Prompt: "I met you, the stars sparkled, and I was born"

Summary: Prowl has always been there.

In the beginning, the world was dark. A voice came out of the darkness, saying unto me, "Thou art the child of my spark. Come into the world and receive thy proper form."

And there was a world. I found myself cradled in the hand of a giant. There were others with me, and gradually, the giant added more until there were thirteen of us in all.

Then our creator, our god, our world, gave us our tasks. To my first brother, he gave the task of keeping the light, the Matrix of Leadership. To my second brother he gave the guardianship of space and time. In this manner, he gave us all our tasks.

My duty was to be the gateway for the newsparks, to send them to the proper frame at the proper time. It was an honourable duty, one I was proud to have, and I worked hard at it, taking care of the fragile new lives that passed through my hands. My brothers and I were good guardians and our world, our society, was peaceful and productive.

Then came Unicron. Many of my brothers were killed, their sparks fleeing back to Primus' care. Primus himself was badly wounded, both in body and spirit, since one of my brothers turned his back on Primus and threw his lot in with Unicron.

After the defeat of Unicron and the Fallen, Primus folded himself into his alt form to heal and left the care of his body and his creations to those who remained. One sad duty, however, remained before he did this.

He took away my charge. The Fallen had the task of creating the bodies for the newsparks that I had charge over, and since the Fallen was gone and Primus had removed his charge, he worried that my duty would give the Fallen a gateway to come back from the dimension he'd be thrown into. He created the Allspark with my assistance; it would be the new gateway for the newsparks, and the formation of bodies would be left to the people themselves. I poured my spark into the Allspark, giving it my devotion, my empathy, my joy and my spirit – everything that I put into choosing the correct spark for the correct frame – and stepped back. Primus activated the cube, then folded himself into his planetary form and left the guarding of the cube to me. I served as the primary priest of the Allspark until another appropriate spark came along and I could pass the duty onto him.

I worked until I could find my place in this new society. Primus continued to help me when I truly struggled as our society evolved around us. I was the only one remaining that had this struggle, and it was, I believe, because I was the only one that had my duty removed from me. Finally, Primus appeared to me in his avatar form, a ghostly presence at my brother's haven.

"I have watched you, Custos, as you have done your best to find a new duty. I was wrong to remove that duty from you, but I can not take back the steps we went through."

I bowed my head to him. "I understand this, Primus. I will find my place."

Primus shook his head. "I have found your new place, my son. You will be essential, but not a leader. Your place has always been as a support to those in need and so you will be again. I wish to gift you with something."

Again I bowed, "As you wish, Primus."

Primus offered his hand, and I cupped my own to receive what he offered.

A newspark danced over my plating, and my spark, quiescent for so long, moved in my chest and began to thrum to a new beat, matching the pulses of the newspark. Primus gently scooped the spark up and told me, "This spark shall be your match. All that you gave to the Allspark will be in him, and what he lacks you have remaining. Together, you shall be whole and strong."

He waved his hand, and I did not remember.

"Want another?" The gruff proprietor of the bar, Maccadam himself, was looking at the container of oil in front of me, almost drained of the contents.

I shook my head. I was here to wash away my grief, not drown my sorrows. Sentinel Prime was dead, killed in an unnecessary skirmish, and a new Prime needed to be found quickly. The civil war that was started would burn our world to ash if we could not find a leader to stand strong against the rebellion and its leaders.

Maccadam took the emptied container away, then came back to wipe the bar near me. He nodded, then patted my arm. Normally, I would have been offended at the touch of a stranger, but for some reason, unknown to me, his touch was soothing.

"You'll be fine, Prowl. Best to get back."

I nodded and vacated my stool, heading back to the headquarters of the Autobots.

Once there, I was greeted with confusion and hysteria.

"A new Prime! We have a new Prime!" echoed through the corridors. Several of the older mechs, generals of our army in a sense, began snapping orders. Gradually, chaos receded and calm prevailed. When the new Prime arrived to inspect us, we looked professional and steady. The new Prime, Optimus, met with us as a group, then chose several to meet with individually. As Sentinel Prime's chief tactician, I was one he chose to meet with in a more intimate setting.

He arrived at my office after meeting with Kup, the no nonsense sergeant that took our new recruits and turned them into soldiers and warriors. He had a mech with him, a quiet fellow that observed but did not speak. I had arranged my duties so that I was all around the base, observing the pair as they went around, observing in their turn.

I rose from my chair and offered the new Prime a bow, a gesture of respect that felt genuine. Something about this mech was worthy of my admiration, and I immediately felt better than I had for a quite a few cycles, since Sentinel had fallen to the rebels.

"Prime? I am Prowl."

He offered his forearm in the traditional gesture, and I clasped his arm as he clasped mine. He then turned to his shadow and introduced him.

"This is Jazz, my lieutenant."

Jazz stepped forward and also offered his arm. As I brushed his plating with my own, a sensation I had never felt before stole over me, a peacefulness I could not remember having felt before. My spark, always anxious, calmed and settled into a new rhythm.

I realized as I stared into the optics of this mech that Sentinel's passing had not been the end, as I had believed, but the beginning. I smiled.

"Jazz. It's good to meet you."

The beginning.