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."

"He's going to kill you."

"Shut up," Flare ground out, a bit of viciousness creeping into her tone. As soon as she was met with silence, it faded away. "I'll come for you, Daddy. Hang on. Please."

~~~

It was days since Megatron had seen Ebony alongside Flare in his dream. The imagery still haunted him. Ebony looked just as she had while she'd been healthy. Vibrant. Fiery. Determined. A weapon in her own right. Lithe but deadly.

That was not the Ebony he sometimes saw in his nightmares, where she passed away, illness eating at her systems from the inside out.

As hard as he had tried to shake away the image of her fighting against him, some part of it kept nagging at him, tugging at the small piece of her diseased spark that rested in his chamber.

Since her death, the bonded portion of her spark was the only piece that remained. Inside him, and inside their sparkling, she lived on.

It wasn't worth dwelling on. For all intents and purposes, Ebony was gone. She was deceased, offlined, in the Well of Allsparks. Ebony had found some semblance of peace in her death.

Hadn't she?

"Shockwave, how is the weapon coming along?" The doors had opened just a moment before, and the movement had broken the warlord out of his reverie. It should be done by now. It had to be. Megatron was running out of patience. Earth would pay. Primus would be reminded that he should not have taken them away.

Inside, Soundwave stood in the shadows near the scientist. Good. That was a good sign.

"The weapon will be ready to fire soon, My Lord," Shockwave answered. "It's just a matter of moments now." Megatron nodded his approval, remaining silent a while longer. "My Lord, do you have a location in mind to unleash it first?"

Glancing at the silent mech, Megatron nodded. After a moment's hesitation, Soundwave pulled up a set of coordinates, set in a remote forest of Alaskan wilderness.

"My Lord . . ." Shockwave paused. "That isn't a very logical location. If you wish to cause the most casualties with the initial blast-."

"This is not about logic, Shockwave," Megatron growled the words to the scientist. "This is about making Primus understand what he did. This is about keeping a promise."

"Yes, My Lord." Without another word, the scientist went back to his work, aiming the weapon for the desired coordinates. Soundwave looked to the warlord, a question written in his silence.

Megatron didn't have the desire to answer the spy's question, so he left the room, returning to his own growing silence.

"I'm coming for you, Flare."

~~~

"He's taking aim?" Flare asked in a low whisper, trying to focus on her carrier's image in the darkness. "You mean he's going to fire his weapon soon?"

"I do," Ebony answered quietly. "Soon, this planet will be in peril unless you can do something to get through to him."

"But how am I supposed to do that if I can't find him? How . . . How am I supposed to stop him if I can't intercept? I'm trying so hard, Mommy . . . But I don't . . . I don't know if I can do this. I'm trying but he's so far away."

"You can do this, my darling. You are the flare in the darkness that saved us both. Your good spark and droves of affection for us . . . You cleansed away some of the bitterness that ate away at our sparks. Do not give up now."

Flare hung her helm. "But I feel so weak. It gets worse every day."

"Just a little longer, ScatterFlare. Then you can rest your weary spark."

A few moments of silence followed. "I miss you, Mom."

A slow vent from the elder femme. "I miss you, too, Flare. Don't give up."

"How do I find him before it's too late?"

"Do you remember where you were taken, Sweetspark?"

Flare paused, thinking, before realization hit. "You mean . . . That place up North?"

"Yes, Dear. That is where he will aim first. You must meet him there. Take the Autobots with you. He will likely have an army ready, and you must overcome them."

"Okay," Flare whispered, nodding. "Okay. I can do this. And then I can rest."

Ebony nodded slowly. "It won't be too much longer, ScatterFlare. Do you best."

Without any warning, Ebony vanished, and Flare's spark felt just a little bit emptier than it had before.