Ep. 1.5 - Consequences (closed)
Apr 2, 2013 2:42:10 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Apr 2, 2013 2:42:10 GMT -5
“In war… there needs to be blame.” Optimus waited a moment to make sure Shadow was still willing to listen, then continued. “I learned that early on. Responsibility and where it lies is at the core of so much destruction – who fired the first shot, who didn’t do their job, what weapon malfunctioned, what solar wind blew wrong… blame is at the core of why we can never seem to stop fighting. Blame is how we keep sane. A neutral civilian I barely know nearly got you, Ironhide, and Gasket killed. It is very… hard to forgive that. The mistake itself… then the wondering. I have sent countless friends to their deaths and that is the weight that I carry. What would she carry, I wonder, if Megatronus had killed you?”
He closed his optics briefly, the faint hum of his hydraulics quieting, as if he were consciously stilling them. When he opened them again the blue light of his stare held Shadow’s steadily. His voice held a rawer thread of frequency beneath the calm of his surface speech.
“It is not my place to tell another to lay down what they are carrying. The deaths, the memories, the names: they are not for forgetting lest we dishonor the lost. But, Shadow, just because another chooses not to carry their own weight does not mean you have pick it up. Do not carry Barricade’s blame, mine, Megatron’s, or any other burden that others have shrugged off like a spent ion rifle. Only carry yours.” He didn’t remember when he’d begun to speak so intensely, so focused nothing else might have existed beyond the Autobot in front of him. “Keep it,” he said. “Find a way to carry it. Lay it down in portions as you realize what was never yours to bear, but never lay it all down. I know this: when we are free of weight… that is when we have lost.”
He closed his optics briefly, the faint hum of his hydraulics quieting, as if he were consciously stilling them. When he opened them again the blue light of his stare held Shadow’s steadily. His voice held a rawer thread of frequency beneath the calm of his surface speech.
“It is not my place to tell another to lay down what they are carrying. The deaths, the memories, the names: they are not for forgetting lest we dishonor the lost. But, Shadow, just because another chooses not to carry their own weight does not mean you have pick it up. Do not carry Barricade’s blame, mine, Megatron’s, or any other burden that others have shrugged off like a spent ion rifle. Only carry yours.” He didn’t remember when he’d begun to speak so intensely, so focused nothing else might have existed beyond the Autobot in front of him. “Keep it,” he said. “Find a way to carry it. Lay it down in portions as you realize what was never yours to bear, but never lay it all down. I know this: when we are free of weight… that is when we have lost.”