[A/N] Idea for a story that popped into my head. Let me know what you think and if you want more of this. No I'm not abandoning Titania's Idiot. Just wanted to take a break for a minute and try something else.

CHAPTER 1 : Once More Into the Breach

Location: Diego Garcia military installation

Pain. That's what Optimus Prime was feeling right now. Pain. Not the clang and clatter of tools in his audio receptors, not the warm concrete under his pedes, not the salty ocean breeze on his plates. Only the pain of his arm being reattached after his fight in Chicago. In an effort to drown out the sensation of wires being soldered back together and the flaring heat from the welds in his shoulder; he reflected on this most recent battle. Megatron, the one he once called brother that stood by his side in an effort to reorganize Cybertron's caste system into something better for all Cybertronians, was dead. Sentinel Prime, his mentor and former leader of the Autobots, he had executed himself for his betrayal. Shockwave, the infamous Decepticon scientist, he had torn apart with his bare servos. The Driller Beast that Shockwave had once commanded, he had blown apart with his flight pack. Soundwave, Starscream and Barracade were killed off by Bumblebee and the human's armed forces. The infamous assassins, the Decepticon Dreads; Crankcase, Crowbar and Hatchet, were slaughtered by Ironhide and Sideswipe. With their command structure destroyed the Decepticons, those that still functioned had no choice but to flee to the shadows. Truly a great victory for both their species and a hard won time of peace. The War of Cybertron; that began thousands of years in the past and millions of light years away, was finally over.

Yet this was a bittersweet victory that came at a high cost. Countless human lives were lost in the hours of the Autobot's first exile. The city of Chicago suffered catastrophic damage. But the Autobots did not come out unscathed either. Wheeljack an Autobot inventor was executed by Barracade when they were captured during the battle. Ironhide...known as the most ruthless 'con killer of the Autobot army; bodyguard, sworn protector and old friend of Optimus Prime, was dead. Betrayed by their former leader Sentinel, he was shot in the back and left to rust. Optimus felt no remorse when pressed the barrel of Megatron's scatter-gun to Sentinal's helm and pulled the trigger. Thankfully his thoughts of the war plaguing his processor were interrupted by the voice of an old friend.

"Alright you over-sized Sparkling... your done. Test it out for me." Ratchet, Optimus' Chief Medical Officer, droned out.

Bright blue optics flared to life as the Prime took in his surroundings; first his old friend then turned to his handiwork. With a simple thought from his processor, he brought up his arm flexing first the shoulder joint where the most damage was when Sentinel stabbed him then tore the limb clean off, then the elbow, then the wrist and finally his digits.

"Thank you old friend. You always come through for us." The Autobot leader rumbled Standing from his seated position on the berth in Ratchets lab he nodded his thanks and strode out the massive door to the runway outside followed closely by the old medic. Diego Garcia... a temporary home given to the Autbots until they can figure a way off this planet under the watchful eye of their good friend, Major William Lennox. The Xanthium, the ship that brought the second wave of Autobots, was destroyed by Starscream when they were first exiled by the world's governments. The Decepticon fleet was anihilated into oblivion when the space bridge collapsed. But Ratchet had a thought to use the remains of Sentinals Space Bridge Pillars to craft one of his own. With the control Pillar destroyed and Sentinel dead, the rest became unlocked from his control and went into a standby mode. Ratchet had made great strides in his contruction after retrieving only twenty or so pillars. The real trick was building a new control pillar for the whole system. Even with most of the world against them Optimus continued doing what he could to smooth relations between humans and Cybertronians, mostly however, it was meant to keep them off Ratchet's aft so he could focus on his work. Tomorrow would be the first test for the new pillars. The plan was quite simple: set up a stable bridge to the moon's surface, transport as much salvage, energon rations and parts they could find, then remotely destroy the pillars to ensure mankind cannot use it and finally begin repairs to the crash-landed Ark to leave the system in search of a new home.

"Optimus you should get some recharge. I think you've earned it." Ratchet once again broke him from his reverie. Optimus was ready to protest but Ratchet beat him to it. "Slag that... consider it a doctor's orders. Look... Megatron is dead and with the last shards of the Allspark destroyed and with the Matrix of Leadership in our servos, he can't return again. The Decepticons are gone... the war is over."

"Perhaps you are right. I do feel rather drained... I shall be in the next hanger over should anything happen." Ratchet nodded then turned back to his lab while Optimus shifted into his alt-form, a blue and red flame patterned Peter built semi truck, thankfully his arm was able to shift flawlessly. He rolled into the hanger and rested on his tires in a quiet corner, letting a hiss of air escape his vents akin to relieved sigh. That was the exact moment that it finally struck Optimus straight to his spark. 'It's over... after everything that has happened all those years ago... It's all finally over. Now we must start over... yet I feel unsure if I should continue to lead them... What they need is somemech that's has the Know-how to start us off new. They don't need an old run-down mech who all they've known is war and death. Perhaps... Ratchet...' With that Optimus drifted off into recharge.

"Ratchet what's our status?" Optimus requested the next morning as he moved to the tarmac just outside the lab where Ratchet had set up the pillars in a large square pattern. Most of what was to be taken with them to the Ark was stacked nearby. He had ordered the rest of the Autobots to remain inside to ensure their safety.

"From what I can tell with my scans alone, It's fully operational." Ratchet said not even bothering to look up from the console his optics were seemingly glued to.

"Very well... Fire it up then."

Ratchet then activated the newly constructed control pillar. With a pulsing hum the bridge activated with a crackling of lightning that soon evened out with the pulse.

"We're good Optimus. It's looking-" Ratchet never got to finish as the bridge suddenly destabilized without warning. The once calm bridge became a singularity pulling anything it could inside. Ratchet was lucky enough to grab onto the door of the lab nearly ripping it off. Looking over his shoulder he caught a glimpse of his old friend and fearless leader as he was pulled ever closer. The only thing holding him back was the sword he had driven into the ground.

"Ratchet! Take care of them... It's up to you now!" Optimus boomed from his kneeling position.

Then his blade slipped and he fell back into the swirling vortex. On contact a blinding light forced Ratchet to shutter his optics until it passed. When it did he no longer felt the force of the singularity. He stood to see it had disappeared along with the pillars and... "Optimus... goodbye old friend."

Location: Unknown

Pain. Once again he was in pain. But there was something else that he felt.

'Cold. Why do i feel cold? Cybertronians are not really effected by temperature change on earth all that much. Which begs another question: Why is it snowing on a island in the middle of the Indian Ocean?' Turning his aching head he spotted his sword sticking blade down in the snow. Oddly it looked skinnier than before and the edge held no orange glow. Instead it was all silver. Rolling to his knees he reached forward but stopped noticing something very wrong. His hands were no longer silvery metal. Now they were... HUMAN! Human hands wrapped in finger-less gloves that ran to his forearms which were covered by metal bracers. A chest-plate and shoulder plates covered his grey long-sleeve shirt . He wore black leather trousers with a dark blue cloth draped around his upper legs and open in the front held by a belt, while grieves were strapped to his black boots. He also wore a helmet very similar to his original one except the face-mask did not move. The plating had a red blue and silver color scheme to it. 'What happened to me? Was it a malfunction or a glitch in the system? Could this have been the Matrix?'

He shook his head and stood looking for a stream or pond to see the extent of the changes done to him. Sheathing his blade to his back, he wandered until he came upon a small pond that had yet to freeze over. Peering into the water he nearly choked on air. He was young by human standards, barely twenty if that. His hair was black that shone streaks of dark blue in the light. He had light stubble on his chin, also black. His eyes were the same piercing blue as before almost glowing when he looked closer. The only true blemish he had was a patch of jagged scars across his left cheek from when Megatron had nearly kicked his face in after rescuing Sam from the warehouse. Optimus shuddered at the thought. His... death... was obviously not a memory he was fond of.

Befor he could delve deeper into those morbid thoughts a heart wrenching scream tore through the forest putting Optimus on high alert. Without even pausing to think he took off toward the scream. He arrived on a boulder overlooking a road where a sled pulled by what humans called a reindeer was stopped. An injured man, with what seemes to be an arrow in his arm, the blood already soaking his shirt, and two women were aboard the sled. One woman was a red-haired girl with pigtails doing her best to treat the mans injury and wore green while the other was blonde with a braid over her shoulder in a blue dress. They were surrounded by three men. Two with swords and one with a bow. A group of bandits perhaps. 'Where am I? Why use such primitive weapons?' He shook it off and stood tall.

Unsheathing his blade he called out to the attackers startling everyone below. "This is your one chance to walk away! Lay down your weapons and go home or suffer the consiquences!" 'If this comes to a fight it may be best that I don't kill them...No point in getting into too much trouble.' They looked at each other and shrugged. The bowman then whipped around firing an arrow but his jaw nearly fell off when the stranger simply deflected it with his blade. "Primus forgive me..." Optimus muttered before jumping clean over the sled and right on top of the closest bandit knocking him unconscious from the impact. He swiftly sliced the back of the other swordsman's leg forcing him to kneel. A hard knee-plate to the face sent him into dreamland alongside his friend. Turning to the bowman he felt a sharp sting in his left side. Looking down he sighed through his nose at the projectile protruding from between the plates of armor. Instead of wasting more time he charged. A horizontal slice destroyed his attacker's weapon followed by a pommel to the gut and an uppercut to seal the deal. Satisfied and breathing heavily he turned to the woman in blue.

"Is everyone unharmed?" She simply nodded in response her piercing blue eyes not wavering from Optimus's form. "Good... If I may-ARGGHHH!" The pain in Optimus's side nearly quadrupled and he fell to a knee then to his back. He began to black out from the pain. He barely heard the two women talking around him.

"...na I...think...the arrow...poisoned...et him...NOW!" That's all Optimus could make out as darkness took him.