nothing better than thirteen ghosts living in your chest to distract you from a bad break-up </3

Energon flowed from under the ground in a way Optimus had never seen in the cycles that he had been alive. No one will ever have to slave away in the mines to fulfill a debt for Sentinel Prime. Optimus gazed around, in awe as all of the miners who joined in the fight against Sentinel received their t-cogs and upgraded their frames to those of larger bots.

“We better get down there before someone has a transforming accident like we did,” Elita advises, heading toward the masses.

“Sweet! I’ve always wanted to teach bots how to transform!” Bee chimes in, following after the pink mech.

Optimus stared at the fleeing High Guard, still visible to his optics, and called, “One moment! I just want to see something.” Elita shrugged and continued jogging to the excited bots.

Optimus gazed at the path that was carrying D-16, no, Megatron to the surface, where he knew he will have to face Quintessons and all the other dangers that lay outside of Iacon. This will be the last time he sets optics on Megatron for a long while, he knows this, so he will look at his best friend’s form as long as he can before he must return to his duties.

“Primus below, what a glitch.”

Optimus whipped his helm around to see the spectral figure of a large purple bot. He instantly recognized the massive mech as Megatronus, D-16’s hero, and one of the dead Primes who he was now the successor to. The semi-translucent mech glared at Megatron.

A white and gold bot elbowed him in the side, “Now’s not the time,” He said through gritted dentae. This was Prima, the oldest of the Primes.

“Somebot had to say it!” Megatronus threw up his arms, “And he stole my t-cog! That’s the second time it’s been stolen in less than a mega-cycle!”

“Uhhh,” Optimus looked around at what he recognized as the ghosts of the original thirteen Primes.

“At least he kept yours! He just threw mine away!” Onyx Prime flattened his wings against his back.

“You think I asked for him to do that!?”

“Optimus Prime,” Alpha Trion walks out from among his siblings, “There is much for us to do.”

Optimus stared at him, trying to find the words, “Alpha Trion! You’re alive! Or not alive… But you’re here!”

Alpha Trion nodded, “Yes, I and my fellow Primes have the ability to speak to you through the Matrix. You’ve done well defending Iacon.”

“How do you know what’s happened if you’ve been in the well of Allsparks?” Optimus asks.

Alpha Trion starts, “Prima, Onyx, Alchemist, Micronus, and Megatronus,” Megatronus looks away, “have all been able to see through the optics of whoever’s spark their cog bonded with. They relayed that information to the rest of us Primes. Now that the Matrix belongs to you, we can guide you and rebuild the Cybertron we once knew.”

“How…” Optimus hesitated, “How am I going to fix this?”

Alpha Trion grimaced, “Slowly.”

“Orion-I mean, scrap. Optimus!” Elita called, “Hurry it up!”

And this is where it becomes apparent that jimmy, though he won't admit it, was severely reliant on curly. For one, Jimmy is naturally rather unlikable and without curly to defend him more often than not he gets his as kicked. He can't find a good job because once again, there's no curly to vouch for him.

And its not like he can use the money he got as compensation from pony express can help him. For one it wasn't very much to begin with. The already bankrupt company having paid the grieving families five years prior to Jimmy's unexpected return. They didn't account for his return. So when he did arrive it had came out of the founder's nearly empty pocket. And he'd already used a good chunk on medical bills as, surprise surprise, the cryo pods were shit, so he had to have one of his feet removed. And no disability for him isn't shit so more often than not he's living pay check to pay check.

And believe it or not, that's not the worst thing for him. No it would be the sins of his past haunting the fuck out of him at night. And no amount of drugs or alcohol help. For example: imagine him lying in bed, eyelids heavy with exhausten from his shitty job, drifting to dreamland, only to hear abrupt gunshots so loud they cause him to toss himself out of bed on to his dirty floor and leave his ears ringing for hours after. Or maybe he is trying to sleep again, feeling hopeful that now he'll get some desperately needed shut eye. Only to hear loud disgusting choking sounds that can't be blocked out no matter what he uses to cover his ears. It leaves he paralyzed in bed out of fear because last time when he rolled over to try and find where the sound came from, he was face to face and eyes to eye with the face of curly. He stopped sleeping in his bed for a while after that

Other times, he'll hear Swansea screaming his name out of anger, rapid heavy footsteps coming his way. Other times, he'll see anya in any type of reflective surfaces bleeding from he mouth and nose with her eyes rolled back. And sometimes he'll catch a glistening eye staring down on him from his dusty vents with blood dripping down and cries of pain coming from it.

I think this is the first time one of these new AU discussions has actually happened during an Ask Game.

The first time that Overhaul tears her apart and puts her back together, Eri sees something. A poorly defined shape, shimmering like a mirage, in the corner of the room. There are more throughout the base, though she's a bit preoccupied to react to them, for obvious reasons. But with every "session" the shapes take form, until it's clear what they are. Or, who.

While there are quite a few ghosts haunting Overhaul, there is also a lone ghost haunting Eri herself. Since the day of the accident, her father hasn't once left her side. He doesn't blame her--and any resentment that there may have been would've vanished long ago given what's happened to her since, not that he'd say that. Luckily, Overhaul assumes Eri is crying because of the whole torture/repeated murder thing so her cover's fine.

Fun fact: Overhaul is not popular. He's a backstabbing sociopathic murdering bastard and canonically of the entire Eight Precepts, only some of the Bullets are actually loyal to him as opposed to the Boss, or just scared of him. This means that the ghosts haunting him, upon realizing that Eri can see them, are more than happy to help her escape.

Of course, Eri has no fucking idea where to go once she's actually out on the streets, but luckily another ghost happens to spot her and comes over to investigate. She's a girl, not much older than Eri, with black hair in pigtails, and she's spent the past 15ish years learning everything there is to know about this prefecture, and how a child might survive there.

he's literally me guys... -Nikko

I made a silly little AU, so now I gotta write for it. Anyways here's a silly little prologue of you getting hired!

Prologue, Part 1

TW: None