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melishade · 1 month

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Attack on Prime: What if Optimus arrived in Episode 1 instead of Episode 5?

Main Story

Peaceful Timeline Pilot

Beloved Timeline Pilot

Summary: After the events of Predacons Rising, Optimus became one with Primus to ensure life would flourish on his world. But instead of eternal peace, he is somehow sent to the world of the Titans: where humans are no longer at the top of the food chain and are only safe behind walls. But instead of being sent to the Battle of Trost, he is sent to the moment where it all began: the fall of Shinganshina.

(Okay, so I have been…feeling like shit lately, which is kind of why I took a break. I needed the break. I had a lot going on. But I'm glad I did. I was really productive when it came to both writing and drawing. I finished this. I made progress on Guren No Yumiya. It's not finished. I wish it was. I made a few art pieces and animatics (poorly drawn animatics but I take pride in them). And I wrote the pilot for the Episode 1 timeline. It's definitely the shortest one out of the ones I've published so far, possibly because I didn't need to do too much set up.

Other than that, Happy Stabby Caesar Day and enjoy!)

"I only ask of this of you fellow Autobots: keep fighting the noblest of fights." Optimus requested.

"You can count on us to keep the peace." Bumblebee reassured.

Optimus gave a small yet bitter smile for his team. He stared a little longer than he thought, doing his best to memorize their faces, knowing that this would be the last time he saw them. The Prime then turned back to the mouth of the well, feeling a strange sensation at how long the drop was. Optimus then activated the jet wings on his back, and he flew high into the sky. The Autobots watched in sadness as Optimus turned around and dove headfirst towards the core of their planet: to Primus himself.

The closer that Optimus got to the center of their planet, the brighter the light of the core had become. It had been eons since he had come to this place to receive the Matrix of Leadership, and now, it was time for him to give it back. He opened his chest, revealing the Matrix of Leadership in all of its glory. As he was almost to the core, he began to think to himself. He was happy. He was happy that the fighting was finally over. He can die happy knowing that he brought back peace and saved the planet that gave him life. He knew his comrades, his family, would keep the peace. He had complete faith in them.

He closed his optics and a small smile formed on his face as he let warm light consume him.

The sounds of thunder caused his optics to snap open. He shot up to a sitting position, looking around frantically wondering what that sound was. It's only when his vision began to focus that he realized that...he was somewhere else. He was...back on Earth? It...it looked like Earth. The sky was slightly cloudy, but the sun was beginning to set, changing the color of the sky from blue to orange. He was surrounded by tall pine trees, and the blades of grass prickled the metal of his dark servos.

Wait...dark? Optimus raised his servo to his faceplate and was stunned to see the older model. The upgrade that he acquired from the forge of Solus Prime had changed the color and the structure of his servos. Optimus looked down at his legs and found that they weren't robust but slender. Even his back felt lighter. Optimus heard the sounds of rushing water and stood up. He followed the sounds to a clear river, traveling down his right side through the forest ahead. The Prime kneeled down to see his reflection, and nearly gasped at the sight of him. He was back in his old form. Optimus couldn't help but touch his audio receptors and his antennae to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. But sure enough, it was there. It was real. He was alive.

But...why? He shouldn't be alive. He should be one with Primus or reincarnated. Did merging with Primus not work? Were the souls of the Allspark still with him? No...no they couldn't be. When he merged them all with his own spark and the Matrix, he could feel their presence, practically hear them all shouting. But now...it was quiet.

Why in the Allspark did this feel like déjà vu?

Optimus gasped when he felt the ground quake and lightning come down from the sky. His gaze followed the direction of the lightning strike and saw that it struck a massive wall off in the distance. The Prime stared in horror at the sight of a massive, skinless, Titan that peered over the wall. Its muscles were just as red as blood. Optimus transformed into his old alt mode and drove as fast as he could towards the wall and the massive threat. When he arrived, he transformed back into his bipedal mode and skidded to a stop to the now destroyed entrance of the wall. Optimus saw the massive bodyseated at the entrances, the muscles and skeletons slowly dissolving into hot steam. Optimus also noticed a figure climbing over the wall, but before he could pursue, the sounds of terrified screams caught his attention. Optimus ran through the destroyed gate and stared in horror at the sight of giant, naked titans lumbering towards humans with permanent expressions of apathy, sadness, and most uncomfortably, glee. These titans picked up the humans running for their lives and started to devour them. Some would be swallowed whole while others would be killed by the strong bite force of these creatures. Blood spewed onto their bodies and onto the ground, creating more panic and terror among the populous.

Optimus gritted his dentas before letting his battle mask cover his mouth on instinct. He pulled out both blasters from his arms and aimed at the titan that was closest to him which was holding a human. He shot the titan through the head, causing the beast to tilt and fall over on its side, hitting the ground hard. Optimus noticed the way the titan body began to disintegrate and turn into steam like the massive pile of skeletons outside. His blasters were good; they were effective in taking out the threat. Optimus started running through the town and shooting down any titans that were in his line of sight. He then spotted a sadistic looking titan with an unhinged smile pulling a woman from the rubble of a wreckage. The long rows of unnecessary teeth scared him, and he saw the way the woman was beating against the hand that was holding her. As the titan reached out with its other hand to snap her spine, Optimus used his blaster and fired at the titan.

===

Eren tried. He really, really tried to pull the roof of the house off of his mom with Mikasa's help. But they couldn't do it. They were too weak. Not even the motivation of the people's screams and the titans invading their home could give them enough of that adrenaline to lift the damn wood off of their mother's back! Where was dad?! Someone help them!

“Then I’ll carry you out of here mom!” Eren swore as blood continued to seep from his wounds.

“Damn it Eren! Why won’t you listen to your mother for once in your life?! Just this one thing!” Carla shouted at him before turning to Mikasa, “Mikasa make him!”

Mikasa’s mouth grew tight as she hung her head and swallowed her tears, continuing to try and pull the roof off of her mother, “I…I can’t!”

Eren saw Hannes! He heard Hannes fly in and his mother call out his name! He felt some hope! Yes! Hannes could distract the titans while they got their mom out! He ignored what his mother was screaming at Hannes as he ran towards the titan coming towards them. C'mon! C'mon! Hannes please buy enough time! Just enough time! But Eren was then taken aback when Hannes’ arm wrapped around him. He was heaved over the man shoulder as he went to grab Mikasa.

"Hey! Hannes! What the hell are you doing?!" Eren screamed at him as Hannes began to run away. He could still see his mother trapped in the rubble and tried to reach out for her. "We can't leave her! Mom!"

"Eren! Mikasa!" He could see Carla reaching out for them, "You need to live on!"

Eren gasped when a titan landed on top of their house and dug through the rubble. He saw the titan pull his mother out of the rubble and screamed for her. "STOP!"

Carla slammed her fist on the hand that was holding her. The titan terrified her so much, but she still had to fight. She had to try and fight her way out of this beast's grip. But it was no use. The titan, with that wide, sadistic, permanent smile reached its other hand out towards her. To crush her. She didn't want to die! Please she didn't want to!

Unexpectedly, the titan's head exploded in a ball of blue light, causing Carla to scream and for Eren to gasp in confusion. What...what the hell was that?! Eren realized from the second ball of blue light that hit the titan in the chest that it was an attack. Someone, something, attacked the titan! Carla screamed as the titan body toppled over and hit the ground hard. The grip on the decaying, eroding, corpse loosened, allowing her to scramble out and crawl away using her hands.

"Hannes!" Eren yelled as he slammed his fist onto his head. Eren gasped when he noticed another abnormal titan running up to the house. Up to his mother! "HANNES TURN AROUND!"

"Kid, we can't-!" Hannes froze when he noticed the strange titan and quickly ran back to rubble.

"Ma'am, are you alright?!" a voice called out to her. Carla was about to respond, but froze when she realized what was speaking. She looked up to see a metal titan adorned in red and blue. It had no mouth to speak of, but those glowing blue eyes were scaring her to the point where she started screaming again and scrambling to get away. She tried to get up and walk, but she was sure the titan holding her really crushed her legs! She couldn't get up!

"Ma'am, I will not hurt you!" The titan spoke again, trying to reassure her.

"Get away from her!" Hannes yelled at the titan, still holding the two children.

Carla gasped and swatted her hand at them. "Hannes! Run! RUN!"

The titan noticed them and quickly stood up and raised its foot high into the air.

"Oh shit!" Hannes yelled, preparing to be crushed and eaten. He kneeled down to protect the kids in his arms from the impact, but the titan kicked a four meter class titan in the neck that was right behind them and almost killed the trio, punting it high into the air and over the wall, right back to the outside!

"Huh?" Mikasa could only emit in fear.

"Shit!" Eren bit Hannes' hand, forcing the Garrison to let him go and for him to roll on the ground. "MOM!" He scrambled to his feet and ran to his mother, ignoring her pleas to stay away. He tackled her into a hug and started crying in her arms.

"Eren, you need to go! Go now!" Carla begged her son.

"I swear to you I will not harm you!" the titan swore, causing Eren to stare up in shock. Titans...titans can speak? The titan was suddenly alerted to the sound of screams and saw another human in the grasp of a titan. It pulled out a gun, and Carla instinctively shielded her body on top of Eren's as the titan fired that blue light to kill the titan. The titan then noticed Hannes and seemed to look him up and down, like he was examining him.

"Are you military?!" The titan demanded.

"Y-yes! I-!"

"Get the civilians out of here, now!" the titan ordered. Eren managed to catch the strange symbol of a face on his arm before it suddenly...shifted?...transformed?...into a strange carriage. He rode as fast as the wind into the ongoing chaos in Shinganshina. Was it…going to save the people here? Was a titan actually going to save humanity?!

"What?" Eren muttered wordlessly.

"Can you walk?!" Hannes asked Carla.

"I can't feel my legs!" Carla answered.

"Alright!" Hannes quickly set Mikasa down before carrying Carla bridal style, "We need to get you three to the boat! C'mon! Run!"

"What was that?!" Mikasa asked.

"I don't know, just run!" Hannes ordered.

Eren and Mikasa started running towards the gate to Wall Maria with Hannes following close behind.

Meanwhile, Optimus continued driving his way throughout the walled town, transforming into his bipedal mode to take out as many titans as possible with his blasters. He wasn't sure how to seal the breach in the outer wall, but he knows that if another one is made through the gate in the inner wall, then there would be more consequences and lives lost.

That's when Optimus spotted it. An Armored Titan in a sprinting position, the trajectory towards that undamaged gate. As the titan began running, Optimus drove as fast as he could towards the gate, scaring the humans in his way and causing them to jump out of the way. When he reached the gate, the Armored Titan had almost bulldozed his way through, but Optimus rammed the titan into its side, causing the two of them to crash into multiple houses.

Optimus transformed into his bipedal mode and punched the Armored Titan twice in the face, but the Armored Titan grabbed him and threw him off of it. Optimus easily landed on his feet and skidded to a stop. Optimus noticed the Armored Titan’s had no real expression, its face adorned in armored leaving a permanent expression of stern and intimidating. But the body language of the beast said otherwise. It was afraid of him. It was scrambling to its feet to try and get into a fighting stance to counter attack, but Optimus bolted and tackled it to the ground and the rubble.

The Garrison atop the houses watched in stunned silence at the sight. That Metal Titan was fighting the Armored Titan. Titans were fighting amongst themselves. And from what some had seen earlier, this Metal Titan was protecting humanity! What kind fucked up situation was that?!

Optimus used all of his strength to pin the Armored Titan to the ground, shoving his servo in its face to keep it there. "Stay down!" Optimus grunted when the Armored didn't listen and smacked him in the face hard with its arm. Optimus rolled across the ground and crashed into a few houses. He sat up and watched the Armored shed the armored plating behind its lower legs before bolting towards him. Optimus quickly transformed and drove backwards, leading the Armored further and further away from the gate that was now reopening to take more civilians.

"Go! GO!" A Garrison screamed at the civilians as they ran through the gate.

"Is there still a boat here?!" Hannes demanded, still carrying Carla in his arms, with Eren and Mikasa close behind.

"Hannes, what the hell are you doing?! Get back to your station!" the Garrison ordered.

"Not until I get them to safety!" Hannes shouted.

The Garrison looked annoyed and conflicted but pointed behind him, "Get to the boat before it leaves!"

"C'mon!" Hannes ordered the children as they continued running. Eren couldn't help but look back at the chaos happening behind them. A titan...fighting for humanity? A titan...that saved humans? It was surreal, a reversal of everything he ever knew, and stuff he felt needed to be called into question.

“Eren!” Eren snapped his head to the voice calling his name and gasped when he saw Armin waving to him on the boat, his grandfather seated on the ground with only his hat visible.

“Armin!” Eren called out to him as the four of them boarded the boat.

“What’s going on?!” Armin asked as Hannes set Carla on the ground.

“There’s a Metal Titan!” Eren explained, “And it’s fighting some Armored Titan and stopping it from destroying the wall!”

“What?!” Armin exclaimed.

Optimus skidded to a stop and drove in a circle, tripping the Armored and causing it to slam into the ground face first. Optimus saw cracks form in the Armored face before running and punching it in the face to the ground. Optimus grabbed the creatures arm and used all of his strength to twist it. The Armored had size going for it. It was clearly much bigger than him, but it clearly lacked battle experience. Optimus knew where to press his pedes, where to put more strain to twist. He let out a battle cry before twisting the arm clean off and tossing it to the side. The arm crashed into some houses and two other smaller titans.

Optimus was distracted by that moment of victory when the Armored used the remaining arm to smack him in the chest. Optimus yelled in pain at the sensation, and the Armored used its remaining arm to grab him by the face and slam him into the ground. Optimus could feel pain shoot up his back. He could feel the dirt and debris scratch his paint and metal plating, but Optimus grit his teeth and endured the pain. Optimus transformed his servo into a blaster and aimed it directly at its face. Before the Armored had time to process, Optimus fired, shattering the cracked, armored plating in one go. The Armored yelled in pain, scratching at its face to try and get rid of the energon burning in its muscle. The pieces of the armor hit the ground before it slowly began to erode. Optimus jumped and smacked the blaster in the Armored face, knocking it to the ground. Optimus then used his blaster to blow off the left leg of the Armored, causing it to cry out even louder.

Optimus saw that it was immobile and stood atop it. He aimed his blaster directly at the titan's face. For some reason, he managed to catch tears streaming down that charred face, but the Prime chose to ignore it. There were too many lives currently at risk, and this titan was going to raise that causality count even higher by destroying that gate. He had to make a decision.

Optimus charged his blaster at the Armored's head, blowing it clean off, and leaving nothing but the nape of the neck. Optimus watched the titan body crumble and decay under his pede. The remaining armor eroded, then the muscle, and finally, the bones turned to nothing but dust. Optimus’ pede that was resting on the Armored’s chest ended up hitting the ground once the body was gone. Organic material isn’t able survive the full force of energon based weapons. The enemy was taken care of.

However, Optimus was alerted to the sounds of more terrified screams and turned his helm to the chaos that was still happening and the titans still running rampant across the town. He noticed a human flying towards him with that strange contraption around his waist. "Evacuate the humans! I will deal with the titan threat!"

"Wait-!" Hannes watched the titan run towards the hostile titans in the around Shinganshina. It continued to kill the titans with its guns, without even hitting them in the neck. It was…amazing, awe-inspiring. This titan was able to save humanity from losing Wall Maria. Hannes snapped out of his shock and went right back into the fray, trying to find as many survivors as possible, unaware of the two children atop the walls. A boy carried an exhausted girl on her back and ran along the length of the massive structure.

The Survey Corps was having a bad day. Well, they've always had bad days. It was never easy for them.

They had always suffered heavy losses when they came back from their expeditions from outside the walls. But when they returned, and they had given the arm of Moses to the weeping mother, something inside of their Commander Keith Shadis clearly snap. He broke. He broke down in front of everyone and walked away in shame. He had given up. All those years of leading and failing had finally taken its toll on Keith. The next thing they all new, Erwin had become the 13th Commander of the Survey Corps.

Erwin had to go through protocol. Appoint scouts to squad leader positions, inform Zackley about the change in command. It was late and it was quite a bit of work to accomplish, but then...they heard about the wall being breached. About a large Colossal Titan with no skin that was as tall as the wall, kicking the gate in and letting titans inside.

Erwin noticed the way that both Levi and Mike were staring at him, almost like they were judging him. “What?”

"Five minutes after you get this shit show, Shinganshia's under attack.” Levi remarked.

Erwin sighed at that. He supposed that the timing could have been better. "Yes, Levi, the irony is not lost on me.”

"More like a bad omen," Mike added.

The report was a mere hours ago, considering that information had to be transferred by horseback. But the Survey Corps were on high alert. They immediately got their supplies, their 3D gear, mounted their horses, and headed towards Shinganshina.

But Erwin had also heard an extremely conflicting report on the way there, something everyone found to be completely unexpected: the titans were fighting each other. An Armored Titan was fighting a Metal Titan. Both had displayed intelligence, and the Metal Titan had killed the Armored Titan, protecting Wall Maria from falling to the titans. Other reports were still hard to accept, like this Metal Titan wielding guns that could kill titans without hitting the nape of the neck, but a titan protecting humans instead of killing? What could that possibly mean for humanity as a whole?

When they arrived to Shinganshia, the Garrison reluctantly opened the gate to allow them into the walled city. Mike noticed the way the Garrison soldiers were still assisting injured civilians out of the rubble and through the now open gate.

"The Metal Titan's at the exit of Shinganshina, killing titans with his strange weapons," a soldier, Hannes, informed.

"Did you just say he?" Hanji started to grin.

"No," Mike warned them.

"He's been trying to prevent more titans from coming into the city, but we don't have all the resources to get everyone else out," Hannes continued.

"What do you mean by 'he'?" Levi demanded, "There's no way a titan is sentient."

"Check for yourself, but we need help getting people out," Hannes requested, "Some are still stuck in their homes."

Erwin turned to Nanaba. "Help with recovery and evacuation."

"Yes, sir!" Nanaba saluted before addressing her fellow comrades on what to do next. Erwin immediately flew over the ruined houses of Shinganshina, followed by Levi, Mike, and Hanji. The quartet examined their surroundings and was internally horrified. The day that they had all feared: the titans’ invading, had come true. But...where were the titan bodies? The decaying corpses? Where was the corpse of the Armored Titan? They were practically non-existent. There was only rubble and human remains, but nothing else.

"Sir," Mike called out as he pointed ahead, his nose flaring up as he did so. The four of them landed on the houses near the broken gate, and were stunned at the sight. A giant, metal, titan, its torso and arms red and its legs and head blue, stood in front of the damaged gate with a glowing blue gun for an arm. A titan started lumbering through the entrance, but they all witnessed the sight of the gun glowing brighter before firing at the titan before him. The titan was shot in the head, but instead of regenerating, its body began to erode and fade away. It collapsed on the ground before turning to bones, and then smoke.

"Holy shit." Even the captain was taken off-guard by the sight. They had just witnessed a titan kill another titan without even touching the nape of the neck! How?! That was supposed to be impossible.

"I must study him!" Hanji tried to leap forward, but Mike quickly grabbed them and wrestled them back. Hanji yelled in protest, but their cry quickly got the attention of the titan, who looked back at them. Erwin had noticed the being wearing a mouth guard of some kind, and the blue of its eyes mirrored that of the weapon for an arm.

"Hello!" Hanji greeted with a wave.

"Are you the reinforcements the others have informed me of?" the titan asked them. It speaks. It actually speaks! It didn't have a mouth but it spoke a clear and concise sentence!

"Yes," Erwin spoke, trying his best to keep his composure, "My name is Erwin Smith: the Commander of the Survey Corps."

"I am pleased to make your acquaintance; however, I cannot move from my post, Commander," The titan explained, "I wish to aid the humans that need to evacuate the city, but if I leave, more titans may come in and cause more damage. Can you provide assistance in removing the civilians from the area?"

"We are currently working on that, but there is concern about your intentions-!"

"I do not consume humans," The titan automatically replied.

"That was quick." Levi narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"My race requires a different fuel source for consumption," the titan explained as he shot at another titan without even looking, "One that I will need to locate in a different time. For now, I wish to focus my attention on the task at hand."

"I need to take notes." Hanji grunted as they tried to get out of Mike's grip once more.

Erwin did his best to assess the situation with what he had, but he ultimately came to a conclusion. "Assist the others in evacuation."

"Erwin, you can't be serious," Mike said.

"This is an opportunity we can't waste," Erwin whispered to him before turning back to the titan, "If you are truly a sentient being, do you have a name?"

"My name is Optimus Prime," the titan answered.

"A name," Hanji squealed.

"Thank you for your assistance," Erwin said before beckoning his comrades to follow him. They followed him away from the titan, and once Erwin believed he was out of ear shot, he spoke, "Play along for now. We will be stationed here until the wall has been repaired. We need all eyes on him at all times."

Hanji raised their hand. “Can I study him?”

“From afar,” Erwin warned.

“Yes,” Hanji grinned.

“Erwin, we just saw that titan kill other titans,” Levi retorted, “How the hell are we supposed to counter attack if that gun is turned on us.”

“I don’t know,” Erwin answered, “But if we play our cards right, we could have a valuable asset to humanity and the Survey Corps. Mortality rates among troops would be reduced. Knowledge could be shared. Territory could be expanded.”

“Or this titan could let other ones in,” Mike retorted.

“But he’s killing our titans,” Hanji retorted.

“I meant others like him,” Mike clarified, “He smells different from the other titans. He smells like metal, gunpowder, and smoke. Erwin, what if he’s not the only one?”

“…I don’t know how to provide a solution to that,” Erwin confessed, “But I can’t pass up this opportunity out of fear. This is the first time in a long time that humanity has had hope. I’m not going to throw away that chance.”

The others looked at each other with concern before turning back to their Commander.

“Whatever you say,” Levi spoke, “We trust you.”

“Thank you,” Erwin said, glancing back to see the titan at the entrance to the Walls. He could’ve sworn that the titan looked back at them and the two made eye contact. Erwin could feel it in his gut. This was the beginning. This was the beginning of humanity’s counterattack.

(A few notes:

-Again, the shorter pilots out of the other two. Peaceful Timeline and Beloved Timeline needed to set up characters and the weight of time. Episode 1 doesn't need to do that because it's the beginning of the series. -I wanted to show that Reiner was panicked at the sight of Optimus. Not just because he was ill-prepared for a titan like him, but also because Reiner is still not in the correct emotional headspace after the loss of Marcel just hours prior. -Also Bertholdt had to carry Annie and run along the Wall for miles just to find a way to sneak in lol. -Also, also, because of Optimus' lack of information about titan shifters and the situation he's presented with, yes, he would kill Reiner on the spot because he doesn't know. This ultimately ends up eating him alive later down this timeline. -Carla's paralyzed but still alive. I figured Optimus' intervention in Episode 1 would save her life, because fuck fate. Am I right?

Anyway, take a look at my other stuff or the extensions of this timeline posted on my Masterlist and have a good one).

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