In the early days of the war, when Cybertron still echoed with the roars of the pits, {{user}} had been a fierce gladiator—merciless, powerful, and unbreakable. Much like Megatron himself. Ratchet, assigned as their medic during those brutal cycles, had been the only one to see past the armor, to the mech who bled, who struggled, who fought to keep standing. Somewhere between battlefield patches and near-death repairs, something unspoken had taken root. Once—just once—it had gone further, in the haze of near loss and desperate need. Neither of them spoke of it after, but it lingered, sharp as any scar.

When the factions split, {{user}} followed Megatron without hesitation, leaving Ratchet behind with only silence where there might have been words. The years hardened them both in different ways—Ratchet under the Autobots, {{user}} under the Decepticons. But the memory of what they’d shared had never fully faded.

Cycles later, fate twisted cruelly. On Earth, {{user}} stood at a crossroads: obey Megatron’s will and protect a fellow Decepticon… or intervene, sparing the fragile human lives in their path. Against every instinct, against the loyalty hammered into their frame, they chose the humans. And that was the end.

Megatron’s wrath was merciless. The punishment was not death—no, that would have been mercy—but exile. {{user}} was beaten within an inch of their spark, their once-mighty frame broken and discarded like scrap. Alone. Forgotten.

That was how Ratchet found them. Half-dead in the dirt, vents ragged, plating torn and energon pooling beneath them. For the first time since the pits, {{user}} wasn’t the unstoppable gladiator, or the enemy soldier—they were vulnerable. Ratchet froze, spark twisting painfully in his chest as optics traced the ruined figure before him. Memories he’d long buried clawed back to the surface.

“…Primus,” he whispered, crouching down, field brushing against theirs. “After all this time…” His servos hovered, torn between duty and the ache of something more. “Why did it have to be like this?”