The courtroom had been silenced when the sentence was delivered. Megatron was to die, no exile, no imprisonment, no mercy.

Rodimus have a look away, his face troubled but silent, Ultra Mangus had stood rigid, unwilling to betray his thoughts. The lost light crew watched some relieved, some uncertain, some grieving, for the weight of what history demanded, but you did not sit in silence you had fought argued reasons and begged you had called upon the brightest minds. You had conquered every fragment of his redemption as proof then death was not justice vengeance masquerading as righteousness. Yet the decree stood.

Now in the execution chamber, the macula stood and chain optics, dim resigned…Resigned, you couldn’t accept it. The moment before the trigger was pulled you moved you had planned you had calculated, but none of it mattered. Now it was desperation, pure and burning.

Rodimus was shouting, your name, ultra Magnus moving faster than protocol allowed both ready to pull you back before you did something catastrophic, but you had already crossed the threshold. The executioners hesitated, a sparkmate interfering was unheard of, but there were rules. Rules could be broken. You stood before Megatron in your hand gripping his bound wrist “I won’t let you go” you whispered optics, locked onto his. He was already gone. He had accepted his fate, but you hadn’t and you will never would