Chapter Text
Rodimus leaned to the doorframe while he was looking at Cyclonus’ back as he stood on the balcony, watching the sun slowly set on the horizon. The cityscape below them was alive with bots flying or driving around, stopping at red lights or energon stores. The speedster went over to the jet and leaned to the railing to join in the admiration of the view.
“Still afraid he’ll come back eventually?” Rodimus decided to break the silence after a while. Cyclonus didn’t answer right away; he let the silence grow between them to a point where it almost drowned out the din of the city.
“In my nightmares, he’s standing between us. I know he’s not gone. Not truly, no.”
Rodimus stretched his arm out and placed his hand over Cyclonus’.
“Those are just nightmares, Cyc. I threw Galvatron off the map, and unless he hit a planet or something, he’s still waltzing out there in space.”
Cyclonus permitted himself a tiny smile at Rodimus’ optimism and choice of words, but he knew better. The Chosen of Unicron cannot be destroyed that easily. He decided to change the subject, putting his other hand over their joined ones.
“Isn’t it marvelous?”
“What, the city?” Rodimus frowned “Meh. Cybertron was much better. But this’ll do nicely, I agree.”
“You made it.”
“We made it, my dear.”
The two bots exchanged looks, a pair of red optics boring into a pair of blues. Cyclonus turned away after a short while.
“Yes, we did.” He concurred. “But at what cost?”
Rodimus reached his other hand out and turned his partner’s face back towards his.
“There’s no price too high for me to pay for you. For us.”
“You say things you don’t mean, Rodimus.” Cyclonus sighed dejectedly.
“You may not believe me, but look at what we accomplished together!” the speedster gestured toward the skyline. “We made this city from a desolate, lifeless moon. We carved out a place for our people, and look at them now, Cyclonus! They are thriving. This is what you always wanted, isn’t it?”
The jet let out a loud vent while turning his gaze back to the traffic.
“I did. And I’m satisfied.”
“Yet you still worry.” Rodimus added to which Cyclonus nodded.
“Our kind is not meant for peace, Rodimus.”
“That’s beryllium baloney. We have been at war for so long many of us forgot how to act in peacetime. But that doesn’t mean we as a species are not meant to live in peace.”
Cyclonus wanted to answer but he froze into place, optics locked on the horizon, where a small flying alt-form was approaching.
“Cyc?” Rodimus prodded the purple bot, feeling the small vibrations of his plating. “Cyclonus, what’s wrong?”
The small form got closer and the realization broke the jet out of his trance-like state. He grabbed Rodimus and shoved him into the interior of their habitation suite just in time before someone sent a large blast of burning plasma at the spot they formerly stood at.
The force of the explosion threw both of them to the opposite wall, Rodimus regaining his senses much quicker, and pulling up Cyclonus who took the brunt of it. His back and wings were a mess of molten metal and exposed armature.
“He’s… Here.” The ancient warrior managed to press out. Rodimus supported him, trying to get him to safety.
“Who is…?” He tried to ask but his question got answered before he could even utter it.
“Cyclonus, you useless, treasonous rust-worm!” The all-too-familiar voice of Galvatron cut the air. “I should have known you will rub elbow-joints with the enemy in my absence!”
"Ah, hell no..." Rodimus growled while he activated his combat protocols. "Why are you so insistent on coming back for another throw, Galvatron?"
His answer came in the form of a shot that blasted a portion of the wall behind him off and singed the tip of his rear spoiler.
"You will not defeat me this time"
"I wouldn't bet on that..." Rodimus' engine revved up and he dashed forward, landing a punch in the warlord's face. "I threw your chassis out of the star system once, I can do it again!"
A counter-punch with the weight of a black hole sent him flying back into the ruined interior of the hab suite. Rodimus fought himself up to his knee-joints and spat out a tiny blot of energon.
"You've been working out since the last time we met?" he quipped and dodged an attempt at hitting him.
Galvatron stopped answering him, but never stopped attacking him which forced Rodimus to think up something before both he and Cyclonus end up as molten heaps of slag.
The only thing coming to his processor was keep on fighting until he can send an alarm out and call for help. Maybe Soundwave can do something. Sending an army of minibots to keep Galvatron occupied while he charges up a nucleon cannon surely seemed like a good idea. But how to reach the communications-officer?
Rodimus dismissed the thought and shot at his opponent's distinctively purple - what was it with Decepticons and the color purple anyway - frame, peppering it with tiny holes that didn't seem to slow Galvatron's onslaught at all.
"You know what's your problem?" he tried to distract the attacker with banter again "You just never know when to stop and find yourself a nice, cozy little asteroid at the other end of the galaxy."
Galvatron retaliated with his fist slamming into Rodimus' faceplate, silencing him and causing him to be disoriented enough for the larger bot to grab the smaller one and shove him into the column holding the roof above the balcony.
"I know what's your problem, Hot Rod: You're an Autobot."
The speedster rolled his optics and kicked Galvatron in the gyroscope but didn't succeed in freeing himself from the grasp of Unicron's chosen.
"I'm not an Autobot..." Rodimus pressed out. "I haven't been one for a long time..."
Galvatron laughed disbelievingly.
"No, you're still one of them, I can still smell the stench of their ideology on you. That never fades."
He leaned closer while his grip on Rodimus' neck tightened.
"You are an Autobot, my dear Prime. And no matter how much you play along with the bad bots, you'll always be one."
Rodimus felt the cables in his neck getting tangled and the struts and rivets objecting against being compressed. His processor raced with possible escape methods and ways he could gain the upper hand against Galvatron, but now he didn't have a Matrix or a guiding Spirit in the form of a deceased former Prime. But he still had experience with situations like this. He knew he can survive this fight.
He focused all of his power into his hydraulic system and kicked Gavatron again, this time with full force, sending the former Decepticon leader flying into the other column on the opposite side.
"You should never come back here." Rodimus growled through his damaged vocal processor. He aimed at the crested head of the purple bot at the same time he lifted his cannon at Rodimus' chest.
If someone would tell Rodimus that he's going to end up leading both the Autobots and the Decepticons one day, he'd probably laugh and say that the person in question has a software error they need to be looked into. He never wanted this responsibility, he just wanted to help. And he did. Despite everything, he helped his own kind rebuild and start anew. The war between Cybertronians ended, but another between organic and mechanoid species broke out. It would be a bit of an exaggeration, saying that Rodimus saw it coming from lightyears away. Megatron was right about one thing, as both Rodimus and the rest of the Autobots had to learn the hard way: Humans cannot be trusted.
It began merely decades ago, and as Rodimus was thinking back he found it hard to believe this conflict had not yet raged on for millions of years.
At the moment of staring down the barrel of Galvatron's cannon, his memory core replayed every single event of his long life that lead him up to this point.