See Prologue for disclaimer. I don't own Prince of Egypt.

Chapter 38: The Kiss

The Supreme Commander of the Decepticons shifted on his throne in Command, scrutinizing the plans on the data pad in front of him. It was only one of many schemes he had recently put his forces to work on, but this one was scheduled to be complete later that day. Satisfied with the progress he put in a note to see it tomorrow and set it aside before picking up the next tablet. It was surprisingly quiet in the dark room, which was lit only by the translucent screens in front of each of the officers and the odd holographic display around the room.

He examined the prototype design displayed. A new uniform for his palace slaves, one for the males and the females alike. A black, long-sleeved, collared shirt and pants would be worn underneath a plum apron that would fit snugly around the waist, like a skirt. They would be made in different sizes, cut to fit the individual perfectly. Females would be required to wear their hair back in a braid (it was one of Megatron's favorite hairstyles for Eleaniris to wear when she was human) and a silver, braided, decorative clip. Males would be given a strip of cloth in the same shade as the apron that hung around their neck - a "tie" he thought it was called - and their hair would be trimmed short.

He stroked his chin approvingly, finding that if the plan was executed well it would please his Empress.

Maybe, if he was lucky, he might get a little kiss from those tiny lip components. He smirked at the thought, signing his approval with the stylus provided and setting it aside. The mechs charged with the project would receive a notification to start manufacturing them immediately.

He was about to start on the next when his designation was called. Looking up, he saw Soundwave with his helm dipped at the bottom of the dais. One of his servos gripped his slave to his chassis, the little femme clutching the metal comfortably. She looked pleased to be there, and Megatron clenched his jaw.

"My liege, I have come to make a humble request." Soundwave adjusted the femme, letting her stand next to one of his legs. She moved to touch him, latching on with a servo and keeping her optics downcast respectfully. His temporary second switched to Cybertronian, "If I may."

"Go on," Megatron let the data pad turn off, leaning on one of the arms of his chair. He let his optics bore into the officer, flicking between both him and his slave.

"If it pleases you, I wish to make a subspace mass distributor for myself." The Commander raised an optic ridge, somewhat surprised at the straightforwardness, "Grace has been examined, and she retains the ability to carry."

"I wish to be the sire of any sparklings that she has." He stopped, watching his lord for a response.

If I'm not getting any, no one is. He gestured for Soundwave to follow him into his office, where they could speak in private. He did so, helm bowed as he trailed the towering Decepticon with Grace on his heel.

Megatron took a seat behind the large desk in the sparsely decorated office. The interior was dark as the rest of Command was, the only source of illumination being the holographic maps of the galaxy and surrounding systems. The sole decoration was a detailed painting of Eleaniris, as a human, on the beach of their little vacation island. She was napping in a tide pool, the water warm from exposure to the sun, her lower half submerged. She was lying on her front, her head propped up on crossed arms, her face relaxed and at peace as she slept. A large wave had just broken on the shore behind her, the spray illuminated in the afternoon sun and providing the perfect majestic backdrop for his little Queen.

It was one of his fondest memories of her, carefully stored in his memory banks. He had ordered one of the human artists be brought to him to paint it without her knowledge. He was rewarded with his life for his work and now the large painting hung to the side of his desk, displayed for all to see. She had yet to lay her optics upon it, but he planned to keep it secret until he had bonded with her. Megatron could already see her little gasp, shocked at the expression of his admiration for her.

Grace, on the other hand, thought that Eleaniris' gasp would be one of horror and misery. She told herself that she could not relay this to Eleaniris; it would just hurt her more than she already had been.

If that was even possible.

"You may not. Not until I have made significant progress with Eleaniris." He had brought him in so that his mechs would not hear of this...this failure. If word that he wasn't hard with Eleaniris was passed among his forces, there was no guarantee of loyalty and fear of him. They might run rampant and start questioning his orders, and that was an ordeal that he could not start with now.

"Please, my lie-"

"No." Soundwave slumped in defeat before telling Grace of his answer. She looked a little upset as well. Grace knew, though she was not ready to "interface" with him just yet, that a human-sized Soundwave would be more cuddly, in a sense.

He felt a twinge of jealousy that Soundwave had a willing mate and he, Megatron, Supreme Commander, Champion Gladiator and Slagmaker of Kaon, could not find one. "You are dismissed."

He didn't like having to deny his most loyal officer something he deserved, but he couldn't bear the sight. He knew that he would lose it.

"Sir, I might be able to help." Soundwave offered, watching his lord carefully. Megatron's gaze fixated on him, his emotions flickering between appreciation and anger. It was dangerous to offer him, an admitted warlord and tyrant, any kind of assistance whatsoever. He was too prideful to take help, but now…

He needed it.

"Proceed." He sat back in his chair, crossing his enormous arms over his chassis.

"Well, could it be that she is…" Soundwave shifted nervously, a movement so small it would have been unnoticeable to any that were not accustomed to their life depending on seeing such insignificant motions. "Scared?"

Megatron raised an optic ridge, not expecting this opinion. He had thought that her fear of him was gone, had been absent for some time. "How so?"

"You are a very large mech, Megatron. You might be overwhelming her, and your strength knows no competitors." He let his chassis swell with pride at his implied ability to protect her.

"Also, wasn't she present when you were interrogating several subjects?" Slag, Soundwave was right. He clenched his jaw, thinking about what he had done.

Another rebel had been caught and was waiting for him to get information from its pathetic organic body. Taking Eleanor here was probably a mistake, but he thought it an opportunity to show off his fitness as a mate.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way, fleshling." He snarled, looming over the human and enveloping it in his shadow. Eleanor was on the side table, next to several boxes, shifting uncomfortably. "Now, tell me where the rebel base is, hmm? Or better yet, who leads you?"

The rebel made no response, staring up at him with defiant organic eyes. Megatron snarled, lowering his helm closer. "Very well. The hard way it is."

He snatched up the fragile human, scratching his sides carelessly and inciting a yelp. He walked over to another table where a tub of water was waiting. He held the rebel under the water, squeezing it just enough to be painful, for half a minute. Pulling it out and openly laughing at the coughing and gasping organic, "Tell me what you know."

Again he was refused, and again it was put under the water. He ended up killing the human out of frustration after a while, holding the revolutionary in the tub and crushing it. The previously clean water turned red with its fluids, several tissues and pieces of flesh floating around.

After cleaning his servo in a separate sink in the torture room, he turned to search for his little human, the only human he didn't want to hurt. "Eleanor?" he called, looking around the room. She was nowhere to be seen, and he called again, starting to become worried. Had she found a way out of the room?

"Eleanor, come out." He heard a little sob from one of the empty boxes, and he opened it to see her crying in a little ball. "Eleanor." he breathed in relief, reaching for her, but she scurried out from under his claws and over the low side to disappear into the disorganized pile of boxes.

He dug through carefully, checking for her in all of the nooks and crannies until he reached the last of the stack. He slid aside the top, which he noted was ajar, and saw her quivering in a corner. She pushed against the container when she saw him, whining and crying. The otherwise silent guard in the room snickered at this and remarked in English, "Aww. Poor helpless human. You got her good, my liege. Its hilarious."

This only made her weep harder and curl into a tighter ball. Irked by the drone, he snapped, "Out. Now." He held up his servos submissively and left.

"I'm not going to hurt you. It's okay." He tried to soothe in his lowest voice, but even he heard his gravelly, harsh, grating rasp. Slag.

"How do I know that?" she sobbed, her beautiful and expressive eyes looking at him, full of tears, as she cowered in the corner.

"Don't be scared, precious. You're safe." He continued to reassure and plucked her up, thankfully able to keep from injuring her despite her struggles.

Could it be that she is afraid of being harmed like that insurgent by my own servos? He promised, "I won't hurt you like that." He cradled her against his cheek, trying to stroke her to comfort her. "It's okay. Don't cry."

She ignored him anyway, pushing against him and fighting as she wailed. Each ghostly cry tore at his spark, slowly tearing him to pieces. He waited until she was done and then went up to his quarters to put her to bed.

It had taken several days for her to relax around him again, and even more weeks for her to learn that it was alright; that she could trust him.

Yes. It might be an issue. "Your suggestion is noted, Soundwave. You may leave."

The officer saluted him and exited with his small mate, leaving him to reflect on ways to gain Eleaniris' trust. What if she was scared instead of impressed by that gladiator tape?

He groaned and rested his helm on clasped servos, Poor little thing. Don't worry precious, you're safe with me. But how do I let you know that? How do I prove it to you?

You could always place cameras in Soundwave's rooms, a silky voice suggested. He scowled at the thought and disregarded it. Megatron really did trust Soundwave, more so than his other mechs anyway, and he was actually reluctant to take away the privilege of privacy. He decided that that would be his last resort, his Plan Z.

What to do then? An answer popped into his processor, and he admitted it was the easiest way available at the moment.

He knew that she was the rebel leader. He knew, and his red optics bored into her like a screwdriver would a piece of wood. Yet he looked as if he was not going to kill her. Instead he chuckled darkly and leaned back in his throne. The room was full of spectators, all towering over her by at least ten feet, but she had her own little solitary circle in the center.

"Rumble, Frenzy, give this leader our answer." She hated those drones. She rarely saw them, since Megatron knew their destructiveness, but they were still menacing. They gave their own malevolent chuckles and moved towards her, motioning with their arms to unseen slaves that shuttered the windows and dimmed the lights. An eerie gloom was present now, not dark enough to render her blind but just enough to unnerve her.

"So you think you've got friends in high places, with the power to put us on the run," Frenzy said the last part humorously, as if it was a joke only he knew the punchline to.

"Well forgive us these smiles on our faces," Rumble's voice made her turn around, "You'll know what power is when we are done."

"You're playing with the big boys now," Frenzy said, winding around her and sweeping long arms.

"Playing with the big boys now," Rumble hissed.

"Every move and gesture tells you who's the best here," Frenzy drew her attention.

They moved so that they were both behind her and practically sang in unison, "You're playing with the big boys now." They pushed her out the large front doors and her optics widened in horror at the billions of Decepticons standing there, stretching to the horizon and laughing at her torment and her pathetic fight. "You're playing with the big boys now!" They sang louder, more triumphantly, "You're playing with the big boys now!"

"Stop this foolish mission!" Frenzy said, waving his servos in her face.

"Watch a true Commander," Rumble declared, spinning her to look back at Megatron. Both finished, "Command an army how!" She bristled as they practically insulted her, implying that she was not in control of a military of significance. Or one that had been significant, anyway, before Invasion.

He looked triumphant and satisfied, but also...bored? Bored, as if he thought it an easy victory. He was like a wolf catching a half-dead, half-starved rabbit.

She was the rabbit.

Yet he also looked confident, as if expecting a certain outcome. How she hated his arrogance. But she loathed even more the fact that it was founded, that he had reason to be so self-satisfied.

That is what happens when you win all the time.

But he did not look smug, which she found odd. He just relaxed on his throne, swirling a glass of high-grade and waiting for something.

"Pick up your silly pride femme," Rumble growled and said with Frenzy, "You're playing with the big boys now!" Frenzy threw back his helm and laughed. They were forcing her back into the middle of the crowd, which had been observing the spectacle silently the whole time.

"You're playing with the big boys now," they sang, "You're playing with the big boys now!" A scorpion joined them from the crowd and he stalked behind her, gliding his tail around her neck and sliding it away.

"By the might of our forces, you will kneel before us," Rumble and Frenzy were still moving her through the crowd without her own knowledge, "Kneel to our splendorous power!"

"You put up a front," Frenzy said and Rumble completed, "You put up a fight,"

Rumble switched off to Frenzy, "And just to show we feel no spite," Rumble took charge again, "You can be our Empress!"

"But first femme it's time to bow," Frenzy demonstrated, holding his arms out to his sides while the whole audience echoed eerily "Bow down!"

"Or it's your own grave you'll dig femme," they mock-warned, still backing her up and repeating over and over, "You're playing with the big boys,"

"Playing with the big boys…"

"Playing with the big boys now!"

They finished with clanging, metallic applause from the assembled officers and left down the steps, disappearing into the crowd.

Wait...STEPS? Slowly she glanced from side to side, and sure enough two trunk-like legs sat on the edges of her vision. So this is what he has been waiting for…

For me to be scared back to him, to come running and looking for safety and comfort. She had no time to reflect further before he interrupted her thoughts.

"Come here," the legs' owner growled, scooping her up into his metal palm. Megatron held her in front of his face, which seemed double the usual size, and purred like an overgrown lion. "Give up, precious. It's over; your side has lost."

His face seemed too big for this to be reality, his blood red optics half her size and vents impossibly hot, which was the factor that made her wake up.

Eleaniris started awake from the nightmare, practically panting. She was on the couch still, Borealis recharging against her side and moonlight streaming through the enormous windows. She relaxed and leaned back against a hard metal chest, sighing in contentment before shooting up again.

Sure enough she was sitting in shrunken Megatron's lap, her helm coming to the middle of his chassis where a red glow emanated from behind the metal. She looked down to see an ever-so-faint white glow from her own chest, which made her frown. Megatron's large servos clutched her hips, the two of them actually overlapping because of their size. His optics were dark and he looked to be dreaming.

As if to prove her point, the warlord bucked his hips into her behind with a sharp clang and ground against her. His strong servos made it impossible to wriggle out from his grasp, and she settled for hitting his chest to see if that would wake him. It didn't and he bucked again with inhuman strength, making her gasp.

Eleaniris couldn't help but shudder at the thought of sex with this beast. Her processor did, anyway, but her chest and loins heated at the prospect of being pounded senseless. Scared of her reaction, she yelped loudly when he pulled her down against him to grind.

"Stop!" Megatron jumped, his servos releasing her and letting her slide to the surface of the metal couch.

His rubies turned to her, glowing in the gloom and watching her pant. He must have inferred what had happened and apologized shallowly, "Precious, I was recharging. I did not know what I was doing." He reached to her but she scuttled away from him, not knowing what to expect. He sighed at this and dropped his servo, peering at her with soft optics, "Do I scare you, my dear Eleaniris?"

What kind of question was that?

What kind of question was that? She didn't really know the answer. Eleaniris was sure, absolutely, completely sure that she hated him for ruining her life, but fearing him?

"I-I think I'm more afraid of what you can do." She didn't know what to feel as he wiped his face with a servo and groaned.

"Why? I thought I had shown you how much I cared." He is genuinely clueless, isn't he?

"Cared? Cared?" She snapped, "I don't want anything to do with a man that enslaves children! That has them whipped and starved and then expects them to work like adults!"

He cocked his helm at her, narrowing his optics at her dishonorable suggestion, "I did not enslave younglings, Eleaniris. What are you speaking of?"

She snarled in frustration and pointed at him in accusation, "I witnessed your slave masters whipping children until their backs were raw! I know what I saw!"

Even though he knew it was late in the night, Megatron barked into his comm. "Soundwave!"

It was a moment before there was a faintly tired reply, "My liege?"

"My quarters! NOW! And bring the master log of my orders with you!" He ended the comm. before Soundwave could answer him. Does she really think that I am such a monster that I would enslave younglings?

He tapped the cuff and restored his old size just before the doors opened and Soundwave entered with a data pad in servo. Eleaniris watched with hate-filled optics, her arms crossed as she stood on the metal surface of the couch. Even though it was hard the metal did flex to accommodate the pressure on it like any cushion would, which made it hard to stand on. She wobbled a few times but managed to keep her stance, and pride, intact.

Borealis had awoken and taken her place by her mistress' side, not daring to question what was happening.

"How might I serve you?" Soundwave was impatient to get back to little Grace, who was presently recharging in his - their - berth. He barely managed to keep his desire out of his voice.

Megatron gave no greeting, as usual, "Is there a record of an order to enslave human younglings?" He did not look at his second, but kept his optics focused on Eleaniris' in a duel. Neither of them stood down and she glared at him with loathing.

Soundwave tapped on the data pad, searching. "I have only one record of one order on enslavement of the human race."

Thinking he had won, Megatron chuckled and growled knowingly, "And what might that order say?"

"I quote, 'Let it be known that the Earth has been annexed by the Decepticon Empire and that all of her resources are now property of the Decepticons. We will do as we see fit with this planet, and all homo sapiens are to live and serve as slaves and property of the Decepticon Empire.'" Eleaniris shuddered at the content of Megatron's victory speech from the third, and last, day of the Invasion. She remembered watching that in a hotel room in scorched and torn clothes, remembered him crushing her Vice President, mentor and friend, after he was done staking his claim and gulping the Earth down his huge throat.

Megatron smirked at her, "See, precious, I did not enslave any younglings." She narrowed her optics at him in response and swiftly turned her back to him. Liar.

Soundwave corrected hesitantly, "Actually, my liege, you ordered that all humans be enslaved. It says here, 'all homo sapiens are to live and serve as slaves and property of the Decepticon Empire,' meaning younglings as well." He stepped back from his master, knowing that he was in dangerous territory and that his life was in limbo for such a blatant correction.

But Megatron payed no attention to him. He was too busy thinking. Slag. She's right.

He crouched and sighed, "Precious, look at me." She turned to him slowly, her white optics distrustful of him. "Eleaniris, I didn't know that they were slaves. I would never, never, ever knowingly enslave younglings."

She raised her chin and continued to look at him, optics becoming a little more trusting. "Soundwave, set up plans to have them removed, the youngest with their carriers, to a different location. I will discuss it with you tomorrow in Command. You are dismissed." The officer dipped his helm respectfully and left, the doors booming closed.

She cocked her helm at him, opening her stance little by little, "Really? You're going to, to leave them alone?"

"I told you that I had no knowledge of their enslavement." He was on his knees so that his face was level with her, and what she did surprised him.

She didn't know what she had been expecting from the news but she had not been willing to even consider that he would leave them alone. And so she ran forward and hugged his face, kissing him on his huge lips before she even knew what she was doing.

Megatron's optics widened at the initial surprise but then he relaxed at her intimate touch. Emboldened, he pushed back gently and tried to climb up onto the couch without parting his lips from hers. He managed and hit the button on his cuff, shrinking to (about) her size before scooping her up in his arms. "Thank you," she whispered in his audio, throwing her lithe arms over his thick shoulders, "Thank you so much."

He kissed her audio fins gently, purring at her willingness. "You are very welcome, my beautiful Queen."

Maybe, if you lay it on as thick as possible, he will do the same for the adults too.

She leaned back and reconnected their lips, gasping when she felt one of his servos clutch at her through the rear panel of her skirt. He took advantage of the gape and pushed his glossa into her mouth, easily dominating hers and tasting her sloppily with his thick appendage. Her gratitude was wearing off and with some effort she pulled away, "Thank you so very much." His optics were soft red, glowing in the dark of the room.

He sat down, setting her in his lap as Borealis approached them, chirping quietly and putting her head in her mistress' lap. She was disgusted with what she had done, yet her chest was pulsing happily. As he nuzzled the place her ears used to be, she groaned inwardly Why? What do I do?

Elsewhere, the Energon factory slaves prepared to sacrifice their lives for the good of the human race. It was amazing, the unity that such dark times could bring about. They wrote down the shipment numbers and handed them off to the messenger, hope in their hearts for victory.

The dream with Rumble and Frenzy was inspired by the scene from Prince of Egypt.

sakurawriter - Hopefully you got your dose of internal conflict in this chapter :3. The Autobots are on their way. Thanks, as always, for the long review!

JJAndrews - Yes, British laws would be quite the challenge XD. We'll see in the next chapter how the plague goes. Thank you for your compliments on my writing!

Thank you guys so much! If you have the time, please leave a positive/negative review! I'm all ears on your comments.