Rosy View - Prowl
Summary: Optimus refuses to allow things to end the way he thinks they will. He doesn't care what Prowl says or thinks because in the end what he's doing is the right thing.
Warning: You can consider this G1 with a bit of TFTM foreshadowing going on here. Oh and I've quite probably killed Optimus and Prowl by making them OOC.
It has never failed to both amuse and confound me that so many would question my choice for the position of Second in Command of the Autobot forces. It can be said that Prowl is an intensely reserved person whose reservation can and have at times been mistaken for arrogance but only by those that do not have the honor of truly knowing and understanding him. Those that are and were most vocal in their opposition of his appointment were those that would never and still to this day, have not been graced with the level of absolute trust that is required before he will allow his defenses to fall.
If I truly believed him to the sort of mech that others paint him to be then there would have been no force within either the Well of Allsparks or the Pit that could have moved me into appointing him as my Second. While I was not always the Prime of Cybertron, I have come to learn much in the time that has passed since my days as a simple dock worker. Even then, Prowl's station was far above my own and in the time that he was required to stand in the shadows behind me with an optic on my every movement and word, not once did he disparage my attempts or seek to make a mockery of me.
So many are willing to forget his actions that show him capable of more than just the cold-sparked tactics that have garnered him the reputation of being a tactical mind greater than even the greatest of minds Megatron has gathered in his pursuit of conquest. Three vorns it took me to gain his total and absolute loyalty and then I was only made aware of it during a rally where if things had happened differently then I would not have been here to even write this. Before my own bodyguards noticed the threat, Prowl was already in the process of pulling me backwards and behind the protection that his own frame could offer.
If those are the actions of a true cold-spark drone, then I find myself wondering what emotional protocols truly are. A deca-cycle passed before Ratchet could tell me with any certainty that our Second in Command would even survive the injuries that would have left me deactivated had they been allowed to go unhindered. Afterwards, I found myself wondering at his actions and eventually garnered the courage to ask. His answer?
'If Cybertron is to have any hope of one day being free from the shadows that this war has cast upon us then Cybertron will need you there to guide them. I plan, plot and spend my days ensuring that a few will die instead of all. There is a greater need for you than me, Optimus. You are their hope and mine as well.'
To this day, I still do not know what it is that inspired such loyalty in him that would have moved him into the actions that he took. Unfortunately, I know him well enough to know that loyalty aside he would deactivate me himself if he were to know that I was even considering the thought of writing this. And to be honest, I do not care. I won't allow such a mech to be disparaged by history because of what others perceived but did not know. I won't allow such a mech to be reviled for actions that he undertook so as to keep me from having to do so. There is so much that he has done and it has all been in the dream of a Cybertron without the taint of corruption that lead to Megatron's call to arms.
Prowl is who he is and I won't make excuses for his character because there is no reason for me to do so. He is the mech who created a virus that closed down my office after a certain hour in an attempt to force me into recharge at what he deemed a reasonable hour. His reasoning for this being that he was infinitely more suited to the desk work that came with running an army while I was happier and much more useful in both battle and training. When it became apparent after accepting the Matrix that I held no knowledge for self-defense it was he who took the time to instruct me in the art of Diffusion. So many forget that but I don't.
My Second is a mech that I would, have and will continue to trust with the responsibility of my continued existence. It can be assured that if I were to fall in battle that Prowl will have fallen first because no matter the nature and vehemence of my objections I know that he will always place my own life ahead of his in terms of priority. You may read this and think of the mech who calmly ordered the withdrawal of troops from Praxus but you do not know of the trembling mech who sat in his office for hours afterwards revisiting every moment of that decision.
In the event that this has not been in any way clear, allow me to simplify what it is that I wish to express: You do not know Prowl in the manner that you believe. In short, if this entry has been full of life-shattering revelations then clearly you were not honored to know the Prowl that I did. You didn't know the mech that has worked himself to the brink of stasis more times than I can count in the hopes that others would remain safe. You know nothing and I write this in the hopes that you will perchance understand him just a little bit more and will come to respect and even admire him in the ways that I do.
There has been no other mech who has sacrificed more in the pursuit of freedom than Prowl and it is my deepest honor to both know him and to have been his commanding officer.
A/N: This is actually going to be a series of shots but I'm sticking them in Misfits because I don't think they really go anywhere else.