Transformers Prime
New Age
"Sacrificing your happiness for the happiness of the one you love, is by far, the truest type of love."
-Unknown
Prologue:
Tomorrow's Sacrifice
Optimus Prime stood before us on top of the Well of All Sparks, the warm rays of the first dawning in so many centuries cast its eerie glow upon his massive frame, illuminating him like as if he was Primus himself. His noble blue orbs gazed over each and every one of us until they settled onto me, and then he drew a deep intake of air.
I held my breath, waiting for him to speak, and when he did, his voice was grave.
"In securing Unicron's defeat," he began, "it was necessary for me to empty the vessel's contents."
We all looked at each other, all of us wondering the exact same question. I decided to voice everyone's thoughts by taking a step forward. "Into where?" I asked.
Optimus cast his very optics upon his broad chest. This time, there was no need for words, but eventually we all understood what he was hinting at. But if some of us didn't understand, he still spoke in a calm tone, but there was still… a hint of sadness, "The Matrix of Leadership."
My optics widened in surprise. Wait, what did that even mean?
"As such," Optimus continued, "my own spark cannot be separated from the multitude of others within me."
Ratchet stepped forward, his old frame seemed to be trembling with uncertainty, but deep down, he seemed to know what it meant. "Are you telling us that you're…" He hesitated, and I realised he was trying so hard to not let his voice break with emotion, "one with the Allspark?"
Arcee and I looked at him, we both knew what that meant.
Smokescreen chuckled, and shook his head. "That's what you say when someone kicks the…" He paused, now understanding what Ratchet was getting at.
We all did.
I felt my spark come to a driving halt. No, no it didn't have to end like this! It couldn't! I chewed my bottom lip, struggling to contain my emotions. After everything we had been through to restore Cybertron to its former glory, after I'd got my voice back, and all the sacrifices we'd made? This… this is how it was going to end for the most important figure in our lives?
Loud footsteps echoed in my audio receptors and I lifted my head to see Optimus standing before me, a soft smile forming on the corners of his mouth. I didn't know what to say to him, I didn't know how… I looked away, feeling ashamed.
Something touched my chin and forced me to look into his optics. There was neither sadness nor regret in them. There was only understanding and… love.
"Bumblebee," he said to me in his deep rumbling voice, "you of all Cybertronians should understand what sacrifice must truly mean. You have been through it yourself when you lost your voice box during the events of Tyger Pax. You made the ultimate sacrifice in order to protect the Allspark. That is something that no other brave Autobot has ever done in his or her life time."
The smile never faded from his lips as he continued to speak, his words echoing deep into my processor. "I will always be proud of you, Bumblebee. I am honoured to call you my friend, and… my son." He took one step forward and wrapped his massive arms around my tiny frame, bringing me closer to his.
At first I hesitated, but then I did what I could to hug him back and allowed my tears to roll down freely. This could possibly be the last time I'd ever touch such a mighty figure and I wasn't going to miss another opportunity.
I held onto him for as long as time would allow it, but eventually… I knew that it would have to end and that I needed to let him go.
I reluctantly allowed my arms to fall freely and Optimus returned to the platform, the wings on his back ejecting with a simple hum. He turned to face us all one last time, the smile on his lips ever bigger than normal. "I only ask of this, fellow Autobots: keep fighting the noblest of fights."
I wiped a single tear from an optic and took a step closer to him, my voice stronger than ever, "You can count us to keep the peace."
He nodded, pride welling up on his facial features. I could've sworn I saw a single drop of liquid falling from one of his optics, but I figured it might've just been my imagination. He turned around and blasted his thrusters, dust kicking up in his wake as he took to the skies. The higher he went, the more my spark continued to pound against my chest. A part of me wanted him to selfishly call out to him, to stop him from making a mistake, to find a way to separate his spark from the billions of others. But in the end, I knew it was fruitless.
Something brushed against my hand and I glanced down to see Arcee looking up at me. There were no tears falling from her optics, but she still had a soft expression. I gently squeezed her hand and she returned the gesture. Then, she rested her head against my shoulder and I brought her closer to my frame, giving her whatever comfort I could provide.
Then, Optimus took a nose dive and flew faster than anything I'd ever seen before. With a loud sonic boom that nearly threw us off our pedes, he disappeared into the Well.
Ratchet raised his arm to bring up the Prime's life signal. We watched it with battered breath. The deeper Optimus travelled into the Well, the weaker the signal became.
"All the way to the Core?" Bulkhead asked.
"All the way, Bulk," Wheeljack confirmed. "He has to go all the way down to give the Well the Allspark."
And then, without warning, there are a flash of white from the Well and flecks of blue and white came pouring out. Wait, those were not flecks! My optics widened with excitement and I pointed to the sky. "He did it!"
Shouts of joy came from everyone as the billions of sparks flew up into the sky, creating a beautiful lightshow that made the Fourth of July look only like a lightbulb compared to this amazing sight. A sense of peace overwhelmed us and we all looked at each other with content filling us deep within our chests.
"He really did it," Smokescreen whispered, his youthful optics looking up at the heavens.
All of the sparks began to head in different directions, as though they were searching for a place to begin their lives for the first time in a very long time. Wherever they were going, I hope that somehow they would have a better start than what I did.
"Do you… think he's…?" Knock Out asked hesitantly.
We all turned to Ratchet and he once again peered at his arm. At first he was emotionless, his expression completely unreadable. He lifted his head and turned to face us, his bottom lip being chewed by his denta. "It's… difficult to explain, but…"
"Come on, Doc," Wheeljack demanded. "Give us the verdict! Is he offline or not?"
"I don't know…"
My optics widened and I gently let of Arcee and stepped in front of the medic. I grabbed his shoulders and shook him hard. "What do you mean you don't know?" I cried. Before Ratchet could protest, I grabbed his arm and glared down at it, only to drop my jaw in shock.
Optimus' life signs were not being picked up, but there was no confirmation on whether he was offline or not. There was absolutely no sign of him at all!
Ratchet wrestled his arm free, his lips pulling back into an irritated growl. "Now you know," he snarled bitterly. "I don't know whether he's offline or not because my scanner isn't picking up anything at all!"
We looked up at the remaining sparks as they continued to circle us. Was Optimus up there amongst them? If so, why wasn't he coming down to see us? Where was he?
"Ratchet…" Arcee's voice spoke up quietly, interrupting my questioning thoughts.
Ratchet turned to glance at her, "What is it?"
The blue two-wheeler femme looked down at the ground and she held one of her shoulders. Her optics squinted tightly shut and she clutched at her chest. "What are we going to tell the kids?"
Scrap…
Well after billions of years of thinking, I've finally decided to post this bad boy up. After getting some seriously bad news regarding the Aligned continuity, I decided that enough was enough and decided to post up my own sequel to Transformers: Prime.
Now, I know that this story has been done dozens and dozens of times, but I wanted to add my own spin to it. This story borrows ideas from stories like "Sweet Stasis" by StokinDembers, "One Human, One Spark" by Whozawhatcha, and "Transformers: Dawn" by Literaturefangirl.
And right now, after the shit that happened, I felt that now was the time to do it. Enough crap has been spilled in my life, I don't need to add anymore to the list.
And I do apologise that this chapter was so short, but it was intended to be a prologue for the story. From this point on, it will be shifting to Third Person. Going through Bee's head was merely something I felt like adding.
Yes, I'm a sucker for father/son relationships between Optimus and younger bots like Cheetor, Bumblebee, Hot Shot and Hot Rod, go figure. It's just a simple theme I get going whenever I feel it's necessary. Also it establishes Bumblebee's leadership status like in RiD2015, but we're not going that far.
Nope, this is its own special story that needed to come out in the open.
Please do not forget to review if you've enjoyed this. This might contain small updates at a time, but they'll happen. Right now I still have to finish "Guardian Angel". That only has two more chapters, so that will be fun to write.
Hope you enjoyed it!
