#gladiator au

When Sentinel gives chase to Wasp they end up blowing up the space bridge. Wasp still escapes through it like normal but Sentinel is caught in the blast.

He gets send back in time to before the war, his frame getting altered as well. Once waking up he finds himself around the construction of said space bridge, the crew working being confused how he ended up there.

This cybertron has still a caste system and everything (tfp for inspo). With Sentinel not being registered anywhere and his frame looking closer to a warframe than before he gets thrown to the gladiators for the time being. Which is where he'll meet Megatron and a large part of the decepticons.

He'll have his troubles at the start but the main idea is that no matter where he goes he's an outsider. He doesn't know anyone… or well, he does know Ultra Magnus but he doesn't know Sentinel yet.

It takes time to adjust and surprisingly enough he seems to fit in more with the "rowdy, stinking gladiators" as he called them before. He misses his buffers though. But his new life is slowly improving… which he learns is due to Megatron starting the decepticon uprising.

He does not like that, he knows how bad the war will be. But his attempts to kill Megatron did nothing so far. Not having many options Sentinel decides to play nice and hopes he can sway Megatrons opinion by becoming his second in command. Most likely leaking decepticon intel to the autobots if he could.

While he has to deal with Starscream not being happy about him "sucking up" to Megatron he is also faced with Megatron misunderstanding his advances as something entirely else.

No I don't know yet how to make them fall in love but it happens.

As things escalate more and more towards a full blown war Sentinel is trying everything to prevent the worst. But when they're having a skirmish near a suspiciously familiar space bridge Sentinel is sent back to the present.

He wakes up barely 5min after the explosion. His frame is his old one but he can't help but feel wrong in it. Jazz is there, making sure he's alright and wow, Sentinel didn't know he'd ever feel this happy to see his face.

Life returns to normal… as normal as can be. Sentinel keeps digging through the archive, trying to find proof about himself from the past. Barely anything besides a few victories in the arena by someone with his name. And he remembers those fights… but does that proof it was him back then?

Eventually he travels to earth with Ultra Magnus and Jazz to get Optimus and his crew. Hearing about the decepticons being on earth he does not dare to hope but he wants to see Megatron again. He has to know if any of this was real.

Now of course you have Megatron. He had a trusted sic, someone he was loving dearly, who supported him but also brought up valuable points to his plans. And then he lost him. Thinking the explosion completely destroyed him, no trace of him left.

How much frustration and hurt did he carry into the war, on top of his other plans?

And now someone who claims to be him is standig before you.

That's where I'm still struggling to continue because it could go so many different ways. Heartful reunion is my fave though. Them figuring out together what to do - Sentinel wanting to stop the war, Megatron needing to finish what he started. While trying to have a relationship that the autobots won't understand (did Sentinel get brainwashed suddenly?? Or is he a spy?) and the decepticons won't necessarily get until they understand it's the same Sentinel they've known from back in the day.