The Thirteenth

Oneshot

It is both a mystery and an answer. The difference that a single prime can make.

For generations the Prime had been corrupt and untrue to their purpose. The people they were to lead and protect were the ones they were hurting. For generations the Matrix had been trying to correct its course, choosing primes with seemingly incorruptible values.

Nova, the one with a determination for Cybertron and their people to succeed, willing to push boundaries to see their will fulfilled. Brilliant as a newborn star.

Nominus, the one who aspired to attain purity. They believed that if Cybertron were to change, it had to start from within.

Sentinel, the one who for the sake of others was willing to put themself forward and try. Willing to safeguard Cybertron's future at the cost of themselves.

The Matrix gave and gave, hoping that one of these new incarnations would be the one to carry out their Purpose. Guiding these new lives into a mold set by their predecessor, except the mold was flawed.

Nova, the one that burned and burned until everything else became ash for a vision that only he could see.

Nominus, the one that sought to hide every fault and flaw instead of fixing them.

Sentinel, the one that believed that Cybertron had to be protected from itself, enforcing the belief that slavery was a form of freedom itself.

What was it that caused them to fail? To lead all of Cybertron further and further into ruin?

Vision. Purity. Strength. Memories.

What no bot knew (save one) was that each Prime chosen by the Matrix was a new life of sorts but still the same mech. They were Many but still One. A continuation of the previous mech but still a separate entity of their own.

They could Think and Choose but the Memories were long. Memories that spanned to the Original Thirteen to the now and Memories that came from their Previous Lives of Not Primes. They were Many but still One.

Yet each new face, values, memories, did not change the continued deterioration of Cybertron. Something was missing with every reincarnation

What was missing?

It was Kindness.

~

Here is something that no one knows. The Thirteenth Prime is the one Prime that can never die. Not truly. Not the Arisen. The Thirteenth is the One that Will Rise Again and Again.

The Thirteenth is the Unnamed One. The Thirteenth is the One With Many Names. They are the One that Will Rise Again and Again. Living and Dying evermore.

The Thirteenth  was there in Cybertron's infancy just as the Thirteenth was there when Cybertron was dying and the Thirteenth will be there when Cybertron revives.

Currently it is Optimus that is the Thirteenth Prime and yet at the same time he is not. Just as he was once Orion Pax he is now Optimus Prime. But do not believe that Orion Pax is the Thirteenth because the Thirteenth is a separate entity. The Thirteenth is a mixture of matrix and spark, they are a new life but aged in a way that new sparks are not.

Yet that doesn't quite explain it, does it?

Optimus is...a continuation of the primes. Not quite a successor nor a whole being. He is Optimus and Optimus is not Orion nor the Thirteenth.

When a Prime is Chosen their Spark combines with Matrix and births a new Prime. With every Choosing a new Life comes into being that day.

When a Prime is Chosen their Spark combines with Matrix and Lives Continually. An Immortal that knows both Life and Death with a wisdom spanning Eras.

The Matrix remakes a spark into something new but at the same time it is something old. When Orion Pax died his spark lived, when the Matrix of Leadership left the chest of the previous prime it chose someone new. When Optimus Arose, he was a New Being with an Old Spark and an Older Memory.

~

Optimus had something that no other Prime before him had. Kindness. With this simple value he could Understand and Empathize with other Cybertronians. When a bot was hurt he would they were hurt and try to help them heal. He was like a newspark learning about the world but without the hardened edges that other Primes had gained.

He explored, his empathy helping him to understand the world in a way that previous Primes could not. The rampant corruption in the Senate gained a new flavor of disgust as well as horror. The faults that were ignored or unseen became unignorable blights on society.

The Vision that Nova had Seen became horrifying. What made these other civilizations lesser? Why did you need to conquer them?

The way that Nominus tried to attain purity by throwing away anything deemed trash became vexing. What made one bot lesser than the other? How does something alive become something faulty?

Then the way that Sentinel had forced Cybertron into Functionalism was utterly repulsive. At that point Cybertron had needed protecting from the Senate and the Prime.

However this change of Primeship was too late. The problems that the previous Primes had caused were at last coming to a crescendo. War.

Cybertronians divided into factions; Autobots versus Decepticons.

Still Optimus remained kind. Fulfilling his Purpose as Leader and Guide and Protector and Source of Hope. To those on both factions he showed kindness. Trying his to be the Prime they needed.

And to many he was.

~

When Orion was Chosen by the Matrix he Died that day. When Orion was Chosen by the Matrix he Lived that day.

The Difference a Single Prime can make is both monumental and unnoticeable. In the great life that the Thirteenth Prime has lived the Change is trivial but to the life that Orion Pax had this Change is Significant.