Eyes of the Eons

Chapter 19: Remind Us

Minerva planted her feet and clicked the megaphone on. Her voice split the jeers of Autobots and halted the feet of the two bots standing before the portal.

"Lies!" she yelled, immediately gathering attention. "You are all liars!"

Maybe not the best way to get people on her side, but it certain caught her attention.

Minerva glared at the Autobots. "Optimus Prime told me that the Autobots were the good guys. He told me you valued life and upheld honor and integrity, even in the darkest moments of war! He lied to me."

A flicker of action to her side caught her attention. Minerva saw her grandfather hold up his hand, stopping his soldiers from stopping her.

She returned her attention to the Autobots. "Look at yourselves. The war is over and here you are, sneering and spitting at the bot who ended it without a drop of energon. Y–"

At that, the crowd erupted in protest, shouting out about loved ones, innocents he'd slaughtered. Minerva growled and slammed her foot into the roof of the van.

"SHUT IT!" Minerva snapped. "I know what he has done! I know the Megatron who was a warlord deserved to die, he deserved worse than death, but look at him now!"

Minerva pointed a finger at Megatron, who's optics were wide. Optimus's grip on his arm tightened and he tried to shake his helm at Minerva, telling her to stop before she said something his Autobots wouldn't like.

She ignored him.

"Can't you see him walking through his enemies, servos bound, ashamed? Does that look like a warlord to you!? He looks pathetic! He looks like someone just ran over his puppy!" Minerva glowered. "You may not think my word has any sway, but I know Megatron. He's not a monster, not–"

Again, they interrupted her with yells and protest. A vein bulged in her neck and Minerva picked up a starbucks cup that had been sitting next to her on the roof of the car. She chucked it at the nearest bot's knee angrily.

"YOU STUPID IDIOTS, PAY ATTENTION TO ME!" Minerva screamed. "I THOUGHT YOU WERE THE GOOD GUYS! YOU WON'T EVEN CONSIDER WHAT I'M SAYING! I LOOK AT YOU AND I SEE A BUNCH OF COWARDS!"

They went dead silent, optics ablaze with fury.

Minerva huffed. "Sure, you can shoot at an enemy that's been painted red, but what more can you do than that? Your friends and families suffered at Megatron's servoes and you are all cowards because instead of facing that difficult reality, you're out here trying to get revenge, thinking it will 'avenge' those you have lost. We've all lost people we love. But what will killing Megatron solve? It's not going to stop more pain! I mean, look at him! He's not the great warlord he once was! Unicron broke him. He's a shell of that warrior. He's not a threat. He's a kicked puppy! He's pathetic! You just want to kill him because it will distract you from the pain of loss."

Minerva looked down. "I know how you feel. My parents didn't want me, didn't love me, and it made me angry. I didn't do anything wrong. So I tried to be everything they weren't. It only made me angrier... Megatron hurt you and he hurt the people you love, so you tried to oppose him. You became these perfect soldiers with amazing morals and you ruthlessly destroyed the Decepticons. They were at fault for your pain. Now, the war is over, and there is one last job to do. Kill him. And you could. Easily."

Slowly, Minerva raised her eyes to look at them, her voice now soft. "But your friends and families, they'll still be gone. You'll still feel that pain... I'll feel that pain too because... because Megatron saved me. He rescued me multiple times and in our spare time, he was a goofy dork. He has fears, things he loves... He's a real person. He's just like all of you."

Minerva paused, waiting for them to yell at her again, but was met only with silence.

She closed her eyes momentarily. "And so I'm asking you—no—I'm begging you not to kill him. Not to imprison him. Give him a second chance. Isn't that what you're all about? Wouldn't it be better for history to remember the Autobots as forgiving and kind, to make amends with their enemies, rather than killing them? Or am I not enough to change the hate in your sparks? Will you crush him beneath your pedes, making you just as bad as he once was?"

Minerva lowered the megaphone. That was all she had. There was nothing more she knew to say to convince them.

She waited for the backlash, for the outrage. Instead, she heard two small thumps. Megatron sunk his knees into the dirt, helm down.

"She doesn't know what she's talking about," Megatron told them. "Don't hurt her for her ignorance. I will be a willing prisoner. Just... leave Earth alone."

Optimus raised his optics and looked at his Autobots, watching as their hate-filled expressions dulled, replaced by pain, guilt, and surprise. He knew this was his only chance.

"We have seen too much war," Optimus told them sorrowfully. "Too much energon is on our servos. The war did not end when Megatron ordered the end of the Decepticons. A war is a two-sided thing and we still hunt our old enemies down. I ask you, my Autobots, to end the war today. No more spilled energon. No more death."

Carefully, Optimus reached down and disabled Megatron's stasis cuffs. "No more revenge."

A solitary figure emerged from the crowd. Dangercourse's face was shrouded in shadow as he strode forward, Arcee at his side. He stoppes in front of Megatron's fallen form, hate glittering in his optics.

Then he held out his servo.

Hesitantly, Megatron reached up and clasped their servos together. Dangercourse pulled Megatron to his pedes.

"I'm sorry," Dangercourse lowered his optics.

Megatron shook his helm. "No. I am sorry. I truly regret what happened to your sparkmate. What happened to all of the bots I have hurt."

Minerva's eyes widened. Was this really happening?

Megatron's gaze shifted to Arcee, then to Optimus, and then he looked around the area, carefully noticing each and every bot. His spark surged with hope. Did they forgive him?

"Megatron," Optimus said, gathering the ex-warlord's attention. The Prime held out his servo.

There was a moment of silence and then the two enemies clasped their servos together in a handshake. Minerva looked over in surprise as her grandfather began to clap his hands, followed by the rest of his soldiers. Then she clapped her hands together loudly, followed by the thunderous applause of the Autobots. The area erupted in cheers and shouts.

Megatron turned to look at her, a genuine smile on his face. Minerva beamed. No words needed to be said.