The devil within

Chapter 2

Knockout raced into the throne room and knelt down beside Megatron, quickly scanning over him. "What happened?"

"I don't know! He was choking me and then he started yelling about someone in his head! I don't know what's gotten into him!" Starscream said, still scared from the experience.

"Well, he's unconscious right now. Whatever it was, it must've been pretty powerful. Help me get him to the Medbay so I can scan his brain for any strange activity." Knockout sighed, standing up.

Starscream nodded, helping Knockout lift Megatron off the floor. Since he was unconscious, he was dead weight, meaning he was super heavy. They dragged him down the corridor to the Medbay, where they managed to get him onto a medberth and hook him up to the machine.

"Alright, lets see here...." Knockout muttered, pressing a few buttons before attaching some kind of cord to the back of the medberth. He brought up Megatron's brain scans and examined them for anything strange.

Starscream's optics narrowed as he looked at it, tilting his head in confusion. "W-What?! There's nothing wrong! How is that possible?!"

Knockout shrugged, only making Starscream more anxious and upset. "I'm not sure."

"You're the medic here, figure it out!" Starscream snarled, crossing his arms.

"The only logical explanation is that there is something, or someone, talking to him through his mind. I still don't understand why we can't detect their presence...." Knockout sighed, removing the cord and checking Megatron's vitals one more time.

"So you're telling me that something is talking to Megatron in his head?! That's stupid!"

"Hey, I'm just as confused as you are. We might as well just wait until he wakes up and ask him." Knockout retorted, rolling his optics. He heard Megatron stirring behind him and chuckled. "Which should be right about now...."

"Ngh.... What happened?" Megatron groaned, holding his head as he sat up.

"You had a... strange episode of some sort. You talking to someone and your optics were purple..." Starscream quickly explained, nervously fiddling with his fingers.

Megatron frowned and growled lowly, rising from the medberth. "I don't know who's in my head, but they won't stop reminding me of how horrible I am..."

"I beg your pardon?" Knockout said in confusion, tilting his head.

"W-We all know how horrible you are, Lord Megatron. Was it complimenting you?" Starscream chuckled nervously, hoping that Megatron said yes.

"No, you fool! It was haunting me about all the horrible things I've done in my lifetime! It won't stop!" Megatron snarled, gripping his head again.

"Lord Megatron calm down, I think you need a nice recharge. Go get some rest while we figure out what's going on, Alright?" Knockout said gently while nudging Megatron out the door. He sighed in relief when the door slid shut, leaning against the wall. "What are we going to do?"

Starscream groaned and rubbed his forehead. "I don't know! If this doesn't cease soon, I fear that Megatron will be completely corrupted!"

-Megatron's berthroom, a while later-

"How does it feel?"

"What? Who's there?" Megatron sat up, not recognizing where he was. He quickly realized that he was in a dream and sighed, getting to his pedes and glancing around.

"How does it feel?"

The voice repeated itself again and Megatron was starting to get irritated. "Show yourself! I'm not afraid!" He shouted, hearing his own voice echo back at him.

Suddenly, Optimus materialized in front of him. There was a look of sadness on his face as he gazed at Megatron.

"W-What?" Megatron stepped back, his optics widened in surprise. "Optimus...."

"How does it feel to treat me like you do?" Optimus spoke in a light, soft voice. His form quivered a bit as he started to glow.

"I-I..... I didn't want to be like this.... I just wanted to be brothers like in the past!" Megatron retorted, trying to keep his fear from overwhelming him. "All I wanted was a brother.... but all I got was a fraggin' enemy because of me...." he hung his head in despair.

Optimus sighed and placed his hands on his shoulders. "Brother.... you still have time to change... Our lives aren't over yet.. I believe in you, I always will." He made him look up at him and smiled that bright smile he rarely showed to anyone else.

"Y-You do? You believe I can change? But how?!" Megatron felt sadness nagging at his spark, but he forced himself to hold back his tears. He smiled a bit at Optimus, his sharp denta peeking through. Then he frowned again and sighed heavily. "I've tried to change in the past, but I just became worse... I'm a monster, Optimus. There's no changing that..."

"I believe in you, Megatron. There is still hope in your spark. I can feel the good inside of you, you just need to let it go..." Optimus whispered gently, releasing his shoulders and stepping back.

"But how? What about the others?" Megatron reached out to Optimus, who was slowly fading away. "Wait!"

"You need to reach your true potential..... Be the Megatron I've always wanted you to be...." And with that, Optimus faded away before Megatron's optics.

"But..."

Megatron woke with a start, his optics darting around the room. He sighed when he realized that it was just a dream, laying back down. He grunted, rubbing his head and closing his optics again.

"Why would you listen to someone who is your mortal enemy?"

Megatron snarled and clenched his fists. He felt Unicron pull on his spark and enter his mind.

"He hates you. He doesn't want you anymore. You mean NOTHING to him...."

"N-No! That's not true! Shut up! Get out of my head!" Megatron thrashed around, clutching his head tightly. "Get out of my head!!"

"You are not worthy to be his brother..."