Just something that came to me as I wrote Revenge of Optimus Prime. You know how in that story, I had it where Optimus killed the Fallen in Egypt as revenge for the death of his daughter, Talida. Well…that got me thinking. If I could rewrite Thunderbirds with Scott having a secret wife, if I can rewrite CSI with Nick being a single father to a three-year-old daughter, then I can rewrite the Transformers movies with Optimus being a single dad to Talida. But I'll just change her age. Because I want her to be six when the events in Dark of the Moon occur, I'm making her one in this one and three in Revenge of the Fallen.
© I do NOT own Transformers or any plot lines and characters related to the film. That belongs to Michael Bay and his crew and Paramount. And I'm saying that because I do not want him to blow me up in his next feature film…nor do I want to be flicked by Megatron.
© Talida belongs to me.
ENJOY!
Being a first-time father can be challenging on a guy. Being a single father can be more challenging. But being a single father to a techno-organic one-year-old when you are the commander of the Autobots and just happen to be in the middle of a war: that's the toughest challenge of them all.
But thankfully for one Optimus Prime, his young daughter, Talida, isn't as much of a handful as he first thought she would be. Partially, it would be because of the help his fellow soldiers gave him on occasions when he was at a crossroads during Talida's upbringing. But it was mainly because of the fact that she inherited her mother's easy-going traits that were already beginning to shine through. She also inherited her father's courage, kindness and determination. She may look like her human mother. But in personality aspects, she is so much like her father, it's not funny.
Optimus found it hard not to regret having sweet little Talida in his life. She gave him happiness after a hard day battling the occasional Decepticon. She gave him something that was worth fighting for in his war. She gave him everything a daughter could give her father and a whole lot more. When he found out about his human love's pregnancy, he was overjoyed. He screamed the good news to the heavens above…literally. I'm not kidding. But the one day that truly changed his life was the day of her birth. He couldn't be even happier to be her father. Something that also made him happy than ever was that when he was in his true form, she wasn't afraid of him. She wouldn't start crying or screaming in fear. He even took on the duty of naming his newborn daughter. He named her Talida Corrie Prime. Talida because it meant 'precious miracle' in Cybotronian (after all, the pregnancy wasn't an easy one) and Corrie after her mother's sister who was killed in an armed robbery two years before.
After Talida and her mother were discharged from the hospital, her mother began showing the classic signs of postpartum depression. (AN: For those who don't know what postpartum depression is, it's a form of clinical depression that affect women after giving birth to a child. At first, it may appear as baby blues. But the symptons last longer and are more intense. Symptoms include insomnia, difficulty bonding with the baby and thoughts of harming yourself and the baby. If left untreated for a long time, it could become deadly.) Understanding what postpartum depression was and what it meant (all thanks to Ratchet); Optimus immediately took to the duties of taking care of Talida until his human love was capable enough to participate in everyday life. Sadly, that day never came. After a day out with his three-month-old daughter, he returned to her house and found her lying on the bloody kitchen floor with her throat slit holding a suicide note saying how she was sorry and couldn't see a way out of the postpartum depression. On the day of her funeral, her family wanted nothing to do with Talida because of who Optimus was and the danger it would bring. So Optimus had no choice but to take on the duties of being both a mother and a mother to Talida. Immediately, his fellow Autobots volunteered to help with the task.
And honestly, he wouldn't have it any other way.
"Come on, sweetheart. It's time to bed," Optimus observed the time as he gently scooped one-year-old Talida into his hand.
"But I'm not tired!" Talida moaned, even though her huge yawn gave her away.
"Tally, you can't fool your Daddy," Optimus retorted as he affectionately tickled her with his finger.
"Story first?" Talida asked him cutely.
Optimus stared at his daughter and noticed the gleam in her eyes and the puppy dog look she was giving him. Optimus knew he was defeated. He can't say no to THAT.
"Alright. Story than bed," Optimus agreed as he leaned against the wall and let Talida rest on his chest plates, knowing she loved to rest there listening to his reassuring voice, "What story do you want?"
"Why we're doing this," Talida requested kindly.
Optimus sighed. That was one story he was hoping she wouldn't request. But she wanted to know what happened back then and why they were searching every corner of the galaxy. Besides, she seemed to understand everything he tells her. One thing that she definitely inherited was her father's vast intelligence. She even understood Ironhide's rambling about the weapons the Autobots, Decepticons and humans have in their possession and Ratchet's talks of medicine and repairations he's had to make over the span of his lifetime.
"Before time began, there was the Cube. We know not where it comes from. Only that it holds the power to create worlds and fill them with life. That is how our race was born. For a time, we lived in harmony. But like all great power, some wanted it for good, others for evil. And so began the war, a war that ravaged our planet until it was consumed by death. And the Cube was lost to the far reaches of space. We scattered across the galaxy, hoping to find it and rebuild our home, searching every star, every world. And just when all hope seemed lost, message of a new discovery brought us to an unknown planet called Earth," Optimus recalled as he saw Talida already beginning to doze off on his chest plates, "But we were already too late…"
"What do you mean?" Talida asked sleepily.
"I will continue the story tomorrow, princess. Right now, you need sleep," Optimus retorted as he placed her into her bed and covered her with the blankets.
"I'm not tired," Talida protested.
"Sure you aren't," Optimus agreed sarcastically as he bent down to kiss his daughter goodnight.
"But I wanna know what happens," Talida sulked.
"Alright, alright," Optimus sighed as he sat next to her bed, "It all started at a United States SOCCENT Air Base in a place called Qatar. The Special Ops team that was beginning to arrive at the base didn't know what was coming and couldn't anticipate the events that night…"
OK. For the first part of it, I'm going to have it where Optimus is retelling the events of the film until the part where everyone first meets Sam and Mikaela. So it's all gonna be alike.
BYE!
