Chasm
By Any Unborn Child
Whenever Arcee heard Optimus Prime's vocal processor, all other thoughts disappeared. As she thought back to this observation from time to time, she definitely understood why this happened.
His voice captivated anyone who heard it. That she knew. With the slightest intonation, the rise and fall of his voice, as well as the steady rhythm of which he spoke, could soothe even the most savage of being. Oddly enough, it has done nothing to quell Megatron's anger and resentment.
When the past was brought up, Optimus Prime often spoke of trying to change Megatron's ways, and how he was still attempting to do so to this day. So far, this process had taken megacycles. In between the long periods of war, back on Cybertron, and again here on Earth, multiple breaks of unease and uncertainty had changed very little on both sides. Megatron was still trying to eradicate Optimus, as well as the rest of Team Prime, and was now trying to claim the Earth as his own to rule. Optimus was still carrying on in his own way, his unfaltering stance at the ready for anything that could happen, as well as for anything that will happen.
There was a lot that Arcee did not understand about Optimus Prime. She respected him greatly, of course. There was no question about it. She had been through so much with the rest of the team, with him, and no amount of enemy attacks would eradicate the bond that they shared.
Even so, there was much about Optimus that she did not know. She only had a vague idea of what he was like before he became a Prime, from what Ratchet told everyone. Optimus had told the team about that past himself, the tenor of his vocal processor every word he spoke carrying much meaning and much weight, was valuable. Those times, however, were few and far apart. She clung to those words, repeated them over and over again in her mind, trying to extract whatever information she could from what little he said.
It was puzzling why this bothered Arcee so much. Before his disappearance, she took whatever Optimus said into account, and she was not afraid to speak her mind about certain situations and ideas. They had shared experiences, emotions, a bond that could not possibly be broken.
At least, until that moment.
That moment when Optimus did not recognize his own team – recognition and hopes dashed with just a blank stare, optics searching for something that was not there.
For that time, and continuing even now, everything seemed to go slower. Normal reactions were frozen by the icy stares of forgotten memories.
In that moment, everything vanished, crumbled, rusted over and fell into the gaping chasm. This chasm led to everywhere and yet to nowhere.
Time and time again, Arcee tried to shake these thoughts out of her processors. She tried to replace them with Optimus' words of encouragement, solace, direction, determination, power, strength, comfort…memory.
To no avail.
If only for that moment, for everyone, for Arcee – it was the end.
It was the end of the beginning.