The Ashes of Your Enemies
Summary: Optimus, turned teenager by his latent wish to understand what goes through the mind of a teenager, has a nightmare.
Even as a teenager, he couldn't deny the fact that bad things were happening all around him. James had returned a corpse, some kind of nightmarish zombie. Something weird was going on with Ratchet, and he wasn't telling Optimus what it was. Squall had been yelled at for trying to help James. Nathan and Mare and everyone were upset over it.
And there was still the issue of Sari's loyalty, which was the beginning of this whole teen mess.
Optimus had learned a lot about teenagers. One, they were hungry nearly all the time. Two, they had to deal with weird emotional issues and hormones. Three, EVERYTHING got blown out of proportion. He knew this. And yet he still had a hard time falling asleep that night, tossing and turning as the adult problems he was obligated to deal with as a leader clashed with his more base fears, magnified by his current age.
Sleep finally came.
somewhere in the churning vapors of dreamland, Optimus began to realize that he was back to normal, and that he appeared to be back on Cybertron. The streets were empty, and full of thick haze (unusual weather, but not THAT unusual). He walked slowly through the deserted alleys, trying to get his bearings, but the bearings weren't coming.
Something was off.
He rounded a corner, and looked up. Signs were usually good landmarks. what he saw, however, shocked him.
The sky was blue.
well, not quite blue. More blue clouded with browns and grays and greens of smoke, poison and pollution. His optics shuttered briefly. Cybertron didn't have enough of an atmosphere to warrant a sky, or to trap pollutants like that. But other planets inhabited by Cybertronians didn't have buildings to this extent, or pollution this terrible. Not even Earth was this polluted.
His worry increasing, Optimus made his way forward. His fear rose even higher as he strode forward and realized that he was near the exit of a freeway. Transforming to vehicle mode, he drove up the ramp and towards...
North. He was going north towards Sumdac Tower. Even the faded exit signs indicated thus. But if this was Detroit, what were all the Cybertronian buildings doing here, and what WAS up with the pollution. He skidded to a stop as the Tower came into view, and transformed back. "Oh no..."
The tower was a destroyed husk of what it had once been. Looming over it was Megatron's flagship, obviously rebuilt.
He was an Autobot stranded on a Decepticon-conquered Earth. Of all the bad things Optimus had worried about happening, this was at the top of the list. On the verge of panic, he raced towards Downtown Detroit, towards the ruin of Sumdac Tower, anxious to find someone or something familiar.
He was greeted instead by a looming statue of conquest.
Directly at optic-level was his own face, smashed in as it had been when Magnus had attacked him. The stone-and-steel Optimus was sprawled on the ground, one arm torn off, a spear jammed into his chassis. His conqueror had one stabilizing servo placed triumphantly on his back.
Slowly, he looked up to see who had defeated him and helped destroy the Earth.
Sari's stone face and the Decepticon brand on her chest sneered down at him.
Optimus Prime jerked awake with a scream. He lay there on his bed, breathing heavily, before he realized it was a dream. He was still in Nautilus, still human, and still physically sixteen. The dream was still at the forefront of his mind, however, and with a shuddering sob, he drew his legs up to his chest and tried to shut the memory of it away.
He quickly came to a conclusion - he wasn't doing anyone any good by staying this way. Nautilus didn't need him to be some stupid, confused kid. They needed Optimus Prime... but he was sick of being responsible! He'd been responsible since the day he was protoformed, and all it had gotten him was the ire and grudges of the Decepticon leader, and a position of leadership he himself wasn't ready for. He'd never be ready, he was too young and maybe Ultra Magnus WAS right.
All his friends and family were drifting apart, and if he didn't do something about it he was going to be left stranded and alone, watching the Decepticons take everything from him he held dear.
Optimus reflected on the whole of his life. He'd left the Academy because he'd borne the blame for Elita's demise. He'd worked on space bridges for a thousand years because he'd borne the duty he'd been given. He'd been promoted to Prime because Ultra Magnus had thrown him a bone. He'd found the allspark because fate had it in for him. He'd stepped up in Nautilus because no one else seemed to want the job. He'd been honestly surprised when the announcement that he was to ascend to Angelii came - he hadn't actively worked towards that.
Despite his fairly active role in the events around him, Optimus realized that his role in his own destiny had been fairly passive. If it was about greatness being innate, achieved or thrust upon him, the latter was definitely the case.
Optimus was tired of letting his life happen to him.
Tomorrow, he decided, things were going to change.
Even as a teenager, he couldn't deny the fact that bad things were happening all around him. James had returned a corpse, some kind of nightmarish zombie. Something weird was going on with Ratchet, and he wasn't telling Optimus what it was. Squall had been yelled at for trying to help James. Nathan and Mare and everyone were upset over it.
And there was still the issue of Sari's loyalty, which was the beginning of this whole teen mess.
Optimus had learned a lot about teenagers. One, they were hungry nearly all the time. Two, they had to deal with weird emotional issues and hormones. Three, EVERYTHING got blown out of proportion. He knew this. And yet he still had a hard time falling asleep that night, tossing and turning as the adult problems he was obligated to deal with as a leader clashed with his more base fears, magnified by his current age.
Sleep finally came.
somewhere in the churning vapors of dreamland, Optimus began to realize that he was back to normal, and that he appeared to be back on Cybertron. The streets were empty, and full of thick haze (unusual weather, but not THAT unusual). He walked slowly through the deserted alleys, trying to get his bearings, but the bearings weren't coming.
Something was off.
He rounded a corner, and looked up. Signs were usually good landmarks. what he saw, however, shocked him.
The sky was blue.
well, not quite blue. More blue clouded with browns and grays and greens of smoke, poison and pollution. His optics shuttered briefly. Cybertron didn't have enough of an atmosphere to warrant a sky, or to trap pollutants like that. But other planets inhabited by Cybertronians didn't have buildings to this extent, or pollution this terrible. Not even Earth was this polluted.
His worry increasing, Optimus made his way forward. His fear rose even higher as he strode forward and realized that he was near the exit of a freeway. Transforming to vehicle mode, he drove up the ramp and towards...
North. He was going north towards Sumdac Tower. Even the faded exit signs indicated thus. But if this was Detroit, what were all the Cybertronian buildings doing here, and what WAS up with the pollution. He skidded to a stop as the Tower came into view, and transformed back. "Oh no..."
The tower was a destroyed husk of what it had once been. Looming over it was Megatron's flagship, obviously rebuilt.
He was an Autobot stranded on a Decepticon-conquered Earth. Of all the bad things Optimus had worried about happening, this was at the top of the list. On the verge of panic, he raced towards Downtown Detroit, towards the ruin of Sumdac Tower, anxious to find someone or something familiar.
He was greeted instead by a looming statue of conquest.
Directly at optic-level was his own face, smashed in as it had been when Magnus had attacked him. The stone-and-steel Optimus was sprawled on the ground, one arm torn off, a spear jammed into his chassis. His conqueror had one stabilizing servo placed triumphantly on his back.
Slowly, he looked up to see who had defeated him and helped destroy the Earth.
Sari's stone face and the Decepticon brand on her chest sneered down at him.
Optimus Prime jerked awake with a scream. He lay there on his bed, breathing heavily, before he realized it was a dream. He was still in Nautilus, still human, and still physically sixteen. The dream was still at the forefront of his mind, however, and with a shuddering sob, he drew his legs up to his chest and tried to shut the memory of it away.
He quickly came to a conclusion - he wasn't doing anyone any good by staying this way. Nautilus didn't need him to be some stupid, confused kid. They needed Optimus Prime... but he was sick of being responsible! He'd been responsible since the day he was protoformed, and all it had gotten him was the ire and grudges of the Decepticon leader, and a position of leadership he himself wasn't ready for. He'd never be ready, he was too young and maybe Ultra Magnus WAS right.
All his friends and family were drifting apart, and if he didn't do something about it he was going to be left stranded and alone, watching the Decepticons take everything from him he held dear.
Optimus reflected on the whole of his life. He'd left the Academy because he'd borne the blame for Elita's demise. He'd worked on space bridges for a thousand years because he'd borne the duty he'd been given. He'd been promoted to Prime because Ultra Magnus had thrown him a bone. He'd found the allspark because fate had it in for him. He'd stepped up in Nautilus because no one else seemed to want the job. He'd been honestly surprised when the announcement that he was to ascend to Angelii came - he hadn't actively worked towards that.
Despite his fairly active role in the events around him, Optimus realized that his role in his own destiny had been fairly passive. If it was about greatness being innate, achieved or thrust upon him, the latter was definitely the case.
Optimus was tired of letting his life happen to him.
Tomorrow, he decided, things were going to change.