A/N: I'm back! I'm glad so many people like this!

The next chapter will take place at the beginning of MTMTE series. Last chapter, Paian was 2-3 vorns(166-249 human years old). In this chapter, Paian is about six or seven vorns old(500-580 human years old). In my mind, it takes a long, long time for Cybertronians to mature because of all their biomechanics and such. So it will take another 10-12 vorns (830-1000 years) for Paian to fully mature.

After re-reading the comic, I realized that Optimus had been missing for three weeks, so this is an AU-ish start.

Anyway, like I said, this chapter will be at the beginning on the series, in Optimus' POV.

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers. I only own Paian.

I remember it well, the day I died. One moment I was falling into Vector Sigma, the Matrix burning a hole in my hand... And the next I was elsewhere. Alone but intact-reconstituted-and lost in a landscape I didn't recognize.

Oceans of metal shavings, geysers of molten lead... The horizon itself a mess of stress fractures and weld decay.

This, surely, was the Afterspark- a waste world of lost lives and spent sparks and things that once were.

And yet, even as I considered the dark glass of an empty Matrix-something no Autobot should ever have to see- I knew with a soft rush of sadness that I was still alive. Whoever was up there-whether it was Primus or his opposite-he wasn't done with me yet.

I remember thinking to myself: if I'm not dead-if this isn't the Afterspark-them where am I?

The stars gave me my answer: the constellations were as familiar to me as the sound of my body changing shape. This was Cybertron.

This- somehow- was home.

I wandered.

I wondered.

Was this Cybertron's ancient past? Was I witnessing the birth of the planet?

Once again, the answer was above my head: I could only see the smaller of Cybertron's two moons. Whenever I was, it was after Luna 1 disappeared.

So, if not the past, then the future?

At that moment, my GPS kicked in. It told me that I was standing among the towering ruins of the Grand Impirium, and that if I looked left, I would see the Manganese Mountains in the distance.

That settled it: I was in the future; the distant future. A future where the Manganese Mountains had corroded away. A future where whole cities had been reduced to a patina of rust. A future where... Galvatron's Sweeps were still lying around?

It was at this point that I recalled something Ironhide used to say...

"Sometimes you just gotta stop thinking and take it as it comes."

I walked for hours, until the GPS told me I was looking at Greater Iacon. And although it resembled a shantytown or a bomb site or a spaceport gone to seed, it had something over the Iacon I'd known for the last few million years...

...It was populated.

Cybertronians of all shapes and sizes, going about their business. I didn't recognize them. That was surprising in itself. But what as even more surprising was that they didn't recognize me...

...Except that's not quite true.

"Hey, Pax! Orion Pax!" I turned around at the sound of my old name. A red and blue mech with spots on his cheekplates that resembled freckles, as the humans call them, was storming towards me with an angry look on his face. "You've got some nerve, showing your faceplate around here!"

I held my hands out, placatingly, and said, "I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage, friend. I don't know who you are."

"Take a look around you! Satisfied?! This is all your fault!" He yelled, gesturing around him.

"If that is the case then I apologize. The last few days have been somewhat chaotic."

"The last few days? The last few days?! Try the last four million years!"

'...What?' I thought. A voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Yo, Optimus! This NAIL bothering you?"

"Sideswipe!" And sure enough, there was Sideswipe, Whirl, and... Is that a sparkling on Sideswipe's shoulder?

"'NAIL?' What?"

"It's an acronym, one of Uncle Prowl's. 'Non affiliated indigenous life-form.'" The sparkling said, well, more like recited, earning a pat on the head from Sideswipe.

"Man, I love saying NAIL. NA-IL. You're a NAIL. Suits you." Sideswipe smirked at the...NAIL.

"You know what I like most about nails?" Whirl asked, leering(supposedly) at the NAIL.

"Hammering them?" The sparkling asked, innocently. He probably didn't know the implication of the phrase.

"Hammering- Ah, beat me to it, ya little squirt." Whirl patted the sparkling's head, just like Sideswipe.

I mentally shook myself into my leader-mode. "No ones hammering anyone, Whirl."

"Good to see you, Boss." Sideswipe returned his attention to me, while the NAIL sulked away. "Rodimus said you'd be okay. What happened to you? Where have you been? How's it feel to be a hate figure?"

And there's the Sipeswipe we all know and sometimes hate. "You'll forgive me if I ignore all those questions in favor of my own: just what the hell is going on?"

Sideswipe led me to Autobot High Command, which was now the tallest standing building in the city. Sideswipe left me at the door, saying that he had to return Paian, the sparkling to his creator, who was, for some reason at the barrel of Kimia's gun.

It turned out I had been missing for nearly a million years. But even then, it takes longer than a million years for any sort of peace to fall on Cybertron.

The first people I saw when I entered the room was Rodimus, Bumblebee, Broadside, and Wheeljack.

"Well, well, look what the turbofox dragged in." Rodimus said, jovially.

"Rodimus, good to see you, old friend, and Bumblebee-" He interrupted me.

"Yeah, nice of you to drop by." Bumblebee said, dismissively. He turned to Broadside. "This new ship from the Vela Pulsar- it sounds like there's some tension with the Alchemy-Seven crew, so-"

"So how about I set them down on the south side. You got it." Broadside replied, lazily.

"Sorry about Bee. He's been a little busy. We all have." Rodimus apologized.

"Rodimus, if you're waiting for the right moment to fill me in, how about now?" I requested.

He sighed heavily. "Short version, whatever happened at Vector Sigma-and I doubt even Perceptor or Wheeljack could explain the science-made Cybertron come alive again. Only it's-"

"Primordial. I saw."

"Right, so after the battle, all the survivors set up camp in the wreckage of Kimia, cause that was the only thing still standing. We sent a ship to pick up Bee, Prowl, and the gang from Earth, and when they got back, I was like, 'Well, besides Prime, I guess that's everybody.' Then Bee pointed up and the sky and..."

Rodimus rubbed the back of his helm. "So, ah... It seems Vector Sigma sent out a pulse. Prowl and Bee had heard it. I guess we probably did too. But we were hearing a lot of things-"

"Go on, Rodimus." I urged, so he could get to the point.

"Right. Well, thousands of Cybertronians showed up- Non-combatants, Prime! I don't think any of us imagined there were so many out there-even Prowl's estimates were off. Former Autobots, former Decepticons, pacifists, people that tried to stay neutral, that were scared off or had moral objections, or... Or anything. They'c been wandering around the universe all these millions of years, laying low, forming their own little groups..."

"And now they've come home." I finished.

Bumblebee finally walked over to us and looked at me for the first time in a million years. "With more showing up everyday, Prime. Expecting to find a paradise. Cybertron reborn, right? Except-"

"Except we've been bitterly disappointed at what your war has done to our world. And what you continue to do by playing the part of an occupying force." A new, deep voice cut in.

"Metalhawk." I recognized the unique finials that stuck out from his forearms, and how he almost looks like what the humans called a 'samurai.'

"I'm surprised you remember me, Orion Pax." He glared up at me.

"I remember you ran." I replied, shortly.

He narrowed his optics at me. "I have a duty to my people; to Cybertron. You were killing our world. We were inspired when Dai Atlas and the Circle of Light left-"

"The Circle was a cult." I protested.

"'Autobots', 'Decepticons'-You were all cults." Metalhawk looked out the window. "Make no mistake; I do not represent another faction. I represent Cybertronians. And we want our world back."

"You can't blame us! The Autobots defended you against-"

"Against a situation you helped create. The Senate was corrupt, but you left it to the likes of Megatron to tear it down. The Decepticons were brutal, but at least they took action." He turned back to me.

"You're defending Megatron?" I asked.

"No. But is Civil War the fault of the oppressed or the oppressors? Besides, it doesn't matter anymore. We outnumber you a hundred to one, and there are more of us everyday. It's time you left, Pax. It's time all of you left." And he promptly left the room.

Rodimus' glare followed Metalhawk out the door. "See what we've been putting up with, Prime? Now you're back. You got the Matrix. Just open it up and it'll- I don't know- Tame the planet and everything can go back to normal."

A pang of guilt went through me. I opened my chestplates and pulled out the two halves of what remains of the Matrix. "Easier said than done."

A/N: I know, it didn't have that much of Paian, but then again, it doesn't really start out with much Rung, anyway.

I love this little prologue because it kind of gets you caught up to what's happening, so I hope you guys don't mind if I do this.

And yes, I WILL have better chapters later as I get Volume 3 and 4!

Thanks for reading and please review!