The End is Only the Beginning
Written by: Shea M. Daily
Summary: In which Starscream finally makes good on his promise, and Megatron finally gets some.
Fandom: Transformers IDW AU (All Hail Megatron)
Pairing: Megatron/Starscream
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Warnings: Semi-explicit sticky at the end.
A/N: In All Hail Megatron, Vol.1, there was a conversation between Megatron and Starscream in which Starscream said, "Your memory fails you, Megatron. I was there even before there was a 'beginning'. Before you." That quote had to come from somewhere, so I ended up with an older-than-dirt Starscream as a young Megatron's mentor. This fic is a sequel to A Different Beginning, and explores the consequences of such a thing.

I hope you enjoy!
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Starscream stood silently, staring out into the void of space as he contemplated his next move. There was a hollow emptiness in his spark where Skywarp and Thundercracker were supposed to be. The two seekers that he had raised and adopted as his own kin, the seekers that had bonded with his blessing, the seekers that had kept him company for countless millennia…gone. All because one lost his temper and killed the other. And Megatron, his student, the only mech that had ever had the sheer nerve to even attempt to control him… well, his student was barely hanging onto the threshold between life and death.

He wanted to be angry, wanted to howl and shriek and rage and tear everything around him into tiny pieces. But he was too tired to do so.

He was always tired now.

Starscream was tired of fighting an endless war. He was tired of watching everything around him exist in a constant state of death and chaos. Most of all, he was tired of hiding just how worn out he was. He was old, older than any other living Cybertronian he knew of. He wanted to rest for once, wanted to drift in an endless haze of quiet.

But before he could, he had one last task to perform. He had a promise to keep, after all.

"My Lord?"

Starscream was too tired to get irritated. "I thought I gave orders not to be disturbed, Shrapnel."

"I'm sorry, my Lord, but there's news about Lord Megatron's condition." Shrapnel's voice was hesitant, as if afraid that the slightest thing could provoke Starscream's legendary temper.

He snorted. His temper and mood-swings had all but fled him vorns ago. Everything was hazy and had been so for too long now. Megatron alone was the one mech capable of making him remember what he had been, and even that was growing more and more indistinct as the years passed. He turned away from the window. "Take me to him," he said quietly.

Shrapnel nodded, and led Starscream through the corridors to the room Soundwave had secreted away Megatron. There were dozens of mechs, nameless mechs he had nonetheless led into battle after countless battle, lining the walls. All of them wore looks of worry, and at his passing, fear.

He paused before the door, and glanced over his shoulder. All it took was a single scowl and the slightest twitch of clawed servos, and each and every one of them scattered. All except Shrapnel. He turned his gaze in the mech's direction. "Leave me," he murmured.

Shrapnel bowed. "My lord," he replied, and left.

He took a moment to gather himself, and entered the room.

Megatron, the only pupil of his that had never truly disappointed him, was barely hanging on to life. Soundwave had hooked him up to every machine the mech could find to help support the Warlord's systems. Dented and full of holes, stained with dried energon and the grit of Earth, all Starscream could see was a broken mech.

Although he could honestly say that Megatron had meant nothing to him at the beginning, one could not spend millions of years teaching, fighting, and healing another without learning to feel something. Megatron was different, he'd known that from the very start. As a youngling so full of fear and confusion, Megatron had nonetheless looked him in the optics and spoke firmly, steadily, and without faltering.

No hesitation, no doubt.

This last battle…. Starscream had watched his student-turned-Lord flounder in his victory, and he had cared enough to try and warn him. He had left hints, and practically shouted what was coming to the mech, only to be ignored. He had known in his spark the battle would end in failure – Prime would come back, he always came back – and Starscream had been determined that Megatron would live.

Even if that meant that he would have to beat the mech within an inch of his life and claim his spot as Decepticon Leader.

And what happened?

Everything, exactly as he had foreseen. Prime returned, ready and finally unwilling to compromise any longer.

Megatron fought, and now here Megatron was, hanging onto life with a grim determination that Starscream had to admire.

He had never wanted this for his student; had done everything he could think of to prevent it. He had taunted and provoked until Megatron was the epitome of what a warrior was, and still, it wasn't enough. And now there was the guilt – had he been the one responsible for his charge's condition? Had his attempted coup weakened the fearsome warrior enough to cause this? Had he made Megatron so paranoid, so focused on him and his plotting that the mech couldn't see the world around him?

Never taking his gaze off Megatron, Starscream moved forward until he stood at the foot of the table Megatron lay on. "Leave us, Soundwave," he said quietly.

Soundwave made no move.

Starscream turned his tired but steady gaze onto Soundwave and simply stared. He made no move to shield his processor from the technopath – let the mech read his thoughts. He didn't care anymore.

Soundwave started sharply. A long moment passed where Starscream stared and Soundwave processed what he had learned from the seeker's thoughts. Eventually the mech nodded, stood, and left, quietly closing the door behind him.

Starscream reached out with one servo, delicately running his claws over Megatron's battered chassis. "You little fool," he murmured.

Megatron stood silently, contemplating the view of the carnage around him. All was fire and chaos, and he studied it carefully. This alien planet and the soft organics that occupied it was just one more of a long line of planets and races their war had destroyed. Were he any other mech, he would wonder if it was all worth it.

But he was not any other mech. He was Megatron, and he had long been prepared for what needed to be done. He stood there silently, and waited. He could hear the soft click-clack of turbines hitting the concrete. Starscream was coming, would need to be dealt with, and dealing with Starscream was always both a pleasure and a challenge.

And risky, couldn't forget risky.

"So this is what victory feels like," the seeker's voice broke the silence. Starscream casually walked towards him, looking around with a look of barely-hidden disgust written on his facial plating. "Scruffy."

He glanced over his shoulder, careful to keep an expression of tolerant exasperation on his face. "Starscream." He acknowledged before turning back to the view. "I would have expected you to be fighting alongside your brothers."

Starscream snorted, and stopped next to him. "My brothers are more than capable of looking after themselves." Megatron glanced at him just in time to catch the sly expression that crossed the seeker's face. "Besides, I had some business to take care of in their nation's capital."

"Excellent," he replied. Standing next to Starscream without any of their usual games between them brought back memories of a time long before the war, a time when he had been young and completely dependent on Starscream. How many times had he stood next to his mentor, watching whatever new lesson the seeker had arranged?

He sighed and turned away, grabbing his fusion cannon and disconnecting it from his arm. "So it finally comes to this, after so many centuries," he murmured.

Starscream was watching him, crimson optics narrowed; studying, contemplating, judging. "The triumph of the Decepticon Empire," the seeker stated.

He nodded, and reached up to grab one of the various flags fluttering alongside the ruined building. "A systematic, simultaneous, galaxy-wide assault brought about by one of their own." He smiled. "It's almost painfully delicious."

Starscream did not smile back. "Treachery is in the heart of all creatures," Starscream said, voice quiet and serious. "They were fools not to expect it."

You are a fool not to expect it.

Megatron paused only for a moment, then brought the flag to the barrel of his fusion cannon, using the material to clean the grime and dust off of it. "Indeed," he agreed. "And you, Starscream?" He turned his optics to his Second, who was watching him with a blank face and burning optics. "Are you proud? You were with me at the beginning after all."

Starscream's voice was cold. "Your memory fails you, Megatron. I was there even before there was a beginning." There was a pause, and then, "Before you."

Megatron nodded. "And here you stand, at my side." He almost smiled again, but restrained the urge. "A conqueror; a destroyer of worlds. The might of the Autobot Resistance brought low by your hand."

Starscream was silent.

"You are skilled, powerful, and ruthless. You are the mech I based the Decepticon Ideal off of; the living embodiment of it. But somehow lately you seem to constantly stay one step away from completely embracing it." He threw away the flag, and reattached his fusion cannon. Deliberately turning his back on his former mentor, he started to leave. "It is you who refuses to do so, Starscream, and that refusal has nothing to do with me."

Megatron came to slowly, processor fuzzy and optics not working. He was aware of a presence – a highly familiar presence – to his right, and the feeling of claws delicately running over his chassis.

"You little fool," the familiar voice of his mentor murmured.

Megatron internally frowned. The seeker sounded almost apathetic.

"Is this my fault, my only surviving pupil? Have I finally done what I never intended to do to you? Have I destroyed you utterly?" There was a moment of silence, and then the seeker continued, voice softer. "I tried so hard to keep you sharp and ready, and yet still, here you lie."

The claws running over his chassis stilled. He tried to make a sound, twitch his body, do anything to let Starscream know he was aware, but nothing was responding.

"I've lived so long, my student, so very, very long. I have watched as our race built empires and destroyed them in the name of glory and greed. I have fought in more wars than you could possibly imagine. I'm so dreadfully tired. You were right – I've forgotten what it means to be a warrior at spark. I can put in a good pretence, but all there is anymore is a fog I can't escape from."

The claws dug in sharply, and if he had been capable of it, Megatron would have howled at the wave of fresh agony that pierced his body.

"Sometimes I hate you, Megatron. You threw my entire life off-center, plunged our planet into a war unlike anything I've ever seen, a war without end, a war that continues still. You surpassed my every expectation, took everything I ever taught you and tossed it back in my face tenfold."

The claws retracted, and then gently caressed the fresh wounds, attempting so soothe them.

"I made you a promise so many years ago. And I have every intention on keeping it."

Megatron could feel the seeker move closer to him, could feel the thin lips so close to his audios, could feel the even, steady pulse of the seeker's energy field. It was strange, unnatural. All energy fields had movement to them, sudden flares and recessions that differed depending on mood and proximity to another mech or femme. Starscream's was perfectly still.

"So get better, Megatron."

Then the claws were gone, and Megatron could hear the seeker's turbines click-clacking away from him.

"I want to see your optics burning for me one last time."

And frag it all if that didn't sound ominous.

He stood silently again, watching the city burn. A different city, a different country, but just as easily destroyed, just as easily conquered.

"Where to now?"

Starscream's voice startled him – he hadn't even known the seeker was in this country, let alone this city, next to him. Megatron snarled. It seemed he had acquired a seeker-shaped shadow on this planet. At any other time, Starscream would be welcomed, but something about these continued private meetings had him unnerved.

"Again I find you alone!" He muttered. He turned his irate gaze to the seeker, who was leaning on one of the buildings with nonchalant ease. "Are you a commander or – "

"Did you enjoy the parade?" Starscream interrupted him, voice cold but amused.

"Parade?" Primus but Starscream had a talent for throwing him off track.

His second smiled. "A grand march of destruction through this city – all that show… your beautiful speeches. Megatron: World Conqueror. Warrior King…." The smile turned mocking. "…Poet."

The seeker shot him a look that Megatron was unable to interpret. "Where to now? We've won. You've succeeded in doing what I thought to be impossible …or what seemed to be. You've proven your point: we win, things change, and they loose." Starscream gestured vaguely with one clawed servo. "You're philosophy – "

Megatron suddenly had a very good idea where this was going, and he wasn't pleased. Not. At. All. "Again, Starscream?" he hissed.

"'The mighty should rule.'"

"You and I find ourselves here again?" It had been several vorns since the last time he had to literally beat the seeker into submission. He had thought that this sort of behavior was over and done with, that the seeker had finally acknowledged him as the dominant one.

"'The strong should conquer.'"

Megatron snarled. "ENOUGH!" he roared, turning to the seeker, bringing his fusion canon to aim directly at the seeker's spark.

Starscream didn't even flinch. His optics remained fixed on Megatron's face, ablaze with a quiet intensity. "We're victorious in our war. Years. Countless years of fighting …over." Starscream's optics narrowed. "We succeed, and for what? To kill humans? Destroy cities?" The seeker suddenly stepped away from the building into the full light of day, entire frame glittering sharply under the harsh light. "WHERE TO NOW?" he roared in return.

It was Starscream raising his voice that had Megatron pausing. His mentor was not one to raise his voice, not even when he was furious. In fact, the quieter the seeker became, the more dangerous and deadly his mood. Megatron had never heard the seeker shouting, let alone yelling, and he was left floundering, unable to process what this meant. But….

"Countless years," he repeated softly, staring at Starscream as if he'd never seen him before, and in some ways that was true. Under the harsh light of the desert sun, Starscream looked haggard, not at all like his usual self. "You're right. Countless years. Endless years. Struggle without end. Death. Destruction. Torment." He gestured around them, at the smoldering remains of the city around them. "At last we find ourselves in the embrace of victory, and now, after so many years, the time to savor is upon us."

"Savor." Megatron would have to be deaf to miss the disbelief in Starscream's voice.

"You are a warrior, Starscream. Don't you remember what you taught me?" He shrugged lightly. "Take your dues. Enjoy the moment."

The seeker sneered. "A reward, then? This is a reward?" He snorted and shook his head. "I am a fool. Because to me, this looks very much like a distraction." The seeker sighed. "You have only yourself to blame for this, Megatron." Starscream turned his gaze to the sky. "You built yourself an army – followers – fed them on doctrine –"

Megatron sighed. "Even in victory you are not content, mentor," he murmured.

Starscream sent him a sharp look. "How long before they turn, you fool?" The seeker gestured wildly, fury growing in his optics, as was a certain sly calculation. "When your army realizes this battle is going nowhere? Have you even considered this?"

Have you considered it might be me?

Megatron said nothing for a moment, allowing the silence to stretch between them. Eventually he broke the quiet, his voice soft. "Cybertron is gone," he said. "'This battle is going nowhere'? This battle is the future of our empire."

The seeker sighed and offlined his optics, leaning against the building again. He looked tired and irritated and highly disappointed.

Megatron hated the small part of him that wanted so badly to do whatever it took to make that look go away. "We have taken a city in their most powerful of nations, one of significant strategic placement. By holding their people to ransom, we guaranteed hesitation. Like the Autobots, they believe in the sanctity of life – "

Starscream did not on-line his optics. "Our cruisers could have annihilated them from space," he spat.

"Indeed," Megatron agreed. "But what of the enjoyment, the challenge? Fear. Terror." He allowed a smirk to grace his lips. "Or are you not the master of these things?"

Starscream didn't respond for several long moments, simply remained leaning against the building, vents whirring softly. Finally, Starscream moved, standing talk and proud. The seeker on-lined his optics, and gave Megatron a look full of dark promises. "You're stalling, Megatron," he purred. "We've beaten the only real threat we've ever faced. I can see what's coming. So can you." The seeker turned to leave. "Who will it be, my only surviving pupil? Scourge?" He snorted and walked away.

Me?

Megatron was left staring at the seeker's retreating back.

And quietly, echoing strangely in the ruins of the once-proud city of an alien race, the seeker's parting words floated back to him. "Who would have thought that the worst move you could have made would be to win?"

It took twelve years, but he eventually recovered fully.

Soundwave and occasionally Hook were the only ones he had seen for those twelve long years, and he wondered where his second was. He had only grown more and more alarmed and confused since the seeker's last visit as the years passed and both mechs refused to answer his questions.

But now he was in the best health he had been in for centuries, and he would no longer tolerate the silence on the issue.

"Where is he," Megatron growled, fully prepared to rip the answer piece by miserable piece out of Soundwave. The technopath was probably very aware of this, because he answered immediately.

"Starscream: Barricaded in his quarters."

Hook added quietly, "He will see no one but Shrapnel."

Megatron hefted his fusion canon, and reattached it. "I want Shrapnel in front of me now."

There was a moment of silence.

"Shrapnel: on his way."

Megatron nodded and waited. He did not have to wait long – the door to the room slammed open and Shrapnel practically dived into the room, landing on his knees in front of Megatron.

"Shrapnel."

Shrapnel looked up, his facial plating revealing an awkward combination of fear and hope.

"Where is my Second in Command? Where is Starscream?"

Shrapnel shuddered, and turned his head away. "Lord Megatron…he…. That is, Lord Starscream is…" the mech's voice trailed off.

Megatron counted slowly to ten, and then tried again. "I will ask one more time, and then I will start ripping various pieces off of your frame. Where. Is. Starscream?"

A deeper shudder ran through the mech's frame. "Lord, Starscream is …fading."

His optics narrowed. "And what does that mean?"

Megatron did not miss the look of thankful relief Shrapnel shot Hook when the closest thing they had to a medic was the one who answered him.

"Starscream is the oldest of all of us, Lord Megatron. A mech's processor can only go so long before it starts to glitch, and the spark can only go so long before it simply gives out. Most mechs never live to see 30 million years of age – Starscream is thrice that old, at least." Hook sighed. "He would have offlined many years ago, if it weren't for the mutation in his spark."

Megatron's processor froze as he considered the implications. "Mutation?"

"Starscream possesses an immortal spark, my Lord. He can't offline. So instead he fades – looses the ability to process emotions or life as it passes by him. With the death of his brothers, and the loss of their stabilizing presence in his spark, the process has sped dramatically."

Shrapnel took up the narration, flinching under Megatron's heavy gaze. "He told me several years ago that he had been hiding the process from you for a number of vorns. He has only held on this long because he says he has a promise to keep."

He nodded, thoughts whirling. Starscream, a constant in his life for years beyond mention would be as good as dead, and apparently had been on that path for quite some time. It would certainly explain a few things.

"Which room has he taken as his?" he asked absently.

"The old throne room, Lord Megatron. He has blocked off all entrances except the one leading to the northwest wing of the ship."

"You are dismissed, Shrapnel." Megatron eyed the mech as he scrambled to his feet and sought to flee the room as quickly as possible.

"Oh, and Shrapnel?"

Shrapnel paused. "Yes, Lord Megatron?"

"You are not to go anywhere near Starscream's 'room' for the next cycle. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Lord Megatron."

Megatron waited until Shrapnel was gone before leaving as well, ignoring both Hook and Soundwave. He'd deal with them later.

He headed directly for the old throne room, thoughts settling on one clear intention: if Starscream was going, he was damn well going to get what he had long desired from the seeker first.

"And so it begins," Megatron murmured as he watched Starscream walk towards him.

The seeker stopped barely four feet away from him, coldly staring him down. He stood proudly, wings arched high. "You've been stalling ever since we defeated the Autobots, my student. Building your gate made from stolen technology. You're lost. Directionless."

Megatron smiled. "'Stalling', Starscream? No, my dear second. I've been waiting for this. With the Autobots gone, with the opportunity there…" He grinned and shot down Bombshell, who just happened to be the Insecticon standing closest to Starscream, impressed despite himself when Starscream didn't even shift. "…I waited for you to make a choice."

Then he reached out and snagged yet another Insecticon, Scourge he believed, wasting no time in ripping the mech in half. He tossed the pieces aside carelessly. "I've been watching you all along. Using my spies to see who you'd choose. Who would take your side."

The seeker smiled, a cold, grim smile. "Not my side. The side of the very cause you've abandoned." The seeker gestured at the city around them, disgust coloring his every move. "There was a time, student, when you had me convinced that you would succeed where others failed. You preached to us all that we didn't have to accept the way things were; that we warriors were meant for more than the degradation and the sly politics. You gave us the hope needed to challenge the old order, to take arms against a corrupt council. To fight, to take what we wanted, what we needed, from a world that rewarded the weak and denied the strong." Starscream growled. "Then you led us into a war without end."

Megatron scowled. "I did what was required to win! I understood what it would take; I knew what kind of army that had to be created. You used to understand the mind and spark of a warrior. What happened, Starscream? What happened to the ruthless glitch that taught me everything I've become?" He gestured at the remaining Insecticon. "How many did you rally to your side, Starscream? How many joined you to make your rightful challenge before the troops? Three? Out of hundreds?" His tone was incredulous. "You appeal to logic, crafting smart arguments for intellects…not warriors." Megatron snorted. "I knew who would stand at your side. I knew all along. You've failed, Starscream. None of my warriors will join you."

Starscream's smile remained steady. His optics sparkled with dangerous mirth. "None?" He asked mockingly.

There was a strong tremor and an echoing thud: the sound of a large mech advancing. Megatron glanced over his shoulder, optics widening unintentionally as he caught sight of Devastator. This was …not good.

Megatron scowled, and readied himself for one hell of a fight.

"All hail Megatron," the seeker softly intoned.

Megatron entered the old throne-room quietly. He glanced around, noting the dust that lingered on practically everything. He spotted Starscream immediately – in such a drab and dirty room, Starscream stood out like a sharply carved jewel; all gleaming colors and glittering edges. His second stood rock still in front of the window, watching the cold vastness of deep space passing them by.

"Starscream," he said quietly. His voice echoed piercingly in the silence.

The seeker didn't move, but Megatron could see his reflection's gaze shift. "You live." It was a statement, nothing more, nothing less; his voice even and lacking in any feeling whatsoever.

"Yes," Megatron agreed easily. His memory files of those last few moments between him and Prime were fuzzy at best, but he remembered enough. He had Starscream to thank for his life. "Do you regret it?"

Starscream's reflection smirked at him, but the optics remained the shade of dull-rust. "Should I? What was it you said? 'Leadership had to be taken, not offered up on a silver platter.'"

Megatron snorted. "As if you care about leadership," he said. "We both know now why you keep fighting me for the title, don't we?"

Starscream was tellingly silent.

"I hear you are fading, Starscream, that soon you will be as good as dead."

"Yes," the seeker murmured. Dulled optics watched him. "But I have one last move to make; one last dance to finish. I made you a promise many, many years ago. A promise that I intend to keep." The seeker paused. "I know what you want from me, Megatron. I've always known. You never could keep your energy field from going haywire in my presence." The seeker turned around, and looked at him directly. "I know what you want, but I will not give it to you." He flexed his claws. "You want it, Megatron? Then you'll have to take it."

Megatron growled, low and deep. "You know how this will end, Starscream."

"Do I?" The seeker shifted his balance slightly, preparing to launch. "Perhaps you will succeed, perhaps not. But know this my student – I will not make this easy for you."

Megatron never had a chance to respond – Starscream launched forward, faster then he'd ever seen the seeker move before. Claws raked down the front of his frame, and the wave of fresh agony that followed had him cursing Starscream to the pits and back even as he worked on evading the next series of strikes.

There were many times in his life that Megatron thanked Primus for the strength in his frame – he was capable of taking more hits than most of his army combined – and this was one of them. Starscream was built for speed and agility, and with his claws, close combat was something he was well-equipped for. If all Megatron had had to worry about was Starscream's claws, however, the fight would have been over long before it began. No, he also had to look out for the seeker's kicks. The legs were the strongest point on a seeker's body; they were heavily reinforced and had more weight behind them than half of the rest of a seeker's body. A truly desperate seeker, grounded and unable to launch into the air, was a dangerous foe even when they didn't have battle experience.

Starscream was battle-tested. More to the point, Starscream was older than dirt and knew a hell of a lot more dirty tricks than Megatron did. It was only after they'd long passed the point where Megatron would usually have already pinned the seeker to the ground that he realized something.

All these years, all those fights…. Starscream truly had submitted to him. The seeker had done so in the same exact way that he'd done it when he'd been under the seeker's tutelage – by pushing when he could, submitting when he had to, and taking the beatings dished out with the grim knowledge that he had earned them. The only difference between how they submitted was that while Megatron had been willing once upon a time to repress his own dominant nature, Starscream hadn't, and never had.

Hence the plotting, the back-stabbing, and the subsequent beat-downs.

The realization should have stunned him; should have made him pause and leave an opening that Starscream would have exploited. It should have, but it didn't.

It only made him fight harder.

Pain.

That's all there was.

All he was aware of.

His entire frame ached with it.

But…no, there was something else.

Noises.

Speech?

He tried to focus, tried to get back up. Nothing was responding.

Nothing…

There was something moving towards him.

Someone…

…enemy…?

Yes, enemy.

"DON'T YOU DARE!"

That voice… Starscream?

…clawed servos gently lifting him…

…pain…

"Starscream? What are you doing?"

"Fulfilling my role as a seeker: I'm protecting the leader of the Decepticon Empire. None of you filthy Autobots are going to touch him!"

"Starscream, this isn't like you! Why save him?"

"He's mine."

Starscream, what…?

And then …nothing.

It took far longer than it ought to have, but he eventually had Starscream pinned beneath him. They were both battered and dented, leaking energon from a variety of wounds – Megatron bearing the vast majority of them.

At some point in the battle, Starscream's optics had lost their dull sheen and had begun glowing with life and vigor again. And now, trapped beneath him, the seeker's energy field was finally starting to react.

He didn't waste time. With a low growl he reached between them, practically ripping off Starscream's interfacing panel and his own. Starscream hissed at him, claws digging sharply into his shoulders. He lined his spike up with the seeker's port and thrust. Starscream's optics widened, his head fell back, and he wailed even as his legs wrapped firmly around Megatron's thrusting hips. The seeker cried out indistinctly, but Megatron had no trouble reading either his body or his energy field: faster, harder, more.

Megatron was only too happy to oblige.

He became lost in the feeling of it all: the bliss of that overly-tight port clenching around him; Starscream's claws digging at his seems and wires as he howled and screamed and begged; their energy field's mingling; the electric currents that pulsed between the two of their rapidly over-heating systems.

Just before his overload hit him, he felt Starscream pry his spark-chamber open, and then the world exploded in a violent haze of pleasure.

***EPILOGUE***

Megatron ran a servo over the recharging seeker's cockpit, wondering. He could feel his coding rewriting itself, centering everything he was around Starscream, and knew that the seeker's own coding was rewriting itself as well. For him. The bond was new, still fragile, but was growing in strength alarmingly quick.

He had never intended this. He had only intended on taking what he had always wanted before everything that was Starscream managed to fade completely. He had not anticipated Starscream's own desperation to live, to feel. He wondered how this was going to change things, for Megatron knew that nothing could remain the same.

Starscream stirred. "Stop thinking and recharge, Megatron," he murmured, still half in recharge himself. "You think loud enough to wake the dead."

Megatron stilled his hand, and stared at his mentor, his second in command, and now his bonded mate. "What happens now?" he asked. This was all new to him. The feeling of Starscream surging through his circuits and his spark was …odd. And strangely comforting.

A slight smirk crossed Starscream's lips. "Anything you want, Megatron. Our army is still vast, still ruthless glitches – if you want to continue this war, do so. And again, our army is vast – if you want to recall them all and build a new Cybertron, do so." The seeker shifted slightly, and then stilled again. "But there will be time enough for you to decide later. Rest."

Megatron stared for a moment longer, before settling down. Just as he was about to finally enter recharge, he heard Starscream whisper quietly:

"I told you I'd have your spark in one form or another."

I've never written a giant alien robot sex scene before, so I hope it turned out alright. I didn't want it to be too graphic, but I also didn't want to get too general either. Not sure if I succeeded on that point.

All four italicized scenes are taken directly from All Hail Megatron Vol. 1. As All Hail Megatron is a graphic novel/comic, all the scenes had to be written out, including thoughts and facial expressions and all that jazz. For the most part, I kept Megatron's actions and expressions almost identicle - I saw no reason to play around with what worked - but I totally changed Screamer's side of the deal. After all, young and cocky isn't exacly the way my AU!Screamer acts. Lolz.

As for the dialogue, the first scene's dialogue is taken directly. I changed the context a bit, and added a few things, but it's still almost word-for-word accurate. The second scene is in the same boat, but I changed the dialogue quite a bit. Still pretty accurate, but most of Megatron's speech got cut - he's awfully wordy in this series, and most of what got cut were details that weren't actually vital to the story. Third scene's dialogue was changed quite a bit - parts got cut out, a lot got changed. The biggest change? At the end of that scene in the actual story it is Devastator who says "All hail Megatron" before he proceeds to try and put the beat-down on Megatron.

The fourth scene is actually almost completely mine - except for the dialogue - only one of Starscream's lines is mine.

As far as this AU!verse I've created goes, I've got two more stories planned - one is set somewhere between A Different Beginning and this fic. It deals with Blurr, and will be called Ricochet if you want to keep an eye out. The other is set before A Different Beginning and deals with Skywarp, Thundercracker, and Skyfire. Not sure what that one will be called, but I'm leaning towards either Ignition or Say Your Prayers. Any thoughts?

Anyway, I hope you all liked this! Thanks for reading. ^^