"Beautiful, isn't it, Starscream?"

Megatron did not watch his companion approach. His optics remained fixed on the flames in front of him, mesmerized by their dance. Instead he listened, his scarred lip plates turning up in a smile at the sound of the delicate, mincing steps. Out of the corner of his optics he could see the sharp sweep of Starscream's wings.

Good.

"Indeed, Master," Starscream answered, picking his way over a ruined tangle of wiring and coming to stand near Megatron. "If we can't have Cybertron back, we can at least watch the Autobot stronghold burn."

He swept a spindly claw in front of himself, indicating the devastation. "We can at least have our revenge."

Megatron murmured, a deep rumble of assent. Then he turned, tearing his optics away from the dancing flames and focusing on his companion. Starscream's wings bristled, rising from his back at a high, furious angle. His eyebrow ridges slanted down sharply, and the optics below them burned a bright, livid red.

Still angry, then, Megatron thought. It didn't surprise him. The Decepticons had finally routed their Autobot enemies, but their victory had come at a high price. Their enemies' stronghold lay in ruins, but so did Cybertron - the home world of both the Decepticons and the Autobots. Optimus Prime had doomed it to destruction to keep Megatron from conquering Earth.

Megatron had once respected his archenemy. Misguided as he was, Optimus Prime had always been a worthy foe.

But at the last, Optimus had chosen this planet - a backward organic world, crawling with pests some of whom happened to be sentient - over his own home.

There was nothing left to respect in that. As pleased as Megatron was to finally vanquish him, Starscream's rage was only right.

And Starscream wasn't the only one devastated by the loss. Megatron had seen it in the troops. Even as they exulted in their victory, their visors bright with triumph, they'd moved heavily and slowly through the halls, venting air heavily in gusting sighs when they thought no one was looking.

"Calm yourself, Starscream. And come here. It's thanks to you we've taken that revenge today."

Starscream's expression shifted in an instant, the optic ridges rising in surprise, the optics beneath them irising wide open. He took a step nearer to his leader, his wings quivering with uncertainty. "Master?"

"Come now," Megatron rasped, laughing. "Did you think I would forget who made this possible? Who collected the Omega Keys? Whose clever plan restored the Keys to us after our enemies seized them? Who discovered the location of the enemy base, so that we could finally destroy it?"

"Then - you're pleased with me, Lord Megatron? Even after -?" Starscream's voice trailed off, his wings twitching nervously.

"After you left? After you abandoned your post and plotted against my life?" Megatron snarled. Starscream stammered, trembling, and Megatron allowed himself a brief moment to savor the tremor of fear running through Starscream's frame at his words. "Don't think I've forgotten your treachery, Starscream."

Starscream opened his mouth to speak again. Megatron smiled, showing fangs, his optics piercingly bright.

Megatron had lost an arm in the battle, but his other one functioned perfectly well. He held up the hand that remained to him. Starscream's mouth closed automatically, and he fell still.

"But I meant what I said about unity," Megatron continued. "And I meant what I said about you. With your return, the Decepticons stood united again at last - and dealt our enemies a grievous blow. Those who still function will live only to watch their adoptive home burn. Tell me, Starscream. Even now - even today, on the eve of a new era, do you really think I notice only your failures?"

Starscream skittered closer, stepping in front of Megatron and bowing low. When he straightened up again, the startled look in his optics was gone. His wings twitched, eager and impatient, and his mouthplates curled in a broad smirk.

"Master," he murmured.

Megatron smiled, showing fangs. He'd lost one in the battle, but the other functioned perfectly. Still grinning, he reached out a claw and wrapped it around Starscream's shoulder, tight enough to feel the metal give. "Down."

Starscream squeaked in pain. Then he quieted, the sound becoming a hiss as Megatron pushed down on his shoulder. His movements born of long-practiced grace, surrendered to the greater force, falling smoothly to his knees.

Megatron's claws skipped along Starscream's shoulder, tracing the dents they'd left. His frame vibrated in a deep, rumbling purr, heat flaring in his systems, a pleasant burn that echoed the crackling fires around him.

He heard the rapid whir of Starscream's fans and paused. Was that desire, kindling in answer to his own? Or would whatever had driven Starscream away rise up in him again at Megatron's rough handling?

Starscream's faceplates shone in the light of the fires, streaks of gold dancing over the silver. His broad mouth twitched once. Megatron froze.

A slender arm reached up toward his shoulder, snaking over the torn joint. Dried energon flaked off where the tips of Starscream's claws passed. The wound was both fresh and severe, and despite Starscream's gentle touch, bright pinpricks of pain lit Megatron's sensornet. Fresh energon seeped, blue and glowing, from the places where Starscream's claws had picked away the forming scab.

"Master," Starscream murmured, his claws continuing their slow, soothing dance over the broken joint. "Are you sure you are well? This wound -"

Megatron laughed again, deep in his frame, rich and resonant. What was pain to him here, now, with his enemies' home in ruins and Starscream once again at his side? Pain was a part of life, a part of this, and he would have paid in far greater agonies for both.

"The wound is nothing to me, Starscream."

His hand slid from Starscream's shoulder to his neck, his claws twining in the cabling there and then moving to wrap around the Seeker's head.

Starscream arched into the touch, the cabling in his neck going taut. Still chuckling, Megatron slid his claws down to Starscream's chin, tilting the delicate head up to look at him again.

Starscream licked his lips, his optics flaring bright, gloating red. His claw moved on Megatron's wound again, setting the sensors alight. Megatron grinned.

"If we can't have Cybertron back," Starscream purred, "we can at least have our revenge."