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Optimus Prime found herself lost again. Following the defeat of Sentinel Prime, he became a leader of sorts. It wasn’t exactly his idea but he fit well enough into the role and he knew it. Bumblebee had already adopted Optimus as a mentor and while they appreciate Bumblebee a lot, they knew that they could never possibly live up to Bumblebee’s expectations. Elita was another issue that Optimus Prime had yet to address. Elita expected great things from him and to be honest? It was all scary and overwhelming. D would have made a better leader but then he became…well Megatron. Or maybe he was always Megatron? Either way, Optimus Prime missed her friend. Badly. All the good times they had were now tainted and faded because of their not-so-final disagreement and fight.
Optimus was ripped from her thoughts by a knocking on her office door. It most certainly was Elita and Bumblebee checking in on him. He’d had this nasty habit of losing himself in his thoughts recently. Optimus Prime answered the knock.
“You may come in,” Optimus answered.
Sure enough, Elita and Bumblebee both entered the room. Bumblebee waved and Elita said, “Are you alright? You haven’t come out to check on your citizens.”
Optimus frowned. His citizens. Why was he even a leader? He hated this. He hated himself. He hated that he lost his best friend in the end. That he was alone now and his best friend was gone off somewhere. He never even got to compliment D’s tank transformation properly.
“Bumblebee and I have been worried about you, you know. You can tell us anything.”
Optimus Prime smiled at that. He should have known better than to doubt whether or not his friends would be there for him through this. Of course they would. But none of them were D. Optimus frowned again.
Bumblebee clapped to get Optimus’ attention and signed “We’re here for you, leader.”
Optimus smiled again and decided that if she was ever going to tell her friends about how she was feeling, it would have to be right now.
“I’m sorry for worrying you both. I appreciate the concern. And to be honest, I have been having a hard time.” Elita and Bumblebee’s faces shifted into frowns and they exchanged a worried glance.
“It’s nothing to worry about, really, it’s just that I’ve been feeling the loss of my best friend more than anything happy that came out of this. I’ve been worried for so long how people would react to me, as an individual. But I always had D by my side. And now…I don’t.”
Elita and Bumblebee came over behind Optimus’ desk and placed their hands on either of her shoulders. Elita was the first to say anything.
“I understand the feeling. I won’t get into why but I understand. Losing someone that is close to you…is horrible. And to be betrayed by them no less. And we will never try to replace D or Megatron or whoever he is. We only want you to know and understand that you’re not alone. You don’t always have to be strong with us. We’ll always have your back.”
Bumblebee began signing as well. “Love you so much. Never lose sight of who you are. We are your friends. We are here for you. No leader this time. We are your friends until the end.”
Optimus was holding back a sob at this point. She had friends and they were comforting her, not the other way around. Optimus felt that spark again, that hope that dwelled deep within her and she knew everything would be quite alright.