise me," he growled becoming angry again.

She sighed, "I…can't."

"What? Why not?"

"I'm not going to make a promise that I'm only guaranteed to break."

Megatron looked to her with an inferno blazing in his optics, "Just what do you mean?"

"I don't know…you're bound to get me mad enough to just run off again, it's happened before."

"And you almost died! Do you never learn your lesson?"

Mercy didn't say anything and thought about getting up and leaving, but only stopped because she knew Megatron wouldn't hesitate to hurt her this time. After pausing for a few moments she finally said, "Alright, I promise."

"You better mean it."

"We'll find out when the time comes."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

She shrugged and then asked, "I've noticed you deep in thought lately, what's on your mind?"

Megatron looked away from her, he wasn't used to sharing his personal thoughts, and he definitely wasn't about to share the thoughts he was having about her. He hesitated before finally saying, ever so silently, "I should be back among the living by now."

This time Mercy stole a glance at him and then said, "You haven't collected enough energy?"

"No…nowhere near the amount of energy required to bring me back to life…it's almost as if I need to find a new energy source."

"Don't hurt me for saying this but you need to be more patient."

Megatron shot her a glare and snorted before looking back at the forest in front of him. "You ought to talk," he thought.

"Just what do you plan to do once you're alive again?" she inquired curious.

Megatron grinned and sat back a bit. Letting his optics go offline he declared, "I'm going back to Cybertron of course and rebuilding my army of decepticon warriors. With them I will kill Optimus Prime and the rest of his filthy autobots and then take over Cybertron, and hopefully the universe. "

"And where will I be during this?"

"Dead," Megatron slipped without thinking, and then realizing what he said he let his optics come slowly back online only to see Mercy's surprised expression.

"What do you mean dead?" she growled, "You were planning on killing me weren't you?"

Megatron smirked and said, "Guilty."

"For how long have you been planning?" she demanded.

"Since the beginning…" he trailed off.

Without another word she grit her teeth and stood up, without looking back she headed again into the forest. Megatron watched her and realized that if he didn't stop her, she wouldn't come back and he'd run the risk of never seeing her again…a risk he knew he definitely could not take. Quickly he got up and looked to see she was at the edge of the clearing now, walking briskly. He took a couple steps in her direction and said, "Mercy stop, you promised you wouldn't run away again."

Mercy felt a huge lump form in her throat and was unable to keep her voice steady as she replied, "I already told you I couldn't keep the damn promise."

"Mercy," he exclaimed sternly, "There will be a severe punishment if you make me come after you."

And Mercy stopped at the tree-line of the forest. She couldn't make herself go forward, and she felt so dead inside. She didn't know why, but whatever heart she must have possessed was in the highest degree of pain she had ever thought possible…and it felt like all the air had just been sucked right out of her. And Megatron was just as shocked as she was when a painful sob broke free from her lips and tears began sliding down her cheeks.

She turned around then, and looked to Megatron with her tear stained face and cried, "That's all life is to you! Punishment, pain, suffering, and war! Don't you know anything else? Don't you care about anyone besides you goddamn self?!"

Megatron's surprise was quickly replaced with anger as he snarled, "You're no better than me."

"Well at least now I want to be…I'm sick of being a damned psychopath like you!" And with that she turned to head into the forest.

"Mercy don't you dare walk away from me!" Megatron shouted.

She ignored him and continued into the forest. Furious, Megatron charged after her, caught her, and slammed her against a wide-trunked tree where he pinned her and growled, "I told you not to walk away…and you broke your promise."

And she looked up at him, her cheeks stained with tears and her luscious blue eyes beginning to become puffy as she said, "You're no better than me."

Megatron grit his teeth seeing how she had used his words against him and thus replied, "I always have been and always will be better than you. You deserve to die."

"I know I do." She answered softly.

He felt some of his anger melt away…she had agreed with him when she wasn't supposed to and killed off his argument. And it had gotten to the point where he could hardly look at her in the eyes anymore because the ache in his chest swelled to new heights never thought possible. Why was it hurting him to hurt her? What was wrong with him? There was no more joy in her suffering…there was only pain…he unwillingly shared her pain, and he couldn't prevent it let alone stop it. But madly he tried to put up a fight against the ache and growled lowly and bitterly, "You will die, do you understand? You will die by my hands!"

"All my life hardly anyone has cared about me, and the people who do either leave me behind forever or die! I agree to sell my life to you and let you walk all over me and you can't even show the smallest sign of sympathy!" she reprimanded maliciously.

Megatron looked away from her, he couldn't do this anymore…it was far beyond too painful, and for the first time, he couldn't endure and argument against her. Giving up, he roughly grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her back out into the clearing where he threw her to the ground and shouted, "Don't get up, let alone leave that spot!"

Mercy watched him through tears as her turned away from her and sat a few feet away from her with his back turned. She felt so broken inside, and it was his entire fault. She had let herself accept the silly notion that he was beginning to care about her, but never again would she. He was truly a heartless person, and she wished more than anything that she had never agreed to help him. Her face crumpled and she groaned softly as she tried to hold back another sob…it was impossible to ignore the urge she had right now just to throw herself on him and absolutely beg him to care about her. She didn't know why, but she didn't care if everyone else hated her, she just had to have his approval, something to show her that he cared even the slightest bit about her. It just hurt so bad to find out that he didn't, and he never would.

Megatron and Mercy stayed that way most of the day, and they had watched the sun travel across the sky and now the golden orb was beginning to sink below the western horizon…but the trees obstructed their view of the sunset, but neither of them cared to see it anyway.

The leader of the decepticon sighed heavily as he heard Mercy try to hide another sob. He knew this was all his fault and the ache in his chest would not cease no matter how hard he tried to convince himself that he hated Mercy and she should die. He knew he no longer had it in him to beat her or hurt her…let alone kill her. Whatever bitterness he had with her in the beginning had died and he knew as soon as he was alive again that he just had to get away from her. She was no longer any good for him.

Feeling guilty for one of the first times in his life, he got up from where he had spent the day moping and went over to Mercy. Without a word or gesture he sat down soundlessly beside her. She knew he was there, but she didn't acknowledge him.

"Mercy," he began, "I…I'm sorry."

"Don't say it if you don't mean it," she replied pain heavy in her voice.

"I wouldn't be saying it if I didn't mean it." He replied.

Mercy figured that much was true, but her mind was tired from all the pain and crying she had been through that day and she didn't know what to think let alone how to react except through more tears. Megatron noticed and without thinking he pulled her into his lap and held her firmly. And Mercy responded by burying her face in his chest and sobbing. The decepticon leader rubbed a soothing hand up and down her back while nuzzling his nose and mouth into Mercy's hair. He murmured, "I'm not going to kill you Mercy, not anymore. I care about you enough to spare your life."

"Promise me that," she cried softly, "And don't promise it if you can't keep it."

Megatron hesitated for a few moments. And Mercy waited in the most angst in her life that she had ever experienced. Minutes ticked by…but Megatron didn't say anything. Mercy felt the pain hallow up inside of her and knew that if he didn't say anything, it would be the end of any life she might've had. When five minutes expired, Mercy felt her face crumple again, and she whimpered involuntarily. Still he said nothing. Her tears once again began to flow.

"I…I promise Mercy, I won't kill you…ever, for any reason."

He had given her a lifetime guarantee…and her tears finally ceased. After a few minutes, she moved her head so it was resting beneath his chin and whispered, "Thank you."

Megatron didn't say anything, and proceeded to lay back and lay Mercy close beside him. He then looked down at her and said, "You need to sleep now."

She nodded tiredly, but before she attempted to fall asleep she remarked, "You know how you said earlier that you may need to find a new source of energy?"

"Let me guess, you've thought of an alternate."

"I have."

"Enlighten me."

She rolled so her back was to him and whispered, "Love."

Megatron gazed at her a moment with widened optics trying to think of why she would suggest that. He thought about it some and he knew it wasn't preposterous, especially since he had considered it himself before hand. Sighing he rolled onto his back and looked up at the stars that were just beginning to come out. It only took him a matter of moments to decide on an answer to Mercy's suggestion.

He completely scoffed at the idea.

Well, I thought I'd put a little "fluff" in it for the recently past Valentine's Day. Wait a minute...raveen92, your b-day is on Valentine's Day...OMG! Happy Belated Birthday girl! (glomps raveen92) I'm sooooo sorry I forgot! Everyone go and wish her a a happy belated birthday too. And don't forget about Mrs. OP since her birthday is today...my gosh people, stop having birthday's.

Anywho...could you leave a nice review for my unbirthday? Please? I love you guys!