Just another little two-shot because this little idea has been nagging me for this one last time!
"Wisdom cannot be granted, Arcee. It must be earned, sometimes at a cost."
For a brief moment, the femme thought she could hear concern, the slightest hint of care in her leader's voice. But, the more his words echoed in her helm the only thing she could hear was disappointment. Whatever emotion that the Prime tried so hard to convey, it was only a twinkling of an optic compared to the anger boiling inside the femme, the pain that stabbed her own being, and the shame that made her spark ache.
She dug her digits into the rocky sand that she sat upon, scooping up the soil as clenched her servo. Her optic ridges furrowed as she looked at the clump of dirt in her servo, imagining it to be Starscream's spark. Clenching tight, she squeeze the ball of dirt as she dreamt of crushing the one who terminated her partner's own life-force. She was so close to gaining what she needed to do, to have...
Revenge.
"Revenge will not bring back those we care about."
Her clenched fist slowly opened, allowing the dust to seep through her digits and be carried off by the wind. Dim, blue optics gazed, following the dirt dance across the air and fly past her beloved partner's memorial. "But it will dull the pain, won't it Cliff'?" Arcee spoke, looking at the pile of stacked stones shadows splaying from behind as the last rays of sun casted. "Won't it...?" she uttered quietly.
Silence was her only answer.
Silence and the distance of it, how it so reminded her of Optimus. The leader tried hard to understand of her woes, and to understand her what crushed her very essence. But, when he got too close, Arcee was left back to her solitude as he hid away his own emotions behind his face mask.
He gives up too easily, the femme thought, managing a dry laugh. "I don't think he'll ever understand...He's never been through what I have..." she murmured.
Silence once again surrounded her.
Her winglets twitched and her servos clenched again as she bit her glossa. Lies. Optimus did know what she had been through.
...And, sadly, all too well.
Okay! End of part one and I'll see you next update for part two where we will be taking a leap back into time during Cybertron's golden age :D