Archive of Our Own ^beta

        What had started as a trickle of emotion had quickly rippled and then grew, forming waves at first until gradually becoming a tsunami. The conflict inside wriggled and writhed, becoming unbearable. Like the endless destruction of different worlds, the battles between brethren, the very nature of Cybertronians, that exterior chaos couldn't be compared to the inner chaos ensuing. The loyalties of six waging war against the desire of a united whole. 

        Superion was known to be one of if not the most stable Combiner, regardless of the lack of actual knowledge surrounding the comprehension of combining. Superion was superior in that sense and knew it well, making this rise of instability all the worse. The ridiculousness of it all was the fact that the inner turmoil was all for a single mech. There were other factors of course, but Optimus was both the start and the eye of the storm.

        It was difficult to pin point a single moment where it had begun, but it didn't take long to realise that together they would follow him and only him until the very end, other allegiances aside. Some individuals wanted to say it was all because of a sense of comradery with the Prime, but Superion's voice as a whole drowned out such notions, this went much deeper than that. As unfamiliar and confusing as the conflicting emotions, loyalties, what have you, were; that much was obvious.

        It was irrational how deeply Superion desired to protect and defend a single mech, especially after having tasted doing so for entire planets. There were so many other places and bots that needed it much more. It wasn't as if the Prime needed constant protecting, in fact most of the time when the urge to shield him arose it was for a nonsensical reason. For example, the Torchbearers, they and their combined form posed little threat to Optimus, but that didn't stop Superion from disliking them for their disrespect. If they were to ever cause harm, in what ever form to him, Superion would not hesitate to strike them down, it would be a losing battle with superiority being in the name.

        Regardless, it was not a logical reason, as someone like Menasor would be far more deserving for the ire. Definitely far more deserving than necessarily Victorion, who only spoke with scorn. Yet the feeling would not cease, only growing for anyone else who could not find a shred of gratitude in their spark for Optimus's sacrifices. 

        This whole emotional business was an irrational mess that refused to go away, no matter how often the  Aerialbots tried to dismiss it or reason with it. Even when they weren't combined, Superion's thoughts always sprung to the forefront of their processors at the mere sight or mention of Optimus Prime, and he was around a lot. The more they tried to suppress the internal chaos, the stronger it grew and grew and grew. It was unavoidable, far more powerful when they were together and strongest when they were combined, which was equally as hard to avoid. 

        As if things weren't unrequited and complicated enough, the creation of Optimus Maximus put the whole inner conflict into overdrive. Utter chaos erupted inside of the combiner, invisible to anyone on the outside as the cool and calculated exterior never slipped even as everything inward began to crumble. Especially with the knowledge that the other—quite attractive combiner—would very likely cease to exist. Disappointment suffocated them all and it was difficult to figure out who it was coming from. 

        Only once they were no longer combined did their own individual thoughts flow more freely. However, despite the lack of restraint it didn't stop the echoes of conflicting emotions; which were becoming far more clear and making a few of the individual mechs distraught over the growing revelation. Due to this, accusations began to be thrown about, because some of them only felt a sense of friendship between themself and the Prime, others simply regarded him and nothing else. Their loyalty laid with Starscream, yet when they would come together to combine, it would shift to Optimus. Although it was becoming increasingly apparent that maybe Superion as a whole was not simply experiencing friendship or a soldiers trust, but something more...romantic. 

        Bringing that up only brought more chaos however, as no one would take the blame for the feelings weighing them all down. Not to mention actually thinking about it brought far more worries and questions than anything else. Because what if that was what they were actually feeling? What would they do about it? How many of them would be able to accept those feelings, let alone act on them? Do any of them already desire to? Would the feelings be reciprocated? In what form? Would they be accepted as Superion or as themselves as a group? Or individuals? From which of them if any of them at all? Those queries longed to be answered or dismissed, but it was not the time to seek answers and the nagging refused to leave on its own.  

        Having doubts was counterproductive, especially for a combiner who dubbed itself to be superior. The facade managed to hold up, somehow, as no one had taken notice or at the very least spoken up about any difference in behaviour from them. Well, there were a few times, but they would never dare to let this jeopardize their duty. Feelings were usually cast aside when it had to do with being Superion, so why not now? It seemed easy, but obviously it was not.

         After squabbling amongst each other, combined or not, they finally reached the conclusion that it wasn't a single one of them causing this, so it couldn't simply be shut out. The feelings were coming from Superion, who was as much a part of them as they were apart of it and each other, they may be separate and sapient, but their united form was still different from their own single desires. The conflict couldn't continue to rage on, nor could it be so easily resolved, but the first step was realizing it and realize it they did. When combined, they had certain feelings for Optimus and there was no blame to pass on, it simply happened when it did. Whether it was serendipity or not was still up for debate, but now it was time to toe the line of confronting the issue. 

        At long last, there was finally a dip in the havoc happening. A pause between politics, domestic disputes, intergalactic ones, and whatever other situations the universe wanted to throw at everybody. Of course this temporary stop was for clean up and Optimus had practically jumped at the task to just do some more menial work, anything that would not require too much processor power. At least until the storm would start back up and he'd have to return to reality. Superion has decided to tag along as well, claiming it would be a much quicker task both due to an extra set of servos as well as size. 

        So, they cleared the destruction from the most recent battlefield, cleaning what they could and removing any dangerous items left over. It wasn't necessarily thrilling or interesting, but that was what the Prime had intended and the combiner was content simply being in his presence.

        Despite this, he still felt the need to fill the overall silence, beginning to talk to the much larger mech. The conversation started light, but eventually traveled to the topic of the ground they were currently dealing with and the events that had put it in such a state. Once one battle had been mentioned, others sprung up. Under all the stress, Optimus couldn't help himself from talking about the heavy topics on his mind. He didn't wish to unload it onto another mech, or multiple, but Superion was there and offered him full attention. So, he continued to talk about what he could, gradually feeling better as the negative energy slowly drained from his spark. 

        The clean up was finished and he ran out of grievances, he thanked the combiner for listening to him. "How are things for you, Superion?" He asked, surveying their work before looking up to the one he was addressing. The last thing he wanted to do was talk about his own problems and then ignore the emotional needs of his companion. 

        Silence stretched on for longer than intended as Superion contemplated. Now would be the perfect opportunity to answer some of those questions that had been brewing within the Aerialbots heads. The dam could be lifted and everything bottled up inside could be released, or at least some of it. However, Superion couldn't help hesitating over doing so. Being confided in made adding another thing to Optimus's plate...undesirable. There was too much for him to focus on, the last thing he needed was to be dragged into this mess as well. He made so many sacrifices daily, Superion could make one. "Superion is fine."

Eventually the waves would settle back to a ripple or a better opportunity would come, but for now, there would be no speak of the chaos inside.