I've Done It Again

It didn't take long to find Optimus. He was sitting in the road, helm down on his knees and shoulders slouched forward, arms wrapped around his legs. Megatron landed behind him and then walked forward. He stood in front of Optimus and sighed.

"Come back with me to the base and I'll give you the matrix," Megatron offered.

Optimus didn't move. "I don't care about the matrix."

Megatron paused. "Yes, you do."

"Leave me alone."

"Don't be childish," Megatron crossed his arms. "You're overcharged and you don't know the way back. Put your pride aside and let me help you."

Optimus's voice got quieter. "That's what you think this is?"

Megatron fell short of a response.

Slowly, Optimus's frame started to tremble. "I hate you."

A suffocating, tight feeling wrapped itself around Megatron's spark and he took a step back. He knew what this feeling was. Fear. Of what? The tiny, vulnerable mech in front of him? That didn't seem right, but it was painfully obvious. Megatron took another step back, unsure of how to deal with the situation.

"Go away," Optimus begged him. "Haven't you broke me enough?"

Megatron took another step back as those words reverberated around in his helm, bringing up countless memories of the former prime at Megatron's mercy. The times when Megatron would rip off the helm of someone Optimus was close to, just to make Optimus hurt, and he said it was just a product of war. The many times Autobots would sneer at Megatron, denouncing him or singing Optimus's praise, and Megatron would slaughter them all. The way he didn't hesitate to blown up their bases, or set assassins their way. The biological warfare that ripped the Autobot ranks in half, leaving whole cities quarantined and filled with horribly gruesome bodies. Ordering seekers to drop bombs down on their armies, not knowing if he wanted to Optimus to die in an explosion or live to see the carnage. At the end of a long battle, when Optimus was exhausted, having fought through Decepticon after Decepticon, and only then Megatron would step out to deal the final blows; tearing through Autobots because the Prime was too slow to stop him. Each time Optimus was weak, Megatron was strong. Megatron never felt guilty about it, not even deep down. He laughed as the Prime criticized himself for failure, when Megatron was the one really ripping the world apart.

Maybe Optimus was right. Enough could be enough.

But Megatron already tried that.

Unicron came and went for the very last time. Megatron had felt the evil god's soul being ripped from his body, liberating him from the worst nightmare he'd ever endured. The first face he'd seen was Optimus. Optimus, who had freed Megatron from an eternal hell.

Megatron tried to say enough was enough then. He'd told Starscream to disband the Decepticons and then Megatron disappeared, but Megatron's mercy was slaughter and carnage when Optimus was tearing himself apart. He knew only because Ratchet somehow found him, and he gave Megatron the news: Optimus sacrificed himself to bring their planet back to life.

He could still remember. The wind rushing past his audio receivers, the lights clinging to the edge of the walls around him, and the darkening of the sky above him. The sound of falling. Of trying and failing to end the suffering and pain one last time.

"Optimus," Megatron walked forward slowly and knelt in front of his lifelong enemy. "Look at me."

"I don't want to," Optimus said.

"Look at me," Megatron repeated, reaching out and lightly grabbing Optimus's wrist. He pulled it forward, revealing the fallen prime's face. His bright optics and the silver lubricant that dripped down his chin, mixing with the soot on his frame and leaving streaks down his chassis. Optimus looked up, his field pulled tightly, but not tight enough to hide the overwhelming feeling of sorrow, of shame and guilt and anger.