*Rises from the grave* I LIIIIIIIVVVVE!

Ahem, anyway. Sorry for the long wait guys, I've been really busy these last few... months. Wow, has it really been that long? Yeesh. Well, I'm just gonna say that I really appreciate all of the support I've been getting from you guys, and I really mean it. Seeing all of your wonderful comments gives me motivation. (No joke, I literally came on here a while ago, read the comments, and typed about 2,500 words.) Anyway, so as an apology and to make up for the wait, here is a chapter that is almost 5,000 words long.

I just want to say that even if I don't update for a while does not mean that I've given up on the story. Trust me, if I suddenly lost motivation to write this story anymore, I'd tell you guys that it was on hiatus or something. BUT IT'S NOT, SO DON'T PANIC.

Oh, and another thing, a new cover has been made. I'm actually kinda proud of it, as I don't typically do editing, but it was still fun to make. Tell me what you think.

Okay, see you guys next time, and thanks again so much for all of the support!


About a week or so had passed and in that time Megatron tested the mental link again and again. Short and long distances, brief and extended conversations, all things to search for limits. The mech one time traveled down to the Earth's surface as one of the times to test the distance, however, instead of making their connection weaker, it seemed to increase substantially. Likewise, if Rafael was close to the Earth and Megatron was up in space, or if they were both close to Earth but on opposite sides of the planet. Despite the warlord and Knockout not actually sharing their discoveries with the human, Rafael was sure that they came to the same conclusions as the boy did.

The connection was stronger the closer they were to Earth, or rather, the closer they were to Unicron.

It wasn't that much of a surprise really, but Rafael never truly thought about it until then. If he and Megatron were connected to each other through Unicron's blood, then that would mean that they could probably communicate with the Chaos Bringer himself. Rafael was thankful now more than ever that the deity was gone, or at least, dormant. The boy shuddered to think about what kind of things could be whispered in his head. It was weird enough to hear Megatron every now and then but to hear two beings in his mind would have just been too much, especially since one of those mechs was practically the cybertronian equivalent of the Devil.

And even though a week had passed, Raf still had no idea how to block Megatron out, much to the boy's disappointment, but he was getting better at learning how to respond. When he first did it, he was still in shock and confusion about how on Earth Megatron actually got into his mind, so it was more accidental than anything. The first few times the warlord tested the range of their 'telepathy'—Rafael was still unsure of the proper term for it—Megatron had begun to be frustrated with the boy for not communicating back. So he tried really hard to not further anger the warlord.

Right now, Raf could only manage to keep his focus for a few short words, but he was getting better. Granted, he did have a 40-foot-tall, sharp-toothed, and terrifying Deception warlord who was the one pressuring him... so there was that.

Today, however, there would be no such testing. The boy suspected that it was some sort of Decepticon business, and even if he was thankful to not have to be in Megatron's presence, Rafael was still very bored. He wasn't able to be near any technology, for the obvious reasons that he could somehow use it to escape, and he was currently sitting on the shelf that had become his home.

'It doesn't feel like home though.' He thought to himself as he pulled his knees closer. He wondered how both of his families were doing. He had no doubt that his biological family was kept from the truth and the Autobots were most likely trying everything they could to find him, especially a certain yellow bot.

Raf sighed, his eyes drooping slightly. 'I miss Bee...'

Raf rubbed the soreness from his eyes and took another look around the med-bay.

Knockout was currently working on some vehicons who had a multitude of injuries from a cave-in at one of the mines. Most of them just had dents or scratches, however, there seemed to be a few that had gotten a piece of rock lodged in their systems. Rafael could tell that, despite his tools, Knockout was having difficulties with these ones.

"Hmm, well I can either risk my own paint getting scratched and have rocks lodged in my own circuits... or I could just scrap you all together. Not sure how the Big M would appreciate me killing off some of you, but I doubt he'll care enough to mention it." He grinned to himself as he looked at the vehicons, whose frames visibly shuddered. The cherry-red medic turned to his tools over near Rafael and went to pick up an object that the boy could not identify. However, when Knockout held it up, he paused when his optics locked onto Raf's.

"Hmmm, or perhaps there's a third option." He mused before smirking and, without warning, swiped the boy right off the shelf. Luckily, Rafael had the instinct to latch onto his glasses before they could fall off.

He was brought over to the first of the vehicons, who looked at him with an unreadable expression.

"Alright, squishy, here's the deal." Knockout began. "You're going to pick out all the rocks that I can't reach and I'm not going to be at risk of ruining my paint."

Raf frowned but wasn't about to argue with the Decepticon medic. So instead he nodded timidly, not trusting his voice, and hopped off Knockout's hand and onto the vehicon's chassis. When his shoes hit the surface with an audible clang, Raf felt the chassis of the drone shudder in discomfort, and Rafael couldn't blame him. To the drone, it probably looked like the crazy medic who could care less about his life just entrusted said life into the hands of a small organic "parasite" who was about to dig through all his circuits. It was with that kind of thinking thatㅡfor the first time since arriving on the NemesisㅡRafael Esquivel was thankful to be a human over being a Cybertronian.

The boy adjusted his glasses as Knockout guided him over to which wires had rocks lodged in them and Rafael started to work immediately. Fortunately for him, most of them he could carry with both hands, but there were a few where he had to break them apart with some sort of jagged metal staff-thing that Knockout gave him. When the boy asked him about it, the red medic waved him off saying that it was from a piece of machinery that broke off but wasn't significant.

After about half an hour, Knockout scanned the drone again and didn't find anymore lodged rocks. He picked up the young human again as the vehicon swung it's pedes off the berth and left the medical ward. Then, Knockout brought Rafael over to the next patient to begin the process all over again.

Raf wiped his forehead of the sweat that was beginning to form. It was going to be a busy day and his small body wasn't used to this kind of labor.

Oh well, at least he wasn't bored anymore.


The sight when Megatron entered the medical bay made the warlord pause for a moment.

On one side of the lab, Knockout worked at a casual pace as he professionally reattached a limb to a Decepticon trooper, while a few other drones waited patiently for their own injuries to be fixed.

However, this was not what caused the momentary hesitation, rather, it was the sight of the human child, on the other side of the room, crouching down in some wires of a vehicon. Based on the many contents that filled a tray next to him, the fleshling was picking out organic debris that was lodged within areas that a cybertronian could not reach easily.

Both the boy and the medic looked up at Megatron when he entered, only one actually met his optics, however.

"Lord Megatron..." The cherry-red mech glanced over at the boy with uncertainty before resetting his vocalizer. "I hope you don't mind me putting the fleshling to some work."

Said fleshling was still trying to continue his 'work' and ignore the two Decepticons at the same time. However, the tenseness in his shoulders did not go unseen by either party.

"As long as it does not danger his health, I could care less how you intend to make use of him. However, he will be finishing his task once we return." The silver mech said as he went to pick up the child, whoㅡbesides flinching at the sight of his clawsㅡdid not protest the action. The mech looked down at the tiny organic creature, one who was so weak that he could easily die if squeezed too hard. However, despite the sadistic temptation, Megatron still had a use for this human.

The former-gladiator then began to walk back outside the med-bay doors, before pausing and looking over at the confused medic. "As you were, Knockout." Then he walked out, not bothering to listen to the mech's reply.

As the warlord walked down the familiar halls of the Nemesisㅡthe human child avoiding his gaze as he sat with his arms around his kneesㅡhe mused about Knockout's decision. It had both its advantages and disadvantages, however, it did answer the question of what other uses the human had and what he was going to do when not being tested with. Ever since Breakdown's demise, Knockout had been having difficulties keeping up with the number of mishaps that flowed into his med-bay, so having the child work would help lessen that problem.

Besides, having the child forced to work with Knockout would have the Decepticons beginning to gain the boy's trust, which would be greatly beneficial. Megatron was no fool, after all, and he knew that he could not simply torture the organic into revealing the Autobot's base. The organic was young and therefore weak even in human standards. His frail form would not be able to endure the sorts of torture he would be put through.

The warlord frowned. 'A pity that the cortical psychic patch does not work for humans.' That option, unfortunately, could not even become available in the near future, as the creator of the cortical psychic patch was reported deceased and Megatron currently had no other brilliant processors at his disposal. The technology was still somewhat foreign even to the Decepticons, as the creation of the device was completed mere jours before being tested on the first subjects; two Autobots, both of whom were the ones that led to the destruction of his prized scientist and managed to escape to earth.

Therefore the last and least desirable alternative was to gain the boy's trust so he would become more loyal to the Decepticons than the Autobots. Unfortunately, that also meant that the child would most likely no longer be afraid of them, or more specifically, Megatron himself. Despite the former gladiator's passion for bathing in the fear of others, he knew that it would only hinder his greater desire to destroy Optimus Prime and his precious Autobots.

So, after much thinking on his part and some advice from his most loyal commander, Soundwave, the silver warlord knew exactly where to start.


Raf stayed silent as the Lord of the Decepticons walked stoically through the halls. Every now and then, they would pass a vehicon who would salute their superior, and like before, Megatron never did anything to acknowledge their presence.

Finally, when they came to a stop by a large window, the child completely forgot about his company and simply stared out in amazement at what he was seeing. He'd always seen pictures of what the Earth looked like from outer space, but to witness it first hand was nothing like the 2D photos. The boy stood up from where he sat on Megatron's palm and took in every detail of the seemingly small planet. The green and browns of the continents, all surrounded by the magnificent blue of the oceans and decorated nicely by the white clouds that danced on its surface. Half the planet bathed in the warm light of the sun while the other half was covered by a shadow. However, in that shadow, billions of tiny lights dotted the surface. Cities that still had not gone to rest.

Raf's amazement soon turned to one of grief and longing when he spotted the section of land that he knew was the state of Nevada. It was current at the edge of the sun's light, therefore telling Raf that it was almost sundown there. And despite it being a silly thought, Rafael wondered if his friends were looking to the stars and trying to search for the Nemesis among them.

Thinking of the Decepticon warship was like a slap in the face from reality, and just like that, his wishful thinking was gone.

"Despite coming to dislike your species, I find your coexistence to be fascinating," Megatron spoke, sensing Raf's change in mood. "And I am envious of that."

Raf finally looked up at the warlord, a surprised expression on his young features. "But you continue to fight this war anyway... a war that is separating your race." Raf gulped silently to himself and watched the Decepticon's faceplates, searching for any signs of aggression, yet Megatron's face remained neutral as he gazed out the glass window. Taking that as a sign, Rafael pushed further. "What are you even fighting for anymore? Shouldn't you and Optimus be looking for a way to bring together your people?... In equality? Wasn't that what you originally started this war for?"

Finally, the mech looked down at the organic youngling who stood on his palm, somewhat tense yet calmer than before. It seemed that bringing him to look out the window did some good after all.

"Tell me, little one, what have the Autobots told you of our history? Word-for-word, preferably," he asked, curious now that the desired subject was brought up. He had been wondering how much the Autobots sugar-coated the truth, and it seemed as if he was going to get his answer.

Meanwhile, Rafael was hesitant to share, but he didn't see any harm in it after thinking over what Ratchet told them. "When Optimus lost his memories, my friends and I were told about when you two first met, a-as Orion and Megatronous." The boy paused and looked out the window again. The Earth looked peaceful, calm... moving slowly as if it was taking its time. So Rafael took a deep breath before continuing.

"Ratchet told us that Opti-er... Orion was once a clerk in the Iacon Hall of Records and that you were a gladiator. Ratchet said that Orion had seen a corruption within Cybertron's leaders and an inequality amongst the people and that you too had seen this. He said that you were going to challenge your leaders and demand that all of Cybertron would be equals. Orion decided to help you and together you went to the High Council to state your requests." Here, Rafael hesitated, unsure of how the mech was going to react, but Megatron motioned for the boy to continue anyway. Swallowing the lump in his throat, Raf did just that. "Ratchet told us that when you went there, you not only commanded for the old guard to be overthrown with force but that you also demanded to be made the next Prime. T-That was when Orion stepped in and began to explain his own vision, which wasn't one that required violence. Ratchet said that it was then that Orion was deemed worthy of being a Prime." Rafael paused again and this time, Megatron did not motion for him to continue, so instead, the boy waited.

Truthfully, the human was half expecting Megatron to throw him across the hall or begin trying to tell him that everything he learned about Cybertron from the Autobots was false...

Yet he did no such thing.

"The field medic told you the truth," he said as his lips curled in distaste. "Despite it being very vague."

The boy gave him a questioning look, one that held an air of suspicion and rightfully so. He was currently talking with the Leader of the Decepticons, and thus a master of deception, after all.

Megatron grinned in amusement at the child's wariness. "Did the Autobots ever tell you the details of this 'inequality'? The details of what kind of leaders we had? Of what it meant to be a gladiator compared to being an Iacon clerk? Or the details of the cities we lived in? Or even what truly made me turn against one whom I considered brother?"

Rafael opened his mouth to defend the Autobots but found that he didn't know what to say that would prove his point.

"Then it seems that you are still unaware of the full truth of our history. I should have expected no less from the Autobots." He growled. A small part of him agreed that perhaps keeping the humans out of the dark might be for the best, but if the Autobots were truly going to trust their pets enough to give one of them the key to Vector Sigma, then they should at least tell them what they were even fighting for in the first place. Such blind trust. It disgusted him, yet he had to admit that it had proved useful in the past.

But this would work greatly to his advantage. Where Optimus would keep his pets ignorant, Megatron would fully exploit that, make the child come to him for answers, knowing that although he would be blunt, he would not withhold the details of their history. The first step to wavering the trust the organic would have toward the Autobots.

"Cybertron was divided into a three-tier caste system; the High Caste, the Middle Caste, and the Low Caste. The High Caste contained the least amount of mecha, yet it included the rulers of the city, the Council themselves, and other rich and selfish cybertronians. The Low Caste was the exact opposite. It made up the majority of Cybertron's population with mecha being slaves from the moment they were sparked. The Middle Caste is just that; in the middle. They were those not considered nobles but were still 'free' in the sense that they did not have a designated master. It was considered rare for Low Caste to move up and even rarer for Mid Caste to become High."

Rafael was silent as the silver mech recalled back the way of life before the war. The boy was not unfamiliar with such a caste system, as many similar ones had occurred all throughout human history and still were existent even today, some just more obvious than others. So where was Optimus and Megatron in all this? From Ratchet's story, Orion Pax sounded like someone of maybe Mid Caste, perhaps even High, but what about -?

"As a gladiator, I was of the lowest caste. A slave of a single master."

Rafael's mind paused. Oh. That... made a lot of sense when he thought about it. The personality, his opinions, his motivation toward a revolution... If Cybertron's slavery and gladiators were anything like that of Earth's, Megatron was probably raised in a 'survival of the fittest'-world, where it was kill-or-be-killed every day. A lot of the pieces were fitting together, but Rafael was still looking at an incomplete puzzle and so many more questions forming in his mind.

"How did you ever meet Orion Pax?" The boy asked curiously, figuring that he should take advantage of Megatron's patience while he stil could. "He sounded like someone not in the Low Caste."

"Your assumption would be correct," the warlord answered. "Orion Pax was of the High Caste, however, he was not of a line of nobles. Instead, he was sparked and quickly became the apprentice of the Iacon Archivist and Councilmen at the time, Alpha Trion. By the time Orion had even heard of my name, I had already gained quite the following. It was only much later, and after I had been confronted by Orion, that I had named them 'Decepticons'. 'For if to tell the truth is deception, then we are gladly guilty.'" He said, repeating the long-forgotten moto with a spark of internal pride. "We pushed to exploit the corruptness of the council, at first making peaceful protests. But our minor protests began being ignored and considered nonsense, so Orion and I one day decided it best to directly confront the council. I, being the leader of the revolution, was the first to speak.

"At first, by request from Orion, I spoke of our ideals of equality and the benefits that would come from a society not separated by Castes and unjustified prejudice. But no matter how many words I spoke, the council did not listen. Before I was even finished with my speech, they waved me off and said that they would not let me waste any more of their precious time.

"I grew angry and desperate, and so turned to threaten them by speaking of my more violent plans if they would not listen. So they tried to have me and Orion thrown out, and it was only when Orion spoke up did they finally listen."

"Because he talked about more peaceful methods?"

The silver tyrant scoffed. "Orion Pax merely spoke the same philosophies as I did, just in his own words. No, it was the fact that he was from the high caste that they listened to him and not a worthless slave as I was. It also helped that Orion's very own mentor was one of the members." He paused for a brief moment before continuing. "The council did not actually care for what Orion was saying, rather, they saw an opportunity to turn the naive mech he was against the revolution. When they offered him the title of Prime, he at first declined, saying that I was more deserving, but the council insisted that I would make a terrible Prime and tried to once again push the role onto him. Unlike Orion, however, I could see through their facade and knew what they truly meant by them wanting him to take the title of Prime. They wanted to control Orion, use him as a face to sway the public against the revolution, saying that Primus would approve of how the government system was working. They were all fools.

"In a last effort to save our revolution, I stepped forward and demanded to be named Prime instead as I knew I would not be swayed into helping them. The council knew this too and banished me from the room. Orion only watched and did not bother to aid me, so I turned and swore to bring down the council, no matter the cost."

A long silence hung in the air after those words, the only sound being the humming of the functions in the ship.

Rafael was silent as he pondered over the information. If Megatron was telling the truth, then the Council's actions did make sense, despite how wrong it was, but that was a big if. Megatron was just messing with his mind, trying to turn him against the Autobots. The boy may have been young, but he wasn't stupid. He could tell that Megatron was trying to warp his loyalties, but... was this history the truth? The boy couldn't compare much, as the Autobots never really went into details. Maybe the story was just what it looked like from Megatron's point of view? Afterall, cybertronians weren't mind-readers, so he couldn't have actually known what was going through all their minds-

No, stop, he wasn't believing Megatron. The mech was a great lier, as the Autobots have always told him. Megatron was just trying to get into his head, nothing else.

But... there's not really a 'good' and 'evil' side in a war, no matter the species. Maybe... Maybe Megatron was different in the beginning? War could surely change someone... so there was certainly a chance that Megatron was different before, and therefore also a chance that the story could be true. Yet at the same time, Megatron didn't exactly strike out as the chivalrous type to Rafael. Demanding to named Prime for the sake of Orion Pax not being used by the council? That didn't sound like a 'Megatron, Leader of the Decepticons and ruthless Warlord' kind of thing to do.

Although, Rafael had only really met the warlord personally once before his kidnapping and everything else was heard from the Autobots. Was he being biased? The obvious answer would be 'yes', as he never really had the chance to form his own opinion, not that that was the Autobots' fault. He had not even heard the name 'Megatron' before meeting them. From everything that the Autobots said, Megatron sounded like a stereotype villain straight out of a comic book, which had never made sense to Rafael. Somebody didn't just start wars for the fun of it, or at least not one that would last millennia and result in their entire planet getting involved. Heck, even comic-book villains always had some sort of reason behind their actions, and those were just fictional characters.

People in the real world though? There would always be a reason without a doubt.

Plus... Rafael found it kind of unusual that two people, or mechs, who called themselves brothers in everything but blood, would suddenly turn against each other so quickly. Ratchet had even told Rafael and the others that Megatron had actually seen the honest corruption within the system and managed to convince many others of the truth. If Megatron was close-minded, then he wouldn't have been able to grasp the full picture, right? But then suddenly, this mech who had spent so much time meeting and planning with Orion had suddenly 'severed all ties'? No contact whatsoever?

There were certainly missing holes in the origin of the war and Rafael had to unwillingly admit to himself that despite his reluctance and defiance to see Megatron's words as truth, the warlord had managed to complete what he had meant to do. He managed to get into the child's head and make him question at least some of what the Autobots had been telling him.

Rafael slumped in defeat where he stood on the metallic servo. There were just so many questions and not enough answers... how much had been lies and how much had been truths... he honestly didn't know what, or even who, to believe anymore, and that scared him more than the Decepticon leader ever could...


Seeing the boy with such a defeated expression made the warlord grin in triumph. While the human youngling may not fully believe his little sob story, Megatron knew that the seed of doubt had been planted. Now, all that was left was to let that 'seed' grow.

"It is time that I return you to your previous engagements, human," he said to the boy and without any more warning, moved away from the glass. The organic only stumbled a bit at the sudden movement but said nothing.

The child was still deep in thought and Megatron knew that he would be like that for a long while. After all, the human was just delivered much information and was most likely trying to figure out what was truth and what was lies. It was amusing to the silver warlord, as he knew that which the boy refused to accept. That every word he spoke was the truth, even if some details were... skipped over.

After all, every good deceiver knows that the truth could be more harmful than any fabricated lie.