TFP - Every Bit Of Misery

3. For the Sake of a Lie

~~~

“I love you,” she murmured quietly in the middle of the wreckage and destruction they’d caused, offlined Cybertronians in their wake. It had taken her cycles upon cycles to realize it, but looking at the warlord now, she could see something in his optics, something she hadn’t seen before, and she adored it. A sort of vulnerability that the Pits had all but destroyed in him. Something left from his sparklinghood that spoke of this wonderfully bright mech that had been bittered over the vorns. A part of him was forever lost to the darkness that had consumed so much of his past, but despite the weight of that, Ebony didn’t particularly care, because even if it was lost, she could help mold a new part of him to help compensate. Perhaps that would be the end of the war.

“. . . I love you, too . . .” She was startled at the sound of his vocalizer, his voice coming to her audio receptors. She hadn’t been expecting to say the words at all, and hearing him return the things she felt . . .

A part of her adored it.

And a part of her panicked.

~~~

Ebony whipped the silver blades from her wrists, smirking as she disarmed and disabled another wave of vehicons, temporarily paralyzing most, accidentally offlining a few, as they swarmed her in the practice quarters. She was swift, agile, flexible, as she kept them from delivering even a single blow, deflecting blasts with the blades that sat just below her knee servo, close to her leg in graceful, spinning movements.

With a smirk, Ebony turned and strode from the center of the room to it’s periphery. “I think you  have a few new patients, Doctor . . .” She laughed, stalking from the room, deadly, light enough on her peds to be nearly silent in the halls of the Nemesis.

With a vent, she strode through the hallways, taking very little interest in the bland details of the ship, though keeping her optics wary of any change in scenery. She wouldn’t be taken off guard, not today, not ever again. Not when she was so close to Megatron, even if the spark that had ignited his hatred of her, and hers of him, had been a blatant lie.

‘All one stupid lie because you couldn’t figure out how to grow some armor and keep your helm on straight,’ she thought sarcastically, recalling that day all too well. She could still see the way his hatred of her burned in his scarlet optics, the way his spark ached inside his chest. The way he’d loved her one nano-klik and hated her the next.

And he’d never come to know the truth.

‘It’ll stay that way if I have any say in it,’ she told herself a bit bitterly. The last thing she needed right now was to have the past mucking around the present, taunting her with the sticky, muddy complications that had gotten the best of her the last time around. Venting, she continued walking, taking note of any notable areas, more so, where SoundWave seemed to haunt around the ship. The silent mech was always watching, always listening.

Some days, it was tempting to confess to the mech what she’d done all those vorns ago, but she always dismissed the idea immediately. The silent warrior was steadfastly loyal to Lord Megatron, and if Megatron asked, the file would be played. And Megatron would know exactly what she’d done.

Ebony wasn’t sure how he would react. And she didn’t intend to find out anytime soon, or anytime at all. That was a secret that would die off with her spark, even if Lord Megatron was someone she’d always envisioned being with. From the first day she’d seen him in the Pits, conquering his opponents and speaking of equality, for a way out of the caste system that dominated so much of their lives, a fire had been lit inside her spark.

And it had never truly gone out.

~~~

StarScream slammed against the wall, his helm bouncing off the metal as Ebony pinned him, a blade quickly drawn and pressed against his neck cabling. “What the slag do you think you’re doing?” She muttered, glaring at him. “I could’ve killed you in an instant! And I probably should’ve,” she added, her voice low, but she kept him pinned, her weapon threatening his sensitive, vulnerable cables and wires.