Meme: Happy
Universe: G1, missing scene in "Search for Alpha Trion"
Warnings: I'm secretly a sappy romantic, and this is where it shows.
Summary: In "Search for Alpha Trion," Optimus (who thought she was dead) and Elita (who hadn't seen him in 4 million years) never got a proper reuniting scene…so I fixed it.
AN: The ending did NOT want to be written! I've sat on this stupid thing for months, because I liked it too much to scrap but I couldn't figure out how to end it. Rather, I knew where I wanted it to go, I just couldn't figure how to get there. Anyway, I hope it meets everyone's expectations.
Orn – 1 day
Breem – 8.3 minutes
Klick – about 1 second
Elita knew perfectly well the dangers of using her time-stop ability. Primus, Alpha Trion practically made it a point of pride to mention it every single time she contacted him, no matter what the purpose. Granted, he had every reason to be worried – Elita would die before she allowed anything to happen to even one of her Autobots, and the time-stop device was an incredibly useful and powerful tool…so long as she didn't complete drain her own spark to power it in the process.
Since Alpha Trion had been the one to develop it, he had a strong appreciation for the danger it presented, even if he understood the necessity of its use when Elita had no other recourse.
So, as a precaution and something of a compromise between them, it was decided that thirty klicks was the longest Elita should ever use the time-stop during a single orn, and even then, only under the direst of circumstances, like the planet blowing up. Though, really, Elita doubted there was much she could do about Cybertron spontaneously combusting.
In addition, she was never to pull another mech or femme into the field when she did activate it. The amount of energy she would have to expand would grow exponentially, which for her would be a Very Bad Thing.
In any case, when Starscream and his small group had taken her captive to Shockwaves tower, while that had been bad enough, it certainly hadn't warranted the use of her talent. Getting captured hadn't been in the plans, but she was nothing if not resourceful and opportunistic. The old base had been destroyed, but she knew her Contingent too well to think they had all been deactivated as well: they were too tough and wily to be taken out so easily. Even if Vaportrails phase device was damaged, or if Violet for some reason couldn't access her explosives, she trusted her Contingent to find a way. What they needed now was a new base, one Shockwave wouldn't be able to find. What better way to determine such a location than to take a look at the enemy's own maps, scanners, and data?
If she managed to slip away at the right time, she could turn this to her benefit. She could count on one hand how many times Shockwaves control room had been infiltrated. This could become a golden opportunity to hack into the gunformers systems and steal priceless information, plans, codes, anything her Contingent could use against him, information well worth the loss of one easily replaced base. With this in mind, she kept careful track of which hallways they used, which doors, how many floors, how many steps, how many turns they took. She estimated it would take maybe a breem and a third tops for her to go from the Control room to the exit, if she was quick.
Then Optimus came, and everything went out the proverbial window.
She would never remember consciously activating her time-stop ability, or even making the decision to do so. She didn't care anymore about Shockwaves vast computer systems, she didn't care about gaining a tactical advantage, she didn't care about Alpha Trion's warnings, she didn't even care that ten minutes was grossly beyond the point of no return even without bringing another into the time-stop field.
All she could think about was 'Don't let him die.'
Nothing else mattered.
Nothing.
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
"Wha-what happened?…Elita!"
"My special power…a weapon of last resource…it drains all of my…life force…"
"No!"
"Take me to…Alpha Trion…He's the only one…who can save me…"
"Hang on Elita!"
"I…I don't know how much…longer I can last…fading…fast…"
"Elita One…her life force is nearly drained…She did it to save me."
"I'll see what I can do, Prime. But it doesn't look good."
"How's Elita?"
"I've done all that I can for her."
"She's not…!"
"Now it's your turn to help her."
"Please, Elita. Reactivate."
"That should be enough Optimus, let her now."
"Alpha Trion, she's not-"
"Get back Optimus!"
"What's wrong? What's happening? You said the uplink would be enough to save her!"
"Leave now! I can't help her like this!"
"ELITA!"
oOoOoOo
Blue optics onlined dimly, flickered then brightened as the femme regained consciousness, to the familiar sight of an old Autobot as familiar to her as her own Creators.
"We really need to stop meeting like this," she joked weakly with a little smile. Alpha Trion chuckled anyway, more in relief than humor.
"Alive, awake, coherent, and sarcastic – you are definitely on the mend."
"What can I say? I don't die easily."
"I should probably say something about how dangerous it was for you to use your power for such an extended time while pulling another bot into your field, and how it nearly killed you and destroyed some of the more delicate warnings of your body…but I strongly suspect I'd only be wasting energy if I tried."
"You would probably be right."
Elita pushed herself up. Alpha Trion made a move as if to stop her, but checked himself. If it was one thing she hated, it was being coddled and treated like she was made of crystal.
She looked around the room, searching, and it didn't take a mind reader to figure out what, or rather who, she was looking for.
"He's waiting outside the door," he told her, not quite able to hold back a grin as he crossed his arms. "You were lucky Optimus was the one to bring you in – your spark was fluctuating dangerously, and he is, literally, the only match that could have donated the energy to stabilize and save you."
'Literally made for each other.'
Mushy, even clichéd, but the inner romantic in her loved it anyway.
"He wanted to stay by you, but repairing the damage required all my concentration, and your Bonded is very…distracting." Alpha Trion explained as Elita swung her legs down, experimentally getting to her pedes. She felt a little wobbly, probably an effect of the intense energy drain and transfer, but other than that she felt fine.
"He offered to stand by the wall and give me my space, but that just made it worse," Alpha Trion went on casually as Elita took a few experimental steps to gauge her stabilizers and equilibrium. "Did you know he can loom over your shoulder from over fifty feet away?"
"That's because he has super powers." Elita answered him straight-faced. Satisfied that everything was working as it should, she gave Alpha Trion a questioning look.
"You are completely at full health again," he told her. "I have no reason to keep you here any longer. Now shoo. If you make him wait any longer he might very well decide to break the door down."
Alpha Trion was only half joking about the last part.
Elita ran for the door, her legs regaining their strength with movement and time. She reached out to palm the door open…and hesitated.
Before, she had been so concerned in saving Optimus, and staying conscious afterwards, she didn't have time to think about anything else. But now…
Well.
Now she was remembering that even for a member of a nigh immortal species, four million years was still a VERY long time to go without communications. Granted, that wasn't Optimus' fault. It wasn't like he planned to go into stasis, and he had no way of knowing there was anyone left on Cybertron to contact. She didn't fault him for that. The problem was, while he had spent the entire time asleep and unchanged, she hadn't. She fought, suffered, celebrated, grew…all while he slept oblivious.
Would he still recognize her as the same Elita he left behind?
She felt an intense and murderous surge of anger at Megatron for creating the situation with the war, at Starscream for forcing this moment into being when he called Optimus out, at Primus for life in general. Most of all, she was angry at herself for being so weak and scared like she hadn't been since she was Ariel.
Her hand dropped away from the door pad.
"Elita?" a soft, old voice ventured gently behind her. She could hear him coming closer, radiating concern.
To his shock, she turned and marched the other way toward the back door she knew he had leading out the medical room and, eventually, to the vast maintenance levels she could disappear in.
"Elita, where are you going?!" Alpha Trion exclaimed, reaching out and grabbing her arm as she went past. "You can't just leave like this! You and Optimus have been through too much together!"
"That's the problem, Alpha Trion," she said quietly, not looking at him. "We haven't 'been through' anything together for a very long time."
The ancient mech was silent.
Elita pulled her arm free, but she didn't move from her place. "The first time…Primus, the first time, when we were first upgraded, I thought I would die if I lost Orion because I had changed when he hadn't. Now, it's the same thing again, except there's no last minute reveal. Four million years, Alpha Trion. We shared the upgrade, but we can't share that time. I'm not, I'm not completely who I was when he left. I don't want to find out that I've changed too much even for him."
"Don't you think he deserves the chance to decide that for himself?" Alpha Trion asked gently. "For all you know, you're jumping straight to the worst case scenario and giving no thought to the other possibilities."
"I'm fighting a war, Alpha Trion," Elita said flatly. "Operating on the worst-case scenario is what I do."
"Perhaps, but this isn't the war."
"No, but…Primus, how many different ways can this possible turn out?" Elita started counting off on her fingers. "Fact: four million years is a long time. Fact: we have been out of contact in that entire time. Fact: He's been in stasis, and thus is exactly the same as he was when he left while I…have not. I just…"
Elita curled her hands over her chest, protecting her spark, head coming down a little as she looked down into nothing, looking smaller and more vulnerable than Alpha Trion had ever seen her since she left behind Ariel.
He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"You just, what?" he asked gently.
"…I just…I don't want to find out that it's too much this time." She finished quietly, off lining her optics.
Like a father comforting his child, Alpha Trion wrapped an arm around her shoulder and gently pulled her close. She was just barely taller than him, but that hardly mattered here and now, she still took the comfort and leaned her head against him.
"I can't offer much advice here, I'm afraid." He confessed. "There aren't many others who have been in your place. All I can do is ask one question: suppose I let you go now, and you leave without seeing Optimus again. Would you be able to forgive yourself for that?"
Elita raised her head slightly from Alpha Trion's shoulder, not looking at him, but considering.
Come tomorrow, what would she regret the most?
oOoOoOo
Optimus Prime sat on the bench outside the room where Alpha Trion worked desperately to save Elita One after complications arose from the transfer. His elbows were on his knees, his face in his hands, shoulders slumped, looking smaller and more vulnerable, and certainly feeling more helpless, than anyone has ever seen him. He'd done everything he could, as incredibly, woeful small amount it was, and there was literally nothing left to do but to wait and hope that it was enough. He wasn't used to this sensation, this waiting, floating in limbo feeling. He felt…numb. Against his will, he kept going over and over again in his memory what he could have done different: he could have gotten here faster, he could have fought harder to avoid capture, he could have taken a fraggin minute to stop and think and have a team ready to back him up so Elita wouldn't have been forced to take such drastic, life threatening measures for him.
If she…he spent all this time believing he had lost her in that explosion. Seeing her again, it was like she had come back from the dead. If he lost her again (without realizing it he had sunk even deeper into himself at the very thought), he honestly didn't think he'd be able to hold himself together.
Optimus was too deep into his own thoughts to even register the door opening with a soft hiss.
He did hear the light footsteps coming his way, slow, apprehensive even, as if nervous to approach.
Alpha Trion would not be approaching him so carefully if he had good news.
His hands started to tremble, and his tanks were rolling with sickening anxiety as the elder mech came to a stop next to him. Optimus tried to speak, but he couldn't bring himself to ask the question ('is Elita alright?') when he was too afraid he already knew the answer ('I'm so sorry, I did all I could…'). He couldn't even bring himself to move, to look at Alpha Trion in the optic. He just sat there, waiting (it was all he could do now, they all did everything they could).
He felt a hand settle lightly on his shoulder.
"Optimus?"
He froze.
That was not Alpha Trions voice.
The Prime snapped his head up and to the side where the voice had come from. Rather than the aged purple, red and silver mech, was a rose hued, concerned looking and achingly, beautifully familiar femme. He just stared at her with wide optics, not making a sound.
"Optimus?" Elita One said again, when he just kept staring blankly at her.
When he continued not to say anything, an uncertain Elita started to straighten up and remove her hand, for once failed by her usual confidence as her previous fears came roaring back that this was a mistake after all. She didn't get very far though, before Optimus had grabbed her hand. One second she was standing next to him, the next she gasped as he pulled her down roughly into his lap and completely enveloped her with his huge red arms, one around her waist holding her close, the other around her shoulders with his hand at the back of her head to hold her even closer.
"Optimus!" she exclaimed in reflexive surprise, her hands coming up to his chest. His response was to hold her tighter and bury his face into her helm. He didn't say anything, he just held her as if scared that she was going to slip out of his arms like so much sand and air.
It did not escape her notice that his hands were still trembling.
Elita's optics crinkled sadly as hands came up and wrapped around Optimus' neck to hold him back, burying herself in his hold and letting herself be swallowed up by him. They didn't speak; there were no words for this moment, only spark filled gratitude, silent joy, and, for Elita, the realization and hope that everything was going to be alright after all.
Neither of them noticed how Alpha Trion stood silently in the doorway, watching the pair hold each other like their lives depended on it and wearing a small, relieved smile. When Elita pulled back a little to speak to Optimus too softly for Alpha Trion to hear, and started fiddling the edge of his mask for the little catch she knew was there, the eldest mech stepped back and let the door close, granting them their much deserved privacy.
He had picked up activity back at the Darkmount, activity that revealed itself to be the Decepticons fighting the pinned down Autobots that had followed their leader through the warp gate. The femmes were already on their way to pull the mechs out of the proverbial fire, so it wasn't a drastic concern at the moment. But they were going to be needing their leaders pretty soon if they wanted a quick clean victory, and Alpha Trion knew them well enough to know that, the instant they learned their troops were in trouble, they'd jump and run to the rescue as fast as they could drive.
Alpha Trion would alert Optimus Prime and Elita One of the situation…in a moment or two, when they were done getting reacquainted with each other.
They deserved at least that much.