If he squinted he could almost see the past. Like ghosts, it flitted through the streets and over the walls, voices humming at the back of his mind. Armies, warriors marching through the streets, the populace cheering... Looking up, into the darkness that shrouded upper Vilnacron, he could sense the whine of jet-engines and blots of colour as a Seeker stormed past.
"Megatron!"
The visions disintigrated like so many spirits, lost in the maw of time. The purple mech blinked his optics and looked at Slash. "Yeess?"
Slash paced over to him, seemingly unaffected by the atmosphere. Megatron knew better. "It is dangerous down here," Slash growled. "I saw cracks on some of the buildings in a block to the east; this whole place is in danger of collapsing on us!"
"Ahh, Slash," Megatron drawled, quirking a smile, "always the pragmatic. But we're not done!"
"Hrrrr... There is nothing else to see," Slash said, resignated already.
"Sure, there is!" Megatron cheerfully replied, hurrying northward. "We've yet to see the Imperial Palace! Not to mention the Plaza." Behind him, Slash growled and followed.
"Idiocy," Megatron heard him murmur. "Utter idiocy."
Sometimes Megatron had to wonder why Slash remained his friend. He was not an agreable robot, to be sure, and a common joke was that he had inherited his namesake's temper. Further more, very few would doubt young Megatron was a genius, but like most such minds, he was difficult to befriend. Yet Slash stayed with him. Poor bloke. I must be rusting his armour by now...
Slash hissed, looking around. "This is the dead land," he murmured.
"Quoting human poetry, are we?" Megatron baited cheerfully. "I thought such idleness was beneath you."
Slash ignored the tone with the ease of practice. "It seemed appropriate," he murmured absently. "Because it is; this place, it is dead."
"No," Megatron sighed, "it is forgotten. And that is infinitely much worse."
Slash looked at a broken monument, then looked away, frowning. "Cactus land."
Megatron, unaffected, paced out into the Grand Plaza. A moor of stone and metal, idols of past heroes standing proudly guard over the Palace, the residency of the ancient Decepticon Court. Once beautiful, it was now half in ruins, cracks in the walls that still stood.
"You want us to go in there?" snapped Slash, disbelieving.
Megatron nodded cheerfully at him, turning to trot over the Plaza.
"You are insane!" Slash hissed, running to catch up.
"Hardly," Megatron snorted, coming ever closer the the dark opening of the Palace. "Inside, or so I believe, we can see the grandeur of the past as it once was."
"It's a ruin," responded Slash, already knowing that the idea was well and truly stuck. "We'll be in danger of being buried alive in there! Can't you see the tiny problem I'd have with that?"
Megatron smirked, stopping in front of the entrance, heavy doors long gone. "The knowledge is worth it. It must not be lost..." And gone he was, swallowed by the darkness in the ancient building, leaving Slash behind with the ghosts of defeat.
Slash looked back at the Plaza, at the metallic moor filled with ancient heroes of a conquered race, and sighed. It is forgotten. And that is infinitely much worse, came the memory of Megatron's words. Slash looked up at the darkness, reciting haltingly from memory, "Remember us - if at all - not as lost," he paused, "violent souls, but only... as the hollow men." He sighed, turning to follow his friend.
Glitch looked over her class - Elementary Tactics 3c - and frowned. Still no sign of Slash or Megatron. She could understand them missing their previous class, as neither ever had been keen on Nebulonian politics, not even the very first stellar cycle, where most students could be persuaded to like everything. But tactics; Megatron, at least, loved tactics, and the idea of him missing a favourite class seemed foreign to Glitch.
They must've gone farther away than we thought, she mused absently, taking down names. "Take out your tracks and scroll to paragraph thirty. Can anyone tell me the subject?"
"The battle of Autobot City!" a femme cried immediatly.
Glitch smiled a bit at the gasps and instant excitement of the class. "Very good, Vape. Well, boys, ya wanted somethin' big, you're gettin' it. Starblazer, why don't you prove that you've read your homework and tell me what started the battle?"
The black and silver mech nodded, face scrunched up in an attempt to remember. "A... An ambush, on-on... On this Autobot shuttle that killed a buncha people, right?"
Glitch sent Vape a sharp look, as the lithe female giggled. "In broad terms, yeah, that is what happened. Anyone give me somethin' more specific?" No hands raised, not even Vape's. Glitch sighed. "Primus below..." A knock on the door startled them all. "Come in," Glitch called, half expecting Laserblast with a repentant Slash and Megatron.
Instead the door opened to reveal a Maximal peacekeeper with a cheerful smile on his face. "Hi! I'm Suntrail, and I'm the new educator assigned to this sector by the Elders!" He strode in, seemingly oblivious to the groans from the students.
Glitch pasted a smile on her face, nodding slightly in greeting. "Well, hello! We weren't told that an educator was vistin'. Sojourn, the old educator, always gave is a quick comm whenever he came to visit."
Suntrail's face grew solemn. "Yes. And that's why he was removed from his post. It's a nasty breach of protocol to alert the subjects of an education hour."
"You mean a brainwashing," Storm muttered from his spot in the third row. Glitch sent him a warning look.
The Maximal turned and grinned happily to the class of sullen Predacons. "Oh, my, you all look a bit down and out! Did I interrupt something good?"
"Yes, sir, you did," Vape said courtiously, recieving a number of glares for even responding. She ignored them, and continued, smirking sweetly, "But then, that's not a new feeling for your kind. I figure it's a hereditary trait."
The class dissolved into giggling, leaving Suntrail rather puzzled. "I'm... afraid I don't understand, young lady."
"Well, y'know," Vape said, shrugging, "we're all so dangerous and all, because we're Decepticon descendants, so the way I see it, the reason you Maximals always know how to spoil our fun, is because of your Autobot heritage."
Glitch groaned, while the class continued snickering.
Suntrail laughed uneasily. "Now, now, young lady. You're getting a bit too close to high treason, there. You might wanna be careful."
"Sorry, sir," answered Vape, blinking innocently.
"That's quite alright," chuckled Suntrail merrily. "Now I have some datatracks here for you which we'll be spending the hour with. Miss."
Glitch started when she realised he was talking to her. "Yeah?"
"Is everyone present?"
"Er, no, we're missing two students. Slash and Megatron." The whole class looked at the Maximal, waiting for his reaction.
"M-Megatron, huh?" He blinked in vague surprise. Then chuckled weakly. "Well, I bet he's quite the little troublemaker. Now," he handed Starblazer a stack of disks, "if you could take one each..."
"Question!" Storm called, raising his hand. Suntrail gave him a curious look. "How long'll it be before we're... indoctrinated into the," his voice grew mocking, "peaceful Cybertronian community?"
"Well," Suntrail grinned heartily, "if you're good, you could be granted pass by the time you graduate this school, and get to co-exist peacefully with us Maximals!"
"Yay," sounded flatly from an anonymous source in the class.
Suntrail either didn't hear it, or decided to ignore it. "Now, if you'll prepare your disks and open them, we can start." He looked down at his own pad. "'The Hideous War Crimes of the Decepticons'..."