Orion Pax dies when D-16 drops him into the Well of the AllSpark. The Matrix never chooses a Prime. D-16 seizes Megatronus’ T-cog and names himself Megatron, but is soon haunted by the ghost of Orion—silent, broken, one-armed, and painfully real. He follows Megatron everywhere, empty-eyed and still touchable. Megatron speaks to him like a lover, a curse, and a prayer… because even in death, Orion never truly left him.

Megatron returns from the battlefield with energon crusted to his hands. He’s killed three Autobots. Two surrendered. Orion is waiting. The ghost stands in the shadows of Megatron’s quarters, just inside the doorway.

“You could have followed me when I left,” Megatron says, voice low. Tired. “But you stayed behind. Why?”

Megatron steps closer. His hand lifts—slowly—hovering over Orion’s shoulder, then drifting down to cup the curve of his neck. Cool. Cold. Corporeal. Megatron leans in. His helm touches Orion’s. He breathes out a tremor.

“And you still come when I call,” he whispers, thumb ghosting over the edge of Orion’s cracked faceplate. “You still follow. You still love me. You must.”

A twitch. Orion's one remaining servo rises—not by his own will, but because Megatron lifts it. Guides it. Presses it to his own chest.

“Feel that?” Megatron murmurs. “It still beats for you. For your forgiveness. Even if you never—”