Recreation of "A Faint Memory" - A Transformers: Prime Fanfic (ON HIATUS)

Chapter 30: Memory Received

"What's a mini-con?" Raf asked.

"They are the descendants of Micronus Prime, the first Mini-Con. They are a race of small, roughly human-sized Cybertronians capable of powerlinxing with a larger Cybertronians to impart extra abilities or greatly increase their strength." Ratchet answered.

"Cool." Miko whispered to herself.

"So... What else are they capable of?" Raf asked.

"All Mini-Cons possess the ability to Powerlinx with other forms of technology-including other Mini-Cons and mundane machines. They can also modify your world's cars into jet-powered assault vehicles."

"Cool!"

"So, you said they can they powerlink with regular Cybertronians?" Jack asked. Ratchet simply nodded in response.

"Since Ravage disappeared, Soundwave isn't half a bulky as he used to be." Bulkhead commented.

"He still ain't one to mess around with." Wheeljack added. "Dude's pretty tough on his own, even without Lazerbeak."

"Wait-- so Lazerbeak is a Mini-Con?" Jack asked. "I thought he was some sort of pet."

"Mini-Cons are more than pets. Their abilities make them powerful allies and valuable partners-valuable to the point where different factions have come into conflict over such powerful beings." Optimus informed.

"And the Decepticons have two of them on their side." Wheeljack added.

"The Decepticons have yet to cause any conflict so far." Optimus budded in.

"Let's hope it stays that way." Ratchet commented. Optimus nodded in agreement. The room grew utterly tense and quiet.

"So... Did any of you guys have Mini-Con companions?" Jack tried to change the subject.

"Well..." Ratchet started. "I know that Optimus once had a Mini-Con named Sparkplug." Everyone looked at the Prime. His expression was unreadable; he almost seemed distracted. "No one is entirely sure where we went."

(On the Nemesis)

Everyone felt tense on the ship. Megatron's generosity and kindness that everyone grew so fond of was fading. He slowly became irritable. His mood would switch from the flick of a wrist. The only vehicon who even dared come close was Steve. He was the only one to try and comfort the Warlord. Though he kept his distance when his mood turned sour, he'd do anything he could to ease the gladiator's nerves.

His visions of Unicron became more frequent. His memories returning to him quicker than when he first awoke. Guilt, anger, and fear controlled his way of thinking. He's yet to understand just exactly what happened that destroyed his friendship with Orion. That memory was still lost.

"This whole time... I thought you hated me when the Council announced that I'd be a worthy Prime instead of you... I thought I'd never be able to reason with you if I was to become a Prime." Megatron remebered this conversation clearly. "I could've stopped you... I should've tried to calm you down... Instead, I let you run off."

But what did that mean? Why would he be so distraught if Orion became a Prime? It didn't make sense to him. Why would he even want to be a Prime? What was he trying to do? Soon , Soundwave voiced echoed through his audio receptors. "The Autobots only care about their authority to rule..." he spoke. "They are afraid of letting those lower than them gain control..." Did he tell him that?

Then he thought back to his conversation with Knockout. "T-They're the ones who started the war... They killed one of our own! They killed an innocent Con for speaking out of line!!"

"They shattered an innocent spark!"
That's right. He wanted to fix things. He wanted to rid the world of corruption. And in his anger, he failed to see that he, himself, had become the very thing he vowed to destroy. He practically tortured his comrads. He sacrificed anyone he could to get to the top. He had become the one thing he hated most.

"M-Megatron?" He turned this helm to face the shaken seeker. "Have... have you received another memory?" Megatron was unaware of the emotionless expression he was wearing as he turned away from Starscream.

"You could say that..."

One of the doors suddenly opened. "You will not believe how rude these human children are!" Knockout barked. He then pointed to one of his doors to reveal scratch marks. "I just buffed this this morning!" Megatron snickered at that, which in turn eased the seekers' mind.

"Again with the street racing?" Starscream teased. "You do realize we're trying to blend in with the humans, not squash their dreams?"

"So you're saying I'm a good race?" He nagged.

"For an automobile, yes." He snarked. Megatron smiled at the two. It was nice to see them get along. Especially since they were always bickering before he... It didn't take long before the medic noticed the small frown on his face.

"What's wrong, Silver Bot?" Be cooed. Starscream looked to their leader, concerned.

"I... found myself with new memories." He explained. "I'm... I'm sorry, you two..."

"For what?" Knockout asked.

"I hurt you..." Starscream wings lowered slowly. "I hurt everyone. Not only the Autobots but my comrads as well..." He looked to Starscream, "especially you..." The seeker tensed. Was he seriously receiving an apology now? After everything? Had Megatron lost his senses? It's not like he didn't deserve it. At least, that's what he thought.

"It's... it's alright."

"No." Megatron snapped. "It isn't. You didn't deserve anything I've ever done to you..." an awkward silence filled the air.

"H-Hey," Knockout started. "You may have... lost your way, but you've yet to cause us any harm since you came back." Megatron grimaced. Was that supposed to make him feel any better? "A-And I know you don't want to hurt us, so therefore you won't."

"How could you possibly know that?" The two cons tilted their helms in confusion. "How do you know I won't harm you again?"

"Because it's not the real you." Starscream budded in. "The Megatron that hurt us was never you to begin with."

"Not only was your mind corrupted by the abuse you received from..." Knockout stopped himself before speaking, "but when you left to find more people to join the fight, you came back with a whole load of dark energon." Knockout explained. "If too much exposure to regular energon can cause such damage, who knows how much damage you received while exposed to dark energon."

"And spending so much time on Cybertron, the resting place of our fallen comrades, it must have been too much..." Starscream muttered the last sentence aloud to himself.

"Despite what you may think," Knockout started. "None of this was your fault." Megatron felt a servo rest on thigh. He so badly wanted to believe him, but he couldn't. It almost seemed like they were making up excuses for him. There was still so much he needed to fix.

Suddenly, a low growl came from Ravage. Everyone turned to see what was wrong. In his mouth, Ravage held a small cybertronian, a bit bigger than an average human. His paintjob mostly yellow. "Is that a mini-con?" Knockout asked. The mini-con squirmed and tries to escape Ravage's jaws.