A.N: To those who reviewed/Favorited/Are following this story: Thank you a lot for the support !

You cannot imagine how much you motivate me!

* Distributes home-made cookies and waffles around*

Important note: This chapter backpedals a bit, it starts inside Megatron's head and just before the spark-control procedure started.

Chapter 7: Out of control.

Megatron was locked in a strange, ethereal world that had no physical boundaries, and where nothing, neither time, nor space, mattered.

For all he was unconscious in the world of living mechanisms, here he was still somewhat aware that nothing he saw and felt was real.

From the beginning of his life, first as a miner, to his glorious time as a champion gladiator and, finally, his rising up as a popular political revolutionary, a respected and feared faction leader and a interplanetary-wide known tyrant, Megatron had known nothing but perpetual violence.

Violence and pain, those were the loyal companions of his long existence. He had long accepted them as such, and had coped with them, since they had made him the fearless, insensitive warrior he had become. He had fought countless battles, faced many enemies, monstrous creatures that were three times his size and even non-sentient things. He had achieved grandiose victories and, sometimes, minor stand downs. Those had, on occasion, put him in such a sorry state, that he had given the best medics a lot of work and painful headaches.

Far from it for this to be the first time he found himself prisoner of his own mind while his body laid in stasis, fighting deactivation at the hands of trusted- and sometimes, less trusted- medics.

Megatron knew what stasis-induced dreams and nightmares were like, he could immediately recognize one of those when they presented themselves to his unconscious self.

Most of the time, they were blurry, nonsensical, utterly dark. And when there was no dream or nightmare, he entered a state of semi-awareness and could distinguish the dark threat of oblivion looming at the invisible edge of his inner world.

He defied it, challenged it to come any closer and taunted it, for he was too confident in his own might to recoil from the obnoxious presence. For all he was cautious of those he had to deal with and who presented a real treat, he positively feared no one, not even death itself!

He never fled, he always fought up front, and the stronger his adversary was, the better!

Oblivion was exceptionally bright today, he mused as the phenomenon appeared to him in the form of a very shiny ball of light. This was quite the unusual occurrence, but Megatron wouldn't let that destabilize him. He was no fool and never let such obvious tricks and cheap attempts at deception confuse him.

"Come and get me if you can!" He bellowed, taunting the entity. With no doubt, this was the emissary of Oblivion who, under a not-so clever disguise, had come for him.

And Megatron, being who he was and pretended to be, wouldn't let himself be taken easily. He was the future ruler of the universe, all resistance brought down by the sole strength of his unbreakable mind. His name, a legend already, wouldn't be remembered as belonging to the fallen monster, the once-powerful tyrant who trespassed in his sleep. He would not allow it!

Also here, he would fight and vanquish, no matter if he had no physical substance in this plane of existence, having left his body in the other world, the real one. But he had his inextinguishable determination and he liked to believe that his mind was the mightiest, the most powerful of all. It certainly was too, or he wouldn't have remained functional for so long.

Yes, he still functioned! This was his victory cry back in the arena and the memory of a crowd of awed spectators cheering him re-sounded in his head, as loud and vivid as it had been back then.

"I still function!" He roared, his mind synthesizing into a visible mental projection of his body. "Face me if you dare, servant of Oblivion!" He called out to the light, "You, who have made the mistake to dare step into my world where you do not belong, come and meet your defeat! For I am Megatron and, in the end, all will bow to my might, even your master!"

Then, with a spark-felt roar that conveyed all the might he claimed to process, he charged the intrusive presence. As his energies flared and coiled around the entity, he felt a powerful surge of feedback he mistook for the familiar rush of cyber-adrenalin he always experienced at times like these, when his adversary presented a real challenge. That never failed to satisfy him.

He wasn't aware of what he was really doing, couldn't possibly realize that, on that very moment in the real world, his spark was merging deeply with another, radically so.

In his inner world, which stasis had created inside of him, things happened quite differently.

As he charged the unwelcome guest and surrounded it, Megatron quickly realized that it wasn't as hostile as an emissary of Oblivion should have been. Better even, it was unmistakably afraid.

Afraid of him...and strikingly familiar.

The entity felt different, yet not completely unlike Megatron himself. It felt mighty in a passive way, its strength and potential for violence as great as those of the skies it claimed as its own kingdom, and where he ruled unchallenged and by far unmatched, for as long as Megatron had known it...or rather, him.

Megatron halted his vicious and oppressive attack as soon as he recognized his visitor's identity: This was the fiery creature he had, a long time ago, recruited for his precious skills and who, with time, had proven himself worthy of becoming his second-in-command. Sometimes, even painfully so, and for all parties involved. Yet, Megatron didn't regret his choice...most of the time.

Starscream.

And if Megatron welcomed his guest with a far calmer composure now, it was an entirely different matter for Starscream.

He who had seen more than anyone could ever see, he who had witnessed things no eyes could bear, he who had thought he could never experience such feelings as cold fear and utter confusion ever again, found himself deeply shocked and utterly terrified as Megatron's spark coiled forcefully around his. Sensations that were so intense he couldn't recognize them assaulted him, and although he was supposed to control the procedure, he found himself overwhelmed by them. He lost the control he'd never quite had.

As he dropped into unconsciousness, Starscream was suddenly pulled inside Megatron's mind, where the sensations were somewhat lessened and felt more distant. There, he faced Megatron's mental projection with no little amount of confusion.

The Decepticon leader approached him, with a smile that predicted nothing good, and Starscream found himself unable to react. He remained still on his spot, frozen by confusion and a fear he couldn't quite explain to himself.

Megatron, as imposing as ever, seemed to tower above him. his highly charismatic aura was radiating power as well as a strong self-confidence his current state shouldn't have allowed, just as vividly as if he was real and physically there with the seeker.

"Starscream," Megatron acknowledged him, his tone low and raspy. He sounded pleased to see him.

And Starscream could only admit to himself that he was equally pleased to see the old fool. He had missed his hated leader on more than a few occasions, whenever he had felt so bored he had wished Megatron could suddenly appear, so Starscream could pester him and amuse himself with his leader's impulsive, violent and funny reactions.

"Megatron," he eventually replied with a slight nod of his head. This had always been how they greeted each other and not even an eternity could have made Starscream forget that.

"Finally!" Megatron said, raising his voice, his tone turning somewhat reproachful. "You deign appear before me at last!"

The seeker regarded him confusedly at first. Had Megatron been expecting him? It was impossible. But then he understood that Megatron most probably thought he was dreaming, and that Starscream was only but a fragment of his imagination.

This wasn't good, he decided. If Megatron dreamed of him, then it could only be a violent dream in which he was certain to end up broken, torn, trashed and cut into as many pieces as his molecular structure allowed.

"Do you have any idea of how many times I have killed Optimus Prime in those endless nightmares of mine?" Megatron asked, his anger visibly rising already.

"I don't know..." Starscream replied, almost by reflex. Apparently, as old as the dance was, the steps were still deeply encoded in his spark. "How many?"

"I've lost count," Megatron stated, annoyed by his unsettling lack of memory. "But I know it was a lot, and that you were never there!"

"I..I apologize. I must have been held back by something, somewhere," Starscream offered, playing along. But should he really be doing this, he wondered. Shouldn't he push Megatron away from him instead? Then tell him he wasn't dreaming at all, that he should stop and step away. That he was...That they were...

"Traitor!" Megatron roared, out of the blue. Then he charged at Starscream and punched him square in the face.

"What the?" Starscream exclaimed in outrage and surprise as he stumbled backward, destabilized by the impact of Megatron's fist. Was this about him not being there when Megatron fought Prime or...? He followed his leader's gaze and choke on his own gasp.

Not far from them, he- his other self, his past self- was throwing Megatron out of Astrotrain, and into the void of space.

Was the merge so deep already that Megatron could freely wander among his most intimate memories? It had to be, otherwise they would have never been able to see that particular event of his past.

Starscream knew he couldn't allow Megatron to read him like this, even if the warlord didn't understand what he saw. Those memories held the secrets of the future – and his past – they could never be revealed, to anyone. Megatron had no right to see even the smallest glimpse of them.

"This is not real, Megatron!" He said, desperate to divert his leader's attention. "It is just a dream!"

Too late, Starscream realized that he could no longer tell Megatron about the reality. He couldn't tell him about the merge anymore, not if he wanted to preserve the secrecy of his own memories. He would have to keep playing along and pretend that what everything they would see wasn't real, hoping Megatron wouldn't give a dream too much credits.

"A peculiar dream, it is, then." Megatron stated, observing the scene with partial interest as the being who called himself Unicron reformatted the other Megatron's body into something that was quite ridiculous. It looked like a purple, deformed parody of his previous self.

Behold, Galvatron!

Now go, and get the Matrix!

"But a dream nonetheless," Starscream quickly said.

Who disturb my coronation?

Megatron chuckled, amused by this new scene. Starscream looked downright ridiculous on that dais, with that oversized cape and the too-shiny crown on his head. And that supposed grandiose ceremony...It was very much like Starscream to want something like that. This is bad comedy, the warlord thought.

Coronation, Starscream? This is bad comedy!

Megatron, is that you?

There is a hint!

"What a waste," Megatron commented as he watched 'Galvatron' destroy the seeker with a single blast of his powerful cannon. "That kill was too fast!" He declared in disappointment. "Why rush things up when a long and slow torture could have been much more entertaining!" He finished, chuckling again, darkly.

In the next image that presented itself to them, the planet called Unicron transformed and, with a mighty roar of utter rage, started tearing Cybertron apart.

And Megatron, trapped in a new phase state of semi-awareness, was too limited in his range of thought to be able to think further into what he was seeing, or to begin to grasp the possible meaning of it.

"Megatron!" Starscream shouted in urgency. This was too much, he couldn't allow the warlord to see even one more of these scenes. Grabbing Megatron's head firmly with both hands, he jerked him away from the scene. "I am sorry I wasn't there when you fought Prime!" He babbled out to further distract him.

Megatron scrutinized him with a frown. At first, his expression was one of anger and mistrust, then it relaxed somewhat and was replaced by one of bewilderment. Megatron's face gradually softened, and Starscream found himself confused again when a small, unfamiliar smile suddenly pulled at his leader's mouth.

Megatron's attention span was limited too, here."Why is it that I can never truly hate you," he said, his voice low and soft as he looked at his second-in-command with unsettling, uncharacteristic fondness.

Starscream stared back in surprise at those words and at the most alien expression on his leader's face. He refused to try and understand the meaning of what he had just heard or even acknowledge the reality of this. For a moment, he wondered if this dream wasn't his own after all.

"Megatron?" he asked, his confusion reaching new extends as the warlord moved sensibly closer.

"Silence, fool!" Megatron barked, leaning further toward him. Starscream froze again, transfixed. All of his previous thoughts of fear for his past to be discovered shattered like glass when Megatron moved fast, grabbed his waist and the back of his head in a steel-like hold and closed the last of the distance between them.

If this was really just a dream, Megatron thought, then he didn't see why he could not indulge in it.

He kissed Starscream forcefully, holding him against his frame in a crushing embrace.

The intense kiss added physical potency to the sensations Starscream was already subjected to, from the far too deep merge, from the desperation he felt at his utter loss of control, and from his own, conflicted thoughts on what Megatron was doing to him. It was like being caught inside of a tornado with broken wings, and although he was well aware of what would happen if he didn't hold fast onto reality, he found out he didn't really wanted to. The hold he still had on himself was growing dangerously weak.

This was a kind of fight he wasn't familiar with. There was no pain, no intention to humiliate, just an egoistical need from his leader's part. The warlord still thought he was dreaming, and now Starscream himself doubted the reality of this.

Megatron claimed his mouth with teeth and tongue, dedicated to the task with such brutal tenderness and fiery passion, that Starscream's processor finally gave up and the seemingly ever-present confusion vanished from his mind, saturated by too much sensations. He took the lips-cracking kiss, at first with passive acceptance, then and free from any useless thinking, he allowed himself to respond to the pleasurable touch with equal, violent passion.

Meanwhile, their spark merged even deeper and the seeker remained unaware of the danger as certain codes from Megatron's spark pushed resolutely and forcefully against his own spark's firewalls, successfully making them collapse one by one.

When the last one fell, defeated at last, the code from Megatron's spark activated one of Starscream own that was of the exact same kind. Their codes mingled, giving and taking stream of data and genetic codes away.

Their sparks then started pulsing on the same wave length and frequency, adjusting to each other until they resonated together, creating permanent links.

As the process of bonding completed itself, their sparks, filled with more energy than they could contain, unavoidably reached the point of overload.

On the medical bench, Starscream's unconscious body abruptly tensed and his back arched off the table quite spectacularly.

Inside Megatron's head, Starscream howled and convulsed as a sudden, gigantic wave of pleasure came crashing onto him. It sent him tumbling forward and he pressed against Megatron's chest. The Decepticon leader trembled and growled loudly, equally affected by the seeker's flaring energies responding in kind to his own, fierce ones.

Eventually, it was over. Thoroughly sated, their sparks peacefully returned back into their respective owner's chest, taking a consequent part of the other and giving away as much of themselves as they separated.

The intensity of his overload pulled Starscream out of unconsciousness. He straightened up abruptly on the berth, resting on his elbows as he stared at the ceiling above, his optics wide and impossibly bright. At first, his intakes stalled and refused to function at all, and when they finally kicked on, they released a loud and heavy puff of air.

Megatron looked down at Starscream with horror and confusion as the seeker in his hold suddenly disappeared, leaving him with nothing but emptiness in his arms. The Decepticon leader looked up, then, just in time to see the last of Starscream's memory dissipate in the distance; The seeker feverishly working on the sorry sight that was Megatron's mangled body, and doing all he could to save him.

Megatron frowned.

Not for the first time since Starscream had appeared into his mind, he had a suspicion that what happened had been more than just a dream. His overload had been too powerful, too vivid, and the resulting afterglow felt quite similar. The pleasure he had felt had been too intense for a simple kiss. As for Starscream himself, and even though he was physically gone, his presence still lingered about, far too tangible to be a memory.

oOo

Starscream recovered the whole of his sanity soon after the effects of his overload had subsided. As Soundwave, Thundercracker, Skywarp and Hook stared at him with mixed expressions of disapproval, poorly-hidden embarrass and, in Soundwave's case, fake indifference, Starscream himself wasn't sure what to think or feel anymore.

He was very much aware that they knew what had just happened, and if their expressions were anything to go by, he most probably had made quite a show of himself when he had overloaded there, on that bench, right in front of them.

"You have never merged before, have you?!" Hook asked him with a knowing smirk.

"Was the operation on Megatron's spark casing successful?" Starscream dodged the question with another, unwilling to say a word about what he had just gone through.

"Affirmative," Soundwave droned out. "Operation successful. All vital components: replaced. Megatron's chance to exit stasis in the next three orns: 87%"

"Very well, then, congratulation on a job well done" Starscream declared, addressing everyone who had participated to the operation as he sat up and hopped off the berth with more or less grace. "But keep him hooked to the life-support machinery and watch him closely until he emerges from stasis," he ordered, addressing Hook in particular.

The red seeker kept his face carefully blank, not wanting for them to see how affected he really was by the failed procedure and the resulting 'modifications' of his spark. They would no longer respect him if they thought he couldn't handle such a thing.

"And, Soundwave, keep me up-to-date on the situation back on Earth! You are to inform me immediately if something unusual or suspicious happens in the Autobot's base, and I mean, anything!" He reminded the communication officer.

Starscream, then, turned toward Skywarp and Thundercracker who, only now, dared to look him in the optics. "You are dismissed for now," he informed them. "Do whatever you want until shift-time, but remain on Stand-by."

"For what?" Skywarp asked, looking annoyed. He had wanted some free-time, and stand-by's were always boring. Thundercracker watched Starscream expectantly, equally annoyed by the order.

"For the Autobots!" the Air-commander said, quickly making up a clever half-lie. " Shall I remind you that we—Megatron killed their leader. We have to prepare ourselves for retaliation!"

"Retaliation?" Thundercracker snorted. "They have lost a lot of mechs back there! Even if they wanted revenge, they don't have the numbers to do so anymore!"

"Suit yourselves, then," Starscream retorted with a grin, he moved closer to the blue seeker as he spoke "Go to berth and let them come and sneak in while the base is left unguarded. Let them enter your quarters and slit your throat open while you recharge." Lifting a blue finger, he drew an horizontal line across Thundercracker's throat. The blue seeker flinched, imagining it was an energon blade cutting through the cables there.

"Remember," Starscream said again, "while it takes five average-sized Autobots to put a fight-ready seeker down, it takes only one of them to snuff the spark of a sleeping Decepticon."

"Yes, commander," the two seekers replied in concert, lowering their head somewhat sheepishly. "We'll remain on stand-by as per your orders."

"I knew I could count on you," Starscream said, giving them each a light pat on the shoulder. "I'll be in my quarters, working on reports. If anything comes up, inform me at once!"

"As you command." they said, and Soundwave's monotone voice joined in the acknowledgment.

Starscream nodded his satisfaction at their attitude and turned to leave. As he reached the door, he glanced back over his shoulder shortly, throwing a most discreet parting look at the prone figure of the Decepticon leader. He sighed deeply, yet silently, and finally exited the lab.

He needed a short moment of isolation and silence, so he could finally put some order in the chaos of his thoughts and quietly process the implications of the newly-formed, accidental, bond he now shared with his most hated rival.

To be continued.

I hope this wasn't too confusing. Anyway, you can always ask me questions about this chapter if there is something you didn't understand. I will reply as long as you don't ask me for spoilers, I never give spoilers!

With the winter holidays coming, I will have a lot of things to take care of. Next update might not come before Mid-January. I apologize in advance!

Also, and since I won't have another occasion to do so, I wish you a merry Christmas in advance!

Deezaster82