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You don't know how you got here. One minute you were walking, sleeping, maybe dead -- then you're here, your feet suddenly carrying you down an empty street. Where's here?

Any Cybertronian would recognize this as their home planet, Cybertron, but it's not a Cybertron they've ever known. It has all the familiar hallmarks, but none of the specifics -- the city isn't one anyone here could identify, and even at a glance it's obvious that no one's set foot on the planet's surface in hundreds of years. The city and its surrounding areas all bear the marks of devastating war, of dust and rust collected over centuries. With no one in sight -- right at first, anyway -- there's plenty to explore. In fact, if you start walking, you'll find that your feet may just carry you in one particular direction.

A) The crater.
On one edge of the city is a massive crater left by some wartime weapon that seems to have taken out a large chunk of the surrounding metropolitan area. At the center of the crater it's broken through the surface of the terrain to reveal what looks like it might be a promising energon deposit. There is some strange but native vegetation growing around the edges, too, that no Cybertronian would be able to identify -- small, metallic, brittle-looking sprouts that bear a curiously organic-looking fruit of some kind that doesn't look like it's intended for consumption by any natives of the planet. In one rocky nook of the crater, light catches on the surface of a pool of water, which seems strangely out of place on Cybertron. On closer inspection, it seems that somehow an underground water source has formed a spring in the crater.

B) The center of the city.
If you follow where your feet seem to want to carry you, you'll find yourself in the middle of the ruined city. It seems that the center of the city was once home to a massive forum, and some of the pillars and structures still stand. At the very center of the forum is a massive, elaborately constructed fountain, although it has now long since run dry of whatever used to fill it. One of the low, inner walls of the forum has a terminal embedded in its surface, although it looks curiously ancient, out of place with the rest of the city, and unlike the rest of the technology still left around, there doesn't seem to be any way to power it on or operate it. There are a few scattered pools of water and a few of the strange metallic plants in the city, too, but they're not quite as plentiful as in the crater.

The planet was obviously once home to a massive network of communication relays, but those have all been long since destroyed. However, with the bits and pieces left behind and a few determined minds, it wouldn't be too hard to build a working, if rudimentary, one...

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His yellow plating was ironic, honestly. One would think that an espionage agent wouldn't have such vivid colors. Right now Bumblebee certainly stuck out like a sore thumb, pardon the human expression. Hearing someone approach, he didn't have to completely turn to guess who it was. Those steps... The voice.

Optimus. Orion... Whichever he was right now.

"Do I?" he snorted, half amused. "Is that a curse or a blessing?"

It was hard to tell, honestly. There was no one greater to aspire to, no one that could inspire more. Yet Optimus seemed just as lost as the rest of them. Maybe, in the end, they were really all too damaged by this war. However, that wasn't the most pressing question, was it? Bumblebee heard it more than saw it. The strain in the Prime's voice was too apparent. He'd heard it too many times.

"Yeah... Kind of needed to see you earlier I think," Bumblebee said then added: "Did he pull it off?"

That's what made Bee all the more the best saboteur. Anyone who could pull off canary yellow and still sneak around had talent.

But the moment Bee speaks, his plating settles, as if for a moment, wondering if he was seeing a mirage in this abandoned wasteland. He just had to hope that he wasn't hallucinating the voice too.

"It depends on who you ask." The reply was just as dry and witty, taking a step or two closer.

To say he was lost was an accurate assumption. With the war over, and Megatron now an Autobot, he had trouble finding just what place a Prime had in the new world they had to build. He wasn't the leader Cybertron wanted. And with his friends and close ones dying around him...Bumblebee included...it was hard to tell if you were worthy of even the Prime title.

But he knew just what Bumblebee was talking about. "No. In fact, you were the key to stopping him, even after your..."

Passing.

"Death?" Bee answered for Optimus. "But me? I don't think I managed to do anything."

He was shot before anything of significance happened. Sure maybe it was Bee's plan that worked, but he, himself, didn't do anything. That was the frustrating part. Not the fact that he died, but that he did so without doing anything worthwhile. Perhaps that was how life really was. Utter disappointment.

"What happened."

"You did more than you know, Bumblebee. Your words...what you said to Megatron, they affected him. Affected him more than four million years worth of what I did." A hand reaches out to him, feeling that he actually IS there, and not just some illusion.

There's pain in those optics--Bumblebee should still be alive. He needed to see what he'd accomplished. Instead, change came at the ultimate price.

"Megatron took upon the Autobot badge by your inspiration, and Shockwave became who he was once more. Dark Cybertron is no more, and we can finally start to rebuild."

Optimus would be able to put a hand on Bumblebee if he'd like. However, Bee was turning around with wide optics. To hear that Megatron turned... In the next instant he gave a huffy laugh. He didn't believe a word of it.

"Megatron? An Autobot? You don't have to tell tall tales, Optimus. I can handle the truth."

He was a grown Cybertronian, after all. Small, but fully mature. Bee wasn't really able to inspire people like Megatron or Optimus Prime did. Yeah, he managed to get them to all work together, but that was a temporary thing. It happened more than once in the past.

The moment Bumblebee says it, it never dawned upon him how silly it sounded. Perhaps because he'd been there to witness everything, from Megatron's turn to the Autobot faction, to the trial, to seeing the Lost Light take off once more.

When you weren't there, it did in fact sound unbelievable. In the worst way.

"Its true, Bumblebee. You were the one who inspired Megatron to become who he once was. The one to tell him what the Autobot symbol really meant."

...

"He truly respects you. As I always have."

"I might have to see it to believe it," Bee admitted, lip quirking just a touch. It wasn't a real smile, but it was a start.

Part of him hoped that it was true. He thought he saw a glimmer of hope right before his own spark got snuffed. Megatron stood down and listened to the little Autobot who wasn't able to do anything right once he stepped foot back on Cybertron.

"So... What name are you going by now?"

And while you can't see it, there's a glimmer of hope on Optimus's face. His life had been a long string of failures, many of them costing his dear friends in the process. This..this was a chance to make things right. Bumblebee had somehow miraculously survived, if only because of another universe's intervention.

He wouldn't make the same mistake again.

"Ah..."

Yes, that was certainly something he had to clear up with the Autobot. "Forgive my moment of being unable to find myself, Bumblebee. It seems that I cannot run from who I am by hiding behind who I was. Orion Pax is me, but only a slight part. I have been and should always bee Optimus Prime."

"At least one good thing came out of all of this then," Bee replied with a chuckle. "Two if you count Megatron then. I'm glad you finally figured it out, but you won't change your mind again, will you?"

It was a hard question to ask. As much as Bumblebee respected Optimus and thought highly of him, even he had left them not once but twice. Those times stuck out to Bumblebee, if only because both times it was because Optimus had lost a sense of self. Bee understood leaving Cybertron. That was sort of necessary...

If Optimus was one to chuckle, he would. Instead, that hand secures itself on Bumblebee's shoulders, unable to keep the look of awe out of his eyes.

"I assure you. I know who I am now. I may not know my place in the world we live in, or what good a Prime can be to its people, but I am who I am."

And with that, he nods.

"If you can still believe in me."

"I never really stopped, Optimus," Bee admitted.

He noticed the grip on his shoulder. Optimus always took losses pretty hard, but even Bee knew that there were some that got to him more than others - like Ironhide. Honestly he really shouldn't have been surprised that the Prime took Bee's hard, but he was. While Bee had known Optimus for quite a while, some of the others had known him even longer than that.

The truth was, Bee didn't even know the right answer to the question. It was something he was trying to figure out while the world crumbled beneath his feet on Cybertron. What was the sort of leader that the people needed right now?

"You'll figure it."

He took it harder than others told him he should have. But Bumblebee was always special to him. Always a bright face in the darkest times. The one who took up leadership when he couldn't bear the weight. Proving that despite size, could carry the Autobots.

They all make mistakes, and some aren't cut out entirely for the role.

But Bumblebee had done it, when no one else even stood up to take it.

"I hope to figure it out here, with you by my side."

"By your side?"

Say what, Optimus? Bee had figured after this chat things will just kind of go back to how they were. Optimus doing his leader thing. Bee doing his follower thing. That's how it'd be, right?

"Mmhmm."

In a sense, they were. Optimus had realized that Bee only had the responsibility thrust upon him, when he was the one who should have been there, to remain their leader. Granted the unaligned hadn't wanted it that way, but...surely there was a better plan.

"I will remain Commander unless that is not what the majority wants. But I will not leave you alone in this mess. As long as you keep by my side for...advice."

"Optimus... Are you even hearing yourself? If it's what the majority wants? Do you even know the people that have worked for you the last four million years?"

It's a silly thing to say. People just throw themselves into whatever cause Optimus Prime has. That had been proven the moment Optimus had returned to take people back to Cybertron. Honestly, that had stung Bee just a little. Someone that abandons them shows up and the act is all but forgotten. It's still a sore spot, but it is what it is. Seems silly to hold it over the big guy.

"Of course they'll want you to call the shots."

His eyes widen slightly at Bee's outburst. Granted, he had a vague idea of the Autobot's loyalty to him, although that had gotten progressively more questionable. Maybe it was more spoken among the unaligned, but...he knew his faults. Knew the losses.

And many of the losses had ended up here.

"I only meant that after my recent endeavors..."

He trails off, looking away.

"I'm the logical choice, but am I the one everyone wants? Am I the one everyone needs? I ask myself this a lot, and as much as I can assume that I am, my actions have spoken louder recently."

...

"But I thank you for your support. It warms my spark to know you believe in me, if anyone."

"I can't answer that, Optimus," Bee admits. "Sometimes what we need and what we get are two different things."

No, Bumblebee doesn't know if Optimus is what they need. He thinks out of all of the other options, Optimus is the only one that could become that. Optimus is a good guy, he really is. There are ups and downs, but who doesn't have those?

He cares and some times? That's all that matters.

"You should stop doubting yourself so much."

That's enough of an answer for him. His ear pieces flick slightly, remembering just who's talking to him. No matter what hardships they went through, Bumblebee was still Bumblebee. Frustrated, rightfully so, but optimistic.

"Perhaps, with practice."

There's a soft smile behind that faceplate. If not visible on the outside, then it showed in his eyes.

"Until then, perhaps figuring out our location, and catching up would be the best course of action."

Their somewhat strained relationship could recover. Bee, as he is now, isn't going to keep being put out forever and Optimus? Optimus can't even stay angry to save his spark. What a great combination there.

"Catching up is right there with figuring out where we are, huh?"

Yeah, he's got to tease.

It was definitely something he wanted with Bee. To let him know that no matter what happened back on Cybertron, that he'd always valued him. But that tease is well received at least, his head slowly turning towards him as he starts to walk.

"Nothing wrong with multitasking."

...a pause.

"I hadn't thought Starscream would be ruler of Cybertron when I returned"

Bee shakes his head, following after Optimus. As usual, it's always going to be two or three steps to the Prime's one, but at least the knee joint is no longer an issue. Bumblebee still misses that cane regardless.

"I'm not the politician that he is..."

That's not the entire truth of it all, but that is a large portion of it.

"I made mistakes. He capitalized on them."

"He was almost made to be one," Optimus can't disagree there to be honest. Starscream knew how to play the political game. He'd been doing it since he'd joined the Decepticon army. There's a breathless vent as he continues walking, taking as slow of steps as he can for Bee. Fixed knee or not, the bot's legs were definitely shorter.

"Don't blame yourself for them, it's natural when learning to lead."

"You should take your own advice," Bee snickers.

He can't get passed his mistakes. They are his and he will own up to them. That's something he's learned from Optimus over the years. The guy had a bleeding spark and a conscience that speaks for itself. Optimus feels guilt and remorse. Bee's seen it... And possibly emulated it.

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