Caution
By SMYGO4EVA

Optimus hated that he had only knew Alpha Trion back on Cybertron.

The master archivist and his mentor can only visit him in dreams and visions, during which Optimus could talk to him, just like old times and it all felt so real, like Alpha Trion was actually there. But he wasn't. Because when Optimus opened his optics, truly opened them to snap back to reality, he had no guiding power by his side.

Their time together was up, Alpha Trion had gone back to wherever it was that his resting place was forever in, and only the cold accompanied Optimus in the emptiness of his berth.

All while the war for Cybertron, and now Earth, had been taking place, Optimus found himself longing for those dreams together, but the more he spoke to Alpha Trion, the harsher it was to wake up. He was no fool, and when he had the chance to become Prime, the archivist told him that he had to make a choice.

So he did.

Optimus had learned a lot from Alpha Trion, to the very end of the Golden Age of Cybertron, and still kept what he had learned in his spark. But then the clock had ticked and their time was up. The one named Orion Pax was Optimus Prime from then on, securing what it meant to be a Prime from his learning curve.

That was the last time he had been taught anything from his mentor, a caution from the past and very much alive in the present.

He had made his choice.