Are you ever really gone? Megatron smirks, letting amusement show in his glyphs.
::So I have. Again, that is. You could never hide from me for long.::
Megatron compulsively obsessed over searching for Optimus for millions of years. Although things, on his end at least, were much different now, old habits die hard.
Megatron’s message dropped like lead in his tanks and left a cold feeling though his systems. If he had been located, surely that meant that the Warlord could be tracking his location at this very moment, jeopardizing the very Base in which he stood and every life that was housed within it.
The implications of total annihilation at any moment kept his dark servos tightly gripped at the consoles’ keypad, but he forced a message in return:
:: Do not play coy with me. What do you intend to glean from this conversation? Or are you simply goading me on toward reaction for your amusement? ::
::Always so suspicious, aren’t you, Optimus?:: He had every right to be, of course. Whatever Megatron was currently hunting the Prime down was likely as relentless as he had been, and if this one was uncontacted, he may not have any idea that there was a difference between them. But wasn’t that half the fun?
::Don’t worry, your base and your team remains hidden at the moment. This channel is private, merely for the two of us to converse, in a way that is impossible otherwise.::
His promptness fills her with immediate regret, but she doesn’t hang up. Mostly because she’s afraid of what will happen if she does, but partially because she has a reason for calling and by god she will see this through.
«It’s his anniversary.» She says very somberly, after a lengthy pause.
«Optimus’, I mean. I… I don’t.. really know what to do for it but… seems wrong to let it go by unnoticed, ya know?» She frowns, coolant welling up in her optics again. She wipes the tears away and takes a shaky breath.
«You’re the only other mech I know who knew him besides Rigel and– This is stupid, I’m sorry.»
His ridges furrow at the mention of an anniversary. Who… Oh.
…Has it really already been a year? All at once, Megatron was aware of the weight of his thick armor, the heft of his sword and cannon. He shut his optics, unable to block out the waver in her voice.
::Stop.:: It isn’t an order, but a pained request. What could he possibly say to make any of this better? He’d spent the later part of his life hunting Optimus down, trying to find any little way to hurt him. Even Rigel had been a tool in his crusade, before he’d begun to come to his senses. And now, he was one of Blackguard’s only remaining connections to the Prime? How tragic was that?
::I knew him. I didn’t understand him. I hated him because he didn’t understand me, or because he did and turned away.:: Hating him was easier than thinking about why, but the gates had been opened, and Megatron found it frighteningly easy to continue.
::It was only after I murdered his alternate, after we were literally forced into a room together… that we were able to talk, on terms that didn’t end in battle, or betrayal. I was able to look at him and recognize him, we were going to-!:: The warlord’s servo hurriedly covered his face,concealing his expression from the camera-less console as he came to the most terrible realization of all. His chest began to burn, for the first time in months. After a pause that was entirely too long, he quietly added:
Megatron's back up 