Orion looked up at his mentor. Sentinel was huge, strong, and glorious where Orion was small, weak, and insignificant. Sentinel had plucked him out of the Well himself, seeing the possibility of greatness in the little frame of the tiny sparkling. He held the little one close as he registered him with the supervisors, soothing the sparkling whenever he squawked or whined. He stroked his helm as he spoke. "He will be known as Orion Pax. He will also be a data-clerk under the Master Archivest Alpha Trion." He walked away with the sparkling tucked between his servo and his chest.

He took him to his home, laying the little one down on his berth. He watched him cry and squirm for someone to hold him. "Hush your cries, Orion Pax. You will not be held forever."

The little one sobbed and shoved his thumb into his mouth. He soothed himself. He passed the first test. He cooed up at Sentinel Prime as he moved closer and he paddled his little pedes in excitement.

"Shhh," the great mech said as he laid beside him. He was not fond of those younger than him, but he put up with them. He had to, if he was to find a successor. The thing with successors was that if he chose wrongly, and Primus called for him, the mech he had chosen would be in charge and Primus knew what the mech had in store for innocent lives.

He had led the Cybertronians for eons. He could barely remember his mentor, which was probably because the mech wasn't a very good Prime. He knew that he was better than him. The High Council hadn't told him to get a sparkling from the Well ASAP. He had chosen little Orion on his own accord, which was somewhat due to the feeling of need. He felt as though he almost needed to get a successor. It often happened to Primes. They were blesssed with a long life due to the fact that they were treated as royalty, and were not allowed to do much of anything by themselves. They would often get bored of their long life and retire, though it was not advised and it was frowned down upon. It was no secret that the Primes who were bored faked their deaths simply so they could go into a different job of their choosing.

So far, Sentinel had not been bored. He had been completely preoccupied with mountains and mountains of paperwork. He was too busy to be bored. But he could almost hear Primus calling him, keening for him to join the Core with him in an eternal life. And more than once he almost jumped up and ran to the Core only to be weighed down by more paperwork.

Orion had fallen asleep beside him, his little back against Sentinel's stomach. He gently stroked his helm and he sighed. He vowed to only show affection to mechs and femmes who were not paying attention. And right now, little baby Orion was not paying attention.

Or he was. The little sparkling started to purr and his optics opened as he blinked up at him and whined softly at him. Sentinel frowned down at him, but he laid his helm down and he sighed. He would never be able to stop showing affection. It was in his coding, as it was in every Cybertronian's coding, to cuddle, snuggle, nuzzle, kiss, hug, and wrap arms around another. He had not had a partner in the same berth for years, and now he had a baby. He sighed and kissed the baby's helm, which made the sparkling giggle and purr.

He bared his denta in a warning, but the baby just wrapped his arms around him and cuddle closer.

He stiffened. He hadn't been touched in a long time, so when the sparkling did, he was surprised. He slowly pulled the sparkling against him and he smiled. The sparkling fell asleep almost instantly, and it made Sentinel smile. He gently kissed his helm, holding the baby close. He was finding himself adoring the sparkling, the way he had vowed to not to.

OoO

Orion was learning. He had been in and out of classes teaching the newborns to take alternate modes, teaching them how to speak, how to act, how to walk. Sentinel would stand in the doorway of the room. He would often distract the giggling mechling, and the teacher would get minorly frustrated before she or he would remember that Sentinel was watching and they didn't have the spark to tell him to leave, not when Orion would shriek and threaten to cry if he could not see Sentinel.

Sentinel purred as he knelt and he opened his arms for Orion to run to him when the class was dismissed. He would giggle and purr and paw at the larger mech's face while the mentors went to retrieve their own sparklings. One of them was a fierce silvery mech that was being taken by a gladiator. Sentinel wished he could take two sparklings as successors, but there could only be one Prime at a time, which was unfortunate. He was saddened whenever he saw a sparkling being taken under a gladiator's wing. Some of them never got to grow up fully.

He was glad he had saved atleast one sparkling from the gladitorial pits. He carried Orion out and he kissed his helm gently. "You are so very blessed."

The sparkling curled up and fell asleep, purring into his chest while the Prime whispered to him and he smiled down at the sparkling. They were so precious, and now he was beginning to see that. He stroked his helm as he walked, and he let curious femmes peek at the possible Prime. He enjoyed how the sparkling shyly pressed back into his chest if he woke up and saw young femmes peering down at him. He was especially amused when he was introduced to the medic-in-training, a lovely mech by the name of Ratchet, named by Sprocket. Orion had actually begged to be held by the yellow-green mech, and Sprocket and Sentinel visited briefly before Orion grew anxious at being apart from his mentor for so long.

"I must return him to our home," Sentinel said. He took Orion back, cooing quietly.

Sprocket stroked Ratchet's helm. Mentors were possessive of their apprentices. "I know. Ratchet had been the same way, only fussier and whinier."

Ratchet groaned and he swatted at his mentor. "You tell everyone that!"

Sentinel bid them a good evening, patting Ratchet's helm as he walked by, and he looked down at Orion. "You will be great friends with Ratchet. The greatest ally and companion to a Prime is a medic."

Orion maked an agreeing burble and he squealed in delight when Sentinel rubbed his helm. He hugged his servo, and Sentinel forgot all about the lessons Orion was supposed to be learning. If Sentinel's mentor had been too uncaring and too harsh, he was too gentle and too kind. Was there a line between them that would produce the greatest Prime?

That night, to teach Orion that Sentinel would not be around all the time, Orion slept on his own.

Atleast, that was the plan.

Orion never slept. He sobbed. He cried. He screamed. He howled. He chewed on his digits until they bled. He whined Dadda and Daddy, words that were not in Sentinel's vocabulary.

And Sentinel stayed awake all night, watching, never making a move to soothe the sparkling. Orion gave up, worn and exhausted. His vocodor was strained. Sentinel would have Sprocket check him out for injury later.

But just as the sun rose, Orion fell asleep. Sentinel sighed and put his helm down as he stared between his pedes, his arms resting on his knees. He sat up, regained proper posture like he was taught, and he gathered Orion into his arms. The sparkling had classes.

The teacher, a femme named Fireflare, was disappointed in Orion. He wasn't obedient in the orders she would give him, and he lacked the ambition and interest she had seen from him the day before. She had him sit in the back corner, swatting Jazz's grabby servos away when the mechling tried to reach for his newfound friend.

"Get back to your exercizes!"

The sparklings were trying to take on an alt form and transform into it. It was a hard thing to do, but everyone learned to do it at this stage. It was the best stage, when it would become a natural thing to do instead of a new thing.

Orion looked over at Sentinel, who was glaring at him. He curled into a ball. He learned what it felt to fail, and he hated it.

Jazz was watching. He was to become a reporter who would broadcast the news via the communication devices everyone was issued. He and Orion would work well together, since Orion was not only training to be a Prime, but to be a data-clerk under the Master Archivest.

Alpha Trion was watching as well, beside Orion's mentor. The older mech swatted at the Prime's shoulder and said something that Orion didn't catch. Sentinel sighed, nodded, then walked to Orion.

The little mechling looked up at him.

"Orion, are you well?" Gentle servos touched him all over, searching for wounds. He saw his chewed digits, then he sighed gently. "Orion? Are you well?"

Orion looked down at his little servos, then he shrugged slightly. "I tired..."

"I know you are, but you have to train."

The little one nodded slightly and he slowly reached up to hug Sentinel's neck. The larger mech allowed him.

Alpha Trion, when he caught Setinel's optics, nodded in approval. The Prime stood up slowly and he held Orion in his arms. Then he set Orion down next to Jazz.

Orion's energy was renewed and he went about his exercizes with eagerness. When the class was dismissed and treats were rewarded, Orion and Jazz ran out of the doorway together, purring and giggling as Recordmaster and Sentinel scooped them up.

"Ah, so there's the little runt of a Prime. Yes, sir, everyone's talking about you, little one. Look how precious you are," Recordmaster purred. He tickled the little one's chin, making the baby squawk and giggle softly. Jazz giggled and purred back, watching the little one with interest.

"Yes, but he will not be a runt for long. You wait until he gets bigger than you, Recordmaster."

"Aye-aye, sir!"

Sentinel waved him off as he laughed, then he walked back to his home. He laid Orion down to sleep, affectionately cleaning his body as he kissed his helm. He was growing fond and attached, which was bad, but Sentinel could not help himself. He found himself loving the little one.

OoO

Orion woke up. He was curled against the older mech, who was still sleeping. He pulled away from him slowly, then, with equal hesitance, put on his missing armor plates. It had gotten uncomfortably hot during the night, and Sentinel told him that it was expected because he was growing up. In fact, he was almost fully mature. He beamed with pride at the thought. Then he looked over at Sentinel, who had been more than a mentor. He had been a protector, and something more. There was love there, Orion knew, and he purred loudly.

The purring woke Sentinel. The Prime rolled to his back, then sat up. He checked the little mech over, then nodded a bit. "You're getting hotter," he commented. He gently nuzzled his successor, which made the purring grow louder between them.

"I feel kind of weird, Sentinel," Orion murmured as he stood. He had to go to the Iacon Hall of Records now, since he was old enough to be a data-clerk, but he didn't want to leave Sentinel. He felt...needy. Grabby. Like a sparkling, but not like a sparkling. "Perhaps you should call me in with a malfunction?"

"The only thing that is malfunctioning is your helm," Sentinel grumbled as he stood. "You know I cannot simply call you i-" He looked the mech up and down, pausing when he saw something on his inner thigh. "Perhaps we should take a trip to the medics after all..."

Orion looked down and he saw a fluid trail going down his leg. He whined. This had never happened before. He trembled and he let Sentinel pull him to the wash racks.

Sentinel slowly pulled away. "I don't believe it..." He looked at the tiny mech. "You are in heat, something that had not been seen in a long time."

Something I'm trying. Inspired slightly by the new (formerly new) Superman movie where the babies come from a little pond-like thing instead of being born and Superman is different because he is born...and, well, if you've seen it you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, then you're probably staring at the screen wondering if they have a straight jacket in my size.

This is also inspired by this in the novel Dark of the Moon based on the screenplay:

"All I ever wanted," he gasps out, "was the survival of our race. You must see...why I had to betray you."

He reaches up with a trembling hand, which I ignore. "You did not betray me. You betrayed yourself."

His hand sags, falls to the ground, and dissolves. Moments later, so does the rest of him. I feel as if I have just slain a part of myself. Just as humans who have lost limbs claim that they still feel phantom pain from the missing body parts, so too will I always know the sensation of the absent part of my life called Sentinel.

Except...

I lost him once.

I can lose him again.

The novel is by Peter David x3 It's super good and super funny.

-Prime627