Years later...
Sentinel pulled away from Orion. The sparkling he had once knew had grown up to a handsome mech and his closest friend/mate, who was still sleeping with an ever-present smile of his faceplates. He rolled off the cot that had served as their berth for years. The War for Cybertron had begun.
Megatron, the grey sparkling Sentinel had once pitied, was now the leader of a massive army that called themselves the Decepticons. And Sentinel was off to meet him.
He didn't like sneaking about, but he had to keep his fellow Cybertronians (including young Orion) safe. It was his duty as a Prime, and he took that very seriously.
Megatron, like always, was waiting for him on the edge of the Sea of Rust, which was murkier than usual. The Sea of Rust was the only huge body of Energon on Cybertron, and the Sea of Energon became the Sea of Rust during the war. Sentinel missed its blue surface. He shuddered when he saw that Megatron was fishing for something: a Cybertronian corpse.
"Do you recognize this one, Sentinel?" Megatron finally got hold of the body and he held up the Cybertronian. It was one of Sprocket's latest crack at a medic, a little femme named Stitch. She had been one of the best medics.
Sentinel slowly nodded and he sighed as he lowered his helm. "She was one of our best medics," he confessed.
Megatron made a soft sound of mock pity, then he threw her body back into the sea. He turned to look at Sentinel. "There will be more babies in the sea if you do not defect as promised."
Sentinel looked out at the sea, saw more bodies, and his processor inserted Orion into the scene, bobbing lifeless with the others. The Prime whined and looked down at his pedes. He couldn't betray his sucessor...
But Megatron was not known for his limitless patience. Already Sentinel heard the famous blaster fire up.
"Very well, Megatron...I will defect."
"And you will include the Pillars," Megatron prompted. That was all it was about. The Pillars. The SpaceBridge Pillars.
Sentinel nodded again. "I will include the SpaceBridge Pillars."
"And the Control Pillar."
Megatron wasn't too bright. Without the Control Pillar, the other Pillars would be useless. But Sentinel just nodded like the good traitor he had become. He whined again. His spark felt like Megatron had impaled it on a cruel blade, but Sentinel was no good to him dead. Sentinel would be left to live, left to have the guilt devour him like rust.
Orion was still sleeping when Sentinel returned. The Prime stroked his helm, then he forced his successor awake. He mounted him before Orion could fully process what was going on.
Primus, Sentinel loved Orion. The mech never wondered why Sentinel forced him to interface during the war, and he didn't ask questions either. He just moved into a comfortable position and sometimes would pretend to sleep. Orion was quickly becoming a pleasure drone, an outlet for Sentinel's stress, instead of a mate, but he didn't seem to mind.
In fact, when Sentinel finished, Orion rolled over and kissed his cheek. "Feel better soon," he whispered, and he left to scrub off in the wash racks.
Sentinel pressed his face into Orion's pillow and he silently howled into the fabric. Could he really betray his team? His mate?
If he wanted them all to live happy lives, he would. He had to.
So he faked his death. He locked himself away just as Megatron had ordered. While he heard the crew of the Ark scream and howl in pain, he was safely tucked away with five pillars. The rest were tucked away elsewhere in hidden places on the ship that the Decepticons could find when they visited the ship later.
Sentinel thought of Orion, newly named Optimus by Sentinel Prime himself, as he touched the syringe. The fluid inside was to put him in stasis so that Optimus could simply rouse him with another fluid in another syringe that medics always carried. In fact, to ensure that the plan went perfectly, Megatron had actually supplied Ratchet with the fluid needed to rouse mechs from stasis during the latest truce before the battles started up again.
Sentinel felt a twinge in his spark when he thought of his beloved Orion. He threw the syringe away. He smirked at the satisfying sound of glass shattering. Then he laid back and let his body use up all of his Energon.
The only way, Sentinel thought as his optics closed, that Optimus could revive him was with the Matrix. He laughed. The Matrix had not been seen since the Age of the Primes! There was no way that Optimus could find it if it was in fact real.
So Sentinel slept easy, gasping softly when his body finally did run out of Energon. His grip on the pillars quickly failed and he had a smile on his face. He had deceived a Decepticon.
Mission accomplished.
ooo
Sentinel's optics slowly opened. The first thought he had was that Megatron was there, shaking him awake so that he could watch the light fade from the double-traitor's eyes. So he tackled the mech speaking his name, driving a fist into his belly, face, chest. He kicked him where it mattered, but the mech did nothing. It was as if the mech had taken years and years of abuse.
"Sentinel, please," the mech said.
Sentinel froze and he looked down at his beloved Optimus. His optics cleared and he went frameless. Optimus caught him in time and he cradled his helm while insects swarmed them.
"Stay back, humans," Optimus said and he waved them back. The insects backed a few steps back and just stared at Sentinel.
Sentinel was staring at Optimus. The mech had hardly changed, though Sentinel supposed he was Prime since Sentinel had dropped off the Grid.
While Optimus filled him in on their new surroundings, Sentinel found that he couldn't look away from his successor and mate. Were they still able to be close? Could he stop being a traitor?
No. Optimus informed Sentinel of Megatron's location here on planet Earth. Sentinel wanted to howl.
After a rather aggrivating human quit interrogating him, Optimus led him away by the servo. The older mech let the younger one tow him around to the Prime's personal quarters.
Sentinel watched the mech lay on his belly on the large berth. Optimus blinked back at him with dimmed optics. He watched as Sentinel closed the door and sighed quietly as the lights turned off. Then Sentinel mounted his plaything and reminded Optimus just who was in charge.
Optimus was still submissive, and when Sentinel reached down to unlatch his panel, he wasn't surpised when it slid back at his touch, but he would have been surprised to learn that Optimus slid it back on his own. Optimus out-dominated him now, but he let Sentinel mount him. He flipped over, another giveaway that Optimus was more dominate, but Sentinel missed it during the satisfying feeling of his overload fading away.
Optimus pulled Sentinel into a kiss, and the Prime pulled out of the Prime to lay down beside him.
The two Primes held onto each other, Optimus stroking Sentinel's helm possessively.
Sentinel woke up hours later. He drew away from Optimus to go meet Megatron. Optimus whined, but he didn't wake. Optimus never did, not even when he was Orion. He was a sound sleeper.
Megatron was waiting on the edge of a sea for Sentinel. He smirked when the Prime arrived and he turned. A dead shark was in his servo. It was a great white and a bull (which, he learned from Optimus, meant a male). It was dangerous to humans, but Megatron had taken it down with no trouble at all. Sentinel gulped. It was a warning. The shark was Optimus, he thought.
"Isn't it beautiful, this dead beast? So dangerous to humans, so dangerous to anyone who comes to them that happens to spook it."
Sentinel was staring at the shark as Megatron shook it in a way that mocked it and its kind. Sentinel didn't want to watch anymore, but he couldn't look away.
Megatron threw the dead beast into the ocean. "Do as you had promised and I won't kill you and everyone you love."
Sentinel nodded vigorously for Optimus' sake, for his friends' sake. He walked back to the Autobot base, taking his time as he thought about what he was supposed to do.
Betray his beloved? Or betray someone who had the ability to kill everyone he held dear to his spark?
