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It was quiet in space, no sound to hear but his own breath and the pulsing of his spark. Stars littered the clear sky, shining like pure energon crystals in the darkness of the slave mines. How long ago since he had last been there? It was so long ago that he'd nearly forgotten life before the war, but now, when he had nothing but time to think, to stare at the speckled galaxy, his past found him in thoughts and dreams.
Megatron knew it was his fault that Orion left him. He knew that there was so much energon that stained his servos. Sometimes, he looked at his reflection, and all he sees, all he can see, is the life-blood of those he killed, running down his frame, staining silver blue.
Somehow, looking at his reflection, he could also see Optimus, for a nano-click, staring back at him before he was gone and Megatron wonders if it was ever real in the first place. So many times, Optimus appears just out of his vision, yet when he turns, only barren nothingness awaits him. Megatron doesn't know why he's still hopeful. He doesn't know why every time he hears the wind, he hears Orion whispering to him, saying words he can never make out and telling him things he could never understand.
Letting out a soft breath as his optics closed, he stood and cleared his throat. Primus, when was the last time he actually sang? It had to have been to Orion, that night in the starlit cove that his former love had shown him. The night when he sang and they danced, the illumination of the stars reflecting from Orion's frame and the sound of their sparkbeats in synch. Megatron opened his optics, and sang:
Fate has been cruel and border unkind
How can I have sent you away?
The blame was my own, and for all that we loved
I can't feel your sparkbeat today
His voice was old, rusty and out of practice, nothing like it once was. It had been so long since he thought about what he sounded like before Optimus nearly tore out his voice box, leaving him with a dull, rasp of the once smooth as honey tone he used to have. Still, Megatron kept going:
But into the stillness I'll bring you this song
And I will your memory keep
With your loving eyes and these silent nights
In exile I pay you my debt
Orion was gone, and so was Optimus. Where they even as different as he thought? They always seemed like two separate entities: Orion warm and bright as any sun, while Optimus was cold as steel and deadly as any weapon. But... looking back on it, the betrayed look in Orion's eyes, the cold glare the smaller mech had given him when he suggested killing the council, it was little different than the emotionless stare he got from Optimus on the battlefield. Somehow, both managed to send a pang of mangled grief through his spark, before he reasoned with himself.
Still, Megatron hasn't forgotten the countless nights under the moons of Cybertron, when he and Orion would sit atop Kaon's spires and simply talk, talk and do nothing more for hours on end, optics never straying from the starlit sky. When Megatron thinks back on it, he wonders if there was a deeper reason neither of them looked each other in the optics then.
Once did a mech who glowed like the moon
Look out on his homeworld and sigh
He cried out and said, "Surely, there must be someone
Who's willing to fight and speak up as I"
But so great was the Council, so brilliant their glory
That long was the shadow they cast
Which fell dark upon the poor mechs that they scorned
And grew only darker as days and nights passed
Their goal was the same, their dreams intertwined, so why did it have to end like this. Was it his own greed? Or Orion's naïvety? Still, a part of him wonders what he could've done different, what he could've done to prevent the whole war, or to have still had Orion standing beside him. Megatron's voice was slowly becoming smoother, his vocalizer recognizing the familiar patterns of song.
Lullay Orion, farewell lover mine,
And rest now in silent embrace,
May my apologies reach you in dreams,
And ease you your passage of time
Megatron wished that he could've expressed any form of regret when Optimus was still here. He didn't even know if the fool could even hear him from his place in Primus' realm. And honestly? A small part of Megatron wished he couldn't.
The moon of this planet reminded him of Optimus' eyes... such a unique shade of blue. The celestial body of night shown down on him, bathing his grey armor in its silver-blue light. Words continued to spill from his mouth.
May my apologies find you this night
And sooth my sorrow in kind.
Orion you loved me much more than I knew,
May troubles be far from your mind,
And forgive me for being so blind
The Autobots had tried for peace, by Primus, why hadn't he listened to them? Why did it have to end like it did. Orion was dead because of him! Because Megatron couldn't accept that Orion left him to become Optimus! To be a pet of the council! But why didn't he stop when they were dead?
Soon did that mech take notice that others
Had gone and given up the fight
And then Orion came into the scene,
with words of love for a dream.
The smaller mech was always so passionate, so excitable, and, dare Megatron say it, cute and nerdy before he became a Prime. Orion was once his moral compass, the one who grounded him to reality, but when had that all changed...?
Orion was the moon that lit his path during the ebony night. Orion had been Megatron's light... but his brightness was never enough, not when the ink of Megatron's hatred had bleed so deep into his spark.
But such is the way of the darkness it sweetly
Takes hold of the mind of it's host
And that foolish mech did nothing to stop
The destruction of one who had needed him most
Megatron's head snapped up, that voice! Spinning around wildly on his pedes, his optics saw nothing but forlorn rocks and an empty plain. He was alone, just like he had been for the past century. Megatron lowered his helm. What was he even expecting? Orion was long dead and Optimus was gone. Why would he ever get his hopes up on the murmurs of the winds? With a sigh, he returned to his solemn song:
Lullay Orion, farewell lover mine
And rest now in silent embrace
Bear up this lullaby ghosts of my past
Through cloud and through sky and through space.
Orion wanted peace, and most of the time, just some quiet... well, it was quiet where Megatron was, painfully so. Primus, he wished Orion was here to at least share the silence with him, he wished Orion was here at all.
Carry the peace and the coolness of night
And carry my sorrow in kind
My love, I cared so much more than you know
May these troubles be far from your mind
Please forgive me for being so blind
He knew it was either the wind, or his own insanity that brought forth Orion's voice to his audial, so he continued without hesitation, ignoring the small hope that had arisen in his spark. Optimus wasn't here, he never was. This time was no different than the rest.
The years now before me
Fearful and unknown
I never imagined
I'd face them on my own
Optics downcast as he finished, the warlord's frame deflated, his vents letting out a shuddering breath. Megatron was done singing to the dead. The past was over for a reason. Now he only had to look forward. No use constantly looking over his shoulder for spirits that weren't there. Turning around, he stepped from the moonlight and into the cave that he now called home before he laid his heavy body down on the stone. Red Optics dimmed when recharge took over. Little did he know, the song continued:
May these thousand winters
Swiftly pass, I pray
I love you; I miss you
All these miles away
Whispers of the night and echoes of ghosts never reached his audial receptors. The former Warlord would never the murmuring of a ghost, who's voice flew upon the winds. He would never know of his former lover's gaze upon him in his slumber. Having appeared from the moonlight, the specter stood in the clearing outside the warrior's gave, gazing inside with optics so blue. The ghost softly finished his lullaby:
May all your dreams be sweet tonight
Safe upon your bed of starlight
And know not of sadness, pain, or care
And when you dream, I bid you have no restless nights
Sleep...
Megatron never did see the moonlit frame that watched over him that night, gazing at him silently and longingly, yet from a distance. He never saw the tears that soundlessly made their way down the luminescent red and blue mech's face. If he did, he would've wiped them away, whispering sweat nothings in his audial and pretending to love him, just like he used to.
The moonlit mech turned away, his form evaporating into silver mist as he returned to the realm of the lost Primes.