Fanfiction: The Test (Transformers Prime)

[nebroadwe]

Title: The Test (Part 2/2)
Fandom: Transformers Prime
Character(s): Bumblebee, Optimus Prime; mentions of Ratchet and Megatron
Pairing(s): None
Rating: PG-13 (this part; R overall)
Word Count: ~2700 (this part; ~8150 overall)
Warnings: Aftermath of torture (no sexual content), psychological distress.
A/N: I have freely interpreted various (and

Comments

[nebroadwe]

Thank you! You have no idea how relieved I am to discover that I didn't completely miss the mark here. Chapter one was all inspiration; chapter two was all technique and by the time I'd finished poking and tweaking and twiddling it, it didn't look like anything to me anymore. I am nowhere near as wise as Optimus Prime, so attempting his POV was a challenge of terrific proportions, but I had to try, because I wanted to draw out the contrast between his employment of power and Megatron's to clarify what it was that Bumblebee saw in the Autobot cause to make him hold to it, not just in the face of torment and possible death, but afterward. (And I wanted to do it all in words of one syllable -- okay, not more than two. Figuring out Bumblebee's "It was a show" dialogue was the first and most important breakthrough I had while drafting this part.) It was such a relief when Ratchet kept horning in and not just because his voice was easy to hear. I wanted it to be clear that he hadn't washed his hands of Bumblebee, even if he was relying on Optimus to balance his judgment in the wake of what he perceives as a dismal failure of care, and also that Optimus was taking his medical expertise seriously: he isn't going to send Bee back into battle if either the physical or psychological capacity isn't there for it, both for the ethical and practical reasons. But of course, what's happening here is that Bumblebee bent without breaking and will be heading back out into the field, not least because the field needs people who aren't just following the leader, but following the ideals.

Phew. I think I'm going to take a couple of days off from writing now to recover from the exhaustion ...