Work Text:
Orion turns and smiles. He turns, and he smiles, and he’s alive and he's bright and RADIANT and-. Get it together. He’s still here. He is. The matrix- the matrix knows. It’s speaking. Orion is alive because I’m alive. They trip and fall to their knees in tandem. A ghost flickering through Optimus’ stable alive warm existing NOT DEAD FRAME. Orion is a ghost. A. GHOST. Calm down. You have people to console. A war to win. Nothing else matters. So what if I'm dead? Shoot me for telling a soul. It wouldn't matter either way. I’m HE is dead. Not me. WAKE UP. Why is this so important? You’ve never cared before. I’m a snake. Eating my own tail. Mouse- he was a mouse. I couldn't bring myself to…to eat him. I ate myself instead. Ate down to the last cord, fuel line, last window pane. The only thing left of me. Him. ME. ME…an optic… watching waiting rolling on the floor get UP YOU HAVE A WAR TO WIN. Inhale. Exhale. Pull yourself up. You don't MATTER. GET UP. Find jazz. Find prowl, and get WORK DONE! How many times do I have to tell you, he doesn't MATTER. But he does I swear he does I promise he does I feel him crawling at my throat I feel him helP ME. CLAW HIM OUT! CLAW HIM OUT AND EAT HIM AND SPIT HIM OUT. HE. DOES NOT. MATTER. He doesn't. He hasn't mattered for millions of years. I promise he has plea-… Listen. Pull out a gun and shoot me, or listen. The pull of a trigger rings out, triumphant.
Oh, my dear…dear Primus, how I miss him.