Author's Note: This is the revised chapter 10, although I did not really change anything about it.


Chapter 10

Megatron was not an emotional being; none of the Transformers were in the beginning. They had all started out as machines, forced to work by the Quintessons until one bot rose above the rest to free them from their shackles. Then came the Golden age, of exploring and expanding, or art and science being one. Then, the discovery of sparkmates and what it truly meant to live. But, that hope that arose from finding your other half did not last long. They began to stagnate, began to revert back to just workers in a caste system under a new overlord.

Themselves.

Megatron was born a nameless drone in the mines of Kaon. He was not shown love or freedom, not until he claimed it for himself as a gladiator. He was not emotion-filled like all of those other bots. He killed and killed until he reached the top of that gladiatorial pyramid, earning a name that none would forget; Megatronus. He was widely admired, as well as feared, and that gave him his first taste of anything resembling freedom. He craved it, but was so unjustly denied such. Then came the first emotion, anger. Just the one emotion, but the only one needed to put ideas in the mind of a young mech that would cause the downfall of a whole planet.

Orion Pax had much easier beginnings. He was an archivist in the heart of Iacon, Cybertron's grandest city. Orion lived a carefree life where not much was asked of him, nor did he ask much of others. He wanted more, though, just like Megatronus. He broke rules, albeit minor ones, and dug through all of the archives. He learned of the past, of the then present goings on, and decided what he wanted for the future. He, just like a gladiator he heard make a speech in a recording from the fights in the pits, wanted freedom.

That was how they came to meet, the gladiator and the archivist that would bring the very roots of the Cybertronian cast system to its knees. They became comrades, friends, brothers. And, somewhere along the way, Megatronus found that he had fallen for the little nerdy mech that held such promise. But they were about to start a war, there was no time for such things. If they were to have joined their sparks, and then one of them died, their group would lose both of its leaders; such was the downfall of having a spark mate. Neither could live without the other.

Then that archivist became a prime; Optimus Prime. The jab at his spark, that this archivist who had never wanted for anything in his life before now, should be chosen to lead their people from the Dark Age instead of him. Not that he thought Orion could not do such a thing. But it had been his movement, his idea. It was the words that flowed from him that caused such an uproar! Why had they chosen sweet little Orion?

Megatron's anger was reignited by the betrayal. He had stormed away from the only mech he had trusted, and that was that. The next time they were to meet was on the battlefield. He was glad that he had not propositioned the other now. This could have only ended terribly for both of them; to feel the other's hatred for their other half's actions.

To have to possibly kill your sparkmate.

Megatron became like the bots of old and locked all of his emotions away. Occasionally anger would slip free, but never anything else. Never. He was a cold, merciless leader of a revolution that refused to back down, even after what they were fighting for was lost. This had become so much more than just freedom for a race; it had become revenge. For what wrong doing, he could not even remember any more, but it was for revenge nonetheless.

He now found that after having given this all up and going back to Orion's side (for he despised the sound of Optimus Prime), that he was so wrong. This could have all been settled had he realized before what Orion becoming Prime really meant. They could have gotten their goal with much less death, and could still be living on their home planet. He could have told the other his feelings, could have bonded with the other. But he had been blinded by jealousy, or something of that sort, and because of that they had all lost so much.

It only made sense, then, that he should be the one to set things right. And he definitely had the strength to do so; he was Megatron, after all. The only person to ever defeat him in battle was Orion. He was basically invincible in that aspect. He had fought whole troops of Autobots by himself and left not a single member of them standing.

Fighting off a bunch of Decepticons, mechs whose weaknesses he had memorized like the back of his own servo, would be no problem.

. . .

Bumblebee had lived an extremely rough life; he was sparked in the middle of a war, and had thankfully been adopted by Optimus Prime. All he knew his whole existence was war, though. He was almost immediately placed on a stealth team, because of his small size, and put on reconnaissance missions. He was a brave soldier, though, and he was good at his job.

He was only a few vorns old when Megatron ripped out his vocoder. It had been a stupid move on his part, taking on the warlord by himself. But there was no other choice. At the time, he had ejected the Allspark from the Well, sending it into space and then on its way to Earth. He had gone so far as to attack Megatron to keep him from getting to the Cube, only to get his vocoder yanked out and tossed aside like a piece of trash. He was then run through with the mech's blade, and left for death.

It had taken him a long time to recover, and even longer for Ratchet to get him a replacement vocoder. He could not talk for a while back on Cybertron, and when he could it was scratchy and hard to understand. He had vicious nightmares, and often times would find his way to Optimus' berth to curl up with his guardian in search of comfort. The leader would accept him with open arms, listening to the chirps of the youngling language that Bumblebee was forced to speak once more.

Then, they fled Cybertron and he got sent to Earth.

He spent a long time, by human standards, on that planet all by himself. He contacted the others as often as he could, although it became harder and harder the longer he was away. He just dreaded it towards the end, as it hurt too much to talk to them all, yet not be able to see them. Then, he finally found Sam, and he was not so lonely anymore. He had a friend, for the first time in a long time.

It was not until he saw his friend lying there lifeless in the sands of Egypt that he realized the extent of his feelings for the human. And it appeared then that he was too little too late. Not that it would have mattered either way, for the boy was with Mikaela and had no interest in Transformers that could be seen as romantic. Seemed that fate really did not want to be on Bumblebee's side, ever.

Then Sam met Carly, immediately after breaking it off with Mikaela.

Carly hated him, and his kind. She absolutely refused to ride with Sam and Bee anywhere, opting to drive about in a normal human car instead of Sam's best friend. She despised the thought of him entering their shared home, and would yell at Sam whenever she came back and Bee was lounging about with his friend. Eventually, Sam began to put more distance between them, and Bumblebee decided it was time to actually do his job again. Sam was safe enough without him.

He went back to Diego Garcia just in time for Megatron's surrender. The Decepticon warlord was in terrible condition, and not seeing another option, had come to his old friend, Orion. Bee stayed as far away from the other mech as possible, although it did nothing to stop the nightmares from coming back. But he was older now, and felt weird going to his guardian for help, so he did the second best thing.

He went to Ratchet, finding comfort in the CMO's grumbling. The older mech complained about everything. All of Ratchet's complaining distracted him from his own problems, kept his mind off the nightmares that the Autobot team's new addition brought along. He helped the other organize his supplies whenever he showed up, although he was not the best at it, and was often scolded for dropping something or putting it in the wrong place. Bumblebee would apologize, then continue about helping until Ratchet would sigh, shaking his helm. "Go recharge, 'Bee." He would request, grabbing some sedatives to give the other. "This will help with the night terrors."

Then, a whole six human months into Megatron's return, Bumblebee's vocoder, his own vocoder, was fixed at last. No more chirps and whistles, no more obnoxious radio clips, just his voice. It was so very freeing to be completely him once more. The Autobots and NEST members threw him a party to celebrate, inviting all their other human friends. Everyone showed, too.

Except Sam and Carly.

The next day, Sam tried to kill himself.

Needless to say, Bumblebee's excitement was short-lived.

. . .

Inferno, much like Ratchet expected, died shortly after the CMO left. He had a 'funeral' the next day, attended by everyone except Megatron, Ratchet, and Bumblebee. Optimus searched for them all, yet found nothing. Not a clue. He had attempted to reach out to Bumblebee with their Guardian bond, but the scout was good at hiding himself and his feelings. Megatron hid all the time, so that was somewhat understandable.

Ratchet, though; he never ran off. Yet the last time anyone saw him, he was driving off of the base. Why would the medic, one of Optimus's best friends, just leave when they needed him? True, there was a lot of pressure on him, but Ratchet never gave up. Even when the other medics had said Bumblebee would not live after his vocoder was ripped out of him, Ratchet still worked desperately to save him.

It bothered the Prime that everyone was slowly losing hope, even himself. They still had many bots on base, and even more were arriving every day. They could most certainly hold their own against the rogue 'Cons that remained, so long as it was not a surprise attack like the last time. However, a pessimistic state had taken over the Autobot forces since that attack, and now it seemed permanent.

The memorial service was short, most not wanting to dwell on it for too long. They each went around, telling of their favorite memory of their now lost friend. Optimus was the last to speak, telling of the first time he met Inferno back on Cybertron, right after the war had started. They were both so young then, so full of life. He went on to speak of when Inferno met Red Alert, how they had an almost instant connection. "They were never separated from then on, in life, and now in death," Optimus finished it off with, bowing his helm.

"'Til all are one," the Autobots all said in unison then, some humans such as Lennox and Epps joining in. That ended the proceedings, from which everyone hurried away except Optimus. He stayed there, standing out on the beach where they had decided to gather for the memorial after having deposited Inferno and Red Alerts bodies in the sea; they could be closer to them here. And now, with this thought in mind, Optimus did not want to leave. Everything was falling apart at the seams, and it was hitting him hard now.

He longed for the days of being simply Orion Pax, when he could let these feelings out. He wanted nothing more than to fall to his knees and curse Primus for dealing him such a terrible hand in life. Yet, a Prime was supposed to be strong, show no emotion other than what would encourage his people. How would breaking down at a time like this do that?

So Optimus stood in silence until the tide was coming in and the moon was high in the sky. He let his thoughts wander far enough away that he did not even notice when Lennox came and stood beside him until the human lightly patted his leg. "C'mon, big guy." Lennox whispered as Optimus came back to himself. "Everyone at base has been wondering where you were at; afraid you went and left them, too."

The prime looked down curiously at the human; had they really? He wanted to ask, but his programming once more kept him from doing so. Instead he nodded minutely, leaning downand placing his opened palm out for the other to climb on. "I apologize for any worry I caused," he said, his voice sounding as formal as ever. "I lost track of time." He waited for Lennox to climb on before he stood up straight and began walking back to NEST base. The two leaders stayed quiet for the most part, Lennox having settled into Optimus' servo and Optimus not knowing what to say.

They were almost back at base when the human's voice cut through the silence again. "Ya know, Optimus, we've all been having a hard time dealing with this lately; even me. You don't have to be so… Brick wall about it, alright? I think that worries everyone more."

Optimus stopped his walking, looking to the soldier in his servo with a bit of confusion. He felt it was safe to assume that by 'brick wall', Lennox was referring to how he did not display emotions. "I do not understand your meaning, William." What cause for worry did the others have? He was perfectly fine, on the outside. It was inappropriate for a Prime to display emotion, anyways.

"If you're hurting, we are all here for you, big man. You just gotta… Let us know." Lennox was sincere, shrugging a bit. "They're worried cause when humans sometimes shut themselves off like you have been, they go and kill themselves. I tried to explain that you're doing it for them, not because you want to die but… Well, the internet got 'em good." A little smirk crossed Lennox's face for the briefest second before he continued to speak. "I know how it is, having to be the big man, make the tough decisions. I led a group of soldiers before NEST, remember? I've lost men, plenty of them. I know how it hurts, Optimus, to be the strong one for them. Sometimes, you can't always be so strong, though. Sometimes you've gotta let go."

His spark stuttered for a second; was Lennox suggesting he actually give in to the incessant urge to 'cry', as the humans referred to it? How could he do that? Why would the other Autobots even believe he would do something as base as offline himself? It was offensive, in a way. "I am fine, William, but thank you for your concern. It is all unnecessary, though; I am fine."

The human snorted, almost as if he did not believe Optimus. Was he not convincing enough? "Don't pull that shit with me. I know you aren't fine, Optimus, and that's alright. A lot of bad shit has gone down lately, you shouldn't be fine. I'm offering to be here for you, Optimus, because I understand why you're saying you're fine." Lennox turned his attention to the base as he saw Ironhide approaching. "Looks like my ride home is here. Just think over what I said, Optimus, alright?"

Optimus nodded to Lennow, walking to meet up with Ironhide and hand the mech his charge. They exchanged a few short words before the two were soon leaving Optimus once more. The prime moved to head back to the beach, seeing no point in going to the base. Everyone was probably resting anyway-

:Don't even think about it, Prime.: The ever rough and stern voice of Ironhide reached him over the comm link. :To base, now. Ratchet ain't here to tell ya to rest, but I sure as Pit will. Now go.: Optimus turned to see where the mech was parked not too far away, Lennox's head peeking out of the passenger side window. :I haven't got all night to wait for ya to head in before takin' Lennox to his family, Prime, so if you'd hurry…:

Optimus stayed still for a minute, completely stunned. Had Ironhide just… Well, obviously he had, but still. Optimus was unsure of how to react, just staring at his longtime friend and the mech's charge. It took Ironhide telling him once more to head in to snap him out of his trance like state. He began walking once more, this time towards the base instead of away. He watched as Lennox pulled his head back into the black truck and Ironhide turned to leave.

:I'll check on ya when I get back.: The mech grumbled before pulling out the base as Optimus stood just outside of the Autobot quarters. Optimus knew he was telling the truth, so went in to lie down in his quarters for the first time in a little while. He lay on his berth for a moment before sleep cycle took over for the first time in an Earth week, and Optimus did not fight it one bit.