(no subject)
So, finally got the laptop working after much difficulty, forgetting of passwords and need to restore everything to factory settings in order to regain access because of aforementioned lost password.
Computer fail, thy name is Mikaela. Probably why I'm a little annoyed at the moment.
At any rate, somehow amidst all this, inspiration struck. Very strange, thinky and pretentious inspiration, but I'll take what I can get. So, without further ado, I give you:
Title: Prisoner of War
Characters/Pairings: Optimus Prime, Orion Pax (It makes sense if you read it), ensemble
Verse: G1
Rating: PG-13, unless anyone finds the idea of child soldiers particularly triggering.
Warnings: Allusions to nasty war-stuff, but nothing particularly overt.
Summary: This is war, and bad things happen. But it doesn't mean he has to like it.
This is war.
Somewhere deep inside, he is aware of this. It has been a long time since he was as he used to be, a simple dock worker unconcerned with the snarls and intricacies of politics. Those days of frivolity are gone, locked away in the chains of Time from which nothing can ever be recovered.
He is a leader now.
This is something he knows well; something Alpha Trion built so deeply inside of this new form of his that it has become him. He is a leader, a leader is him; the two do not exist separately, and he has no purpose beside this - to lead, through the good times and the bad. He can do nothing else.
Conflict is inevitable.
As it has always been. Deep inside, two selves fight; only one wins. The only one that can win - has won - has fought Megatron to a standstill; long ago immured from the charms of the dark liberator, unlike his predecessor. Somewhere deep inside, that one still admires the marvellous flying robots; military hardware all, so awe-inspiring, so different - so other.
Sometimes he would like to forget it all. Let everything go; be someone else. Someone who has no responsibilities and no one to depend on him; someone who is free to do as they please.
But that is only sometimes. Most of the time, he knows his place; is content to lead and be followed. He enjoys it, as much as he can; enjoys showing others how things are done, guiding them through the horrors of war without emerging too pitted and scarred. He likes to think that he has helped keep that life-sweet soul-fire alive in them. He likes to think he has made a difference and that he can continue to do so.
He likes to think lots of things, but he knows many of them are mere wishful thinking - if not outright delusions. Because he does like to think that the war will be over, that somehow he can convince Megatron that war is not the way - though both sides know that is not a possibility.
He likes to think that peace would make up for the innocence war stole from his youngest soldiers - Grimlock, Snarl, Swoop, Sludge, Slag, Silverbolt, Air Raid, Skydive, Slingshot, Fireflight, Hot Spot, Groove, Blades, Streetwise and First Aid. Children all; and he thinks the humans would shun them forevermore if they truly understood that there is a learning period for Transformers as well.
Sometimes he shudders in horror that he has done that to them, that he - the mighty, all-knowing Prime - was the one who threw these children into the war. But then he looks through the mirror and knows that whatever damage has been done to their psyches, it is far less than what Decepticon life has inflicted upon the Stunticons.
And then he looks at the imbalance and hates himself again for the lack of trained warriors that led to the need to make children fight.
Bad things happen.
This is war, and there are many horrors excused in its name that would be forever denounced by peaceful society. He is a leader now, and he must make harsh decisions; such is his lot in life. Conflict is inevitable - against foe, against friend, even against himself. Bad things happen, and it is left to him to try and atone for them, to achieve a balance of things that are good.
This is war, and this is what he was made for, but nobody said that he ever had to like it.
Computer fail, thy name is Mikaela. Probably why I'm a little annoyed at the moment.
At any rate, somehow amidst all this, inspiration struck. Very strange, thinky and pretentious inspiration, but I'll take what I can get. So, without further ado, I give you:
Title: Prisoner of War
Characters/Pairings: Optimus Prime, Orion Pax (It makes sense if you read it), ensemble
Verse: G1
Rating: PG-13, unless anyone finds the idea of child soldiers particularly triggering.
Warnings: Allusions to nasty war-stuff, but nothing particularly overt.
Summary: This is war, and bad things happen. But it doesn't mean he has to like it.
This is war.
Somewhere deep inside, he is aware of this. It has been a long time since he was as he used to be, a simple dock worker unconcerned with the snarls and intricacies of politics. Those days of frivolity are gone, locked away in the chains of Time from which nothing can ever be recovered.
He is a leader now.
This is something he knows well; something Alpha Trion built so deeply inside of this new form of his that it has become him. He is a leader, a leader is him; the two do not exist separately, and he has no purpose beside this - to lead, through the good times and the bad. He can do nothing else.
Conflict is inevitable.
As it has always been. Deep inside, two selves fight; only one wins. The only one that can win - has won - has fought Megatron to a standstill; long ago immured from the charms of the dark liberator, unlike his predecessor. Somewhere deep inside, that one still admires the marvellous flying robots; military hardware all, so awe-inspiring, so different - so other.
Sometimes he would like to forget it all. Let everything go; be someone else. Someone who has no responsibilities and no one to depend on him; someone who is free to do as they please.
But that is only sometimes. Most of the time, he knows his place; is content to lead and be followed. He enjoys it, as much as he can; enjoys showing others how things are done, guiding them through the horrors of war without emerging too pitted and scarred. He likes to think that he has helped keep that life-sweet soul-fire alive in them. He likes to think he has made a difference and that he can continue to do so.
He likes to think lots of things, but he knows many of them are mere wishful thinking - if not outright delusions. Because he does like to think that the war will be over, that somehow he can convince Megatron that war is not the way - though both sides know that is not a possibility.
He likes to think that peace would make up for the innocence war stole from his youngest soldiers - Grimlock, Snarl, Swoop, Sludge, Slag, Silverbolt, Air Raid, Skydive, Slingshot, Fireflight, Hot Spot, Groove, Blades, Streetwise and First Aid. Children all; and he thinks the humans would shun them forevermore if they truly understood that there is a learning period for Transformers as well.
Sometimes he shudders in horror that he has done that to them, that he - the mighty, all-knowing Prime - was the one who threw these children into the war. But then he looks through the mirror and knows that whatever damage has been done to their psyches, it is far less than what Decepticon life has inflicted upon the Stunticons.
And then he looks at the imbalance and hates himself again for the lack of trained warriors that led to the need to make children fight.
Bad things happen.
This is war, and there are many horrors excused in its name that would be forever denounced by peaceful society. He is a leader now, and he must make harsh decisions; such is his lot in life. Conflict is inevitable - against foe, against friend, even against himself. Bad things happen, and it is left to him to try and atone for them, to achieve a balance of things that are good.
This is war, and this is what he was made for, but nobody said that he ever had to like it.