Unknown Territory (TFP)

13.

ENTRY: 30/4/2021

TW: War PTSD, abuse trauma. Heavy angst in this chapter.

Optimus's dream

Thunderstorm brewed wildly as Optimus stood in the ever so familiar open grounds, a mech standing before him. "Optimus! We meet again! Finally ready to die this time?" Megatron spiteful tone loud and clear for Optimus to hear. Once again, Optimus was not free from this war,not even in his own dream. Once again, he was at mercy of the war's outcome as he yet again put on a mask; to shield himself from this pain and sorrow he carried along for what seems to be eternity.

"One shall stand, one shall fall!" Optimus roared and unsheathed his sword, charging towards Megatron. Words of hatred spewed out from his once brother-in arms as they clashed and fought fiercely. Thunderstorm worsens but none bother to budge, continuing this eternal fight. Slashing, kicking, punching never ceased as they both held their ground.

After all, they both knew each other like the back of their servos.

As Optimus and Megatron was duelling, the ground shook and opened as Terrorcons appeared and crawled out from the earth's core. The terrorcons ran after Optimus and pinned him down, as he knelt in front of his arch nemesis, unable to release himself from the mindless robots' grasp. Megatron chuckled darkly as he unsheathed his sword. "Finally,after all these years! You've gone weak Optimus, and that will be the cause of your death!" Megatron roared and stabbed Optimus's spark. Optimus cried out but he felt no pain. He looked up only to see Megatron fading away and the scene changed. He was released from the Terrorcons' hold as he now was standing in a clear field, his wounds nonexistent.

'Where am I?' he thought as he scanned his surroundings. It seems like a never-ending grass field, horizon seemingly so near yet so far. He was then teleported to another scene in a blink of an eye, a place that he knew all to well. The place that brought him great joy and grief, the place that never fail to make him feel a pang in his spark; he was home.

He was on Cybertron. His planet. His home.

Optimus found himself in front of the Iacon Hall of Relics, which made him felt even more nostalgic. 'Why am I here?' he thought. Cybertron was at its peaceful days, as if the war did not happen. Or precisely, haven't happen. Optimus walk in as he was familiar to the area, it was his second home after all. Iacon Hall of Relics was his safe haven, where all he had to do was logging in archives and updating the system. Sometimes he would debug and clear the cache of the files, but that was it. Simple task, simple days. After he was done, he would remember going to Alpha Trion's workspace and seek advices on the current political era and sometimes just having a normal teacher- student conversation.

But that was before the war, when everything was peaceful, when he still had Megatron as his brother. Optimus stopped in his tracks as he saw a scene, a familiar one. It was him as Orion with Ratchet.

They were chatting merrily, more like Orion was doing the talking while Ratchet nodded along laughing. He ran towards them wanting to get their attention, but he went passed them. Optimus could only watch as the scene slowly fades and changed into that fateful day.

The day Megatron and him cut ties.

He watched as the memories played all over again, all the hurtful words were thrown at him as Megatron angrily walked out the court, his optics shone bright red in hatred.

The scene changed again. This time it was in somewhere during the war, but Optimus could not remember. He walked and stumbled upon his teammates, Bumblebee and Bulkhead. They were fighting off several Vehicons. He wanted to help them but the scene changed again. Making Bumblebee and Bulkhead vanish from his sight.

He was now standing on a white plane of nothingness. He tried walking around but he came back to square one. "Where am I?" he said out loud but none reply. He wanted to continue walking when a weeping sound caught his attention as he whipped his helm back. He spotted a femme crying as she sat on the plane crying hopelessly, his spark aching for whatever her pain was. The femme looked at him, only then he realised it was Lightblade Ioa.

Optimus walked up to her, only for her to back away from him. "P-Please don't hurt me!" Those words felt like a stab to him. What did the Decepticons do to her? Ioa's state was horrible. She was covered in dents and gashes as she wept helplessly, begging for mercy. "Please don't hurt me anymore..." she trailed off, wounded servos raised to shield her from Optimus.

He slowly knelt down in front of her and spoke softly as to not spook her. "Lightblade, it's ok. I won't hurt you. You're safe now." He said. Lightblade opened her optics in shock. She looked at him, clearly spooked.

"How did you know my designation?" She asked fearfully. Before Optimus could reply, she spoke. "Who are you? Where am I? Please leave me alone!" She said and thrashed wildly, backing away from Optimus as she ran away from him. Lightblade ran off the horizon as Optimus stood there, shocked. He wanted to chase after her when suddenly Lightblade appeared behind him. Optimus turned around and was greeted with a Lightblade in shackles. She looked at him with betrayal in her optics.

"Why didn't you save me Optimus?" she said sorrowfully, coolants leaking profusely. She looked at Optimus again and repeated, successfully making Optimus felt like he received a blow to the gut. "WHY DIDN'T YOU SAVE ME?!" she shrieked and broke down, shackles rattled on the ground. "I couldn't save those innocent people. YOU COULDN'T SAVE THOSE INNOCENT PEOPLE!" Lightblade screeched. Optimus wanted to say something but he couldn't, as if his voice box malfunctioned. Her last words echoed in his mind as the scene died off and he onlined with heavy intakes, grasping his spark in pain.

"Why don't you remember me?"

A/N: So... that went dark real quick. How y'all feeling? Basically Optimus felt responsible for Ioa's capture, typical Prime. Always caring for others. The next chapter would be Ratchet's turn so stay tuned! Thanks for reading and as always, stay safe and healthy! Enigma signing out.