Absolution
By SMYGO4EVA
"You think that you can change things," Optimus said, "but nothing will bring Tailgate or Cliffjumper back."
"I know that," Arcee curtly responded, turning her back, spine stiff with tension. All Optimus wanted to do was touch her, ease the stresses away, make her forget, make her laugh; make her smile, but nothing was that simple.
Optimus knew how deep grief went, how it can inhabit a warrior's spark until it became knotted, tangled and sharp like knives.
"Vengeance does not bring satisfaction, Arcee." Optimus told her. "It does not bring peace."
"I don't want peace," Arcee said.
She faced the Prime, looking him in the optics, gaze fierce and strong as fire.
"Will you help me?" she asked. "That's all I need to know."
"You know I will never back down. As your leader and a fellow warrior, I will never leave you," Optimus declared.
"But will you help me?"
"Yes."
"Then we should go," Arcee answered.
Her servos had switched to her blasters, and Optimus knew that this would not end well, that nothing good can come of what they were about to do.
Someone will perish, the Prime knew that, and the only question that remained unanswered is who.
But his place was there, beside Arcee, a fellow soldier, and he would not leave.
"I am ready," rumbled Optimus, and he was.
For whatever awaited them, he was ready.