Work Text:
Transformers: We Came in War
Indiana
For Tyra
Setting: Sometime during the Bay films
Characters: Optimus Prime
We came to this planet because ours was gone.
The quest for power consumed our home. The need for domination destroyed us. Still we live, and yet there is a piece in each of us that has been decimated forever. We will never recover what we have lost.
I look down upon this planet, and I wonder why we try.
It is evident by now that we have lost the capacity for peace. War follows in our wake. We came to retrieve the AllSpark, which has long since been lost, and we are still here. All that came of attempting to revive our planet was the relocation of the war from our planet of death to this planet of life. There is so much life on this planet. All of it we have sworn to protect. This is the promise we have made to them. But the promise would not need to have been made if we had never come here.
I have seen these people come together to battle things far greater than themselves. I have seen them come together in the face of incredible hardship. I have seen them rebuild with the determination that only comes when things are at their worst. But that is not all I have seen.
I have seen what destruction those great battles leave behind. I have seen those trials break those who were once indestructible. I have seen those who are left forgotten once the foundations of the future have been laid. We may well end up destroying this world as we have done our own. And though I wish no further harm on these people, who have been kind enough to let us into their home, I regret that we must continue to stay. Departure is no longer an option. We have left our mark upon this planet, a mark that will never be erased or forgotten. And though we will uphold our promise, I cannot honestly say anything good will come of it. Our presence will only continue to bring ill fortune. It is a terrible thing to be both the sword and the shield.
There are those of us who know only devastation. Those of us who remember only devastation and suffering. I wish to end that for those of us that are left, so that we may all know peace and stability. I fear I will never bring it about, for each time it is within our grasp some new strife befalls us. It is at times like these where the burden I bear is heavy beyond all measure. These people have their own wars to win, and I have forced them into mine.
I cannot restore my planet. It is beyond saving. But this one is not.
As much as we are to blame for putting the humans in harm’s way, our presence here can also be seen as a light in the dark. We are a living example of what corruption can do to a society. We must show them that war solves nothing. Peace is neither glorious nor profitable. It is a long and sometimes arduous endeavour. But for all the time that peace takes, it leaves behind what war ravages. Structures made with damaged foundations fall, as do peoples brought under sway by violence. Unrest dominates governments forged of iron fists. Progress is best made slowly and steadily.
We must teach them to fight only as necessary. To never crumble when things are at their most desolate. We must teach them the lesson we failed to learn before it was too late. I am Optimus Prime, and I send this message to anyone who, as I have, falters in their resolve against the dark. Know that your goal is noble, and worth fighting for.