Heart of a Prime

Chapter 16

A couple days pass by and Saphira kept going to school after the incident with Sophia and spending time with the autobots at the emerald field each day. However, as it was the last few days before the end of the week, Saphira insisted spending some alone time with Optimus. He was not sure of the reason, but her main reason was that the other autobots were using their holoforms, and they were able to play games with her as she had begun to teach the autobots how to play Chess, which has been really fun for all of them. And Optimus was not using his holoform, so she felt it was unfair to him that she gave attention to them and not to him. However, Optimus hid that he was rather thrilled to have alone time with her. Something about Saphira has caught his attention. He didn't know what it was though, but there was a spark in his soul he has not felt since Elita. He admitted himself that Saphira was beautiful for a human, she had a fire in her for wanting to belong somewhere. She has not come out and said it, but he has seen it. Especially when she stares at the sunset at the field, there is a longing in her eyes that he has been able to see.

Like right now, she was sitting on a picnic blanket with a basket full of biscuits, fruit and cheese she had been eating, while Optimus was sipping an energon cube beside her. She was laying on her back, staring at the clouds thoughtfully, wondering what it was like beyond the blue sky. She often imagined what escaping this world would be like, but she could not of course.

"Optimus, have you...uhh...have you ever felt like a spec of dust in a big world?" Saphira asked curiously as she took a bite of a red apple.

Optimus looked down at her when she asked the question, she had her right knee over her left knee and her left arm resting behind her head. "I have not, no. Is that how you feel Saphira?"

"I guess I do. To tell you the truth, I might act all confident and calm, but inside..." She paused and took a deep breath. "I am far, far from it. I'm a wreck. It hurts when I don't have a real family to go back to, the pain isn't as bad as it used to be, but...it still hurts."

Optimus's optics soften as he listened to her and props his elbow on the ground to rest his cheek in his palm as he gazed down at her. "I completely understand Saphira. I have lost so many comrades in the past. Believe it or not, Megatron was not always evil, I used to think of him as a brother."

"You did call him that as his eyes darkened," Saphira said, looking up at him with a smile. "What was he like before?"

The commander smiled sadly as he thought back to his days when he and Megatron were best friends. "He had a very kind heart. He was a lot more confident than I was before I became a Prime. I was the shy one honestly, he would be the one who would take me out to help me out of my shell. He and I fought alongside each other...until something happened. It is like someone had whispered into his ear, he changed. It was not sudden, it was slow and it took me so long to realize he was not the brother I remembered. It was than I had to fight him to protect...it was a hospital where sparklings were taking shelter from the war. He never expected it, that was what started my path to becoming Optimus Prime."

"You had a different name?" Saphira looked at him in surprise and he nodded at her. "What was it?"

"Orion Pax."

She blinked a little when she told him his name and she shakes her head a little. "Optimus suits you much better honestly. Although, do every Prime get a name change when they become a Prime?"

"Not necessarily, Primus simply gave me my new name as I was ascended to Prime. I miss being called Orion, but I am not that autobot anymore. I am not a dock worker, I am a warrior and I am proud of it." She definitely did not expect him to tell her what he was before he became a Prime, she could not imagine him being anything other than a warrior. "I know this is a shock to you Saphira, but believe me when I say I have had a long past too."