The only thing Megatron could truly find to be relieving upon his return to the small carbon-based planet was that Darkmount was still standing albeit with a lot more dings and scratches than he had left it with. Lowering himself onto the upper landing where his throne had once made its place, he surveyed the land before him from roughly five and and half miles above it.

Megatron felt somewhat sickened not only by the land but from his own appearance. He was a constant reminder to himself and what had been done to him. He had oppressed countless lives and species in his time and offed a large portion of them as well.

And now that he had lost his taste for brutality...

The warlord found himself doing something he had not done in an immeasurable amount of time...sat down...alone...and let his guard down. No Deceptions remained and any left would receive no direction from him.

However, one thing had plagued his mind ever since the first few cycles of his enslavement.

If he were to offline once and for all...would he be subjected to that same oppression he had been under previously. The former warlord had no illusions of making it to the Well of Allsparks, he had no good reason to. But with Prime gone, that much was obvious to him as he no longer felt an odd pressure in his spark that he had come to develop over many countless millennia.

"Just how long has it been...?" He mused, letting his question blow away unanswered.

"Too long to remember Megatron."

Maybe his question wasn't as unanswered as he previously assumed. His plating flared in alert surprise, and Megatron ever so cautiously turned to find the last he thought to find sitting next to him, and blinking innocently enough.

Megatron was quick to scramble away with wide optics, "Optimus Prime!" He shouted with less dignity than he would of liked.

The robust red and blue mech and to suppress a snicker upon seeing his once-mortal enemy flounder away like a top-heavy sparkling. Megatron glared at the mech, sitting back in his former place and childishly swiping a hand through the apparition, temporarily distorting it.

Optimus's face reformed with a slightly exasperated expression and a roll of his optics.

"Real mature." The Prime mumbled.

Megatron merely grumbled in response, refusing to meet his gaze. Today was just full of firsts.

For a while, the two sat together merely gazing at the vast expanse of desert. It was almost odd to the both of them. One was a revived former Kaonian Gladiator that fought for his life early on and had become Cybertron's greatest enemy. The other was the ghostly apparition of the good of the ancients, revisiting the tyrant he once called a brother.

"Why visit me?" Megatron spoke up at last, "Why so soon after my departure?"

"I did not find my spark able to reincarnate right away like the other sparks." He admitted much to Megatron's surprise.

"And what could have tugged you away from such a destiny?" He demanded sourly, "Do not waste such an opportunity that...some...will never be able to experience."

"I do not intend to. But I had to know...if the one I once called my brother had returned." Optimus said in a tone Megatron had not heard him use in a very long time.

"Your brother is long gone I'm afraid." Megatron grunted harshly.

"I do not believe that." Optimus replied, "I remember the face you had when you and I worked together. It was softer...kinder...even with the cycles of suffering."

Megatron did not reply, but merely ruffled his armor uncomfortably.

"I saw it again...before you left." Optimus told the war hardened mech, "But may I ask why you returned to Earth."

"There is no proper punishment or penance to pay on Cybertron. It is no longer my home." Megatron paused, "I decided I would not allow myself to witness the new sparks. The next generation of Cybertron will not have a tyrant such as myself."

Optimus did not reply for a long moment, "Do you believe you can achieve Primus's forgiveness?" He asked.

"No."

A small smile quirked on the ghostly mech's lip-plates at the lack of hesitation in the Gladiator's reply.

"I believe you can." Optimus replied.

Megatron gave him a look, "You are not normally this blindly naïve." He said flatly.

Optimus gave him an unamused glare, "Honestly Megatronus, if I did not know better I would have mistaken you for a pouting adolescent."

Megatron stiffened, looking at Optimus with a curiosity he had not had since the Golden Ages.

"My old name." Megatron murmured, "You truly believe I can go back to such a time?"

"With time, yes." Optimus nodded, "But what you do to achieve your Penance is up to you?"

"And what will you be doing?" Megatron asked as Optimus lumbered to his pedes.

"I have a feeling my reincarnation will go differently than a normal one would. But I not put weight on that assumption." He replied.

Megatron nodded and got to his own pedes to stand before the Prime.

"Goodbye...Optimus."

"Till' all are one, Megatronus."

And with a bright flash of light Optimus disappeared. Megatron huffed at the flashy display.

"Dramatic corn-ball." He grumbled.

A sudden sharp force suddenly cuffed the former warlord on the back of the helm, startling him enough to send him stumbling to the floor.

"AND YOU CALL ME CHILDISH!" Megatron shouted as the faint laughter of the Prime could be heard echoing in the air.