Title: Far Far Away
Fandom: Movieverse AU (Dark AU of Patronus-Verse)
Rating: PG
Summary: For now, the plan was simple. Keep Sam as far away from the mech he had "saved" as possible, lest he tip Optimus to destruction before they were ready to stop him. What else was a guardian to do?
Content: Dark Optimus
Notes: Ficlet written for Ultharkitty's TF Comment Fic and Art Party for the prompt: Bumblebee, Sam, "Let's get out of here." Post 2007 movie, Dark AU to Patronus-verse, familiarity with other stories unneeded.
There was Optimus before the destruction of the AllSpark.
And there was Optimus after.
While humans were not as receptive to sparkfields, even Sam could sense the change. The human boy could not articulate it, but Bumblebee saw the subtle cringes, the adrenal surges of fear that morphed into active avoidance. It would have hurt his spark to observe had he not already been too full of hurt to feel it. Instead, he watched the growing distance with relief, wondering when it would no longer be enough.
Bumblebee, unlike his human ward, could fully sense the change, and understood far too well what it was. The AllSpark's wounding on Cybertron had dealt the first blow, but it had been damage Prime's cohort could contain and soothe.
This was beyond what their sparks could mend and balance.
The Primes of legend had always been a balance of creation and destruction, for one could not exist with the other. Now Bumblebee understood the precariousness of this balance all too well. On the surface it was still the same Optimus, awesome power overlying vast wisdom and knowledge. But the power was skewed, and beneath that well of wisdom lay something sinister, no longer contained by creation's balance.
Bumblebee knew Optimus was tipping toward destruction as surely as he knew he had to keep Sam away, for the boy's own welfare and their own. Sam was the innocent agent of genocide. Had Prime himself been destroyed in the wounded Cube's destruction, perhaps the balance would somehow have been kept. Or perhaps a new Cube, whole and undamaged would have emerged from the melding of those energies. But in his heroism and desire to save a life, Sam had unknowingly summoned the Destroyer who, once roused, would take vengeance upon all who had a part in Creation's end. Bumblebee pitied any Decepticon stragglers who might remain after the fall of their master. They would be the first, he guessed. The obvious choices for destruction. But Sam would be next, and then perhaps even humanity and Earth itself, along with the remaining Autobots.
It was only a matter of time.
They all knew. Across the cohort bonds Bumblebee could feel the others making their own private preparations. There was no need to speak of it. They each had made a promise to Optimus when he had been whole.
When the turning point came, they would stop him, or extinguish trying.
For now, the plan was simple. Keep Sam as far away from the mech he had "saved" as possible, lest he tip Optimus to destruction before they were ready to stop him. What else was a Guardian to do?
"Why don't you make like a tree and get outta here," the voice of the clip announced, which earned him a slap of exasperation from the human leaning on his hood.
"Oh yeah, where am I going?" Sam asked, sliding into the driver's seat, easy affection in the grip of his hand on the wheel.
"Far far away from here," a little voice pleaded.
"You want to go on a road trip, just have to ask, Bee," Sam replied.
Soundclips:
Biff from Back to the Future and Jenny from Forest Gump.