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Right on cue, the cave was flooded with a bright light, making Megatron smile. He turned around to watch the spark come careening down the hallway and start to zip around the room. He watched it fondly before it alighted on his shoulder, hovering up and down.
“Do your comrades know you visit me?” He chuckled.
He knew the spark couldn’t answer him, and he knew that the former-Autobots didn’t know that their Prime’s spark still flitted around Cybertron. Oh yes, he knew it was Optimus. He’d know that spark anywhere. There wasn’t another that could even hope to match it in brightness.
He had been very surprised and even a little nervous when the little ball had first found him in his cave. It had floated around slowly, seemingly taking in its surroundings before approaching him, hovering before his optics. It had taken a klik or two for him to figure out just who this spark was, and when he did, saying Optimus’s name questioningly, the spark had fled.
It returned the next day of course, and the day after that, up until the present. It never did much other than flit around the space, occasionally brushing against Megatron before dancing away. Megatron didn’t pretend to know what that meant, or what Optimus (not the spark, he should really stop calling him that) wanted. He just enjoyed the company, which was a bit sad really since he considered a frameless spark ‘company’ now.
The spark filled the space with a low, almost inaudible hum, chasing away the silence that Megatron had been living in.
He offered his hand to the spark and was pleased when Optimus settled himself happily in his palm, sending out little waves of warmth.
“I wish you could speak with me.” Megatron said to the spark, watching it dull and light back up steadily. “I would ask you what happened to you. I would ask why you keep visiting me. I would ask if you ever wanted to get a new frame.”
The spark lit up brighter than before and then vibrated, soaring out of his hand and around the room, circling his arm several times before returning to his hand. He stared at it.
“You… do want a new frame?”
The spark flashed several times. Megatron looked puzzled.
“I wouldn’t even know where to begin to look for—“ He stopped when Optimus flew off his hand and up the hallway, coming back and circling his helm before flying back out. Optimus obviously wanted to be followed so Megatron walked up the hallway and out into the open.
He lost sight of Optimus every now and again as they walked across the planet’s surface, but he quickly found him again when the spark zipped around his helm. They traveled for what seemed like megacycles before they came upon a battleground, the space littered with sparkless, lifeless frames. Some were missing limbs and many were beyond repair, but some were in surprisingly good condition.
“A bit morbid for your tastes, Optimus, I would have never taken you for a frame stealer.”
Optimus’s spark flashed red and flew into the side of his helm, making Megatron laugh. The spark flew around looking at the frames before stopping over one, flashing to get Megatron’s attention. Megatron approached the frame that had caught Optimus’s attention and looked it over.
It was a smaller frame, much smaller than Optimus had been, but it didn’t surprise Megatron in the least when he rubbed some dust off and saw the red and blue paint. It was scratched up but it still had all its pieces and, when he forced the chassis open, he saw the spark chamber was still intact.
Megatron thought about lugging the frame back to his hideout to clean it up a bit before putting Optimus inside, but judging by the way Optimus was flying around and skimming the surface of the frame, Optimus didn’t want to wait any longer.
“Calm yourself, Optimus. Be patient.” Megatron chided, gently batting the spark away from the frame. The best thing about free-range sparks was that they showed what a mech was like at their core, who they really were, and Optimus was high-spirited and impatient. He used to be like that, but after being named the new Prime, the happy mech named Orion Pax slowly disappeared, eventually being replaced by the war-weary Optimus Prime.
Megatron was glad to have the impatient side of Optimus back, even if it was only for the time being.
Megatron unearthed the frame and laid it out on the ground properly. He managed to clean it up a bit before Optimus’s insistent ‘head butts’ against his helm grew irritating.
“Alright already!” He snarled, and he swore Optimus made a sound that was meant to be a laugh. Carefully, he used his long fingers to open the spark chamber once more, pulling out the filth that had collected inside it.
“There now.” Megatron said, moving back away from the frame. Optimus’s spark shot forward immediately, embedding itself in the spark chamber and slamming the latches shut. For a moment nothing happened and Megatron grew worried, but then came the grinding sound of an engine attempting to start up, and then various systems began turning on.
The frame jerked, having a hard time forcing long-unused mechanisms to start working again. Megatron knelt beside Optimus’s new frame and watched. Slowly, the biolights on the frame began to light as well, and with a gasp, Optimus opened his optics.
They were a brilliant blue, very close to Optimus’s original optics, and they looked around, a bit unfocused but trying to get a fix on something. ‘Something’ ended up being Megatron, making the blue optics widen and then go soft.
“Megatron.”
The voice was unfamiliar, nothing like Optimus’s old rust-coated voice, but it had a gentle tone to it, and Megatron felt calmed hearing it say his name. He could admit that he had been worried that Optimus would have forgotten him once his spark got assimilated with his new frame, worried that Optimus would have another amnesia episode and this time, he would have lost EVERYTHING. Megatron was no scientist, and he had had no clue what would happen when he put an old spark in a new frame.
Apparently, the spark and frame fit together with no problems.
“How… do you feel?” Megatron asked awkwardly, unsure of where this strange situation was going to go. Optimus haltingly started to sit up and Megatron reached out without thinking, grasping his shoulder and helping him the rest of the way. He immediately retracted his hand when Optimus’s optics met his own.
“I feel fine.”
The former Prime lifted a hand and turned it over several times, looking down the length of his new body. He sighed.
“This will take some getting used to…”
Megatron’s optics traveled over Optimus. While he still had the red-and-blue colors scheme, this new frame barely looked like Optimus. Megatron knew that there weren’t many mechs who had looked like Optimus Prime, but it was still a tad disappointing. Optimus’s original frame had been a thing of beauty.
“Indeed it will.” Megatron finally said, looking out across the surface of their home.
“So what now, Optimus? What’s your plan?” He asked. Optimus looked confused.
“My plan for what?” He said. Megatron’s optics narrowed at him.
“You have a frame now. You’re no longer just a lost spark. What is your next move? I don’t believe you sought me out to help you find a frame, only to just walk away. You must have something planned.”
Optimus smiled at him, and now Megatron was the confused one.
“I have a plan, Megatron,” Optimus said. “But it is not what you’re thinking, although it does involve you.”
Megatron flinched back when Optimus extended a hand, but the other mech just put it on his shoulder and continued smiling at him.
“We could have had a life, you and I, if we hadn’t started fighting.” Optimus said sadly. The bluntness of the statement threw Megatron and he couldn't find any words for a reply. Taking his silence in stride, Optimus kept talking.
“We have our home back. The fighting has stopped. We two are now ghosts on this world, reborn into new bodies so we can have a second chance. We could start over.”
Megatron stared at Optimus, his spark fluttering it its chamber. He forced it to calm down as he cocked his helm.
“What are you saying… that you wish to… have a life with me?”
The words were hard for him to get out. He had abandoned the idea of ever being with Optimus again EONS ago. That little light of happiness had been buried under years of lost sparks, spilled energon, and acidic words spat back and forth across the battle lines.
However, Optimus was still smiling, and the hand that had been on his shoulder slowly reached up and cupped the side of his helm. He couldn't help himself, he pressed into the touch automatically, his optics closing. All the old feelings of longing and need for physical contact from the other mech were rushing back into him.
“There is a lot of hate between us, and we are both to blame.” Optimus said. Megatron was already getting used to his voice, soft and comforting, flowing like water.
“But I believe that if we could tear down our relationship like we did, then we can build it back up. I want to build it back up.”
Megatron opened his optics, seeing Optimus looking at him intently, the question in his expression going unspoken. Megatron hesitated only for a klik longer before covering Optimus’s smaller hand with his own, his engine rumbling contently.
“I would follow you to the edge of the universe if you asked me.” He said. Optimus chuckled and shifted closer, putting their forehelms together.
“You won’t need to, because I don’t plan on going anywhere for a long time… I have missed you.”
Megatron reached out and pulled Optimus against him. The other mech immediately wrapped his arms around Megatron’s large frame, humming happily as Megatron held him tight.
“And I you.” Megatron said softly. The part of him that had grown into a monstrous beast was screaming at him, telling him that Optimus was only trying to get closer to him in order to destroy him, but the quieter piece of his spark, the one that was still young, sang joyfully at finally having Optimus in his arms again.
Optimus was right. This was their second chance, and Megatron was willing to take that chance with him.