TFP - Freezing Absence

21. Countdown

Megatron's sword swept down, and Flare's terror surged. Not yet. She wasn't ready to go to the Well yet. He still needed her.

A flash of white, and the pressure of her sire's weight, his grip, was swept away, replaced by an open sky and clashing metal.

"Megatronus! How dare you raise your blade to our sparkling!" Ebony's voice rang out as strong as Flare remembered, and though her neck ached, she looked over to see her carrier standing defensively between them. Even though the femme was smaller, she was as formidable as any wall.

As Megatron regained himself, standing as tall as he could, helm a fair amount higher than her carrier's, Flare could sense the anger building in him. It was wrapping around his grief, pressing down the way he had just moments before.

"Her insolence will not be tolerated!"

"What insolence, Megatron? Your emotions are clouding your mind!" Ebony argued back, refusing to budge. She would not throw the first blow, but Pit help her if she would allow her mate to harm their sparkling.

"She abandoned us! She abandoned me for the Autobots!"

"Didn't you used to think that she was better suited with the Autobots? You wanted to send her away how many times, Megatron? Even if she had left you, didn't you think that day would come?"

Megatron paused, looking away, his fists clenching tighter. When his optics rose again to meet Ebony's, they were filled with even more rage than before, grief knotting tighter and tighter in his spark. "I wish to avenge you and this is how you react?" Megatron raised his blade again, ready to swing it down on his deceased mate.

Primus, what was he doing? Dream or not, how could he stomach attacking the femme that had loved him through the Pits?

This femme . . . She had been that sliver of light he'd needed. His flare in the darkness, his sparkling's namesake . . .

Megatron was stronger, but Ebony was faster.

Before the sword could make contact, Ebony was beneath him, shoving his sword arm aside, pointing her blade straight to his throat.

"One more step," she growled, "And I'll sever your helm from your body."

Stopped, Megatron glared down at her. "I never did understand how you'd been instilled with such instincts. The burning desire to put your life in danger for your sparkling's."

Ebony huffed, optics narrowing. "You have the same instincts, Darling. You just deny them."

"I am not so weak!" Megatron shouted, using his unarmed hand to shove her out of the way. "She belongs in the Well!" Charging for Flare, his sword raised, Megatron attempted to close the distance between himself and his sparkling.

But before he could reach her, Flare vanished.

~~~

When she returned to the base, processor occupying her own space, fluid jumped into her optics. Diluted energon slipped down her cheeks and she quickly went to wipe it away.

"So weak," the voice whispered to her. "You're so weak you had to call your carrier to fight your battles for you. How many times has she had to save you, now?"

"Shut up," Flare whispered, trying to stop the trembling. He'd been serious this time. This wasn't some bout of anger or surge of grief.

Her sire had truly been trying to send her back to the Well.

"He wants you gone. You should just leave and get it over with."

"You're wrong," she answered quietly. "You're wrong. He still needs me."