Introduction: This takes place between chapter 23 and 24 of Revolution, after Yoketron asks to meet with Elita.

Elita stepped out into the circular yard, stunned. She stared around at the crystals growing along the walls, and then her optics were drawn upward to the small, distant circle of sky above.

"Welcome," the old mech sitting in the open center of the courtyard stood and approached her. "Thank you for coming."

"This place is lovely," Elita said. "Is this where you train them?"

"Yes," Yoketron said. "Come, sit down."

Elita nodded and followed him to sit down on the crystal tiles in the center. "You'd never expect to find a place like this attached to that apartment complex."

"Well, I think when Landquake and Petra moved in, it was just an empty courtyard," Yoketron said. "It was Petra who turned it into a garden."

"I'll have to tell her it's beautiful," Elita said. "So…" she focused her attention on Orion's Circuit-Su master. "You wanted to talk about something… something important, you said?"

"Yes," Yoketron replied. "There are some other items to discuss first, though."

"All right." She wasn't sure how she felt about this mech. Orion spoke highly of him, and even Prowl seemed to respect him. But as much as Orion tried to hide it, Elita knew he sometimes dreaded coming here for training.

"To begin with, I hear there are rumors that Orion knew he would become a Prime before the fact. I can confirm that those rumors are false," Yoketron said. "He did not know what his calling would be."

"I know," Elita said. "He told me, and I know he wouldn't lie to me about it."

It was comforting to hear it from someone else, though.

"He is concerned that you think he betrayed you. And he is afraid of losing you—to the point where it has halted his progression in his training."

"I'm sorry," Elita said. "I know I hurt his feelings, but..."

"It's all right," Yoketron said. "You haven't done anything wrong. However, you are in a difficult position. May I present my estimation of the situation?"

"All right…"

"I know you love each other, and that you want to be together, but unfortunately, your continued relationship with Orion may not be helping him."

Elita's spark sank.

"Furthermore, it is a very severe risk. I actually believe Optimus Prime will have a better chance of saving Cybertron with you by his side. But if he loses you later down the road, it will be worse for him than if you leave now. You should know that if you choose to stay with him, you will suffer with him, through all of his suffering. I don't think you fully understand what that will mean. I know it may seem difficult now, but in the long run it will be easier for you if you let him go."

Elita stared at him.

"It's all right to let go."

"No," Elita said. "I'm not leaving him."

"Even if it will help him? I want you to think carefully about this. If you choose to stay now and then leave when you discover the cost is too high, it may destroy him."

Elita looked down. "So… you're saying that if I stay with Orion it will help him, but it's not worth it if I decide to leave him later."

"Correct."

"I'm not afraid of that," Elita said. "My decision isn't going to change."

"What if he changes?" Yoketron asked. "What if the war changes him completely?"

Elita considered that for a moment, but the answer was obvious. "Orion has to change. But his spark will be the same. I've already thought about all of this." She was sick of mecha arguing with her. "I will follow him anywhere, no matter the cost. And no one—not you or Chromia or Primus himself—can talk me out of it."

She met the old mech's piercing white optics for a few astroseconds, meeting his stern disapproval with defiance.

Then, inexplicably, Yoketron's faceplate relaxed into a smile. "Good," he said. "Very good."

Elita blinked.

"Now that we've gotten that out of the way—"

"Wait…"

Yoketron raised an optic ridge, still smiling.

"Was that... a test?"

"Yes," Yoketron said. "And you passed. Now, there is something I think we can do to help Orion move forward in his training again—something I need your help for. But before I explain that, there's a story I want to tell you…"

He trailed off, looking to the side with a pensive frown. She waited for him to continue.

"It's an old story," he said. "A difficult story in some ways… and it's not really relevant to my proposed solution to the problem—but it reminds me of the situation here and I want you to understand… you and I have something in common."

"I have time," Elita said. "And I suppose… I'm curious now, so you might as well tell me."

Now she really wasn't sure how to feel about him. From her few interactions with Yoketron before, he'd seemed very formal—almost cold. And in the beginning of the conversation he'd been that way too. But then he'd seemed very pleased with himself when she'd stood up to him, and now he was like a different mech all over again.

"Once, many, many vorns ago…" he began. "In the time when individual city-states had their own governments, there was a femme designated Akiba Regis Nyonus, or in modern terms, she was Akiba, the princess of Nyon."

"Akiba?" Elita said. "Do you mean Akiba Prime?"

"Yes," Yoketron said. "I suppose she is more well-known as a Prime. In fact, if I've got my numbers right, she held the Matrix for longer than any other Prime in all of Cybertronian history."

"Wasn't it something like eight hundred vorns?" Elita said.

Yoketron nodded. "A little more than that, even."

Elita shook her helm. "How old was she when…"

"Oh, she was very young when she received the Matrix—almost as young as Orion. And, like him, the circumstances of her training were not ideal. There was a mech who'd set himself up as the next Prime, though he was unworthy, and once he heard that the true Prime had been appointed, he attempted to hunt her down and kill her. Aside from the danger, her journey toward becoming a Prime required great personal sacrifice…" Yoketron paused for a moment, then continued. "Cybertron was in shambles after the Quintesson wars. We needed a worthy Prime, not a fearmongering despot like the mech who'd taken power. Akiba knew she had to accept her calling, for all of our sakes."

Elita studied the ground and thought about Orion's willingness to sacrifice his life as an archivist.

"But that didn't make it easy for her," Yoketron said. "Being a Prime isn't easy for anyone. From what I've heard, it's lonely and sparkbreaking. You see the best of society, but you also see the worst, and even in a time of piece, terrible things happen. The Matrix strengthens you but also prevents you from becoming numb to violence or injustice or sorrow. Primes in a time of war suffer even more. There is a reason the mantle of the calling tends to shorten the lifespan of the mech or femme who bears it."

Elita nodded, then froze. "Wait."

Yoketron stopped.

"She lived for more than eight hundred vorns. Most normal mecha fade after around five hundred."

"That's correct," Yoketron said.

"But if… if the Matrix shortens mecha's lifespans, how did she live so long?"

Yoketron smiled slightly and met Elita's optics. "She wasn't alone."

Notes:

1. Sorry to cut the conversation short before you find out the actual reason Yoketron wanted to talk to her. Y'all have to wait a couple more chapters for that. :P

2. Akiba Prime is totally a canon character. Tfwiki doesn't have much info about her, but from what's there she seems like an awesome person. And she has, like, lightning swords, which are cool. So I have adopted her into the Cybertronian history of my headcanon.

3. Someday I'll write Yoketron's backstory. :) Someday. Eventually. You know, when I'm done writing the entire war, if people aren't sick of all my long-winded nonsense by then.

4. Thanks for reading!