Continuity: TF War within with strong G1 influence.
Pairing: Orion Pax/Ariel, supposed Optimus Prime/Elita one.
This story is a gift for a friend of mine who likes the character of Elita One from Transformers G1. I hope she will read this, recognize herself and appreciate this fanfic, if only a little.
War within, war without.
Cybertron,
Last orns of the Golden Age and premise of a war they could all sense coming, all, except an handful few.
Orion Pax, young neutral and archivist, was among them.
" You need to realize what is happening around you, Orion!" His friend Bluestreak attempted to reason with him. " while you are here, compiling data and filing reports, we, Autobots, are preparing for a war!"
Orion Pax huffed in annoyance and kept his optics stubbornly focused on his work as the young gunner talked. " And you never pondered the possibility this war could be useless?" he retorted.
" How can you say that?" the Autobot sounded clearly offended. " Megatron was the one who terminated Sentinel Prime, he ripped the spark from his shattered torso! You should have seen what was left of Prime when we discovered his remains, Megatron and his Decepticons are monsters!"
" Don't you think you are exaggerating?" Orion replied. " Bluestreak, I'm trying to work here...And anyway, if you believe everything everyone says and all there can be found in the reports I am trying to archive, Megatron has personally destroyed sixteen city-states and assassinated thirty ranking custodians, and this all by himself...Now forgive me if I don't take those information to spark...This look too much like propaganda to me!"
" That's all this is to you, then? Facts and figures? " Bluestreak retorted. It was not often that the young Autobot lost his temper, but he was very much on the verge to do so. " We are dying out there! One moment we have a long-lasting peace, the next we have Decepticons- a rogue faction we never even knew existed- and a full-scale civil war! Suddenly I'm no longer just a Cybertronian merchant but an Autobot soldier!"
" Which I have no intention to become!" Orion Pax said, his tone final.
OOO
Meanwhile, at the docking platform, a young neutral femme was completing another day of hard labor. Her name was Elita One, but she didn't know it yet. At that moment, she still went by the name 'Ariel'.
" Do you know what happened?" Chromia approached her. She was a friend and a neutral too, but her involvement with an Autobot, a weapon specialist Ariel never seemed to remember the name, spoiled her neutrality, somewhat.
" I heard, Sentinel Prime has been assassinated." Ariel replied, cleaning her hands with a rack. " They say the Decepticons are behind this."
" Yes, it appears that Megatron himself ripped the spark out of his mangled chassis." Chromia added, her expression thoughtful.
" It is a rumor..." Ariel shrugged. " A strory served to the press to instigate fear in us, neutrals."
" But it is true the Decepticons incinerated several neutral cities, we could be next."
" I doubt it," Ariel mused. "Iacon is not a neutral city."
"No, it is worse, it's an Autobot city...The Decepticons have even more reasons to attack it." Chromia said, though she didn't sound afraid, only serious about it.
" They wouldn't dare, Iacon has the best defenses of the planet...And enough credits to reinforce them, build more cannons, place more shields. I don't fear for myself, but for all these people outside who suffer and will suffer again in this war." Ariel said, her gaze shifting to the west where the city named Praxus stood. " Someone has to do something to help them"
Chromia stared along with her, sighing deeply. " Ironhide told me the Autobots were preparing a counter-offensive...But they weren't ready yet, I don't know what they are waiting for exactly, Ironhide won't uncover much to me, he said it would put me at a risk..."
Ariel looked back at her friend with a smile. " anyone who would attempt something against you would be put at risk!" she said. " Your Ironhide doesn't know how dangerous you can be yet?"
" I never had to defend myself against him." The blue-green femme chuckled, then pulled her tongue at her friend. " And...oh...I haven't showed it to you yet!" she grinned, showing off her right arm, which Ariel was yet to see given their respective positions. " Look at this."
On Chromia's forearm, there was a small bulge that definitely wasn't there the previous day. " What is this?" Ariel inquired, leaning down slightly to better inspect the arm.
" Tadahhh!" Chromia exclaimed with excitement. A barely visible seam shifted on her forearm, the metal sliding aside to reveal the barrel of a gun. " Watch this" with a soft whir, the gun moved forth, out then back, placing itself naturally on the girl's forearm. " And the metal of my whole arm had been modified and reinforced to better handle the recoil of this beauty!"
Ariel examined it with unhidden interest. The mod was nicely done, it looked like it had been part of her friend since forever. She hadn't even realized, at first sight, that Chromia's arm was thicker than before. " It's wonderful! Where did you get it? It must have cost a lot of credits!"
" Ironhide paid for it- he said it was a personal gift that would forever remind me of him- I had it placed at the Mod-center, the one which is just outside of Iacon."
" Do you have an idea of how much a mod like this is?" Ariel asked carefully, her interest obvious despite the effort she put into keeping it away from her expression.
" 3000 credits...But it very much worth it, I assure you!"
" That's a lot of credits..." Ariel let go of her arm, a tad disappointed. " I haven't spared enough to afford this. Well, In fact, I have, but I keep those for my new apartment." She explained.
" What about Orion? His job pays well, you could get him to buy one for you?" Chromia proposed.
" No." Ariel shock her head lightly. "I don't want to take his money and, anyway, he would never buy something like that to me, he is against violence of all kind...And he's very protective of me!"
" Oh too bad..." Chromia started, but then caught herself. " I mean...That proves he love you."
" I know." Ariel said with a smile. " But I wish he understood I am made of a sturdier alloy than he thinks. I'm not very fond of violence either but I am a big girl and I can defend myself when I need to"
" I know that!" Chromia smirked. She heard the sound of steps and turned toward the source. " Oh, look who is coming."
" Hello girls, I hope I am not disturbing!" Orion pax said, an amused smile on his pretty face.
" Orion!" Ariel's expression brightened at his sight and she walked up to greet him. "You never disturb me and you know it."
" Hey there, pretty mech!" Chromia teased with a wink. " Okay...well, I think I have something to do somewhere...see you two later!" She waved her hand at them as she left to give them some privacy.
" How was your day?" Orion gently pulled Ariel into his arms to give her a kiss on the nose.
" It was like every day, not better, not worse...I heard Prime has been killed...And more have died again today." She said, resting her head on his shoulder.
" Fear not, we are safe here." He reassured her, lifting a hand to stroke her pony-tail-like helm.
" I know" she breathed, offlining her optics to better appreciate the gesture of affection. " I wish the same could be said for all Cybertronians, I wish this civil war was over and Megatron defeated."
" And I just wish for our world to be in peace at last" Orion led her away from the dock. " I don't care who wins. The Decepticons can have Cybertron for all I feel concerned."
" How can you say that?" Ariel looked up at him. " Megatron is a monster!"
" That's what they want us to believe, but what if it is not the case? All I want is for you to be safe and our life to be forever like it is." He smiled at her again. " Let's go home."
" Then let me transform." Ariel pushed him gently, dropping the topic for now, she needed space for her transformation.
" Let's walk there? It's no so far." He proposed, refusing to let go of her.
" If you want..but why?"
" So I can do this!" He explained, taking her hand in his. She smiled and reached out to kiss his cheek.
They walked home, feeling happy despite the war that raged around them. They were safe for the moment and nothing else mattered.
OOO
The next day, Orion didn't come back from work.
Ariel waited for him at the docks until worry forced her to go and investigate. She went to Iacon's council pavilion where Orion worked as an archivist, and politely demanded to see Orion's superiors so she could inquire about her boyfriend's whereabouts. they told her he had been called out for something important groons earlier.
So she went back to their shared home, a two-rooms apartment that was nearly too small but cozy, and which they loved every breem of their living in it.
She waited, confident that Orion would come back to her sooner or later. She was disappointed and still worried about him, for he never spared himself a klik to comm her. He must have been given a very important mission, she thought, maybe was he off-planet in one of their orbital station.
If that was the case, then he couldn't possibly comm her, the message wouldn't reach through, because of the distance.
Patiently, she waited.
She worked at the docks, met Chromia a few times, and received more news of the civil war. She heard rumors, and among them, the fact that a new Prime had been chosen to lead the Autobots. The high council had elected some random mech and he had passed the test of the Matrix. People cheered around her, but Ariel didn't partake in their joy, she didn't know if this was good or bad. She just hoped this new Prime would be more resilient than the last and that he would find a solution to their planet's problem, namely: Megatron.
Three days passed.
Ariel had just arrived back at home, after yet another long day of work. It was hard these days, to keep cool when a city fell to the Decepticons almost every day, and when fear was an emotion you had to learn to cope with. Ariel didn't remain unaffected by the events unraveling around her, but it was for Orion and her friends she feared the most.
She laid down on her berth, sighing.
Praxus, the beautiful, had fallen.
She would never get to see the Helex Gardens and its rare wonder: magnificent resonating blue crystals suspended in methane. All that remained was desolation.
But worse than that, it was Praxus' thousand of inhabitants. Only a handful had survived and they no longer had a home to return to. Ariel didn't understand what they had done to deserve their loss, she could never understand why they had to die. They were innocent, honest workers like herself. She felt almost guilty to be here in her home, alive, while Praxians either died or roamed about hopelessly.
" Ariel! I'm back!"
She straightened up abruptly, not quite recognizing the voice that called for her. " Who's there?" She called back, looking around for something she could use to defend herself.
" It's me, It's Orion!" The voice replied.
But that wasn't Orion's voice...She thought, or only far from it. She exited her berthroom carefully, her hand clenching around the wrench she had grabbed. " Orion?" She called again. " Where have you been?"
" It's a long story."
Then, as she stepped in the main room of their home, she saw him.
That was Orion, but not the one she used to know. That mech was nothing like him, while still being him somehow, a very different him.
Ariel gasped at his new and disturbing appearance. The wrench fell from her hand, her whole frame having frozen in shock. The sound the tool made when it clattered on the floor seemed too loud in the small, silent room.
Orion...it was him. She could see it in his optics. But he was distinctively taller now, and thicker too. Ariel observed him from her spot at the door.
He was now wearing some kind of enigmatic battle mask that completely hid the lower half of his face. On top of all, an heavy and deadly gun clung, menacing, to his right forearm.
His frame bore traces of freshly welded cracks and his previous, general aura as Orion Pax was only but a shadow compared to that of this..warrior. This was exactly what he looked like; a warrior.
Or a gladiator from Kaon's arenas. But All the gladiators in Kaon were Decepticons nowadays, and Orion couldn't have become one of them, since he was now wearing the Autobot mark.
" What happened to you, Orion?" She asked, carefully approaching him. She wasn't afraid, just wary of this almost-stranger.
" I am Optimus Prime now." He declared. "They chose me to become their leader!"
With the initial shock wearing off, Ariel found the control of her processor back.
" I thought...I thought you didn't want to fight" she said, her tone accusing.
" I didn't want to at first, that is true. I refused .But then they pushed the Matrix inside of my chest, I connected with her and understood. At first, and as I thought this war was lost in advance, I wanted to order a general evacuation of the planet. But something happened that made me change the way I viewed things. I know what I have to do now: We can't let the Decepticons have this planet. The Autobots have to fight them and I have to lead the Autobots. It is my destiny, Ariel, I cannot go against it, for it is the will of Primus himself."
He sounded excited and extremely worried at the same time, ecstatic and greatly aggravated. He certainly sounded far different than Orion pax had sounded only days ago.
Ariel couldn't pretend to comprehend this, not yet. She didn't know yet.
" You used to say that 'someone else' could rise and defend the planet, and that you didn't care about the war or about the were still telling me, not later than three days ago, that you wanted no part in this!" She said, still shocked and confused by the too-sudden, too-unexpected change. She couldn't believe this was happening to Orion, to her, to them.
" Primus chose me!" He repeated, resignation mingling with determination in his optics. " I can't turn my back on the responsibilities he bestowed upon me!" He hesitated a moment and added. " I know I didn't want anything to do with this at first," he repeated. "I know you can't understand it just yet, but this planet needs me."
Ariel watched him carefully and tried to put some order in her thoughts. Think rationally, she told herself, one information at a time. Your mech had just gotten himself the promotion of the vorn...And this could only positive: he might be the one you have wished for, hoped for: the one who could end this war.
She had never wanted that one to be Orion. But with destiny, one could never chose, at least that was what she had always believed.
This world needed a Prime, that Prime happened to be her mate, and now she knew she had no other choice but to learn to cope with it.
She forced a smile to her mouth.
" I understand more than you think, Orion. And I might feel slightly upset that the matrix chose you of all mechs, but this won't change anything for me. I still love you the same way, and I'll remain at your side, no matter what you do or which name you go by."
" Oh Ariel!" Optimus breathed fondly. He moved to where she stood and collected her in his arms. " Thank you so much."
She embraced him back, realizing that she would need some time to adjust to his new appearance and size. His arms had never felt like a cage before.
There was a moment of silence and then he pulled away gently.
" I'm sorry, Ariel" He started, his tone held a tragic note that made dread creep back into Ariel's processor.
" Why are you sorry? Didn't you say you had accepted the responsibility."
" Yes..." he trailed on. " but this responsibility comes with a price I will suffer to pay, my dear Ariel."
"What do you mean?" she asked, fearing she already knew the answer.
" There will be a war...Soon" He explained calmly, carefully. " Here on Cybertron, here within Cybertron...This will lead us, Autobots and Decepticons alike, to the Undergrounds, since we have no other choice...This will be dangerous, and I prefer for you that you stay here in Iacon, safely on the surface."
" I'm not helpless you know!" She frowned. " I can defend myself, I can go with you."
" You can't, I don't want you to. It is far too dangerous." Optimus said, his tone commanding. That hurt her far more than he had wanted and made her step back
" Then you want me to wait here, while you risk your live, while I have no idea where you are and how you are doing?! You can't ask me that, Orion!"
" I'm not Orion, not anymore." He said, shaking his masked head sadly. " and...I'm afraid I can't be your mate anymore either...You would risk too much, if Megatron ever learns about your existence. I prefer for you to be safe without me, rather than in danger with me. I am sorry Ariel..."
She gaped at him, shocked like never before in her function. His words had been so cruel, they had felt like a blow to her spark. That, she could definitively not cope with.
" No, you cannot do this to me, not if you love me!" She said, feeling anger rise. This, she wouldn't accept.
" I love you with all my spark, Ariel!" The new Prime said. " Which is why I do this to you, even if the thought of leaving you tears my spark asunder!"
" No! I won't stay here! I won't, you can't make me!" She almost pleaded, but caught herself. She didn't want to show him how desperate she was to stay with him.
:: Optimus Prime! Come in!:: Optimus's comm suddenly crackled to life. It was Prowl, his voice held an urgent undertone.
:: Yes, Prowl?:: he replied immediately, Ariel still fuming beside him.
:: You need to come and fast::
:: Acknowledged:: Optimus replied before switching off the communicator. He turned toward his mate.
" Ariel...I have to go."
" Will you come back?" She asked, pleading with her eyes since she refused to do so with her mouth.
" I don't know." Prime answered, not wanting to lie to her. He placed an hand on her shoulder, leaned down toward her and, retracting his mask momentarily, kissed her on the lips. " Farewell, my Ariel. And, please, be safe."
He was gone the next instant, just as if he had never been there. Ariel didn't move, she just stared at the door through which Orion had left.
She almost allowed her knees to buckle, she almost let herself crumple on the floor, and she almost allowed the pain her spark to swell so much she cried. But, no, she decided, the time wasn't up for this.
She remained standing and her optics, although hard, remained dry.
Immediately after the shock had faded and her resolve has steeled, she went back to her berthroom. There, she kneed in front of the berth to reach for the little 'treasure box' she kept preciously under the berth, picked it up and, almost reverently, she opened the fake gems-decorated lid, the box resting on her lap.
She had managed to spare 60000 credits out of her monthly pay. That was a lot of credits and she had spared them so she could afford a bigger place for Orion and herself.
This, she mused sadly, wouldn't be possible before long. Until then, those credits could still be useful for something else, before their value decreased to nothing, because of the war.
Ariel sub-spaced the money, thankful that she had given in what had seemed like a fantasist purchase at the time she had gotten the mod installed.
She called Chromia, inquired about her availability, then asked that they meet just outside of the city.
She knew her friend would understand. Most probably she would agree with her decision, possibly she might ever follow her. Also, and since her boyfriends were now in the same proverbial boat, Chromia and her would stick together.
And she was right.
Chromia understood, told her Ironhide had also departed, they comforted each other for a while, exchanged their views on the upcoming war, thought of what they could do in the near future. At the end it was Ariel who made the proposal, and Chromia immediately accepted.
And, then, when all was decided, together they went to the Mod center where Ariel was certain she wouldn't spend her money for useless things.
Orion had no right to tell her what she had to do and not. She was independent, no matter how much she loved him. He might have been the Prime now, but she wasn't an Autobot and, therefore, she had no order to take from him.
She would be at his side in this war, whether he wanted it or not.
" So, how do I look?" Ariel asked Chromia as she eventually pulled out of her medical-induced stasis.
" I could seriously fall in love" Chromia joked, admiring the new design of her friend.
Ariel stood from the berth carefully. She felt strange, not bad, but different. Not unlike Orion, she was now taller and thicker. She seemed to have gained maturity, but her face still looked beautiful and caring. The metal of her body was sturdier than it used to be and yet her alt-form was faster. She had conserved her colors, if only because she didn't feel ready to lose herself completely in her new appearance.
Chromia thought it fit her perfectly. It was as if the real Ariel had just appeared before her eyes.
" A new life, a new body." Ariel commented as she observed herself in the mirror. " a body suited for a war."
Chromia leaned against the berth, her arms- now both modified to hide big guns she was immensely proud of- crossed over her chest. " Maybe you need a new name?"
" Why?" Ariel turned toward her friend.
" A New life, a new body..a new name!" Chromia shrugged as if it was only normal to say that. " Besides, Orion-I mean, Optimus will not fret if he ever happens to hear about you. He will never know about your decision to not listen to him."
Ariel almost retorted that she didn't care about what Optimus would think upon finding out about her decision, but then she thought this over more carefully. " It could prove detrimental to his decisions as a Prime if he suddenly had to worry about me" she mused. " Chromia, you are right, I might need a new name...But what should I call myself."
Chromia thought about that, her hand stroking her jaw unconsciously as she did so.
" The Autobots are supposed to be the elite of our world, right?" She stated after a moment of refection.
" Yes, I guess." Ariel said, testing her own defense system and transformation.
" And you...I will train you to become the elite among us, neutral femmes...You'll be the first I'll train." Chromia said with unhidden expectation and excitement. She couldn't wait for this training to start." You will be our Elita One."
" Elita One?" Ariel tasted the name and found out she didn't hate it, even if it sounded more than a little pompous. " I don't know...I'm not really an elite yet."
" Then may this new name always remind you of your goals, Elita One!" Chromia declared ceremoniously.
They smiled and just so, the name was accepted.
The two femmes had no idea what to expect for the future. They didn't know it yet, but they would become a very important part of it, very soon.
END.
I wrote 'end' there for safety. I've very tempted to turn this into a longer story, but I really can't at the moment: I have four other fanfics waiting for me to update them and Real-life work of my own to take care of...That's why I didn't want to promise anything.
Thank you for reading anyway, I hope you liked this.
Deezaster82.