Chapter Text
Prowl froze at the words out of his own mouth.
It had been a long time since Prowl had called anyone else Captain.
It had been even longer since anyone had truly argued with Prowl.
At the start of Prowl's career,arguments had been impossible to avoid, constantly having to use to the law to force his fellow enforcers to do their actual duty and using those same laws to remove those who did not.
As Prowl had climbed his way up the ranks, weeding out the incompetent and the corrupt, these arguments had dwindled till there was no one left to argue with. And now Captain of all Praxus' enforcers, he hadn't needed to justify his actions to anyone else for a long time.
A sobering thought caught Prowl's processor like the screech of a record scratch. Had Prowl turned himself into the likes of Sentinel Prime? Surounding himself with sycophants and cowards, agreeing to his everyword, afraid of the concesquences should they speak against him.
The gears in Prowl's processor churned to think that he could have become everything he had most loathed.
Whilst another part of him, something close to his spark, couldn't help but see something of himself in the Governor, and respect him for now being afraid to speak his mind.
Against his own desires, he part of him couldn't help but see himself in the tutor.
And respect him for not being afraid to spesk his mind.
Not that he would say that to monk in training.
Especially now that his similar shock had now turned smug.
"I mean to say Governor." Prowl tried to backtracked. But that smug smile remained and despite not being able to see under that visor, Prowl was sure the mech was raising his ridges at him.
It was the only thing about the mexh that Prowl was sure of.
The monk in training was an enigma Prowl had not yet been able to decipher.
He was not like the other aposels that Prowl had met. As a pupil of Master Yoketron, Prowl had expected someone strict in the teaching's of Primus, who followed every rule to the letter, even to the own detrimental. But despite being a follower of Primus, Jazz apeared to have no interest in following anyone.
Prowl was not a believer in Primus himself. He had seen too much, lost too much, to belive in any divine justice. The only justice in this world was his own. And he made an oath to himself to keep it.
He suposed in that regard they were not too dissimilar, following their own morals for the sake of the sparklings.
However, to not be afriad to challenge authority was one thing. Insubordination was another.
And Prowl could not trust the safety of his sparklings to someone who would ignore a direct order by deliberately putting his sparklings in danger.
Prowl schooled his features back to usual stoicism. "You will pack your things at once. I want you gone withing the hour."
For once the Governor didn't argue, the dim of acceptance in his visor was almost unnatural in its lack of light.
For all Prowl could say about the Governor, and he could say a lot, a lack of life was not one of them. For a moment Prowl's iritation faded to concern.
Before he examined that thought further, Prowl's audial's were alerted to the sound of something echoing from inside the house, a strange anomoly since place was usually silent.
"What is that?" Prowl wondered aloud.
"It's singing."
Prowl felt that ire return in abundance at the sarcasm.
"Yes I know it is singing. But by who?"
"The sparklings." The Governor replied.
"The sparklings?" Prowl couldn't believe it.
These voices sounded so alive in happiness. And ever since their Carrier had passed, his sparklings had only known Sanders. Therefore this expression of joy could not belong to his creations. It was impossible.
Yet, Prowl thought his spark recognised the voices of his creations.
Like a magnet, he felt himself drawn to the sound, needing to prove with his own two optics what he knew could not be true.
But he was proved wrong, as there in the drawing room Prowl suddenly found himself standing in, were his creations, all sevel of them singing out their sparks.
His processor pinged that Mirage and Tracks were in the room as well, watching the performance, but his spark only had optics for his creations.
His beautiful creations, who's smiles he could see on their faces and hear in their songs.
It had been so long since he had seen his sparklings happy. Not since their carrier died. Therefore he had calculated that they could only be happy again with a new creator.
Prowl's arm twitched in an aborted reach.
He had forced all feeling from his spark. He needed to be strong, a sturdy presence for his people and for his family, so that they did not crumble. However, he was now just realising that without them, he was the one who would have crumbled.
His creations did not need him, as evidenced by how even if they faltered at his presence, they carried on, their voices steady, strong and loud, refusing to ot be heard.
But that did not mean they did not want him. He hoped they still did. As he wanted nothing more than to have their sparks to light up his life.
This time, Prowl allowed himself to reach out fully, holding his arms out wide.
"I apologise. I-" Prowl choked, his tact net processor as usual struggling to convert his emotions into words.
But his creations had always been some of the few to understand him. They barreled towards him, nearly topplying Prowl over with the force of their love. But Prowl didn't care, gathered them all in his arms, touching each and everyone of them, making sure they too could feel how much they were loved.
Chevron pressed against that of his eldest, Prowl nearly missed the Governor watching. But out of the corner of his optic, he caught the mech's face peeking out behind the doorframe.
This time, there was no smugness on their face, only a soft sincere smile, happy because the sparklings were.
Suddenly that smile stilled, frozen as the Governor realised he's been caught. Prowl didn't have time to think before he had scurried away.
Prowl looked back at his creations, the seven of them, so scarily observant for ones so young, already staring at him with expecting optics.
Prowl nodded, reluctant to let go now he had his creations back, but knowing that if he did not right his wrong now, then he would loose them forever.
After one last hug, Prowl raced back into the hall to see the Governor already half way up the stairs.
"Governor!" Prowl shouted. Thankfully he stopped, crossing his arms under his chasis as he turned around.
Prowl straightened himself, still trying hold himself to decorum as thier superior despite the state he knew he was in. "I behaved badly. I apologise."
Thier visor flashed, in another rare show of shock. But that too vanished a moment later as the Governor shrugged a shoulder.
"You don't have to. I never know when to shut my big mouth. My creators always said was one of my worst faults."
An easy smile returned to his face but Prowl could tell in how it did not crease into dimples on thier cheeks that it was not real. Which would not do. The one responsible for making his sparklings happy deserved to feel happiness themselves.
"I would argue that it was one of your greatest. As without it, I would not have realised how badly I had wronged my creations. How badly I had wronged you." Prowl made sure to look at the midnight glow of the visor, hoping that underneath the glass, those optics knew he was speaking from his spark. "I lost their Carrier, I could not have lived with myself if I had lost my Creations too."
"You haven't lost them yet. There's still time."
"There is, thanks to you." Prowl knew he still had eons to make up for, but even if it took the rest of his existence to be worthy of his creator's trust again, then so be it. "You brought life back onto this house. I had forgotten the sight of my sparkling's smiles."
"I'm glad I could help you." The Governor smiled, genuine this time, even if it was tainted by a strange sadness. Before Prowl could decipher why, the mech had already turned to continue thier way up the stairs.
"Where are you going?"
"To follow your orders." Prowl was suprisingly glad to hear some of that stubbornness return to their tone."I need to pack my things. My mission is complete."
He turned again. Before Prowl's processor even realised what he was doing, the Captain cried after him.
"Jazz wait! I want you to stay!"
Jazz froze, presumably as shocked by the sound of his own name coming out of Prowl's mouth as Prowl was.
"I mean, I ask you to stay."
Thankfully, Jazz decided not to comment on his akward recovery.
"Well, Primus did put me here to help."
"You already have. More than you know."
Prowl marched himself back into the drawing room he could embaress himself further. As Jazz's superior, it was still pertinent that he maintained an environment of decorum afterall. Besides, Prowl had time with his sparklings to make up for.