Chapter 28 Starting Anew
He wasn't sure if he liked this feeling. He was almost unnaturally light, like he could float along rather than walking, but at the same time there was a kind of power that coursed through him. What had Optimus done by mistake when they had spark bonded? He knew she held the Matrix of Leadership within her, but he had never heard of its power being absorbed before. Then again, most of the previous leaders were notoriously single and had never been in a relationship while in office, but could Optimus have mistakenly absorbed it?
It was strange to feel that powerful yet feel so humble at the same time. He had not felt humble and placated for aeons, not since his school days as a matter of fact. It was...weird. Not unwelcomingly weird just...weird. At least Optimus was still with him.
Yes, she was nestled against his chest, her face pillowed on his shoulder. He could feel her weight on him, familiar and comforting. How had he managed to recharge since she had left him? She almost always wound up on his chest one way or another during the night. He almost purred before he ran a hand over her back, relieved to feel the vibration of her air intakes working. She was still alive; that was a blessing.
He could have stayed this way with her forever, just drifting along without a care in the world, but everything had to come to an end. He felt himself starting to tip backwards, his head behind pulled down first, and started to pick up speed. Optimus let out a distressed sound as friction started to make their armor heat up almost unbearably, twisting her head to hide her face in his chest. He twisted himself slightly in an attempted to protect her, but just ended up sending them spinning for a moment. He apologized down the bond before he righted them and held her tightly to his chest.
He cried out in pain as he smashed into an impossibly hard object and started sliding. Optimus clung to him more as they slid along, her body shuddering until they came to a stop. He groaned slightly before his armor started to steam as the heat escaped into the surrounding air. He felt her concern down their bond and reassured her that he was alright, just in pain; it would pass eventually.
He could hear shouting not far away, as well as helicopter blades beating the air. He wondered vaguely where he had crash landed until he heard something very big drop down beside him.
"Gu-Galvatron?" Starscream's voice croaked before his shoulder was being shaken. "Galvatron! Wake up!"
"You're bedside manners suck," he grumbled before forcing himself into a sitting position, his armor screaming in pain. "Where did I land?"
"Iacon," Starscream replied before he shouted over his shoulder. "Flamewar! Get that crazy medic down here now!"
"Be more specific!" she shouted back. "There're two!"
"Send both than!" Starscream laughed. "And make it quick! We've got re-entry burns on a couple of ground-pounders!"
"I heard that," Optimus grumbled before hiding her face under her arm. "And I don't wanna get up."
Starscream smirked before helping Galvatron stand up, cradling Optimus in his arms as she made it quite clear that she did not want to get up. Ratchet and Quickstart climbed down into the scar they had left in the planet from their crash landing and gawked at them in surprise. Ratchet recovered quickly and raced over, instructing him to put Optimus on the ground so he could start with her repairs. She grumbled about not hurting her before onlining her optics to glare at Ratchet as he smacked her with a wrench.
Quickstart snapped out of her daze a moment after her brother whapped Optimus over the head, her cheeks turning pink in embarrassment for freezing as she had. She ordered Galvatron to sit down so she could actually reach his head and do a damage check; apparently the top portion of his horns had been snapped off on impact. He sat down and smirked as she stood on him just so she could check on how the remainder of his horns were fairing, smacking him when he made a comment about her chassis squishing his face. It was always worth it to tease her about the size of her chassis, even if she did hit back.
She finished her assessment and told him that he'd have to wait until they got back to the Iacon base to get a salve to heal the burn. She smirked when adding that his "superior" armor shouldn't be too bad off from re-entry; just a few millimetres thinner. He snorted before standing up, glancing at Ratchet as he helped Optimus stand up. He blinked once before his jaw fell open in disbelief.
"What?" she demanded, taking a step back in surprise.
"Have you looked at yourself in the last five minutes?" he asked before shaking his head.
"No, why?" she asked before tilting her head to the side. "My pelvic plating get burned off from the crash? That'd explain why Starscream's gawking at me."
"Uh...no," he chuckled, shaking the image out of him mind; later he would laugh at that. "You've downgraded."
She blinked at him before looking down at her body. "Well sonnova glitch!" she spat before crossing her arms over her now red chest. "That explains why I feel so short!"
He laughed before giving her a long look. She looked identical to what she did before she was upgraded to Optimus Prime, the same red and blue colour scheme, except for one thing. She still had her antennas and she was nowhere near as small as she use to be. She wasn't as tall as she was before they sparkbonded inside Unicron either. She was a few heads shorter than that now, still taller than she had been as Oriona Pax.
She crossed her arms before grumbling bitterly, making Starscream laugh while Quickstart started gaping again. Ratchet smirked before introducing her to Optimus, taking much pleasure in Quickstart's enlarged optics before she launched herself onto her old friend and wailed like a lost sparkling.
"Don't you know how worried we've been?!" she demanded, glaring at Optimus as she stumbled backwards. "Slaggit, Oriona! I thought you had just vanished off the face of Cybertron!"
Optimus rubbed her head before giving her friend a glare. "This from the femme that called me a traitor on the battlefield," she snorted.
"Different circumstance," Quickstart snorted before hugging her again. "But thank Primus you're okay! You know, I thought it was funny that Galvatron was going after you since he was still so deeply in love with Oriona."
Optimus rolled her optics before struggling to her feet. "I'm surprised the Seekers didn't find out sooner considering Starscream knew," she replied.
Galvatron gave Starscream a surprised look; he had known? Starscream snorted and claimed that he could keep a secret from his cousins if he wanted to. Quickstart snorted before scrambling over the side of the scar, shouting that she was telling Skywarp first before he attacked Optimus. They stared after her for a moment before Starscream climbed out with Ratchet, claiming that they were going to tell the others to stay back so that they had time to recover.
"It's not right to call me Optimus Prime anymore," Optimus murmured as she leant on him, wrapping her arms tightly around his arm.
"What makes you say that?" he asked as he stroked her helm affectionately.
She smirked at him before poking his nose. "Do I look like Optimus Prime?" she asked.
"No," he admitted before looking up. "Think we should climb out?"
She nodded before he scooped her up to make her yelp in surprise. She clung to him before glaring and shoving his face away with a snort. He held her securely to his chest as he climbed out of the scar as carefully as he could. He heard gasps of surprise and shock as he managed to stand up fully and placed Optimus on her feet.
To say that the crowd was huge would have been a small overstatement, but it was large none-the-less. There were a mix of Autobots and Decepticons standing there, all of them gawking in surprise as both leaders stood there in full health. The Decepticons sank to their knees with murmurs of memorized oaths while the Autobots stared on in disappointment. Optimus folded her arms neatly behind her back and stared back with equal disappointment until several of the mechs at the front of the crowd were shoved aside.
"Optimus!" Hot Shot shouted before he charged forward and threw himself into Optimus' arms, hugging her tightly. "You're back!"
Optimus smiled before hugging him back, nuzzling him affectionately while the other Autobots stepped back in surprise. They immediately went onto their knees and murmured their apologizes; not that Optimus took any notice. She was too busy nuzzling her sparkling and rocking him in her arms as he clung to her to care. He smiled fondly down at them before spotting Side Swipe dragging another young mech behind him, the other youth's blue optics huge and his mouth moving rapidly as he tried to hinder their progress.
"Sides, we can't!" the youth hissed as he was dragged towards them, leaving the crowd behind them. "That's Galvatron! And Optimus Prime! We can't...!"
"Relax, bro!" Side Swipe laughed before he pulled him towards Optimus, who had just spotted them and was smiling warmly. "Optimus will be thrilled to meet you!"
"What about Galvatron?" the youth hissed.
"Once we explain things he'll be thrilled to meet you too," Side Swipe stated before getting behind the other mech and forcibly shoving him forward so that Hot Shot could grab him. "Stop being such a turbo-chicken!"
The youngling glared at Side Swipe, swinging around to swat at him. He was predominately red with blue arms, shoulders, and legs. There were shoulder cannons stationed on either side of his head that surely made him almost as top heavy as Galvatron was. He had four small horns on his helm that twitched slightly with his constant fidgeting. He wouldn't make optic contact with either of them, mumbling to his feet when Optimus asked who he was.
Sensing that the youngling would feel better without an audience, he ordered Starscream to lead the others back to base; they'd catch up in a minute. Starscream saluted before he and his trine rounded everyone up and shooed them along, ordering some of the more stubborn Autobots when they refused to budge. Only Optimus telling them to obey the orders made them move again. She shook her head before turning back to the young one, smiling gently as he fidgeted again.
"What's your name, young one?" she asked.
"Ironhide," he replied.
"What?!" Galvatron hissed, making the poor thing flinch away from him and almost send him and Side Swipe to the ground as they collided.
"Calm down, Galvatron," Optimus laughed before nodding to the youngling. "He's Side Swipe's twin."
"Twin...as in...," Galvatron spluttered before gawking at her. "You had two?!"
Optimus smirked at him while Ironhide let out a chirp of confusion. "How about we talk about this in private?" she asked before nodding to where the others had headed. "I'd like to see what you did with the base in my absence."
Side Swipe smirked before nodding. "Right, the base," he chuckled before turning around. "I think you'll like it, a lot."
She looked at him curiously before Ironhide nodded and mumbled about them setting everything up for their arrival. Apparently, there were a few, Side Swipe included, who refused to believe that the leaders were gone forever. They were influential enough to convince the rest to wait a little while longer before deciding on new leaders for the two factions. Both she and Galvatron exchanged relieved looks at the statements; they hadn't wanted to keep fighting anyways.
Side Swipe and Hot Shot told her to follow them, Ironhide already farther ahead with his head bowed while trying not to trip over his own feet. Side Swipe let Hot Shot lead them onwards, dropping back to hang onto her arm while smiling happily.
"I knew you'd both come back," he stated before chuckling. "But Hot Shot didn't believe me!"
Hot Shot glared at him over his shoulder before grumbling that he hadn't said that. Ironhide had stopped and was shifting from one foot to the other, his nerves obviously not the best under pressure. Galvatron shot her a look, wondering why on Cybertron she would name someone like this after her crazy, gun-toting uncle. She shot him a look that told him to keep his opinions to himself before Hot Shot stopped and turned towards them with a smirk.
"Allow me to introduce you to our new base," he stated before motioning to the massive building behind him.
"The old Prime mansion!" Galvatron and Optimus yelped at the same time, gawking at the enormous building that soared over all of the surrounding landscape.
"This thing's still intact?" she asked in surprise. "I thought it was bombed to the ground back at the beginning of the war!"
"I could have sworn I did bomb it," Galvatron replied before tilting his head. "Did we miss?"
Hot Shot laughed before smirking at them. "You two realize that you've been missing for about a month, right?" he asked before laughing as both leaders gaped at him. "I take that as a no."
Side Swipe explained that the first places they cleaned up where the main bases. The Decepticon one in Kaon was still in working condition but the Autobot base had been completely destroyed by a laser blast from Unicron. Since the Autobots felt they still needed a base of operations, they had started clearing away the rubble that had fallen around the blasted remains of the mansion and, going by old schematics found in the archives, had began repairs.
There was still lots to fix up, but the place was very hospitable now. Hot Shot showed them in, nodding to Cyclonus as the helicopter waved, swaying slightly as he tried to hold up Blurr as the mech tried to fix something on the ceiling. Ironhide was about to slip off, but Side Swipe grabbed him and dragged him along, waving at Scavenger as the larger mech walked by with a ladder over his shoulder. Scavenger, nodded to him before dipping his head to Galvatron and Optimus as they walked by. Almost all the mechs working paused to salute them, news having spread like wildfire that they had returned. Both leaders nodded in return, wondering where their sparklings were taking them as they started heading up to the higher levels.
Hot Shot commented that the floor was still a little unstable in some places, but it was mostly just electrical wiring that they had to fix. Galvatron looked around in awe of the place; Optimus had visited the mansion plenty of times in her youth, but he had only dreamt of what it looked like on the inside. Side Swipe stopped outside a set of doors and typed in an access code, commenting that they'd have to change it later if they wanted to.
"This," he stated with a smile as the doors slid open, "is both of your quarters."
They gawked again at the huge room before walking in, staring around in surprise. Optimus was in more of a daze as she backed up into the room, her mouth set in a huge smile before she spun and flung herself onto Galvatron's chest. He laughed before spinning around a few times, closing his optics slightly as she laughed in delight. They tumbled backwards and landed on the berth, sharing a brief kiss before Optimus leapt off of him to hug Hot Shot tightly.
"Whoa, calm down there, mom!" he laughed before hugging her back.
"I don't think she's use to this kind of luxury anymore," Galvatron teased before lying back down on the berth and folding his arms behind his head. "I wasn't exactly rich when we were together."
Optimus nodded before looking at Ironhide as he stood nervously by the door. The only reason he hadn't bolted out was because Side Swipe was blocking the door, his blue optics alive with excitement before he laughed and punched the air.
"The war's over! Forever!" he cheered.
Both leaders nodded, smiling fondly at each other before Ironhide shifted around. "Uh, can someone tell me why I have to be here?" he asked. "I mean, it's not like I'm important or anything."
Side Swipe turned to him before grinning mischievously. "Bro, we're the sparklings of the leaders of Cybertron," he stated before opening his arms wide. "Of course we're important!"
Ironhide blinked several times before shaking his head. "Sides, what are you going on about?" he asked. "Our parents aren't Optimus and Galvatron."
"Oh yes they are!" Side Swipe replied before grinning over at them and laughing. "And Hot Shot's our older brother!"
Ironhide's optics widened before he looked from his brother to his parents, his mouth opening and closing like a fish several times. He stilled for a moment before his optics offlined and he fell backwards, out cold. Side Swipe laughed that it was a processor overload and nothing to worry about while Hot Shot commented that he did that a lot with new information. Optimus chuckled softly before she heard several loud booms outside the quarters.
She looked up and out the balcony doors that were sitting innocently ajar. She moved towards it, hearing her mate's heavy footsteps just behind her, and stepped out onto the balcony. Fireworks burst across the sky, painting it red and purple before another set went off, showering the skies with blues and yellows. Galvatron's arms wrapped around her waist and she leant backwards onto his chest as another set of fireworks exploded, twinkling against the sky as shouts of young sparklings rose up.
"It's beautiful," she murmured before smiling up at him. "What do you think they're celebrating?"
"A new age," he stated before nuzzling her. "The wars are over, Optimus; we don't have to fight anymore."
She nodded in agreement before wrapping her arms tightly around his. "The wars are over...the Matrix of Leadership is split between us...there is no more need for Optimus Prime," she murmured.
"Don't you dare think about suicide," he commented before nipping her neck. "Just because the Matrix is gone doesn't mean that...."
"I wasn't talking about that," she purred before kissing his cheek. "I'm not Optimus Prime anymore; I know the difference between that power and this. This is nothing like what I use to be...I'm not Optimus anymore."
"Then you are Oriona again," Galvatron stated gently before pressing his nose to her cheek. "My beautiful little Oriona."
She smiled before nodding, her gaze stretching out over the expansion of Iacon. Her duties as Optimus Prime, the Prime that rose to power in a time of war, was over but her duties as Oriona Pax were just beginning. They had countless homes to rebuild, lives to reshape, and innumerable duties that would need their overseeing. She could hear her sparklings moving about in the room behind her, laughing as they hauled Ironhide to his feet, and she smiled to herself. Things were going to be very different now that two leaders were in charge of Cybertron.
One came from poverty and knew of the hardships that the less privileged lived through. The other came from wealth and knew how to placate seemingly unmoving individuals. Together, she and Galvatron stood a chance of returning their planet to its former glory. And, if not, they can go down saying they tried their best for all of Cybertron's inhabitants, not just one side. No one could be angry with them if they truly tried to save Cybertron; they might not be able to keep everyone happy, but if they could keep most happy it was more than the other Primes ever could.
Forever was beckoning and they were ready to answer the call.
ASDFGHJKL;'ASDFGHJKL;'ASDFGHJKL;'
"Patience, my friend," a voice giggled from with a black expansion of space. "Very soon we will bring you back to life!"
"Yes, and with this power we will rebuild what has been taken," another voice agreed.
"Yes, and the universe will finally be whole," yet another voice agreed.
"They are fools," Sideways' voice hissed from a far corner. "Unicron cannot be controlled."
"Then...what will we do?" Thrust's voice whispered, his pink optics flicking as he lay in Sideways' lap, his legs vanishing into the darkness.
Sideways was silent for a moment, one hand caressing the Seeker's cheek while his optics glared at the hunched figure before him. "We will bid our time," he replied before drawing Thrust closer. "When I've decided what course of action to take, I will let you know."
Thrust purred softly before cuddling closer, whining slightly as his legs refused to follow him. Sideways stroked his helm again, pity rising in his chest for the poor thing that was trapped within the darkness for the time being. He could see two others floating, optics offline as they slipped in and out of eternal slumber. Only time would tell how long it would be before they awakened, but he was prepared to wait; after all, he was as immortal as Unicron.
Author's note: And that ends this story. Up next is the Energon arc where we will see just what has transpired in ten years. Hopefully it will be a shorter story; not twenty something chapters; but just as enjoyable. I hope to see everyone around for the next story! Lots of fun and more of my lovely gender-bending madness; can you take a guess at the next sucker to get a taste of the crazy fangirl author?
